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Jeers: Atonement's Sinful Oscar Nod

080122cheers-atonement.jpg
Keira Knightley courtesy Focus Features
Jeers to the Oscar voters for rewarding Atonement with a knee-jerk best-picture nomination. I took a holiday from TV so I could see it and be prepared for its onslaught of accolades. But I wasn't prepared for what an overwrought piece of kitsch this movie is. Keira Knightley does most of her acting with her shoulderblades, and James McAvoy is a nonentity. And I'm sorry, but did I miss the scene that explains why these two love each other so desperately — or at all? If Joe Wright's odd, silly Titanic wannabe beats Paul Thomas Anderson's genuine masterpiece on Oscar night, there will be blood!

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Posted by Bruce Fretts
Jan 22, 2008 8:48 AM
I liked Atonement. I thought it was really well done and adapted from the book better than I though it would be.
Posted by rokergirl
Jan 22, 2008 9:34 AM
I usually agree with you, but here i couldn't disagree more. I love There Will Be Blood too, but Atonement is spectacular. It would be a scandal if it wasn't nominated, IMO
Posted by Oskar
Jan 22, 2008 2:24 PM
I couldn't agree with you more. Atonement was the biggest snoozer of the Christmas movie season. There was no character development or backstory (well...there was plenty of jumping around in the past but no story) to give us a reason to care about the two lovers. I can't believe it got nominated for Best Picture.
Posted by Nshvgschick
Jan 22, 2008 2:55 PM
I completely and utterly disagree. Atonement and There Will Be Blood are two of my favorite films of the year and they both deserve to get nominated AND win Best Picture. The only travesty is that they should've been nominated for MORE awards.
Posted by unscrewed
Jan 22, 2008 3:31 PM
Take a "serious" novel, add some British actors in period costumes, sprinkle in some picturesque scenery and viola! Oscar nod!!!

Atonement was soooo boring! It makes the English Patient and Howard's End look like Raiders of the Lost Ark and Jaws.
Posted by Buffy Freak
Jan 22, 2008 4:26 PM
Atonement is so overrated. The last half is completely meandering and boring without any narrative drive...with a "twist" that renders it all even more inconsequential. While it may look pretty...what's the point? Like the movies 7 minute tracking shot through the beach -- for no purpose -- the entire film has no substance.

There Will Be Blood is the best of this year and at least in the top 5 of the decade.
Posted by socalj
Jan 22, 2008 5:09 PM
Atonement gets the jeers yet the super dull flop that was Michael Clayton isn't jeered? I just wish the Academy would ditch all those dull dramas and give the award to Juno - but what are the odds? Comedies are never rewarded as supposedly serious dramas are. Bourne Ultimatum was the most entertaining film of the year, but action films won't get a look in. Apart from Juno, what a po-faced worthy serious BORING bunch!
Posted by Cate
Jan 22, 2008 7:00 PM
Well, I'm going to halfway agree with you here - Atonement is a decent (if you like the genre), but seriously over-rated film. But let's write a reality check here: 900 year-old Yoda could become a voting member of the Academy, and who would notice? AMPAS is a deeply conservative body (culturally not politically) and it shows, and while I'm no fan of Atonement, its nominations were about as surprising as those for the equally tedious and over-rated The Hours six years ago.
Posted by CRanapia
Jan 24, 2008 6:26 AM
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