[Nuclear1]

Yeah, hence the

[Mongoose]

i didn't even have to read those to know soldiers don't go...up to the bomb themself when they have a robot that can do the job.

Um...yes they do.  There are units in Iraq and Afghanistan dedicated to disarming IEDs, and they don't generally have the luxury of a robot to help them out.  I was watching a clip last week on CNN in which a reporter embedded in a unit in Afghanistan showed a local man telling them about a bomb on top of the building they were standing next to.  And hey, guess what, a specialist had to climb up there and carefully disarm it with his own two hands.  This isn't the bomb squad in a controlled environment...it's the middle of an urban-landscape combat zone.

[Nuclear1]

And no ROV can currently replace the ability of a well-trained EOD specialist.

And coming from someone who's trained side-by-side with these guys...they're serious business.

[Klaustrophobia]

i didn't even have to read those to know soldiers don't go...up to the bomb themself when they have a robot that can do the job.

Um...yes they do.  There are units in Iraq and Afghanistan dedicated to disarming IEDs, and they don't generally have the luxury of a robot to help them out.  I was watching a clip last week on CNN in which a reporter embedded in a unit in Afghanistan showed a local man telling them about a bomb on top of the building they were standing next to.  And hey, guess what, a specialist had to climb up there and carefully disarm it with his own two hands.  This isn't the bomb squad in a controlled environment...it's the middle of an urban-landscape combat zone.

thanks for reading my post before responding.  yes, i know there are IED units.  but they aren't reckless "cowboys" like the guy from the movie i'll wager.

[Blue Lion]

I don't really think anyone was saying they were

[iamzack]

I didn't see the movie, but based on my dad's accounts/pictures of he and his buddies dicking around in Iraq while he was there, I would believe a good number of them are, in fact, reckless cowboys..

[BloodEagle]

I didn't see the movie, but based on my dad's accounts/pictures of he and his buddies dicking around in Iraq while he was there, I would believe a good number of them are, in fact, reckless cowboys..

I once caught a fish THIS BIG[/echo].

[iamzack]

 

So maybe youtube videos of our boys throwing puppies over cliffs would have been a better example?

[mister J]

I'm interested in seeing the foreign entries and the documentaries more than the films in the main competition, to be honest. But I was glad Star Trek won something (Best Makeup or some such.) How long has it been since a Star Trek movie won an award for anything?

[Blue Lion]

How long has it been since a Star Trek movie?

[Nuclear1]

I'm interested in seeing the foreign entries and the documentaries more than the films in the main competition, to be honest. But I was glad Star Trek won something (Best Makeup or some such.) How long has it been since a Star Trek movie won an award for anything?

An Academy Award?  Never.  Star Trek IV got a bunch of nominations, but never won anything.  The original movie got a few nominations as well.

I didn't see the movie, but based on my dad's accounts/pictures of he and his buddies dicking around in Iraq while he was there, I would believe a good number of them are, in fact, reckless cowboys..

I once caught a fish THIS BIG[/echo].

Except they've done really nasty ****.  That video iamzack was talking about with throwing puppies around?  Seen it.  It's not pleasant.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XE4eRiKrz8

Seriously, watch the above video at your own risk.  You've been warned.

It's not the majority of troops represented by far, and most soldiers/marines/sailors/airmen are honorable people who actually give a ****, but there's some really terrible people out there who have a special place reserved in hell for them.

[TrashMan]

Examples, or just going to generalize again?

Examples of what?

Bad modern art?
Or bad Oscar picks?

And what is it to you anyway?

[General Battuta]

Examples, or just going to generalize again?

Examples of what?

Bad modern art?
Or bad Oscar picks?

And what is it to you anyway?

Bad Oscar picks, I think.

If you look at this year's lineup you'll see a number of great movies on there. It's hard to criticize the Oscars when their picks do in fact seem to be pretty accurate.

[TrashMan]

Avatar is on the list. Nuff said.

And ....isn't this the internets?
Make a thread about bad Oscar pics and you'll have millions of examples.

[Mongoose]

Avatar is on the list. Nuff said.

Avatar is on the list for the same reason that Titanic was nominated: because it was a visual tour-de-force, and because it was, oh, just the highest-grossing movie ever.  Its nomination isn't some sort of statement about the quality of its plot, but instead a reflection of what a massive phenomenon it's become.  In fact, it's the very sort of movie that the expansion of the Best Picture nominees to ten was designed to include.  Every year, people complain that the films nominated for Best Picture are largely those that only hardcore film buffs would be interested in; doubling the number of nominees allows quality blockbuster titles like Avatar (and something like the sadly-snubbed Dark Knight), or standout animated works like Up, to receive the same level of accolades.

Putting all of that aside, you don't really have much of a reason to complain, because unlike Titanic, Avatar didn't actually win the category.

[Nuclear1]

Well, not saying James Cameron didn't have a passion for making Avatar (he clearly did), but he's a huge shipwreck/Titanic enthusiast anyway and really wanted to tell the Titanic story right. 

Plus, when you release a big-budget summer blockbuster in the middle of winter where it has no real competition in terms of action movies and when nobody has anything else to do but go back and watch it over and over again, of course you'll make a lot of money.  Both Avatar and Titanic were fantastic movies, and both rightfully deserved all the praise they've earned, but I'm willing to bet James Cameron wouldn't have made $2.5 billion off of Avatar if he had released it in June.

[Colonol Dekker]

I'm glad Hurt Locker won too.
Robots? Robots are a rarity in my regiment. My EOD regiment, the OLDEST regiment in the army, the LARGEST regiment in the army (til next april) we don't use suits. The film is American, it's incredibly accurate to American procedures. It actually covers quite common practices too.
 
 
For the record, Afghanistan or not, it gets the air of deployment, the raw feeling across like no other i've seen.   
 
The best scene in the film?

Spoiler:

The last one when James' An EOD soldier called James who can't stop smoking? How can I not get this now! internal monologue goes on about how love changes etc and how there's something missing in his life if he's not doing what he does.
At least that's what I took from it. Because that's how I feel about EOD. At least for now, I genuinely let out a squeak of terror and joy when he dusted off that first shell.

[Zoltan]

I didn't watch the Academy Awards (nor will I ever), because my tastes seem to be significantly different than those being represented. For example, my favorite movie of 2009 was Fish Story, but I doubt most people at the Academy Awards have ever heard of it let alone ever contemplated to giving it an award.

[TrashMan]

Avatar is on the list for the same reason that Titanic was nominated: because it was a visual tour-de-force, and because it was, oh, just the highest-grossing movie ever.[/qutoe]

Which has 0 to do with the actual quality of the movie.

Putting all of that aside, you don't really have much of a reason to complain, because unlike Titanic, Avatar didn't actually win the category.

You've got a point there.

[Mongoose]

No, it has nothing to do with the actual quality of the movie, but the Academy can't exactly sit back and ignore the fact that a film released in the past year absolutely destroyed all previous box office marks.  That $1 billion and change didn't come from nowhere; obviously, many many people had to see something special in the movie, and the majority of critics agreed. Putting plot concerns aside, by any standard, Avatar was a masterwork of visual-based storytelling, and Cameron's massive success in that aspect is what earned it the nomination.

(lrn 2 quote )