The New York indie-film Gotham Awards just took place on Wall Street in Manhattan, and The Hurt Locker emerged the night’s big winner, taking home trophies for Best Feature and Best Ensemble. Its only loss came in the Breakthrough Actor category, as The Maid’s Catalina Saavedra upset Hurt Locker star Jeremy Renner and The Messenger’s Ben Foster. Meanwhile, Robert Siegel won the Breakthrough Director prize for Big Fan, and Food, Inc. was named Best Documentary. The Hurt Locker is well on its way to a Best Picture nomination, though its momentum won’t continue with tomorrow morning’s Spirit Award nominations: Since it played the film-festival circuit in 2008 (and received two Spirit nods last year), it’s not eligible this time around.
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Comments (1-14) of 14 Add your comment
It’s not an upset that Catalina Saavedra won.
I can’t decide if I want to see the Hurt Locker or not…it’s gotten such positive press, but my brother (a vet of Iraq and Afghanistan) walked out halfway through.
Well, it’s a really serious war movie. And very few people know how to appreciate war movies. But I loved it. I thought it’s one of the best films of the year, if not the best.
This film was entirely unrealistic. It is absolutely insulting to anyone who is a veteran. It is like they didn’t even try to investigate what E.O.D actually does. Setting aside the fact that it is beyond far from being realistic, the film itself wasn’t even that great. To think that somebody would be allowed to walk up to an IED or VBIED as the first option is ridiculous…that is absolutely the FINAL option. Most of the time, if any American gets even close to an IED the spotter will detonate the explosive. So mr. Jeremy Renner should have been dead the very first scene of this film. For a film that tries to be realistic, this is an epic failure. I really don;t understand why this film is so highly praised. There are so many flaws in this film I don;t want to even try and explain them all or I would be here all day.
I’m not sure why exactly he walked out…but I will say this, the movie takes some liberties with reality, as all military movies do. Some of the action takes place in a way that is not necessarily realistic, although it feels authentic in the context of the movie. If your brother walked out because he was ticked at the inaccuracies, I can see that…I swore off of military movies for awhile because so many were so phony. But The Hurt Locker’s liberties are far more tolerable than most, IMO–an excellent film, very intense and easily the best new release I saw this year.
Thanks for the input. I think I’ll see it, and then I can talk to him about what exactly bothered him about it.
Yeah, I almost walked out too! It’s a nicely done movie and the acting is great. But they took so many liberties that you can barely call it a military movie. You sort of have to suspend belief a little bit. Either they didn’t have a military advisor or completely ignored him. After watching this movie, I remembered why I avoid military themed movies.
I read that the military didn’t want to be involved with the film because they thought the characters were unrealistically portrayed. Unrealistic?! The Hurt Locker? Yeah, right. Yet the military went out of their way to help with Transformers 2! Talk about unrealistic. When are we ever going to be fighting robots from space? Probably not in our lifetime.
Why was Ben Foster considered for the Breakthrough Award this year? He got so much buzz last year for 3:10 to Yuma–wouldn’t that have been his breakthrough year?
Loved The Hurt Locker. NOT the typical war movie, and less about the Gulf War then you would expect. I hope it is nominated for Best Pic.Well deserved
Terrific film. I finally saw it a couple of weeks ago and was really moved. It’s a must-see and should definitely be nominated for Best Picture. I had some vets sitting next to me in the theater, and they kept saying how right on it was.
I almost walked out due to the brutal intensity of one scene, but was glad I stayed. Excellent movie, but very difficult to watch.
How does THE HURT LOCKER qualify for Oscar consideration when it was released at film festivals in 2008? Is The Academy of Motion Pics. Arts & Science making certain exceptions for their Best Picture category? I have yet to see the film but want to see it.
http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/rules/rule03.html
The link will explain how The Hurt Locker is qualified.
I saw the film twice and the second time was with everyone involved with the making of the film. I can say they were all down to earth lovely people. They *all* deserve kudos for their work on the film.