"Veterans are pissed saying this movie is completely unbelievable, as well as a soldier suing because he believes the story was ripped off and he wasn't given the due credit."

Well, which is it? You've got a soldier saying it was his story, right? Then how can it be so unbelievable?

Don't know if you;re old enough to remember, but Vietnam didn't get it's due in the movies until a decade after it was over. Deer Hunter and Coming Home were themed around the war, but they weren't war movies. What did we get DURING the war? The Green Berets with John Wayne.

It wasn't until Platoon and the overlooked (but superior in some ways - Courtney B. Vance is freakin' FANTASTIC as Doc") Hamburger Hill. Then we got all the crap Missing In Action movies and Rambo (First Blood was excellent until his weepy breakdown in the sheriff's office - read the book). You can expect the same from Iraq & Afghanistan. Two or three really good movies and a whole lot of crap.

Hurt Locker was one of the good ones.

by MedfordTim on 03/09/2010 03:07:17 PM EST

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I'm not a soldier and I'm not in a position to say how things actually go/went down in Iraq.  I will say it is possible to draw on real life soldiers/war experiences and embellish them for dramatic effect.  This movie doesn't claim to be a documentary, however, is it coincidence that the Hurt Locker uses the same call signal/nickname, Blaster One, which happens to be the same name for Sergent Jeffrey Sarver, the one suing the Hurt Locker?  

I hear you about the time lag for war movies being released, however, my main point was that there have been some great war movies made and Hurt Locker is not one of them.  Although I'm not a fan of big-budget, special-effects ridden movies, there is no doubt Avatar and James Cameron should of won.

by rev24 on 03/09/2010 03:38:19 PM EST

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If the soldier has a case, more power to him, but I'm betting that ALL the bomb squad leaders are called "blaster one" - kinda goes with the job description...just sayin'...

I still disagree that it wasn't a great war movie, but that's a matter of taste. I understand your results may vary.

Stephen Lang should have won a Best Supporting for Avatar, but he ALWAYS gets overlooked despite being one of the best damn character actors out there. As I said elsewhere, I would have gone with Precious, but Hurt Locker would definitely have gotten my nod over Avatar. Hell, I still like The Abyss (Director's Cut) better than Avatar...

by MedfordTim on 03/09/2010 04:18:45 PM EST

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Ah man I thought you were talking about JP from Grandma's Boy, otherwise known as Joel David Moore.  How can you not love JP - "adios turd nuggets!"

Though on a serious note, I think Christoph Waltz definitely deserved the Oscar.  The only acting Oscar that I had issue with was the whole Sandra Bullocks debacle.  Gabby Sidibe should of won, but if that was too much black for the Oscars, they could of at least gone with the Streepster.  F' that white woman saves hopeless black kid bollocks.  

by rev24 on 03/09/2010 08:38:09 PM EST

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Can somebody explain, why he got the supporting Oscar?
He had the most screentime, he portrayed the most important character in the film and he acted brilliantly in three languages.
Was he a supporting actor, just because he was German?

"The first thing Fascists usually try to do is silencing the opposition."

by opposition on 03/11/2010 02:53:06 AM EST

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The supporting classification is sometimes tough to nail down, but it largely a matter of screen time, not the importance of the character.

Waltz disappeared from large stretches of the story, including the entire second and fourth chapters. Leads are commonly considered characters who dominate the story - think Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler. I think Basterds would be correctly classified as an ensemble without a lead performance like Gosford Park or Magnolia.

You could make the case that the Oscars fudge the boundaries on this all the time and you'd be right. This often has more to do with star power and maneuvering than accurately reflecting the films. Tom Cruise was placed in lead over Jamie Foxx for Collateral even though Foxx was in every seen of the movie. Likewise Brad Pitt was pushed as lead for Basterds despite having no more screen time than Waltz. This is because in both cases it makes sense to push the bigger star because he stands a better chance in lead and because it increases both of their chances if they're not in competition with each other.

Sometimes it really is impossible to say. I think you could make a case either way for Heath Ledger in the Dark Knight, for example.

by govan1980 on 03/11/2010 11:17:10 AM EST

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