The Artist (2012)

The Worst Film Ever

An Exercise In Nonsense

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Go figure why this "mistake" won the Oscar for 2011 best picture. The Yo-Yos in Hollywood have s$%t for brains no doubt about it...it's all about who you sleep with anyway. War Horse was the best movie by far that year yet it got nothing. Years from now we will look back, laugh, and list the win as one of those memorable gaffes committed by Oscar voters. When I saw the film, one question kept popping into my mind: What's the point? Who cares about the silent movie era and it's stars? Why must we sit for 2 hours and watch something paying homage to an era that we'd rather forget? Dreadfully boring. Pointless and stupid.

A silent film, in black and white, led by two French stars that are virtually unknown in the United States, it doesn't seem like the kind of movie that, outside of art-house buffs, would catch on with a broader audience. But, the Weinstein instincts were right on as the movie played like gangbusters to critics (who applauded several times through the screening at Cannes), but moreover, Hazanavicius' film is a pure joy. Wildly entertaining, with a big generous heart, "The Artist" is not just an exercise in old school filmmaking, it's a beautifully told story that is classic and timeless in feel.

An amazing blend of current stars and past talent combined into the perfect cast. Elegance brushed into cinematic brilliance, weaves together an engaging story without color. Every scene is a painting, as the audience is given a tour of how film was and should be. This classic will forever be the last great film of the century.

There's no there, there. Dirt simple story you can see coming a mile away, so it's all about how they tell it, and it's told poorly. Pointless scene setting takes forever (that breakfast seems to have taken 1/3rd of the movie), important points skip on by. Acting and most photography is unimpressive. Too many straight on one shots. Too much mugging for the camera, too talkative, when it's a form that requires expression and movement. And too much feels like a gimmick. A silent movie it ain't. The two sound interludes make no sense. I expected it to become a sound picture with the advent of sound in film. That might have been interesting, and a way to show how the world changed overnight.