Get On UP...

[ChitHappens]

Super well done.

If you put Chadwick Boseman on stage next to James Brown on stage, you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference. He truly embodied Brown's performance. He did a really good job!

But I have to say, putting Viola Davis and Lennie James in the same movie in the same scenes = POWER! I was in complete and utter awe with the few scenes they had. From the moment they started, I just wanted more. Davis not having an Oscar at this point is downright blasephemous! Their first scene together just puts you in a state of shock. Wonderful combination! I've commited their scenes to memory!

Brown was a very smart man when it came to business, but I already knew that before this movie!

[Mr. Vixen]

I want to see this. Not surprised that Viola was amazing. How was Octavia?

[BetterForgotten]

Glad you liked it.

For some reason, the trailers make it look tacky as hell, but I'll have to reserve judgement until I see it.

[Bright Eyes]

The trailers make it look like the movie is a huge snoozer.

[ChitHappens]

In regards to Oscars, this movie would and should struggle. There was no clear plot/story. The performances clearly carry the entire movie.

[ThePrinceOfSunspear]

The trailers haven't made me want to see it but you think it was really great ChitHappens? Like on par with Ray?

[ChitHappens]

Octavia didn't have much, but neither did Viola. However, Viola as the mother who left him, had more emotional meat to work with, and my God! She was magnificent [she and Lenny were so amazing]. I wanted to cry. Octavia was the woman [a madam] James' father handed him over to so that he (the father) could join the service.

[ChitHappens]

That's a tough one because I think it was super because the information was well put together, but again, there was no clear plot/story. There was no one point to link everything to. They only touched on things and then moved to the next. Like James being an abuser. There was one scene where he knocked the sh!t out of his wife (the lovely Jill Scott) and then they moved on [perhaps we could have drawn off of this, but nothing]. Once conversation with Little Richard, and then they moved on. Wasn't he an addict? Not sure what they were going for, but I dare anyone to find a better collection of performances in any movie this year! That is what made it so enjoyable.

Spike Lee was initially approached about directing. It might have been a poor choice to have gone with someone else.

[Bright Eyes]

Oh, I don't feel I'm jumping the gun at all by stating that this film won't be nominated for anything and will barely even be considered. There's a reason it came out in August, because the studio has no faith in it either.

[AdelaideCate007]

This. Boseman would be it's best chance (and he is very good) but Best Actor is stacked with people like Joaquin Phoenix, Benedict Cumberbatch, Steve Carrell, David Oyelowo, Michael Keaton, and Matthew McConaughey and I think all the newcomer traction is going to go towards Jack O'Connell. Viola Davis is very good but there's way too much competition in Best Supporting Actress for her to even get close to a nomination. It should do decently at the Golden Globes though.

Anyway as for Get On Up itself, I thought it was okay. The performances were great and the story was good, but like Chit said, there was no real plot. It moved super fast through most of the story and then other parts it just kind of touched on for a second and then moved on.

[ChitHappens]

Best supporting actress? Like who? Yes, I know Viola is much too dark skinned to generate any kind of buzz, but that woman acts from the gut. Her first few minutes were magnificent. She and Lennie play very well off of one another.

I won't say any names because Vix has radar when it comes to a specific overrated little bitch, but some of the past (recent past) supporting nominees have been given nods because of who they are and how Hollywood has built them. Nothing onscreen warrants some of the awards given!

Boseman? I don't think he is Oscar ready just yet (in regards to real gut wrenching performances), which is why I limited my initial post to Chad's stage performances as James. There were times, where I felt [very strongly] that the director should have stepped in but didn't. Times where, if I were directing, I would have yelled "cut" and ask Chad what was he feeling at the moment.

[AdelaideCate007]

I don't think she's unable to generate buzz. She's gotten two nominations in recent years and she was being predicted by most people earlier in the year before the film started screening and other films joined the lineup. It's just a stacked category this year- Carmen Ejogo, Jessica Chastain, Keira Knightley, Anna Kendrick, Patricia Arquette, Naomi Watts, Laura Dern, Emma Stone, Vanessa Redgrave. In a weaker year, she would have most likely had no problem getting in, but not this year.

[ChitHappens]

Why would a Viola Davis have to wait for a weaker year? Oh my God! I don't have anything else to add. It's not you personally, but I'm done!

[AdelaideCate007]

I just meant that an average film like Get On Up would have a much easier time breaking through with nominations in a weaker year. In a year like this with so many prestige and period films coming out, it's and thus it's performers aren't going to get much traction. Trust me, I feel your pain on Viola not having an Oscar. If I had my way, she would have won for Doubt.

[Mr. Vixen]

Chit, you're killing me with the JLaw hate! I thought you liked her as an actress but just thought she was over hyped?!