Friday, January 25, 2008

When did the Oscars go so wrong....

The Oscars used to be fun. I loved them. I loved leaving work early on a Monday around my birthday to race home and make guacamole for friends and we would watch the Oscars. You had favorites, like LA Confidential or Forest Gump or Titanic or Star Wars (before it was retitled "Star Wars 4: A New Hope" - which is a crappy name FYI).

Then they moved them to a Sunday.

Then they moved them from the last Monday in March to sometime around winter solstice.

Take a basic year - I took 1995 at random. The nominees for Best Picture were Apollo 13, Babe, Braveheart (winner), Il Postino and Sense & Sensability. Can you imagine any of those even getting a nomination this year!!!

Atonement (years of suffering due to a lying little brat)
There will be Blood (innocent steals millions of dollars and heroin and is hunted by cold blooded killers)
No Country for Old Men (Cruel and Angry Man makes money by driving everyone away and finding oil: my guess is that "Cruel and Angry Man" were the stage directions for Daniel Day Lewis).
Juno (happy uplifting tale of pregnant high schooler: comedy)
Micheal Clayton (well.. this is really a great movie so I have nothing bad to say about it)

Either by accident or bad luck, the move to the Kodak Theater has coincided with the movement of nominations from "Best" of the year to " Most Bloated and Atrsy-Fartsy" of the year. I mean, I thought The Bourne movie was great fun, fast moving, well shot and interesting. Could have used a steady cam, but that is a minor issue. But, apparently, too many people saw it and liked it.

In the old days, one or two nominations were held for self-important pictures (let's call it "The English Patient" effect). Now all the nominations, except maybe one, are held for self-important pictures that we (the public) are too dumb to want to see.

One last thing - then I will leave this subject because the Oscars are no longer fun. No matter how many awards Javier Bardem wins... I don't think walking around expressionless blowing people away is the "Best Supporting Actor" performance. I mean, give the hair and makeup man the award. A store manican could have done this performance.

PS: Go see Micheal Clayton. It's good and sneaks up on you.