Oscar Sucks
I watched the tail end of the Academy Award nomination press conference today, and all I can say is: what the hell? Let's focus primarily on the nominated films:
Brokeback Mountain
Goodnight and Good Luck
Munich
Capote
Crash
I was a bit stunned by these nominations. The only film out of these that I've even seen is Crash (thanks Michelle!). The only other one that looked remotely interesting to me was Munich, until I heard what its message and agenda was; at that point, I decided that even though I like Stephen Spielberg, and Eric Bana, I didn't care to see it.
Now, I can get over the fact that these movies are political; after all, some of the films I've liked most have been films that I thought had a light conservative inkling, like pretty much any movie that Mel Gibson spearheads. If it were me doing the nominating, I would have nominated The Island for best picture, as well as Walk the Line. I thought both were outstanding films. Like I said, I can get over the fact that the movies that were nominated were political; what I can't get over is that the films that were nominated were some of the lowest grossing films of the year. Translation? The films that Hollywood feels were the best films of the year are the films that mainstream America has pretty much completely ignored.
Spurred by Michael Medved's show today, I did some looking and confirming of my own. So far Capote, which was released at the end of September (that's four months that it's been out) has made a paltry fifteen million dollars. For the sake of comparison, the Martin Lawrence travesty known as Big Momma's House 2, which was released this weekend, has made almost thirty million dollars. That's almost double what Capote's made in four months. Is Big Momma's House 2 worthy of the Academy's recognition next year? Highly doubtful, and that's my point: the movies being nominated by the almighty Academy are movies that the general public have completely and totally rejected.
Another great example of this phenomenon was that stupid movie about Alexander the Greek that "starred" Colin Farrell. It got horrible reviews by audiences because it was a shitty, anachronistic travesty that didn't even do justice to a no talent hack like Alexander. (I really need to write up a post about how seriously overrated Alexander was at some point soon.) Critics and industry insiders, who appreciated the film's message of Alexander's alleged bisexuality (and, as an ancient historian, I can tell you for a fact that this was completely and totally overstated) blamed American audiences for, in effect, being too stupid to appreciate the film. In reality, it was a waste of celluloid and money.
I used to love going to see movies. Do you know how many movies I went to see last year, ladies and gentlemen? Six. I saw a total of six movies last year: Fever Pitch, Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, The Island, Wedding Crashers, Serenity, and Walk the Line. I can't tell you how many times I've looked up on Hollywood.com or Fandango.com, trying to find a movie to go see, and coming up totally dry; and now those movies that I didn't want to see, that nobody apparently wanted to see, are the only movies nominated for Oscars?
If this isn't further proof that Hollywood is completely out of touch not only with mainstream America, but with legitimate and compelling art, I don't know what is. Forgive my arrogance, but people aren't going to "discover" Goodnight and Good Luck, or Capote, or Brokeback Mountain in fifteen or twenty years and say "Wow, this was completely underappreciated in its own time." These aren't paintings by Picasso or Van Gogh or something. Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal pounding ass in a pup tent does not equate to Michaelangelo's ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
Simply ridiculous.
I was a bit stunned by these nominations. The only film out of these that I've even seen is Crash (thanks Michelle!). The only other one that looked remotely interesting to me was Munich, until I heard what its message and agenda was; at that point, I decided that even though I like Stephen Spielberg, and Eric Bana, I didn't care to see it.
Now, I can get over the fact that these movies are political; after all, some of the films I've liked most have been films that I thought had a light conservative inkling, like pretty much any movie that Mel Gibson spearheads. If it were me doing the nominating, I would have nominated The Island for best picture, as well as Walk the Line. I thought both were outstanding films. Like I said, I can get over the fact that the movies that were nominated were political; what I can't get over is that the films that were nominated were some of the lowest grossing films of the year. Translation? The films that Hollywood feels were the best films of the year are the films that mainstream America has pretty much completely ignored.
Spurred by Michael Medved's show today, I did some looking and confirming of my own. So far Capote, which was released at the end of September (that's four months that it's been out) has made a paltry fifteen million dollars. For the sake of comparison, the Martin Lawrence travesty known as Big Momma's House 2, which was released this weekend, has made almost thirty million dollars. That's almost double what Capote's made in four months. Is Big Momma's House 2 worthy of the Academy's recognition next year? Highly doubtful, and that's my point: the movies being nominated by the almighty Academy are movies that the general public have completely and totally rejected.
Another great example of this phenomenon was that stupid movie about Alexander the Greek that "starred" Colin Farrell. It got horrible reviews by audiences because it was a shitty, anachronistic travesty that didn't even do justice to a no talent hack like Alexander. (I really need to write up a post about how seriously overrated Alexander was at some point soon.) Critics and industry insiders, who appreciated the film's message of Alexander's alleged bisexuality (and, as an ancient historian, I can tell you for a fact that this was completely and totally overstated) blamed American audiences for, in effect, being too stupid to appreciate the film. In reality, it was a waste of celluloid and money.
I used to love going to see movies. Do you know how many movies I went to see last year, ladies and gentlemen? Six. I saw a total of six movies last year: Fever Pitch, Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, The Island, Wedding Crashers, Serenity, and Walk the Line. I can't tell you how many times I've looked up on Hollywood.com or Fandango.com, trying to find a movie to go see, and coming up totally dry; and now those movies that I didn't want to see, that nobody apparently wanted to see, are the only movies nominated for Oscars?
If this isn't further proof that Hollywood is completely out of touch not only with mainstream America, but with legitimate and compelling art, I don't know what is. Forgive my arrogance, but people aren't going to "discover" Goodnight and Good Luck, or Capote, or Brokeback Mountain in fifteen or twenty years and say "Wow, this was completely underappreciated in its own time." These aren't paintings by Picasso or Van Gogh or something. Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal pounding ass in a pup tent does not equate to Michaelangelo's ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
Simply ridiculous.
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