Letters to the Editor
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A very self-important, insular world
Members of the Academy don't have to get out of the house much, because everything they need is brought directly to them (including the movies they "screen" and choose to nominate.) Hollywood is a very small town and is really no more reflective of the movie-going public than the White House Administration is reflective of the American people.
I just watch for the dresses.
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"The Academy"
In the past few years it seems as though critics' bemoaning the choices for the Academy Awards has become almost as tiresome as the awards themselves. In this cranky and nonsensical article, Stephanie Zacharek repeatedly assigns motives to "the Academy," talking about an enormous group of people as though it were a singular voice with a specific, articulated agenda to push every year.
But isn't "the Academy" actually made up of many people, who may have a range of tastes? If Little Miss Sunshine gets nominated for alongside The Queen, does that necessarily mean that "the Academy" has consciously decided to be "annoyingly self-congratulatory ... as if its members were enormously pleased with themselves for daring to recognize an indie picture?" What if some people just liked Little Miss Sunshine? I certainly did. Furthermore, how can the mere fact of the picture's nomination be self-congratulatory? Has Ms. Zacharek heard actual members of the Academy congratulating themselves for this move? How might a nomination announcement express sincere enjoyment of a film instead of this perceived smugness? What would that look like?
It seems premature to me to be lamenting, as per usual, all of the lousy reasons Academy members have for picking films to award. Can't we at least wait 24 hours before deciding that not a single member of the Academy has any taste; recognizes a good film when he/she sees it; refrains from nominating a film because of its lack of quality rather than as a comment on its over-popularity; or decides to nominate a movie because it is good rather than because it assuages liberal guilt or feeds a desire to fake enjoyment of independent filmmaking? Come on.
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But, in the end...
...who could take the Academy Awards seriously, anyway? I watch it to see 'candid' shots of movie stars, hoping in vain to see them do something interesting (best watch the Golden Globes for that, I guess). I don't ever expect it (at least, since Forrest Gump received the Best Picture award) to truly recognize the 'best' of the industry.
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Recognising the BIG talent in "little" films
What I love about the success of Little Miss Sunshine and other movies of similar low budget status that have burst into the stratosphere is the way they bring so much talent with them that might otherwise have gone on playing second fiddle to the "big" stars. eg Toni Colette, Greg Kinnear and that guy from The 40 Year Old Virgin, as well as the films deserving writer, director and producer. The above names are good actors who get a lot of good work, but they can often be overshadowed by the Cate Blanchetts and Leo di Caprio'sof Hollywood. Who of course are also great, but I like it when quieter but no less accomplished talents make it into that group. Like Paul Giamatti and the writer/director of "Sideways" a few years ago.
Frances McDormand, Catherine Keener, Steve Buscemi, Alfre Woodard, Brenda Blethyn, America Ferrara, John and Joan Cusack, the child actors in Lovely and Amazing and Little Miss Sunshine ... there are so many great actors who I want to see more of, and when one of these films that regularly employs these actors makes it big, they drag a whole lot of great talent into a more monied realm with them. And that's great for fans of good little stories well told, like me, and great for movies.
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curious..
any truth to the rumor (maybe I even read it here at Salon), that at least one major movie critic included "The Wire" in their list of the 10 best movies of the year?
If so, who was it, and does anyone know where I can find that list and any commentary?
To judge from the nominees I've seen, and the ones I've only heard about, "The Wire" could reasonably be compared to the best Hollywood movies this year. I saw "the Departed" and it was competent entertainment, but no more than that. Nothing as inspired as "the Wire." Not. Even. Close.
Pan's Labyrinth sounds like a better Best Picture winner, but it didn't get that nomination.
I wonder if Hollywood will *ever* acknowledge the profound talent at work in "the Wire." The boys in the studios could stand to take a look at what the best in their business are doing. The movies I saw this year suggest that nobody in Hollywood is working at the level David Simon and his people are.
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white males abound
I'll be more interested when a white male (except for Ang Lee) doesn't stack the nominations and subsequently winners for Best Director. And that includes the writers as well.
Where are the women and minorities? It's pathetic.
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The Wire
I was pleasantly surprised to see a mention of the great HBO series The Wire. I gotta agree, The Wire is heads above not only most television productions, but most feature films as well. Watch The Wire and become a convert.
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The AMPAS process precludes meritocracy...
The Oscars are, above all, decided by commercial considerations. Members of the Academy, by and large studio hacks, vote how they are told to vote. Back-room horsetrading among the studios settles the outcome.
The sole semblance of honor in an Oscar is nomination, insofar as it is rare that outright terrible movies are nominated.
I've always thought the awards conferred by film critics more meaningful - not because critical acclaim is more meaningful than commercial consideration, but because at least most of the voters have seen most of the films for which they are voting.
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Little Miss Barf Bag
Watching "Little Miss Sunshine" not only made me hate the movie, it made me hate movies. I don't think I'll ever go see another one. What a vacuous little bubble of fluff! Three jokes and a conclusion that was obvious ten minutes into the picture. Indie, my ass: it played like a TV commercial, stroking its audience's conceits and prejudices with a vanload of leaden irony but not a hint of grace. Ugh. And we're going to see quite a few more where that came from, I'm sure.