Letters to the Editor
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Short attention spans
I think the whole business of Hollywood movies has begun to be dependent on two factors:e
1. American movie-goers, both of them, have relatively short attention spans. So movies have to be rotated far more often than ever before. And that means more movies are available, but for shorter periods--hence lower grosses.
2. More power to the film distributors, thanks to this process. Due to the first point--and the studios that don't promote movies over a longer period--the "shelf life" of a movie has become ever shorter. Part of this is due to DVD release, which changes the dynamics of theatrical release, and part of it is due to the cost of taking a family or date to the theater.
However, the benefit is that more limited-audience movies are being made, from historical pieces (like the Edward R. Murrow picture) to sci-fi movies to nature pieces.
Frankly, I think it's very healthy for the motion picture business. It's just that there won't be huge blockbusters regularly like in the past.
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Oscars - Brokeback Mountain
CONTINUED FROM PRIOR POST: The truth is, the Academy of the past decade or so is a neo-conservative organization that regularly sacrifices rewarding great art on account of their visions of long-term commerce and so-called family values. The Academy cannot handle REAL gays. Brokeback's are real; Capote is what they would rather show us, the flamboyant - and, in their eyes, therefore freakish minory. I hope you will indulge me and read a long rant that I wrote shortly after the 2005 Oscars when Crash beat Brokeback in the biggest - and, in many ways, worst - upset in its history. I believe it contains reasoning along similar lines as yours, but also shows how important precursors are, and were, and shows up the Academy for what it is, an organization without credibility or substance.
"It is fine for people to prefer Brokeback to Crash,
or Crash to Brokeback. Roger Ebert preferred Crash; he
is not a bigot (but he is virtually the only major critic in America who did prefer Crash, virtually all others overwhelmingly preferred Brokeback). However, for those of us who call the Academy bigots for selecting Crash, there is
a huge amount of evidence. I never previously called
the Academy bigots for denying other films with black
or Jewish or gay themes the Oscar, but this was
different. The Crash upset over Brokeback Mountain is
considered by many film historians to be the biggest
and among the most egregious in film history for the
following reasons:
Please try to forget one's own personal opinion of
Brokeback as you read this (believe it or not, I am),
and consider Oscar history. In its 78 year history,
the "best" film of the year has rarely won the Oscar,
10-20 times at best, a poor history. But last year's
Best Picture upset was unprecedented, and it happened
for insidious reasons. Brokeback, prior to the Oscars,
was the most honored film in movie history for a
single year, winning more Best Picture/ Director
prizes than any other film ever, including Schindler's
List (though admittedly there are more prizes now, but
Brokeback still did slightly better than even that
film when you take Director prizes into account).
Nothing with its combination of critical AND guild
prizes had ever lost. L.A. Confidential swept the
critics' prizes in 1997, but then Titanic's onslaught
gave it the Globe, major guilds prizes, and the stage
was set for the Oscars. But Brokeback won the
Producers, Directors and Writers Guild awards. No
film with those 3 had ever lost. Brokeback won the
Golden Globe, DGA and had the most nominations. No
film with that combination had ever lost. Brokeback
had the New York and Los Angeles Film Critics awards,
with the most nominations, again, a trio that had
never lost. There are other combos along those lines. And
it even won major prizes in Europe, like BAFTA,
Venice, ultra- prestigious Sight & Sound's #1 film,
etc. I can go on.
Just as important, Brokeback was the top box office
earner among the nominees and,
rated the number 1 box office story of the year among
all 2005 films, per major site Box Office Mojo. And,
Brokeback was undeniably a cultural zeitgeist. When
you do the math, there is absolutely no way, no how
Brokeback should have lost. The only other losing
film even in Brokeback's league vis-a-vis pre-Oscar
prizes was Saving Private Ryan. But even Ryan didn't
have Brokeback's overwhelming dominance at critics' prizes,
plus Ryan fell short at the Writers Guild and other
screenplay prizes, whereas Brokeback won many,
including the Globe, Guild, etc. So what happened???
Shortly after the nominations, I have read that the
Academy received a petition signed by 60,000 right
wingers stating that they would never watch the Oscars
again if "the gay movie" won, and that their friends
felt the same. Then, the late night talk shows
stepped up the gay jokes, and the film started to
become a bit of a joke. Then, Hollywood
relics/legends Tony Curtis and Ernest Borgnine each
publically stated that neither they nor any of their
friends would even see Brokeback, because "John Wayne
would roll over in his grave". As an aside, can you
imagine the (rightful) outcry there would have been
had people said they refused to see the black film,
the Jewish film, the hispanic film?
Anyhow, that's when the pundits started saying that
perhaps another film would win. Nobody believed them
because of the overwhelming dominance of Brokeback,
and besides, there was nothing to support. That's
when Crash become "the great straight hope". Pundits
like Tom O'Neil who predicted Good Night and Good Luck
prior to the Globes gave up on that film, while
everyone knew that both Munich and Capote were lucky
to be nominated (deserving, but still lucky, most
thought Walk the Line would take one of their slots).
Crash, which had was not a factor in any major
critical races except for the Roger Ebert awards -
excuse me - the Chicago Film Critics awards, suddenly
won the Actor's Guild Ensemble prize, and suddenly,
there was a film to rally behind. Never mind that
that ensemble award is NOT a Best Picture prize, past
winners include The Birdcage, The Full Monty, Gosford
Park, etc., none of which were remotely serious
contenders for the Oscar. At the Oscars, however, 3
performances were nominated from Brokeback, only 1
from Crash, further confirming that SAG voters likely
appreciated the huge cast of Crash and supported it as
such (plus that video onslaught); Brokeback had a
number of important rolls, but it's a 2-4
person movie, at most; Crash had a solid dozen. But
still, Crash got a 69 at metacritic,
a terrible score, the lowest of any nominee (since metacritic's inception), and Crash wasn't even
nominated for the Golden Globe. Since the Globes
started in 1943, every single Oscar winner had at
least been nominated for the Globe, with only one
exception, The Sting, and supposedly that was on
account of category confusion - was Sting a drama or
comedy.