Letters to the Editor
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Nick44
Before the tribute Montage, the screen stated the period they were honoring ended 1/31/2008. That'd explain why no Roy Scheider, but not why no Brad Renfro. It is possible they overlooked him. It is also possible they ran out of time after including agents and executives that no-one has ever heard of.
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Does Oscar hate his own smell?
I have never read a more noxious overwritten piece on Salon or any other website I frequent.
Please put any further efforts like this in a clearly labeled "Failed Humor by Aspiring Verbal Athlete" section.
I stopped with Page One of the 3-page article.
Editors, please keep Salon adult.
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Hated it!
I am a big Oscar fan. I never fail to cry at the inspired speeches even if they are few and far between (commericials and stupid banter). The whole dare-to-dream thing always gets me. This year, not so much. Almost every presenter was stilted and robotic. Stewart was beyond boring...the giving away a "baby" to the pregnant women didn't even make sense. Worse it was insulting. Pregnant women do not enjoy being singled out. And on TV? At the Oscars? Those beautiful women should have pelted him with their pre-natals. I just imagine him snickering backstage writing this drivel. Oh where has the real Jon Stewart gone?
The montages were so inane I actually thought the editors were on strike now.
The speeches were totally uninspired. The Coen brothers are my favorite modern directors but their speeches? Ethan actually beggged off speaking when he won best writer. How about thanking the wife and kids? How about a little dare-to-dream? I agree, America hates itself and I hated the Oscars. Just wait till I get up there...
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Hey Cintra, you know what's more offensive than mariachis in sombreros?
Calling someone a Rastafarian just because he's a black guy with an island accent. That's somewhat akin to referring to to everyone who comes from a country south of San Diego a Mexican. It's very impressive that in the same paragraph where you accuse the Oscar producers of racism, you actually managed to make a MORE racist statement than the one you accused them of! That takes skills.
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Xenophobic crap
It's because of garbage like this that the U.S. is hated.
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The Idiot
Dostoevsky said to the niece to whom he dedicated, The Idiot... "I want to portray a truly beautiful soul." Cintra called him on it and remarked, "Fyodor, puhleeze!!!!"
You yanks only have two ways to deal with art in that vast, materialist culture of greed and violenz - IN or OUT. Yes, it applies precisely in the case of Oscar because... well, there is no other place to "portray" the art of cinema than trailers or reviews or crass hypemedia.
Which is not such an evil thing as it seems to be mistaken. It is as if an incorrect ID were hung on the whole affair - that we might watch it purposely instead of as more simple entertainment - about something I know steadfastly.
Who are "The Academy?" As I understand this to be merely a bunch of old fogies and industry hacks with some sort of "art- guilt" that packs into their choices, the winners are quite reasonable, perhaps even reassuring to the entire lot of them.
Someone has to win - why not the provocateurs who will most probably not empty out the theaters and destroy American culture that depends on the movie, instead of thoughtful, decent, community-based policies for humans and planetsharers?
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I think I'm finally beginning to "get" the Salon Writers' game....
Hey there....
Let me guess....if Cintra Wilson writes this sort of piece and gets it automatically published in Salon (which seems to be the case; is this a BLOG,also?)...
THEN...just maybe and if she's minimally lucky, she'll become the contrarian-go-to-girl when, say, NPR's "Day to Day" does a segment on "reaction to the oscars"......and MAYBE Ms. Wilson will also get her byline into "The Week"....right?
Salon's Debra Dickerson did this rather successfully for a while there.
...Otherwise, you'd be just another critic. So...how do you get your name known?......
I bet you a shiny red apple that Cintra Wilson wants at least a piece of this "review" to show up in "The Week"'s summary of critical responses to this year's Oscars......"oooh....we've got a female from a 'liberal' publication who HATED it!....get her on the phone!..."
It increasingly seems more-than-obvious to me that a dismayingly large number of writers for Salon are cultivating their prospects just as surely (and with quite the same degree of cynicism) as Anne Coulter does.
Oh well....presumably they know what's best for them....
----david terry
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Get it right
Daniel Day-Lewis is Irish, goddammit, not "British!"
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Six Buck Suits
I find this review unconsciously generational. An old world has passed, a new one has begun. The guys in $6,000 suits, the loyalty to the losers and unacceptability of the winners--even Lewis who was as much of a shoe-in for his "performance" as I've seen in recent years is not spared the scalpel.
I'm afraid if you're over a certain age we're in for it for awhile. The new generation has not only gotten out of bed, it's ready to fight. They are evolving a point of view that looks at a world they imagine will always be theirs--just like we did. The "stars" are serving the same purpose for them as they did for us--and for those before us.
Movies are an export. One of the few the country has left. Giving all these awards to "foreigners" is a good thing in my view.
I don't think it was intentional, but since it happened, I think it supports the view of what the nation at least used to be before it was taken over by the xenophobic. I don't think it does any harm to the industry--if that was the point. The frosting would have been if a muslim had won--but you can't have it all.
Yeah, that's an old man's view. I sit now and enjoy the spectacle seeing how many of the old names I can remember, and how many of the old winners bring tears to my good eye. Chaplin on the stage crying, Olivier dashing from the wings, Jennifer Jones smooching on the beach, I can handle watching them again. The Oscars have become a personal thing even if my suits aren't worth 6 bucks let alone 6,000.
I don't care how smart my views are any more, but I do wonder if I'm starting to see and appreciate more clearly. Gee, I wonder what it is that's leading to the new generation's assertiveness?
Thank you to Laura Vidal for inviting me over to the party and for the delectable chicken and rice.