Post Oscar Haze
I really liked Syriana and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which were about the only two movies I saw in the theater last year. Obviously I went to them for vastly different reasons and had different expectations and both exceeded my expectations. I think the academy could definitely loosen up and reconnect with more popular, fun, humorous movies. Either that or they should just be up front and change the award name to "Best Dramatic Picture" or even "Best Dramatic Unpopular Picture".
Crash I saw kind of by accident on DVD and wasn't expecting much, but it was quite good. Best picutre? Maybe, but I didn't see enough of them to know. Didn't see "Brokeback" and was never interested. My wife asked me why not. I asked my wife if she would be interested if it were two women. She said no, probably not. I am glad a "gay themed" story got so much attention and I will be so much more proud of our country when gay people are allowed to marry each other. However, I don't like the lead actors that much and I don't really want to see them make out.
Movies are not nearly so important as they were a few years ago and my expectations for a theater experience are extremely low. I avioded seeing "Match Point" in the theater because I like Woody Allen and Scarlet Johanssen so much I would hate for the movie to be ruined by some losers. "Gosford Park" and "The Two Towers" both were completely ruined for me by idiotic discussion and laughter happening around me. But "Match Point" is already in my netflix queue.
The last truly great, magical, communal theater experiences I had were "About Schmidt" at the Uptown and "Vanilla Sky" at Grandview. What was that, five years ago? I've given up on it.
As far as "deserving" awards goes, John Stewart (who I thought was a great host) summarized the Oscars (and all the other "major" awards) when he said, "Martin Scorcese, zero oscars, 3-6 Mafia, one". The "deserving" are not rewarded. Take the grammys (please!) and Elvis. Elvis won two grammys - both for the song "How Great Thou Art". Elvis in the 1950s? Bob Dylan in the 1960s? Zero grammys. Indefinsible.
I have been thinking some more about my Oscar comments, and was challenged with some thoughts and emails sent to me.
ReplyDeleteI will make a point to watch the movies that I innapropriately chided, as I have not seen them yet. I am sure I will enjoy them, when they get to the top of my Blockbuster DVD queue.
I also don't mind the "deep, thoughtful movies with a message" like Brokeback or Munich being nominated for an award, but I just have a problem with those types of movies being the only ones that are put on a pedastal as "good cinema", while ignoring the films that came out earlier in the year that a majority of people liked and spent money on.
I especially take offense to the
message from the Academy President during the Oscars: big Hollywood epics must be seen on a theater screen, not at home on DVD!
Some films probably should be viewed in a theater, but this speech came across as a scolding. I don't take scoldings very well, especially in a highly competetive market, where I have a number of choices for my entertainment dollar.
The only thing I can say that makes me feel better is that this was the worst watched (from numbers) Oscars in years, so not many people heard the declaration from the Academy that we are at fault for the demise of the motion picture industry.
chazz.
Yep, the Oscars stink. Brokeback Mountain wasn't really about 2 guys kissing though. It was just a good, sad story. It's not a gay make-out movie, and it's not really preaching a political agenda. One can read it that way, if someone wants too, but that's not what's going on. Good, believable men and women dealing with some heavy stuff in a beautiful, American landscape. Pretty good to see on a big screen.
ReplyDeleteBut, I know what you fellas mean about going to the movie theatre and not enjoying it. I'm not a teenager, it's not a social event anymore, and it's too much money for what it is. Theaters always smell bad, the seating has gotten better (at least in the suburbs) but not great, and it's too expensive. Here in SF there are very few movie theatres left, and they are usually not great places to see a movie.
Maybe we expect too much from these things. We were all very exited to see "Raiders of the Lost Ark" when it came out, but we were young and hoped up on Goobers and monster-sized cola. That's not gonna happen to us anymore. Maybe that's a good thing and we can spend our money on other things, or just go and have a good time without putting our identity on the line.
The Grammys stink too: I don't even know who has won in the last 10 years. We're just not the audience for this stuff.