Golden Sunday

When did the Oscars become irrelevant?

Friends and colleague just laugh now about the award ceremony that will air this Sunday night. More interested in the movie stars frocks and their telecast reactions after a devastating loss. Does having an oscar mean anything? For best picture it means more money, but when you think of the best directors, best actors/actresses in history, most have never walked home with the golden man.

FAMOUS & EMBARRASSING OMISSIONS

Director

Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, Tim Burton, Jean-Luc Godard, Norman Jewison, Akira Kurosawa, Fritz Lang, Spike Lee, Robert Altman, Cecil B. De Mille, James Ivory, Ridley Scott, David Lynch, David Cronenberg, Sydney Lumet etc.. etc..

Actor

Donald Sutherland, Albert Finney, Richard Harris, Peter O'Toole, Paul Giamatti, Alan Arkin, Montgomery Clift, Richard Burton...

Actress

Annette Benning (who will likely be passed over AGAIN), Helena Bonham Carter, Glenn Close, Deborah Kerr, Angela Lansbury, Lauren Bacall, Barbara Stanwyck, Thelma Ritter, Rosalind Russell, Kristen Scott Thomas, Julianne Moore, Toni Collete, Molly Parker, Christina Ricci, Sigourney Weaver..

Perhaps quality is indicated in the company you keep. Then I guess it's far better to walk out empty handed...

This is the first year that I've ever seen every single film nominated or over hyped. Tonight is the Oscars, and I will be tuning out. For the past ten years most of the "winners" have left me dumbstruck. Sandra Bullock? Reese Witherspoon? Julia Roberts? Gwyneth Paltrow? REALLY??? I never grew up in an American high school where homecoming queens and kings are crowned victorious, but this seems like a grown up version of prom night. What are you wearing? You look lovely!

Toy Story 3 was great, but it was ... number three. Unfortunately their competition is a disappointing yet visual appealing Illusionist, and the fun but formulaic How to train your dragon. I was horrified that they ignored the sleeper hit Despicable Me, a far more original story with plenty of artistic merit.

Best Actress

My favourite performances of the year? Perhaps Jennifer Lawrence in The Winter's Bone if it can't be Lesley Manville in Another Year.

Best Actor

Colin Firth's portrayal in The King's Speech really has stood above the rest, however, I do wish the academy at least acknowledged Paul Giamatti's stellar role in Barney's Version.

Best Director

Tricky, tricky. If it's a matter of: "we should give the award to someone who has a fantastic body of work," then David Fincher by all means.

Best Picture

It's a moot point. There's nothing that I really really loved this year so what can I say? Er.. the King's Speech? Am I suppose to pity a wealthy, aristocrat who can't speak properly? Social Network... when I've never given a flying horse shit about facebook? It even had Justin Timberlake so it loses a few points there. The Fighter, an okay boxing film, with some really loud loud characters. Inception, which never fully felt like a dream? Black Swan, an over the top soap opera that made me laugh rather than care about Nina? Maybe Winter's Bone, but who actually saw it? Oh and I forgot about True Grit. I guess that's the problem.

In the end, frankly, I just don't give a damn.

Awards and boredom

I barely watched the Academy Awards last night. Everyone who was predicted to win... won. The saccharine self congratulations all throughout the night dissolved into a foul after taste. Can't they just read out who was nominated rather than the "gushing" dialogue from five over exposed actor/actresses?

The pitiful change was doubling the number of best picture nominees when it was such a weak year for film. It's a historic year (with Bigelow's win, certainly the strongest direction), but also... a disappointing one. One of the least successful box office films won best picture, a film that was no better deserving than say... White Ribbon or 500 Days of Summer. High concept films have all been ignored. Where the Wild Things Are, Coraline, Moon, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Doctor Parnassus, and Star Trek are examples of not meeting "best picture" standards. Even period films such as Bright Star (an early year release) or The Last Station faded into memory. Unfortunately the Academy has continued the message that successful popular films do not win, and that serious fare equals "good cinema". It just indicates how out of the touch they are with the next generation of film lovers.

Last year I was hoping to see a film that left a lasting impression. Like the first time I saw The Last Emperor, A Clockwork Orange, Lawrence of Arabia, or the Maltese Falcon... something... epic. Nada.

I wasn't the biggest fan of Avatar (it was... entertaining), then again I wasn't bowled over by The Hurt Locker either. To be honest, in thirty years the only film people will remember from this year is... Avatar.

It's a crap shoot, some of the greatest films have won the trophy, Gone with the Wind, Godfather, Amadeus, Out of Africa, Lord of the Rings. On the other hand, the most influential films are always passed over, Indian Jones, Rashomon, Star Wars, 2001 Space Odyssey, Pulp Fiction, Psycho, Big Lebowski, Vertigo, Rear Window, Alien, The Shining, Double Indemnity to name a few.

I mean.. has anyone seen "How Green Was My Valley?" or "Gentleman's Agreement?"

So the question is, is it better to be remembered or win a trophy?