ACADEMY AWARDS ABOUT TO "JUMP THE SHARK"?

Network America ^ | 25 Jan 2005 | Jim Condit, Jr.

[Sam Cree]

Have any Martin Cuz Smith novels been made into movies?

[Mark in the Old South]

Re: "What was the cut-off for you?"

When "Out of Africa" won when "Ran" was clearly the better movie. Hollywierd is racist.

[DoughtyOne]

On the Laura Ingraham show yesterday Monday morning, Michael Medved was talking about the demise of Johnny Carson. He mentioned that Carson's following was so strong that the wedding of Tiny Tim drew more watchers than this year's Academy Awards ceremony will.

Wow, that sure put the Academy in the proper perspective for me.

[fanfan]

The Oscars are supposed to be about what are the best in each category, not which are the most popular (that would eb the People's Choice Awards). Of course, "best" is a very subjective term, and the choices reflect heavily on the voters' states of mind and biases.

Shouldn't the 'academy' choose films that did well? Shouldn't they at least try to pretend to be in touch with their customers?The writer is correct about this much, it's an incredibly powerful movie, and for the academy to ignore it, well, if we needed any more proof.....}-(

IMO, if The Passion had been about any other historical or mythical person, the left would have shoved it down our throats.

[Fred Hayek]

The Awards jumped the shark long ago, when "Hearts and Minds" got the "best documentary", in fact a propaganda piece for Hanoi. Upon accepting the award, the directors' speech praised the Khmer Rouge for taking over Cambodia. I was a kid then, and my folks saw me giving the bird to the TV and saying things like ******* Commies, go back to ******* Hanoi". The reaction was What is that all about? I said "Just wait and watch." A few years later was the news of the genocide in Cambodia.

[fanfan]

Each category is nominated by their own. Actors for actors, directors for directors. No commitee meetings to decide. Secret ballots that go righ tto a private accounting firm that counts em up. No deals made amongst groups of people. One group has no control over how another votes.

*snicker*

Come on, you're saying they don't talk? There's no politics involved?

[Borges]

A few people may talk with each other but there are almost 6000 members. They don't communally decide anything.

[Borges]

Sarcastic? Ran was the better film but it won the Foriegn Language cateogory.

[Liberty Valance]

I've always wanted to see Clancy's "Red Storm Rising" made into a movie. Guess that will never happen.

[ml/nj]

The Oscars are supposed to be about what are the best in each category

What was the best documentary of the past decade?

(Clue: It didn't win an Oscar.)

ML/NJ

[kevkrom]

I'm not defending the Oscars, I'm just pointing out that criticizing the nominations based on the relative film popularity is a strawman. In fact, my next statement pointed out that the process is highly subjective, and the resulting nominations say a lot about the voters, and not so much about the films, per se.

[Mark in the Old South]

Re: "Sarcastic?"

Usually
But not this time "Ran" is one of my all time favorite films. Along with Gibson's masterpiece it out did "Out of Africa" in every way. It was based on "King Lear" and the performances were the best I have ever seen. The woman who got revenge on her father-in-law was without a doubt the most memorable. Pity some people can not get past subtitles.

[Captain Peter Blood]

Look I used to run a video store and I have seen and been deluged at times with advance screeners of all types of movies including Art House pictures.
I have found most of the Art House type films overblown, boring and pretentious. Now I like very offbeat films and I have no trouble finding them, although most of those types are not nominated for the Oscars.
Most film critics do not write for the everyday person just looking to be entertained. Most of them think they are writing for the New York Times or heaven forbid the Village Voice or some other overblown elitist snob Eastern , L.A. or even worse San Francisco paper with pretensions of grandeur.
I don't take any of these critics seriously and can find and make my own decisions on what to watch.
Granted there is once and awhile a gem picture out there worth publicizing but not very often. Most of it is absolute trash.

[Orca]

Oscars = ego display = emetic = projectile vomiting. So, I don't watch in order to protect my TV, floor, and toilet.

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

It's pointless to cry that Passion of the Christ wasn't nominated for best picture. It didn't even qualify. It's not in ENGLISH or any other language commonly spoken on the planet today.

[Charles Martel]

I've always wanted to see Clancy's "Red Storm Rising" made into a movie. Guess that will never happen.

I've wanted to see that one on the screen, too. I don't thing it's possible to squeeze a credible version in three hours - but it would make a fine miniseries. Of course, the book begins with some Muslims blowing up a Soviet oil refinery, IIRC, so that'd have to be revised to avoid hurting anyone's feelings.

Come to think of it, I'll just read the book again. Hollywood can only diminish it.

[finnigan2]

"What was the cut-off for you? Driving Miss Daisy, Rain Man or The Last Emperor?"

- Rain Man.
Dustin Hoffman sleepwalked through this movie showing no more emotion than a slack jawed Mongoloid on Prozac and still won Best Actor. After that, I realized that the Awards were nothing more than a PR promotion and I stopped watching.
It's one thing to be taken for a fool by the "Academy" each year by watching this over hyped circus, it's quite another to really be one by doing so.

[Mamzelle]

While I never really wanted the Passion to be on the Oscar "Red Carpet"-- this might be a good year to boycott the Oscars just to let Gomorrah know we noticed. Nobody turn the TV on, period, for the time that the Oscars are on? Wonder how that'd work.

[Borges]

Uum OK. Calling people with who's taste you disagree snobs doesn't go very far. A critic can only say they think about a movie not what they think you want them to think. One of my favorite films of all time is 2001: A Space Oddyssey which you would probably call "overblown, boring and pretentious." It's just a matter of taste.

[Borges]

He was playing a withdrawn mentally ill man!