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And the Oscar for most depressing . . .
Jewish World Review ^ | Feb. 25, 2008 | Mitch Albom

Posted on 02/25/2008 12:20:00 PM PST by Caleb1411

I'm didn't watch the Oscars. Normally I do. But I've spent enough time and money on the most depressing, dark and disturbed lineup of movies I ever can remember. I don't need to see them get rewarded.

Am I the only one who remembers when they actually gave Oscars to movies that had happy endings? There's not one happy ending in this lot — unless you consider an unplanned teenage pregnancy resulting in someone else's adoption a happy ending. That's the big payoff in "Juno."

Otherwise, you have "There Will Be Blood," in which a tyrannical oil baron destroys everyone and everything around him; "No Country For Old Men," in which a serial killer destroys everything and everyone around him; "Michael Clayton," in which greed gets nearly everyone killed; and "Atonement," in which a false accusation ruins the lives of all involved.

Um. Remind me again.

Why do we go to the movies?

THERE'S NO DEBATE HERE

Now, I'm not a Pollyanna. I enjoy films. I collect them. And I understand that not every story ends with music swirling and heroes walking off into a sunset.

But lately there's this sense that unless a movie is dark, violent and hopeless, it can't be "real." It can't be "art." It can't truly "matter." I put these words in quotes because it feels as if critics and awards committees define things that way.

(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: hollywood; oscar
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1 posted on 02/25/2008 12:20:03 PM PST by Caleb1411
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To: Caleb1411
It can't be "art."

Art is dead.

2 posted on 02/25/2008 12:22:20 PM PST by Pietro
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To: Caleb1411
"Michael Clayton" was a dull, TV-quality film.

It had no business being up for an Oscar.

3 posted on 02/25/2008 12:25:13 PM PST by what's up
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To: Art; Pietro
Art is dead.

Say it ain't so! 

4 posted on 02/25/2008 12:25:25 PM PST by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: Pietro

I thought Art Bell was just retired and living in Thailand.


5 posted on 02/25/2008 12:25:37 PM PST by weegee (Those who surrender personal liberty to lower global temperatures will receive neither.)
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To: Caleb1411

I thought No Country for Old Men was a very good movie. But then I love all of the Cohen Brothers movies, starting with the first one I saw: Blood Simple.

Anyone remember that old one?


6 posted on 02/25/2008 12:25:52 PM PST by i_dont_chat (Your choice if you take offense.)
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To: Caleb1411

What I notice are the message movies. The oil barron. Wow, that was a stretch. Greed? Oh those pescky republicans need to be taken down a notch. You know damned well that’s what they producers were thinking.

I’m sick of this anti-American swill, and I’m tired of the globalist nonsense that sees foreign actors and actresses all the rage today in our effort to force multi-culturalism all the way down the digestive tract of U. S. Citizens.

I love people of all races, nationalities and places on the planet. Is it okay if I love my own race too? Evidently not. Nah, don’t root for one of those people. Ewwwwwwwwwwww...


7 posted on 02/25/2008 12:26:23 PM PST by DoughtyOne (We've got Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dumb & Tweedle Dumber left. Name them in order. I dare ya.)
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To: Caleb1411

Ever since “Midnight Cowboy” swept the Oscars forty years ago it has to be dark and depressing to be “authentic.”

Nowadays, if it isn’t dark/violent/sexed up, it’s automatically considered “family fare” and presumably beneath serious attention.


8 posted on 02/25/2008 12:26:27 PM PST by sinanju
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To: Caleb1411

Mitch is a whiner.

Some ideas aren’t all Disney-fodder and aren’t meant “for the whole family”.

Get over it, Mitch.


9 posted on 02/25/2008 12:27:36 PM PST by SJSAMPLE
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To: what's up

They just gave it to Clooney becuz he’d gnaw the zits off Obama’s backside out of Love.


10 posted on 02/25/2008 12:27:54 PM PST by redstateconfidential (If you are the smartest person in the room,you are hanging out with the wrong people.)
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To: Caleb1411

And the Oscar for most depressing

And who cares. The acting is poor, and without conviction. I wish we had the old actors and actresses back. John Wayne, Charles Bronson, Etc. they made it come real

I watched about 30 seconds of the pre-hype then went to the NASCAR races. The Rain break was better than the Oscars ever were.


11 posted on 02/25/2008 12:28:01 PM PST by chainsaw (Monica Lewinsky's ex-sex partner's wife for Pesident ?....No Muslim in the WH either.)
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To: DoughtyOne

It seems in the original 1927 Upton Sinclair novel: “Oil!” the Daniel-Day Lewis character was the hero rather than villain. The small, independent oilman struggling to make a living in the shadow of the Rockefellers, et al.


12 posted on 02/25/2008 12:28:42 PM PST by sinanju
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To: i_dont_chat
Anyone remember that old one?

The same Cohen brothers who produced Raising Arizona and Fargo?

13 posted on 02/25/2008 12:29:23 PM PST by MJemison
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To: what's up

Michael Clayton” was a dull, TV-quality film.
It had no business being up for an Oscar.”

Except that George Clooney was in it so it automatically gets nominated.


14 posted on 02/25/2008 12:29:31 PM PST by Holicheese (Beware your friendly air defenses!)
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To: Caleb1411
I rarely go to movies any more, mainly because most of them fail my basic premise for going: To escape from the daily grind and enjoy something that makes me laugh and smile. Hollywood seems to think its job is to educate people on topics that the likes of Michael Moore thinks are interesting. That’s fine, but don’t expect me to support it at the theater or on TV by watching the Oscars. Judging from the ratings for last night's bad joke, there are a lot of other people who feel the same. Finally, compare the People's Choice Awards and the box office receipts to get a better idea of what people want to see in a theater.
15 posted on 02/25/2008 12:29:52 PM PST by econjack (Some people are as dumb as soup.)
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To: DoughtyOne

Of course the hypocasy is lost on these people. Bill Gates, Steve Job’s et.al. Democrats and rich, just like many corporate CEO’s.


16 posted on 02/25/2008 12:30:12 PM PST by Bruinator (It's the Media.............Stupid)
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To: DoughtyOne

The current wave has been the” brilliant” Chinese actors who do a very bad impression of Snake Pliskin or Tony Curtis in drag. Its all to prepare us for our new overlords.


17 posted on 02/25/2008 12:30:21 PM PST by redstateconfidential (If you are the smartest person in the room,you are hanging out with the wrong people.)
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To: i_dont_chat

Ever since “Beerfest” was not even nominated for an award, I knew the Oscars was fixed.
I have boycotted ever since.


18 posted on 02/25/2008 12:30:27 PM PST by Holicheese (Beware your friendly air defenses!)
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To: sinanju

And thus the individual is now the villain.


19 posted on 02/25/2008 12:31:19 PM PST by redstateconfidential (If you are the smartest person in the room,you are hanging out with the wrong people.)
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To: Caleb1411

I don’t watch negative, depressing movies. I have my own problems in my own life, and I tend to deal with them rather nicely, thank you. So, I sure as hell don’t need to hear about someone else screwing up everything around them. Geesh, I hate Hollywierd. Movies are a “slice of life.”

Hollywood used to try to give us uplifting, positive slices of life that helped us cope or briefly escape — either of which is acceptable. Now, the leftwing movie moguls and their airheaded “stars” insist upon foisting the most negatives slices of life they can find on us — and telling us that’s all there is.

My idea of a happy ending now would be for everyone in Hollywierd — with the possible exception of Arnold the Pig — to drop dead.


20 posted on 02/25/2008 12:31:21 PM PST by lapster
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