tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4706282221761427996.post2048514686231889886..comments2024-03-07T20:15:45.996-08:00Comments on The Bitter Script Reader: You're not imagining it - the Oscars have gotten lamer and more out of stepThe Bitter Script Readerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575166527272639709noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4706282221761427996.post-83799546240261531452012-01-28T23:19:48.281-08:002012-01-28T23:19:48.281-08:00the fallacy of this argument is assuming that the ...the fallacy of this argument is assuming that the kind of movies the studios are interested in making today are the same as 1991. whereas JFK, Bugsy, and Prince of Tides were more typical of a diverse slate of studio offerings (Silence of the Lambs was Orion as I recall), can you picture them being anything but the toughest of sells at their budgets adjusted for inflation today? <br /><br />the majors want to do CGI crapfests that can sell 70% of their tickets overseas. Spielberg, Eastwood, and Scorsese still have cachet to their names to get a War Horse, J. Edgar, or Hugo greenlit by a studio but otherwise they don't seem to particularly care if they're in the prestige business anymore. Moneyball barely got made itself, and only after the budget was substantially reworked to make the numbers fit for Sony. <br /><br />if they're not going to bother with good stories, why should junk like Harry Potter or Super 8 or Larry Crowne get nominated just to pander to the masses? They're not even in the same class as predecessors like Lord of the Rings, E.T. or As Good As It GetsChrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04499773796473787733noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4706282221761427996.post-66736182383226070872012-01-26T07:36:51.387-08:002012-01-26T07:36:51.387-08:00It would help if they had one dark horse inclusion...It would help if they had one dark horse inclusion of which would make people want to see the award show just for the entertainment/suspense value.<br />To try and see how the nominated movies can appear to an average viewer aka Joe the Plumber:<br /><br />The Help – unlike Color Purple, it is <i>appears</i> heavily handed in regards to characters (the help people – innocent; Southern ladies – evil and shrill); only viewers who fit Skeeter profile will see it<br />Moneyball – despite the presence of Brat Pitt, not a movie to take a girl to (will be popular as a rerun on cable)<br />War Horse – one of the most mainstream movies; I personally did not got to see it because it appeared too dark/and I actually do not like horses<br />Midnight in Paris - too elitist; literary references not everyone will get; especially now Paris is an equivalent of Dubai in SATC 2<br />Hugo – would be more popular if not set in Paris<br />The Descendants – trails and tribulation of a well to do middle age white guy; <br />Tree of Life – blockbuster in Idaho, Sarah Palin’s favorite (sarcasm)<br />The Artist – both title and the high concept alienates anyone who does not work in office<br />Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close – too much talk about the boy being autistic and not enough about the UNIVERSAL theme of son-father bond; on the other end of spectrum critics do not seem to like it<br /><br />Full disclosure: the only nominated movie I saw this year was Puss in the BootsMadisonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01106971915924348000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4706282221761427996.post-27084886614472147872012-01-25T21:12:56.864-08:002012-01-25T21:12:56.864-08:00I suppose we should be glad it wasn't Larry Cr...I suppose we should be glad it wasn't Larry CrowneThe Bitter Script Readerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16575166527272639709noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4706282221761427996.post-24241954412929976672012-01-25T21:12:23.826-08:002012-01-25T21:12:23.826-08:00My point in bringing up box office was not to stat...My point in bringing up box office was not to state that the highest grossing film should be the Best Picture. But we CAN use gross as an indicator of how many eyeballs have been on a film. If you look at the numbers, the average gross for <a href="http://boxofficemojo.com/oscar/chart/?yr=2010&view=allcategories&p=.htm" rel="nofollow">last year</a> was indeed twice what the average nominee gross is <a href="http://boxofficemojo.com/oscar/chart/?view=allcategories&yr=2011&p=.htm" rel="nofollow">this year.</a> <br /><br />And if you look at the list of films, last years had a few more mainstream titles than this year - but there is still a trend towards "important/indie"-type films. Toy Story 3 and Inception are really the only two straight-up crowd-pleaser types. <br /><br />The difference with this year is that one don't even have the one or two token mega-hits. Most of that list reads like a film snob's Netflix queue. If the Academy could nominate all three Lord of the Rings films and hand Return of the King a win, there's ZERO reason that Harry Potter isn't on the list other than snobbery.<br /><br />And many seem to think that Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close has no business being on there. I've not seen it, but those who have suggest that's another instance of the Academy choosing what they see as an "important" film.<br /><br />I just think the Oscars need to get overthemselves and learn what John Sullivan discovered in "Sullivan's Travels" - that fun movies are just as valuable as the "important" elitist fare.The Bitter Script Readerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16575166527272639709noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4706282221761427996.post-55256991268750781072012-01-25T19:28:29.641-08:002012-01-25T19:28:29.641-08:00I have always been big on the Oscars... but this y...I have always been big on the Oscars... but this year they got it WRONG. I mean... Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close... are you kidding me. No one liked that movie, especially critics. So what, just because Tom Hanks put on a decent performance it gets nominated for best picture? Pathetic.TonyFilangerihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01810295566617342940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4706282221761427996.post-81825978091138683332012-01-25T17:05:11.962-08:002012-01-25T17:05:11.962-08:00Eh, I'm just at this point going with what eve...Eh, I'm just at this point going with what everyone on Tumblr is saying - <br /><br />Alan Rickman for ALL the awards. Screw the rest.JamiSingshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12756726189949304645noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4706282221761427996.post-46544755516523657452012-01-25T16:18:03.239-08:002012-01-25T16:18:03.239-08:00It's kind of unfair to judge it solely against...It's kind of unfair to judge it solely against one year. Oscar always goes through cycles where it feels more in-touch then out of touch then in touch again. Last year you had a fair amount of movies that made a ton of money and were big hits, like Toy Story 3, and 2009 was even better where you had both Avatar and The (shouldn't have been nominated) Blind Side, that made more money combined than any other nominated films in years. I think this year is an example where the big budget blockbuster movies (save for HP7, which i think the acad was just biased against) just weren't really good enough to be considered. It's not like there was a Dark Knight comparison this year. And based on this assessment, you're taking a Grammy view. The Grammy's have sucked for years because they pandered to sales numbers and popularity contest, rather than what was actually GOOD music in a given year. I mean really, will anyone in Ten years be talking about Taylor Swift's Album of the Year winning Album? The Box Office (and in music's case, music sales) speak for themselves, so why do they need "awards" to back up already proven historically sealed money facts? There's no real correlation that just because a movie or album does well financially that it's actually a good movie. By that standard Transformers 3 should have been nominated. <br /><br />I just feel that it was just a bad year for movies in general. Like 2005. We just have to deal with what the best that was offered.The Jnowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16706072961396012855noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4706282221761427996.post-10153265411593580892012-01-25T16:12:58.329-08:002012-01-25T16:12:58.329-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.The Jnowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16706072961396012855noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4706282221761427996.post-60071292728063604292012-01-25T05:58:03.452-08:002012-01-25T05:58:03.452-08:00Eh, far as I'm concerned, The Silence Of The L...Eh, far as I'm concerned, The Silence Of The Lambs was the last time the Academy was right about anything anyway. Ever since they seem to be picking more and more pretentious crap trying to make themselves look like high faluting intellectuals. Like someone who carries around but never reads War And Peace.JamiSingshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12756726189949304645noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4706282221761427996.post-46732214896166334652012-01-25T05:06:02.439-08:002012-01-25T05:06:02.439-08:00"This year, some of the worthy mainstream cho..."This year, some of the worthy mainstream choices didn't even get that far with almost twice as many slots available!"<br /><br />I'm having a hard time thinking of any mainstream choices from this year that are worthy of the nomination. "Harry Potter", "Rise of the Planet of the Apes", and "Bridesmaids" are the only ones that come to mind. Otherwise, I think this has been an unusually crumby year for movies, and this year's crop of Best Picture nominees reflect that. I don't think we can blame the Academy for that.Greghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09902629126130341360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4706282221761427996.post-76319466845109253152012-01-25T02:05:20.024-08:002012-01-25T02:05:20.024-08:00here's my take-away from looking at the list o...here's my take-away from looking at the list of nominees from 1992: wow, that was not a great year for films.<br />Lambs is a very good film, but it wasn't then- and isn't now- deserving of the Best Picture it received.<br /><br />Beauty and the Beast is also fine. Hell, so is Bugsy! Prince of Tides is crap and so is JFK.<br /><br />I'd take The Artist over all of those films any day.bendhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01182099811468590763noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4706282221761427996.post-21644684662151918422012-01-25T01:12:26.290-08:002012-01-25T01:12:26.290-08:00"With results like this, the Academy of Motio..."With results like this, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences membership comes off like a collection of film snobs more concerned with with rewarding what they see as "serious films" instead of recognizing that good film can encompass a wide spectrum of work. These nominees aren't a good representation of release year 2011 - but merely a small segment of that calendar."<br /><br />Been saying this for years! So nice to hear someone in the film community feels the same. Which is not to say these movies don't deserve their nominations or aren't excellent films, but the Academy definitely needs to revamp its voting standards...by a long shot. Maybe if films most of the viewing public have actually SEEN were given a fair shot and also represented, the long-dwindiling audience watching the Oscars might get a boost, too.nicoliolioliohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09020020476015512486noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4706282221761427996.post-18460189882616690572012-01-25T00:47:33.310-08:002012-01-25T00:47:33.310-08:00I wouldn't have betted on Moneyball being nomi...I wouldn't have betted on Moneyball being nominated. I'm surprised the voters liked a movie about a baseball gm using statistics to gain an upper hand on the competition. I liked it, though not as much as the book. But it wasn't a great movie. And I almost hate saying that as a big fan of Aaron Sorkin.<br /><br />I agree that the voters seem to value seriousness. Though I'm not sure how The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo misses out. It was plenty serious and better than Moneyball, at least on a dramatic and serious level. And they also seem to value not so deep attempts at making social statements. How else do we describe Crash and now The Help?Davehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15955054735802185726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4706282221761427996.post-376191732328517712012-01-25T00:15:14.559-08:002012-01-25T00:15:14.559-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Dan Peckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08601620006005420475noreply@blogger.com