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 ...
Really?
Remember the movies that all came out after Fargo?
Most of America is not into the “Lets see how much we can shock you” movies. And I loved Fargo.
And as for Juno, I’m not talking about what America likes, it’s what the Hollywood elitists like. If it were up to what America liked, many differnt movies would have been up.
What America — and the rest of the world — likes is what determines what gets made and who gets to work in the business of show. It is a business, afterall.
Remember how much fun we used to have when these shows would come on !! ?
....even tho our society has deteriorated so bad, that our entertainment is now all dark and demented.
Where have you gone, Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn ? Our nation turns its...
Since you haven’t seen the films you aren’t talking about their merits of lack thereof. What do the imitators of Fago have to do with the quality of the original? Which was about more then being shocking. Popular doesn’t equal good. Otherwise Pirates of the Carribean 13 would win.
Wow that was a lot of typos!
Thank you Ed. If you could explain why it would probably help out a little.
Only one I saw was “atonement”. Hated it.
That’s the point you miss.
Define “good”. Good in your opinion? The audience defines “good”, Hollywood defines their awards.
>>What America — and the rest of the world — likes is what determines what gets made and who gets to work in the business of show. It is a business, afterall.<<
Not really. Otherwise Clooney would have stayed on ER. He sucks.
If I had billions, I could get a movie made. No matter what the unwashed masses want. That happens all the time. And that’s why theaters are losing money right and left. Ticket sales are down. Then they release something like Enchanted that made 50 mil in it’s first weekend, but it’s not art.
The audience defines popular. Do you honestly think that popular = good? Do you think John Grisham and Danielle Steele are good writers? Tons of awful movies make a fortune because most of the audience these days is mindless teens.
Enchanted was very well recieved. The three songs from it probably cancelled each other out in the voting. That and they don’t really work outside the film.
>>Tons of awful movies make a fortune because most of the audience these days is mindless teens.<<
Oh and of course the movie going audience is not as knowledgable as you are, to judge what is good or not good?
Oh that’s right.
That’s why ticket sales are down, my FRiend. They wrap poo in chocolate and call it a Baby Ruth.
The movie characters had no idea how the movie ended. You had to be sitting in the audience to see how the movie ended.
Well received by the audiences. Ignored by the Academy.
So Close was actually released as a single.
I taught film at UCLA and had as my guest speakers over 50 major players from the film industry speak to my students.
I have attended the Oscars and worked for the Academy. I can see why the ratings are moving in a downward direction.
IMO it is due to the lack of taste now prevalent in the Academy. Someone posted saying the Michael Creighton was not worthy of being nominated for Best Picture and I totally agree. Just look at the music awards. Their selection is at the standard of what one would find at a local bar.
The issue of happy endings or make me feel good films is also not what is wrong. One part is the PC attitudes, another is that many of the members have grown up on MTV and simply have no bases for what is good story telling and what is not. Its all about being cool. Look at two of the leading contending films this year- There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men. Both had endings that left you wondering why did the films end when the story was incomplete. I know that many think it is being cool but remember the great films tell a story where as these two just stop leaving the viewer with a sense of so???.
>>Since most people just see movie-going as mindless a time wasting activity and I study it and its history as an art form then yes I would say I know more about it then the average bear.<<
Yup. I took Film Appreciation in college as well. Art is in the eye of the beholder, my FRiend.
>>Just look at the music awards. Their selection is at the standard of what one would find at a local bar.<<
What would you have put up for Best Song?
You haven’t mentioned what your standards are. Just that you like what everyone else likes.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.