[CarmelValleyite]

Re who views the movies to be voted on for awards -- FYI, oftentimes the movies are viewed by friends or family of the "voters" rather than the voters themselves. I personally know of several such scenarios....

In my opinion, the "awards" are pretty much a sham.

[Heyworth]

Yeah, that definitely goes on in the major categories, which all the Academy membership is allowed to vote on. But in the minor categories, like Foreign Language Film and Documentary, the voters have to prove that they saw all the films, either by attending the sanctioned screenings, of which there are only a few, or by saying when and where they saw them outside of that. And in the case of that bird movie, that was pretty much impossible, which is why Moore was bitching about it so hard. Other categories, like the technical stuff, are only voted on by the people in those guilds.

[Heyworth]

In my opinion, the "awards" are pretty much a sham.

Thank you. The real question is why ANYONE thinks they're important. It's a freakin' awards banquet without the food, for God's sake. It's only the fact that it makes good television that has elevated to the secular holiday that it's become. It's the industry passing out some trophies to itself. People take it way too seriously, both here on FR (where it's seen as evidence of some cultural conspiracy) and in the industry, where, to be fair, the trophy is worth some money at the box office. But beyond that, it has no more importance than the plumber's convention giving out their "plumber of the year" award.

[mel]

They are a sham, especially considering last year, what a joke.Halle Berry's statement was so unclassy and just plain weird.