Posted on 03/27/2022 11:00:25 AM PDT by Rummyfan
Everyone has a theory about the decline of the Academy Awards, the sinking ratings that have led to endless Oscar reinventions. The show is too long; no, the show is too desperate to pander to short attention spans. The movies are too woke; no, the academy voters aren’t diverse enough. Hollywood makes too many superhero movies; no, the academy doesn’t nominate enough superhero movies. (A querulous voice from the back row: Why can’t they just bring back Billy Crystal?)
My favored theory is that the Oscars are declining because the movies they were made to showcase have been slowly disappearing. The ideal Oscar nominee is a high-middlebrow movie, aspiring to real artistry and sometimes achieving it, that’s made to be watched on the big screen, with famous stars, vivid cinematography and a memorable score. It’s neither a difficult film for the art-house crowd nor a comic-book blockbuster but a film for the largest possible audience of serious adults — the kind of movie that was commonplace in the not-so-distant days when Oscar races regularly threw up conflicts in which every moviegoer had a stake: “Titanic” against “L.A. Confidential,” “Saving Private Ryan” against “Shakespeare in Love,” “Braveheart” against “Sense and Sensibility” against “Apollo 13.”
That analysis explains why this year’s Academy Awards — reworked yet again, with various technical awards taped in advance and a trio of hosts added — have a particular sense of an ending about them. There are 10 best picture nominees, and many of them look like the kind of Oscar movies that the show so desperately needs. “West Side Story”: Steven Spielberg directing an update of a classic musical! “King Richard”: a stirring sports movie lifted by a bravura Will Smith performance! “Dune”: an epic adaptation of a science-fiction classic! “Don’t Look Up”...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Same here. I watch a lot of Asian movies on Netflix. Watched quite a few Japanese movies during the 1960's in Japanese movie theaters, and streamed them in current day.
If you want to see a fun Korean movie, see "Miss Granny" featuring Shim Eun Kyung on Netflix. The Korean version is the best (made into half a dozen versions in different countries).
It’s still Hollywood. That’s their bread and butter right now. I recently purchased a Blu Ray of the new “West Side Story” and, as wonderful as it is, it feels like nostalgia for an idealized cinematic past. They REALLY don’t make em like that anymore.
Exactly right. Looking over that list I’ve seen 9 of them. The most recent was the Artist. Cute movie but yeah I would question it being a worthy Best Picture. Of the 3 others that are earlier (Departed, Million Dollar and Gladiator) that I haven’t seen I have the Gladiator on dvd. Been meaning to watch it one day. The remaining which I have seen are good for the most part but again were they Best Picture worthy? Who knows. No country for Old Men I found depressing and wouldn’t recommend.
I watched a screener copy of Don’t Look Up and it sucked. Glad the only thing I spent on it was time
Watch the movie Sherlock Holmes smarter brother that’s pretty funny
Thanks - my memory ain’t what it used to be. I blame the internet, not, of course, my advancing years.
I like Dustin Hoffman, but watch The Graduate then follow it up with Rainman. It will crack you up.
This is the endgame of everything leftists stand for. Self congratulatory masturbation that they assume people care about. There was a point when it was entertainment, but alas , as the left often does , they make it about movies less and less and activism more and more. Guess what ? Folks are all set. The same fate does await movies. “Stars” are oblivious to the fact their opinion is no more important than mine.
Thanks for a great thread.
We have some really amazing movie critics here on FR.
I enjoyed every post.
The “Oscars” are declining because they are compelled to give out the award every year. The problem is that in many cases, like this year, none of the movies are worthy of being awarded any sort of recognition. They are a compilation of recycled garbage that has absolutely zero merit.
It would be refreshing to hear them say, “it is with regret that we are not conferring the Oscar award to any picture this year as the nominees are unworthy. Maybe next year we could have films that are worthy”
Might even compel Hollywood to improve the quality of their material.
Did they decide to give Zelensky (a failed two-bit actor and comedian) the star slot he asked for?
Oscar Levant: "I knew Doris Day before she was a virgin" (as quoted in The Wit and Wisdom of Hollywood (1972) by Max Wilk). :-)
Let market forces deal with the movie industry. Supply and demand.
There’s too much media available from other sources, to think
that U. S. Citizens will put up with what they seem to have
planed for our media.
Just invite friends over and hold your own movie night. Serve
popcorn, sandwiches, soft drinks, and more.
Let our industry go broke. The quicker the better. Then
perhaps they can build up a better system that lovers of our
nation will support.
I first saw Bridge when I was 12 years old. I seen it many times over the years and I’ve become more and more impressed with William Holden’s performance. When he plows across the river screaming “Kill him.....kill him” I get goosebumps.
I’m not a movie must see viewer. If any movie gets my attention, it’s usually a year or two later and I can go to my local library and check out the DVD for free and bring it home and burn a copy then watch it sometime in the future.
“Probably that good movies are too expensive to make nowadays.”
good story-telling doesn’t take huge amounts of money; example “Sling Blade”
it does take talent and honesty ...
wokeism has totally killed honesty, and the REAL talent long ago fled to cable TV series: e.g., game of thrones, the queen’s gambit, breaking bad, sopranos, deadwood, dexter, justified, midsomer murders, doc martin, foyle’s war, derry girls, the expanse, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, and a dozen others ...
almost no hollywood movie made during the last ten years can equal the production values, character development,acting, dialog or story-telling of any of those series ...
Yet we quit looking for Japanese war criminals around 1950.
The hunt is still on for Nazis.
I liked it at the time, but I was young & impressionable. The film was considered "daring" and "sophisticated"; anyone who disliked it was hopeless uncool.
Seeing it now with a much wiser perspective, I see the film as stylish but morally bankrupt. Which became the norm for many films post-1967.
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