AWARD SHOWS LOSE THEIR WORTH

I'm running out of colors to use on this one post! I just read an interesting news report that goes along with much of what I said here. I'm posting a link beneath. The gist of the article is that two members of the Academy never watched 12 YEARS A SLAVE but voted for it. Their reason was that "...they said they voted for it anyway because, given the film’s social relevance, they felt obligated to do so." So the piece that I wrote below stating that movies that win the Oscars these days seem to be based more on political correctness or agenda as opposed to what the best picture is apparently is more true than even I knew. A short piece but here is the link:

Academy members voted for Oscar-winning 12 Years A Slave 'without watching it'

So I figured I'd come back after the show and post an update. Yes, I did cave in and watch it though I came in late. It was entertaining enough but still somewhat predictable. The most surprising thing of all was Matthew McConaughey's speech, something you should look up. Of everyone that won tonight he was the only one to thank God. The ONLY one! I ended up with 14 correct choices out of 24 so 58%. How did the rest of you do? Anyway I am highlighting the real winners in green below so you can see how good or bad I did in my predictions. If I was right then there will only be the purple highlighted name. I hope that's clear. LOL. 

I've talked about this for several years now, the fact that the Academy Awards show seems to have lost its glitter after years of being THE show to watch. As a child I was always a movie fanatic. I owned a book on the Oscars that listed every winner from the time it began until the year the book was published. Every year I watched the show and wrote down the winners on a sheet of paper, adding the years not yet covered to the book. But things changed.

Suddenly there was a glut of award shows. It seems like these days there are new award shoes every 2 to 3 weeks. At one time there were three: The Oscars, The Emmys and The Grammy's. Then they added the Tony's. Then the Golden Globes. Suddenly we had the People's Choice Awards. Then there were like 4 different country music awards. Then the Billboard Awards. It went on and on and on until like I said there were new award shows out the whazoo. The more of these shows that aired on TV, the less important they became. It was no longer important to see who won what. But that wasn't the only change.

In the case of the Oscars the choices were changing as well. They changed the same way Hollywood changed. Instead of seeing choices nominated because they were the best movie, movies were nominated because they made a political statement, always a politically correct statement too. Some were good movies but there were so many other good movies released each year that it was far too apparent that the movies being nominated were done so because they made a statement as opposed to being the best films.

A recent editorial discussed this saying that movies based on super heroes and science fiction (the biggest money making films made) would never win an award. I completely agree. It's as if Hollywood considers these films below them, even though the money made form these movies allows for stars puff pieces and non-money making movies to be made. The same holds true for comedies. Look back and see how many comedies have ever won for best picture. The only two that come to mind for me are IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT and ANNIE HALL. Seriously? You don't think that any comedy released since these things started was worth winning?

I can't exactly say when it all changed but there was a change. Not only were films like these not being nominated, the winners were nothing that film goers were even interested in. Think back to the movies that have won over the past decade or so and tell me how many you would watch again. I'm guessing you may have seen some, but to watch again? I doubt it. Here, check out the winners since 2000:

2012 - ARGO

2011 - THE ARTIST

2010 - THE KING'S SPEECH

2009 - THE HURT LOCKER

2008 - SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

2007 - NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

2006 - THE DEPARTED

2005 - CRASH

2004 - MILLION DOLLAR BABY

2003 - THE LORD OF THE RINGS: RETURN OF THE KING

2002 - CHICAGO

2001 - A BEAUTIFUL MIND

2000 - GALDIATOR

Of those movies I can think of maybe 2 that I'd watch again without thinking twice. Two more I might consider. But some I can't believe even got nominated let alone won for best picture. If you've ever seen CRASH then you'll know what I'm talking about.

The fact is that the Oscars have lost their glimmer because they no longer represent what the best movies of the year were. Instead they represent causes and ideas that Hollywood and liberals hold dear. If you make a movie that tanks at the box office, or does mediocre business, but the movie pushes forth an agenda then chances are it will be nominated for an Oscar. If you don't believe me look at this years nominees for best picture:

12 YEARS A SLAVE-How terrible this country was in how they treated slaves.

DALLAS BUYERS CLUB-A man works around the system to help AIDS victims

HER-A man can't connect with real people but grows attached to his computer's operating system.

PHILOMENA-A woman searches for the child taken away from her by sinister nuns years ago when she was an unwed mother.

THE WOLF OF WALL STREET-True story of a man who ripped people off as a stockbroker, an evil capitalist.

NEBRASKA-An aging alcoholic travels with his son to claim a jackpot he thinks he won.

CAPTAIN PHILIPS-True story of the captain of the ship hijacked by Somali pirates.

AMERICAN HUSTLE-A con artists is recruited by the FBI and forced to help take down criminals.

GRAVITY-A medical engineer and an astronaut try to save themselves after an asteroid leaves them adrift in space.

Of these 9 movies only one was in the top 10 grossing movies of 2103 (GRAVITY at #6). One more was in the top 20 (AMERICAN HUSTLE at #17). The movie I think will end up winning (due to its subject content) is 12 YEARS A SLAVE which came in at 69. What movies were the top ten grossing films, movies completely overlooked for best picture? THE HUNGER GAMES:CATCHING FIRE, IRON MAN 3, FROZEN, DESPICABLE ME 2, MAN OF STEEL, MONSTERS UNIVERSITY, THE HOBBIT: DESOLATION OF SMAUG, FAST AND FURIOUS 6 and OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL. Of the movies nominated I can't think of one I'd want to rush out to see. Of those ignored I've seen 5 and would gladly see the rest. I would bet I'm not the only one.

Hollywood takes itself too seriously. It feels that, like politicians, they know what's best for us and will force feed us movies we don't want to see. Not only that they will then celebrate themselves and pat themselves on the back when it comes Oscar time to show just how wonderful they are, how caring they are and how concerned they are. With the exception of only a handful most talk a good talk but rarely put up their own money when it comes to these causes. But boy will they tell you how concerned they are and then tell us how terrible everyone else is while they read their acceptance speech.

This all being said I guess I should jump on the band wagon. Let's see how terrible I am at the game of picking this year's Oscar winners.

VISUAL EFFECTS:

GRAVITY because of the serious content, not due to the effects.

Losing will be THE HOBBIT: DESOLATION OF SMAUG, IRON MAN 3, STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS and THE LONE RANGER.

WRITING ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:

12 YEARS A SLAVE again because of the content.

Losing will be THE WOLF OF WALL STREET, PHILOMENA, CAPTAIN PHILIPS and BEFORE MIDNIGHT.

WRITING ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:

HER because it's weird enough they'll like it.

Losing will be BLUE JASMINE, DALLAS BUYERS CLUB, AMERICAN HUSTLE and NEBRASKA.

SOUND EDITING:

GRAVITY because the sound is part and parcel with what made this movie.

Losing will be ALL IS LOST, CAPTAIN PHILIPS, THE HOBBIT: DESOLATION OF SMAUG and LONE SURVIVOR.

SHORT FILM LIVE ACTION: JUST BEFORE LOSING EVERYTHING because it sounds devastating. Nobody ever sees these shorts unless they attend a art house screening so they could honestly just skip this and shorten an already over long show. This is not to say they don't deserve recognition, just that most people could care less. The winner was HELIUM.

SOUND MIXING:

GRAVITY for the same reason.

Losing will be CAPTAIN PHILIPS, THE HOBBIT: DESOLATION OF SMAUG, LONE SURVIVOR and INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS.

MUSIC ORIGINAL SONG:

"Let It Go" from FROZEN.

Here is one case where if you ignore the popularity they wonder what you were thinking. Gone are the days when an original song was something you heard on the radio as opposed to only in the movie. Films with songs that will lose are DESPICABLE ME 2, HER, MANDELA:LONG WALK TO REMEMBER. If they go for being politically correctness then MANDELA will win for that reason alone.

PRODUCTION DESIGN:

AMERICAN HUSTLE because you can actually see the design here making it stand out.

Losing will be 12 YEARS A SLAVE, GRAVITY, HER and THE GREAT GATSBY. I meant to say this one but made a mistake in the original post. I'll take the loss on this one though.

SHORT FILM ANIMATED:

MR. HUBLOT simply because it sounds foreign and they like that as a reason too.

Losing will be FERAL, GET A HORSE!, POSSESSIONS and ROOM ON THE BROOM (which I think has something to do with Nancy Pelosi).

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:

THE HUNT. How can it not with Mads Mikkelson (Hannibal Lecter) starring and the subject matter of child molesting?

Losing will be THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN, THE GREAT BEAUTY, THE MISSING PICTURE and OMAR.

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING:

DALLAS BUYERS CLUB because of the nominees this is the only one they will take seriously.

Losing will be THE LONE RANGER and BAD GRANDPA. Seriously though, these are the only 3 movies they could come up with to nominate?

MUSIC ORIGINAL SCORE:

THE BOOK THIEF because they love John Williams.

Losing will be GRAVITY, HER, PHILOMENA and SAVING MR. BANKS.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:

DIRTY WARS because it talks about how terrible we are when it comes to the war on terror.

Losing will be CUTIE AND THE BOXER, THE ACT OF KILLING, THE SQUARE and 20 FEET FROM STARDOM. I was really stunned by this one. Pleased but stunned.

DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT:

PRISON TERMINAL because they hate that anyone is locked up in prison as if it is someone else's fault.

Losing will be THE LADY IN NUMBER 6, KARAMA HAS NO WALLS, FACING FEAR and CAVE DIGGER.

FILM EDITING:

AMERICAN HUSTLE because from the trailer alone the fast and furious cuts will impress.

Losing will be 12 YEARS A SLAVE, CAPTAIN PHILIPS, DALLAS BUYERS CLUB and GRAVITY.

CINEMATOGRAPHY:

GRAVITY because the rest they've either not noticed or think is highbrow enough.

Losing will be INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS, NEBRASKA, PRISONERS and THE GRANDMASTER.

COSTUME DESIGN:

THE INVISIBLE WOMAN because when it comes to this category if you make costumes that are period pieces you always win. The only competition here is THE GREAT GATSBY so that might win.

Definitely losing are 12 YEARS A SLAVE, AMERICAN HUSTLE and THE GRANDMASTER. I was iffy on this one as you can see. I should have chosen the winner since I don't think anyone saw THE INVISIBLE WOMAN.

DIRECTING:

Steve McQueen for 12 YEARS A SLAVE. Time to start getting PC.

Losing will be Martin Scorsese for THE WOLF OF WALL STREET, David O. Russell for AMERICAN HUSTLE, Alfonso Cuaron for GRAVITY and Alexander Payne for NEBRASKA. Another surprise for me. I have yet to understand how a movie can win best picture and not best director as well.

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM:

FROZEN. Not only a good movie but for once they'll have to recognize the business it did.

Losing will be DESPICABLE ME 2, THE CROODS, ERNEST AND CELESTINE and THE WING RISES (which could win simply because they don't want to recognize the business that FROZEN did).

SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

Lupita Nyong'o for 12 YEARS A SLAVE because she's new and they won't want to give it to the rest who've been around for a while. PC time once more.

Losing will be Jennifer Lawrence for AMERICAN HUSTLE, Julia Roberts for AGUST OSAGE COUNTY, June Squibb for NEBRASKA and Sally Hawkins for BLUE JASMINE.

SUPPORTING ACTOR:

Barkhad Abdi for CAPTAIN PHILIPS because he's the one person nearly everyone talked about when it came to this movie.

Losing will be Bradley Cooper in AMERICAN HUSTLE, Michael Fassbender in 12 YEARS A SLAVE, Jonah Hill in THE WOLF OF WALL STREET and Jared Leto in DALLAS BUYERS CLUB.

LEAD ACTRESS:

Cate Blanchett in BLUE JASMINE because, again, she was the one actor everyone was talking about when it came to this movie.

Losing will be Amy Adams for AMERICAN HUSTLE, Meryl Streep for AUGUST OSAGE COUNTY, Judi Dench for PHILOMENA and Sandra Bullock for GRAVITY.

LEAD ACTOR:

Matthew McConaughey for DALLAS BUYERS CLUB not just because of the PC content of the movie but because they've decided this is his year.

Losing will be Bruce Dern for NEBRASKA, Christian Bale for AMERICAN HUSTLE, Leonardo DiCaprio for THE WOLF OF WALL STREET and Chiwitel Ejiofor for 12 YEARS A SLAVE (though he could end up winning...the whole politically correct competition is stiff here).

BEST PICTURE:

12 YEARS A SLAVE wins due to the content of the story. It will be added to the growing list of Oscar best picture winners that no one will watch again.

Losing will be AMERICAN HUSTLE, CAPTAIN PHILIPS, DALLAS BUYERS CLUB, NEBRASKA, PHILOMENA, GRAVITY, HER and THE WOLF OF WALL STREET.

Look at the list of nominees and notice something. The frequency of a select number of movies included on that list. Then think about the movies that didn't make it at all. IRON MAN 3, MAN OF STEEL, MONSTER UNIVERSITY, STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS, THE HEAT, THE WOLVERINE, THE CONJURING, LONE SURVIVOR (well this one did actually for sound), PACIFIC RIM, THIS IS THE END, OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN or LAST VEGAS. I'd watch any of these movies any day of the week. The ones nominated? Nope. I guess I'm not politically correct enough to qualify for being an Oscar voter.

Feel free to ridicule me for the mistakes I had in my choices here. I don't live in Hollywood so I can't be 100% correct all the time. :)