Dead Tree Media Goes To The Oscars!
Published March 8th, 2010 | 1 Comment
I didn’t actually go to the Oscars, so if you’re looking for the dish on who was wearing what, you’re in the wrong place. You’re probably thinking I’m going to review the ads that came on during the Oscars, but you would be wrong there as well, at least for now. Outside of the fact that the west coast heard Joe Montana shill for Sketchers Shape-ups 50 frickin’ times, I actually didn’t have too many complaints about the ads this time.
Actually, I’m here to talk a little bit about this year’s winners. I know, to bitch about an awards show is kind of lame, but being lame has never stopped me before, so here goes. By extension, movies are part of the Dead Tree crowd and, just like my reviews of traditional advertising, I’m doing it from the point of view of a consumer, not a film maker or professional reviewer.
If you follow me on Twitter, you probably saw me say that if The Hurt Locker won best anything, I would be surprised and slightly pissed off. Well, The Hurt Locker won a lot of stuff this time, so here I am, surprised and slightly pissed off. I probably would have left it there, but a couple of things happened during the show that reminded me why I was going to be slightly pissed off.
For starters, my Twitter post earned me some criticism, “is there anything you like about anything???? are you living in America right now or overseas??” She was actually kidding a little, but I did feel it was necessary to clarify that the reason why I was not rooting for The Hurt Locker was because I felt it had some serious script and pacing issues that bugged me both times I watched the thing and not because I hate America or our soldiers.
Seriously, the flick had characters get introduced (like, the base psychiatrist) that just kind of disappeared, even though they went to the trouble of dragging them along on a mission. The movie painted the lead as this reckless rebel kind of guy, but without actually looking into why or how he got that way. Plus, there were a couple of instances where you could tell Bigelow really loved a shot so much, she let it drag way longer than it needed to be on screen. During the broadcast, the screenwriter kept repeating that they really wanted to make the movie the way they wanted, so there weren’t a lot of test screenings, etc., but quite honestly, I would have loved to see what the movie would have been like if they had.
Then there was the whole deal about how Bigelow was the first woman to win Best Director. Frankly, any woman who rooted for her to win Best Director just because she was a woman should really reevaluate things a bit. The trick would have been that if she made a completely stellar movie AND she just happens to be a woman. Look, I really do appreciate that women have it tough in show business and that, like a lot of things, the old guard made it next to impossible to get started, but honestly, do you want to be remembered for making a great movie or because you were a woman director?
It would be like if they made a big deal out of the first Scot to win Best Director. It doesn’t make any difference in how movies are made, so we really need to keep this battle of the sexes bullshit out of things and just focus on the craft.
This is the 21st Century. Singling people out because they are different is beneath us as a culture. We need to stop focusing on if someone is the best man, woman, or whatever at anything and just focus at being the best human at something.
Now, you may ask, does that mean I was rooting for Avatar and James Cameron? Not necessarily. Believe it or not, I actually think Avatar had some serious script issues as well, but then again, given Cameron’s history, it was kind of expected. I know as a geek, I’m supposed to love everything he does, and I actually do, but to be honest, the guy has always been more about the great effects with a pretty good story, than about a great screenplay. The action is always great, but the dude just cannot write dialog to save his life.
However, given the efforts that went into Avatar, I could see it deserving Best Director and Best Picture a little bit more than Hurt Locker. I mean, the flick took like ten years to make and they pretty much had to invent a whole new way of making movies to pull it off and it’s that kind of effort that I think should be rewarded come Oscar time. Sometimes it actually does work out that way, if you think about the past winners. Compared to some of the other movies that came out the year it won, Titanic wasn’t that great a flick, but man, we all knew it took a crap load of work to get it on the screen. So I defended it winning that year, even though I, like most men, just went to see the boat sink.
Honestly, of the movies I saw that were up for Best Picture, the only one that really moved me in a way that I’m sure to watch it again some day was, Up. The first ten minutes of that flick had me weeping like an old Vulcan and the rest had me laughing out loud (especially the doberman with the busted collar). The script was well written, the movie was visually stunning, the acting was spot on, and hell, it was even financially successful. All the makings of a Best Picture, but alas, it was a cartoon, so it was lucky to even make it into the running this year.
Before you get really bent out of shape, I’m not saying that The Hurt Locker was a bad movie. No, I actually thought the acting was great and it was pretty decent story. Honestly, I give it a strong B or B+, but that doesn’t make a Best Picture. But what do I know, right? I get on people who arbitrarily throw out the word “horrible” or “awful” when describing movies that are neither because it’s a bit extreme most of the time and, quite honestly, I’ve seen what horrible and awful movies really look like. Then again, I rarely go ape shit over a flick that is wildly popular, either. I’m usually the jerk that goes, “well, it was OK, but let’s not get crazy.”
My point here is that, movies and the people that make them should be judged for the efforts and the results of those efforts and not because a movie about the war comes out while the war is still raging or because an actor that’s been working a long time has never received an award or because this is the first left-handed director ever nominated. But then again, I have to remember, humans are still involved in the decision making process… the same humans that have made The Rocky Horror Picture Show one of the longest running theatrical releases of all time.
J.
Related posts you might enjoy:
