By Jason Apuzzo. The 2011 Oscar nominations were announced today. You can look at the list here. I wanted to offer a brief reaction.
As with many observers, what struck me the most was the snubbing of Christopher Nolan – and make no mistake, it was a snub. Since I’ve never been an admirer of Nolan’s films, however – including Inception – I consider his absence from the Best Director competition no great tragedy. At the same time, I couldn’t help but think of another British director, Chris Morris, whose name I would’ve loved to see on the Best Director nominee list – because I thought Norris’ Four Lions this year was one of the sharpest, wittiest, and most provocative comedies I’ve seen since the heady days of Paddy Chayefsky and Woody Allen in the 1970s.
A long-shot, you say? Perhaps. But here’s the issue: I no longer watch award shows – any of them. And there’s a reason for this. It’s not the length of the shows – as long as they admittedly are – nor the tendency of some winners and/or hosts to behave like imbeciles. Nor is it the occasional tendency these awards-fests have to penalize films based on their popularity with audiences.
It’s the fact that nobody takes chances anymore with their selections, nobody takes any risks, or flies in the face of conventional wisdom. And it’s chiefly for this reason, in my opinion, that these awards shows have become such a bore.
So the Oscars will be tedious again this year, and ratings will go down – again – and everyone will look around and scratch their heads and wonder why. And people will look for exotic solutions – someone will suggest lowering the Oscar statuettes from the ceiling next year, or floating them in on a barge like Cleopatra, or maybe having Gene Simmons host.
When really, just a few adventurous selections might’ve made all the difference.
Posted on January 25th, 2011 at 3:47pm.
I stopped watching the Oscars when they gave the Best Picture Award to Shakespeare in Love over Saving Private Ryan.
There’s no particular outrage that led me to stop watching the Oscars. It’s really just a matter of boredom. I haven’t watched the show regularly since the 90s.
I just think it’s terribly outdated to watch a bunch of Hollywood people congratulate each other for three hours. Although, I will say, I got dragged to an Oscar party last year, and I had a pretty good time. The show focused on the films, but of course they’re all going behave … their guy is in the White House.
That being said, most of the films praised never get in my top 10 list. Ayn Rand said her favorite TV show was “Charlie’s Angels.” I guess I think like that a bit, because my favorite film this year was “Salt.” I think the craftsmanship in those types of films gets dismissed too easily.
I still have to see Four Lions, 127 Hours, The Fighter, Mesrine, and Carlos.
WIll you at Libertas publish any of your top 10 lists?
Is that true about Rand? That’s great to know!
As far as lists go, I never do them. I generally don’t like lists, because each film has a different ambition. I somehow always feel like it’s a matter of comparing apples and oranges. Also: you really need to see a lot of films in a year to do an adequate list, and so I’m not sure how many people – even professional critics – are ever in a good position to do it.
That is true about Rand — she said it in an interview with Phil Donahue. It’s on Youtube — I highly recommend it.
Phil was totally taken aback by it — he looked at her as if she were such a simpleton. She then explained that it was a show about exceptional women doing amazing things, and that she didn’t like most other shows because the were full of “half-wits and retards.”
And you’re right about lists — I feel the same way. For fun, I always make a mental top 10 list of the year’s films, but I base it on how well I think the film achieved those ambitions, and of course how much I was moved by them. A big plus is if a film has something to say, and says it in a truthful manner.
“Half-wits and retards”(!) My goodness, that is so Rand! I’ve seen some of those interviews with Donahue. He seems to qualify as both.