Movie Thread 2: The Sequel

[bukie]

I mean, look at last year's Best Pic nominees:
- Shape of Water (Winner)
- Get Out
- The Post
- Phantom Thread
- Dunkirk
- Lady Bird
- Darkest Hour
- Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
- Call Me By Your Name

Half of those didn't have a wide release, and while they may have been good quality films, maybe 2 of them were worthy Best Picture nominees.

[The Logan]

My writing teacher from school just posted this in regards to it, if anyone wants to read a lot:

Spoiler: show

Several years ago, I was sitting on an Oscar panel. Inevitably, talk turned to the then recent decision to move from five to as many as ten nominees for Best Picture. Asked what I thought, I said that it was inevitable that the Academy would establish a People’s Choice Award, probably one that would require an Internet voting component. My reasoning was simple: The Academy had long since abandoned its pretense that the awards had anything to do with quality. All future decisions would be based on one thing and one thing only: Ratings.

Not to be an “I told you so,” but…

Today’s announcement by the Academy that it will establish a Best Achievement in Popular Film category is exactly the kind of self-denigrating move that has been coming for a long time. The concern is, of course, ratings. This year’s viewership was down 20% from last year’s, a clarion call to panic if ever there was one.

But was it the right move?

History says no. After all, the steadily bleeding numbers for the ceremony over the past two decades were actually accelerated when they went to as many as ten nominees. The move was widely looked at as pandering, an attempt to make room on the list of good films for the kind of crap that sells mega tickets. It didn’t work. With the exception of Avatar ten years ago, the blockbusters have been rightly absent from this list.

So, here’s the question that keeps coming back to me: If Hollywood wants to have a show that gets both big audiences and lauds their product, why don’t they come up with movies that are worth seeing?

The answer is simple: Big and mindless movies make huge amounts of money. Smaller, intelligent films do not. And since the industry has moved only in the former direction, the Academy Awards have become an annual embarrassment. After all, the nominees are overwhelming independent films, ones that are seen in the community as a rebuke to the system that the Academy is supposed to be promoting.

In truth, today’s announcement wasn’t a surprise – and not because I had predicted it. It wasn’t a surprise because the Academy was not founded to laud quality. The initial purpose was to break the studio unions and the awards were invented to counter the negative publicity that such a mission was bound to generate. When their first purpose failed miserably, they decided to keep the awards around to promote Hollywood filmmaking and the idea that anything attached to Tinsel Town was glamorous.

For years this p.r. machine was profoundly successful. What its Board of Governors has failed to realize is that times have changed. Hollywood glamour is now more vacuous and out of touch, the movies made under this brand are mindless and numbing, and most important, audiences no longer flock to watch movies in the theater nor “events” on television. We are living in the world of streaming and until the Academy can figure out a way to bring this into the equation then cosmetic changes to the ceremony will just be so much lipstick on a pig.

The changes that the Academy are instituting this year are not only a thicker coating of lipstick, they are an advanced form of pandering. As mentioned above, a good portion of this pandering is for audiences. This, though, will undoubtedly be exponentially increased at the new “streamlined” ceremony. The bestowing of technical awards will happen during commercials so that the show can be kept to three hours. This should erase as much as forty minutes from a show that usually tops out at three hours and twenty minutes. Outside of insulting the “lesser” winners, this will actually leave more time in the show that has to be filled. And what will that be filled with?

Consider this: The show is broadcast on ABC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Disney. Get ready for an Infinity War dance number.

[abuck1220]

AKA the "We don't want to risk Black Panther winning Best Picture " award.

this makes no sense. they would LOVE it if that movie won best picture.* this is a blatant effort (assuming it goes into effect this year) to make sure black panther DOES win an oscar.

*which it shouldn’t

[bukie]

AKA the "We don't want to risk Black Panther winning Best Picture " award.

this makes no sense. they would LOVE it if that movie won best picture.* this is a blatant effort (assuming it goes into effect this year) to make sure black panther DOES win an oscar.

*which it shouldn’t

The Academy routinely does their best to avoid acknowledging superhero movies are a thing, so this is absolutely an effort to give BP an award while at the same time retaining their ability to look down on it.

And I'm hardly surprised you're the first person to chime in with a "well, actually" on this.

[abuck1220]

they don’t “acknowledge super hero movies are a thing” in the same way they don’t acknowledge super trooper movies are a thing. they haven’t been nominated for best picture because they have not deserved to be nominated for best picture.

[Sammy Sofa]

Man, if they're gonna give it to LotR or Titanic or Gladiator or horsefeathering Braveheart, who gives a horsefeathers if it goes to a funnybook movie.

[TBS Playoffs Insider]

Man, if they're gonna give it to LotR or Titanic or Gladiator or horsefeathering Braveheart, who gives a horsefeathers if it goes to a funnybook movie.

FIRST OFF gladiator is actually good and i will die on this hill if i have to

[Sammy Sofa]

Man, if they're gonna give it to LotR or Titanic or Gladiator or horsefeathering Braveheart, who gives a horsefeathers if it goes to a funnybook movie.

FIRST OFF gladiator is actually good and i will die on this hill if i have to

Man, I'm not saying those flicks aren't good (OR AM I); just that they don't have a problem giving the big prize out for well made spectacle.

[abuck1220]

Man, if they're gonna give it to LotR or Titanic or Gladiator or horsefeathering Braveheart, who gives a horsefeathers if it goes to a funnybook movie.

also who gives a horsefeathers if it DOESN’T go to a funnybook movie.

and yeah all those movies you named suck. but it’s not like the academy is going out if it’s way to screw over a bunch of brilliant super hero movies out of the best picture oscar they so rightfully deserve. I mean iron man 2 or whatever didn’t not win best picture because of an anti-superhero conspiracy, it didn’t win best picture because it wasn’t very good (I assume).

[Derwood]

(I assume).

Oh my god, ha ha ha

[Sammy Sofa]

Man, if they're gonna give it to LotR or Titanic or Gladiator or horsefeathering Braveheart, who gives a horsefeathers if it goes to a funnybook movie.

also who gives a horsefeathers if it DOESN’T go to a funnybook movie.

and yeah all those movies you named suck. but it’s not like the academy is going out if it’s way to screw over a bunch of brilliant super hero movies out of the best picture oscar they so rightfully deserve. I mean iron man 2 or whatever didn’t not win best picture because of an anti-superhero conspiracy, it didn’t win best picture because it wasn’t very good (I assume).

Nobody's sitting here crying about poor superhero movies being left out; it's just indicative of how they just automatically ignore a lot of movie genres (comedies, action flicks, sci-fi, etc.) from the "serious awards" most of the time, and this clumsy attempt to course correct (like when they arbitrarily expanded the Best picture nominees from 5 to 10) is hilariously bad and dumb.

[Regular Show]

Man, if they're gonna give it to LotR or Titanic or Gladiator or horsefeathering Braveheart, who gives a horsefeathers if it goes to a funnybook movie.

FIRST OFF gladiator is actually good and i will die on this hill if i have to

Gladiator is a fine film and holds up really well. I would die on that hill with you if it came to that.

[Banedon]

Consider this: The show is broadcast on ABC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Disney. Get ready for an Infinity War dance number.

[Derwood]

Man, if they're gonna give it to LotR or Titanic or Gladiator or horsefeathering Braveheart, who gives a horsefeathers if it goes to a funnybook movie.

FIRST OFF gladiator is actually good and i will die on this hill if i have to

Well now you've raised the OMC signal to come tell us about how The Thin Red Line was robbed for the 87th time

[Sammy Sofa]

Wait, do you think Gladiator came out in 1998 or that TTRL came out in 2000?

[OleMissCub]

Man, if they're gonna give it to LotR or Titanic or Gladiator or horsefeathering Braveheart, who gives a horsefeathers if it goes to a funnybook movie.

FIRST OFF gladiator is actually good and i will die on this hill if i have to

Well now you've raised the OMC signal to come tell us about how The Thin Red Line was robbed for the 87th time

57th time FWIW.

And it's not an argument specifically in favor of TTRL, it's a general argument that the other four movies nominated that year were better than Shakespeare in Love.

However, I think the bigger and more egregious sin that year was Paltrow beating Blanchett.

[Derwood]

Wait, do you think Gladiator came out in 1998 or that TTRL came out in 2000?

I know they aren't the same year. It doesn't matter. "Blah blah got robbed by the Oscars!" brings out the OMC TTRL diatribe every time

[Old Style]

Looking forward to seeing BlacKkKlansman this weekend.

[The Logan]

Crazy Rich Asians is at 100% on RT. Or at least it is for now until Armond White gets a hold of it and shoehorns in some asinine reason to hate it.

[Banedon]

Crazy Rich Asians is at 100% on RT. Or at least it is for now until Armond White gets a hold of it and shoehorns in some asinine reason to hate it.

Nope, it was some dude from Forbes.

[cl smooth]

Looking forward to seeing BlacKkKlansman this weekend.

have a preview screening tomorrow evening with spike lee doing a q&a afterward. REALLY looking forward to this one!

[Old Style]

Looking forward to seeing BlacKkKlansman this weekend.

have a preview screening tomorrow evening with spike lee doing a q&a afterward. REALLY looking forward to this one!

How is it a preview screening if the movie is already in theaters? Anyway, it was excellent and I am jealous you get the Spike Q&A.

[cl smooth]

Looking forward to seeing BlacKkKlansman this weekend.

have a preview screening tomorrow evening with spike lee doing a q&a afterward. REALLY looking forward to this one!

How is it a preview screening if the movie is already in theaters? Anyway, it was excellent and I am jealous you get the Spike Q&A.

long story short: my girlfriend is part of the PGA (producers guild of america) and she's able to view movies like this for free. they'll label them as "preview screenings" via email and that's what we've been calling them for years. technically, this one is not a "preview" since the movie came out on friday but i'm too lazy to call it anything else.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Crazy Rich Asians is at 100% on RT. Or at least it is for now until Armond White gets a hold of it and shoehorns in some asinine reason to hate it.

that blows my mind. it looks dumb as horsefeathers

[Banedon]