Forget The Oscars (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Sun]

I think all of this Oscar bashing stems from disappointment when other films are nominated over personal faves. It's simply human nature at play. Plus, the "Hollywood" body politic has some say in how things go, but it's all about marketing and positioning for more clout to get more movies done now and in the future. Also, the marketing machines do think that the general public needs someone to tell them what's good and deserves your movie-going dollars.

Due to a large group of voters, no Oscar vote exists in a vaccuum, and there is always some residual memory of past accomplishments for any number of actors/directors/etc who have some longevity in the business.

 

[Seth Paxton]

Due to a large group of voters

I also agree with your points Patrick, and would also like to re-emphasize the above quote.

If 500 of ANYONE voted for Best Film, it would always upset a bunch of people. Or 5000, or 50000. Such is the nature of voting and group opinion, always. And that aspect has NOTHING to do with film, art, or politics.

Have 20 people over and try and order pizza for everyone without getting different types for different people. Just 5 pizzas exactly the same. Take a vote on it. Bring snacks for the 2 hour debate before you actually order the food.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

We go round and round on the Oscars here No big deal...grist for the mill, so to speak!

IMO, the wisest thing ever said about the Oscars was by (surprise) Roger Ebert. He stated, quite simply, that the best STORY wins the Oscar. That's not absolute, but if there is a big story going that does sway the voters.

Beyond that, the Oscars are the net result of the Academy members, who I sometimes agree with, and sometimes don't. Very rarely are they worth getting the BP up. And 90% of the time, all nominees "deserve" the recognition.

The only blatant failure they ever had was Julia Roberts over Ellen Burstyn. But did anyone actually think Ellen had a chance?

No bigs,
Chuck

 

[Lew Crippen]

Of course, Adrien Brody was going to take the Oscar over Daniel Day-Lewis last year. No shock. True, both performances were very good, but when one compares the effort required to play the characters, and be believable on screen, Day-Lewis clearly had the more challenging role. It's not really a question of which actor was most believable - they both were. For me, it's a question of who had the most difficult part to play. Day-Lewis - hands down

I certainly respect any opinion that would award DDL an Oscar for his role in GONY. An outstanding performance indeed.

However from a technical perspective, Brody’s role which contained long periods of little or no dialogue and others with little or no action requires much more skill than the (largely) one-dimensional, action-filled role of DDL.

My favorite of the nominated lead roles last year was Michael Caine The Quiet American. But I was not disappointed with the selection, nor would I have been with Daniel Day Lewis, had he got the nod.