I really enjoy cinema. And I appreciate the attention the Oscars often give to good but relatively unseen films like The Reader. Unfortunately, with all due respect to critics and members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (the Academy), how much a film makes, not whether the Academy awards it an Oscar, is the generally recognized measure of its success.
Indeed, it might surprise, if not disillusion, many of you to learn that studios covet an Oscar for Best Picture primarily because – as Sumner Redstone, the owner of Paramount, conceded in a moment of extraordinary candor – it guarantees millions more in box office receipts.
Of course, there have been rare instances when certifiable blockbusters have also won critical acclaim and the Oscar for Best Picture: e.g., Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Titanic, Braveheart, and Forrest Gump. Nevertheless, it’s undeniable that winning an Oscar is more often the result of a crass PR campaign than of a critical assessment of artistic achievement.
That said, I’m on record stating rather emphatically how much I detest the Annual Academy Awards telecast. Because I have little regard for preening, pampered poseurs showing off their borrowed frocks and bling-bling as a prelude to a three-hour show – only six minutes of which anyone really cares about (i.e., the time it takes to present Oscars for best supporting actor and actress, best actor and actress, best director and best picture).
And, remarkably enough, the host comedians do little to relieve the boredom of the interludes between these carefully spread-out moments. In fact, they’ve done such a poor job of hosting in recent years (and that includes you too Whoopi) that the Academy chose an actor, Hugh Jackman, to host this year’s show. Although, I’m not sure why anyone thinks that Jackman performing snippets from Boy from Oz – the hit Broadway musical in which he played gay entertainer Peter Allen – will provide this comic relief.
Finally, to wrap up this cynical post, my annual prediction of the winners in the six noted categories has apparently been frustrated by the reported leaking of the official winners – as listed above. And, even if this leak is just a hoax, it has still preempted the publishing of my picks in each category.
So, what’s the point in watching now that even those six highly anticipated moments have been spoiled: another dazed and confused Mickey Rourke acceptance speech…?!
That’s all folks….
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2008 Oscars…
*This commentary was published originally yesterday at 6:11 am.
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