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December 11, 2008
12 Weeks To Oscar: The No Awards Awards
I held off writing this week’s column until after the Golden Globes nominations… and then… well… who cares?
Every year, we all beat the heck out of the HFPA members and then mine their nominations like we are going to find nuggets that matter. But we’re seeking fool’s gold… and get what we deserve.
Can HFPA help cement in a nominee here and there? Sure. But history tells us that the group’s nominations are no more influential than anyone else’s. There are just network TV lights when they give out their awards.
What really strikes me today is that it is time for someone, somewhere to start a No Awards awards show.
Would it really be so bad to have a night to celebrate the great work of a year without worrying about the detail work of who won in what category, but to actively celebrate the movies of the year?
What is there… 42 minutes in a network hour? So three hours – perhaps not all in one shot – leaving 126 minutes of time to celebrate the great movies of the year.
Do it like the BCS… “coaches” (critics) votes, seeding by way of “conferences” (genres or specific criteria, like highest grossing film of the year, top animated film, top foreign language film, top true indie), computer rankings based on Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes, etc.
Posted by dpoland at December 11, 2008 07:02 PM
Comments
I saw "Slumdog" today. I certainly appreciated it, though I will have to see it again to decide if I actually liked it or not. The question I'd like to ask is, having seen it, how it could possibly be promoted as a "feel good" movie? It is often quite harsh and unpalatable. It has a happy ending, but that means it is merely a "comedy" in the original sense, the way The Divine Comedy is a comedy. It's by no means the sort of mass appeal movie you normally think of when you hear the phrase "feel good." I suspect that audience members drawn by that advertising are going to find quite a different movie than the one they expected. After all, how many "feel good" movies open with scenes of torture?
Oh, and "Slumdog" has to be one of the most old-fashioned movies around. Seriously, Horatio Alger could have written it. "Australia" too is very old-fashioned. Yet that flick has all the depth of the water table in the Outback in the middle of summer. SM, on the other hand, uses its genre conventions in new and revealing ways and says something with and about them.
Posted by: Blackcloud ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.mcnblogs.com/thehotblog/nav-commenters.gif)
at December 11, 2008 07:31 PM
A No Awards Awards show is definitely a way to go. It sounds like something Reelz Channel should do (heck, they might already do that, I watch the channel so irregularly).
Posted by: brack at December 11, 2008 08:19 PM
sorry, off topic.....bettie page: rip....
and typepad seems really bad tonight...
Posted by: scooterzz at December 11, 2008 08:30 PM
David,
At what point is your hatred of Tropic Thunder blinding you to to some pretty big writing on the wall. Globes, Satellites, your own BFC organization: People really seem to like Downey Jr. for supporting actor. Yeah it's a gimmick performance, but he's clearly standing out for people plus he had a hell of a year. They're also running a really fun campaign that's already generating attention. Plus it's a totally inside baseball role (see: Martin Landau, Michael Lerner, hell RDJ's own Chaplin). To not even include him on the chart which is already more anemic than most other categories (Liev Schrieber? Really?) feels like axe grinding.
Posted by: Dignan at December 12, 2008 01:15 AM
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