The Hot Blog

Academy members should get off their old decrepit asses and get to the theaters to see the buzzworthy movies, at the very least.

I know this is not (entirely) related, but the Oscar website has some really nice clips of their Lifetime Achievement ceremony from the weekend. Very relaxed and a hint of what the crowd would be like if the Oscars themselves were a dinner do behind closed doors.
Caleb Deschanel was especially funny about Gordon Willis (giving hints as to why Willis had never been awarded before), and Ron Howard was great on the great, great Roger Corman.

dpoland wrote: Why hasn't every member of The Academy had The Hurt Locker and District 9 and A Serious Man and Inglourious Basterds in their DVD players for weeks now? Not to mention long shots like Star Trek and The Hangover and The Informant!?"

These movies are far from inaccessible. What does it say about Academy members when they can't even get off their collective butts to see some of the more yapped about films of the year? Some members are working, a lot, I got that, but what percentage are too busy to never see a film? Sure, there's no requirement, (as far as I know), of members staying current with releases but there's also no guarantee, (as far as I know), that studios and prod companies have to delivery a requisite number of dvd’s to be offered up to the academy volcano god. What better way to announce to the world your desire to be stripped of relevance when you say you couldn't be bothered to make it to a local multiplex for not one, not two but 3 $100M+ grossing films.

Yes, if a prod co or studio wants their film to be nominated then they have a particular onus of getting members to view their product. Still, if these being films, which to be eligible for Academy voting consideration must screen in a public THEATER for at least one week, are being offered for recognition, shouldn’t those whose position allows them to decide on the winners GO to a theater to see said films?

I’ve already seen ads for Academy screenings for some films I’ve never even heard of. I think there’s more than one way to see a film than having a personal asst load up the dvd player in their bedroom so all they have to do is push play before they go to sleep. How ‘bout Tweeting back “STFU” and signing it “from all the people pissed they couldn’t race back to their cars in time to get out of the parking lot before the rate increase when going to a matinee to try to make seeing a movie more affordable,” k’thx?

Big Perm - Jinx! You posted before I had a chance to finish mine. How many would it take to get a quorum?

The effort to get voters, Academy and otherwise, is the #1 issue for awards season efforts. #2 is setting the tone for being award-worthy.

I would have been happy to see DVDs go altogether, but everyone went NUTS in response that year... critics even more than Academy folks. So waiting on the DVD is a part of the process now.

We can not like it... but we can't wish the fact away either. Academy members do go see a lot of movies in theaters, including at Academy screenings. But I can promise you that 40% or more of Academy members, for instance, will see Precious on DVD and not in a theater... for better or for worse. Probably higher for Hurt Locker. And it's probably about the same for A Serious Man.

As David has often said with regard to embargoes...it's not the rules, it's the consistency.

If one is led to believe every year that there will be timely screeners, time and screenings are budgeted accordingly.

If it's nearly Thanksgiving, and the usual roster of stuff has not arrived as it should, without any kind of warning...that gives less time to see what has been missed...especially if it's no longer in theaters and not on commercial DVD yet.

Before I was in LAFCA, I expected no screeners, and got on the ball early, which was difficult but doable. Nonetheless, I expect I missed some unexpected stuff. Last year I would never have seen BALLAST had it not been sent.

Oh, and...Sony Classics have shipped?

Never got 'em.

I hate to sound like an old crank, but for 60+ years, Academy members somehow managed to get their keisters to theatres and screenings (both of which they get into for free) and then vote. Watching a film at home is a horrible idea--too many distractions and interruptions, the likelihood of fast-forwarding through "dull" parts, the inability to properly judge crafts even on a big flat-screen, and of course, the lack of an audience response (especially crucial for comedies--in that rare case where one might actually garner some traction). I guarantee you that if the distribs unilaterally decided to stop with the screeners, these folks would suddenly find the time and energy to leave the house and view the films properly.

I'm with Cad. They can get off their asses, into the theatres, and see the films that way. A screener is a cheap way out. Nevertheless; everyone who wants to see some of those films on DVD has to wait til next month and January (Why Hurt Locker is not coming out til god damn January is beyond me). So you people can wait! WAIT I SAY!

i couldn't agree more with cadavra

an academy member:
"where the hell are the screeners???!!!"

i hope that academy member who tweeted that was either veruca salt or under the age of 10, whereby he/she also chucked the phone across the room and fell to the floor to have a fist-beating-floor-stomping tanty. otherwise they sound like a spoiled twat

Guys....I've seen EVERY Oscar worthy movie that's been released so far. Do you really, honestly think critics have lazily avoided seeing these films? That's silly talk.

Screeners a re a HUGE help because after a year or more of seeing these films it's imperative to sit with them again and figure out what the best options are. Sometimes movies you loved and gave a 5 star review to have lost some shine and sometimes stuff you weren't that into seems much better. It's got NOTHING to do with critics not going to the theaters.

Screeners are a collective action problem for the studios. If only one or two stop sending screeners, it only hurts those studios. All studios have to agree to stop before any action can take place. However, no agreement is likely to last, because the potential upside is so great that cheating (i.e. trying to be the only studio to send screeners) is too tempting to pass up.

I also realize that all was directed at Academy members...but press get screeners too and we have got very few thus far. I'm sure many Academy members have seen many of the films up for Oscar gold was my point as well...

dpoland wrote: Why hasn't every member of The Academy had The Hurt Locker and District 9 and A Serious Man and Inglourious Basterds in their DVD players for weeks now? Not to mention long shots like Star Trek and The Hangover and The Informant!?"

For one very simple reason - they will all end up on bittorrent the moment they are mailed out. The Academy screeners for The Wrestler, Ben Button, Doubt, Slumdog Millionaire and Gran Torino (among others) were widely available online well before the Oscars last year.

montreal-
this years contenders are and have been on bit torrent since the Monday after their opening weekend. C'mon....duh....

Plus perfectly legitimate Italian DVD/Blu-rays of The Hurt Locker were out before Summit even gave it a theatrical bow.

Meanwhile, legitimate fans of cinema who would rather go to the movies than watch on a TV screen (or worse, an airplane screen) must wait for months on end!

Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)

URL:
Remember me? YesNo

Comments: