Oscars and whatnot

Exciting things are happening today. I had to leave work early for a thing and now I'm home with extra hours to spend writing. First I have to research the origin of poker because I have two characters who are going to play cards and discuss the rules of the game, but since this is a period piece I need to make sure the version of the game that I pick is one that fits the time. I'm afraid I may have to play poker this weekend as research. It's a hard-knock life.

There are too many movies nominated for Academy Awards and most of the time they end up being a publicity race anyway, but I'm still excited that Kathryn Bigelow was nominated. The Hurt Locker is a nearly perfect film and it deserves every bit of recognition it gets.

Avatar, on the other hand, is way overrated. It's pretty and expensive and made a ton of money. It is not an amazing story. There are whole categories for technical feats on film - Avatar should sweep those, but it should not take any award for storytelling.

The one film I feel like got robbed was The Road. Robert Duvall deserved a nomination for sure, and the screenplay is beautiful.

Annnd LOST. Who's excited? I am. What the fuck is going to happen? I DON'T KNOW. Nobody knows. Who's where? What's when? Does this show even exist or did my brain make it up while I was sleeping?

Now I will go write.

Trendy Oscar time

I love The Oscars. The glamor and the dresses and the predictions and the parties and the way this town turns upside down for the night - all that interests me. But it seems like the longer I live here, the more aware I get of how much the movies don't really matter on Oscar night. I know I'm like the umpteen thousandth person to realize this, but, you know, still.

Lacy Eye Theater said the other day that Slumdog is the new Crash, and I think I know what he means. I thought Slumdog was fantastic, just like everybody else, but it certainly does seem to be the critical darling right now. Last night on The Daily Show lead actor Dev Patel was on, which wouldn't be weird except, when was the last time John Stewart interviewed an actor who wasn't already his best friend? In the same episode, Stewart implied that Benjamin Button isn't a very good film.

Which brings me to my point. It seems like right now Benjamin Button is the kid who can't get no love while Slumdog is the adopted child who can do no wrong. I liked, nay LOVED, both films, but I don't get this disparity.

I know there are some who genuinely disliked Benjamin Button, although a lot of them have reasons that baffle me. "It has no conflict," "It has no theme," "They didn't make use of the premise," "What's the big deal? He ages backwards, so what? I did that yesterday." "It's Forest Gump revisited."

The Forest Gump thing - okay, I get that. I liked Forest Gump too, but I guess to some there's only room for one grown up fairy tale in this town.

But the rest of the criticism I don't really get. There's tons of conflict all based around a solid central theme. If you just don't like it, okay. But I think a lot of people are claiming not to like it because not liking Benjamin Button is the new thing. It's the most Hollywood of the Oscar nominated films with the most effects and the big hot star and the high concept and probably the most steadycam shots and perfect color correction. Therefore, it must be a terrible film.

Meanwhile, look at Slumdog! It's about foreign people and has a lot of hand cam shots and nobody heard of it before therefore it is the best movie ever.

And Milk is about the gays, so you can't really hate on that one even though it has a big star and a Hollywood budget. And The Reader - has anyone actually seen The Reader? And Frost/Nixon, well we've kind of run out of jokes about Nixon and there's nothing in the trailer but two guys talking to each other so there's not much there to make fun of.

I just wonder sometimes how many members of the Academy actually watch each film before voting, and how many just look at what their buddies are voting for and go along with the crowd.

Oscar time

It's my turn to weigh in on the Oscar picks.

I'm so glad In Bruges was nominated for best screenplay. I will be hoping so hard it wins. I realize it's a long shot, but it makes me happy to know that somebody on that committee recognized the film's genius.

Benjamin Button and Slumdog Millionaire absolutely deserve to be there. I haven't seen Milk yet or The Reader or Frost/Nixon, but I can't imagine they're all better than The Wrestler or The Dark Knight. Honestly The Wrestler got the shaft in these nominations. Maybe Mickey Rourke can make up for it with a win for Best Actor. Imagine that - the studio didn't want him for this and almost ran with Nicholas Cage, and now this is the movie that may have made Rourke's career.

And as for The Dark Knight - It was a great film. I'm not sure it was the best picture of the year, but it was a great film. I think In Bruges was better. I think The Wrestler and Benjamin Button and Slumdog were better. But it was a good film and the country obviously loved it.

Where is Bruce Springstein? Only three nominations for best song - two from the same film - and they couldn't find room for The Boss? Maybe it's because Beyonce can't sing it at the ceremony.

I wish it was easier to get ahold of the nominated short films. I would very much like to watch them.

The Duchess will win for Best Costume. How do I know? Best Costume ALWAYS goes to a period piece with one exception in recent years: Priscilla Queen of the Desert. But they're all period pieces, you say? Yes, but The Duchess is the MOST periody of the pieces. There were corsets. Corsets = Oscar.

I wish Heath Ledger and Robert Downey Jr weren't in the same category. I would be tickled fucking pink if Tropic Thunder won him an Academy Award for playing a guy who's trying to win an Academy Award. Hell, Heath Ledger won't know if he doesn't win. Give that shit to Downey. He was awesome.