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September 2, 2010
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They got the Oscars right
Published February 7, 2010
Normally, after the announcement of this year’s nominees for the Academy Awards, I would write a column in this space complaining of the inevitable snubs of quality films in favor of overstuffed, pretentious prestige picks that appeal squarely to middlebrow would-be elitists.
In fact, after so many years of mocking the Oscar voters for their laughable blind spots, questionable taste and pigheaded decisions, I’ve grown rather fond of such columns. It does me good to get some of the bile out of my system.
So, imagine my shock when they announced the Oscar nominees last Tuesday and ... they got most of it right.
Really?
Now what can I complain about?
The reason for this relatively rational set of nominations is the much publicized decision by the Academy to expand the Best Picture race from five to 10 slots, freeing up space to nominate the more successful, populist films that the voters usually neglect in favor of unseen Holocaust dramas.
There were a few small films — if you’ve seen “An Education” or “A Serious Man,” you’re doing better than I am on this year’s crop of Oscar films — and a few independent films that nevertheless attracted some big buzz — “Precious,” “Up in the Air” and the likely winner, “The Hurt Locker.”
But there were also films nominated that made real money and attracted big audiences - the science fiction morality tale “District 9,” which never would have made it in under the old system, or Quentin Tarantino’s crowd-pleasing “Inglourious Basterds,” one of my particular favorites of the year.
An animated film got nominated for Best Picture for only the second time ever with “Up.” A Sandra Bullock movie, “The Blind Side,” was inexplicably nominated for the big prize. And the giant blue elephant in the room, “Avatar,” stomped its way into the ring by making more money than any other movie ever (until adjusted for inflation...).
Not every movie in that list is one I would particularly favor as one of the 10 best of the year. But under the old five-movie system, most of the films that do belong on that list would have been excluded in favor of the ones no one cares about. If a Sandra Bullock Oscar nod is the price I have to pay for aliens and cartoons in the race, I can take that.
But if this trend continues — if the Oscars’ admission of 10 films continues to attract real movies into the race alongside the indie nonsense — what will I have to complain about (aside from whatever unjustly wins)? How can I mock the Oscars as freely when they nominate so many films with robots, explosions and Nazi-killing?
On the other hand, I still have the Golden Globes, the Grammys, the Emmys and most of the other awards show to mercilessly mock for being out of touch with both quality and popular tastes.
And, when “The Blind Side” somehow upsets nine better movies to win Best Picture, I can go back to hating the Oscars too.
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