And the Nominees, along with the Nominees, plus the Nominees (and don’t forget the Nominees) are…

Ten “Best Picture” nominees…really?

AMPAS^© (The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) has got to be confused, or else that new cannabis law in California is alive and well in Hollywood.

I am a huge movie fan. When I was a kid, I dreamt of being a big time film director and saw myself and my creativity as on par with the likes of Spielberg, Lucas, Kramer and Wilder. Alas, it never came to that, but nonetheless, I studied filmmaking enough to know what to look for in the creation of an “A-List” movie, with special emphasis on the screenplay itself (I’m a writer at heart…that should be a no brainer!).

Over the years, I have been at odds with AMPAS^© over past nominees and winners because of the incredibly transparent political message they were sending at the time. Most of the time, the Oscars^© are really just a popularity contest. I’m not really sure that the general public understands how these nominations and awards are handed out, but in a nutshell, there is an elaborate application process, followed by an onslaught of “political” ads urging the AMPAS^© voting body to select their movies, actors, directors and film crews for the awards (mostly seen in the trade publications, like Variety or the Hollywood Reporter, and such. There are screening parties and tons of money is spent by the various studios to sway the votes.

As the voting goes, each individual category (Actor/Actress, Screenplay, Direction, Editing, Special Effects, etc.) can only be voted on by members of the Academy who are registered as that type of member, i.e. Editors vote for Editors, Directors vote for Directors and so forth. The only category open to all members of AMPAS^© is the “Best Picture” category.

In case you missed the announcement, here are the “Best Picture” nominees for 2010:

• Avatar
  
• The Blind Side
  
• District 9
  
• An Education
  
• The Hurt Locker
  
• Inglourious Basterds
  
• Precious: Based on the novel “Push” by Sapphire
  
• A Serious Man
  
• Up
  
• Up in the Air
  

So, here’s my gripe: Has ANYONE ever heard of “An Education,” “The Hurt Locker,” or “A Serious Man”??? If you DID see “District 9” (I did), what on earth makes this movie on par with other true greats, such as “Braveheart,” “Slumdog Millionaire,” “Gladiator,” “American Beauty,” and “A Beautiful Mind” (for those of the more recent decade) or such classic winners as “The Last Emperor,” “Rain Man,” “Amadeus,” and “Gandhi!” Really? This is the best of the best???

So let me offer up the movies that I think are better qualified on this LONG list of nominees:

• “Star Trek” (2009): Ok look, AMPAS^© rarely nominates science fiction or fantasy, and it’s even more rare that one wins. “Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” (2003) is the ONLY Fantasy/Science Fiction winner of the “Best Picture” Oscar^© in the 82 year history of the award. “Star Trek” (2009) was well acted, well directed, and the script well-executed. If you are going to compare the two, putting this film up against “District 9” is definately NO CONTEST!  The USS Enterprise WINS hands down!

• “Julie & Julia” (2009): Ok, Ok! So Meryl Streep is in (yet) another great movie, and yeah, she is nominated. But think about this. “Julie & Julia” was truly compelling when you stop to think that it’s based on two SEPARATE true stories, intelligently interwoven into a delightful and watchable film; “Up in the Air” (although loosely based on a true story) isn’t all that interesting and Clooney is…well, Clooney (same acting style as all three Oceans movies!)  If I had to choose between Streep and George Clooney as to who is the better actor, I don’t know any serious movie lover who would really have a plausible argument that Clooney could out-shine her! Clooney: eye-candy, maybe, but really convincing actor? Hardly…

• “Public Enemies” (2009): Wow! How did this film get overlooked? Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Michael Mann’s direction? The script was incredible, the photography was amazing and the film kept you on the edge of your seat for the entire 140 minutes. That this film was snubbed is simply criminal!

• “The Soloist” (2009): Oscar^© loves human interest stories, especially those based on true events, and with the powerhouse duo of Robert Downey, Jr. and Jamie Foxx, this film should have been a shoe-in. It’s no wonder that the heavy-hitting films are best released in late December…AMPAS^© has a short memory than I do!

• “Coraline” (2009): Ok, maybe I’m grasping at straws here because this film IS nominated for Best Animated Feature Film this year. And I will admit that I REALLY liked “Up,” Disney^©/Pixar^©‘s latest offering. But I think what I am griping about here is that Disney^©/Pixar^© no longer has the corner on the market for animation-based films, so why shouldn’t THIS picture be considered for the BEST picture of 2009? “Coraline” (2009) just proves to me that there is REAL talent existing outside the borders of the Magic Kingdom!

• “The International” (2009): The best suspense-thriller action flick that no one saw! Cast was amazing, camera work was unique and compelling and the direction was definitely worth a nod from the Academy.  What a shame!
  

NBC Nightly News reported today that AMPAS^© listed ten nominees in order to quell criticism from the public who have felt in the past that better films were overlooked for odd, obscure pictures. While that may be true, who cares!? The public doesn’t vote!

Sadly, I am not a member of the Academy, so my opinion is simply that. And that’s the way it is every year too, and will be ’til the day I’m six feet under. But if they were asking me, here are the nominees:

• “Avatar”, Dir. James Cameron
  
• “Inglourious Basterds”, Dir. Quentin Tarantino
  
• “Julie & Julia”, Dir. Nora Ephron
  
• “Public Enemies”, Dir. Michael Mann
  
• “Star Trek”, Dir. J.J. Abrams
  

And the Oscar^© goes to…

What Does it Take to Get a Menu Around Here?

Is there anyone else out there that has a gripe about this?

At Christmas, we purchased a Blu-Ray player. I suspect that we aren’t the only ones to do this and while still relatively new, there is enough content out there to justify having one (although I will admit that the discs are still too pricy – thank goodness for Netflix!).

So I decide to rent one of my more recent favorite movies, the remake of “Casino Royale” starring Daniel Craig as James Bond. I’m excited because, unlike a lot of movies that are being released in the BD format, this was filmed with high-definition cameras, making it a true high definition picture on the smaller screens that can handle 1080p resolutions.

The problem that I seem to run into has been an age-old one since commercial VHS tapes were introduced to the consumer: the movie studios insist on placing trailers for either upcoming new films or soon-to-be disc releases. Disney, in the past, was particularly guilty of this practice with their tapes and DVDs, and it seems that the other studios have begun embracing it on a more prevalent frequency.

You WOULD think that it would be as easy as depressing the “Disc Menu” button or the “Title Menu” button on the remote to bypass this. Foiled again! All I get in response to this is the little red circle with a slash through it in the upper right corner of the screen. So I have to plod along, using the “Forward Skip” button five or six times until the main menu finally appears and I have wasted a microscopically (but utterly irritatingly) small amount of time to get to where I want to be.

I’m not sure if this is the studios way of being “in control” but come on, already!

First off, I will usually view the trailers that are available on a new disc, when I get them, but 2-3 years down the line, when I want to watch the video again for my own enjoyment, I have no desire to re-watch those damn trailers! And then, half the time, they are for movies I have absolutely no interest in, which makes this all the more irritating!

So I put it out there in the electronic universe: To all movie-releasing studios! PLEASE stop this inane practice! I’ll watch your trailers on the “special features” part of the menu, but I abhor being “force-fed” this stuff when I pop the disc into my player! Gimme my menu!

Or else…check please!