Oscar Time

Well tonight is Oscar night. Probably a little late to post a blog about it, but such is life. I guess some terms that may describe my mood towards the Oscars this year are cynical, disappointed, angry, fed up, and so on. I know Hollywood has been Hollywood for many, many years, but at least they would throw you a bone and nominate some worthy stuff mixed in with the art house garbage that nobody ever saw. There are 3 movies produced by the former president of EBay, Jeffrey Skoll (2 involve George Clooney. Which side of the political spectrum does he fall on again?). No surprise all of them are political, all of them are anti-anything resembling middle of the road and all three have some pretty hefty nominations. The films are Syriana, Good Night & Good Luck and North Country. First off, the best box office grab of the three was Syriana which made $49 million; that ranks 58th on the list of box office receipts for 2005. North Country only made $18 million; it didn't even make the top 100 of 2005. If you saw Norma Rae you can skip North Country; and it looks like that’s what a lot of people did since Norma Rae grossed $22 million in 1979. Lastly Good Night & Good Luck made only $30 million; 90th place for 2005. Now I know that very few true blockbusters have taken home the coveted Best Picture or Best Director nod, but that's because a lot of the time they are crap. This year, however, there were some pretty spectacular movies that were ignored. No Best Picture or Best Director nod for either The Chronicles of Narnia or Walk the Line. Allow me to draw a couple of obvious conclusions. First, the three Skoll films as well as Brokeback Mountain, Munich and The Constant Gardener have a political agenda. What are they? Well, Syrianna is trying to "expose" big oil, big business. North Country portrays men as knuckle dragging fools in an attempt to further neuter America’s male population. Good Night & Good Luck discusses the, admittedly, slightly paranoid efforts of Senator McCarthy's to root out communist sympathizers. The downfall of this movie is that, as a "historical" movie, it fails to adequately address the real dangers America faced at the time. It refuses to look at the fact that America was dealing with one of the most brutal dictators in Stalin. It also tells the tale of the heroic, ever struggling journalist just trying to tell the truth - right. One other note on this film is that, when casting this film, George Clooney said they couldn't find an actor in Hollywood that could play a character so despicable as Senator McCarthy; that's why, he says, they used the real footage. Of course, Brokeback Mountain portrays all conservative Americans as dreadful bigots and that those actually living a heterosexual lifestyle are fooling themselves. Okay that might be a stretch, but it's the next step, trust me. I don't force my lifestyle on anyone else, don't force yours on me. Munich uses moral relativism to put terrorists on the same plane as those who try and stop terrorists. Spielberg had no trouble showing Nazi Germany as barbarians. Why not Palestinian terrorists? I think you know the answer. Finally, the Constant Gardener takes aim at the pharmaceutical industry. While, I agree that is wrong to use humans as a large scale lab without their knowledge, it's really just more liberal rhetoric against big business. So what about the two films that got snubbed? Get ready to roll your eyes if you are anti-Christian or anti Conservative. God. Johnny Cash ended his life as a man chasing after God and we all know that the Chronicles of Narnia is the Gospel. Go ahead and keep rolling them and I will too when I look at the winners tomorrow morning. Didn't I mention it? Yeah, I won't be watching the Oscars this year. It must be bad if a college graduate with a Theatre degree and jobs in acting, scenic design and lighting won't even watch the Oscars anymore. I'll turn them back on again when it is truly about the art of making movies and less about forwarding an agenda.