I started watching the Oscars when I was 10 years old, in 1972. I remember it vividly because they awarded Charlie Chaplin an honorary Oscar.
I knew Chaplin because I grew up eating at Shakey's Pizza in Knoxville, and they had movies going all the time, old silent movies. I saw a lot of great silent movies while eating pizza with no tomato sauce. (I refused to eat any tomato product - ketchup, sauce, etc. - until I was a teenager.)
Chaplin, made in 1992 and starring Robert Downey, Jr., is one of my all-time fave movies:
Michael and I watched every moment of the Oscar telecast, and here are some random thoughts.
- Ellen was the perfect host. Not offensive or weird, she was relaxed and gently humorous.
- I still resent having to watch 3 1/2 hours when they could give out all the major awards in 2 hours, easily. I really don't care which animated short film wins.
- By the end of the evening, Mike and I were both annoyed that Gravity won so many times.
The movies that win the most awards aren't the big special effects movies. The stories that resonate with voters are real human stories, the ones where the problems and foibles of human beings are front and center. Blowing stuff up and walking away? Yeah, those may attract the 15 year old boys, but those are not memorable stories. I took Michael to see The Avengers, and I fell asleep in that one.
I rented The Great Gatsby and we watched that a few months ago. Mike was excited that it got nominated for a couple of things.
I already have a list of movies I will rent in the coming months, that I want to see, including Dallas Buyer's Club and Saving Mr. Banks. I won't be able to watch 12 Years a Slave because it looks too heartbreaking. Not sure about Gravity, either. Maybe.
What always strikes me as sad is that the films that win a lot of awards are usually projects that the actors or directors have been trying to get made for years, and it is so hard for those smaller, more personal films to find financing, because studios want to throw their money behind the big-budget stuff like Avengers.
We didn't watch the acceptance speech by Cate Blanchett. She is a terrific actress. I just refuse to watch Woody Allen's films any more. Even if he didn't molest his daughter, he married a teeanger who was, in essence, his stepdaughter. He has a penchant for teenagers. His first wife was 16, and years later he had an affair with a 17 year old. When he started the relationship with Soon-Yi, he was 56 and she was about 19. That's just repulsive. I am horrified by actors who implicitly condone that behavior by lionizing Woody Allen, when in my opinion he is just gross.
Anyway, off the soapbox...
