Well, it's been a couple days since the Oscars and it's had time to settle in here. We did a pretty decent job at predicting this years winners, but missed a few including two of the biggest categories. So now that it's all over, what does the staff of Kneel Before Pod have to say?
Ryan- I did not watch the Oscars this year. Not out of a general sense of apathy towards the majority of the nominees (which is true), but because TV is harder to steal from your neighbors than internet is. All that being said, I checked the ever-informative World Wide Web shortly after I woke up on Monday to see how my predictions turned out.
Not. So. Good.
Avatar, what I thought would be the night's big winner, came away with only three awards: Art Direction, Cinematography, and Special Effects. I believe these are all no-brainers, as far as Avatar is concerned. Interesting to me, is that Cameron lost Best Director to his ex-wife Katherine Bigelow, showing that Cameron's epic romance/special effects/classic storytelling chops aren't always going to land him on top.
Best Animated Feature went to Up. Duh.
One award which has me stymied was Best Makeup, which went to Star Trek. I'm not 100% sure what this award signifies, but I will admit that Chris Pine sure looked like shit by the end of the movie.
Oscar's favorite this year was, of course, The Hurt Locker. Directed by Katherine Bigelow, starring Jeremy Renner, this was one movie I had no desire to see before Oscar took it to the prom. Obviously, now I will catch it at some point. The Hurt Locker wasn't aggressively marketed, in my opinion. Not like other Best Picture noms Avatar and Up. I believe this fits the overall tone of the movie, and also confirms its place in history since much of the buzz would have had to be by word of mouth.
My final thoughts on this year's Academy Awards are a big, fat, “MEH.” I knew the movies I'd seen wouldn't win what I wanted them to, and the movies I hadn't seen would bury everything else. One major surprise was the fact that Precious didn't win more, but I'm not going to complain.
Nate- Ok Oscar, I get it. Increase the number of best picture noms for from 5 to 10 to include all the films to get geek love in an attempt to raise the ratings. Avatar, Up, District 9 and Inglourious Basterds: It’s clear that those four would have never made the cut in a five nomination situation. (Well, Avatar would have, I mean come on, $700mil?!) I mean why not throw Transformers II: Revenge of the Fallen up there too? Oh wait… I said films to get geek love… that’s right. A big FUCK YOU to Michael Bay. Even the Academy saw that steaming dog pile for what it is and gave it not a single nomination.
So did the ratings ploy work? I don’t know and I don’t care. I very rarely watch the Oscars despite being the huge film buff that I am. I watch movies for the stories they tell, and how they’re told, not for the awards they win. Plus I usually just don’t have time to sit through a 4 hour telecast. This year was no different, as I was to busy recording the best gosh darn pod-cast on the net, Kneel Before Pod, with our dear friends Carl and Ryan. (Be sure to listen to the episode, as I spoil the Best Supporting Actor win for Carl and he turns green and throws me through a wall.) Despite having said that, I still like to comment on the nominations and their results; I feel it often paints a pretty accurate picture of the state of things in the film industry.
All that being said, this was supposed to be a post about those results, and what I thought of them specifically. But come on, who can pass up a chance to shit on Michael Bay. Now obviously the big topic is Avatar and The Hurt Locker. Both had 9 nominations, Avatar getting 3 statues for its achievements, while Hurt Locker walked away with 6. Yes, these facts have been beaten into everyone’s brains from keyboards all across the internet. No, I’m not going to sit here and say each film didn’t deserve what it got. I just think Avatar deserved a little bit more, for not only its amazing technical innovations, but for the way those innovations will change the film world for years to come. I mean step back and look at the big picture; Hollywood is now scrambling to stuff this upcoming summer full of enough 3-D fanfare to make your eyes bleed. Can Hurt Locker claim an impact like that? Another example: Can you name the winner of the 1977 Academy Award for best picture? (Here’s a hint: It wasn’t Star Wars.)
As for the rest, I’ll keep it short. All I can say about Jeff Bridges winning the Actor in a leading role Oscar for Crazy Heart, seeing as I haven’t seen it yet, is that I know he deserved it. The same goes for Christoph Waltz’s win for supporting actor, as I did see Inglourious Basterds in the theatre and I’d have been pissed if he didn’t win. Precious won two Oscars that I’m sure it deserved. I would have loved to have seen my boys, the Coens, take home another for their collection. Up won for best animated feature, duh, and winning for best original score was the icing on the cake. As for Star Trek’s win for best makeup, it’s good to see us fanboys represented, even considering we had never even heard of the competition. But in this case, they did have to super-glue Star Trek’s Zachary Quinto’s fingers together in order for him to make the famous Vulcan sign of life and prosperity, and that’s gotta count for something, right?
Carl- I was shocked to see "The Hurt Locker" come out big with best picture
and best director. I had a feeling it would split the honors with "Avatar". Having just recently watched "The Hurt Locker", I have to say I think it was a better overall movie than "Avatar". Was it better directed? I'm not as sure about that. "The Hurt Locker" was a beautiful movie as far as the direction and cinematography go, but to say it was better directed than "Avatar" is a stretch. Either way, "Avatar" has won it's fair share of awards already. It has achieved more than any movie before it both technically and commercially so James Cameron should be able to sleep well at the end of the night. For my two cents, I still say "Up" was the best movie in the category, but I don't get a vote.
I'm pretty sure I am the only one that actually watched the program, I will say what I always say. I find it completely low class of them to put a rush on the people that the event is supposedly "honoring." For example, a producer of documentary doesn't expect to get a whole lot of mainstream praise. So when their latest movie wins, they know this might be the only time that they receive an award like this. Why not let them enjoy the moment and get their thank yous out? What adds insult to this injury is when Ben Stiller comes out 5 seconds later dressed as a Na'vi and proceeds to waste about 5 minutes or more of the show's time. Sure it was funny, which is rare for Stiller, but it didn't do anything to make the show better or honor the people that work so hard to entertain us.
For more of Ryan, Nate and Carl talking about the Oscars check out, listen to their Oscar Preview Special.
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