Todd’s Movie Blog

I can not believe that there is actual controversy on whether or not the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science should nominate The Dark Knight for best picture.  Apparently it comes down to ratings.  Last year had the worst ratings in Academy Awards history.  The Oscars have found that it isn ‘t the host that determines whether or not people will watch but if there is a popular movie in contention, like Titanic or Lord of the Rings.  This is leading some to feel that they are being pressured into nominating a specific film, not for it’s artistic merit but just because it was popular and will ensure good ratings.  My take on the whole thing is that if it is only about worthy films and not popularity, then ratings shouldn’t matter, in fact you don’t even need a broadcast of the ceremony.  Just have the awards and speeches and then release a list of the winners to the press.  Ah, but Hollywood wants to have the broadcast so that they can all appear on camera and be seen and admired by everyone, which is why we now have this lame controversy about whether or not The Dark Knight should be nominated.  What irks me about the whole thing is the snobbish belief that something that appeals to everyone is unworthy of accolades, which has plagued movies from the beginning.  This is why Hitchcock only won a special life time achievement award instead of a best director Oscar.  That and the fact that Batman is a Comic Book character really has the Academy gnashing their teeth in frustration.  Hollywood doesn’t mind raking in tons of money from it, but when it comes to saying it was actually a good movie, no way, better to go with Slumdog Millionaire because the Oscars aren’t the People’s Choice Awards.  Personally it doesn’t matter, I’m not planning on watching anyway, regardless of what films are in the running.  I’ll do what I did last year, get the results the day after.  Why?  Because, like a lot of movie fans these days, I don’t care.  Whether or not someone wins an Oacar doesn’t make me want to run out and see the movie.  I like what I like and no amount of pompous promotion about how many awards a film garnered is going to encourage me to plunk down ten bucks.  Money’s too tight these days and I would rather wait and spend it on The Watchmen and Star Trek rather than Gran Torino or The Wrestler, no matter how artistically worthy they may be.