For the first time in a long time I am living without TV. Actually I still have one, I just don’t have cable and haven’t gotten around to trying out rabbit ears. As a result, I have to say that if it wasn’t for newspapers plastering Oscar related news above the masthead for the past few days, I think this year’s Oscars would have totally passed me by.
About the two hosts: I do have a soft spot for Steve Martin (although I wish he would choose better roles, funnier films more often) but even that isn’t enough to get me to watch. Alec Baldwin is riding a wave of popularity on the back of 30 Rock which I suspect is a pretty funny show but have yet to see more than a few episodes so he too is not enough to lure me in.
But most importantly it’s the nominated films themselves I have don’t know much about. There are a few films which managed to filter through my pop culture ignorance and register with me. Not surprisingly, the list starts with Avatar, but also The Hurt Locker, Crazy Heart, Up, Up in the Air and A Serious Man. District 9 I actually saw already (it was shown in flight) and thought it was quite good.
Hmm..I started this post thinking I didn’t have much interest in seeing many of the films but now that I look at the expanded list of nominations, I’m starting to feel differently. With all the attention spent on Avatar the other movies are a bit overshadowed. I’m sure at some point I will go see Avatar. It is a bit of an odd feeling that I still haven’t seen the highest grossing film of all time. Growing up, the first three Star Wars films (i.e. the good ones…) or the Indiana Jones trilogy or even Terminator 2 and Titanic were all big cinematic events and I saw every single one in the theatre…but maybe the chasm between real and digital finally caught up with me..or maybe it was James Cameron’s insane ego…I’m not sure…but there was a time when I never would have taken so long to see Avatar ( confession: I did try to go see it on December 27th but it was sold out and I never managed a second attempt)
So I’m blindly going into this event hoping that The Hurt Locker at least gets Best Director…I mean it’s been 82 years now and not a single female director has won this award so it would be nice to see Kathryn Bigelow win. And it seems like Jeff Bridges is a lock for Best Actor…the Academy apparently likes films about down and out country singers as they gave the 1984 Best Actor award to Robert Duvall for his portrayal of hurtin’ honky tonker Mac Sledge in one of my favourite films Tender Mercies. It seems most reviewers pick Avatar for Best Film and I’ve even heard that Sandra Bullock may win Best Actress for Blind Side…which is sad to think about as I’ve silently passed judgment on that film from a position of total ignorance. I mean…Meryl Streep can never have too many awards can she?
I realize not everyone is as grumpy about the Oscars as I am…perhaps if they edited the speeches and the fashion out (which are the two main things a lot of people care about) I’d watch…but I doubt it. However, if you enjoy the spectacle, I hope you a great time on Sunday night. If you want a warm up to The Big Show, why not stop by the Pierre Burton Resource Library for a Road to the Oscars celebration on March 7th at 2 pm. George Clooney won’t be there but on the bright side, neither will James Cameron…which is a good thing since the host room probably can’t accommodate his ego.