Written by Dr. Charles Bane<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the Academy Awards just one month away, critics are already complaining about why they don\u2019t watch the show. The reasons tend to fall into two camps: that the nominated films are not actually the best films and performances of the year, or that the nominated films are only critical darlings that have not been seen by a wide enough audience. One extreme believes the nominees are too popular, while the other doesn\u2019t believe that they are popular enough. The result is that these groups will ignore the Oscars and probably spend the evening watching a movie they believe should have been nominated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not me. I will be watching with my ballot in hand, keeping score of my predictions. Like many critics, I think the Oscars are too long and too self-congratulatory, and I know there are deserving films that won\u2019t win (or weren\u2019t even nominated). I also know that some of this year\u2019s winners will be forgotten down the road and join the ranks of the undeserving (\u201cCrash,\u201d anyone?). But I don\u2019t care. Of all of the awards handed out by the various guilds and critics\u2019 circles, the Academy Awards are the only ones that award the full range of people that it actually takes to make a movie. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
They are also the only awards that will force \u201cBarbie\u201d and \u201cPoor Things\u201d \u2013 both comedies \u2013 to battle it out against \u201cOppenheimer\u201d and \u201cKillers of the Flower Moon\u201d \u2013 both dramas \u2013 that will say it\u2019s either Lily Gladstone or Emma Stone (it can\u2019t be both) and that will recognize all of the technical awards alongside the \u201cmajor\u201d awards. It\u2019s the one night when it\u2019s comedy vs. drama vs. action vs. sci-fi. And, regardless of the speeches heard so far, the thank yous and the tears, it\u2019s the only one that all of the players in Hollywood actually care about. Just ask Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy or Tom Cruise if they\u2019re completely satisfied with their Golden Globe or if they would happily give it up to have an Oscar on their mantles instead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But more than that, the Oscars introduce us to films we might not have otherwise heard of: \u201cAmerican Fiction,\u201d \u201cThe Holdovers\u201d and \u201cPoor Things\u201d all experienced box office bumps once they were announced as nominees. Anticipation is high, and streaming rentals are up for \u201cAnatomy of a Fall,\u201d \u201cPast Lives\u201d and \u201cThe Zone of Interest,\u201d three international films that made the Best Picture cut. \u201cThe Boy and the Heron\u201dand \u201cNimona and Robot Dreams\u201d remind us that Disney and Pixar aren\u2019t the only studios making animated films. Best Documentary shows us stories that are sometimes so raw they are not quite ready for the Hollywood treatment, like \u201c20 Days in Mariupol\u201d about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Finally, the shorts categories (Animated, Documentary and Live Action) give us snapshots into other worlds and often introduce up-and-coming filmmakers. This year, \u201cThe Barber of Little Rock\u201d tells the story of Arkansan Arlo Washington, an African American barber, whose nonprofit community bank is fighting the racial wealth gap. The film will screen Thursday, Feb. 15, at the Clinton Presidential Library and Sunday, Feb. 18, at the Arkansas Cinema Society. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Oscars aren\u2019t everything. They sometimes \u201cget it wrong.\u201d But when someone wants to appreciate or study film either professionally, academically or just for fun, the list of past Oscar winners and nominees is often where they have to start.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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