Movie Rentals Releasing Tuesday 22, 2011
- Megamind
- Get Low
- Fish Tank (British)
- Mesrine: Part 1 Killer Instinct (French)
Greetings movie fans — Well, by now the awards season is upon us. My original opinion was that “The Kings Speech” was not going to win best picture, but as time goes by, it seems more and more likely, so maybe I would have to change my prediction on that one! As I look forward to Oscar night (or more correctly Oscar afternoon here in L.A., it makes me remember how many horrible films have won “Best Picture”. It seems that Hollywood seems to pick a movie that is a critical and popular bomb and makes it into Best Picture. Some of the classsics over the years that I watched and did not get, or actually hated have been Best Picture. My number one was “The Deer Hunter (1971)“. I watched this film and hated it, and never seen nor heard of it since. Have you ever seen it on TV? Granted that was a bad year and there wasn’t a lot of competition. (Coming Home, Heaven Can Wait, Midnight Express, An Unmarried Woman.) But still, I bought into the hype and went to see it and came away feeling like I had been cheated! What was the point of this movie? Chariots of Fire (1981) was simply unwatchable. Was this one of the most boring movies in history or what? I mean this beat out Raiders of the Lost Ark, On Golden Pond, and Reds!!! Last year’s “The Hurt Locker wasn’t a terrible movie, but the hype was way over the top. It was not really that good, and certainly wasn’t better than most of the other nominees. The year before that we got “Slum Dog Millionaire” which was also a joke of a “best picture”, especially up against “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk, etc.”
So why does the academy pick so many weird Best Pictures. I think it’s really an insider thing, and there are politics going on within the ranks inside the industry. I think last year it was not nearly enough to just ignore James Cameron, but they had to give it to his ex-wife to smack him down again and create a bogus “Year of the Woman”. Anyway, occasionally a picture that ought to win, actually wins, but it’s amazing how many bad films get the win over far better eventual losers. I used to joke that if a movie won “Best Picture” it was a sure sign to avoid it at all costs. Probably not fair to say that, but sometimes it seems that way. Enjoy! Ed of Edsreview.com
