91st Annual Academy Awards

[sueb1863]

Agree that the popular film category won't do anything for the ratings. There aren't enough fans who will tune in just to watch a popular film get an Oscar to make a difference. This will just dilute the prestige of the Awards.

What's next, Twitter voting in some of the categories?

 

[Drizzle]

Agree that the popular film category won't do anything for the ratings. There aren't enough fans who will tune in just to watch a popular film get an Oscar to make a difference. This will just dilute the prestige of the Awards.

What's next, Twitter voting in some of the categories?

What prestige? Dudes like Eminem and Three 6 Mafia have won Oscars and they aren't what you'd call traditionally prestigious. A movie about a woman ****ing a fish man was the last winner for Best Picture. That probably made the prestigious crowd accidentally drop their monocles into their brandy.

 

[Schlosser85]

The Shape of Water is nothing like Eminem, it's very arthouse and "for your consideration" ish. Not really good comparisons IMO.

 

[Drizzle]

The Shape of Water is nothing like Eminem, it's very arthouse and "for your consideration" ish. Not really good comparisons IMO.

I was being facetious about The Shape of Water. I've seen it and I know that it's got that "For Your Consideration" vibe, but it's still humorous that there's a bestiality subplot in a Best Picture winner.

But honestly, the two most buzzed about Best Picture nominees in recent years (not counting winners or the whole Moonlight/La La Land debacle) were probably Mad Max: Fury Road and Get Out. Neither of which are arthouse films. Complaining about the Popular Film category is rather pointless to me because guess what? 40-50 years ago, popular films were nominated for Best Picture all the time, even movies like Jaws and Star Wars. Some of them even won (Rocky, The Godfather). Yes, a movie can be both popular and good but I do have to say that the Academy has been too biased towards art house movies in recent years. Do I think Spotlight is a good movie? Sure, but I don't think it's particularly better or more impressive than The Revenant or even Mad Max: Fury Road. I think some more recognition is due for the critically adored blockbusters outside of the standard VFX and sound awards.

 

[Lencho01]

Will Oscars’ Popular Film Category Generate Ratings or Just Controversy?

 

[harlequinade]

Berger argued that the new category isn't so much about coming up with a criteria for measuring popularity, it's about recognizing "excellence in movies that connect with people."

"I don't think it really is popular film," he said of the new category. "I think it's for outstanding entertainment, and, for me, that can mean Batman, Little Miss Sunshine, Risky Business, The Bourne Identity. Just as everybody has their own definition of entertainment, I think they also have their own definition of art. I think it will ultimately be up to the Academy members to figure out how exactly they approach this."

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/n...ademy-board-member-albert-berger-says-1135789

 

[James.B]

 

[Kaleb]

 

[Kaleb]

beat me to it.

 

[Kane52630]

Had a feeling they might stop it after the bad press... But I still would like to see it happen one day.

 

[NotNickFury]

No surprise there.

 

[terry78]

It's like giving out a ****ing Nickelodeon kid's choice award.

 

[Kaleb]

 

[Pink Ranger]

Finally, sanity prevails.

 

[samsnee]

Good. Good.

 

[Frodo]

I tend to think it was always more of a trial balloon but the backlash from industry people and critics confirmed for them that it wasn't gonna fly.

The Academy was basically trying to prevent something they think is eventually going to happen , which is a film like Black Panther or Wonder Woman ending up in the Best Picture category.

I'm more confident now that a superhero film will one day be nominated for Best Picture ,even despite these feeble attempts to prevent that from happening.

It may not be in 2020 , but I think it'll eventually happen.

 

[Luigi]

Smart move there.

 

[jmc]

I tend to think it was always more of a trial balloon but the backlash from industry people and critics confirmed for them that it wasn't gonna fly.

The Academy was basically trying to prevent something they think is eventually going to happen , which is a film like Black Panther or Wonder Woman ending up in the Best Picture category.

I'm more confident now that a superhero film will one day be nominated for Best Picture ,even despite these feeble attempts to prevent that from happening.

It may not be in 2020 , but I think it'll eventually happen.

It was less about preventing and more about ratings, and maybe even to a lesser extent about getting people off their back about blockbuster movies. No doubt if they could guarantee big name films in the race they would allow it, but ultimately the academy has no control over what its members vote for.

 

[Teelie]

I think the problem with the Academy is they have ignored popular movies because those somehow are a lesser film to them. Most of the Best Picture movies are dramas or in some way a serious emotional movie that has little to no action, comedy or anything approaching fantasy.

Obviously there are occasional exceptions but the current climate is hateful of superhero movies or anything else that doesn't fit a narrow standard of cinematic excellence.

 

[sueb1863]

Seems to confirm the theory that it was all nothing but a publicity stunt and that they never really intended to go through with it.

 

[Tg11]

A Star is Born definitely for Best Picture I can see it being nominated...but then again the first superhero film since The Dark Knight that being Black Panther I can also see Oscar nominations for Black Panther considering the records it broke this year but also because of how great a film it really is

 

[Manasrepublic]

The problem with a popular category is that it starts to become like many south asian film awards, which are notorious for stupid categories such as “critics best actor” then a “best actor” general category then there is also a best film (popular) and a “critics best film.” It’s like giving everyone an award and it dilutes the meaning and importance. Which actor or film is truly the better of the two. It’s like a parallel awards ceremony. I am glad they have canceled this for the oscars. The oscars do need to start being more fair towards very well crafted commercial cinema that is middle of the road in terms of artistic value/meaning and entertainment.

 

[Lencho01]

Black Panther Has Its Eyes Set on a Lot of Oscars

 

[Schlosser85]

Black Panther is no more Oscar-worthy than The Dark Knight or Captain America: The Winter Soldier or the first Avengers.

Less so than The Dark Knight, IMO.

 

[RockSP]

The problem with a popular category is that it starts to become like many south asian film awards, which are notorious for stupid categories such as “critics best actor” then a “best actor” general category then there is also a best film (popular) and a “critics best film.” It’s like giving everyone an award and it dilutes the meaning and importance. Which actor or film is truly the better of the two. It’s like a parallel awards ceremony. I am glad they have canceled this for the oscars. The oscars do need to start being more fair towards very well crafted commercial cinema that is middle of the road in terms of artistic value/meaning and entertainment.

But there is no importance, just as there is no "truly better". Usain Bolt was truly better than his competition in the races he won. Acting doesn't work that way. Let's say actors X, Y & Z give incredible performances and all are nominated for an award. Just because they give it to actor Y doesn't mean he or she was "truly" better. I mean did Scorsese suck as a director before he finally won one of those silly statues...?