Does anyone take the Oscars seriously anymore?

[Sentinel X]

Each year I realize I care less and less about the oscars. Before it was a really big thing and now I view it with indignation. And this is not because of TDK snub (although I do feel it was snubbed but thats not my reason at all).

This is THE most prestigious film award on the planet and yet people are able to predict academy award nominated films a year in advanced. Just think about that. Did it hit you? Do you see how ridiculous that sounds. The academy is so used to nominating the same types of films that someone can just read the synopsis and plot and predict serious oscar contenders without even seeing a trailer. Are there some good oscar films? Definitely but some time ago the oscar stopped being about which movie is best and started being about "awarding people we really like" or "who are we going to make the next big star" show.

Just my two cents. Discuss?

 

[El Payaso]

Not me. They rarely awards talent. They nominate people for crappy works and snub them for masterpieces.

It's all about the clothes, the flashes and whatnot.

It might be the most welll-known and popular, but prestigious? I'm not too sure.

 

[ShivNasty]

its all about whats freshest in the acadmy's minds, if you make a decent film around oscar time you'll get a nomination and if you make a artsy-fartsy pretentious piece of smugness aroud oscar time you'll win best picture.

 

[Figs]

I don't take them seriously but still find it amusing to watch...especially when the camera focuses on the bitter faces of the losers trying not to look bitter. Hahaha!

 

[Ipodman]

The thing that killed it for me was when Pirates of the Carribean and Transformers lost to The Golden Compass for Best Visual Effects.

 

[8Diagrams(WU)]

Dont care about the oscars. They are irrelevant really. I mean its a bunch of snobs raelly.

 

[hippie_hunter]

I was always bothered by the Academy always nominating films that are what ShivNasty calls "artsy-fartsy pretentious piece(s) of smugness," but the snubbing of the Dark Knight and Wall-E in favor of Milk and the Reader, and then increasing the amount of nominations for best picture the following year because they knew they botched up, was where I drew the line.

I also hated that the Dark Knight lost in the special effects category. While Benjamin Button had amazing CGI, real special effects should be rewarded over CGI.

 

[Brother Jack]

They're barely relevant at this point. Too many years of politics and bias swaying votes.

 

[Max J Power]

Do I really care? No. Ultimately, it is not that important to me, even as a film viewer, who wins awards. But I pay attention to the Oscars. It interests me to see how the industry views itself, and how these views change over time. I generally feel like Oscar wins do have some cultural significance, even if that significance fades over time. Plus, reading about Oscar wins has allowed me to learn more about some older movies that might not have been on my radar otherwise. I haven't agreed with every win, but there are a lot of great movies that did win Oscars; more than a lot of people would admit.

I will say, though, that the Oscars aren't that relevant to general audiences. But I don't really care.

 

[jacobed]

I always liked the Oscars until I saw the trailer for The Fighter.

 

[Harry_Lime02]

All these people saying they don't are still gonna be eagerly posting away about them when February rolls around. You'll see! You'll all see!

 

[El Payaso]

All these people saying they don't are still gonna be eagerly posting away about them when February rolls around. You'll see! You'll all see!

yes.

But probably saying how much of a crap it was. The thing with Oscars is that it's there and you can't avoid it.

But watching it doesn't mean taking it seriously.

 

[Majik1387]

Dont care about the oscars. They are irrelevant really. I mean its a bunch of snobs raelly.

Yeah, directors, producers, actors, etc giving awards to their fellow directors, producers, actors etc. SOOOOOOO SNOBBY!

 

[TheShah]

Hmm, I actualy have a differing view on the Oscars.
It seems to me, last couple of years that I've been noticing anyways, that they always acknowledge the performance orientated, almost non-commercial, non-mainstream types of films and performances.

I mean, that a look at the lead males over the last couple of years.
Forrest Whittaker, Philip Seymour Hoffman... not the typical, conventional leading men in Hollywood.
Half the films that make it to the Oscars the general public doesn't even know exists, until Oscar hype time... at which time the marketing machine goes into a frenzy and those movies do more business, recognition for it.

I barely saw any trailers of THE HURT LOCKER on TV until AFTER it's run at the Oscars.
Same with DOUBT, PRECIOUS, BABEL... few that come to mind.

Also in comparison to the Indian Film Awards shows (I follow "Bollywood", so have a frame of comparison to another industry other than Hollywood) who only acknowledge the commercially successful films and performance almost 95% of the time-- The oscars seems to actually reward the unknown and commercial unconventional films.

 

[Majik1387]

Agreed, except for Precious. Tyler Perry marketed that movie as much as all of his other movies pre-Oscars.

 

[Sentinel X]

Yeah, directors, producers, actors, etc giving awards to their fellow directors, producers, actors etc. SOOOOOOO SNOBBY!

...of course it is. Oscars has a lot of politics involved. They award people they like or give out "make-up" oscars instead of awarding truly deserving roles. Its all really cookie-cutter.\ to the point where the term "oscar bait" has become legit....I mean there is so many wrong things when you have a myraid of movies rehashing the same hackneyed concepts over and over again in order to get an oscar. Movies are about showing creativity and I personally feel the oscars award anything but.

 

[hopefuldreamer]

For the most part, the Oscars is just a list of movies that I will probably never see.

 

[Brother Jack]

I always liked the Oscars until I saw the trailer for The Fighter.

It is a bit ridiculous that Mark Whalberg has been nominated and Bale hasn't.

 

[Watchman]

I bet if the Dark Knight was nominated most of these answers would have been different.

its all about whats freshest in the acadmy's minds, if you make a decent film around oscar time you'll get a nomination and if you make a artsy-fartsy pretentious piece of smugness aroud oscar time you'll win best picture.

HA! Does artsy-fartsy pretentious piece of smugness correlate to non-summer genre fanboy flim? Because how was The Hurt Locker, The Departed, Rocky or even most of the winners have been pretentious?

Do I really care? No. Ultimately, it is not that important to me, even as a film viewer, who wins awards. But I pay attention to the Oscars. It interests me to see how the industry views itself, and how these views change over time. I generally feel like Oscar wins do have some cultural significance, even if that significance fades over time. Plus, reading about Oscar wins has allowed me to learn more about some older movies that might not have been on my radar otherwise. I haven't agreed with every win, but there are a lot of great movies that did win Oscars; more than a lot of people would admit.

I will say, though, that the Oscars aren't that relevant to general audiences. But I don't really care.

I agree with this. A few years ago I was really into it but now what I think are best pictures of year are not nominated or have a chance of winning.

 

[Homer J. Fong]

I don't hate the Oscars, I don't love the Oscars, I certainly don't take them seriously, but I do pay some attention to them. I watch every year, I make predictions in most of the categories, and I generally enjoy the whole thing for what it is. The Academy Awards don't represent a particularly authoritative representation of the best in film, they really are a glorified popularity contest, they do tend to honor the same kinds of movies over and over again - basically, it's just the opinion(s) of one large group, that's all. For me, The Dark Knight was/is the best film of 2008, Oscars or no Oscars, and although I complained about the Best Picture and Best Director snubs, in the end it doesn't mean anything. I'm gonna stop now, because I'm rambling.

 

[matrix_ghost]

I do still watch the oscars. And in an ideal world i'd rather see awards being given to people who really deserve something and not to people who campaign the most. Even though they may have given a solid performance.
Doubt is seriously the prime example of Oscar Bait yet i enjoyed it alot when i saw it in the cinema.

I'd still like to see commercial movies in the oscar race. Them expanding the best picture list to 10 nominees doesn't mean anything when the movie itself doesn't have a chance against other more superior candidates. District 9 against Prescious. Just think about this for a second.
An alien movie with some cool VFX and mecha action is going up against a movie where a lady is raped twice by her father and constantly is being abused by her mother.

Why the hell would you even bother ?

 

[jmc]

I wish I didn't take the Oscar as seriously as I do. The problem I've had is that in the last 10 years or so the Academy has increasingly ignored mainstream film, to the point where it's almost like there's two separate categories in the industry now, 'films' and 'movies'. 'Films' are the 'Oscar contenders', generally released anytime after September to remain fresh in minds, very character driven, usually emotional journeys, and generally are seen by no-one outside industry folks and cinema die hards because they're not promoted enough. 'Movies' are what the mainstream watches, stories usually aren't as deep, characters usually not as developed, but they are the bread and butter of the industry. The problem is the balance has tipped to far in one direction, to the point where the perception is anything mainstream now 'can't possibly be worthy of nomination'. Now it's true most mainstream films are nothing more than light entertainment, and many are pure crap, but when one does come along that is obviously on a different level it deserves to be recognized for its efforts. What difference does it make if it's a children animated feature, or a sci-fi film, or a superhero flick, or a fantasy film? What difference does it make if it has loads of FX and makes a gazillion dollars? I don't know when this attitude started, going off the list of nominees in recent year it appears to have started after LOTR won a huge swag of awards, after that until Avatar no film that you'd call mainstream made the BP list. Was that the turning point? I've long suspected the Academy felt compelled to reward LOTR, make no mistake the BP win was for the whole series not film 3, the first film is by far the superior of the trilogy. It seem prior to that the Academy was quite happy to reward mainstream films. Gladiator, Sixth Sense, Saving Private Ryan, Braveheart, Forrest Gump, Beauty and the Beast, Dances With Wolves, E.T., Raiders of the Lost Arc, Star Wars, Jaws, the list goes on. When did popular cinema become irrelevant to the art of film?

 

[El Payaso]

Oscar ceremony is just like the Hollywood movies it presents: fancy, big-budgeted, flashy and it's mostly about entertainment over talent.

 

[Sentinel X]

Its sad that this is actually VERY accurate...

 

[Red Mask]

So do you guys prefer the MTV Awards or the People's Choice Awards?