How would you fix the Academy Awards?

[Figs]

LOL... I love Die Hard as much as the next dude, but it doesn't belong in the same sentence as "great cinema."

Have to agree. As much as I love Die Hard, and I'm a really big Willis fan...it isn't really a great in cinema as a whole.

It definetly is an action great or even one of the greatest action films, if I must say so myself but not in cinema overall.

 

[Drizzle]

LOL... I love Die Hard as much as the next dude, but it doesn't belong in the same sentence as "great cinema."

Bite your tongue, sir. "Die Hard" is one of the greatest action films of all time. It more than qualifies as great cinema.

 

[Movies205]

LOL... I love Die Hard as much as the next dude, but it doesn't belong in the same sentence as "great cinema."

I study film so I'm going go with yes Die Hard is great cinema

 

[KenK]

Because stuntwork implies that you're awarding a non-artsy film. Most flicks that involve stuntwork are lowbrow, according to the higher-ups.

You do realize Norbit was nominated for an Oscar, right?

 

[cerealkiller182]

LOL... I love Die Hard as much as the next dude, but it doesn't belong in the same sentence as "great cinema."

Why? Its one of the greatest action movies ever. The stunt work and the effects were both practical and better than most today,as well as looking amazing on screen. John McLane was witty, likeable, grounded, and was easily relatable. Fast tracked the career of one of the bigger movie stars today. Had an impressive villain performance. It also created a precedent that most action movies are pitched with: Die hard on a boat, on a plane, in space, etc. What is there that makes you think its not great cinema?

 

[tzarinna]

http://blog.spout.com/2008/02/25/ways-to-boost-the-oscar-ratings/

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/24/movies/awardsseason/24scot.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

http://www.forbes.com/digitalentert...black-market_cx_lr_0301blackmarketoscars.html

 

[The Dark Defender]

You suck, sorry, no explanation is needed when you make a stupid statement like that.

More of an accurate statement actually. Most films that they nominate are simply not very good, toppled with bs like what matthooper pointed out about the academy and how choices are made, the so called "award" is a crock...to put it nicely.

It's far stupider to take them seriously than to point out the obvious as he was doing. Oscars are no more about film quality than the Razzies are. I can't help but shake my head whenever someone brings up those irrelevant little trophies in a discussion about how good or bad a film is.

Reviews are also often used for this, and a determining factor in nominations, and I lost track of how many times that I've seen these so called "professionals" make objectively inaccurate statements that anyone with a brain and a set of eyes that was paying attention could've clearly seen was not the case.

I almost feel sorry for people that actually bring up this garbage when trying to argue their case for or against a film. It's undeniably dumb.

Pointing out "well it won a bunch of Oscars" or "it has a great rating on rotten tomatoes" has about as much to do with quality as saying "kittens are fluffy" or "pickles are green."

 

[Drizzle]

Most films that they nominate are simply not very good.

Okay, if you say that, then I doubt you've even seen any of this year's best picture nominees.

 

[The Dark Defender]

Okay, if you say that, then I doubt you've even seen any of this year's best picture nominees.

I'm speaking in general, not specifically toward this year in particular. Juno was an excellent comedy and No Country for Old Men was very good, although I didn't care for the ending.

 

[Shifty]

Like how John Stewart said that if it wasn't for the writers being back, they would have more dumb montages...yet there was still one every 10 minutes

I'd only accept montages in anniversary years (?0th, ?5th) like this past show, it was the 80th.


When you see predictions for Oscars it usually deals with the acting, directing and picture. The hardcore predict the other categories even though they have no right or idea what makes a film have the best sound editing or mixing.

Solution for saving time and ratings: have an afternoon ceremony that can be broadcast online in the Kodak Theatre with the technical awards that the majority of the viewers could careless about. Look at at all the time that could be saved by moving the acceptance speeches, announcing the nominations and presenters to the afternoon. Sure those in live action short might be pissed off to be bumped but they could be given longer time to give thank yous and they could always have a moment in the live broadcast to review the 13 awards given out in the afternoon and they still can go to an Oscar party later that night. Hell they can start early!

Best Picture
Best Director
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actress
Best Original Screenplay
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Animated Feature
Best Animated Short
Best Art Direction
Best Cinematography
Best Costume Design
Best Documentary Feature
Best Documentary Short
Best Film Editing
Best Foreign Language Film
Best Live Action Short
Best Makeup
Best Original Score
Best Original Song
Best Sound Editing
Best Sound Mixing
Best Visual Effects
Academy Honorary Award

I TiVoed the Oscars this year and was done in less than two hours. I watched all Jon Stewart, the montages and most acting awards, the screenplay, and didn't bother with most speeches. Plus the commercials.

Then once the format has been changed, revise the way the films are nominated and voted on.

 

[Canadian Rider]

One giant Cage match.

 

[SuperHeroHype]

You suck, sorry, no explanation is needed when you make a stupid statement like that.

I do huh. Then tell me why the ratings for the year Titanic was nominated were so high? I'm simply answering the question stated at the beginning of this thread--- how would YOU fix the Awards. I never said No Country or any of the movies nominated this year were not good. In fact, some are fantastic, but if ABC and the Academy want ratings, they are going to have to change some things.

And to comment on the above posts, I think Conan would be a brilliant host. He would definitely do the sketches/video montages with him in it that people loved about the Billy Crystal days.

 

[the a1ant]

Yeah, Conan would be a great host.

The Academy Awards needs a serious overhaul. Their vierwship numbers are getting worse and worse every year, with this year being one of the worst. Next year, they should think outside the box and do something unique and unexpected.

 

[Shifty]

I do huh. Then tell me why the ratings for the year Titanic was nominated were so high? I'm simply answering the question stated at the beginning of this thread--- how would YOU fix the Awards. I never said No Country or any of the movies nominated this year were not good. In fact, some are fantastic, but if ABC and the Academy want ratings, they are going to have to change some things.

Well ABC just has to accept that like everything, except the Super Bowl, ratings for television will go down. Logically the People's Choice Awards would be the most watched award show but it isn't. It does craptacular compared to the Oscars. It will be interesting when the PVR ratings come out next week to see where the Oscars placed.

And to comment on the above posts, I think Conan would be a brilliant host. He would definitely do the sketches/video montages with him in it that people loved about the Billy Crystal days.

I think these comedians have respect for each other's work and would never "copy/steal" their material. That's why no one has done anything like Crystal though nothing is stopping them.

Jon Stewart was in bed with Halle Berry/George Clooney At the Emmys, Conan showed up at the sets of certain shows but with movies it could be hard but he's creative something could be done where he interacts with the characters somewhere but even with better technology I don't think we'll see Conan inserted into films.
They could always do a passing of the torch with Crystal and Conan. I do love those introductions and especially the out of nowhere cameos like David Letterman and Kevin Costner.

The introduction to the this year's Oscars, blending all these iconic or well known images in a race to get to the Academy Awards. Something like that could've been good with Conan.

Another thing could be people have finally given up tuning into famous people getting awards. Who cares?

I did like Harrison Ford's quote about not winning an Oscar in the horrible Barbara Walters interview prior to the show. He would rather win the respect of his peers on the set, then on the screen.

 

[Mr. Crumb]

I think if the Academy actually lets these "lowbrow" movies be eligible for awards like art direction, makeup, original score, costume design...maybe more people will care.

I mean...how many awards will these idiots give out to costumes that are gowns and dresses from the middle ages or the early 1900's, etc etc. I mean...yeah they are nice, but how many times will we see these kind of movies get nominated and win this kind of award? Its every year!!

How bout science fiction movies or horror movies to be let into these awards? I mean, the costumes for those movies is derived simply from imagination itself. There is no basis in history for this almost! Its simply ridiculous that these kind of movies are ignored for categories such as this.

Horror movies should be eligible for makeup...I mean...c'mon! There is more hard work to make a horror movie work for makeup than a period piece movie. Gimmie a break. If those period piece movies are so "realistic", makeup is wouldnt have been used extensively back then, or it would look horrible anyways.

Until the Academy starts allowing stuff like that to be eligible, I wont give a rats ass about the Oscars.

 

[Catman]

Early in the show Chris Rock said something like "Back in the day, we had classy movie stars and now we've got Jude Law! Who is Jude Law anyway, and why is he in every movie?" Nobody laughed.

This pissed Penn off and when he went to the stage later he said something like "In regards to what our host (and he said host with such a grimace on his face too) said earlier, Jude Law is one of our finest actors." The audience applauded.

The Oscar audience is too stuck up. Everytime Chris Rock made fun of people at the MTV Video Music Awards everyone was laughing their ass off. Chris Rock was great for people watching at home, but not for the people sitting in the audience.

Logically the People's Choice Awards would be the most watched award show but it isn't.

um...no. People's Choice Awards honor the summer blockbusters. There's a difference between honoring movies the general public likes and summer blockbusters. People assume its the same thing but it is not. Look at Juno. That was not a summer blockbuster yet it was a movie that general public loved and it will probably become a bigger classic than the other movies nominated in the best picture category.

Also, the other problem with the People's Choice Awards is that they take themselves "a little" too seriously. The MTV Movie Awards are basically the same thing as the People's Choice Awards but the difference is that MTV accepts that their award is crap and just makes an effort to do a fun awards show.

 

[Catman]

Of all the problems with the Academy Awards it's fair to assume that their biggest is the lack of respect for comedies. The Academy needs to realize that a great comedy will usually out-live a great drama. Example: What was the best picture winner of 1986? Platoon...if I'm not mistaken. Platoon is a great movie. It most likely deserved to win the Best Picture Oscar. Now...think about how many times you've seen that movie? Do you have an estimated number? Good. Now...think about how many times you've seen 1982's Stripes with Bill Murray.

 

[Super_Ludacris]

Conan is mainstream And the Colbert Report has surpassed the Daily Show in viewers

The Daily Show comes on CNN International 3 times a week so dude has a bigger international audience. Ever since 04 he's kinda crossed over. I think from a wider audience. Look I like Conan a lot, thats my dude right there but lol@ him ever hosting the Oscars, not yet anyway. They'll wait till the Peacock sterilises him in 2009...

 

[Super_Ludacris]

I'm not disagreeing on whether people care or not but the truth of matter is that shouldn't matter, it's not the Oscars fault that people can't appreciate good movies.

Oh dont get me wrong, your 100% right but in the words of Rev Run: Ehhhh Whatchagonnado?.

This was just one of those years where the Academy did a lot of right things and people still had apathy over the show. Im looking at some of the live blog notes from movie sites, a lot of people said that although the Academy got all the winners (mostly) right and there was no outrage and the telecast was (seemingly) shorter than previous years and some of the over indulgent song and dance numbers were kept away......it still all felt kinda "meh"

Its simply one of those damn if you do, damned you dont moments, ya know?

 

[Jake Cassidy]

Of all the problems with the Academy Awards it's fair to assume that their biggest is the lack of respect for comedies. The Academy needs to realize that a great comedy will usually out-live a great drama. Example: What was the best picture winner of 1986? Platoon...if I'm not mistaken. Platoon is a great movie. It most likely deserved to win the Best Picture Oscar. Now...think about how many times you've seen that movie? Do you have an estimated number? Good. Now...think about how many times you've seen 1982's Stripes with Bill Murray.

Stripes is awesome.

Comedies and action movies have more rewatchability, no doubt.

 

[Catman]

Its simply one of those damn if you do, damned you dont moments, ya know?

Conan would have fixed that.

 

[Super_Ludacris]

Conan would have fixed that.

Uh, no.

Love the dude and his show but they'll look at Billy Crystal, Jon Stewart or someone before they get Conan. I'll be pleasently suprised and happy to be proven wrong but lol@ him hosting the Oscars. Its such a long shot at this moment. Maybe when he hosts the Tonight Show (and who knows how he'll be then) but for next year or something? Probably.

 

[Catman]

He did a great job at the Emmys. So they should ATLEAST consider him.

 

[Super_Ludacris]

Im sure he'll be considered.

 

[sithgoblin]

Conan would have fixed that.

Your avatar... it burns, it burns!!!