Apparently "The Hurt Locker" has detail issues.

I guess the nice thing is, movies like Avatar do not need an Oscar or any other award to be considered "successful". The true measure of that is at the box office. Even with inflated ticket prices, it is apparent that the general public wanted to see it and liked it. Another such film....Harry Potter. The number of votes at the Academy vs. the number of people who went and saw it worldwide? It's shows that the Academy (in general) lives above the plane of regular people.

Pity James Cameron? No, I envy him right now. He is probably just broke up and crying over the millions he's made on this film, all because he didn't get a gold statue. LOL, please.

I would love to have created a film that grosses in the billions, even if every critic, pundit, or armchair editor out there says it sucked. If it made billions, then I know that there are those out there that liked it, and I would continue to make films for them. 2.599 Billion worlwide can't be wrong. I know I liked it.

Point blank, it is a successful film that a majority of the people liked. As with any art, there will be those that dislike or are not "wow-ed" by it.
 
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while we are talking oscars, how did sandra bullock win for best actress? admittedly, i never saw the blindside, but from the trailers her accent was ridiculously over the top. did other people not realize this?
 
Best Picture voting members are all individuals who undertake voting differently.

Having known a few of them personally over the years, I can tell you they use their own criteria for weighting their votes. More than one surprised me because they treated the best-picture voting priviledge with what I could best describe as a laissez-faire attitude.

While I definitely didn't agree with their techniques or how they voted on particular films, not a single person in or outside the industry would be able to argue that they weren't otherwise qualified to vote based on their station in the business. Earning your right to vote shouldn't allow you to vote without enthusiasm and some thought over what your voice means.

That said, I'm glad Avatar (which I loved) didn't take best picture and director. I was personally hoping to see Basterds better represented with Oscars, but Hurt Locker was a very good film and I think most of the complaints coming from the blue side are simply sour grapes. Avatar's effects were stunning, but the underlying screenplay (and plenty of the acting) was laughable compared to Basterds, Locker, UP, Up In the Air and certainly Precious.
 
What makes a film "Best?"
Art? Commerce? Entertainment?
And what criteria, if any, does the Acadamy have to define "Best Picture?"

Don't forget William Friedken, a winner, called the Oscars "the greatest promotion scheme that any industry ever devised for itself"
 
What makes a film 'Best' is a sufficient proportion of the membership voting it 'Best.' That's all.

I'm not sure the Academy Awards were initially conceived as a promotional venture; I think they were industry awards for industry people, and it very quickly became apparent that the fascination of people outside the industry made the activities of people within the industry something to leverage for promotional purposes.

Never really understood the weird obsession people seem to have with the Academy Awards; there are awards ceremonies for people who do things like create life-saving medicines and negotiate ends to wars - that is to say, actually important things for the welfare of the world in general - and who watches those?
 
Agreed on all 3 Max.
As for #3 perhaps it's some combo of people's sense of thrill and excitement, living vicariously through films combined with our culture's obsession with celebrity culture?

Obviously, if the Pulitzers had a red carpet, sexy designer gowns and live coverage, they would rival the Oscars...right? ;^)
 
I think it's completely natural and understandable for people to be "fascinated" by awards shows like the Oscars. Moviegoers often have strong opinions about which films should and shouldn't be recognized, and there's nothing wrong with that. After all, the goals of mainstream films are to make money, and to stoke an emotional response in the audience that sees them. People become emotionally invested in films, both positively and negatively. The expression of that emotional connection can be word-of-mouth feedback to friends, or it could be passionate support of a film at awards-show time.

Now, getting all worked up into a lather about this film winning and that film not winning is just silly. Was I glad to see Bigelow win? Sure. Was I disappointed to see "The New Tenants" win Best Live-Action Short? Sure. But none of this stuff keeps me up at night.

That's what viewing Betrayal Fest entries is for. :D
 
Sad Max said:
Put Norman Mailer on the red carpet in a Vera Wang gown and I'm there.
Click to expand...

And I'd tune in for Studs Terkel in Chanel and Jimmy Choos!!!

stephenmick, quite true about viewers' emotional investment, and the results of that investment.
The psychological effects of films is powerful stuff, Triumph of the Will as an extreme case in point.

But people do get worked into a lather about the Oscars (see: Cafe ala DVX) :happy:, and that's what I don't quite understand.
That and what would make an Academy member vote Avatar Best Picture.
 
She made a great movie about a Soviet nuclear submarine (ok, the 1.4 Megaton explosion was not really possible, I can forgive her that one), and it flopped. Turned out, the Americans did not want to watch a relatively moderately-paced movie about brave Russian seamen. Hurt Locker is clearly a movie made to recoup the losses -- the Americans would rather watch brave Americans fighting for the world freedom in a country far, far away. Action, frenzy, slo-mo shots, all the goodies. Six times less the budget that of the K19, it is in the black. Yay! It made what? About $6 mil. Sadly, this cannot balance the K19 books. I will keep my copy of K19, I don't care for Hurt Locker.
 
K19 wasn't a bad movie but it doesn't really match up against Crimson Tide, The Hunt for Red October and Das Boot.
 
I'd rank K19 ahead of Crimson Tide, close behind The Hunt For Red October and all of them trailing Das Boot...
 
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