Oscars

2006-3-6 06:26:00

After watching "Crash" (perhaps the worst movie to ever win an academy award) receive the Oscar tonight I couldn't resist making the awards the topic of the day.

And how do I relate this to the principles I teach? Easy. An important principle I have taught around unjust authority is that those who are recognized by the world as being reliable authorities are often the worst people to rely on.

Doctors who are showing us how to be physically healthy die at a much younger age than average.

Psychologists who are showing us how to be mentally healthy have a much higher than average suicide rate.

Preachers and Priests who are telling us how to be spiritual are often the biggest sinners.

Lawyers twist the law toward their own ends.

Teachers can't teach our kids how to read.

The list goes on and on and certainly does not end with film critics and judges.

I read the movie reviews in the paper each week and whenever I see a movie given four stars by a critic I avoid it like the plague. 95% of the time it is more boring than watching a glacier move.

A Saturday Night Live skit had the critic's ratings down pretty good. In it they made fun of the critics and interpreted the star rating for us average folk. If I remember correctly it went like this:

The worst rating: Four Stars
The best rating: Two Stars
Second best: Three Stars
Third Best: One Star

I'd say that is pretty close to reality. However, sometimes really good movies are rated three stars, but rarely four stars.

Siskle and Ebert gave "Titanic" two thumbs down, but then after it made a billion dollars or so they gave it a second review and upgraded it.

When the first "Terminator" came out the reviewer in our paper gave it one star. I was so upset that I wrote an angry letter to the editor. This I thought was the best in the series and one of my favorite movies of all time.

This year the movies nominated for best picture were: "Crash;" "Brokeback Mountain;" "Capote;" "Munich;" and "Good Night, and Good Luck."

None of these excited me enough to pay money to see them in the theater. And it looks like I was not alone.

"Crash" was only number 49 in box office receipts just nudging out "Corpse Bride" which was not nominated for anything.

"Brokeback Mountain" was number 26 following on the heels of "Dukes of Hazzard," which again was nominated for zero.

"Munich" was number 63 just edging out "Boogeyman."

"Good Night, and Good Luck" was number ninety just behind the famous "Get Rich or Die Tryin'."

Finally, "Capote" was number 97 just ahead of "Aeon Flux" which the world was holding its breath to see.

The point is that the public voted with their dollars that 48 movies of 2005 were better and more entertaining than the Academy's best picture of the year.

That tells me that there is a great disconnect between what Hollywood thinks is a good movie and what real America (and the world) sees as a good movie.

I saw "Crash" when it first came out on video because I like Sandra Bullock and some of the other actors. It was a great disappointment and about put me to sleep.

So why did it win?

It had to be because of its do-gooder message of stamping out racism. Hollywood needs to wake up to the fact that it takes more than a do-gooder message with stereotype Republican bad guys to make a good movie.

It is interesting that all the best picture nominations were politically to the left with nothing to the right receiving a major nomination for decades.

The last major hit from the right was the "Passion of Christ" from 2004. Even though it made over a billion dollars, more than any independent film in the history of the planet, it received no academy award.

So, what was the best movie of the year? Everyone has a different opinion, but as far as public consciousness goes we have to give a lot of weight to the box office. The top grossing film was: "Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith" which made over $380 million in the U.S.

The next nine in the top ten were: "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," "War of the Worlds," "King Kong," "Wedding Crashers," "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," "Batman Begins," "Madagascar," "Mr. & Mrs. Smith."

I've seen most of these and they were all pretty good, much better than "Crash." I probably liked "Batman Begins" the best.

One I liked that didn't do that great in the box office was number 67, "Transporter 2." I really liked the first "Transporter" also.

Did I agree with any of the awards this year? Three in particular. Reese Witherspoon deserved Best Actress for "Walk The Line" and I was surprised she was recognized by the Academy. The movie is worth seeing for her performance.

Secondly, the best documentary was definitely "March of the Penguins." This is not only the best documentary of 2005, but perhaps for a decade or more. This is definitely worth seeing and gives you an appreciation of the great work of evolution and survival on this planet.

Finally, I have not seen "Capote," but from clips I have seen it appears that Philip Seymour did a great job in capturing the essence of the man, who indeed was a strange character. I would guess that he deserved the best actor award.

Talk low, talk slow, and don't talk too much. John Wayne (1907 - 1979), Advice on acting