Academy Announces Nominees for 78th Annual Who Gives A Care Awards.
BEVERLY HILLS, CA - The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced the nominees for their 78th annual awards show as part of their plan to move further into obsolesence.
In a press conference this morning, Academy President Sid Ganis said, "I am proud to unveil this years nominees and by doing so, demonstrate the growing disconnect between the Hollywood Elites and the rest of America."
"By nominating films such as 'Brokeback Mountain', 'Good Night, and Good Luck', and 'Munich' as best picture of the year, I hope that we have demonstrated that we have completely lost touch with the average person," stated Ganis. "The nomination of these films also serves to further our leftist agenda and insure that no mainstream Christian Conservative will ever pay attention to us again."
Ganis continued by pointing out that, while there were plenty of excellent, commercially successful films made this year, such as "Cinderella Man", "Walk the Line", and "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe", the nomination of any of these film may actually lead people to think that there is hope for the Academy, a notion that Ganis stated they wish to eradicate.
"Particularly in the case of 'The Chronicles of Narnia', a movie very popular amongst Christians, we could not lead anyone to believe that there is any similarity between us and that group." Ganis stated that the Academy's snubbing of "The Passion of the Christ" was enough to show this to most people, but that the snubbing of "The Chronicles of Narnia" was needed to reinforce this point.
Ganis also praised the Academy's further alienation of nerds, a move started in 1978 when "Annie Hall" was awarded best picture over "Star Wars", by not even giving Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith a Best Visual Effects nomination.
It's sad when the Nickelodeon's Kids Choice Awards are the only semi-legit ones left where they ACTUALLY allow the PEOPLE to vote *gasp*, and not just leave the voting to Hollywood's stuck-up [sensored].
ReplyDelete~RlrlrlRLRLLRLGRLGRLGlglglglgl-*shifty eyes*...~
From what I've read, many of the nominated films were very well crafted. Even Christian reviewers who loathe the overall meaning of the film have regarded them as well crafted (but not beautiful). They won't recommend them, but they do recognize skill when they see it.
ReplyDeleteRegarding Munich, look here and here.
From those links, here's a very interesting comment from the blogger:
"I was talking to my friend and writing partner, Ben Fitzgerald (co-writer, The Passion of the Christ) about Munich, and he made am insightful comment, 'Looking at the current state of the world, if you have Jesus in your heart, you make, The Passion of the Christ. If you do not have Jesus, you make Munich.'
I quite agree."
I don't see why Chronicles of Narnia should be nominated in any category besides a technical one. It simply wasn't good enough for a best picture/director/actor nod.
Some Christian's bicker about the culture and filth coming out of Hollywood. Those complaints aren't without some merit, but, after awhile, some of that talk is just noise. If you want a better film, then learn the craft and make a better film. Left Behind will not affect people the way Passion of the Christ did, and the reason isn't simply content. Mel Gibson understands the power of a sacrament, thus the movie's power.
By the way, what made Munich such a leftist movie?
I mostly agree with "Mr. Pickles." If Christians/conservatives want an academy award, or at least a nomination, they need to start producing more cinematically brilliant films. A lot of Catholics heralded "Therese" as a "great" movie. While I thought the attempt was good, I thought the movie as a whole was lacking in many areas. The script was awful, the cinematography was poor, the movie lacked the depth that should have been attributed to Therese, etc., etc.
ReplyDeleteWhereas...King Kong was awesome. You were not only visually treated with special effects, but every camera shot was great, the characters were well-developed, and the plot was interesting. While Narnia was decent, cinematically it just doesn't compare.
The solution? Christians want to produce morally good films. We need to wed this desire to good film making. Simple as that. Film is an art.
That being said, however, I think the Passion of the Christ was done a great injustice by not even being nominated several years ago. That film is deep, beautiful, and brilliantly and artistically crafted (I am thinking now of the tear drop of God that descends from the sky and rends the ground in two with a shattering quake...awesome).
Moving on to more recent movies though...I don't care how beautiful or artistic Brokeback may be...the tragedy of its Academy sweep is perhaps directly the result of moral movies lacking that artistic cinematic touch that the Academy gives awards for. (Though I do believe the gay agenda did have something to do with its awards too.) This points to the even greater need we have of well-made Christian movies--well-made being the key.
Wow, talk about your over-analyzing. I just wanted to write a flippant article about how I haven't seen any of the nominees (and judging by their box office grosses, neither have too many other people), nor do I have any intention to. I wasn't aware that I was actually writing some in-depth critique of the current socio-political motivations of filmmakers.
ReplyDeleteChronicles of Narnia deserves something, if only a nomination of best adapted screenplay or such, because, IMHO it was the best movie I saw all year.
I haven't seen Munich, so I can't comment on specific content of it, but based on several articles I had read, I had thought it was just the typical Israel-bashing that the left so loves to partake in.
Right-on, Cari. Who was it (Flannery O'Connor? Dorothy Sayers?) who said, "In order to write a good Catholic novel, one does not need to be a Catholic. Unfortunately, one does need to be a novelist." If Christians want their movies to be taken seriously, they need to excel in movie-making. That's why the shunning of TPOTC was so telling -- it WAS an excellently-made movie, done by someone who knew how to tell a story. To paraphrase Simeon, the thoughts of many hearts were revealed.
ReplyDeleteJoe,
ReplyDeleteI loved your post about the melting pot action movie. Hilarious.
Talk about a wonderful film, I highly recommend "Cinderella Man." It's up there with "Rudy" and "Hoosiers", and I was disappointed that Russell Crowe the Great did not get a best actor nod.
Huh? what? What is this "Academy Awards" you speak of?
ReplyDeleteThat's a good quote, Mrs. Pickles, and M. Night Shyamalan is proof that you don't have to be Catholic to make a good Catholic movie. And you may be interested to know that the guy who started Walden Media, the company that made The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is a Catholic who complained about the lack of decent movies from Hollywood until one day he decided to stop complaining and do something about it. They've made (among others):
Holes
Around the world in 80 days
I am David
TCON:TLTWATW
Because of Winn-Dixie
Basically, good family stuff. It appears from their website that much (if not most) of what they make is based on classic children's literature, by which of course I mean How to Eat Fried Worms.
Joe,
ReplyDeleteTLWW was a good movie, but I think there were better movies this year. I personally thought that Batman was a better film. I also think that The Incredibles should receive another award this year even though it was released in 2004. That movie was great!
Since you've seen more movies than most of us during this past year, maybe you should set up the "Joe Cool" awards. Hand out awards based upon best movie, best screenplay, best actor/actress, best action sequence, most ridiculous crossover, most egregious rating by the USCCB, etc.
Good comments on TPOTC, Mrs. P. Content aside, I'm pretty sure that TPOTC was partially shut out from Hollywood because Gibson went outside of Hollywood. I've heard about Christians in Hollywood who suddenly clam up at the mention of Gibson's name and "that movie." Not sure why it's such a big deal. I think that the critics panning TPOTC is very telling, and I think they often also drive the Academy Award buzz.
Dave, interesting info about Walden Media. I'm still surprised that they made "Around the World in 80 Days." Mrs. P and I thought it was mostly a bad film, though Jackie Chan was usually pretty cool.