Greetings Film Fans: The broadcast is coming soon for the Oscars, and the controversy over the decision to not include the cinematography categories during the live show has been resolved. This is the SECOND major controversy that has been addressed in the post Me-Too and whitewash era that the Academy (of old white dudes) has had to address.
This crisis is specifically one that will just address the 1% attitude that some of the awards are more important than others, and admittedly, many are more popular than these awards if you are not in the ‘biz’,as they say. But for the arbitrary decision to be made, for a numbers game of ratings to reduce the show’s time by simply eliminating some of the work that these people have been doing for decades and dismissing the categories as not important enough seems to be callous beyond belief. So many people objected, including an impassioned Russell Crowe, as well as prominent directors and others, that this had to be reversed.
So the favorites are still The Green Book and Glenn Close for Best Actress in The Wife. Other than that, it seems to be pretty wide and open. It would be amazing to see Spike Lee receive the first Best Director award for BlackkKlansman. And Christian Bale did phenomenal work in Vice that may also be a shoo-in. However, although I’ve complained for years about the awards ceremony, the length, the need for new categories, I will still watch it to see what happens.
You never know if they’ll call out the WRONG picture for Best Picture category?! Stay tuned for Oscar News, as we wrap up awards season in La La Land. Some stand out articles in 6 Degrees magazine this week: A piece on the films of the French New Wave cinema and one on the late great film critic Pauline Kael.
Till next time friends, stay cool (in the movie theatre) and see you next time at the movies!-ML
Six Degrees of Film 