Best Picture nominees from five to
as many as ten.
According to Friedman (fan of
concise speeches), the result is a
ballot padded with “faux” contenders that waste resources campaigning. “There are five other movies giving people parties, creating stories in
the press,” he said. “A lot of money
is being spent that doesn’t need to
be, and a lot of time is taken up.”
This year, nine nominees were
chosen; the “real” five, according
to AwardsDaily critic Sasha Stone,
which tend to have a Best Director
nod (Lincoln, Beasts Of The Southern Wild, Life of Pi, Silver Linings
Playbook and the ringer-with-achance, Amour), and the “faux” four
(Argo, Les Misérables, Zero Dark
Thirty and Django Unchained).
Which will win? Say hello to
the next favorite topic for critics to
rant about. Due to a “preferential”
balloting system, members rank
their top five movies, and No. 1’s
are prioritized, leading to “the least
polarizing best picture winner every year,” complained Stone.
“It rewards the movies that people feel the most strongly about,”
agreed Scott Feinberg, of The Hollywood Reporter. What’s wrong with
that? Well, it means a film a smallish number of Academy members
go crazy for is basically a mortal
i
x
lock — producing results like Hurt
Locker as Best Picture instead of
Avatar. (Between those who believe
a Best Picture should be popular
and those who couldn’t be bothered
how many people enjoyed it, there
is a great philosophical divide.) In
the old days, Stone told us, Avatar
would have at least stood a chance
of splitting the vote. But its low
final tally of golden statues (won
for art direction, cinematography
and visual effects) means the blockbuster lacked the fiery Academy
support a Big Picture winner needs,
according to Stone. The narrative of
a battle between ex-spouses (Cameron v. Bigelow!) was likely not a
reflection of reality so much as the
public’s wish for a tight race — a
phenomenon the preferential ballot
renders impossible.
So, differences of opinion. But
our court rests on this point: back
to five, please, Academy, and ditch
the new ballot. Oh, and also …
OPEN THE GATES
“I wouldn’t want to make it like
American Idol, but we’re living in the
age of social networking,” Herrguth
said. “At Comedy Central, we’re always finding ways to make things
more interactive for the audience.”
How about a scaled-down reality-show format, with only a few
i
n
g
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c
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THE OSCAR ISSUE / HUFFINGTON / 02.10-17.13
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