This time of year is a very busy time for the entertainment industry. Many of the movies that came out last year are being talked about again, stars, directors etc are makin the rounds talking up their various projects from the last year. It all culminates in one grand evening; the Presentation of the 86th annual Oscars.
May 16th 1929, the 1st Oscar gala was held,in the Blossom Room of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, honoring movies from August 1, 1927- August 1, 1928 . Rather than go back through history and give you the dates of each Oscar Event, in the last 86 years, there are plenty of places you can find that information; Oscar History.
Like many pop icons of the present culture I don't find the Oscars relevant to me anymore. As I've gotten older I find less and less in American and world pop culture that means anything to me, that I can relate to. While my passion is movies and classic television, I do watch a very limited amount of new tv. and have seen a number of new movies, ie, both he New Star Trek Reboots, by James J. Abrams, I was impressed with them, He did a excellent job of bringing new life into a story we all knew from the original tale told by Gene Roddenberry, and William Shatner, Keeping the spirit of the original stories.
I listened to the announcements of the nominees this morning, January, 16, 2014, I really didn't have much of a connection with any of actors, there were several names I knew, Robert Redford, Helen Mirren, Helen, from her PBS days and having seen her in a number of movies over the years. Other then thats it was completely useless to me. The only parts that would interest me are special effects, and other technical awards, tay give out for work done behind the scenes that most of the innovators never get credit for.
For me at least, the Oscars has become lost in a sea of awards shows.
Today there are numerous award shows and ways to win favor with the masses.In a world where there are awards for every conceivable type of content, Comedy, drama, dance, and that even counting he onslaught of competition shows," Dancing with Stars",, and "So You Think You can Dance?", the"the Voice", No one needs all of these shows,They survive because like "reality " tv, they are cheap and relatively easy to produce. Worst yet, they keep getting more people wanting to be on those shows then they can handle, thus keeping up the rating. Apparently, the US likes to watch people make fools of themselves on national tv.
But I digress; The movie industry is in a similar shape in many respects.The days of smart funny comedy without sex and violence and toilet jokes and references are long gone. In humble opinion, a evening watching a classic movie such as Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert, in 1934's "It Happened One Night", Is a Screwball Comedy. This and many other movies of the era are funny, with resorting to outright sexual jokes, and other methods used today to get a rise out of a audience. The first job of a movie is to tell a story, without a good story, the rest is useless. If a director and Producer have to rely on shock value, or special effects to move the story along, then they need to go back and rewrite their story. Special effects that make the story come alive and move the story along, are a very good thing, hove they shouldn't be there just to be there.
A look through movie's history will catalogues will give you a wide variety of movies to choose from, from early silent films, to screwball comedies, to film noir of the '40's and movies into the '50's and '60&70& '80's. Granted some better than others, but theses days with Netflix and Amazon and other movie streaming venues available on devices like the Roku, theres a wide find "new " old content to explore, So if the Oscars aren't connecting or you anymore, do some research, and find some former Oscar winners from years ago to rediscover.
May 16th 1929, the 1st Oscar gala was held,in the Blossom Room of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, honoring movies from August 1, 1927- August 1, 1928 . Rather than go back through history and give you the dates of each Oscar Event, in the last 86 years, there are plenty of places you can find that information; Oscar History.
Like many pop icons of the present culture I don't find the Oscars relevant to me anymore. As I've gotten older I find less and less in American and world pop culture that means anything to me, that I can relate to. While my passion is movies and classic television, I do watch a very limited amount of new tv. and have seen a number of new movies, ie, both he New Star Trek Reboots, by James J. Abrams, I was impressed with them, He did a excellent job of bringing new life into a story we all knew from the original tale told by Gene Roddenberry, and William Shatner, Keeping the spirit of the original stories.
I listened to the announcements of the nominees this morning, January, 16, 2014, I really didn't have much of a connection with any of actors, there were several names I knew, Robert Redford, Helen Mirren, Helen, from her PBS days and having seen her in a number of movies over the years. Other then thats it was completely useless to me. The only parts that would interest me are special effects, and other technical awards, tay give out for work done behind the scenes that most of the innovators never get credit for.
For me at least, the Oscars has become lost in a sea of awards shows.
Today there are numerous award shows and ways to win favor with the masses.In a world where there are awards for every conceivable type of content, Comedy, drama, dance, and that even counting he onslaught of competition shows," Dancing with Stars",, and "So You Think You can Dance?", the"the Voice", No one needs all of these shows,They survive because like "reality " tv, they are cheap and relatively easy to produce. Worst yet, they keep getting more people wanting to be on those shows then they can handle, thus keeping up the rating. Apparently, the US likes to watch people make fools of themselves on national tv.
But I digress; The movie industry is in a similar shape in many respects.The days of smart funny comedy without sex and violence and toilet jokes and references are long gone. In humble opinion, a evening watching a classic movie such as Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert, in 1934's "It Happened One Night", Is a Screwball Comedy. This and many other movies of the era are funny, with resorting to outright sexual jokes, and other methods used today to get a rise out of a audience. The first job of a movie is to tell a story, without a good story, the rest is useless. If a director and Producer have to rely on shock value, or special effects to move the story along, then they need to go back and rewrite their story. Special effects that make the story come alive and move the story along, are a very good thing, hove they shouldn't be there just to be there.
A look through movie's history will catalogues will give you a wide variety of movies to choose from, from early silent films, to screwball comedies, to film noir of the '40's and movies into the '50's and '60&70& '80's. Granted some better than others, but theses days with Netflix and Amazon and other movie streaming venues available on devices like the Roku, theres a wide find "new " old content to explore, So if the Oscars aren't connecting or you anymore, do some research, and find some former Oscar winners from years ago to rediscover.
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