YOU KNOW THE FIRST AND GREATEST SIN OF THE DECEPTION OF TELEVISION IS THAT IT SIMPLIFIES; IT DIMINISHES GREAT, COMPLEX IDEAS, TRENCHES OF TIME; WHOLE CAREERS BECOME REDUCED TO A SINGLE SNAPSHOT: So after all that, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences is going to be handing out twenty-four awards Sunday night for outstanding achievement in the cinematic arts (plus Jerry Lewis' Hersholt), and we can for a moment get beyond all the politicking and the expectations-setting to the fundamental questions -- what are you hoping to see Sunday night, and does it matter?
I still haven't seen Slumdog, so beyond that the things which blew me away, and which I'd like to see recognized, are Anne Hathaway's performance in Rachel Getting Married and something for WALL-E beyond Best Animated Film -- yeah, I want it to receive that original screenplay award as well.
But beyond that lies a question I'm still not able to answer: to what extent should degree-of-difficulty matter? Do we evaluate Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler based on how much he was able to draw from real life for the role? Do we discount it on that basis? Do we give extra credit in the adapted screenplay category based on difficulty-of-adaptation -- i.e., adapting a play (including your own) isn't as hard as working from a short story or other source material? Is Best Makeup based on how much makeup is needed to get the actor from point A to point B, or for this -- and for all these questions -- is it just a question of how well the finished product stands on its own legs?
We'll see you here Sunday night.
e.t.a. And tomorrow -- which I keep forgetting to plug -- AMC Theaters is running its annual day-long Best Picture Showcase. All five films, plus a free, large, infinitely refillable tub of popcorn, for just $30. Details and local showtimes here on how you can start your day with morning Milk at 10:30 am and conclude with the deterioration of Richard Nixon's credibility (spoiler?) by midnight.
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