I love movies... I hate Hollywood...
Before I get on to the upcoming rant, here's this week's taic Monday feature. It's book review time and this week I'm looking at the newest book by one of the funniest men in America, Dave Barry.
My Review of Dave Barry's Money Secrets.
Okay, on to the promised rant. Against my better judgment, I watched last night's Oscar telecast. While I used to watch -- even anticipate -- the Oscars every year, over the past few years I've gotten more and more disenchanted with the whole Hollywood system, and last night was a perfect example why. That had to be the single least entertaining Oscar broadcast I've ever seen, and that includes the time Whoopi Goldberg was the host. Even Jon Stewart -- who usually has some wit to him -- bombed out on joke after joke. Sketches like Ben Stiller in a green suit pretending he was getting greenscreened out were terrible, and Lily Tomlin and Meryl Streep's "tribute" to Robert Altman (by talking over one another like characters from his movies) just got annoying.
Beyond the lack of entertainment, I've gotten sick and tired of Hollywood's preposterous sense of self-importance. I love movies. I love movies that are pure entertainment, I love movies that are thought-provoking, I love movies that are a mixture of the two. But I can't stand it when the director or actor or some schmoe who works for the Academy walks out and tells you how important this movie is, how groundbreaking, how a movie like this can change the world. Y'know what? Let me see the movie and decide for myself. Don't stand around and preach to me about how brilliant a film is and how ignorant I am if I don't agree.
George Clooney, while certainly not the worst offender, was probably the most blatant. After Stewart made a crack about Hollywood being out of touch with most of America (one of the few good jokes he made), Clooney chose to use his acceptance speech to preach that it was good that Hollywood was out-of-touch, because without them important subjects would never get discussed. I kept waiting for him to just come out and say what he was thinking: "After all, we're so much smarter than you guys out there." Frankly, it's amazing that a man can pat himself on the back that hard without breaking his arm off.
Later a member of the Academy (I missed his name, not that it matters) came out and made a speech wherein he said that none of the night's nominees had ever finished a scene and thought, "That will look great on the DVD." That line was funnier than any of the scripted jokes all night. If this guy honestly thinks that these people aren't anticipating DVD sales, he's kidding himself. So much money has gone into the DVD format that it's often FOREMOST on the studio's mind, and while the studio itself doesn't garner the nomination, you can't tell me that the actors and directors anticipating their royalty checks don't ever have that on their minds. If nothing else, the camera crews following them around filming the "making-of" documentaries specifically to go on the DVD should keep that in their heads.
Let me give you guys a hint as to why movie ticket sales are down. It's NOT just because DVD has become so popular. Personally, I still much prefer to see a film in a theater than on DVD, no matter how good the home entertainment set-up is. The problem is, you make more and more movies intended to cram talking points down people's throats when most people are just paying money to get entertained, then you turn around and award those talking-point movies while insulting everyone who didn't go to see it. Amazing that people are deciding not to shill money out to you folks anymore, isn't it?
Sorry to have rambled on for such a long time, friends, but I was just disgusted by the whole evening. I do still love movies, I love 'em a lot. But Hollywood as a whole can kiss my hinder.
My Review of Dave Barry's Money Secrets.
Okay, on to the promised rant. Against my better judgment, I watched last night's Oscar telecast. While I used to watch -- even anticipate -- the Oscars every year, over the past few years I've gotten more and more disenchanted with the whole Hollywood system, and last night was a perfect example why. That had to be the single least entertaining Oscar broadcast I've ever seen, and that includes the time Whoopi Goldberg was the host. Even Jon Stewart -- who usually has some wit to him -- bombed out on joke after joke. Sketches like Ben Stiller in a green suit pretending he was getting greenscreened out were terrible, and Lily Tomlin and Meryl Streep's "tribute" to Robert Altman (by talking over one another like characters from his movies) just got annoying.
Beyond the lack of entertainment, I've gotten sick and tired of Hollywood's preposterous sense of self-importance. I love movies. I love movies that are pure entertainment, I love movies that are thought-provoking, I love movies that are a mixture of the two. But I can't stand it when the director or actor or some schmoe who works for the Academy walks out and tells you how important this movie is, how groundbreaking, how a movie like this can change the world. Y'know what? Let me see the movie and decide for myself. Don't stand around and preach to me about how brilliant a film is and how ignorant I am if I don't agree.
George Clooney, while certainly not the worst offender, was probably the most blatant. After Stewart made a crack about Hollywood being out of touch with most of America (one of the few good jokes he made), Clooney chose to use his acceptance speech to preach that it was good that Hollywood was out-of-touch, because without them important subjects would never get discussed. I kept waiting for him to just come out and say what he was thinking: "After all, we're so much smarter than you guys out there." Frankly, it's amazing that a man can pat himself on the back that hard without breaking his arm off.
Later a member of the Academy (I missed his name, not that it matters) came out and made a speech wherein he said that none of the night's nominees had ever finished a scene and thought, "That will look great on the DVD." That line was funnier than any of the scripted jokes all night. If this guy honestly thinks that these people aren't anticipating DVD sales, he's kidding himself. So much money has gone into the DVD format that it's often FOREMOST on the studio's mind, and while the studio itself doesn't garner the nomination, you can't tell me that the actors and directors anticipating their royalty checks don't ever have that on their minds. If nothing else, the camera crews following them around filming the "making-of" documentaries specifically to go on the DVD should keep that in their heads.
Let me give you guys a hint as to why movie ticket sales are down. It's NOT just because DVD has become so popular. Personally, I still much prefer to see a film in a theater than on DVD, no matter how good the home entertainment set-up is. The problem is, you make more and more movies intended to cram talking points down people's throats when most people are just paying money to get entertained, then you turn around and award those talking-point movies while insulting everyone who didn't go to see it. Amazing that people are deciding not to shill money out to you folks anymore, isn't it?
Sorry to have rambled on for such a long time, friends, but I was just disgusted by the whole evening. I do still love movies, I love 'em a lot. But Hollywood as a whole can kiss my hinder.