The Academy Awards start in a few minutes. While they can be treated as a political topic in many ways — even without commenting on the labor situation in the arts — that’s not my topic today.
This has been a slow year for prestige moviegoing on my part. For the first time I can remember — maybe for the first time since I became a teenager — I have seen none of the films nominated for Best Picture. Of them, I’m most inclined to see “Michael Clayton” to see how well its depiction of New York lawyering matches mine, and I’ll be pleased if it wins. (I’d also be happy for Clooney to get an Oscar for Best Actor, though I hear that Daniel Day-Lewis is a lock; please don’t let it go to Johnny Depp for a performance that is so inferior to the classic Sweeney Todds of George Hearn and Len Cariou.) But mostly, I don’t much care who wins.
Nor do I care about the face-off for the Best Documentary prize between No End in Sight and SiCKO; while I’ve only seen the latter, I’ve heard enough about the former to believe that both films deserve wide audiences and I’m not going to choose between the issues of Iraq and Health Care on the basis of importance. I choose both. I’ll root for a tie.
No, the award I care about is in a category where the winner is considered to be a foregone conclusion, and I am rooting loudly for the underdog. I want to publish my thoughts for the record before the award ceremony begins — and the wrong film almost certainly wins.
The category is Best Animated Feature. And now, for your consideration, a rant.