It's that time of the year, again
I would understand my coursemates if they wanted a break from the coursework. In this case, writing a paper on a French New Wave film and studying American Cinema. But the distraction would be the award season. We might outgrow it, perhaps sooner than we would expect. "La La Land" might make Damien Chazelle the youngest filmmaker to win the Oscar for Best Director. I found out that Norman Taurog and Lewis Milestone, who were prolific during the 1930s, won the Academy Award during their early 30s. If the stars would align in Chazelle's favor, then it could be a remarkable feat. Critics must make their picks, and the Academy voters would take note of four.
The National Board of Review Award would give film enthusiasts a general idea of which movies will be noticed by the Academy. Hollywood often paid attention to the New York Film Critics Circle, but there seemed to be little love between the two. The choices of the Los Angeles Film Critics Circle won't resonate much, and it would be the opposite with the National Society of Film Critics. I didn't pay much attention after watching too many movies. If I wasn't studying (and writing about) it, then I could do something else. Watching TV for hours would be a good suggestion.
What have I learned so far? If more producers were faithful to written material, then the Academy would scrap the Best Adaptive Screenplay category. Watching a film would be subjective, so it was hard to agree on one film. There could be an argument (or an agreement) with a number of films. And critics watch a movie for a living. I still believe that many readers (or moviegoers) would take their words. Otherwise, they would be looking for another job.
The most acclaimed films of the previous year baffled me. My coursemates urged me to put the case of "Mad Max: Fury Road" behind, but the cable won't let me go of George Miller's dystopian action flick. The director took a page from "Gulliver's Travels" (and turned it into his own). It wasn't the first, yet I wondered if it was a good move to increase the number of nominated films once more. I have second thoughts about "The Martian," which was met with disapproval. I was labeled a snob, who would enjoy the works of Jean-Luc Godard. Taste might be a matter of geography.
Superheroes in tuxedos
The Academy might overlook a Marvel film, as producers couldn't have their cake and eat it too. Then again, stranger things have happened in the movie business. (Critics honoring a Farrelly Brothers film.) It would be a similar case with an animated picture, which reminded me of Pixar's penchant with sequels. It won't be a possible nod for foreign pictures, though.
The coursework would beckon once more. There might be a thing called American New Wave, as the finals days of the studio system was followed with another golden era (in American Cinema). And along came Superman.
