I'm actually not one of those curmudgeons who goes around talking about how movies used to be great and now they're terrible (no, really, I'm not), but after this morning's announcement of the nine nominations for best picture it was hard not to look at that list and wonder if any of the films on it will be remembered twenty years from now. Don't get me wrong: I liked a lot of the films on the list but I can't really see a classic on it.
The nominated films:
The Artists
The Descendants
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse
And just to make my point here are the ten nominated films for the 12th Academy Awards from 1939:
Gone With the Wind
Dark Victory
Goodbye, Mr. Chips
Love Affair
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Ninotchka
Of Mice and Men
Stagecoach
The Wizard of Oz
Wuthering Heights
I know that 1939 was a banner year but what a difference. Some of the films not nominated that year: Gunga Din, Midnight, Only Angels Have Wings, The Rules of the Game.
I am not one of those people who think the Academy Awards are the major arbiter of what's great or not great, or at least the end-all, be-all. But as I have been formulating my own top ten, I keep thinking that 2011 seemed pretty weak, and I thought I was just being a curmudgeon. But then the nominations came out and it sort of bore that out. Just seemed so....I don't know, for lack of a better term, lame.
ReplyDeleteI think the top three have to be THE ARTIST, HUGO and MIDNIGHT IN PARIS. Though I haven't seen any of them and I am going on pure educated hunch. I think these three might be remembered in future.
ReplyDeleteMaybe.
Though some of the scenes from WAR HORSE that I've seen around seem incredibly beautiful. That's the sort of thing that sticks in my mind for years.
But you may be right, Peter. It's not the good old days anymore. :)