Is Hollywood Out of Ideas?

This week on the Shootout blog there's a discussion about how the Oscars have so drastically dropped in popularity, and how they can be saved. As I was considering this, I started to reflect on all the movies that were celebrated at the Oscars this year and all the movies we anticipate in the coming year: comic book adaptations, novel adaptations, sequels and threequels, remakes, sequels of remakes. I have to ask: Is Hollywood out of ideas?

Maybe the reason we don't watch the Oscars any more is because there's nothing new to see any more. And when we do get a breath of fresh air at the movies, it's certainly not coming out of Tinsel Town. Look at Juno, which won the Oscar for best original screenplay -- its author, Diablo Cody, had never written a screenplay before in her life. I think it's telling that Hollywood's best-paid writers who so sanctimoniously walked off the job earlier this year can't come up with anything nearly as inventive as someone sitting at home punching away on their laptop.

Maybe adapting a sequel of an adaptation and remaking it isn't the best way to capture the imaginations of your audience any more. Maybe worrying about the Oscars is concerning yourself with the symptom rather than the disease. Maybe it's time to evict all the writers and producers out of Hollywood and bring in some fresh blood.

Awards Aftermath

What did you all think of the Academy Awards last night? I think Jon Stewart summed it up best after the Film Editing award when he said, "Wow. Film Editing. Somebody just took the lead in their Oscar pool by guessing."

By that I mean to say that I didn't see any of these awards coming--seriously, had I joined an Oscar pool I would have lost for sure. Bourne? Tilda Swinton? Admittedly, No Country was a great movie, but I really thought There Will Be Blood would have had this year in the bag. At least Daniel Day-Lewis won the best actor award. He was phenomenal in that movie.

How did your predictions turn out? Did anybody see this coming?

Also, some one needs to help me out: When they showcased all the films that had won Best Picture about half-way through the program, what was the movie score that was playing in the background? This is killing me...

Oscars Too Artsy

I am amazed at the nominations this year. I am an avid moviegoer and have seen some of the "artsy" films and also the popular ones. What happened to just being entertained? At times I like to walk out of a theater feeling upbeat. I definitely think the artsy films are receiving more consideration.

Academy Awards: Open Forum

The nominations are in, and it looks like the big grabbers this year are Jason Reitman's Juno, Tony Gilroy's Michael Clayton, Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood, and the Coen brothers' No Country for Old Men.

Was anyone forgotten? Who should win? And do you think the Oscars will fall victim to the writers' strike just like the Golden Globes before them?