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Post by EvilWigwam on Mar 8, 2010 2:19:43 GMT -5
Tonight I actually watched most of the Academy Awards. Not the norm for me, but a Friday and a Saturday filled with cheap beer and even cheaper bud, left me somewhat comatose and bound to the couch. What can I say, I was a lazy bastard today. But I digress. I have a question, (well actually more than one) Are the AA's just another popularity contest? I mean do they truly recognize good films? And why is it that horror movies rarely earn an award? The last horror movie that has won anything at the AA's (and correct me if I'm wrong) was "The Exorcist." That was like what, circa 1970? Why are horror movies, and when I say horror movies, I mean the good ones i.e. "The Girl Next Door," "Let the Right One In." I know there are more, but these were the first two that came to mind. Why does the horror genre get swept under the rug?
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Post by SmokeTNT on Mar 8, 2010 5:44:09 GMT -5
'Silence of the Lambs' swept every major category when it was released, so there are some examples. I think that mostly horror is ignored because, well most of the releases just aren't very good, and the few that are have a stigma about them that ensures that they will not break through the genre. Silence and the Exorcist also had big names attached to them to legitimize them. But this year specifically, I can't think of a horror film that is nearly as good as 'The Hurt Locker'. Of course last year, 'Let The Right One In' wasn't even nominated in the foreign film category, and it was infinitely better than the overall Best Picture winner, 'Slumdog Millionaire'. So I think politics and 'buzz' also have a lot to do with it.
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Post by tav7623 on Mar 8, 2010 15:49:44 GMT -5
Most years it is a popularity contest ( Like the year Forest Gump beat The Shawshank Redemption or Crash beating Good Night, Good Luck/Capote) and the main reason I think why horror films get swept under the rug at the AA is because of a minority of uptight usually extremely religious people who find the genre offensive(or at least that's the way it seems to me).... and the AA being the 'upright citizens of the film industry" doesn't want to offend people (offend people.....people stop watching.......no people watching no money....no money no academy).......so they decided not to present any award that would legitimize (ie. major award such as best actor,actress, supporting actor/actress, best picture, best screenplay, best director) the genre though in recent years (1990 to Present) they "found" away around it in order to honor some excellent genre films in the major categories by not properly labeling them as a horror film but rather as being part of another genre all together such as Thriller, Science Fiction, etc....and if there is no way around labeling a film as being a horror film then they don't nominate it period (such as Let the Right One In (same rule applies to foreign films)or The Devils Rejects or The Ring or Bram Stokers Dracula or 28 Days Later etc, etc.).....an example of this is The Silence of the Lambs or The Sixth Sense.....which most people consider both horror films, but when they were nominated for and in the case of Silence of the Lambs won Academy Awards they were labeled as thrillers not horror films (ironically last night when they were "honoring" the horror genre they showed clips from both films......) .....though smoke does have a point that a good portion of horror films are crap but there are horror films out there that are better than the crap that gets nominated.
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Post by waynecrazytrain on Mar 9, 2010 12:19:07 GMT -5
The Academy always turns up it's nose to horror movies, in spite of the fact that they have saved many Studios from bankruptcy.
We need to make a real super Arty Farty Horror film about a Black Gay foreign guy who teaches The Living Dead to read.
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Post by EvilWigwam on Mar 9, 2010 13:16:09 GMT -5
helluva idea crazytrain! helluva idea! maybe we could throw in a well oiled midget who suffers from autism for good measure.
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Post by tav7623 on Mar 9, 2010 19:01:28 GMT -5
that will make for an interesting film.......and if it gets made the bastards still won't nominate it for an AA...........unless you get a bunch of well known oscar nominated actors/actresses in prominent juicy roles destroying/fighting of cgi zombies.....and even then you just barely have a chance at getting nominated.........(actors/actresses make up a majority of academy members who choose/vote on nominees and who wins an award....and because of that they voted for the Hurt Locker over Avatar a movie made almost entirely of real actors playing cgi characters)
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