Award Shows vs. Writer's Strike

Laaaadies & Gentlemen... In this corner wearing red trunks and weighing in at 800 lbs. the Heavyweight champion Buster the Line Studiooooo! And in the far corner wearing blue trunks and weighing in at a wet 98 lbs the challenger Strike make-me-not Writer!

Sorry about all this hulabaloo... and who knows who will score the TKO in this 12 week round of pen-ink-bottom line fisticuffs but I just read where the People's Choice Awards have been canceled as far as broadcasting it is involved and now The Golden Globes and Oscar might go dark as well.

I posted my thoughts on this on another site and felt I should also include it on my own blog as well.

The Posting

Call me silly (Just not Shirley) but as far as I am concerned award shows like The People's Choice are a vapid way to trot out Celebs and milk ad money instead of more expensively produced dramas or sitcoms.

That said, shows like The Grammys, Oscars ect should remain on. Does a 'Strike' take away from work already provided? What is wrong for a winner of Best Script not to cross a picket line to pick him their Oscar? The script was written, paid for, made and shown before the current Writers strike.

Now here is where you all might think me a tad crazy...

If the writers are out on strike and the Oscar telecast looms large... heck even the Golden Globes, then instead of asking/hiring Celebs to come out and face their peers without the aid of a TelePrompTer or Bruce Villach.. then my I suggest... ask/hire professional Ad-libbers! People who's craft is spontaneous dialog... Improvisors.

Now that would be a cool show... no canned writing.. glib quips... but instead funny riffs (well, one hopes funny) on the moment at hand. No writing involved.

Sure part of the world tunes in to see all the glittering Celebs... but I'll wager... a show run by Who's Line Is It Anyway cast and directed by Larry David and his bunch of Ad-Lib specialists... well now that would be an interesting Award show. It certainly wouldn't be boring. And we would still get to see Celebs!

A win win...

"Da Oscars Da Oscars"

Man has it been since Dec. that I have posted here? I have to stop watching DVD's, TV and reading and get back to typing, thought to type one has to think and to think... well for me... it hurts my head.

Anyhow, Hollywood patted itself on it's back tonight... and here are my considered thoughts on the telecast...

I feel this was the best produced Oscars in quite awhile. I enjoyed Errol Morris's opening and Ellen did a fantastic job. She and her writing staff are very creative.

The surprises were in four categories: Best Supporting Actor, Animated Movie, Foreign Picture and Best Song.

Best Supporting Actor: The Pundits had Eddie Murphy. I had Mark Wahlberg and it's Alan Arkin brings the Gold home. Alan did a great job and it's his character that actually permeates the movie even when he is not on the screen so his win is deserved.

Animated Movie: What? A Pixar Movie didn't win? Well at least if it's going to lose it's for Cars. Cars in my opinion is their weakest entry. Monster House was clever but Hollywood right now loves them some Penguins! And can you believe the creator, mastermind and director of the Mad Max/Road Warrior movies made Happy Feet?! Yes I know he made Babe as well... but still...

Best Song: I guess everyone felt it would be one of the three Dreamgirls songs especially the one that the X-Idol contestant sings but they went up against a tuneless Randy Newman and an actually pretty dang good song my the winner Ms. Etheridge.

Best Foreign Film: Pan wins just about every category except Screenplay and this one which of course seemed the choice of so many. Yet a German film The Lives of Others won, and from what I am told deservedly so.

I wish Scorsese though had won for Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Good Fellas. Those three movies added to the vocabulary of film making. The Departed while very good and enjoyable borrowed from his past as a Director. I still feel Eastwood after making two War Movies back to back and for low budgets and one of them in Japanese should have won. Yes he has won two of 'em but heck it's Best Picture or Best Director not Best We owe you one Oscar, that's what Tribute Oscars are for. It's like Newman winning for Color of Money. Was he good? Yes. Oscar good? No.

The other Oscar winner that I feel shouldn't have won is Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth. Best song? Sure, it was better than the other 4 but best Doc? Academy please! Members take another look at the 4 other Docs and look me in the eyes and tell me with a straight face Gore's flick deserved to win. It's mostly a PowerPoint presentation for God's sake! But Hollywood felt the need to be 'Green' and there you have it a misguided but well meaning win.

I will say this though about Al Gore; at least he didn't get all Political on us. In fact the War in Iraq, Bush Hating and the whole Clinton vs. Obama feud stayed were it belongs on the front page not on the Oscars... so kudos for that.

The song that Will, Jack and John sang was perfect. Ellen giving Martin her script, asking for a pic from Eastwood and directing Spielberg on how to frame the shot, her vacuuming and finding the rolling papers... all of these were priceless.

Kudos to Morricone!

And not to beat a dead horse but Miller's Crossing was robbed in it's day of the accolades it so deserves.