FIENDISH THOUGHTS: THE OSCARS

I grew up watching the Oscars, but kind of stopped caring about ten years ago. I still check them out now and again, and will usually try to put on the last hour or so, like I have on now, but I should care more now that Flix Fiend is around. That said, I think FF is still an infant and not quite ready to fully tackle an awards show in a way that would make sense for this site. Maybe next year.

That's not important, because obviously I'm still posting something Oscar related. So what I think is fascinating about this year's Oscars is the expansion of the Best Picture category. I'm not one of those folks that has to see every nominated movie, but there's a few this year that I've loved, and a couple I want to see. So, that makes it more interesting for me. Even more interesting is that two of my favorite directors, James Cameron and Quentin Tarantino, are nominated for Best Director. Also, I've dug Jason Reitman's first two flicks, and I've loved all of Kathryn Bigelow's movies prior to The Hurt Locker, which I've yet to see. What I'm getting at is that the expansion appears to be good for the awards. I say that because movies that I've loved are getting recognized! Wow, how novel!

So who would I want to win? I loved both Avatar and Inglorious Basterds, but I also thought District 9 was fantastic, still have to review that actually, and what can be said about Pixar's Up? (needs to be reviewed, too, I'm behind!) That was one of the best movies I had ever seen, and the fact that it has been nominated is so utterly overdue for this studio that they should just get it on merit.

Anyways, I like this ten movie idea, and I hope the Academy keeps expanding their views of what makes a Best Picture and a movie like The Hangover can get nominated next time, because that certainly deserved it. But, hey, we got a two sci-fi, an animated one, and a crazy Tarantino revisionist history flick, so the Oscars are heading in the right direction! Congrats to all the winners! (hopefully, two among the ones I mentioned! ;))