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From: rebbs@bbncca.ARPA (Robert Ebbs)
Newsgroups: net.movies
Subject: Re: Oscar Nomination Gripes (LONG)
Message-ID: <603@bbncca.ARPA>
Date: Thu, 23-Feb-84 01:43:49 EST
Article-I.D.: bbncca.603
Posted: Thu Feb 23 01:43:49 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 23-Feb-84 06:37:16 EST
References: <600@bbncca.ARPA>
Organization: Bolt, Beranek and Newman, Cambridge, Ma.
Lines: 95


About your gripes:

The fuss about Tender Mercies:  Of course, it hasn't got
a chance of winning a damn thing - no violent deaths, no
cheesy sex, no upanddown roller coaster ride for the TV
conditioned audience, too few queues as to when to 
(ready, one two three CRY!; okay, now LAUGH!) respond
and in what manner.  This movie is a marvel in maturity
for a Hollywood production.  Let's allow it its brief
shining moment and maybe this year (and each year 
following) we'll get our one token adult film from
Hollywood.

Eric Roberts:  Just a question - How can you say he
gave this year's best performance if you haven't yet
seen The Dresser?

Terms of Endearment:  God, yes, overrated.  I always like
Shirley and Jack, but, really, the movie was just better
than average TV tearjerker stuff.  (Though the book was
a fun read and incidentally - you probably know this -
was without the character played by JN.)

Best Actress:  How could Meryl Streep not win this one?
(Well, easy; after all this is the Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences, the same group that in 1964
decided that John Wayne did a better job in True Grit
than did Dustin Hoffman in Midnight Cowboy!)

Best Supporting Actor:  Jerry Lewis!?  Talk about doing
oneself!  He was adequate...  Of the nominees, I like
Lithgow, whose rather woebegone character still came
across with some degree of dignity, an element that
many actors would have lost or sacrificed for the big
cheap laugh.  (Yes, credit the director for this, too.)
As for Hurt and Kline, seems to me The Big Chill was
so much a team movie, all the gears meshing, that no
one character stood out enough for special mention.
But I would say (dare I?) that the one character you
could not subtract without losing the whole tone of
the film would be Jeff Goldblum.  Think about it.

Best Supporting Actress:  Linda Hunt, agreed.  Ditto on
your comments on Cher (except I thought it a better than
OK performance.)  She has truly become a fine actress.

Best Director:  Mike Nichols, Silkwood.

Screenplay:  Damnit, Under Fire is underrated.  A fine
screenplay, fine direction, fine acting (and I've never
particulary appreciated Nick Nolte's persona.)  Of all
last year's movies, this is the one that was meaty 
enough for a second viewing.  Like Silkwood, it concerned
itself with questions of conscience, how much responsibility
we must take on ourselves for condoning the world we live
in.  It was a daring film, doing, not surprisingly, much
better in Europe where politically conscious films (and
books) are generally better received; Americans are too
complacent and truculently maintain that they go to the
movies not to think but to have a good time.  

Cinematography:  Again, Under Fire should also be 
nominated.  But this is the one category, I think,
where excellence is almost the norm.  As a serious
amateur photographer, I am amazed at the technical
know-how and attention to detail and the commitment
to artistic integrity that most cinematographers
today show us.  I think of all the categories for
the Awards, cinematography is the one that requires 
the longest apprenticeship, the one that most resembles
a craftsman's guild, where expertise and dedication
are passed on from master to student.

Editing:  Well, wasn't that what Flashdance was all
about?  Surely we aren't meant to believe that a 19
year old woman had broken into a tight union as a
construction worker in order to study ballet.  The
Right Stuff, tho, should win here, managing as
it does a tough job of crosscutting throughout the
movie to make its "statement" concerning who the
true pioneers are even while several Johnny Come
Lately Blue-Eyed Americans are being heralded as
America's new frontiersmen.  (And let this be a lesson
to all the boys and girls who think a college education
is less than important:  you too could be left behind
in the California desert.  So, be elite.)


But, really, what does it all matter in the large scheme
of things.  The only reason to take it halfway seriously
is because they who win will be the one who continue to
get the backing to do other movies.  So we would hope
the dedicated, talented and conscientious win....  Fat
chance.