Partisanship run amok: The Oscars put political agenda ahead of artistic merit...again

[cynatnite]

snip:
There are three points of contention with the results of last night's ceremony and, no, it doesn't have much to do with Sean Penn's acceptance speech or BillMaher's smug soapbox for his documentary Religulous. They used their time to express their opinions, which for the most part is healthy. What I have problem with is the blatant shunning of obviously better films for the betterment of their precious ideology and disrespect towards one of their own.

Not sure what I'm talking about? Here are some examples:

Waltz with Bashir, the heavy favorite from Israel, lost to the Japanese film, Departures, for best foreign language film.

snip:
Even ardent liberals will tell you that Milk, though powerful onscreen, was a lightweight on paper. Dustin Lance Black's story, based on the rise of gay activist Harvey Milk, was good. No doubt about it. The movie was great too but here's the catch: it was the least qualified in the category. In Bruges meanwhile, written by playwright Martin McDonagh, was smart, literate and most of all, entertaining. Passing it over for Milk shows that the Academy cares a lot more about social issues than the actual films they are supposed to vote on. Hell, even if any other picture won, it would still ring more true than what transpired last night. I callbullplop.

Silence from the auditorium when Charlton Heston's image was shown during the video montage of those no longer with us.

The other two might be quibbles but this moment was downright shameful.

During the video of images from those within the movie industry that have died the previous year, the crowd clapped politely for each person. Some, who were more famous (i.e. Roy Schneider, Harold Pinter, Ricardo Montalbán, etc.) had an extended clip and drew more applause from the Kodak Theatre. Makes sense. But when Heston's image appeared, complete with clips from notable features like The Ten Commandments and Planet of the Apes, the entire auditorium was silent. You could hear a pin drop or Ben Lyons asking inane questions. Then when the next image appeared, applause magically reappeared.

http://www.examiner.com/x-2239-Denver-Movies-Examiner~y2009m2d23-Partisanship-run-amok-The-Oscars-put-political-agenda-ahead-of-artistic-meritagain

[nomorenomore08]

1. So what? It's just one guy's opinion.

I'm not about to call for his head or anything, but again I say, so what? :shrug:

[tekisui]

2. Awww....

:cry: :eyes:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

3. I figured people would whine about the lack of Charleton Heston's applause.

Hell yeah, I'm glad he's dead. And I hope he burns in hell.

[luvspeas]

4. They don't dive a rat's ass about disability rights....

Jerry Lewis's entire segment was about MDA. He was just further exploiting "Jerry's Kids" for his own attention. and no I am not being sarcastic. www.thetroublewithjerry.net

[Happyhippychick]

5. My only complaint is that they didn't mention Gran Torino which I really loved.

But I guess that would be another one of those dern librul films anyway...

[Pyrzqxgl]

6. I can't say that I feel sorry that Heston was rejected.

He kind of stuck his foot (not to mention his cold dead hands) in it these last few years.

[Aristus]

7. If Charleton Heston didn't want to provoke silence during a eulogy in his honor,

he shouldn't have been a crazy, loon-bat gun-nut. Bottom line.

He had some terrific progressive cred up through the Sixties, then pissed it all away for the approbation of idiots.

No pity... :nopity:

[cynatnite]

8. He couldn't stop being pissed at Gore Vidal over the gay subtext in Ben-Hur n/t

[Irreverend IX]

22. When it came to guns, he was more honest and rational than most in Hollywood.

Anti-gun people in the film industry are uniquely laughable, because they make billions of dollars selling glorified fantasy violence but they're aghast at people who prepare themselves for the realities of a violent world. Maybe they'd have a different perspective if they had to live outside their bubble of bodyguards and gated communities.

[damntexdem]

9. Heston destroyed any cred he once had -- I would not have applauded.

Heston was also good in The Agony and the Ecstasy, but I still would not applaud him now.

[lunatica]

10. So, were they able to pry his gun out of his hands or did they just bury them together

:sarcasm:

[endarkenment]

11. In Bruges was quite a good film, but not one that would ever win an Oscar.

Hollywood doesn't do small. It's Hollywood. And Heston shot his own legacy to smithereens all by himself.

[Dawgs]

18. I have to disagree. The In Bruges comment was the only thing I agreed with in this article.

Milk was a brilliant film, but In Bruges was brilliantly written; and a great film.

[Mz Pip]

19. I agree

In Bruges was one of the most well crafted films I have seen in years. The writing was incredible.

[Johonny]

20. I thought it was ok

But as hit man movies go I wasn't blown away by it. It was a little funny, a little sad, people get shot, Americans made fun of... shrug.

[endarkenment]

21. Not my point at all - this was not a film that Hollywood ever

gives an Oscar to, consequently the authors complaint is bullshit. It wasn't politics at all with respect to In Bruges vs Milk, Hollywood pays no attention at all to small well made brilliantly written films. Never has and never will, regardless of politics. It is Hollywood. I'm surprised it even got a nomination.

[Merlot]

12. The Academy is a group of people. That's all.

They all vote separately. They pick what they like. It's not like they sat together on a board and chose what movies would win.

They're allowed to not applaud charlatan heston. It's their right. Most of them feel hestons behavior while alive was shameful.

[damonm]

13. Damn shame really -

regardless of politics, the man was one hell of an actor. I've had this same argument with conservatives over Susan Sarandon.
Politics simply DOES NOT trump talent.

[madrchsod]

14. the independent film awards show on saturday....

was so way better than the dog and pony show known as the oscars. mickey rourke`s acceptance speech(?)was one for the history books...

[TahitiNut]

15. Perhaps Erik Buckman could eat some cheese with that whine.

Face it: the right wing has no talent except in antipathy. :shrug:

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

16. That's Roy SCHEIDER

for the edification of the nitwit who wrote this piece. And I don't mean the OP. :)

And maybe, just MAYBE, the collective opinion of the assembled multitudes was that Charlton Heston was an asshole. An opinion for which plenty of extrinsic supporting evidence exists.

[Midwestern Democrat]

17. It was a little shocking to see how far Heston had fallen in the esteem of

his peers last night. Before he went right wing in the '80s, he was - like Gregory Peck - one of Hollywood's most prestiged elder statesmen. He was awarded the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1977; he was president of the Screen Actor's Guild; he was Chairman of the American Film Institute; in 1980, he presented the Academy Award for Best Picture (the evening's most prestigious presenting honor). Heston obviously burned a lot of bridges with Hollywood during the last two decades to go from that to last night.

[cynatnite]

23. I do remember how beloved he used to be...

until his affair with the NRA.

[Jane Austin]

24. I always felt that Heston played the same role in all his movies.

It's one reason his style was so easy to parody.

[fishwax]

25. lol -- conservatives have been bashing Waltz With Bashir as anti-Israeli, and yet this guy

blames the fact that it didn't win on the Academy's anti-Israeli bias :crazy: I haven't seen either of the two documentaries, so I can't speak to whether it was absurd that Departures won, but I find it amusing that this critic is so apparently out of step.

With respect to In Bruges, I would imagine it was seen by fewer voters than Milk for one thing, and for another Milk was going to draw votes in this category from many people who were torn b/w that and Slumdog for best picture. I will say that In Bruges was a good movie and the script was great. I wouldn't have been disappointed had it won, but I think Milk was worthy too.

Finally, with respect to Charlton Heston, the show's producers decided to mute the audience applause on the TV feed this year--some applause still came through, but it was on the whole much, much quieter than previous years. My guess is that there was polite applause for Heston in the auditorium and that it just didn't carry over to the broadcast.

[Baikonour]

26. BREAKING NEWS! THE OSCARS HAS A LIBERAL SLANT!

Seriously though, I have no idea what the author of this article is trying to say or prove.