{"id":904,"date":"2013-01-10T10:54:45","date_gmt":"2013-01-10T15:54:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/millheiser.com\/hokeyblog\/?p=904"},"modified":"2013-10-14T20:29:18","modified_gmt":"2013-10-15T00:29:18","slug":"oscar-noms-and-my-top-movies-of-2012-or-success-walks-hand-in-hand-with-failure-along-hollywood-blvd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/millheiser.com\/hokeyblog\/2013\/01\/10\/oscar-noms-and-my-top-movies-of-2012-or-success-walks-hand-in-hand-with-failure-along-hollywood-blvd\/","title":{"rendered":"Oscar noms and my top movies of 2012, or: “Success walks hand-in-hand with failure along Hollywood Blvd…”"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"M.I.A.\"<\/a>

M.I.A.<\/p><\/div>\n

So they announced Oscar nominations this morning, which I suppose is a big enough deal for me to comment about it here, but let’s be frank: as much of a pop-cultural milestone the Academy Awards are to film nerds, movie dorks, cinema snoots, or just gay men in general, they’re pretty much functionally useless in terms of recognizing great movies. To put it in bluntly: does anyone, anywhere, even think about 2008’s\u00a0total shitbag of a movie\u00a0Slumdog Millionaire<\/em>? Hollywood’s knee-jerk, PC, self-congratulatory reaction to a grossly insulting and utterly patronizing take on Indian ‘culture’… like it was some homogenized entity ready for cultural colonization. \u00a0Lots of “Look! we love brown people too!!” pats on their own backs for being so worldly wise. Eeucch…<\/p>\n

Aaaand there we have it, I couldn’t even make it out of the first paragraph without already falling into a rant. Thanks, Danny Boyle. You’re still not forgiven for\u00a0The Beach<\/em>, either.<\/p>\n

ANYWAY… so they announced the Oscar noms today, and I haven’t seen most of these movies, which, for someone who considers himself quite cinematically-aware, is a bit surprising. But I see maybe 5, 6 movies a year, tops, in theaters, and those are your basic uber-blockbusters.\u00a0Avengers<\/em>,\u00a0The Dark Knight Rises<\/em>, The Hobbit<\/i>,\u00a0Brave<\/em>, etc. Stuff that probably should be seen on the big screen. I still love that whole darkened theater, movie-going experience, but for smaller-scale material I’m more than OK with my home theater setup.<\/p>\n

So anyway, I’m not gonna rattle off endless lists of who’s up for Best Sound Editor or Costume Designer or Finest Alpaca Shaver or whatever. Just a quick glance at the Best Pics:<\/p>\n