Last week, the nominees for the 82nd Academy Awards were announced. By the looks of the nominees, it seems that the Academy (of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) is making an effort to appeal to the general public more than in previous years. James Cameron’s Avatar is tied for the most number of nominations (nine categories) and the list of nominees is full of other high grossing blockbusters such as District 9, Star Trek, and Inglourious Basterds.
Following the 2008 Oscars I remember reading an opinion piece somewhere which supported such movement. The writer complained that the dullness of 80th Academy Awards was due to the fact that the films nominated were those that nobody really cared about – movies on the more obscure side. Critical darlings like Michael Clayton and There Will Be Blood. I suppose the author of this article wasn’t down with the 2008 Oscars going indie.
This year promises to be a different story. With such high profile nominees the awards show is bound to attract the interest of TV audiences and perhaps help the Oscars distance itself from its undesired reputation of being mind-numbingly boring.
The 2010 nominees for Best Motion Picture of the Year:
I don't know that blockbuster movies winning awards makes an award show any more entertaining. Just more happy-making for more people.
Kind of a shame that they're "selling out" to this extent.. I had placed them on a bit of a pedestal for being a respectable academy and award show, and enjoyed hearing about movies I didn't know about. Seeing Oprah-quality movies like Blind Side on here.. and Avatar, which should be recognized for nothing more than it's pretty graphics, makes me feel towards it like I do the Grammys – they're useless.