February 3, 2010

Was the expansion to 10 a good idea? Plus, Oscar predictions have begun again, and more at The Awards Circuit!

Indeed, the Main Page of The Awards Circuit has a lot going on today for everyone. We begin with an article focusing on if the expansion of Best Picture from 5 nominees to 10 was a successful endeavor or not. The article can be found here, so check it out and let us know what you think!
The site has also begun official predictions as to how the Oscars will go down. So far we've got Best Picture (found here) and Best Director (found here), but keep your eye out for more updates in the coming days.
We've also got another Music Review, this one on the soundtrack to Nine. It's found here, so check that out as well.
Finally, keep voting in the 2009 Awards Circuit Community Awards. You've seen the nominees you chose, now go here and pick who will win! Happy voting!
-Thoughts on the article, predictions, music review, and ACCA?

10 comments:

  1. No, the expansion to ten was defnitely not a good idea. I hope I'm not alone, and that enough complaints reach the academy so they decide to break it back to five next year.

    I also loved the movie Nine (my #5 for the year), but agree that the soundtrack wasn't all that great. Despite a few strong songs, most of them on a purely audible level don't hold up.

    -Robbie

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  2. Fair points. I agree with you about Nine's soundtrack not being that great (though I thought the movie on the whole was mediocre at best).

    That being said, I fall (obviously, considering I wrote the piece) on the site of the expansion still having potential and that it's too soon to tell. The thing is, if it had been Star Trek or Where the Wild Things Are, or any other somewhat mainstream movie that made a bunch of money that got in instead of The Blind Side, a lot of people would be singing a different story, so who knows. I'm not speaking for you, but a lot of people are only upset about The Blind Side, so 9 out of 10 is a decent success story. I stress my point in the article though...we'll know more about the decision in years to come...

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  3. Yeah, I understand that's why most people are against the expansion to ten, but I haven't seen The Blind Side yet so I can't judge the movie. My problem has always been that it has become too easy to get a nomination now, and being nominated for best picture simply doesn't have as much weight as it used to.

    -Robbie

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  4. Indeed. There are certainly worse films that have been nominated than The Blind Side (hell, I'd argue that Precious and A Serious Man are worse, but that's just me).

    There's validity to your stance, but in the end it's a matter of perception. Most people only know the Best Picture winner anyway, so more nominees just encourages people to see more movies. It upsets the die-hards, yes, but the thing is, they will always (myself included) watch, regardless of who's nominated. That's what leads me to think this could potentially be the new way of things around Oscar parts...

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  5. Much obliged. I think (assuming this stays as the format) there will be years where the 10 are extremely strong and make it seem like the most obvious decision, and there will be years where it obviously looks like a weak field. What we'll have to see is where the in between leaves us, and it's too early to make that judgment yet. I'm cautiously optimistic, but unconvinced in either direction.

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  6. LOVE the expansion I don't really agree with you guys. Just because A Serious Man got a WELL DESERVED best picture nomination. Am I mad about the blind side? of course but some really great films got nominated that wouldn't have. I personally don't agree with people who say only about 5 films deserve it. I can think of at LEAST 15-20 that are deserving in my mind. I know the awards circuit staff doesn't agree but I think A Single Man is top 5. My second viewing of that put me in awe for hours. So yeah I tend to love and connect with a lot of films. But anyway, I just wanted everyone to know some people strongly support the move to 10. I'm definitely one of them.

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  7. Well, I lean towards the positive side of the equation. I'm pretty sure I made that clear. I'm of the opinion that if there's as little as 6 deserving films, then it's a good idea, because that one other one never would have gotten in. None of the nominations annoyed me, though I'd have liked to have seen 500 Days of Wild Things slip in somewhere...

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  8. You and I are on the same side wild things for best picture, I'm just pragmatic...

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  9. The Expansion to 10 in such a bad year for movies is a shame....I mean c'mon, "The Blind Side" really?....It works and the reason it does simply proves just how good of an actress Ms. Bullock is, but the film is a glorified afterschool special and a conservative redneck version of "Diffrent Strokes", "What you talkin' 'bout Sandra Bullock" and if I never have to hear the saying "I got your back" again, I will be a happy man. The rest of the crop are good films, but nothing spectacular...I even felt that "Nine" deserved a spot, although it was majorly flawed...Mr. Marshall needed to concentrate on focusing a story into the final product rather than the separate vignettes to showcase each actress and while I thought Kate Hudson and her song were fine her part was completely unnecessary...The stage version felt more like a complete story...I was very saddened not to see Ms. Cottilliard nominated as best Actress, she was stupendous in the film and the whole debate over category fraud is crap...category fraud has been going on for years...Remember that Anthony Hopkins is in "The Silence of the Lambs" for about 23 minutes..

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