peripathetic

It's not like me...
...to not have an opinion on the Oscar nominees. Because I've usually seen at least some of the movies in question before the list is released. But here goes anyway. The Triplets of Belleville is up for Best Animated Feature. If it doesn't win it'll be no surprise, but a predictable injustice. One of the Best Picture nominations is The Return of the King. That movie is also nominated for Best Art Direction, Best Director, Musical Score, and Adapted Screenplay. Oh how they all loved it. Now, I liked it very much, too. But the books are nearly always better than the films, particularly in this case, and I really don't think that the screenplay for RotK could stand up against City of God, also a screenplay nomination.

But that's what's weird about the Oscars, every year. The categories are precisely defined. Surely Best Art Direction should mean something intellectually meaty and deep? Noooo. Truth News says "The Oscars are voted on by the members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. And who is in the Academy? Well might you ask. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is made up of Hollywood actors, directors, and screenwriters. Thus, the Oscars are essentially awards given by Hollywood insiders to themselves, based on whatever goofy logic they might collectively apply to the task."

The Rules usually state that, for the Art Direction award, "Recognition in the form of the Academy Statuette shall be given for the set decoration of the production receiving an award...". Oh right. So it's set decoration. Not art, then.