The Greatest Snub (#BOTB Results)

The Oscars aren’t about popular movies. It’s time for the Academy to accept that.  A better answer, perhaps, is something like, “The Oscars represent the way Hollywood sees itself.”   Sunny Bunch (Washington Post)

The Greatest Snub

       This past Saturday night a grandchild who was spending the night asked to watch her now favorite film The Greatest Showman.  I reminded my wife that it was quarter to nine at night and the girl would never be able to stay up for it.  My wife assured me that she'd fall right to sleep and then we could turn it off and go to bed.  As predicted, the young one fell asleep, while my wife and I proceeded to watch the entire movie for the umpteenth time.

        As the credits rolled at the end, we both marveled at what a wonderful film this is.   I mentioned to my wife that I had kept intending to turn off the DVD, but then I wanted to hear that next song and then the process would happen with that next song.  "Yes! Same with me," exclaimed my wife.  Neither one of us wanted to give up watching the film to the end.

        That's the way that film is with me and with millions of others around the world.  And yet I still am somewhat perplexed by the Oscar snub and the thumbs down by so many critics.  But that's Hollywood and the modern world of the celebrity culture.

        Looking at the negative reviews for Greatest Showman on the internet we get some rather peculiar reasoning about historical inaccuracies of the story and the characters portrayed.  Are they missing the point that this film is supposed to be a family friendly musical?  If someone wants to make a dark story about P.T. Barnum and the circus then let them have a go at it if they think that's better.  After all, The Greatest Showman leaves most people feeling happy and uplifted.  Of course that's probably frowned upon by today's Hollywood.

        Then there was the anti-circus agenda crowd.  In recent decades there has been some ultra-strange thinking about the circus.  It probably amounts more to a certain fear, envy, or ignorance about the circus along with that odd desire to erase America's past or paint it as evil.  And one of the oddest objections was that Greatest Showman had CGI animals. I had no problem with them--certainly better than CGI monsters and superheroes.

        I don't know if we'll see an Oscar snub this year, although Oscar might get snubbed by the television audience.   Will having Black Panther on the list somewhat save the day?  I'll probably be watching off and on between channel hopping.  Watching the Best Picture award is obligatory in that case--unless something distracts my attention.

         This year--as has been the case most years in the past 20 years or so--I don't have any particular favorite.   I've only seen Bohemian Rhapsody out of the films nominated.  It was a good film though it didn't have the same effect on me as Greatest Showman.   Most of the others I don't care much about seeing and most of them I probably won't see.

         There is one that I do want to see and hope is the Best Picture winner.  That film is Green Book which is about one of my favorite jazz pianists, Don Shirley.  I didn't realize that was what the story was about until just a week or so ago when I heard the film being described on some television show. Based on the topic I'll pick that as my Oscar favorite.

          I'm sure Green Book will get snubbed just like The Greatest Showman which was the greatest Oscar snub of all.   The Academy voters had their reasons I'm sure and I'm sure they were all bad reasons.





Battle of the Bands Results




The Greatest Show

         The song for the most recent Battle was "The Greatest Show" as performed by the Mexican arts collective HousePuzzle and the rock group Second Floor Stereo.  Since the song is essentially a rock song it lends itself well to treatment by a standard rock group.  There were a number of good rock covers that I found on YouTube, but this group was my favorite.

         However, the exuberance and variety displayed by the singers and musicians participating in the HousePuzzle rendition were more appealing to me.  I liked the way they had females doing the lead vocals done by males in the film while retaining the spirit and flavor of the film. It's an exciting theatrical song performance with good ensemble work.

          Nevertheless, rock rules...at least in this match up...

       


Final Vote Tally

HousePuzzle                      8 votes

Second Floor Stereo         16 votes


Next Battle on Next Friday March 1st

           I'll be biding my time until that day.  Maybe I'll suffer the Oscars and I'll likely be keeping up with happenings in Viet Nam.  Yes, more of the same ol' same ol' until April first arrives when most of you probably know what will happen then.  If you can't guess what that will be then check out my next Battle which will in part be a tribute to the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge.


         Do you have a Best Picture favorite this year?   Which of the nominated films have you seen?  How out of touch with the common folk do you think Hollywood is?