Show A N ight At The Oscars Oscar On Oscar night last Monday the 1 Ith Charlton Heston introduced a a collage of awards and acceptance clips from presentations past with the words we always provide a close One might imagine imagine imagine im im- im- im agine he was referring to the awards presentation itself I 1 think his comment was in reference to the nominees and the tight race they were engaged in for the awards If this was his intent then please let me grab a breath bet bet- between between screams of laughter before I 1 proceed with my dissertation on the farce that's been going on since February the the day th the nominees were announced Perhaps ps before I I say the th undignified undignified un- un dignified dignified and and base things base things things' Im I'm going to sa say about the awards I 1 should from point out coming i f Im I'm dont don't the I 1 belong to Dustin The Hoffman System is Screwed Club or the George C. C Scott ott S Play Club I 1 simply enjoy watching films and so so I 1 w watch a lotof lot of them The Academy A Awards ards caps off the year in a nice neat little blood clot The awards are fun because they're dealing with films not because of the films they deal w with th I can best illustrate this by giving you my personal Top Ten List for 1987 These were my favorites 1 1 Full Metal Jacket 2 The Dead 3 84 Charing Cross Road 4 Raising Arizona 5 The Princess Bride 6 Radio Days 7 Empire of the Sun 8 Hope and Glory 9 Angel Heart 10 Swimming Swimming Swimming Swim Swim- ming to Cambodia I believe I 1 am in good company as numbers 2 27 7 and 8 won the Best Picture awards from The New NewYork NewYork NewYork York Critics Circle The Los Angeles Critics critics Association and the National Board of Review three prestigious critical associations You will note that only one of my titles was nominated for best pic pic- pic- pic ture That should tell you how the Academy treats my most favorite movie experiences It is no great surprise to me that this happens every year Last time it was my fave Blue Velvet that received nary a nomination except for best director The year before my pick The Th Color Purple got a awad awad awad wad of nominations minus directorial directorial directorial attention but received not a singe singel award While I concede I-concede that Amadeus was the best film of 1984 it was in large part due to the lack of decent competition not the strength of the film mm itself We go goway goway goway way back backs to Terms r erms of Endearment Endearment Endearment Endear Endear- ment ment to reach a point where I synced up with the voting Academy members But last February while reading the list of nominees for this this' year it occurred to me that the Academy might be up to something different The of the popular Fatal atal Attraction and Moonstruck even Hope and Glory was refreshing The exclusion of Spielberg's ergs erg's epic was a typical so I I yawned and wondered when they'd get their act together But Throw Momma From The Train got a nomination Maybe things were changing Alas not to be Monday night the true snobby boringness of the voting Academy came through once again as The Last Emperor swept up I 1 did see Emperor when it it opened here in February ary L I 1 found it ita ita t ta a beautiful wonderfully made but entirely disengaging film I 1 dont don't remember the last time something so opulent grandiose and well received failed to move me I think it places twenty-something twenty on my list But the the- Academy having left themselves no other acceptable historic epic to vote for happily flushed down the Out Amadeus ut of of Platoon Africa toilet and while we received entertainment from Pee Wee Herman and Ch Chevy vy I Chase there was that annoying no its it's going to take again feeling running all 11 night long even when the nominees held some promise Yes didn't take any acting awards but the four who won were clear cut favorites going into the presentation No surprises here folks They were all deserving deserving deserving ing although Michael Douglas Douglas' performance was from one of the worst films of the year but is this a Is this tight Exciting stuff Boring Sid |