6 - Friday, March 1, 2013

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

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Please don't tell us any more stories. Please.
Why Lncoln' lost

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Flashy trumps eting, edge-of-your-seat mass
appeal (the climax consists of
ubstance at this men tallying votes ... ). Plus, at
almost three hours in length, it
year's Oscars requires patience and attention -
two characteristics not especially
By CARLY KEYES prevalent in the human race.
Daily Arts Writer But entertainment factor and
runtime have nothing to do with
ncoln" got no love from quality. Beethoven's Symphony
this year. Well, it gotapeck No. 9 originally spanned more
e cheek,"Life of Pi" got to than an hour yet doesn't exactly
base and "Argo" got lucky. get the toe tapping like the cur-
art from Daniel Day-Lewis's rent four-minute, four-chord pop
in victory and a win for Best track, but in a competition of com-
ction Design, the beautiful position and aesthetic value, well,
went overlooked in every there is no competition.
category - 2-for-12 overall. Not that Affleck's "Argo" and
The same reason "Silver Lee's "Life of Pi" are catchy pop
gs Playbook" went 1-for-8: crap; they're just catchy pop crap
and flashy trumped elegant compared to the incomparable
nderstated. symphony that is Spielberg's "Lin-
-go" is a fast film, a thrill- coln."
ombination of the CIA and The master crafter delicately
wood and terrorism; it took intertwines intelligent humor
Best Picture, Best Adapted without diminishing the gravity
nplay and Best Film Edit- of the subject matter and captures
Life of Pi" is a flashy picture; the dynamism of Lincoln's charac-
mber that scene when the ter - the father, the husband and
liner with all of the zoo theleader ofthe free world-while
als sank in the storm? Makes making room for the supporting
'sArk look likeatugboat full cast to shine. Anyone who can
s. It walked away with four implement tasteful comedy into
es, including Best Director. the Civil War eraand find space for
ncoln," which recounts the Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones
ation of the 13th Amend- in the Day-Lewis-shaped spotlight
screams "history les- deserves some serious hardware.
and But apparently the Acad-
oesn't emy favors directors who crutch
the First seen on around onCGI instead.
riv- -the filter The script, developed by Tony


Kushner, should've brought home
the gold based on Lincoln's inven-
tive, endearing anecdotes alone.
But the hilarious insults and
slanderous statements tossed
between politicians as they ban-
ter for endless hours in the House
of Representatives, the somber
exchanges between Lincoln and
his wife, Mary, and the fervent
speeches given by theall-mighty
Commander in Chief during cabi-
net meetings offer a wider emo-
tional and intellectual spectrum
than any other nominee in the
category.
But apparently the Academy
favors brilliant screenwriting like
"Argo f*ck yourself" instead.
Much more could be said about
"Lincoln" and its unjusttreatment
at the Academy Awards this year.
Maybe if Spielberg had thrown in
a dozen purposeless bloody com-
bat scenes and cut outa half hour
of"boring" material where people
"just sit around talking," his film
would have gotten the Oscar love
it deserves.
But Spielberg never would and
Spielberg never will. The crew of
"Lincoln losers" might not have
walked away with Best Picture
this past Sunday, but it left with
uncompromised creative integ-
rity. And, of course, everyone
knows it's an honor just to be
nominated.
- The original version of this
article was published on The Filter,
the Daily Arts blog, onFeb. 28.


Never forget 'Gigli Never forget.
Academy fails at
re-invention once again

By ADITI MISHRA
Daily Arts Writer
The phrase that springs to
mind when thinking about
this year's Oscars is: "Trying
too hard." To which I'd like to
add: "And failing." Getting a lot
of people to watch something
while staying true to the craft
is an arduous task, even for
the greatest film directors, let
alone an award show. Which is
why it's time for the Academy
Awards to decide whether they
want to be respected or enjoyed
because, as Sunday night
proved, trying to achieve both
is no easy feat.
Let's dissect Sunday's show
step by step, starting with the
host. Needless to say, even at
his most classy, Seth MacFar-
lane is a prick. But that's what
the world expects the creator
of "Family Guy" to be; that's
why we were so excited about
the prospect of him making
this show both approachable to
"the younger demographic" the
Academy so desperately tries
to please and exciting in the
nerdy-cool way reminiscent of
Andy Samberg's contributions
to "SNL." But MacFarlane was

neither, and his few crude jokes
were too tasteless to be memo-
rable or funny. After years of
trying new things (the disas-
trous memory of Anne Hatha-
way and James Franco's hosting
still lingers ... ), it's clear there
can only be two good kinds of
Oscar hosts.
The most successful hosts to
date have been Academy veter-
ans, showmen like Steve Martin
and Billy Crystal who look out
into the audience and see the
face of an old friend instead of
can't-joke-about-the-legend-
himself Robert DeNiro. The
other great kind of host is a
complete outsider - the Ricky
Gervais - who doesn't give a
crap about what DeNiro thinks
of him, anyway. Which is exact-
ly where MacFarlane, who's
close enough to the film indus-
try to care but not close enough
to insult, failed. Perhaps the
Oscars need to come to terms
with the fact that, with the
exception of film buffs, people
don't generally care about who
wins an Academy Award (we're
going to go see "The Avengers"
regardless), and that the efforts
to make them more approach-
able are fundamentally futile.

Clearly, choosing a good
host wasn't the only thing that
befuddled the Academy this
year. The show brought talking
teddy bears and 1970s musicals
together in the most confusing
way possible. Boob songs were
followed by ballroom danc-
ing. The awards themselves
were more indecisive and skit-
tish than some of MacFar-
lane's worst punchlines of the
night. Affleck didn't garner a
Best Director nomination, but
"Argo" won Best Picture; "Life
of Pi" wasn't even considered
to be a legitimate Best Picture
contender, but Ang Lee won
Best Director. Even the techni-
cal awards were almost evenly
divided and distributed among
Best Picture nominees so that
no one left the room a loser.
It's time to
forget the
ratings and
focus on quality.*

Call: #734-418-4115
Email: dailydisplay@gmail.com

RELEASE DATE- Friday, March 1,2013
Los Angeles Times De
Edited by Rich Norris a
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Trying to be unpredictable
was the Academy's most predict-
able move Sunday night, and it
meant sacrificing the core prin-
ciples around which the award
show is built. Picking a winner
is a subjective process, even
the Academy knows that, but,
in my opinion, it seems like the
point of these awards has been
to reward the daring movies
and performances that not many
would otherwise pay attention
to. Which is why "Argo" 's win
seemed forced - a consolation
prize handed to Ben Affleck as
an apology for his missing Best
Director nomination. In truth,
almost every other movie in that
category was as good, if not bet-
ter than "Argo."
While Jennifer Lawrence is
adorable and deserving, her win
seemed forced, too, and against
the Academy's better judgment.
Do't get me wrong, I love J-Law.
But if these awards were happen-
ing a decade ago, Emmanuelle
Riva or Jessica Chastain would
have won. The Academy that
picked the nominations and the
Academy that picked the winners
could not be more polarized.
Perhaps we can say that the
Academy is undergoing a mid-
life crisis. For the past five
years, it has struggled with re-
inventing itself and becoming
more accessible to the masses.
But there are only so many ways
of re-inventing the wheel before
one realizes that it can only be
round. Just like how the Oscars
will always be about moviemak-
ers looking pretty, awarding
each other, making fun of them-
selves and pretending like the
world has nothing better to do
than to watch them fake-smile
for four hours.
And if that's the case, the
only way the Academy has to re-
establish its integrity is to ditch
the ratings and stop handing
out consolation prizes. There
will never be an Oscar winner
that everyone approves of, but
the Academy can certainly go
back to choosing the daring,
overlooked filmmakers who
define the industry as much as
any billion-dollar blockbuster.

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