Oscars Academy Award Best Picture OpEd 2020

My thoughts below, yours in the comment section. 

Ford V. Ferrari 

It's fine? It's a sports movie, maybe? Maybe a movie about a nice guy who wins, also about America being the best? Hard to say what the messaging was. I wasn't impressed or unimpressed. I was not entertained. I think this is the Green Book of this year, its so bland that it becomes the defacto winner because no one will dislike it? Who knows/cares. 

The Irishman
I watched as much as I could. It was like a VERY long form vine clip about the mafia. Same looped storyline about how the mob worked... which is exactly how you think it works. Well acted. Mildly well written. Too boring. Which is different than being too long. I've watched over 300 hours of Grey's Anatomy and they have my attention still. Ok, bye. 

Jojo Rabbit
Thought I would appreciate the art of this, but dislike the movie. T'was the other way around. I liked it a lot, but wasn't as well crafted as I kept reading and hearing. It was good, my 2nd favorite. Not sure how they made Hilter a whimsical, acceptable punchline - well, I do know, they straight-up made fun of him and highlighted how idiots fell for him. Much like MAGA/KAGA idiots now. The movie is a parody. I'd be ok with this winning because I did like it and then it would reach more choir members to preach to. 

Joker
Didn't see because I hate watching gore. I like Joaquin. 

Little Women
It was nice. So dramatic. Though, a remake and nothing groundbreaking. And idk who edited it, but they didn't do their job well. 

Marriage Story
Disappointed myself for finishing this. It was impressive because it was so dialogue heavy and the leads both had strong performances. Other than that, it was not worth it. 

1917 
[Editor's note: this was listed here, in this order, which is supposedly 'alphabetical'. Ok, yes if it were titled "Nineteen seventeen" it would be in order, but as you should know: in text any number over ten should be numeric and under ten should be written out long form, so 1917 is correct... however, all numeric things go before "A" when sorting alphabetically, I know these things, the Academy doesn't. Also, this could be wrong because I'm too lazy to google, but I'm pretty sure].

1917 should win. It was a cinematography gift. Well job. Incredible story telling. Innovative. Delicate subject. A few years ago I said we shouldn't make war movies any more, but here we are. 

Once Upon A Time in Hollywood
I should have liked it more than I did. It was charming and full of beautiful people. Well acted. I like the gimmick of a movie with in a movie (though we didn't need to watch the whole feature). I often say whatever it is you've got, give people MORE. I guess I am not talking to Q. Tarantino, because this move reeked of him. I like salt on my food; this movie is over salted, warm buttered movie theater popcorn

Parasite
Did you see Gone Girl? Girl on a Train? A Simple Favor? This is that. Those are this. Interchangeable. You'll never be able to unconvince (not a word) me the only real reason this got the nod was because elites love to be pretentious with their subtitled foreign films. This is your basic psychological thriller with dark twisty turns and a dash of comedy. Don't come at me with "it had layers of international class warfare though!". So did Crazy Rich Asians and it wasn't nominated and I'd say it's on the same level. I liked both movies, they were enjoyable, but this and that aren't anything to hand an Oscar to. Shouldn't win. Might win. 

Land of the free. Home of the brave.

This is a little rant, but mainly it is a rave. Pro-America. 

While watching the "news"(1) coverage this week, a commentator wanted to remind his viewers that sadly, bombings like the one that struck Boston happen in some parts of the world daily, and with worse outcomes. The insinuation insult was that though horrific here, we were lucky considering.

Um, no. 

We live in the United States. The reason things like this don't happen here (as often) is no accident. It is by design. 

In the immediate aftermath, we all started to talk about it. We have an existing infrastructure of media that anyone can freely communicate on. No censorship. We were able to talk about who those guys might be. Where they might be found. An exchange of information. People were not afraid that if they talked there would be repercussions. The bombers (2) even used outlets of expression themselves that helped give us an idea of who they were, and what they might be capable of. Land of the free. 

It took us a work-week to wrap this thing up. We went out and found those men and started to implement justice. I say we, even though it was the federal and local law enforcement who did it. They were out there, when they knew things were dangerous, searching house to house on a man hunt. Bringing peace to the streets. Home of the brave. 

And that is why we are "lucky" enough to live in a part of the world where this doesn't happen daily. We are not ungrateful, but I am certainly not going to insult this country by comparing it to those nations that can't even come close to offering what our freedoms do. 

(1) The quotes are because until journalism regains some of it's lost integrity, I can't pretend they are to be trusted. 

(2) Stop calling them "suspects" now. They admitted to it themselves. They can be called bombers. That's what they did & who they are.