HUGO only genre success at Oscars 2012

So the long-winded orgy of self-congratulation that is Oscar Night is over the box office boosts (sorry I mean golden statuettes) have been handed out to those American projects that needed them. Actually, this year around it was a European silent movie THE ARTIST that took the major accolades, but in the more technical categories one film flew the flag for fantastic films and that film was Martin Scorsese's HUGO.

Winning for best visual effects, sound mixing, sound editing, cinematography and production design, HUGO did pretty well for itself, but won't be making the headlines.

To be fair, there weren't that many truly great science fiction or fantasy movies out there in the last year, so there wasn't much to choose from and the American academy is known to be averse to fantasy/sci fi so it shouldn't come as any great surprise.

Anyway, well done to HUGO. You done good.

And the Winner Isn't....Avatar

Now that the last back has been slapped and the last glass of champagne quaffed in the annual self-congratulation fest that is the Oscars most of the predictions for Avatar taking best film have been roundly disproved as the American Academy followed the British Academy's lead and awarded only the Best Special Effects, Best Cinematography and Best Production Design awards to the movie. There are several reasons why this should be so.

1. It's a Sci Fi Movie - and genre movies don't usually go down too well with the American Academy. The only significant winner in recent years was THE LORD OF THE RINGS and even that had to wait for the third time of asking when they realised that they had to reward it because it was the last chance and to not do would have been criminal.
2. The Military Aren't Heroes - In a time where coffins are being shipped back from Iraq and Afghanistan on a regular basis the conservative Academy is going to shy away from a movie that depicts US forces as invaders willing to slaughter innocents for their mineral resources. HURT LOCKER may not stint on the reality of the politics of the wars, but it's about bomb disposal experts and you can't get much more heroic than that.
3. It's Made Too Much Money - The Academy loves success and money, but when so much of it has been made it becomes faintly vulgar and to heap praise where so much money has gone goes against their grain.
4. It's Too Entertaining - The American Academy loves gravitas and loves giving awards to what it believes to be meaningful and important movies. A popcorn romp through a non- existant world isn't going to provide that.
5. James Cameron - Last time he did good at the Oscars he announced himself to be the King of the World. A lot of the Academy have suffered his particularly bullying style of film-making and everyone else has heard about it. Don't underestimate the power of personal dislike.
6. The HURT LOCKER Is a Better Film - AVATAR has the wow!! factor, but on every other level (writing, direction, acting) HURT LOCKER is a better film and a more deserving winner.

Still, Jim can always console himself with the oodles of cash that his $2 BILLION dollar movie has brought him.

Oscar Nominations for Sci Fi Movies - what's up with that?

The 2010 Oscar nominations are out and it doesn't come as no surprise that AVATAR leads the science fiction field whilst much better films MOON and LET THE OTHER ONE IN don't even get a mention.

The list is

PICTURE - Avatar and District 9 (neither of which deserve a nomination let alone the award. I mean they were fun, but best picture of the year? I don't think so.)

DIRECTOR - James Cameron for AVATAR (can you direct a film made inside a computer?)

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY - DISTRICT 9

ART DIRECTION - AVATAR and THE IMAGINARIUM OF DR PARNASSUS (OK, so AVATAR was very pretty so we might forgive them this)

CINEMATOGRAPHY - AVATAR and HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF BLOOD PRINCE (Does a film made in a computer actually have cinematography?)

Sound Mixing - AVATAR, STAR TREK and TRANSFORMERS:REVENGE OF THE FALLEN (Transformers? Really? Crash, bang, wallop! is mixing sound?)

SOUND EDITING - AVATAR and STAR TREK (apparently editing is different from mixing and STAR TREK sounds good.

MUSIC SCORE - AVATAR (Did anyone actually notice the music?)

COSTUME - THE IMAGINARIUM OF DR PARNASSUS (What, nothing for the loincloths of AVATAR?)

FILM EDITING - AVATAR and DISTRICT 9. (Again, as AVATAR was made in a computer how much film was edited?)

MAKEUP - STAR TREK

VISUAL EFFECTS - AVATAR, DISTRICT 9 and STAR TREK.

So, once again, to get a nomination for the Oscars you have to be American, big, successful and not too complicated or containing a thoughtful plot. Show some aliens and then blow them up is the way to the American Academy's heart. We can only reflect on the fact that they only give genre films the big awards when the absolutely have to, so the question is whether AVATAR's made enough money that they don't feel they need to reward it any more for things it doesn't deserve.