Frantic Film January

I love award ceremonies. They bring us moments of superb over-acting from the likes of Kate Winslet and Halle Berry and give us the chance to have a good argument about the mistakes and the well-earned victories.

But I’m starting to hate the Oscars.

Hate with a seething passion.

The film industry – by which I mean the good film industry is so geared up to this schmaltzy nonsense that you can’t see a decent film between March and November any more.

For half the year you get There Will Be Blood, No Country For Old Men and Slumdog Millionaire. And for the other half you get Transformers, Harry Potter and Mamma Bleedin’ Mia.

In order to see all the films I actually want to see at the moment, I’m having to go to the cinema at least once a week. This week it’s a choice between Defiance, The Reader and Che.

It’s lucky I’ve already seen Slumdog and Australia or else I’d be doing nothing else this week.

Annoyingly, awards season also coincides with the return of 24 and Lost on TV. I’m likely to come out of January talking like a Yank, and saying nothing but ‘Dammit!’

Can they not spread them around the year a bit better? Valkyrie, for instance, doesn’t look likely to greatly challenge the other films at the Academy Awards. Couldn’t that have come out in the sleepy months of March and April?

: 14 Jan 2009 09:00 |  Tags: Cinema Films Movies |  Comments (0) |  Report a problem