The State of the State of the Race

I know it's been a long time. I was excessively busy with school and work for a while, then I had a hard time coming up with what to write. I've been planning on putting up an early look at the "other" film categories (Foreign, Documentary, etc), and I still plan to. In the mean time, I wanted to throw my two-cents in on the race so far.

Here's something I've learned increasingly this years. I'm getting very annoyed with Oscar sites. I love the information they put together for me, and the analysis of what was included by this critics association, what was left out by that one, and what that all means for the films hopes of Oscar glory. I love the collections of FYC ads and the predictions for nominations.

If the sites would stick to this type of analysis - I would be happy. But I increasingly find myself sifting through blatant love letter campaigns for a favorite film or performance, personal feelings of hate for a certain producer or film, shit-talking about other sites, defamation of the character of critics as a way of discounting their opinions, and a constant comparison of who knows more about the race and who is clueless. I'm sick of this stuff. It's taking the fun out of the game. I don't want to talk any further about this, as it will turn into exactly the kind of rhetoric I dislike and I believe sullies everything I love about awards season.

Back to the real subject of this blog! I've enjoyed the critics lists so far. I've been glad to see really interesting, and justifiable, choices on most of their parts. There is no consensus - which makes for an exciting year. I don't report on them individually, as that's just not the kind of site I'm running. I prefer to see them all come out and then look at them as a whole. I believe this is where their significance to the race lies. We find general trends (Helen Mirren sweeping every single one last year) that may carry through. We see the films that did not get the support they needed. And we can narrow (or widen!) our lists a little.

Tomorrow, the Golden Globe nominations come out. And while I think their significance to the Oscar race has been almost completely diminished, I'll do a little piece on it and the Critics Choice nominations. The fun part is just beginning!