Well, what jumps out at me is that the category itself is a holdover
from those pre-1957 (or so) days when studios were still turning out
original live-action musicals. It made sense in those days because
there was still an abundance of original material being turned out
every year. After the late fifties, the next decade's musicals were
(for the most part) adaptations of stage shows that (unlike the past)
had most -- if not all -- of their Broadway scores intact, with hardly
any "original songs." Over the last 40-45 years, most of the non-
animated musicals that have been made have had a new song added solely
in the hopes of winning an Oscar (I'm thinking specifically of
"Chicago," and "The Producers," which had the new material played over
the end credits) rather than enhancing the story. ("Dreamgirls" and
"Nine" had actual new book numbers.)Given the way modern audiences tend to treat musicals the way they do cholera, the Academy would probably be better off dropping the category -- but that's about as likely as a resurgency of Westerns, mysteries, and musicals as viable movie genres. --Dave Sikula On Mar 1, 4:07 pm, Michael <[email protected]> wrote: > Mikey-come-lately here. > > I still can't figure how they only found two songs to nominate, and > the winner was the cute-in-context but obvious novelty song from "The > Muppets." I always thought (oddities like "It's Hard Out Here for a > Pimp" aside) the best-song award was geared to tunes that could become > standards or displayed memorable mainstream appeal. Even if the other > possible choices weren't chart-toppers, I can't believe there were > only two original songs worth nomination out of the scores of films > released in 2011.. > > On Feb 27, 3:17 pm, PGage <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > > > > On Mon, Feb 27, 2012 at 10:56 AM, M-D November <[email protected]> wrote: > > > For me, nothing spoke to how poorly designed last night's telecast was > > > than this: > > > > In the first hour alone, there were no fewer than three montages about how > > > awesome the movies are, the Christopher Guest day players doing the 'test > > > screening' bit, and Cirque. And yet somehow there wasn't time for live > > > performances of the TWO "Best Original Song" nominees. I would have rather > > > seen Jason Segal perform "Man or Muppet" 10 times than have to sit through > > > that Cirque du Soliel crap. They'd have had the time if they'd just cut > > > down on a) Billy's vamping, and b) some of the more ridiculous presenter > > > moments (RDJ & Paltrow, Emma Stone & Ben Stiller, Will Ferrell & Zach > > > "Shaved Yeti" Galafanakis). > > > > But at least Bret won his category, so there's something to be said for > > > that. > > > I had read in advance of the telecast that the omiited the songs not > > because of time, but to avoid drawing attention to the fact that they only > > found 2 songs to nominate. > > > I read a lot of griping last night about the montages - these did not > > bother me. I liked the reels of actors talking a bit about the movies, and > > I never mind a montage or two of great movie moments. The Oscars are > > nothing after all if not one giant commerical for movies (which made the > > whole Sasha Cohen thing a giant joke). I could have used less Billy - but > > then, if you go out and make a big deal of getting him, you might as well > > use him. I guess we are all getting old, but he really has begun to come > > off like Bob Hope. > > > I don't think the focus on going out to the movies was funereal, or new > > this year, or even particularly underlined this year. For a few years they > > have been using the Oscars to try to make the point that films are best > > seen in the theatre, not on televisions, computers, iPads, or phones. This > > is also something of a joke, since most of the academy members probably saw > > most of the films they voted on (or rather, most of the films they actually > > saw at all) outside of a theatre, but that is something else. They are > > coming off of a down box office year, so I guess they might have been a > > little more desperate than usual. I enjoy going out to the movies, so I am > > not irritated by this message. I do wish they would spent more time > > convincing exhibitors that they need to recreate that classic old time > > ambiance that they tried to fabricate during the show. -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
