Here's something you might be interested in.
When people talk about their favorite movies, you get a wild selection. Obviously, people have a genre they love. My stepbrother would have a top 10 list that is all sci-fi.
It's strange when you talk about the best comedies with people. I've had so many tell me they loved a movie like Elf, which I debated with a few friends today. That might've been a cute Saturday Night Live skit with Will Ferrell, had they done that. But it certainly had very few laughs for me.
The LA Times did a story a few days back, about why the Oscars should have a category for Best Picture, that is a comedy. And, they brought up the usual points you hear. When there are important films, or serious pictures, voters just take that a lot more serious than Robin Williams running around with a clown nose (well, that and the fact that Patch Adams sucked...)
The Times story mentions how Steve Martin should've gotten an Oscar nomination for All of Me. Now, I remember liking the movie, but just because his character has Lily Tomlin inside of him, and she controls half his body, why is that considered such a great acting performance? So he had to walk funny. Steve Martin had been doing that for years. It was the same walk he did on SNL with Akroyd as the two Czech brothers that were trying to pick up girls in the nightclub.
It is true that comedies don't seem to get the recognition they deserve. But, I think it would've been better for the writer to look up classic comedies, and see what pictures did get the nominations in those years. Did Some Like it Hot even get a nomination when it came out? It's now listed as the best comedy of all-time on AFI's list.
I remember as a kid, seeing Tootsie get nominations, and it's one of my favorite comedies.
The Times story talks a lot about Adam Sandler movies. And the problem with going down that path is...now you're talking about comedies that aren't that good. Or that maybe appeal to teenagers.
The other problem is that everyone seems to think different things are funny. Yet most people can agree when a sad, dramatic performance happens on screen, we're all moved.
There's a scene in Rachel's Getting Married. It's perhaps the best scene I've ever seen in a movie that goes from funny and fun, to sad, in the span of a few seconds.
And those are the reactions that get Academy members talking.
When people talk about their favorite movies, you get a wild selection. Obviously, people have a genre they love. My stepbrother would have a top 10 list that is all sci-fi.
It's strange when you talk about the best comedies with people. I've had so many tell me they loved a movie like Elf, which I debated with a few friends today. That might've been a cute Saturday Night Live skit with Will Ferrell, had they done that. But it certainly had very few laughs for me.
The LA Times did a story a few days back, about why the Oscars should have a category for Best Picture, that is a comedy. And, they brought up the usual points you hear. When there are important films, or serious pictures, voters just take that a lot more serious than Robin Williams running around with a clown nose (well, that and the fact that Patch Adams sucked...)
The Times story mentions how Steve Martin should've gotten an Oscar nomination for All of Me. Now, I remember liking the movie, but just because his character has Lily Tomlin inside of him, and she controls half his body, why is that considered such a great acting performance? So he had to walk funny. Steve Martin had been doing that for years. It was the same walk he did on SNL with Akroyd as the two Czech brothers that were trying to pick up girls in the nightclub.
It is true that comedies don't seem to get the recognition they deserve. But, I think it would've been better for the writer to look up classic comedies, and see what pictures did get the nominations in those years. Did Some Like it Hot even get a nomination when it came out? It's now listed as the best comedy of all-time on AFI's list.
I remember as a kid, seeing Tootsie get nominations, and it's one of my favorite comedies.
The Times story talks a lot about Adam Sandler movies. And the problem with going down that path is...now you're talking about comedies that aren't that good. Or that maybe appeal to teenagers.
The other problem is that everyone seems to think different things are funny. Yet most people can agree when a sad, dramatic performance happens on screen, we're all moved.
There's a scene in Rachel's Getting Married. It's perhaps the best scene I've ever seen in a movie that goes from funny and fun, to sad, in the span of a few seconds.
And those are the reactions that get Academy members talking.