Leonard Nimoy – 1931-2015
It’s hard to sum up the impact Leonard Nimoy had on popular culture. The man most famous for portraying the “logical” Vulcan, Spock, who joins Captain Kirk on the Enterprise voyaging across the Galaxy, in the Star Trek franchise, has passed away. And frankly, the world will miss him dearly.
So, what happened with Neil Patrick Harris? A guy who usually nails a hosting job had a really, really off night at this years Oscars. Every joke (bar one) felt flat, every moment (bar one) felt contrived and forced, from an actor who is typically a breeze to watch glide through a performance. My huge expectations for Harris’ work went unfulfilled: I thought the “what’s in the box” gag that ran through the show was actually awful, and one of the worst I’ve seen to date in any Oscars ceremony. Its payoff lacked edge, and there was a perfunctorily swift conclusion that told me somebody backstage had said “wrap this thing up Harris, it’s dying a slow death on Twitter”. Indeed, my Twitter feed was flooded with people flat-out annoyed by it.
Each year, comedians snark at the outmoded nature of the Academy Awards – the longest running film awards in America, if not the world. Out of date, antiquated, irrelevant: what exactly do the Academy Awards stand for? At one point, they represented the best of the best, the ultimate achievement in film, at least by Hollywood’s standards. However, as the film industry has become more globalized, and Hollywood films vie for the dollars of those produced in other countries, are the Academy Awards now just another in the endless stream of meaningless awards given out during a few months of each year? It seems every man and his dog gives out awards – newspapers, media commentators, the various guilds and associations to which multiple film industries depend, and on whom the most money is spent. Why, then, when the pool of award tributes is so diluted with “neverheardof’em’s” and “wannabes”, do we still consider the Oscars to be the top of the heap?
Every year, focus for the Oscar ceremony not only centers on the films involved, but the host of the show. For such a global event, the Academy producers normally pick a comedian (Bob Hope, Billy Crystal, David *ahem* Letterman etc) to ensure there’s levity amidst the tension of snagging a top gong. Typically, comedians (and comediennes, for that matter, Whoopi Goldberg) have provided a number of classic moments involved in hosting this prestigous event, although one could mount an argument that a comedian, whilst funny, is the top choice ironically in the face of there never being a comdy movie involved in the ceremony. When was the last time you saw a comedy up for best picture? That’s right: never.
With each year that passes, distance between the Oscars and audience’s collective memory grows, and with that, reflection on the accuracy of the Oscars selections for their categories. Some films, such as The Godfather and its sequel, remain entrenched as worthy winners in their respective categories. Others, perhaps most notably The Dark Knight’s lack of nomination in the Best Picture category (within the same decade The Lord Of The Rings swept all before it, no less) which forced the Academy to revise its laws on the possible number of Best Picture nominees (from five, to a maximum of ten), remain sore spots for film fans the world over. No doubt the Academy is never going to get it right all the time, and hindsight is a terrific thing with which to look on decisions with, but here we present our biggest Oscar snubs from the last few decades. Considering the mass media consumption of the Oscars in the years since we started typing “www” into a search bar, it’s reflective on Hollywood that many of the most surprising snubs have occurred relatively recently (although the web is crawling with similar lists encompassing the entirety of Oscars’ proud history).
Louis Jourdan – 1921-2015
Louis Jourdan, the man who appeared in the multi-Academy Award winning 1958 film Gigi, as well as alongside James Bond in Octopussy, has passed away.
Geraldine McEwan – 1932-2015
Acclaimed British actress Geraldine McEwan, who portrayed Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple on television between 2004 and 2009, has passed away.
Barrie Ingham
British-born stage and screen actor, Barrie Ingham, who made an appearance in both film and television incarnations of Doctor Who, has passed away.
Samuel Goldwyn Jr – 1926-2015
Legendary Hollywood producer, Samuel Goldwyn Jr, has passed away.
Anita Ekberg – 1931-2015
Anita Ekberg, the female star of Fellini’s La Dolce Vita, has passed away.
Rod Taylor – 1930-2015
Aussie-born Hollywood actor Rod Taylor, star of Hitchcock’s The Birds, and The Time Machine, has passed away.
Edward Herrmann – 1943-2014
Gilmore Girls patriarch, American actor Edward Herrmann, has passed away.
Every year, bloggers and media companies around the world spend months talking about, examining and dissecting every nuance of what has become Hollywood’s “Awards Season”, a time of the year which usually kicks off around November and lasts through until the Oscars, in Late February or early March. For an industry that’s awfully self-involved most of the time anyway, one could argue that a five month season of back-slapping and handshakes is probably not long enough, but since the Academy’s Governor’s Ball took place only the other week and the Oscars themselves not until February 22nd, it’s time to ask: is Hollywood’s Awards Season too long?
Mike Nichols – 1931-2014
Legendary American film director Mike Nichols, who helmed such classics as The Graduate, Silkwood and Working Girl, has passed away.
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