Oscar Notes

People that know me might expect I would want Avatar to win best picture and Cameron as best director. Both Avatar and The Hurt Locker (directed by Cameron’s former wife, Kathryn Bigelow) could win as best picture and their respective directors win as best director.Surprise! My favorite picture this year was neither of these. My favorite picture this last year is an animated comedy, Up, that is also in the top ten movies nominated for best picture. I don’t expect Up to win as top picture; but it could win as the top animated film and might even win other awards. Perhaps the reason Up moved me so much is that the story is so much that of my own life. The death of the woman he loved dearly, the pain of the adventure they never could take together, and his anger as he looks at the loss of his own sense of purpose and vision. The script is straight out of a John Eldredge book. The lead character even shares my own name: Carl. And then you watch the resolution of this as he gains purpose, adventure, and healing. You really don’t want this movie to stop. And in real life it doesn’t, does it? As long as we see the reality and not the illusion.After that I would pick Avatar. Cameron is a straight-out genius in doing this movie. He really doesn’t need the Oscar to prove this. We already knew it. Someone asked him about the best director prize going to his former wife if she wins. His reply? He’s in a win-win situation with that. He wants her recognized for her work. Unfortunately, I understand her movie, The Hurt Locker, has used some unethical and underhanded ways to promote their film for the Oscar. They violated Academy rules on this. There is enough unethical stuff going on around Hollywood and we don’t need that. Give it to Cameron. If The Hurt Locker gets it, it would be the Academy saying to me that all of Hollywood is rotten. I haven’t seen that movie. If they want to give it the Kathryn Bigelow (the director), I am ok with that. If they give it to the picture, however, you are sending the wrong message to the world as well as to me.