Movies: Straight Outta Compton

I just . . . don't understand why this movie didn't receive more Oscar nominations.

Actually, I do. If the Academy is made up of seventy-something percent old white guys, it's a cinch they get more excited remembering how they blackballed Communists than want to think about L.A. in the 80s and 90s.

The self-congratulatory aspect of the Academy Awards—and the industry in general—leaves a bad taste in my mouth. They're so proud of themselves for what? Making an entirely unnecessary export? I guess they employ a lot of people white men. Good for them, keeping those off the streets.

Anyway. This movie. I know nothing about rap music. I don't listen to it, don't much care for it at all. I mean, at that time I was living in Texas, where most people I knew listened to country music, a few listened to alternative/grunge, and a tinier sliver listened to techno. And I listened to pop and classic rock and Jimmy Buffett. Throughout this movie, my husband kept saying, "Now you must recognize this song!" I didn't. The songs all sounded the same to me, and all sounded a bit like Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Give It Away." I'd heard of Dr. Dre and Ice Cube and Suge Knight, but that's about it. Name recognition. Yet despite all this handicap, I still found Straight Outta Compton compelling.

A movie that encourages me to endure rap? Pretty amazing.

More than that, a movie that brings home what it was like to suffer under the racial ire of the L.A. police—something I could never hope to fully understand, but this film comes as close as possible to making me "get it"? That's impressive. (Though I still can't entirely wrap my brain around how they are so violent towards one another. How is that okay?)

The acting here is really good, too. Again, it left me shaking my head that they didn't get any nominations.

I don't know what else to say. It's a fabulous film. Better than Trumbo or The Big Short, in my opinion. Just goes to show, the Academy is . . . I think it's too close to the industry to be able to see the big picture (no pun intended). It's impossible for the Academy to step back and be any kind of objective. And I know this is all subjective—art is subjective—but in the Oscars' case it's too subjective. It's too influenced by its own self-interest. If that makes any sense.

Bottom line is, the Academy Awards don't mean much. Or shouldn't. It's a peer group slapping each other on the back, and we're supposed to believe that who and what wins matters. But it really doesn't. We can look at past winners and see that it doesn't make a bit of difference, and we can look at omissions like Straight Outta Compton and realize that says more than whoever takes home the trophy. It's the equivalent of prom king and queen—those elected (and their best friends) think it's amazing, the rest of us won't care or remember in a few years and will feel sorry and embarrassed for them when they still talk about being prom court whenever we run into them. "In" versus "out" is so high school, yet the Academy perpetuates exactly that. I think it's time we all move on.

Television: True Detective to be Entered as Drama Series for Emmys

So it was announced today that HBO plans to submit True Detective as a Drama Series rather than Miniseries for the Emmys. This may seem like a small thing, but in the industry it's actually quite telling.

True Detective is a strong show, and I'm glad HBO feels confident enough in it to pit it against the likes of Mad Men and Breaking Bad and all those other big-name dramas that tend to get lauded each year. But something in me says this is a really bad idea anyway. Even Cohle might see fit to remind us, "Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall."

Then again, Cohle isn't really the biblical type.

HBO probably isn't either.

Television: Elementary, "Details"

Time to learn more about Detective Bell. He becomes the target of a drive-by shooting and Holmes and Watson are put on the trail of a drug dealer Bell had once investigated, but they'd only been to catch the guy out on a lesser charge.

Things get flipped when the dealer turns up dead and Bell is the primary suspect.

Also, Bell's older brother Andre is an ex-con.

Meanwhile, and far more entertaining: Holmes periodically assaults Watson in an avowed attempt to teach her some self-defense. (Though when Watson mentions it to her therapist, the shrink tells her to run and find another client because this "grand adventure" is over.)

Holmes informs Watson he knows she's lied about his father keeping her on as a sober companion for him and—in what will probably be JLM's Emmy clip for nomination consideration—proposes that she drop the "sober" and just become his companion. One of the best acting moments on the show thus far and JLM nails it; he has remarkable range and gives the character of Holmes a far greater spectrum than many incarnations. Some notes are easy to hit but not all. JLM hits more than most.

Going back to the crime of the week . . . It's almost not worth the effort, actually. Once it becomes a question of who might have a key to Bell's apartment, it's pretty obvious who is the guilty party. The rest is the same maze of would-be perpetrators and dead ends as ever. And yet despite the formula, the show continues to get better thanks to the careful construction of Watson's and Holmes' relationship. So many shows and movies leapfrog straight into Holmes and Watson being besties (or start with them having been together a long while); here is the wonderful and compelling slow build. And it's done well. One supposes it's all in the details.

Oscar Noms

nomnomnomnom . . . Doesn't taste quite right . . .

I guess the biggest fuss has been about Affleck and Bigelow being left out of the directing nominations. I'll admit it was a bit of a surprise. I have no particular love for Bigelow (I find her overrated and self-righteous) but I still expected to see her nominated. I had hoped Affleck might be, but was less surprised by this particular snub.

Was sorry to see Looper didn't get a screenplay nod—sorry, but not surprised. Tight, tight field in writing this year. Was also sorry to see Moonrise Kingdom didn't get any attention for its wonderful art direction. That, to me, seems like one of the grossest injustices of all.

And though we all know I hated The Master, I do think Joaquin Phoenix did a really good job in it, so it's fair to see him nominated. I don't know that I'd have gone so far to give the other actors nods, though. Supporting Actor itself is going to be one of the most challenging fields to predict this year; those are some powerful roles and wonderful actors.

I haven't see Life of Pi but I had a feeling it would get a lot of nominations, and it did, only one shy of Lincoln, which is the leader in noms this year. And yet I have zero desire to see either film. Well, the Oscars aren't about what people want to see, are they? I always have the feeling these awards are about what people think I should see, but that's not really it either. When done right (and we can all admit they aren't always done right) the Academy Awards are about movies done well. You can have great acting in a terrible movie, beautiful art direction in something otherwise mundane, music that moves you in a movie that in every other instance wouldn't, and so on. Certainly the editing in something like Argo is done in such a superb way as to build the tension to enormous degree. It's tricky because a movie is presented as a whole package; disassembling it requires patience, attention, and knowledge. There is an art, then, in and of itself in taking these elements apart and find the places where a film goes above and beyond—where it achieves greatness.

And, unfortunately, not every movie that does something well, nor every actor who excels in a role, can be individually acknowledged for it. This is the art of nominations and awards. Years from now we may say, "What was the Academy thinking?" Because the things that stand up to time are not always obvious in the moment. (Would anyone really say now that Shakespeare in Love—wonderful film that it is—is more deserving than Saving Private Ryan? An obvious example but a real and true one for all that.)

We'll see who steps on whose toes come February 24th.

Austin Film Festival: Day 3 (Awards Luncheon)

Well, if you weren't there, you didn't miss much as far as the food went. That's generally true of these kinds of things; any time a kitchen has to mass produce large quantities of food, the results tend to be questionable.

Held at the Austin Club, the Awards Luncheon handed out several "typewriters" (that's the shape of the award, which Frank Darabont found very cool) to filmmakers and writers under various banners. Maybe Noah Buschel is right about the whole "just go buy a camera" thing, considering he won Best Narrative Feature for Sparrows Dance. There were a lot of other winners, but I didn't have a pen to mark them on my program, and anyway, I'm still a little bitter that St. Peter in Chains couldn't find a home at AFF (there is no short film screenwriting category, so I tried it as an hour-long pilot, but it isn't really, so no surprise it didn't advance). ::shrug:: The AFF site will surely list all the winners.

Other honorees were Chris Carter (writer and producer of The X-Files among other things) for Outstanding Television Writer, who had his award presented to him by Robert Patrick; Eric Roth (Munich, Forrest Gump) for Distinguished Screenwriter, award presented by Dan Petrie, Jr.; and Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption) for Extraordinary Contribution to Filmmaking, award presented by Jeffrey DeMunn. Weirdly enough, I was also really excited to be in the same room as Drew Struzan, whose artwork is fucking awesome.

Well, and Chris Carter. My first spec script (which was my final project as an undergrad) was an X-Files script. But it was a two-parter, and my advisor told me, though it was very good, it would never work as something to send out because it was two parts. I wouldn't write another script for over a decade, having gone into publishing instead. Though when I interned for a producer at FOX, I did look Carter up in the directory and called his office a couple times, only to hang up when someone answered.

Eric Roth mumbled his acceptance, and still made tears come to my eyes. I probably only caught half of what he said; if I'd heard more, I might have been openly weeping. [AFF later posted Roth's speech.]

And Frank Darabont is just such a buoyant character. As I said, he was mightily pleased with the "typewriter." Also, he sounds almost exactly like Alan Alda when he speaks.

Now I must find caffeine because the lunch only offered water and tea . . . There may have been coffee at some point, but I hate coffee. I'm on break until tonight's screening of Murder By Decree. Chris Carter is hosting it AND it has Sherlock Holmes? How could I hope to resist?

The Emmys: Why Sherlock Didn't Win

All right, since you've been asking. I could go the easy route and say simply that the competition was stiff, but truthfully, when taken as a whole within its category, most of the other stuff was simply better. I want to be clear here: Sherlock is a fan and critical favorite, but that doesn't always translate to ATAS and/or Emmy gold. And being asked to take A Scandal in Belgravia as a made-for-television movie didn't help things. It doesn't stand well on its own. Look at the first 15 to 20 minutes, which requires both an understanding of Holmes canon and the previous series (season) to fully comprehend and enjoy.

One could argue that, even though the Academy was only voting on the one episode (movie?), they are not entirely able to separate that from their conception of the series as a whole. Psychologically speaking. But it is possible to sit down and watch just the one episode with a completely critical eye. And that's what Academy voters were told to do. Just because they might like it (i.e., find it entertaining) doesn't mean they'll vote it as best.

Here are some of the ways Scandal fell down. 1. Steven Moffat beats viewers over the head with this idea that he's very clever. From the cutesy ringtone on Moriarty's phone to the cutting back and forth as Sherlock and Irene "prepare for battle" . . . Honestly, it's exhausting to see him trying so hard. 2. Benedict Cumberbatch—who is a fine actor, at least some of the time—ran into some problems in this episode: (a) being unable to fake playing the violin very well, (b) spending a good deal of the episode moping and wandering for what seemed like no very good reason, and (c) that tacky scene in which he playacted at being a priest, but which really just came off as bad acting of bad acting. 3. Those who enjoyed the original Irene Adler from Doyle's story found this take to be a shade off, seeing that she doesn't win in the end after all. In fact, Sherlock has to save her? Really? (Moffat's track record in writing and depicting women has been a knot of discussion, and Scandal dragged it all out again.) 4. And this is more general: British and American sensibilities are different. And Sherlock as a character, who goes between bouts of quietude and mania . . . At best he appears bipolar (something viewers understand), but at worst the actor simply seems inconsistent in his efforts. Remember that not everyone watching the show knows Doyle's original, and a good program won't require them to in order to enjoy and connect with the characters as they're currently written and portrayed. I get the sense that during a chunk of Scandal, viewers were asking, "WTF? Why is he acting that way? What's his problem exactly?"

Finally, with all the talk of a new British invasion on American television, it's possible that Academy voters closed ranks to safeguard their side of the industry, thereby shutting out a lot of the British programs.

Downton does better on this side of the pond because (a) Americans can kind of understand WWI Britain in a way we don't understand—and are sometimes even threatened by—modern Britain, and (b) it's quite simply written with more finesse. I do think Sherlock might have had a chance if one of the other episodes had been on offer. Hounds could have stood alone quite neatly, and Benedict had that lovely scene beside the fire in that one which would have showcased his work better.

Rumor has it the third series of Sherlock begins filming this coming January March, and that it will probably be the final series as well. Last shot at Emmy gold for that group, then. Better make it count.