Oscars List Not As Predictably Banal As Usual

The Oscar nominees are out and I must admit Hollywood has given us a break this year, straying from the recent formula of annoyance only slightly. As I noted here, you can pretty much score an Oscar nomination for best film if you produce a film that tells us one of six things: 1) American capitalists are evil, especially oil executives 2) Abortion is good 3) Israel is evil, Palestinians are good, 4) Murderers are just misunderstood 5) Homosexuality is a state of grace and you're a bloody homophobe, Pal! 6) Religion is evil. If you score a twofer your chances go up, although that is pretty easy - 5 and 6 pair well together as do 2 and 6. If you're really creative you can score an unlikely twofer like Capote, pairing 4 and 5.

This year we get 2 films that don't fit neatly into the formula, one a good shoot 'em up and one nice, lush tear-jerker. A third actually zigs slightly from the formula and gives us a girl who for some strange reason does not see having an abortion as empowering. What gives? Maybe it has something to do with Juno being a low-budget Canadian film. Finally we have our two anti-capitalist movies, one of which is a twofer. In Michael Clayton, George Clooney gives us yet another 'capitalism is evil' meme attached to his lovely (so I am told) mug, and There Will Be Blood goes for the twofer. I actually saw this last one over the weekend, because Mrs. Baseball is a fan of Daniel Day Lewis. I should have done more research before succumbing to the idea. I had no idea the movie was based on Upton Sinclair's novel Oil!, one of his 89 or so works that nobody has ever heard of. Had I known, I could have avoided being subjected to this socialist tripe. If you are up for two and half ponderously painful hours of learning that religion is phony and capitalism is an immoral and destructive force in our society, this is the movie for you. Had I not beforehand had an agreeable meal and a nice bottle of wine sitting across from the ever-ravishing Mrs. Baseball, I would have been really hacked off over the turn my Saturday night took. Such is life.