The Oscars: Time for a change?

On Sunday night, at the Dolby Theatre in LA, the great and good of Hollywood came together to celebrate the year’s best films. But something was missing. 

Max Parker

The Oscars has become the pinnacle of the awards calendar, the ultimate ambition for many actors and actresses.

Yet, some of this and last year’s biggest financial and critical hits, like The Dark Knight Rises, The Hobbit and Skyfall pretty much completely missed out on the nominations, Dark Knight missed out completely.

Critical acclaim

It has often been said that directors make films to win the big gold statue, that certain films never have a chance even though they are a quality piece of cinema. Skyfall, possibly the best James Bond film since Goldfinger, was met with almost complete critical acclaim, but at the same time it was always said it would never win a Best Film Oscar.

Maybe it was because it was the number 23 in the series, it just seems to me that however good Skyfall was, it never stood a chance.

Clear logic

Argo, the winner of the Best Film gong, brings up another problem with the Academy. As noted by host Seth McFarlene, Argo director Ben Affleck somehow missed out on a Best Director nomination. Surely the director of the best film, should be up for the best director? This just seems logical. Without Ben Affleck’s superb direction on the film, Argo would not have been the fantastic film it was.

I have no problem with many of the award winners, Daniel Day-Lewis’ performance in Lincoln will go down as one of the best recreations of a historical figure in cinema. Christoph Waltz’s silver tongued dentist from Django Unchained is, again, a work of genius.

Not a typical blockbuster

Skyfall should have been nominated for Best Film. It’s not a typical blockbuster, explosion fuelled action romp, but a clever story, with beautiful imagery and strong developed characters. Who’s to say if Skyfall was not part of the James Bond series, then it would have stood a far better chance on Sunday night.

Maybe it’s time for a change to the Oscars, something which covers the broad movie landscape a bit better?