See, now I liked Up in the Air a lot.
Given the sheer volume of formulaic crap Hollywood churns out each year, I’d say it’s fair to question their taste (and motives, and standards of quality control). That’s like saying that because the people who vote for the Grammys are in the music business we should take seriously the notion that Coldplay and Lady Gaga and Jason Mraz are the “best” artists on the planet.
A tidbit some might find interesting is that Academy members (according to Anthony Lane writing in The New Yorker recently, quoting a 2 year old LA Times poll) are 94% white and 77% male, with an average age of 62.
Let me better articulate what I did not like about Gravity…
As stated, I found it tedious. This was mostly because I really did not care for the character, and in fact felt myself hoping she would miss a hand hold and float off into space and stop annoying me with her… nasally whine.
The action in gravity was actually quite good and actually kept me on the edge of my seat. But again, I had no reason to care for the character and really didn’t give a damn if she lived or died. And so, I was repeatedly left with sweaty palms as this character I had no connection to kept putting herself into more and more dire situations.
The movie reminded me of 1998’s Ronin with Robert De Niro. Again, the action in that was great and very gripping, but at no time was I given a reason to care for De Niro’s character.
So, in the end, I’m left expending emotional energy on a character I could care less for. Hence, tedious.
Personally I liked how terrified and often helpless she was. It was a refreshing change from the usual ‘female in a man’s role’ always having to be as good or better than a man, never showing the slightest weakness or emotion. Oh so politically correct, and such total bullshit. It’s become worse than the old time trope it’s meant to correct. And I don’t get what you mean by 'putting herself into more and more dire situations"? She slowly worked her way out of them.
Yeah, for cripes’ sake. It’s not like every movie is going to be accessible.
Some people just have this sense of entitlement about how movies should be enjoyable.
There are some 6000 Academy members who vote for their personal choices (or maybe for their friends in the industry). You and I don’t get the option of nominating or voting. It’s for industry insiders only.
You can still use the nominations to help you select which movies you’re willing to see. If the movie gets an Oscar nomination, don’t go. The same process can be applied to critical reviews. If you hate everything critic A likes, or if you like everything critic B hates, wait for them to review the film and decide accordingly.