I don’t think anybody disputed that the academy loves movies about show biz; it definitely does. But does a list of nominated “L.A. movies” mean anything without knowing how many total films are actually set in there?
Maybe not. It’s just my sense that Hollywood is a little self-absorbed.
I believe Howard Ashman did this over a decade ago (doing music for a Disney movie…Little Mermaid?).
At the Academy Awards presentation in 1992, Bill Lauch accepted the Best Song Award (for the title song in Beauty and the Beast) for his late lover, lyricist Howard Ashman, who had died of AIDS. Debra Chasnoff thanked her lesbian “life partner” in her acceptance speech for the award for best documentary film.
I don’t think that the prevalence of movies about show-business does much to demonstrate that the movie industry is ‘navel-gazing’ as much that it shows that the movie industry recognizes that people are fascinated by show-business.
If the public wasn’t fascinated by show-business then Actors wouldn’t be celebrities. They’d be Actors. Think of all the tabloids both in print and on TV that center around show-business. They don’t suceed because they are vanity pieces. They suceed because people love to read/watch them. People love to peek peek backstage and see what’s going on behind the curtains of show-business and therefore movies are made that let them do that.
To Walloon: Thanks for correcting me about filmaker Leni Riefnstahl. I should have checked my information first before posting, but I appreciate your help.
[PS - In movie news on the IDMB today George Lucas says that big-budget blockbusters are dead
http://www.imdb.com/news/wenn/2006-03-07/#2
wow - am I glad Peter Jackson didn’t know that when he made LOTR]
I am detecting a trend here. More often than not, when someone says they didn’t like “Crash”, it elicits the above response.
OK, I get it. You folks that like Crash, really, really, really like Crash. Can we stop with the assuming that people who didn’t like it didn’t see it? And please, dear Og, can we stop this from morphing into “if you didn’t like it you obviously didn’t get it”??? Or is that inevitable?
It’s probably inevitable. 
I will be the first to admit I haven’t seen it yet, but would like to at some time. And I fully expect it to fall into the category of “Movies that were good, but I don’t ever want to watch again.”
I caught the Oprah show yesterday and Jon Stewart said hosting his own show actually makes him more nervous. The reason why is that his own audience actually comes to see him, If Jack Nicholson doesn’t laugh at his jokes he’s never going to see him again anyway.
I thought that summed it up pretty good. He hosted the Oscars to us, to to the stars.
I just love him
I saw it; I liked it. I didn’t really really like it.
I was just incredulous at including *Crash * in any list of movies “about Hollywood”. To call *Crash * a “movie about Hollywood” is like saying *Friends * is a “TV show about Broadway.”
What the heck was the matter with Joaquin Phoenix? He sat there looking constipated the whole night.
I’ve never seen an interview or anything with him, so I just decided that he probably has no sense of humor.
I do think Hollywood tends to favor movies about show business or Los Angeles or whatever, but I wouldn’t call it back-patting or anything. You just tend to appreciate what you know. It’s the same principle why those of us who work in offices appreciate Office Space and Dilbert.
I decided to post this question here rather than open another thread. I figure all of the people who watched the show would be here anyway.
On a radio show I was listening to a caller said he thought Tom Hanks seemed pissed at Jon Stewart. He claimed that when he was introduced to present an award he looked over at Stewart and said something that looked like it contained the f-word. The radio hosts said they thought the same thing but didn’t know what he said or why. I must have been looking down at the Dope at the time because I heard Hanks announced but didn’t see him walk out.
Anybody else see anything? Maybe it was mentioned somewhere else?
Yes, when Tom Hanks came out (near the end of the broadcast) he did indeed say something to Stewart, and (according to my husband) he looked pissed. I saw him mouth or call something, but I didn’t think he looked mad, just focused.
Anyone know?
And I loved Stewart on the Oprah special. He is such a down to earth guy. Who cares if the stars didn’t “get” him–do they buy all those advertised products? Ha!
I heard, on the radio, that Hanks was pissed that the orchestra played the Forrest Gump theme. Now, I didn’t see this, and am assuming the radio news guy was being serious.
Anybody hear that?
Sir Rhosis
I’m sure you’re right. I’m sure it’s not a conscious thing at all.
Even so, I think Hollywood could stand to be reminded (on a regular basis) that there are interesting stories to be told that do not involve the worlds of Southern California and/or show business, and that maybe before the voters mark their Oscar ballots they should ask themselves whether they are voting for a film because it is genuinely the best, or whether it is just the film to which they most easily relate.
You think that a good % of the freaken films in America might just be set in the second largest city? :rolleyes: How many are set in or about NYC?
And, adding ; “Finding Neverland (in praise of show business); Shakespeare in Love (ditto); Gosford Park (subplot about American movie producer) ; Chicago (show business); Moulin Rouge (show business);” as 'shows about show business" is absurd. “Sideways (one of the main characters is an LA actor)” has nothing to do about LA. It’s set 200 miles north.
My favorite quote of the night from Stewart (paraphrasing): “Coming up - our tribute to montages!”
This was about the most bland awards show I’ve seen, except for the “pimp” rap winning for best “song” (since when is a rap a song?), which I felt was not bland but outrageous. When anything about a pimp is regarded as culture it seems to me that we’ve reached the end of our cultural rope. As far as I am concerned a pimp is very near the lowest form of life…and rap is very near the lowest form of expression. But that’s just me. Maybe I’m just too old to get it. But maybe the academy is just effing sick. :rolleyes: