Honorary Oscars

The Original BJ
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Re: Honorary Oscars

Post by The Original BJ »

mlrg wrote:Cicely Tyson, Danny Glover or John Singleton would be better choices to cover the "African American quota" the Academy needs to have these days. As everything nowadays, it needs to be political correct.
I'm going to push back on this statement, because (certainly in America right now), there's serious value in doing so.

Why is honoring one artist of color alongside three white artists a sop to political correctness? Not everyone who works in the industry is white. Not everyone who has made a lifelong contribution to cinema worthy of an Honorary Oscar is white. Griping about how honoring ONE person of color is tainting the process really strikes me as not dissimilar from arguing that the winners should only be all white. Which I know is NOT what you're arguing. But the sentiment of "ugh, political correctness" doesn't seem that far to me from "ugh, a black person won an Oscar" in this situation, and I think we all should strive to be sensitive to that.

As far as the others you've cited, Cicely Tyson and Danny Glover are actors, who I don't think the Governors view as being in the same competition pool as behind-the-camera folk. (And to be honest, Glover's career strikes me as a better fit for the SAG Lifetime Achievement.)

And John Singleton isn't even fifty -- I don't know why he would even be considered for life achievement honors at this point. (To say nothing of the fact that his resume isn't much beyond Boyz N the Hood.)
mlrg
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Re: Honorary Oscars

Post by mlrg »

dws1982 wrote:
mlrg wrote:Frankly I've never seen anything from Charles Brackett. After looking him up at IMDb his filmography looks very slim and nothing stand out.
He's a hugely important filmmaker, and Killer of Sheep and To Sleep With Anger alone make him worthy of this recognition. And Nightjohn is one of the best children's films ever made.
Nightjohn is a made for TV movie

Cicely Tyson, Danny Glover or John Singleton would be better choices to cover the "African American quota" the Academy needs to have these days. As everything nowadays, it needs to be political correct.
dws1982
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Re: Honorary Oscars

Post by dws1982 »

mlrg wrote:Frankly I've never seen anything from Charles Brackett. After looking him up at IMDb his filmography looks very slim and nothing stand out.
He's a hugely important filmmaker, and Killer of Sheep and To Sleep With Anger alone make him worthy of this recognition. And Nightjohn is one of the best children's films ever made.
The Original BJ
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Re: Honorary Oscars

Post by The Original BJ »

Pretty good selection this year.

Donald Sutherland is as overdue for recognition as any actor -- not even ONE nomination for his career! -- so that's a very welcome selection.

Agnès Varda is the kind of filmmaker for whom you're glad the Honorary Oscar exists. She'd never get within miles of competitive recognition, but she's been turning out idiosyncratic work for over a half-century, and this is a nice late-career cap for her.

Although I'd acknowledge that Charles Burnett's filmography is more slim than many who have received this honor, I don't think it's fair to say nothing on his resume is a standout. If anything, he seems like the kind of candidate mostly being recognized for one movie -- the landmark Killer of Sheep -- but I can't say that's an unworthy impulse. It's clear the Governors wanted to recognize at least one filmmaker of color, and (at least as far as American cinema goes) it's hard to come up with too many others who have reached the Honorary Oscar level of their careers.

I can't say Owen Roizman's work on the whole marks him as someone who I thought desperately NEEDED an Oscar, but there are a lot of contemporary classics on his resume, and it's hard to quibble too much with career recognition for someone who shot so many memorable films.
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Re: Honorary Oscars

Post by mlrg »

Not that these are bad choices, but they seem pretty politicized.

Roizman being a cinematographer seems like a choice from new academy president.

Frankly I've never seen anything from Charles Brackett. After looking him up at IMDb his filmography looks very slim and nothing stand out.

Agnes Varda is quite deserving, but they clearly wanted to give it to a woman director.

Still, Liv Ullman, Max von Sydow and David Lynch remain oscarless.

And this is the 7th consecutive year that the Thalberg is not awarded.
Mister Tee
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Re: Honorary Oscars

Post by Mister Tee »

With a link:

http://variety.com/2017/film/in-content ... 202548414/

Sutherland is belated make-up for years of shameful neglect; that his graceful performance in Ordinary People was passed over even while film was the best picture favorite felt like a quite personal slap.

The other three are good arguments for the Honorary's becoming a separate show/broader slate. None of them are famous enough to have merited singling out as the one honorary choice to appear on an Oscar broadcast. This is not to say they're undeserving; just that they benefit from the expansion.
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Honorary Oscars

Post by mlrg »

Official Announcement:

Donald Sutherland
Owen Roizman
Charles Burnett
Agnes Varda
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