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The Body of Work Award

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An old Roy Edroso post makes a relevant point:

The big news was the historic redress of an old, shameful shortcoming on Oscar’s part. I speak of course of Randy Newman’s Best Song Oscar. Newman has written several great albums, and some fine film scores, but the piece of shit for which he was lauded for (its slightness made self-evident by its wretched performance in the program) shows how far the Academy will go to make restitution for ancient slights.

First of all, this is obviously pertinent to Freeman, who was (as always) very fine, but has not only given as good or better performance any number of times, but has played the essentially same character many times. But one can’t really call his winning an injustice, although I probably wouldn’t have voted for him this time. He’s more than earned the award.

Anyway, this is more pertinent to Scorsese; the only interesting thing about the Oscars is the chance to reflect on the industry’s internal perceptions. I feel mixed about Scorsese for the reasons above. Part of me thinks it’s probably good he didn’t get rewarded for second-rate work. There was no injustice here, per se. The Aviator was an enjoyable, old-fashioned entertainment, but that’s it. I prefer the uneven, derivative Casino and the very flawed but much more ambitious Gangs of New York. And the past injustices are so scandalous and disgraceful that they can’t really be rectified. I mean, Scorsese has made 3 of the greatest pictures of the past 30 years, and of the movies they lost to Rocky, for Chrissakes, was the best, and by a considerable margin. 1990 is remarkable, because even if one grants thatGoodFellas is a little weaker than Raging Bull and Taxi Driver, it lost to one of the most wanktastic movies in living memory. (Pauline Kael: “This movie was directed by a bland megalomaniac. They should have called him “Plays With Camera.”) Part of me thinks it’s more useful to have this egg on the Academy’s face rather than trying to make a “too little, too late” atonement.

I also wonder if Eastwood should be writing Rush Limbaugh and Michael Medved thank you cards. That’s one thing to celebrate: the defeat of anti-art criticism is something to celebrate, even if it was spent on a movie I consider very overvalued.

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