Friday, February 20, 2009

Best Picture: Grand Torino


Yes, I know it is not nominated for the "Best Picture" award at Sunday's Academy Award Ceremony, and that is the problem.

Sunday night is the Academy Awards Show on TV. With one exception, I have watched EVERY Academy Awards show since 1957 when The Bridge on the River Kwai won for Best Picture. The one exception, as my luck would have it, was in 1970 when I was in Officer Candidate School (OCS) in the Army at Fort Belvoir in Virginia. Somehow the Army didn't think the show was that important for the training of a US Army Officer. My bad luck is that was the year John Wayne won Best Actor for True Grit. The Award presenter of all people was Barbara Strisend. I didn't read about it until the next day in the Washington Post since I was the "Command Information Officer" for my unit and as a result posted newspapers story's on the days news on the unit's bulletin board to keep the unit updated on world events. For many years in our house the Academy Awards Show was as big as the Super Bowl. We would get Pizza and popcorn and decorate up the house for the big event. We would have our list of nominees and check them off as they were announced. Not this year, or for several years. Usually in the winter I am trying to watch every picture that has been nominated for Best Picture. This year, I have not seen one. I don't intend on seeing any at the theater and may only watch one or two when they come out on DVD. I love movies as my DVD collection demonstrates but not this year. Hollywood has lost touch with middle America. Too Bad!

My best picture winner is Grand Torino with Clint Eastwood and Clint Eastwood gets "Best Actor"! Click on the title for a link to my review of the movie.