Oscar Predictions

Okay! I haven't seen enough of the Oscar-nominated films this year to venture an opinion by way of prophecy, but I will make one prediction. Once again as in the past several years, the Oscar telecast will be watched by less and less people. Last year's show was up a little thanks to host Ellen DeGeneres, but the ratings haven't quite reached the soaring number it had back in 1998 thanks to James Cameron's "Titanic." In fact of all the films nominated in the main categories this year, only "Juno" and "Sweeney Todd" have broken the 100 million mark worldwide. Box office champs like "Ratatouille" and "Bourne Ultimatum" are nominated in some of the lower categories but seldom do Best Art Direction nominations lead to high ratings for the Oscar broadcast. I'm not suggesting that "Spiderman 3" and "Transformers" deserve Best Picture Nods, but in a year where the favorite films in all the main categories only add up to barely what the two top box office earners made worldwide, maybe a shorter Oscar show is in order. With only one special Oscar being awarded this year, I'm sure the rest of the program will consist of endless montages to films past. I use to like these montages back in the early 1990s when filmmakers like Chuck Workman really had something to tell with careful selection and juxtaposition of certain film clips. But in recent years the montages seem to be for montage sake and are often uninspired. Wouldn't be nice to use some of that time to honor someone like Maureen O'Hara who never won an Oscar. How many classic movies does a girl have to be in before she's recognized? (How Green Was My Valley, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Miracle on 34th Street, and The Quiet Man to name a few!) Or maybe an extended look at Oscar telecasts from the past would be in order. There are many ways they could make a four hour program entertaining throughout, I can only hope that Jon Stewart and his team at the Daily Show can find enough humor besides the obvious election year coverage he is known for to keep us awake.