The Oscars: Is this just me ...

Last night, I didn't cuddle up to watch the Oscars. I flipped the channels until I found an older movie, Sea Biscuit, that I had never seen before. I had my chips and salsa and crunched, crunched, crunched away the night. Not so many years ago, I used to look forward to Oscar night. I enjoyed seeing clips from the movies I would soon go see and supporting movies that I had seen already and loved. The last several years (and maybe it's just me), it seems like the quality and depth of the really great movies has waned. The market gets flooded with commercial vehicles and the truly fantastic films get harder and harder to find. Among the array of movies nominated last night only a small handful looked remotely appealing. I saw the movies that I had any interest in. The winner for best picture, The Artist doesn't appeal to me at all. I would have much rather seen something like Moneyball or The Descendants win. As the big commercial films dominate the cinema, especially this summer, the really great dramas are few and far between. This year's roster of selections reflected how few really great adult films we have to chose from. I remember I used to look forward to the weekend when I would rush off to see the newest movie, and I was hard pressed to select what I wanted to see out of a variety of fabulous options. Even when I was a teenager, I wasn't interested in the big popcorn flicks. I always wanted to be riveted to my seat to watch a truly great, well-told story. Speaking of the story, I have to admit. I do still sit back and secretly think to myself when the best originals screenplay gets announced, "Someday that will be me!"