By. Dr. Ted Baehr, Publisher of Movieguide®
One thing became clear watching the 86th Annual Oscar Ceremony yesterday. Most of the winners – and most of the nominees – were the same people and movies nominated and chosen by the Independent Spirit Awards, the awards show for independent movies.
If Oscar is going to pick the same things as the independent awards show, why even have an Oscar ceremony at all?
Are these movies really the best movies of the year? No. Few of them are the kind of movies the vast majority of moviegoers has any interest in seeing, judging by box office numbers.
That said, there were a few good picks among the winners. The best one, of course, was FROZEN as the Best Animated Movie. MOVIEGUIDE® picked FROZEN as the Best 2013 Movie for Families, but why wasn’t FROZEN also nominated for Best Picture?
Secondly, it was good to see GRAVITY taking most of the technical, artistic awards, including Best Director. Of course, if GRAVITY deserved most of the technical awards, including Best Director, why wasn’t it chosen Best Picture of the Year over 12 YEARS A SLAVE?
MOVIEGUIDE® also approved the pick of TWENTY FEET FROM STARDOM as Best Documentary. Singer Darlene Love’s moving performance of “His Eyes Are on the Sparrow” during the acceptance speech gave the telecast a needed “tent revival” spiritual boost. Matthew McConaughey’s recognition of God during his acceptance speech was another highlight.
Ellen Degeneres was much better than last year’s host, though she wasn’t always on her game. Her selfie photos with the stars and her pizza delivery schtick gave the show some spontaneity, but, after awhile, her forays into the audience began to grow a little stale.
Otherwise, the show was poorly produced. It played rather slowly. Except for Idina Menzel who belted out “Let It Go” from Disney’s FROZEN, the music was flat in places. Also, the retrospective collages lacked drama, were badly edited, and seemed rather pointless.
Despite some politically correct moments, the show was relatively family friendly. There was still the odd lewd joke, and Ellen seemed to treat Liza Minnelli, the daughter of Judy Garland, rather poorly with a tasteless, mean joke about female impersonators (maybe Liza has refused to appear on Ellen’s daytime talk show).
Of course, if you want to see the best awards show of the whole season, look no further than MOVIEGUIDE®’s one-hour edited version of the 22nd Annual Faith & Values Awards Gala and Report to the Entertainment Industry on the ReelzChannel. Our production and editing team produced one of the best, most well-paced awards shows in recent memory, even if we do say so ourselves.
The best part is that the MOVIEGUIDE® Awards contains truly inspirational references to faith and family throughout the telecast, with powerful testimonies from stars like Willie Robertson of DUCK DYNASTY, Roma Downey of THE BIBLE, and James Denton and AJ Michalka of GRACE UNPLUGGED.
Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.
What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.
You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.
Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.
Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.
What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.
You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.
Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.
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