Waiting For An Honest Review

I'm not foolish enough to believe that the modern documentary - save anything done by Ken Burns - isn't purely an ideological point of view. However, any good documentarian has to be able to engage the audience with a balance of factual analysis and an emotional element that will keep them engaged.

Far too many documentaries are predicated on "fear" ( see anything done by Alex Jones ) while some utilize "humor" to the point where you have to ask if the director is actually taking the subject matter seriously enough ( see everything Micheal Moore has done since his days with the television show TV Nation ). And while both have elements of truth to them, a good documentarian will make us dig deeper, to seek out what lies in between the visual lines.

With that as the preamble, I just have to state that I think all these machinations from the modern American Right in regards to Waiting For Superman and how it wasn't nominated for an Academy Award are grounded in nothing more than a poor understanding of what is really wrong with public schools in America and how Documentaries are nominated for the ultimate "golden statue".

The entire thesis of Guggenheim’s film is predicated on the notion that if only every American could send their kids to "charter schools" then everything would be just grand.

But seeing as how the bulk of "charter schools" not only espouse but teach from a very specific and very rigid religious and socio-political point of view, one would think that this would run completely contrary to the modern American Right's claims of being against indoctrination. But one would be wrong.

As far as how and why Guggenheim's film was not nominated, it has all to do with his fellow documentarians and NOT the average Academy Member. Also, there are two rounds of consideration, and "Waiting....." was an early entry into the second round but simply didn't make the final cut. If the Right is really looking for a target, they should talk to someone like Morgan Spurlock, director of "Supersize Me" and one of the newest member of the Academy Documentary Nomination Committee.

But should someone like Spurlock be the real focus of why this Documentary didn't make the final cut, or is Guggenheim's style indicative of a failing to show balance? I would say the later is most certainly the case - and the modern American Right's misappropriation of the material to attack the union members of Wisconsin is a clear example.

No one, and most certainly not me, are claiming that our public schools are perfect - as that would be an unattainable goal. What we have to look at is how we measure that perfection and how we can assure that every school has the same ability to improve infrastructure. And if you think the later doesn't matter then you are fooling yourself. I can virtually guarantee that sending a kid to a school that looks like a condemned housing project and sending one that has modernize equipment are going to produce two very different kids after 8th grade.

But that doesn't leave teachers off the hook - at least not totally. They are there to provide the best available educational process possible, given the material and environment at their disposal. And that is where we finally reach the "collective bargaining" process that the modern American Right are completely against.

Do you really believe that the average public school teacher in America enjoys this lavish lifestyle and a pension that they can live off of exclusively? Not at all, yet that is the false portrait that is being painted. Collective bargaining isn't going to get your the Mercedes and the 5 bedroom home. At best, it gets you a living wage with at least a minimal of guaranteed healthcare coverage.

But to be able to attend that "charter school" in your region, you would already have to be able to afford that Mercedes or that 5 bedroom house for it not to adversely effect your monthly budget.

And this is where we see how class warfare and public education plays a clear role in the arguments from the modern American Right.

You see, it's not such a simple topic to tackle like people are being led to believe it is. And it's not so much of an issue of "waiting for a superhero" to magically make it all better, but an issue of waiting for people to realize that complexities can't be oversimplified.

My Oscar Picks

I've been considering many of the nominees ever since they were announced, but here's my list - even though this will not come to pass in it's complete form come the night of the ceremony.

Best Actor - Jeff Bridges for "Crazy Heart"

Best Supporting Actor - Stanley Tucci for "The Lovely Bones"

Best Actress - Gabourey Sidibe for "Precious"

Best Supporting Actress - Maggie Gyllenhaal for "Crazy Heart"

Best Animated Feature - The Princess And The Frog

Art Direction - The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus ( Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro; Set Decoration: Caroline Smith )

Cinematography - The Hurt Locker ( Barry Ackroyd )

Costume Design - The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus ( Monique Prudhomme )

Best Director - The Hurt Locker ( Kathryn Bigelow )

Best Documentary - The Cove

Best Original Score - Hans Zimmer ( Sherlock Holmes )

Best Original Song - The Weary Kind ( Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett )

Best Picture - The Hurt Locker

Sound Editing - Star Trek

Sound Mixing - Srar Trek

Best Visual Effects - Avatar

Best Adapted Screenplay - Up In The Air ( Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner )

Best Original Screenplay - A Serious Man ( Joel Coen & Ethan Coen )

..........and can I just say that even though I love Tarantino, his nomination for "Best Original Screenplay" is not only a poor choice but has been place in the wrong category, as he based his film on a previous Italian film.

Certainly, the two are quite different, but it's safe to say that since Tarantino got his inspiration from the Italian film and created something new from it ( see Charlie Kaufman's revisualization of the book The Orchid Thief ) he shouldn't be nominated in the original category.

Awards Season

Yes, it's that special time of the year where all of Hollywoods brightest stars and those misunderstood few who can actually make create a film with some relevance, or those few that can actually act, are gathered together to see who marketed their film to prospective Academy voters the most.

There's some good films and great actors/actresses nominated, but I'm guessing that James Cameron is going to walk away with everything just over the hype of Avatar.

It's my dream, though, that this is Kathryn Bigelow's year, because I feel that The Hurt Locker was the greatest film of last year. Honestly, all her films are great in their own right, except for K-19 which was a major disappointment - Harrison Ford trying to pull off a Russian accent didn't really help either.

My Oscar Picks

Haven't missed a single one of these since I was in grade school. Well, there was that one that Whoopi hosted back in the late 90s, but I was delivering pizza that night. Oh, and I REALLY wish I had missed Steve Martin's attempt. I love Steve, but I haven't seen someone bomb that hard since Micheal Richard's attempted to channel Lenny Bruce after repeated shouting "ni**er" at a patron.

And, even though I'm a serious film-head and LOVE every aspect of the process, I'll skip over the tech stuff and get right to the majors:

Best Picture: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"

Actor: Mickey Rourke, "The Wrestler."

Actress: Angelina Jolie, "Changeling"

Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger, "The Dark Knight"

( He should have won for Brokeback Mountain too. )

Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"

Director: David Fincher, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"

Adapted Screenplay: David Hare, "The Reader"

Original Screenplay: Martin McDonagh, "In Bruges"

Animated Feature Film: "WALL-E."

Cinematography: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"

Check out the complete list at The Academy's website here

New Extended Clip From WALL-E

Pixar just keeps getting better and better. There's no doubt that their newest film, WALL-E, is going to be fantastic. Last years film, RATATOULLIE, won an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. It's pretty much a given that WALL-E will be nominated and more than likely win.

Wall-E