Well, it’s finally here. The Oscars. Hollywood’s one last award season hurrah before a couple months of peace, quiet and bad blockbusters, and the stories about predictions, frontrunners and controversies can finally come to an end.
And what a ride it’s been. Compared to the total snooze fest that was last year’s race, where “The Artist” never once lost its ground as a frontrunner and the biggest surprise was Meryl Streep forgetting her glasses, this year’s race has been one of comebacks, Senate controversies and categories that still seem to be anyone’s game.
“Argo” is the year’s Cinderella story. Many critics saw the nominations release as the nail in the movie’s coffin, due to Ben Affleck’s notable absence from the best director category. These guys clearly forgot that nothing keeps Affleck down – not even “Gigli.”
And that’s just the thing: everyone loves a comeback kid. A couple years ago it seemed like Ben Affleck, the once-promising upstart who already had an Academy Award for penning “Good Will Hunting” with Matt Damon (the ultimate, and original, bromance) when he was 24, was doomed to forever be remembered more for the six-carat pink diamond ring he bought J.Lo rather than any of his work (the fact that I didn’t have to Google search that detail is a testament to that – or to how much I read “People” magazine when I was a kid).
Before Affleck and “Argo” started racking up the major kudos, it seemed like it was the race for “Lincoln” and Steven Spielberg to lose. With the most total nominations out of any best picture film, critics had deemed it the clear winner from the start.
But what these critics fail to realize is that Hollywood’s changing. “Lincoln” is of an older generation. It would fit perfectly in a ’90s era that was defined by the epics, with swelling soundtracks, soft lighting and grand notions included.
But if we examine the recent best picture winners, “Argo” easily fits into the mold because it’s fun. “The Artist” and “The King’s Speech” are both as entertaining and lighthearted as their competition wasn’t (still looking at you, “War Horse”), and “Argo” is exactly the same – both fictionally and in its real-life resurgence as the belle of Hollywood’s ball.
We live in a time when the news is scarier than a Tarantino movie. Films have once again become our source of escapism and pleasure. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that “Zero Dark Thirty,” beloved by critics and heralded in its December release as a major Oscar contender, was shut down come January. Negative publicity surrounding its torture segments doomed it from day one.
What “Argo” succeeds in doing is combining the historical strength of “Lincoln” and “Zero Dark Thirty” with a story that isn’t afraid to entertain – not just with explosions, but with straight-up comedy. If “Argo” wins on Sunday night it will be the continuation of a trend of best picture winners that have managed to be fun even as they’re grounded in historical and human truth.
Spielberg still has a chance to go home with a golden man in hand, with a best director category that seems wide open and his for the taking. But if the last few months are any indication, there’s only one person that people will be talking about the next morning.
When he won his first Academy Award, Affleck said about him and Damon, “We’re just two young guys who were fortunate enough to be involved with a lot of great people.” Here’s hoping he gives himself a little more credit this time around, and that he still calls his mom the most beautiful woman in the room.