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Patrick Ewing entered the 1985 draft as the best player in the country.  this also happened to be the first year that the NBA turned to their new ping pong ball style way to determine the order for the draft.  Sure enough out of nowhere, the New York Knicks, a struggling team, ended up with the #1 overall pick and selected Patrick Ewing who went on to have a Hall of Fame career with the Knicks.  A lot of people thought that in 1985 that there was a conspiracy behind the fact that the biggest market “somehow” got the #1 pick in order to select Ewing.

Now it’s 2010 and Oscar season.  This was a very weak year of movies, so the Academy decided as a way to create more buzz to extend the Best Picture category to 10 nominees.  This isn’t out of left field being at times in the 20’s and 30’s there were years that had up to 12 nominees.  But suffice it to say, there are more movies that although may be fun and entertaining, have no shot at winning.

So how does Patrick Ewing and Avatar have some sort of weird connection?

With a long running time for the Oscars, poor movies, the rise of MTV, and a viewership that cares more about the red carpet than the actual event, the Oscars have been hurting over the past few years with ratings.  They have looked at ways to get the audience and generation Y demographic more interested, and even with hosts like Chris rock and Jon Stewart, they still failed.

I think The Hurt Locker should win the award for Best Picture.  This little war movie that came out of nowhere has made a big push and has grown a huge following.  The unique perspective of the war following a bomb squad in Iraq and the psychological repercussions they have unfortunately won’t win.

Avatar will win Best Picture.

It shouldn’t.  Many believe it shouldn’t have been nominated, that it’s not an Oscar movie.  Although it has unbelievable visuals and is an extremely fun and exciting movie, is it really in the realm of a Best Picture movie?  Many think that if Avatar got a nomination, how come Star Trek got snubbed?

Because the Academy is going to use Avatar the same way the NBA, David Stern, and the NY Knicks used Patrick Ewing.

Avatar will win the Oscar to bring more buzz and controversy which will raise ratings for the show in future years, the way Patrick Ewing brought more attention and fans to the NY Knicks.  Just the fact that it’s in the running, there have already have been tons of articles written about this, and more to follow.  If it wins, this will be controversial, many believing it will be part of a conspiracy.  Following the Oscars, articles, videos, and more will be posted on the internet, shared on multiple social networks and through email and will garner tons of PR.  The Academy and Hollywood will benefit from all the buzz with increased DVD sales, and will lead to higher ratings for next years Oscars show.  Because once they get away with this, they will certainly add another movie next year which will cause some sort of controversy, maybe even people will start calling it the “Avatar” affect.  We may be having another conspiracy on our hand.

Do you think Avatar deserves to win Best Picture?  Do you think it may be considered a conspiracy if it does?

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As discussed in an earlier post by Craig,  this year’s Academy Awards will expand its nomination total to 10. What really gets me thinking is that could the Academy have picked a worse year to expand the nominations.  Taking a look back on the movies that have come out this year, this has been a really bad year for movies.

When most years we see plenty of worthy movies being left off the Best Picture list, this year there might not be 5 worthy movies at all.  To date, I believe the only  movie to be worthy of a Best Picture nomination is “The Hurt Locker” starring Jeremy Renner and Anthony Mackie.  In fact, Mackie could win for Best Supporting Actor as well.  So if we just look at this from the perspective of 5 worthy movies, this year could be a real stretch.  Well, with 10, there might be some problems.

Plenty of great movies came out this year; these movies however are wouldn’t what we call Best Picture worthy. One that comes to mind is J.J Abrams remake of “Star Trek.” This was one of the best movies of the summer, and a movie I will definitely get on DVD. However, worthy of a Best Picture nomination? Umm, I’m not so sure. In a year where there is a real shortage of quality films, “Star Trek” is more than likely to be up for the top prize.

Another movie that will likely be up for Best Picture is “UP.” “UP” was the CGI Summer smash hit that captured the hearts of adults and kids. Again, “UP” was great, but I would be skeptical to say it was as good as “Shrek.” Did “Shrek” get picked to race with the big boys, umm no, and neither should “UP.” However, because of the expansion, it will surely be up for Best Picture.

The final movie thus far this year that I think that will be selected as a Best Picture nomination is “Inglorious Basterds.” This movie was a big hit with a lot of people, especially Tarantino fans, with some even showering it with Best Picture hope. For me, I’m not so sure to jump on that band wagon. I enjoyed the movie but don’t think it’s Best Picture worthy. I leave the debate to you. However, I do believe it will get the nod only because of the need to fill 10 slots.

In year’s past plenty of incredible movies missed the boat on getting a Best Picture nod. One that comes to my mind last year was Gran Torino. That movie blew me away, and I thought it was the best movies of the year. Yet, somehow it missed the boat.  Had the Academy expanded to 10 last year, the film would have surely been up for the award.

The Answer Man aka Arlen Faber ipod

In a move that should really be good for movies, reduce the debate on who got screwed, and shower more films with accolades, expanding the list to 10 is not a good idea for this year.  Sure, we still have 2 more months of movies, but to date this year has been disappointing.  We will see some mediocore films getting nom’s they don’t deserve.

What do you think?