I love watching the Academy Awards each year. I love the glitz, the glamour, the musical productions, and the jokes that may or may not fall flat during their delivery.
The potential for actors to go spontaneously (or even planned) “off script” is what keeps me most riveted in my seat, and this year’s recipients did not disappoint.
Start this list with Patricia Arquette using her “45-second acceptance speech” to call out for wage equality, and Meryl Streep leaping to her feet to finger-point and loudly emphasize her support. That was a true goosebumply time for me. You go, girls!
But what did my heart the most good of all was to see how Hollywood continues to take on the toughest issues. Just look at the list of “Best Picture” nominees, here in alphabetical order: “American Sniper,” “Birdman,” “Boyhood,” “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” “The Imitation Game,” “Selma,” “The Theory of Everything,” and “Whiplash.”
Whoa! This ain’t your grandmother’s giggly “movies are for entertainment only” line-up. Seriously, I’m not going to do all the work here and spoon feed you the underlying themes—go back over the list—slowly! and consider what issues are at the core of each of these films. It’s absolutely breathtaking!
To entertain AND inform is quite a balancing act, and this year’s nominated films all managed to walk that line. So I’ll say it loud and proud, “Hooray for Hollywood!”
Keep up the good work.