Oscar, Oscar

The nominees for the 81st annual Academy Awards were unveiled this morning and I thought I’d jump on the bandwagon with everyone else and give my thoughts on whom I’d like to see win a big golden guy…

Only, I can’t really. I don’t live in Los Angeles. I don’t live in New York, or Chicago, or any of the other major markets that get these films when their limited engagements roll out. I honestly haven’t seen many of the nominated films yet.

I live in one of those many, many cities in America that have to wait until the nominations come out before their local theaters even consider putting movies like Milk or Doubt on their screens.

In a lot of ways, I get it. For instance, I am a huge Danny Boyle fan. Was I “in the know” about Slumdog Millionaire six months ago? Of course! It’s on my “must see” list because Boyle rarely disappoints me. But a film about a boy from a Mumbai slum selling more than a handful of tickets in any small town without the spotlight of the Oscars? Unlikely.

And this is why the Oscars are, I begrudgingly admit, a good thing. Now a good segment of moviegoers will, at least, have a chance to see movies like The Wrestler and Revolutionary Road. They might not have had that chance otherwise.

So, by February 22nd, I may have an opinion on some of the films nominated. Maybe it’ll take a little bit longer, in some cases. But at least I’ll get the chance to see them. And if it weren’t for the Academy Awards, I might not have had that chance to begin with.