So it's no secret that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has a little bit of a reputation for being old-fashioned and stodgy, choosing from a very small genre of films for their Best Picture nominees. They're usually very serious (one might say boring), often historical (bonus points for Holocaust movies), and with little to no impact at the box office. Movies that people know that they're supposed to like, but ones that they would never consider going to see on a Friday night. That's a huge part of the reason why they controversially expanded the Best Picture category a few years back, so that they could have room to nominate a few crowd-pleasing box office successes. And that's normally what they do. But this year...not so much. The biggest thing you have to a certified smash is the well-received Grand Budapest Hotel, but even that's sort of a quirky film made for a niche market. It's not necessarily a bad thing, since all these films are pretty good, but it's definitely a surprise that they didn't take the opportunity to try to lure more viewers into the award ceremony by putting one or two huge films in there.
Audrey Fox is an ex-film student, which means that she prefers to spend her days in the dark, watching movies and pondering the director's use of diegetic sound. She currently works as an entertainment writer, joyfully rambling about all things film and television related. Add her on Twitter at @audonamission and check out her film blog at 1001moviesandbeyond.com.
