Editorial: Fodder for talking about movies at Oscar time

If you’re anything like me — a big fan of movies who doesn’t seem to have time to actually watch movies — this stretch, from the middle of January right up to Feb. 26, when the Academy Awards are handed out, is a time to catch up in a hurry. So I caught “The Artist” last weekend. Got a date with “Hugo” this weekend. It’ll be “The Descendants” next weekend. Got “The Help” on the Netflix queue. (Which reminds me that I should find time to watch the Netflix titles I’ve had at home for months now. Gosh, could it be that these are titles that figured in last year’s Oscar race? That’s embarrassing.) I’ve long maintained that you don’t actually need to see most of the Oscar-nominated movies to do well in your annual Oscar office pool and, in fact, seeing too many of the movies actually can make you less likely to win the pool. Here’s why: If you get too attached to a movie, you’re more likely to make irrational pool decisions. You might, for example, make the common mistake of thinking that the best movie always wins. Or even wins sometimes. So, to that end, you probably don’t actually need to see these Best Picture nominees, because they’re not going to win: “Midnight in Paris,” “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close,” “The Tree of Life” and “War Horse.” That gets you back to just five top nominees, which probably is what the Academy should do: return to five Best Picture nominees. If you’re pressed for time, you can scratch “Moneyball” off the list. (By the way, if you haven’t been paying attention, the race for Best Picture essentially is over — “The Artist” has just about wrapped it up, unless we’re looking at an upset of “Crash”-like proportions.) But you do want to see some of the nominated movies, just so you can sound smart as you stand around the printer in the office, chattering about movies. Here’s one suggestion for a good line to start a debate: “‘The Artist’ sure is charming, but isn’t it really a little lightweight to win Best Picture?” Just toss that one out and walk away. Of course, be careful: The debate is over if somebody replies, “Oh, yeah? Well, what about ‘The King’s Speech?’” Or, uh, “Gladiator.” Or “Shakespeare in Love.” Or “Crash.” Or, well, the list goes on. So here’s the short list of movies to see before Feb. 26: “The Artist,” “Hugo” and “The Descendants,” because one of those will win Best Picture. Also, because George Clooney is likely to win Best Actor for “The Descendants.” I suspect “The Help” will win some acting awards, but you can rent that. “My Week with Marilyn,” because you can’t rule out that Michelle Williams. And that’s about it. That short list should give you plenty of conversation starters, but not so much information that you’re paralyzed in the Oscar office pool. So, I’ll see you at the movies. Well, no, I probably won’t: You’ll be watching the Super Bowl this weekend. Fine. That just means more popcorn for me. (MM) 影视帝国东方神起综艺 热本综艺节目 台湾综艺节目