Why Academy? WHY?

Hello All, I am back in the Blogosphere. Stupid work really kicked my ass last week and I had to take it in order to be blessedly free this week for the important stuff.

One of the "important" things I researched this week was why on earth there are now so many Best Picture nominees.  I was recalling the halcyon days of only having to see 5 movies in this category and not 9 or 10.  I discovered in my research that we have "The Dark Knight" and "Wall-E" to thank for this new world order.  Those movies came out in 2008 and some in the Academy thought they should be nominated, but felt the constraints of only being able to nominate 5.  Can I take this moment to say.... REALLY???  Is the Academy’s bar getting so low that they are now acting like the parents of children in sports and have adopted a "everyone gets a trophy" mentality?  While I liked the "Dark Knight" and awful lot, I don't think it deserved a nod for best picture.  I have never seen "Wall-E" but I am guessing that it isn't the best fucking movie ever made. The Academy Awards ceremony has suffered from falling ratings the past several years. Perhaps they think that by including more films in the Best Picture category, the Academy can include more popular films, and that might encourage more people to tune in. I SHUN that notion...why do we always have to dumb stuff down for the idiot masses?

Some might say "what is the big deal? you love the Oscars why not more instead of less?" And I would say that this is now diluting the effect of being a best picture nominee. And that it is diluting the voting that the Academy does.   Instead of Academy members simply voting for their favorite, they have been instructed to rank all ten in their order of worthiness. This could possibly have the effect of diluting the vote. For example, if the Academy members are divided between the first and second most-worthy film, but they all agree on which is the third most-worthy film, then the third-most worthy film will win the award. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

And lastly, why on earth are there films nominated for best picture that has no acting awards??? Why is "Life of Pi" considered a best picture nominee?  I haven’t seen it yet, but will before the Oscars...I know that there are other aspects that people consider worthy... Cinematography, special effects, sounds mixing and what not... but for me personally what makes movies wonderful is the connection you make to characters, how you relate to them and how actors can give you a vivid picture into other hearts and minds.  Example, everyone hated "Tree of Life". I loved it. After analyzing why I liked it so much, i realized it was because I really identified with the older son in that movie... for whatever reason it spoke to me.  I can't feel that connected to special effects or Ang Lee's mad directing skillz.

That is my two cents... Of, course having said all that... I will be kissing the Academy's ass come Sunday at 6:00 PM!