A Spirited Perfect Ten

[EPCOTCenterLover]

Just to chime in- I don't get my news or politics from Hollywood, only my entertainment.

 

[wendysmom]

Well to be fair, the quality of the merchandise is gone downhill substantially. It's not what it was 10 years ago. And it took them exactly how long to cash in on the haunted mansion merchandise?

It's not like you can buy a Mickey waffle maker anymore either.

Actually, my sister found me one at Kohls.....not as nice as the one they used to sell in the parks, though. And I remember when they had a neat phone that had Mickey announcing all calls. That hasn't been around in quite a while.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

Right, so how does a guy who didn't start with Disney until 1993 get credit for it. Something doesn't add up.

According to the story, he also "transformed the primary format of home entertainment from DVD to Blu-ray." As if that wouldn't have happened without him.

I also thought Dragon 2 would get the win. I love how they've had some heavy themes in those movies without dragging the whole thing down.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Thank you! Terrific field in both categories and... what the heck happened??

Disney took home both Animation Oscars. BOTH!

Exactly whom did Iger/Lasseter/Catmull pay off for that to happen?

Politics. There's so much behind the scenes BS, actual winning doesn't mean much.

 

[GoofGoof]

According to the story, he also "transformed the primary format of home entertainment from DVD to Blu-ray." As if that wouldn't have happened without him.

I also thought Dragon 2 would get the win. I love how they've had some heavy themes in those movies without dragging the whole thing down.

Maybe he helped Al Gore invent the Internet too

 

[the.dreamfinder]

I thought I would let you guys know HBO will be screening the Academy Award winning documentary Citizenfour tonight at 9PM.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

Maybe he helped Al Gore invent the Internet too

Are you kidding? I think he invented Al Gore!

 

[ford91exploder]

Just to chime in- I don't get my news or politics from Hollywood, only my entertainment.

Not much entertainment coming from hollywood these days...

 

[John]

OK entertainment it is.......Anyone else looking forward to "House of Cards"?.....Filmed in my back yard. Well not literally but figuratively...

 

[ParentsOf4]

Obviously and like any type of contest there are politics involved and people voting for friends etc. The idea however the Oscars should honor movies because they make a lot of money is wrong. It may come off as elitist, but the highest quality films are usually not seen by the masses. There are a lot of incredible films out there that the Academy never even recognizes. For those that complain that every film is a sequel or superhero movie, that isn’t the case. You just have to look harder and outside the corporate studio system.

I mean this in the nicest way possible but you are not the gatekeeper of what constitutes the "highest quality" film.

The English (really theater) majors I went to college with pretty much hated anything that became popular. Back in my day, they loved Chariots of Fire, telling me I just had to see it. However, once it became popular, those same people belittled the movie because of its success.

That's not just elitist; that's stupid.

Today, some of those same theater majors are voting members of the Academy. You might even have heard of a few.

The Academy votes for the "Best" in various categories but what is "Best"?

As an actor, if you give the most amazing performance ever but then openly express that you're anti-X when X is the Hollywood's cause-of-the-day, you have a zero percent chance of winning the Oscar.

If you belittle something I believe in, I can't help but be affected when I judge your performance.

In my opinion, an actor or film should be judged solely by what's seen on the screen but that rarely happens.

Paul Newman, one of America's greatest actors, won his Oscar for probably his worst Best Actor nomination. He received the Oscar because he had lost 6 times before.

Just search the Internet for "best movies not to win Oscar" or "worst movies that won Best Picture".

Yes, I agree with what I think is your larger point that the most popular movie often is not the "best" movie, but very often neither is the one that wins "Best Picture".

And, by the way, I suspect that my artsy college friends working in today's Hollywood would not agree with you on what are the "highest quality films".

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Vault started with the VHS release of pinocchio which was '85 I think. Back them they were preceded by a theatrical re-release

Correct. This method was continued until 1992 when Pinocchio's first theatrical re-release post video did not return enough box office tickets to justify continuing the practice.

Snow White and Oliver and Company saw reissues later in the decade because they had yet to be released to video. The Little Mermaid's 1997 re-release was a exception to the rule and raised some eyebrows for being released on the same day as Don Bluth's Anastasia.

Disney thought IMAX could bring back the old policy so they released Beauty and the Beast to IMAX during Christmas 2001, followed by the October 2002 Platinum Edition DVD. The process was repeated for Lion King and planned for Aladdin, but cancelled because, once again, the returns didn't justify the expens of converting and distrubuting the titles for IMAX (or adding new animated scenes).

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

According to the story, he also "transformed the primary format of home entertainment from DVD to Blu-ray." As if that wouldn't have happened without him.

To be fair, Disney was instrumental in Blu-ray's success. They were the deciding vote among the studios - when Disney picks a format, that's the winning format. Plus they pioneered the Blu-ray DVD combo pack as a way to lure people to the format over time, and it worked well.

 

[FigmentJedi]

Thank you! Terrific field in both categories and... what the heck happened??

Disney took home both Animation Oscars. BOTH!

Exactly whom did Iger/Lasseter/Catmull pay off for that to happen?

They didn't pay anyone. The Academy just doesn't care about animation at all.

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/award-se...ters-are-clueless-about-animation-109456.html

Just listen to what this guy had to say:

Voter #5: I only watch the ones that my kid wants to see, so I didn’t see [The] Boxtrolls but I saw Big Hero 6 and I saw [How to Train Your] Dragon[2]. We both connected to Big Hero 6 — I just found it to be more satisfying. The biggest snub for me was Chris Miller and Phil Lord not getting in for [The] Lego [Movie]. When a movie is that successful and culturally hits all the right chords and does that kind of box-office — for that movie not to be in over these two obscure freakin’ Chinese in’ things that nobody ever freakin’ saw [an apparent reference to the Japanese film The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, as well as the Irish film Song of the Sea]? That is my biggest . Most people didn’t even know what they were! How does that happen? That, to me, is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen.

MY VOTE: Big Hero 6

 

[FigmentJedi]

To be fair, Disney was instrumental in Blu-ray's success. They were the deciding vote among the studios - when Disney picks a format, that's the winning format. Plus they pioneered the Blu-ray DVD combo pack as a way to lure people to the format over time, and it worked well.

Well the backing of Disney and a decidedly less family friendly entertainment industry if you get what I mean.

 

[RSoxNo1]

By the way, Birdman is a pompous, immature piece of garbage. Good job guys!!

Didn't see Birdman, but I can say the exact same thing about Grand Budapest Hotel or any Wes Anderson movie.

 

[kagacins]

Speaking of the Oscars, why the heck wasn't Interstellar nominated for best picture? Gravity was nominated in its year, why not this which was way better?

...Said no one ever (ok so I haven't seen either, but you gave me a layup).

 

[Phil12]

Correct. This method was continued until 1992 when Pinocchio's first theatrical re-release post video did not return enough box office tickets to justify continuing the practice.

Snow White and Oliver and Company saw reissues later in the decade because they had yet to be released to video. The Little Mermaid's 1997 re-release was a exception to the rule and raised some eyebrows for being released on the same day as Don Bluth's Anastasia.

Disney thought IMAX could bring back the old policy so they released Beauty and the Beast to IMAX during Christmas 2001, followed by the October 2002 Platinum Edition DVD. The process was repeated for Lion King and planned for Aladdin, but cancelled because, once again, the returns didn't justify the expens of converting and distrubuting the titles for IMAX (or adding new animated scenes).

Actually what killed the vault was the open market. Disney's policy for VHS releases was that they were time limited. After the particular VHS title went "back in the vault" all VHS titles were taken off of retail shelves and shipped back to the distributor (i.e. Buena Vista Home Entertainment). That meant that if you (the customer) missed the date to buy Peter Pan for your darling child, you were out of luck until it was released again.

A large independent industry got started. Individual entrepreneurs bought hundreds (or thousands) of Disney VHS titles and stockpiled them just waiting for those titles to "go back in the vault". Many Disney VHS titles sold for $150.00 or more after the vault doors shut. It took a few years, but Disney realized they were losing a lot of money and they stopped closing the vault. Also, DVD's were just too easy to copy so they had no choice.

Suffice it to say, a lot of people made small fortunes selling Disney VHS tapes via mail order and Disney had no legal way to stop such sales.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Hey Guys? I hate to try and be the voice of reason but can we try and keep the politics out of our movie discussion, mostly in an effort not to derail the entire thread?

Biggest upset of the night for me was BH6. Thought it was all about the Dragon.

How to Train Your Dragon was a very good movie that went up against Toy Story 3. How to Train Your Dragon 2 was a decent movie, but not as good as Big Hero 6.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Actually what killed the vault was the open market. Disney's policy for VHS releases was that they were time limited. After the particular VHS title went "back in the vault" all VHS titles were taken off of retail shelves and shipped back to the distributor (i.e. Buena Vista Home Entertainment). That meant that if you (the customer) missed the date to buy Peter Pan for your darling child, you were out of luck until it was released again.

A large independent industry got started. Individual entrepreneurs bought hundreds (or thousands) of Disney VHS titles and stockpiled them just waiting for those titles to "go back in the vault". Many Disney VHS titles sold for $150.00 or more after the vault doors shut. It took a few years, but Disney realized they were losing a lot of money and they stopped closing the vault. Also, DVD's were just too easy to copy so they had no choice.

Suffice it to say, a lot of people made small fortunes selling Disney VHS tapes via mail order and Disney had no legal way to stop such sales.

I was talking about theatrical re-issues tied with video releases, not what "killed" the vault practice that still exists despite ebay, torrents and Chinese bootlegs.

 

[RSoxNo1]

I mean this in the nicest way possible but you are not the gatekeeper of what constitutes the "highest quality" film.

The English (really theater) majors I went to college with pretty much hated anything that became popular. Back in my day, they loved Chariots of Fire, telling me I just had to see it. However, once it became popular, those same people belittled the movie because of its success.

That's not just elitist; that's stupid.

Today, some of those same theater majors are voting members of the Academy. You might even have heard of a few.

The Academy votes for the "Best" in various categories but what is "Best"?

As an actor, if you give the most amazing performance ever but then openly express that you're anti-X when X is the Hollywood's cause-of-the-day, you have a zero percent chance of winning the Oscar.

If you belittle something I believe in, I can't help but be affected when I judge your performance.

In my opinion, an actor or film should be judged solely by what's seen on the screen but that rarely happens.

Paul Newman, one of America's greatest actors, won his Oscar for probably his worst Best Actor nomination. He received the Oscar because he had lost 6 times before.

Just search the Internet for "best movies not to win Oscar" or "worst movies that won Best Picture".

Yes, I agree with what I think is your larger point that the most popular movie often is not the "best" movie, but very often neither is the one that wins "Best Picture".

And, by the way, I suspect that my artsy college friends working in today's Hollywood would not agree with you on what are the "highest quality films".

I watch the Oscars every year, and every year I get bitter because some high quality popcorn movies (you know... the entertaining ones) rarely get a mention. Something like Guardians of the Galaxy was an excellent and entertaining movie yet all it gets is a couple of technical nominations.

Bill Simmons has a great idea about the Oscars... there should be a 5 year waiting period like the Hall of Fame. That allows us to see how the movie holds up over time. Look at the 2009 Oscars for example, Slumdog Millionaire wins best picture and it was a good movie. But The Dark Knight was the movie of the decade. Heath Ledger deservedly won the best supporting actor, but I'm willing to bet that he wouldn't have even been nominated if he didn't pass away the year the movie came out.