My Quirky Taste, Movies and the Oscars

Well as everyone knows because of the utter bombardment of media about it, the Oscar nominations were just announced.

As I have noted in the past in this blog, I don’t take much stock in who wins Oscars because after all – the award is voted by peers and it ends up being a popularity contest sometimes.

That’s what the Golden Globes are too,  only more ridiculous. So I know Amy Adams is thrilled with her award for Big Eyes, but what does it mean Amy? That a few foreign correspondents liked your performance best? And what about their categories? They voted you best actress in a comedy or musical. Last time I saw Big Eyes, it was neither a comedy or a musical, but a full scale drama. I don’t think I laughed once in the film, nor did anyone else. But that’s the thing – the foreign journalists LIKE Amy, so they had to give her the prize.

SIDE NOTE: Does anyone else wonder what the losers of each category think? Are they thinking, “Oh my, I will never get a role like this again, or give a performance this great again, and this year I am doomed because I am up against ______ (insert favorite to win here) and my one performance of a lifetime will go without the golden guy.” I just chuckle thinking inside their heads.

There are LOTS of award shows. It should mean more when movies or actors get voted on as best by critics, but I don’t always agree with them either.

And so here’s the thing: Inside my very unusual brain lies my very quirky taste in movies. The quirkier the movie, the more I like it. Now let me make clear that I don’t like weird. Quirky is altogether different. I liked to be surprised in movies. I like to be delighted. I like the colorful, the zany, the witty.

Quirky is Quentin Tarantino, or Wes Anderson, or Woody Allen.

We went on Christmas Day to see Birdman, probably the quirkiest movie of the year, and my husband and I were one of just a few out of  a group of people to like it. In fact, I loved it, and I appreciated it because it was truly something different. I got the nuances, the comedy, the subtext of ego battles and nervous breakdowns.  It was always surprising throughout.

Another Side Note: one of our closest friends Michael, is the dead opposite of this taste. If it is not a straightforward or basic plot like boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back kind of plot, he is not going to like or understand it. He will shake his head and repeat, “I didn’t get that.” Let’s put it this way, he doesn’t like approximately 80 percent of movies because how many are basic or straightforward any more? His taste is so predictable and basic, it makes all of us laugh at him.

Back to this topic, I am thrilled that in the realm of the popularity contest of the Oscars,  sometimes a little charmer like The Artist wins and sometimes a quirky movie like Birdman will win. I loved The Grand Budapest Hotel as well. That movie DEFINES quirky, so if you need an example, go rent it.

I like quirky acting performances too, not just movie plots. I am always rooting for someone whose performance particularly charmed me or tickled me.  This year Michael Keaton tickled me more than anyone else.

Others make shake their head at movies high on the quirk quotient, but sometimes it is nice knowing that there is a mass out there that likes these movies like I do, as the two most bizarre movies of the year, Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel are both leading the Oscar nominations.

In fact, I would rather skip past reality based movies, war movies, like American Sniper. Who needs it for escapism? I can turn on the Nightly News or read my newspaper if I want that. That’s not entertainment in my book.

So I will watch the Oscars, mostly to see the fashion, hear the humor, and marvel at the ego in the speeches, and occasionally I will get to cheer that my own quirky faves were recognized too.

I can feel it – this is the year of the quirky. Let’s see what happens.