Currently Browsing: Blue Oscar
“Women Hold Up Half the Sky,” but as Female Impact on Oscar Nominations falls ever lower, AMPAS–the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences–continues to mock us. Only one year in the 21st Century has had less Female Impact (2.5% in 2005), but even that all-time low was offset by the fact that Julie Delpy was […]
So now it’s official: Yet again, I am singing the Oscar Blues 🙁 Folks, the impact of women filmmakers on the 2014 Oscars is at its lowest level in five years. Let’s start with the numbers: This year, 2014, no women directors were nominated for Best Director, no films directed by a woman filmmaker were […]
As we await this year’s Oscar nominations, I want to remind you all how high the stakes are. In a few minutes, we may well see THE LOWEST percentage of women affecting the top categories in this century to date. Here is my award-winning chart of “Oscar Impacts” thru 2013. As far as I can […]
Slowly but surely, information eventually finds it way to the public. As I’ve told you all for years now, every time FIVE MEN are nominated for “Best Director” that means another FIVE MEN are added to the overwhelmingly male list that selects the next “Best Director.” And so, who is surprised when the next list […]
January 29 (Sunday Morning): I’m kinda blue because Andy Trudeau won’t be doing his annual segments on the Oscar-nominated musical scores anymore, but I’m still an NPR junky, so the radio is on… And the new host, Rachel Martin, says soon she’ll be starting a new segment on Oscar-nominated screenplays… Well, now I’m 100% awake… […]
I just got called on the carpet for my Blue Oscar post, specifically this part: And in the Best Original Screenplay category, we have a film (Bridesmaids) that has plot holes you can drive a truck through, but the male critics loved it. Why? Well, this isn’t the time to rant on about this, but […]
1/29/12 Update: So yesterday Rich & I headed to the multiplex to see 2 of the 3 films mentioned in this post (the ChickFlick & the PrickFlick). Our combine response to our colleague’s post: We thought One for the Money was cute, but The Grey was a totally waste of time & talent. Rich also instructs me to add the […]
THIS JUST IN: Thanks to Melissa Silverstein, “Blue Oscar 2012” is now live on IndieWIRE’s Women & Hollywood blog 🙂 Well, it’s happened once again… Starting with a list of more than 600 films released in the USA in 2011 (including many excellent films written &/or directed by women), the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (AMPAS aka […]
We all want to believe that Oscar is “gold” (that is, based on merit), so we begin with that assumption. But close examination of the Oscar-nomination process reveals that Oscar is in fact “blue” (that is, heavily dependent on male filters). Therefore most films by &/or about women are eliminated from contention early on, and they […]
Click HERE for updated Oscar Impact chart. Once again, AMPAS has nominated five men in the Best Director category. A total of eight nominations were parceled out to two films both of which were written AND directed by women: The Kids Are All Right & Winter’s Bone. Both films received nominations in the […]
“…if The Hurt Locker wins, it will be the lowest grossing best picture honoree in decades of Oscar winners. It’s earned just over $12.6 million in a theatrical release that wrapped up late last year. Avatar on the other hand would be the highest grossing best picture winner. It’s made more than $706 million […]
Oh, my… Ominous silence in response to my “Blue Oscar” chart, except for one [male] friend who wrote: “I don’t think women should block vote, whether it be a film director, political candidate, or whatever…” It’s painful to read the statement “just vote with your heart for the films, performances, and technical accomplishments that you […]
Why YOU should vote for The Hurt Locker “The ‘cumulative’ factor of a series of pre-Oscar wins can be a powerful aphrodisiac for Academy voters.” So says Pete Hammond of the LA Times, quoting “one producer and former studio head who told me he very much understands the psychology of Oscar voting.” Yes, ladies, the […]
I’m thrilled about Kathryn Bigelow’s Best Director nom (of course!), & now I’m begging folks not to buy into the demeaning gossip!!! Imbedded in all the “Exes” BS is the not-so-subtle implication that Kathryn Bigelow is somehow riding on James Cameron’s coat tails, so those of us who know better must fight back!!! […]
Provocative IndieWIRE article by London-based writer Matthew Hammett Knott (“Is KB a female director?“) creating lots of great discussion in cyberspace, including pick-up by the invaluable Melissa Silverstein. And of course, yours truly is fully engaged J Here’s my bottom line: Let’s all keep in mind that Kathryn Bigelow created strong women […]
Read Jan’s Horoscope as a pdf file. So Saturday I was personally attacked by Kim Voyner in Movie City News. She accuses me of “writing ill-informed opinions” without offering any evidence that’s she actually read any of the relevant source materials (such as the Wall Street Journal article) not […]
Yes, I know, campaigning is nothing new in our culture, but I still don’t think most people realize how much time, effort, & money go into Oscar campaigns every year. If we want to understand why Oscar is always so “blue,” then Feminists need to figure out how the game is played & do […]
Jan Sings Her Annual Oscar Blues! Reuters just eBlasted an article from the Hollywood Reporter into cyberspace: “Critics weigh in on year’s best films.” Fair enough, but who are these critics? Ken Turan, Peter Rainer, David Ansen, Leonard Maltin, & Bob Strauss. Notice anything? You’ve got it: NO WOMEN NEED APPLY!!! Oh, & need […]
“His most successful long-term relationship was with us.” Excuse me?!?!? More phallocentric tripe from NEWSWEEK film critic David Ansen. In his Oct 6th tribute to Paul Newman, Ansen writes: “With men he was a great buddy, partner in crime, leader of the pack. But you can count the love stories he made […]
LA film critics threw their weight behind THERE WILL BE BLOOD, which I absolutely hated, but there was one glimmer of sunlight: they recognized Tamara Jenkins, writer/director of THE SAVAGES, for Best Original Screenplay. Hooray!
The New York Film Critics have thrown their weight behind the Coen Brothers’ new film NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, which I also thought was really good, but dig deeper into their announcement, & it’s the same old story: women directors & screenwriters who made terrific contributions this year have already been eliminated from contention. Another year, […]
