Five Things the Oscars Could Learn from the MTV Movie Awards

The Academy Awards are still the definitive awards show (ostensibly), but the general consensus seems to be that they’ve grown a little stale. Or a lot stale. The general consensus seems to be that they’ve grown some degree of stale. And even though the Oscars recently celebrated their 85th annual occurrence, they’re still having trouble figuring out what works and what doesn’t – what it is that people want to see when they sit down to watch a celebration of the year in film.

The MTV Movie Awards, the latest edition of which airs this Sunday night, have never had that problem. While they occupy a very different place in the movie world, the more casual nature of the program has ensured that it’s consistently fun and playful (and short), and the folks over at the Academy might should probably pay attention if they want to avoid a repeat of this year’s debacle.

So with that in mind, here are five lessons that the Academy Awards could take from the MTV Movie Awards:

Be Flexible

If there’s one thing that’s been constant about the MTV Movie Awards, it’s that they have not been afraid to evolve. Not just in terms of the types of films they respond to (though it’s hard to imagine that “JFK” and “Bugsy” were among the nominees at the very first MTV Movie Awards in 1992) but also in their ability to shake up categories. “Best Scared As Sh*t Performance” sounds gratuitously silly, but it’s a solid way to show appreciation for the teen horror genre that has been so popular with MTV viewers in the last decade. I’m not saying that the Oscars should be adding new categories every year and trying to sound cooler, but perhaps a small degree of flexibility? I’ve been going hoarse for years yelling about how the Original Score and Original Song categories need to be opened up to reflect the reality of the filmmaking process in 2013, but thus far, tradition has won out.

Honor Your Elders

In MTV’s case, that means Will Ferrell, as horrifying as it might be to contemplate that. He’s getting their “Comedic Genius Video Vanguard Artist of the Millennium Award” this year. The presentation will be held during the show, televised in full, and may or may not feature Ferrell in character as Ron Burgundy. But there it will be, for the entire viewing audience to watch.

The Oscars have taken to handing out their Lifetime Achievement awards at a separate ceremony, weeks before, away from the hustle and bustle of the real show. This has caused a good bit of consternation among Oscar fans, seeing it as a sign of disrespect to their elders. And, look, watching a Paramount executive speak for five minutes after accepting the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award is probably nobody’s idea of a good time, but if Jodie Foster at the Golden Globes proved anything, it’s that Lifetime Achievement awards can end up being the most TV-friendly moments of all.

Look At All Parts of the Moviemaking Experience

I will admit that I am probably the only person who is advocating that the Oscars actually be a longer awards show, but I could probably name a half-dozen more categories they could include, if they really wanted to honor everything worth honoring the moviemaking business. Best Stunt Coordination/Performances. Best Casting. Best Trailer. If you’re going to be THE movie awards show, do it up right.

The MTV Movie Awards don’t go that deep into the moviemaking well either, but they do give a pretty good scan of the moviemaking experience that their demographic enjoys. That means onscreen badasses, shirtless performances, “WTF moments,” what have you. Because the MTV audience wants memorable moments that everybody was talking about. Those moments that transcended the fragmented spheres of genres and media and made everybody pay attention to the same thing. They’re serving their audience. The Oscars should serve theirs. Which reminds me …

Stay In Your Lane

The temptation when discussing the lessons that the Oscars should take from the MTV Movie Awards is that they should get younger, cooler, less stuffy and musty. I’m here to tell you that that’s all wrong. There’s something positively Cool Dad about when the Oscars try to feel hip. It’s very much like watching an adult say the word “hip.” The second it comes out of your mouth, you’ve lost it. MTV goes aggressively for the youth market because that’s who’s watching. They’re not watching the Oscars. Not in numbers that advertisers like to see. Which is a problem because of demographics and disposable income and yada yada. I get it. Economics. But nothing good has ever come of the Oscars pretending to be something they’re not (case in point: Seth MacFarlane).

Young people watch the MTV Movie Awards. Movie People watch the Oscars. Young people who grow up to be Movie People will watch the Oscars. Provided the Oscars are still about movies. That’s where “stay in your lane” comes in. Play to the audience you have. Don’t flail about looking for an audience and lose yourselves in the process. MTV isn’t scrambling to honor Michael Haneke just to look smarter than they are. The Academy doesn’t need to pretend to like “Ted” just to seem cooler.

Recognize the Utter Brilliance of Salma Hayek’s Performance in “Savages.”

Just saying.

Categories: Awards

Tags: Jennifer Lawrence, Joe reid, Magic Mike, Mtv movie awards, Oscars, Will ferrell

It’s the Best Best Supporting Actor Category in the History of Oscars

One of the reasons we get so caught up in the Oscars is because of the tradition and history of it all. The actors we award in 2013 get the same award that was bestowed in 1928. And as with any institution that prizes its history, the record books are full of all sorts of little milestones. Emmanuelle Riva is the oldest Best Actress nominee! Quvenzhane Wallis the youngest! In that respect, Oscar nerds are no different from, say, baseballs nerds. We both like records and milestones and firsts and all-time bests.

One bit of history was made with Thursday morning’s Oscar nominations, when the Best Supporting Actor category was composed entirely of former winners. That’s the first time that’s ever happened in an acting category. In fact, looking back through the record books, there are only eight (now nine) acting categories that even became an all-winners lineup after the fact. Are these the best acting lineups in Oscar’s history? Judge for yourself.

2012 Best Supporting Actor

Alan Arkin – “Argo”
Robert DeNiro – “Silver Linings Playbook”
Phillip Seymour Hoffman – “The Master”
Tommy Lee Jones – “Lincoln”
Christoph Waltz – “Django Unchained”

Five previous winners, meaning one of these guys is about to become a two-time Oscar champion (or, in the event of a DeNiro win, three-time). Hoffman’s previous win was in Best Actor (“Capote”), while Arkin, Jones, and Waltz have Supporting Actor trophies on shelves in their respective bathrooms.

2006 Best Actress

Helen Mirren – “The Queen”
Penelope Cruz – “Volver”
Judi Dench – “Notes on a Scandal”
Meryl Streep – “The Devil Wears Prada”
Kate Winslet – “Little Children”

When nominations were announced, only Streep (“Kramer vs. Kramer”; “Sophie’s Choice”) and Dench (“Shakespeare in Love”) were Oscar-winners. Mirren would go on to win here, and in 2008, both Cruz (for “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”) and Winslet (for “The Reader”) joined the winners’ club.

2002 Best Actor

Adrien Brody – “The Pianist”
Nicolas Cage – “Adaptation
Michael Caine – “The Quiet American”
Daniel Day-Lewis – “Gangs of New York”
Jack Nicholson – “About Schmidt”

On Oscar night, Brody faced down FOUR previous Oscar winners and ended up pulling one of the most memorable upsets in Academy history. All told, the five men in the category have won EIGHT Oscars, and are likely on their way to nine, with Daniel Day-Lewis’s likely win for “Lincoln” this year.

2001 Best Actress

Halle Berry – “Monster’s Ball”
Judi Dench – “Iris”
Nicole Kidman – “Moulin Rouge!”
Sissy Spacek – “In the Bedroom”
Renee Zellweger – “Bridget Jones’s Diary”

Judi Dench and Sissy Spacek were the only Oscar-winners in the category back in 2001, with Berry soon to join them via a hyperventilating freakout of an acceptance speech. The very next year, Kidman would win for “The Hours,” and the year after that, Zellweger would complete the circuit by winning Best Supporting Actress for “Cold Mountain.”

2001 Best Supporting Actress

Jennifer Connelly – “A Beautiful Mind”
Helen Mirren – “Gosford Park”
Maggie Smith – “Gosford Park”
Marisa Tomei – “In the Bedroom”
Kate Winslet – “Iris”

On nomination day, only two-time winner Maggie Smith (“The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie”; “California Suite”) and Marisa Tomei (“My Cousin Vinny”) were previous winners. Connelly triumphed on Oscar night, and by the end of the decade, Mirren and Winslet’s wins would make this an all-winners lineup, as well as a Best Supporting Actress category populated by three Best Actress winners.

1990 Best Actress

Kathy Bates – “Misery”
Anjelica Huston – “The Grifters”
Julia Roberts – “Pretty Woman”
Meryl Streep – “Postcards from the Edge”
Joanne Woodward – “Mr. and Mrs. Bridge”

Streep, Huston, and Woodward all had Oscars on their bookshelves when these nominations were announced (maybe that’s why Streep and Woodward didn’t bother to attend that year). Bates became the fourth winner in the group by winning for “Misery,” and ten years later (to the day!), Julia Roberts would win for “Erin Brockovich.”

1985 Best Actress

Geraldine Page – “The Trip to Bountiful”
Anne Bancroft – “Agnes of God”
Whoopi Goldberg – “The Color Purple”
Jessica Lange – “Sweet Dreams”
Meryl Streep – “Out of Africa”

Meryl Streep had already won twice, Anne Bancroft had won for “The Miracle Worker” in 1962, and Jessica Lange had won her first of two Oscars in 1982 for “Tootsie.” After eight previous nominations, Geraldine Page finally won for “The Trip to Bountiful.” And in 1990, Whoopi Goldberg made this category 5/5 with her Supporting Actress win for “Ghost.”

1968 Best Actress

Barbra Streisand – “Funny Girl”
Katharine Hepburn – “The Lion in Winter”
Patricia Neal – “The Subject Was Roses”
Vanessa Redgrave – “Isadora”
Joanne Woodward – “Rachel, Rachel”

This category is history-making for more than one reason, as Streisand and Hepburn tied for the Best Actress win. It was Hepburn’s second in a row, after winning for “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” the year before, and her third of a record-setting four Oscar wins. Both Woodward (“The Three Faces of Eve”) and Neal (“Hud”) were already Oscar-winners by this point, and in 1977, Vanessa Redgrave would give her infamous “Zionist hoodlums” speech, after winning Best Supporting Actress for “Julia.”

1939 Best Actor

Robert Donat – “Goodbye, Mr. Chips”
Clark Gable – “Gone With the Wind”
Laurence Olivier – “Wuthering Heights”
Mickey Rooney – “Babes in Arms”
James Stewart – “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”

This year comes with a bit of an asterisk, as Mickey Rooney was a recipient of the Academy Juvenile Award in 1938. Still, it’s an acting award, so let’s be generous to the Mickster and say it counts.

BONUS: 2008 Best Actress

Kate Winslet – “The Reader”
Anne Hathaway – “Rachel Getting Married”
Angelina Jolie – “Changeling”
Melissa Leo – “Frozen River
Meryl Streep – “Doubt”

This category doesn’t count … yet. But Winslet, Streep, Jolie, and Leo are all winners, and with Anne Hathaway a GIANT lock to win Best Supporting Actress this year, it’s only a matter of time.

Categories: Awards

Tags: Alan Arkin, Christoph Waltz, philip seymour hoffman, robert deniro, tommy lee jones