The beginnings of Ripping Good Yarns, as a group on Facebook, and as a label for a set of blog stories, began from primarily two motivations. One was to have a place on Facebook where people could discuss their favorite TV shows, movies or books without a lot of commentary by people who either didn't like them or felt they were above such things. Statements like - "I haven't watched television in years, I don't waste my time with such drivel", "I am way too busy to sit and read a book", "Movies are far too expensive to sit through such Hollywood crap".
The second was my seeing constantly, that in award shows, the truly entertaining was often shoved aside by biopics and arty films. The great movies that made your heart beat fast, your pulse quicken, that told a melodramatic and involving story was pushed aside in favor of other films or programs.
And such is the case with the current crop of Oscar nominees. Some of them are very good films. But very few approach what I would call a ripping good yarn.
First, we can eliminate all the biopics and historical dramas. There are three biopics in this year's crop - The Imitation Game,The Theory of Everything and American Sniper. There is one historical drama, and that is Selma. These are fine movies, and I have seen The Theory of Everything and Selma, and understand why they were nominated. They're just by definition not Ripping Good Yarns.
An important word about biopics and historical dramas....non-documentary. That means they are not meant to be historically perfect - that is impossible to achieve. They are trying to tell you a story with important truths about a character and/or events, and they have to consolidate them to fit the two hours or so time frame that movies have. The sexual peccadilloes of Stephen and Jane Hawkings, of Alan Turing, may not be drawn in full. The gruffness of the American Sniper may not be shown, nor the lives and feelings of those he kills. And the degree that Martin Luther King, Jr, had to prod LBJ may be sharpened to provide story contrast. When you see any movie like this, you're are seeing things through one filter or source. If you want the full picture, you'll have to look at more.
Secondly, we have a group of films that, to a varying degree, are more arty than ripping. Boyhood is an interesting premise, using the same actors over the course of filming for twelve years. The reviews I've seen indicate that the story isn't really much, but it's fascinating to watch the characters age naturally and that there are some good slice of life moments. So to be cold, it's basically a stunt. A very well done stunt, but a stunt nonetheless. Birdman is an interesting premise and it is one I want to see, but it is basically a movie that rips super hero movies and makes fun of blockbusters. This may be an important premise, but doesn't lend itself to being called a ripping good yarn. Whiplash is promising, but it is also a very small-scale film, with an almost documentary feel. It is very unlikely to come to a theater near you, or be there for very long if it does.
That leaves us with The Grand Budapest Hotel. Yes it is arty, but it also has melodramatic and over the top plotting, with some very quirky and interesting characters. And it doesn't appear to be making fun of these types of stories - it appears just to be having a great time. I am not as big a fan of director Wes Anderson as my Hollywood son, Greg, is, but I do think that this movie, along with Moonrise Kingdom, are this creator's finest works.
Yes, I do think that films like Guardians of the Galaxy, Gone Girl and Rise of the Planet of the Apes should have been nominated. They were overwhelmingly well reviewed, they were popular, and they were definitely ripping.
But films like that only get nominated once or twice every few years, and they only win once a decade or less (Return of the King, The Silence of the Lambs).
Of this year's group, I would not pick The Grand Budapest Hotel, however. I would have to go off the Ripper's list and choose Selma. But that is not where the Academy is leaning this year, as evidenced by it's lack of nominations for Director or acting.
Expect that to go to either Boyhood (viva la stunt), or Birdman (Hollywood loves movies about itself).
Sigh.
There's always next year.
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