I love movies to death.
I see a lot’ve them during their theatrical release, subscribe to a half-dozen cable movie channels, stream movies off Netflix constantly, and own hundreds of DVDs and Blu-rays.
I love silent movies, film noir, Hitchcock thrillers, ’50s sci-fi movies, comedies of all kinds, anything connected to Orson Welles, the old Universal horror movies, foreign movies, superhero movies…
Which brings me to this year’s Oscar nominations.
They were announced yesterday. And of the nine best-picture nominees, I’ve seen just one (“Gravity”), heard of three others, and the rest are a mystery.
WTF?
How can I be so out of touch?
But most of my movie-savvy friends tell me they’re in the same boat.
Oh well.
As I usually do, I’ll skip the Oscars show and spend that evening rewatching “Wages of Fear,” or “Bob Le Flambeur,” or “Forbidden Planet.”
And down the road, I’ll catch up with some of the 2014 Oscar nominees.
Ever notice, though, how Oscar winners often slip into obscurity while the losers go on to classic status?
“Ordinary People,” “A Beautiful Mind,” “The Departed,” and “The Artist” were all Best Picture winners.
But nobody watches them.
On the other hand, “Citizen Kane,” “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre,” “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Dr. Strangelove,” and “Sunset Blvd” were all snubbed by the Oscars, but movie fans return to them again and again.
Don’t you love it when “losers” turn out to be winners?
But you’ll never be an upfront winner or even a loser-turned-winner if you don’t get started.
And that begins with getting off your ass and deciding what you want and how you’re gonna get it, where you wanna go and how you’re gonna get there.
Sure, it might turn out you’re not slapped on the back by your friends for your accomplishments.
Your family might laugh at your efforts.
But judging by the history of the Oscars, that doesn’t always matter.
Go ahead and get started.
“You like me, you really like me!” — Sally Field
