by Joe Buffaloe
Daily Lobo
It's that time of year again - Oscar season.
The Academy Awards are still months away, but for whatever reason, fall has traditionally been the time of year that Hollywood dumps a heap of pretentious, toothless monstrosities posing as important art films on the public. Generally, the five or six movies that fall under this category are released all at once, frustrating those interested in seeing them and those just waiting for "Snakes on a Plane 2."
For those of you dying to see some high-budget, high-priced, high-minded and highly overhyped movies, this is the season for you.
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First, let's get topical. "Catch a Fire" casts a dastardly corporate-looking Tim Robbins as a big, oppressive, know-it-all meanie from the government who falsely persecutes a heroic, innocent black man from South Africa after an incident occurs at his factory. Set in 1981 during apartheid, this film comes down to the shocking conclusion that racism and prejudice are bad. Boy, whoever green-lighted it must have been a risk-taker - who would have thought Hollywood was brave enough to take on an issue as current and controversial as a long-defunct system of universally despised oppression? You can tell I'm excited about this one, can't you?
Another movie that hit
American theaters in late October is "Babel," from "Amores Perros" and "21 Grams" director Alejandro González I§árritu. This film stars Brad Pitt as he runs around screaming and crying in Africa after his girlfriend gets shot. Judging by this director's past two movies, it will not be any more cheerful than it sounds, but the pretension will be unfathomable - sometimes brilliant, but usually nauseating. Still, I suppose you can't argue that it is difficult to hitch a ride when you don't speak the language.
Taking a step back to the past is Sofia Coppola's "Marie Antoinette." If I were a teenage girl who let MySpace.com buy all my CDs to make sure I stayed hip, I might be interested in this one. Unfortunately, I don't want to see another historical biopic with fancy costumes, a misrepresentation of facts and a boring plot that goes nowhere. Besides, as a college student, I am proud to say I already know the ending. For those of you who flunked history, there may be some suspense. However, if all you've ever learned about Antoinette comes from this movie, please don't go around spouting facts like you actually read a book or something - the way every art poser did after "Frida."
For every Martin Scorsese masterpiece, there are a hundred pretenders. If we're lucky, one of these movies might be worth watching. But if we're smart, we'll just read a book instead.
