Reviews by Matt

As I normally do when I go to bed, I turned on the local ESPN radio station. I have found that it helps me get to sleep faster, but that is not the point. The point of all this is what I heard. The host of the show was talking about the Oscars. He was angry that “Avatar” lost the race for Best Picture. Now normally the radio is on just to have something I don’t have to pay attention to — just some background noise to fall asleep by. Well, this made me take notice.

His argument was that “Avatar” has changed movies forever. That was his entire argument and he went on to talk about how “Avatar” changed movies. Really? That is your argument for why it should have won?
The category is “Best Picture,” not “Movie that changes how movies are made.” For me, and for all sane movie fans, the criterion for what qualifies for the Best Picture category is just that BEST.

Yes, the movie has some amazing special effects. That does not make it the best movie. What makes a movie worthy of the title is great acting, directing, storytelling, and everything else that goes into making a movie. “Avatar” had great special effects, everything else was just sub par.

Now all that being said, while “The Hurt Locker” was a good movie, the true winner should have been “Inglorious Bastards.” That was truly the best movie in that category.