Oscar nominations: What went wrong

Today's Oscar nominations at least had one or two more surprises that no one saw coming. The multiple nominations for "The Reader" are a reminder that you should never underestimate a Holocaust movie. Or Harvey Weinstein. The michelin-man mogul may be in a slump at the box office -- at least until the arrival of August's "Inglorious Basterds"-- but he's not lost his touch when it comes to procuring Academy Award nominations. Kate Winslet is guaranteed to win for her role in "The Reader." In case it's escape your notice, the Oscar apparently means an awful lot to the actress and her fellow British countrymen are still mortified at her Golden Globes acceptance speech. (Note to Oscar producer Gil Cates: Have a mop in the wings so that no one slips on Kate's puddle of tears at the podium).

"The Reader" nominations mean that "The Dark Knight" was shut out. Since Warner Bros is laying off hundreds of employees, the studio can at least save money but not having to spend a penny more on a campaign for "The Dark Knight." After all, Heath Ledger is 101% guaranteed to win a posthumous Best Supporting Actor.

The omission of "The Dark Knight" and "Wall-E" in the "Best Picture" category reveals a lot about the perplexing nature of the Oscars these days. The Academy's choices tend to fall in a peculiar no-man's land. On the one hand, they tend to ignore the film-aficionado selections of the various movie critic circles. And they tend to shun the type of films that the average moviegoer gets enthused about.

The cowled crimefighter and binocular-eyed robot were embraced by audiences and critics alike. But they were relegated to lesser categories (Best Supporting Actor; Best Animated Picture) by the Academy. It wasn't always this way. In the past, the Academy has nominated blockbusters such as "Jaws"and "Raiders of the Lost Ark." Nowadays, I'm not sure that a "Titanic" or a "Lord of the Rings" would even make it to a Best Picture nomination. "Wall-E" seems to have been deemed a lesser film by virtue of being an animated film even though critics and audiences seem to agree that the mostly silent film was unique for saying so much by saying very little at all. A true "show, don't tell" message film. And "The Dark Knight" may have hauled in the sort of box office that had James Cameron nervously looking over his shoulder, but it would be foolish to dismiss Christopher Nolan's film as a mere superhero movie. Equating "The Dark Knight" to "The Fantastic Four" is akin to comparing "Bladerunner" to "Battlefield Earth." What other film in recent years (other than "Children of Men") tapped into the zeitgeist of the Patriot Act era?

In short, those Best Picture nominations underscore why the Academy Awards play to ever diminishing television audiences. The presence of Brangelina on the red carpet won't give the ceremony much more than a bump in the ratings, either. Several decades ago, the Oscars gave audiences a rare opportunity to gawk at the stars. In the TMZ era, stars are so overexposed that they've lost any mystery and novelty they once possessed. It doesn't help that, Will Smith aside, actors don't have the box-office clout they once had. Nowadays high-concept story is more important than the actor in front of the green screen.

While I'm ragging on the Academy, let's add a WTF? about the Best Original Song category for coming up with a mere three nominees and somehow omitting Bruce Springsteen's "The Wrestler" or Jenny Lewis's "Barking at the Moon" from "Bolt." Thank goodness Clint Eastwood wasn't nominated for his singing in "Gran Torino." For a minute there, I thought he'd been taking vocal lessons from William Hung.

Also, the Best Foreign Language Picture list overlooked "Gomorra," just as it ignored "Four Months, Three Weeks, and Two Days" last year.

Final complaint: All the nominations for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." Really? Like Brad Pitt's other Oscar bait films -- "Babel" and that Jesse James movie with the awfully long title -- it's puffed up with self importance but utterly hollow. Mark my words, the film will age less well than its titular character.

But let's say this about the Academy. At least it had the good sense to shut out "Revolutionary Road" with its tired myths about the suburbs of the 1950s. And kudos for all the nods for "Slumdog Millionaire."

U2 straps on 'Sexy Boots'

I still remember the radio premiere of U2's "The Fly" on Radio 1 in England back in 1991. At that point, I liked them just fine but I wasn't a huge fan. But "The Fly" was very different from anything else on the radio at the time. The single ushered in a thrilling period of successful experimentation over the course of three albums (four, if you count The Passengers side project).

Unfortunately, the relatively poor selling "Pop" -- a hugely underrated record --- made them more musically conservative in their silly quest to maintain their status as "the biggest band in the world." The past two albums each featured a clutch of great songs (among them, "New York," "Kite," "Vertigo," "Crumbs from My Table," "City of Blinding Lights") but there was a lot of filler, too, and the Eno-vation of the 1990s had evaporated.

But I get a sense that they're rediscovered their creative fire once again. In a December 2007 interview, Bono hinted that the new album would include "trance influences" and a "dancefloor shock," but also stated that "...there's some very hardcore guitar coming out of The Edge. Real molten metal. It's not like anything we've ever done before, and we don't think it sounds like anything anyone else has done either."

In November, The Edge said: "It sounds like a U2 album but it doesn't sound like anything we've done before and it doesn't really sound like anything that's happening at the moment."

The latest Rolling Stone, which includes a track-by-track guide to "No Line on the Horizon," says the album has the loudest and fastest songs U2 has ever done and it says that some of the songs reclaim the experimentation of their "Achtung Baby" through "Pop" albums. Hoorah!

So, all these years later, comes the first single, "Get on Your Boots." Much like "The Fly" it seems to be a statement of intent (a similar strategy to Coldplay's recent "Violet Hill" and Keane's "Spiralling") than an attempt to showcase the album's most crowd-pleasing tune. If I were to compare it to past U2 songs, I'd say it's "Vertigo" meets "Fast Car" meets "Discotechque." Strange, yet catchier with each listen. Hear it here.

The best albums of 2008

In all, I reckon 2008 has been a fabulous year for music. My favorite band, Marillion, released a masterpiece that ranks as my fave record of the year. Below are the best records I heard in 2008, which are uncannily similar that of Uncut magazine.

1) Marillion -- Happiness is the Road
2) Shearwater (pictured) -- Rook
3) Fleet Foxes -- Fleet Foxes
4) Steven Wilson -- Insurgentes (The Porcupine Tree leader's solo record is released Feb. '09)
5) Bon Iver -- For Emma, Forever
6) TV on the Radio -- Dear Science
7) Elbow -- The Seldom Seen Kid
8) No-Man -- Schoolyard Ghosts
9) Goldfrapp -- Seventh Tree
10) Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds -- Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!

(In no particular order)
11) Coldplay -- Viva La Vida (Prospekts March version)
12) Richard Barbieri -- Stranger Inside
13) Opeth -- Watershed
14) The Cure -- 4:13 Dream
15) Justin Adams & Judah Caldeh -- Soul Science
16) Drive By Truckers -- Brighter than Creation's Dark
17) Brian Eno & David Byrne -- Everything That Happens
18) Sigur Rós - Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust (did I spell that correctly?)
19) The Mummers -- Tale to Tell
20) Toumani Diabate -- The Mande Variations

Great songs from other albums:

Santogold -- Les Artistes
Verve -- I See Houses
Keane -- Falling Down
Death Cab for Cutie -- I Will Possess Your Heart
Ryan Adams -- Magick
Brian Eno & David Byrne -- Strange Overtones
Gary Moore -- Preacher Man Blues
Joseph Arthur -- She paints me Gold
Peter Gabriel -- Whole Thing
REM -- Accelerate
She & Him -- Why Do You Let Me Stay Here
Jenny Lewis -- Acid Tongue
Oasis -- Shock of the Lightning
My Morning Jacket -- Evil Urges
Metallica -- Broken, Beat, and Scarred
AC/DC -- Black Ice
BB King -- How Many More Years
Sheryl Crow -- Motivation
B52s -- Eyes Wide Open

Coldplagiarism?

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As someone who owns the complete back catalogue of both Joe Satriani and Coldplay, I was aghast at reports that the guitarist is suing the band. Satch's claim: "Viva La Vida" uses "substantial" portions of his song, "If I Could Fly." This is the second instance of someone claiming that the song is a ripoff of another tune. An obscure band called Creaky Boards created a similar fuss and even accused Chris Martin of attending of their shows. At this rate, I wouldn't be surprised if Toumani Diabate asserted he'd written "Viva La Vida" first.

But, I gotta admit that the bald guitarist -- renowned for having fingers a stenographer would envy -- seems to have a viable case. This side-by-side comparison, followed by a mashup of the two pieces, reveals an uncanny similarity.

But Coldplay may have a viable alibi. Can you imagine the Brit soft rockers ever listening to a Joe Satriani record? Guitarist Jonny Buckland, who I interviewed years back, seems more likely to have been influenced by The Edge. Moreover, when Coldplay knicked a riff from Kraftwerk's "Computer Love" for its "Talk," they made sure to get permission from the Germany's Max Headroom gang first. Coldplay seem like honest types. I've also interviewed Satriani and he's a standup guy not prone to pulling publicity stunts and, hell, if Satriani called this musicologist to the witness stand it might be akin to the gotcha moment in a Perry Mason episode.

From Heroes to Zeros

A curious property of the DVR: It reveals what your true TV priorities are. I recently sat down to watch an episode of "Heroes," a show I've watched since it first aired, and I found that I couldn't bring myself to press the "play" button. I had the epiphany that I no longer cared about the show or its characters.

Season 3 has recycled the plots and subplots of earlier episodes. The future is yet again threatened by apocalypse. Hiro, who should be a kick-ass sumurai warrior by now, is still about as threatening as a panda. And Claire again has daddy issues ... again. (Someone save this cheerleader, please!) Entertainment Weekly seems to have noticed that the show is in a rut, too. (Wait, didn't creator Tim Kring already promise that he'd fix the show earlier this year?) "Heroes" may pull itself out of a nosedive just a "Lost" did last season. But until that happens, if it happens, the episodes are going to pile up like so many Tetris blocks on my DVR.

Aussiewood woes

Australia has produced a disproportionate number of A-list stars: Mel Gibson, Naomi Watts, Heath Ledger, Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, and Cate Blanchett. So why is Aussiewood unable to retain its talent or even lure Australians to see homegrown films?

My latest story takes a look at the Antipodean industry's deep-rooted problems as well as its hopes to boomerang back on to the world stage with films such as "Australia" and government restucturing of its various film agencies.

The last time an Australian film of particular note made an impact on US screens was probably "Lantana." The Dec. 5 release of a Toni Collette dramedy called "The Black Balloon" could make a similar splash on the art house circuit if US critics embrace it as much as Australian reviewers.

Music roundup

Here's a batch of new album reviews, including my take on AC/DC's riff-tastic "Black Ice," Jenny Lewis's bittersweet "Acid Tongue," Ryan Adams's country-rockin' "Cardinology," and the piano pop of Keane's "Perfect Symmetry."

Best of all: Marillion's "Happiness is the Road," a double album with more diverse elements than the Periodic Table.

Check out its lead single, "Whatever is Wrong With You" for free here.

Pop culture will shape W.'s legacy

What would the ideal American president look like? The public’s idea of what qualities the president should embody is very apparent in pop culture. The occupant of the oval office has also come to be seen as almost a superhero figure – here in Los Angeles there are dozens of posters of Barack Obama in a Superman outfit -- and we’ve seen image in pop culture in movies such as “Air Force One” and “Independence Day.”

The president has also been presented as a sage elder with supreme wisdom in TV series such as “The West Wing.” And the president has also come to be seen as an uber celebrity – JFK, Reagan, and Clinton all had star power.

But pop culture, for the most part, has not been kind to George W. Bush, as I wrote in my latest piece.

A new endangered species: music critics

I recently attended a forum about the future of (professional) critics that was held at the USC Annenberg school for Communication. A number of top critics were on the panel, including LA Times music writer Ann Powers and EW's Chris Willman. For the most part, the writers lamented the decline of readership in the Internet age and how the general devaluation of critics in print publications.

I recently wrote about this phenomenon and so David Browne, formerly head music critic for EW, and now a full-time author (most recently of the definitive Sonic Youth biography"Goodbye Twentieth Century") sent along the following trenchant observation about the state of music criticism:

"Hey Stephen: Very interesting piece--I was wondering when someone
would write about the decline in music critics in the same way they've
covered the falloff of film and TV critics. Consider yourself a
pioneer! I bet lots of people will read this--and then write their own
versions. So good for you.

I would add one note to the piece: The problem with music criticism
isn't just the influx of Internet voices--it's the fact that those new
voices are actually opinionated. "Music criticism" in most print
publications is, to me, dead. It's over. Everything is three-stars and
up. Everyone champions everything. When was the last time you read a
mixed review of a major new release in RS, Blender, Spin, Paste, etc.
etc.,,etc.?   It's very, very sad. At least the Stereogums and blogs
of the world will tell you if something is good or sucks. No one else
does anymore."