Best Picture Blow Out

There has been a considerable amount of chatter about the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' decision to expand the field of contenders for the main event award - Best Picture - from five nominees to ten. Some like it. Others don't. Some have contested that films like The Dark Knight and Wall-E would have made the cut, had the 81st Awards been contested under these new/old rules. Suggested outside shots: Iron Man and In Bruges.

Obviously, it doesn't make sense to speculate what the impact of this decision is until the nominees are announced, and hardly any films have been released that scream for attention. However, I have a few random observations.

1. This changes nothing, besides allowing a blockbuster and maybe a few controversial indie pics into the mix. The way things are set up right now, an animated movie and a foreign flick are still unlikely to be nominated.

2. Obviously, this is being done to add more drama to the Oscarcast. Last year's was pathetically predictable, as Slumdog Millionaire was dominating the world and could not be stopped. Slumdog vs. The Dark Knight would have been a much more interesting telecast/post-show debate. Theoretically, everybody's office Oscar pool is now a crapshoot. Will that raise ratings? The Academy sure hopes so.

3. The 10-contestant field was seen way back in 1932. It was whittled down to five in 1944. In my opinion, 1941 was the strongest of those years, where John Ford's How Green Was My Valley beat out Citizen Kane, The Maltese Falcon, Sergeant York, and Suspicion. The Academy would kill for a five film field as strong as that. Can you name the other five films up for the award that year? Probably not, but here's four that were snubbed: High Sierra, Dumbo, The Wolfman and The Lady Eve.

The long and short of this relative non-story is this: It changes absolutely nothing, and might even water down an already watered down award.

Hopefully, this is the only Oscar-related post until February, 2010.