Awards season is well and truly upon us, we have had the Golden Globes, the BAFTAS and the Oscars are less than two weeks away, and I love it.
I have had a love affair with movies all my life. A trip to the cinema, a new find on Netflix or a pile of DVDs and a friend or two can make a mundane day extraordinary. I suppose watching a film is like going on a mini adventure. Whilst I’m stuck at home, heading to work every day because I need to save money for my own next adventure (or in the case of the last couple of days suffering severe food poisoning and feeling sorry for myself.) I can watch these films and be transported to another world, another place.
There is something so comforting to be found in movies, you can see yourself, your troubles, your fears, your hopes splashed across the screen and you can see that you are not alone. Yet at the same time they create magic, they inspire you and spark dreams and they bring a world beyond all your imaginings into your own home.
To me I suppose the Oscars is a celebration of all those who create dreams.
I always make it my mission to watch all the films nominated for Best Picture, partly because it’s good fun guessing the outcome and either hurling abuse or cheering when winners are announced but mostly because it has led me to some wonderful discoveries. I don’t always like the films, occasionally I struggle to see how they’re nominated let alone win (Birdman I’m looking at you) but more often than not I fall in love. Take for example Argo, Dallas Buyers Club, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Spotlight, The Artist, The Blind Side and countless others, all films I love, perhaps I would have watched them anyway, perhaps not but I did watch them and my life was better for it.
Even better is when you discover the stories behind the films, I would never have chosen to watch last years nominee Hacksaw Ridge off my own back but the story blew me away, and truthfully I sobbed through most of the film, Desmond Doss will always be a hero to me (and I will always have a crush on Andrew Garfield!)
Through the Oscars I have discovered wonderful, beautiful, inspiring and heart-breaking stories that will stay with me forever.
I will most likely never go to the Oscars, when I was a teenager I dreamed of a day when I would be a famous actress up on the stage accepting award, but as I grew up I realised how completely unrealistic that was. Nevertheless I love it, because on this night you get to watch people’s dreams coming true, see previously untold stories celebrated, unsung heroes being sung and every good (and bad) part of being human on display. Plus you get a little bit of glamorous escapism, which makes me forget I’m sat watching in my pjs shovelling popcorn and chocolate down my throat and have to be at work the next day where I will most likely be too tired to function properly.
So for the next ten days I will be posting my reviews of the nine films up for this years prestigious Best Picture Award, the good, the bad and the god damn beautiful. Let the countdown begin!
Scattered Thoughts 