The Oscars, or: An excuse for Tim to groan about rich, popular, folk desperately swanning about trying to get richer and more popular!

Okay. As you have probably guessed, I need to get something off my chest. So you may want to step back a little; maybe a little more!

I used to be obsessed with the Oscars. Even after I began to realise that the best film almost never won, and that the show itself was kinda naff, I still made sure that I would be home in time to catch the start. Not to mention spending the day trying to avoid any spoilers! 

Well, that day has long gone! I will probably still tune in, in the hope that this year the Academy gets it right, but any enthusiasm has long since ebbed away. And with this years nominees they have little chance of getting it right; well, maybe in the smaller categories.

By my count, the last time the best film of the year actually won the best film Oscar was 1992 for Clint Eastwood's magnificent Unforgiven! Last year the Academy came close to redeeming themselves. Alas, while No Country for Old Men is a classic, and certainly much better than the usual dreck that wins (Crash, anyone? Sorry, this may be a recurring theme; and quiet in the cheap seats; you know who you are!), it is no There Will Be Blood; a film, that I feel, will be remembered alongside the likes of Casablanca and The Godfather Part 2; it has a gravity and a focus of vision that is rare in any period of film-making, but, particularly so in films showing in today's multiplexes. 

This year's best picture nominees are all fairly predictable. Feel good entertainment about someone overcoming all odds? Check. Bio of someone fighting against all odds? Check (times two). Nazis? Check. The big shock was no nomination for either of the well-received popular entertainments of last year; namely, Wall-E and The Dark Knight. Benjamin Button, the film with the most nominations, is the type of film that the Academy usually supports; a sentimental, yet epic plot, with over-arching themes that never quite gels as well as its technical prowess, or intentions, would have you believe.

Now, admittedly, four of this years nominees have been quite well received, with the other being commended on its best-intentions and acting etc, but with so many great independent and foreign films released each year, isn't it the film industry's role to seek out and commend the truly deserving films? Sure, they may end up being an already successful film, but it would be refreshing to see some thought going into the nominations instead of the Academy going through the same usual motions.

Anyway, my recommendation this year, as the red carpets roll out, is to head down to your local video store and take a chance on a film. This one would do very nicely! Or, if you are really daring, try to track this one down.