Bill Maher has been on a recent roll on HBO:
A couple of weeks ago, he opined:
After a year of Covid-19, I had hoped for a little Hollywood escapism.
But, judging by this year’s best-picture nominees, you couldn’t have a worse time at the movies if there was an active shooter in the theater.
More specifically, Maher gave a synopsis of the nominee movies, starting with “Nomadland,” which took home the award for best picture:
It’s about a woman who winds up living in her van after her husband dies of cancer.
And, the rest of the litter:
- In ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’: The FBI kills the leader of the Black Panthers
- In ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’: The FBI kills the leader of the Black Panthers again.
- In ‘Promising Young Woman’: Carey Mulligan tries to avenge a murderous rapist, but he ends up killing her too.
- In ‘The Sound Of Metal’: A musician goes deaf.
- In ‘The Father’: An octogenarian descendsinto dementia.
- ‘Minari’ is the story of dirt-poor Korean immigrants in Arkansas who put all their food in a barn, but then grandma has a stroke and burns it down. Now enjoy the show!”
As opinionator Bill McGurn of the WSJ sums it up this way:
For years conservatives have bemoaned Hollywood’s influence on American norms and mores.
Sunday night’s awards show ought to allay any such fears.
Far from showcasing the movie industry’s mighty influence on American life, the 93rd Academy Awards confirmed that our movie industry no longer even knows how to entertain.
So, rather than catching-up with this year’s Oscar nominees, I guess I’ll just keep watching “Burn Notice” reruns on Amazon Prime.
The Homa Files 