By Frank “Smokin” Truatt
The Oscars are always a big production celebrating the best from Hollywood from the previous year. This past Sunday the public tuned in to see the actors, some checked out the elaborate gowns, and some watched see if their favorite film won an award. Things today are a bit different than they were just a decade or two ago. We all love movies but probably spend less time in the movie theater and more time watching films at home using streaming services like Netflix and Amazon. It makes sense because today our at-home television experience is very theater-like. We all have flat mega screen televisions that give us a picture with amazing clarity and sound. We also spend too much on these streaming and cable services and hate to add on the price of a night at a movie theater. When you factor in the tickets with a trip to the snack bar, for a family of four a night out can become a significant expense. But what movies are we watching at home? Are they the big Oscar winners of today? Are we watching “The Brutalist” or “A Complete Unknown” or “Conclave?” With so many choices out there, not to mention binge watching a television series or two, watching a top current movie that the critics say is great may not be that high on our must-see list. No matter how old you are, there are many classic films that need to be seen, and they are all available on your home television set 24 hours a day. For me, The Oscars are a celebration of music as each film has a soundtrack either with original music or classic hits. The Oscar is given to the songwriters who have written a song for a specific film. Needless to say, the songs were usually played on the radio and often the singer would get the Oscar by contributing the lyrics or the music. Don’t expect the nominees any time soon to be big hits on today’s radio! The 1970’s had Oscars were handed out to “The Morning After,” “The Way We Were,” “Evergreen,” “You Light Up My Life,” and “Thank God It’s Friday” to name a few. All were hits on the radio still playing on classic radio today. This year’s winner was “El Mal” from the movie “Emilia Perez.” I don’t expect you to start humming that tune any time soon, or for that matter, any of the other nominees this year. They may be great songs, but I’ve never heard any of them. Oh well, I guess it could be worse, I could be an academy member responsible for voting to choose the winner!
