Award Worthiness

    As the calendar turns to February  movie fans find themselves in the middle of awards season.The Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild have recently given out their respective awards for movies from 2010.The Academy Awards are not far off so perhaps it is a good time to ask ourselves what makes a movie worthy of an award? I believe the cohesive and seamless meshing of excellent writing,cinematography,acting ,directing ,and editing are necessary to make a movie worthy of being nominated and subsequently winning an award.Usually one of the above mentioned parts of a movie shine above the others but it is when they blend together perfectly that a movie becomes  really noteworthy and deserving of an award.
  When I view a movie and try to decide if I believe it is noteworthy i ask myself if the characters are believable and can i relate to them .Does the storyline or concept move me or  give reason to pause and really think?.Another thing I look for is entertainment.Was I entertained by the movie?Does the movie cause me to feel something emotionally? When I feel something and can relate to the characters and am forced to think about what i have just seen and have been entertained I have seen a noteworthy movie that i believe is deserving of an award . Two movies that are on my list of favorites that I believe meet my criteria for award worthiness are Casablanca and the Matrix.
  Casablanca was filmed in 1942 in black and white and is a classic that is on the list of many top 100 lists of all time great movies.When lines like "Play it again Sam'' and "Here's looking at you kid " become entrenched in our minds and memories and are referenced  almost seventy years after being made then you know you are talking about one terrific movie.Even movies made in this generation often reference lines or scenes from Casablanca.This classic still holds up well when judged against movies today.This movie really contains all the aspects that I look for in a noteworthy and award winning movie .

  The Matrix makes my top 100 list of best movies even though it may not make a lot other peoples lists.It received awards for editing and sound and was nominated for cinematography.The Matrix may not contain all of the elements that I look for when determining the award worthiness of a movie but it is very special nevertheless because of the special effects and action sequences and because of the implicit meanings that lie beneath the surface of the film.I believe it to be one of the best Science-Fiction movies pf the last 25 or 30 years.The philosophical themes that permeate this movie continue to be written about by philosophy students in their thesis work and professors of philosophy use the Matrix to teach philosophical concepts and in fact entire philosophy courses are centered on the philosophy of the Matrix.A movie that can have that type of effect on society makes my top 100 list even if the writing and acting are not award material.I am glad to find out that the American Film Institute also has The Matrix on its list of top movies so I am not alone in this analysis.