Gone fishin’

And so we come to the end of the 2010-2011 Oscar season.  Like Jerry said, what a long, strange trip it’s been.

Naturally, I want to thank all of the readers who make this an engaging and fun place to come to every day.  I’ve received a lot of generous notes, Tweets and comments in recent weeks regarding the overall culture of the site this season, but I really do attribute much of that to the audience.

You’re only as good as your readership in this game, I think, but you do get what you put out there.  For our part, we strive to put out a level evaluation of a silly process while infusing it with enough of our own passions and personal considerations to hopefully steer it clear of analytical boredom, all the while refraining from taking any of it too seriously.  It’s the only way I know how to do it, frankly.  And that’s what we got back from you, as well.  So thank you for that.

It was a tough season down the stretch, suffocating rhetoric and snarky negativity leading to an oppressive atmosphere in some quarters.  And that is not a shot at any particular entity, but more toward an overall vibe that was established on a number of fronts.

I couldn’t live in that kind of a funk every day.  But then again, most of my favorite films in the 10 years I’ve been doing this — “Exit Through the Gift Shop,” “A Serious Man,” “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” “The Fountain,” “Inland Empire,” “Last Days,” “Dogville,” “Finding Nemo,” “Punch Drunk Love” — have been anything BUT serious contenders for Best Picture.  So I admit I’m predisposed to taking it all with a grain of salt.  Still, I’d like to think we’ve been respectful of other perspectives.

The media had a prize pony this year, one that looked like it could go the distance.  Not only that, it was a pony that was representative of the media.  It was, really and truly, “their film.”  But to paraphrase Guy from a recent column, it’s a shame that these delicate things called films have to become the property of ideological parties during an Oscar season, rather than of individual imaginations.

Which is a nice segue to my most important note of closure.  The site wouldn’t have been what it was this season without the committed work of Gerard Kennedy, Chad Hartigan and, truly my right hand, Guy Lodge.  For years this thing was merely a personal thought process vomited out on HTML.  There is no doubt in my mind that this has been a better outlet since the addition of peripheral, dynamic voices, and to see those voices become stronger and help shape the identity of the site over the years has been quite special.  I’m biased, but I think we hit a new high mark this year.

These things start to sound like Oscar acceptance speeches, but I want to thank my colleagues, especially Anne Thompson, who always makes a nice counter to my positions.  Oscar Talk is doing well two years in and more and more, I’m glad she talked me into doing it.

My fellow Oscar writers are becoming legion at this stage.  Once upon a time it was just a few names.  Dave Karger, Tom O’Neil, Sasha Stone, David Poland, Pete Hammond, Steve Pond, Jeff Wells, Greg Ellwood, Scott Feinberg, Anthony Breznican, Susan Wloszcyna, Tim Appelo, Rebecca Keegan, Nicole Sperling, Stu VanAirsdale, Melena Ryzik, Ryan Adams, John Lopez — so many names have joined the circus, and I hope I don’t offend by omission.  But I appreciate all you do, however you choose to do it.  To say nothing of the countless film journo friends and acquaintances who aren’t a part of the awards madness and who assuredly can’t stand to hear another word about it.  Thanks for being an oasis.

And with that, I step away.  I usually try to get back around to updating after a quick post-Oscars break, but I have a number of projects I’d like to busy myself with and tracking films in release during the spring is nowhere near my list of priorities.  Guy will have a few lingering notes over the next few days, however, so the lights won’t go out just yet.

Additionally, I have not done the usual duty of digging into the 2011-2012 awards season because I could never find the head space to go there.  So there will be no year-in-advance coverage of any sort.  No predictions, no contenders.  I don’t even know what is worth keeping an eye on yet.  But I’m sure you can busy yourselves with that without my help.

And finally, after this afternoon’s season-ending installment, it looks like Oscar Talk is also going on hiatus.  Last year we offered up a few off-season discussions, but at least as of right now, I’m not feeling it.  Maybe we’ll do something out of Cannes with Anne and Guy, which would make some sense, given that that’s around the time I expect to come out of hibernation.  But we’ll see.  The week of August 22 is more likely the starting gun of serious coverage on my end of things.

Hopefully that’s not too disappointing, but hopefully, too, you understand.

Thank you again for getting me through the season.  I hope we did the same for you and maybe added to your enjoyment of the circuit in some small way.  Thanks for challenging our opinions and perspectives and, in general, keeping us on our toes.  It’s a group effort, and we have a hell of a group here each and every day debating and conversing.  And I know you’ll be here when I resurface, which is the most heartening thing of all.

Here’s to what’s next.

[Photo: Producers Distribution Agency]