The Rainy Parade
Rain is in the forecast for the Oscars and it's a good thing.
Perhaps now Hollywood will realize what it feels like to be an audience member this decade. Each week at the box office, it's seems like it is the same thing; a load of crap with, if we're lucky, a quality, depressing film thrown in. Now I like dark turns as much as the next film snob but Tinsel Town has turned into Dismal Town. The top writers/actors/directors often turn to the edgier fare and pretty much everyone has given up the idea that you can make a feel-good movie that not loaded in schmaltz.
This is one reason that I think Juno has a chance to pull off the upset. It might not be a throwback to the Golden Era but at least it's a film that doesn't make you leave the theater unhappier than when you walked in. Should it win? Probably not, but it's the Oscars and when has merit ever mattered?
Still, as much as I like a good anti-hero, I think it's time Hollywood started doing their best to churn out some happier films. Hell, they might even find that Middle America will go to some of these top films if you give them something to really root for/feel good about.
