No "Love" at the Oscars

The Academy Awards came and went this year, and one of my favorite films of 2010, True Grit, got no love at the Oscars, despite receiving 10 nominations! While The King's Speech won best picture, it tied with Inception for the most number of wins--four. (All of the wins for Inception were much deserved technical awards.) Otherwise, the winners were evenly distributed--The Social Network won three awards, while The Fighter, Toy Story 3 and Alice in Wonderland each won two. Black Swan received one win, as did The Wolfman (for make-up, which was the only thing in that movie that was worth even mentioning). Despite all that sharing of Oscar gold, Joel and Ethan Coen's adaptation of Arkansan Charles Portis' beloved novel didn't make the cut.

Our Home Fry-ed Movie for March also got no love on Oscar night, even though it received six nominations including best picture. Love Affair, directed by Leo McCarey and starring Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer, didn't have a chance. It was bested in four of its nominated categories by Gone With the Wind, that went on to receive a record-setting ten Academy Awards. In the other two categories, it was beat out by Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and The Wizard of Oz. If you're going to get beaten, this is good company!

Like True Grit, 1939's Love Affair is a great movie and well worth seeing, even though both got the snub on Oscar night. The first showings of Love Affair are Friday, March 25 at 8 p.m., Saturday, March 26 at midnight and Sunday, March 27 at 11 a.m. on UALR University Television (Channel 61 on Little Rock Comcast and 99 on U-Verse). You can also catch it at various times in April.