This year’s Oscar race is poised to reward films that are good *and* popular
On the first day of the Toronto International Film Festival last week, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that the Oscars will table the polarizing new category meant to honor the year’s “outstanding achievement in popular film.” Good. The award isn’t only misguided ― what makes a film popular, and why reward something on those grounds? ― but also quite unnecessary, as the festival itself made clear. […]