We call it "screener season." It's the end of the year, and both films
and TV are jockeying for nominations from the various members of the
nominating bodies. So, because the rules often say that you cannot
actually vote for a film or a TV show unless you have seen it, they
arrange private, elite screenings in the best theaters in town. But
still, many of the members are as jaded as the rest of us, and have
better "screening rooms" in their homes than exist in the theaters. So
the producers send them "screeners," either as DVDs or Blurays, so they
can watch them at home.
The people sending out these screeners encrypt them and insert special
visible codes into them so that if any of them "leak" and become
available on the Internet, they can know who "leaked" them, and cut them
out of the loop next year. That's the theory, anyway. The theory is just
so much bullshit. Any screener released to the Academy or the Golden
Globes voters ends up in the pirate verse within days, all of its
encryption and hidden codes gone. The media companies hate it. We
pirates love it. No more "CAM jobs" created by taking a cheap video
camera into a theater and pointing it at the screen. Nope, these are
pristine copies, and on a good TV and sound system like mine, pretty
close to the "theater experience."
Anyway, this is the season for them to appear, and they've started to. I
currently have in my "To Watch" pile pristine copies of the new "The
Hobbit" movie, "The Butler," "All Is Lost," "Blue Is The Warmest Color,"
"Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom," and the one I'm looking forward to the
most ("Her" not being available yet), "American Hustle."
For some reason, however, this Monday-off-work afternoon, I decided to
start with something light. It's a Ron Howard film, and he's iffy, but I
thought I'd give classic macho a chance. I was not disappointed by the
opening lines, "25 drivers start every season in Formula One, and each
year, two of us die. What kind of person does a job like this? Rebels,
lunatics, dreamers. People who are desperate to make a mark, and willing
to die trying."
I'm watching this one first because today IS a kinda light, happy day
for me, and I'm not up for the heaviness of some of the other offerings.
And also because I actually saw Niki Lauda and James Hunt race against
each other, and it was fascinating, even from the stands. If you've
never been behind the wheel of a racing car (I have been lucky enough to
have done so), it's a more macho sport than almost anything else you can
imagine.
The movie is called "Rush," and it's about the last era of F1 racing I
followed, having grown up on earlier eras that featured even more
flamboyent drivers like Stirling Moss and Graham Hill. But don't get
your hopes up. This is *not* a great movie, and not even a great racing
movie, even if you're a guy. There have been better.
But it was perfect for this afternoon, and I don't regret having watched
it, or skimmed through it, which is more accurate. If you love cars, and
remember the great open-wheel racing cars of the 70s, you might like it,
too. Those who have never seen the wrong side of 150 mph on their
speedometers...or even wanted to...might want to skip it.
