Director Joe Russo Lays Blame on Harvey Weinstein for the Fall from Grace of Hollywood Blockbusters During Awards Season

Let’s face it: The Oscars are much more fun when there’s a particular dog in the race which we’re rooting for. And it’s probably no coincidence that some of the more popular Oscar telecasts have taken place in years when a crowd-pleasing favorite blockbuster ascends to the awards show ranks. Titanic and Forrest Gump (‘97 and ‘94 respectively) reeled in more viewers than you could shake a pop culture stick at, and they were far from anomalous. Up until a handful of years ago, it felt as if the vaunted Academy Awards truly had their fingers on the pulse of middle-class and blue-collar families not only in North America, but throughout the blessed world. More recently? Meh. An important script or recipe feels as if it’s been lost, perhaps never to return. Whereas fifteen to twenty years ago independent films – those with supposedly more substance than their Hollywood big budget brethren – were the delightful and rebellious punk rockers that accidentally got invited to the Big Party, it feels in more recent times that the script has been flipped and nearly everything could somehow qualify as an arthouse flick with an important message to impart to viewers. Not that we don’t love some of those indie darlings – heck, we were proud flag-wavers for the likes of My Own Private Idaho, Blue Velvet and My Left Foot when it wasn’t necessarily mainstream cool to be so – but it feels as if the scale in movie awards shows has been tipped in recent years perhaps a wee bit too far into the exclusionary and elitist camp, rather than a ‘Come one, come all’ Barnum and Bailey populist style of filmmaking which we also dearly love and have affection for. In other words, it feels as if the balance is all off.

Our high-heeled pals over at Variety are dipping into the so-called culture wars with a piece today on director Joe Russo, one-half of the directing machine which includes brother Anthony. These two money-minting maestros have breathed life into both comic book characters and the box-office with their efforts on such movies as Avengers: Endgame and Captain America: Winter Soldier. So you’d think they would have something quite salient to add to the pendulum shift from the commercial to the arthouse.

Blaming disgraced former Miramax mogul Harvey Weinstein for the seeming exclusion of audience favorites from awards shows where once upon a time they had been a veritable staple, Joe Russo went scorched earth on the politics and virtue signaling of current day Hollywood.

“He vilified mainstream movies to champion the art films he pushed for Oscar campaigns,” Russo explained during a sit-down with The Sunday Times as reported by Variety. “Popular films were winning Oscars before the mid ‘90s, then Weinstein started mudslinging campaigns…It affected how audiences view the Oscars, because they’ve not seen most of the movies. We’re in a complicated place. Things we should all be enjoying collectively we instead punch each other in the face over.”

Arguing that, whether you love ‘em or hate ‘em, Marvel movies have been a large component in keeping movie theatres afloat during difficult slumps, Russo went on to elaborate even further about what ails current day Hollywood, saying that “Like everything, the film space has become divisive. Everything is about who can be the loudest, who can clickbait the most.”

Some salient points, indeed. With the advent of ‘social’ media and rampant tribalism which borders on hysteria, can movies ever become centrist again, uniting all of us despite our different leanings? We here at Tune Flickers HQ certainly hold out hope on that front…

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