Two French Movies Vie for Best Film

Whether they are really French is irrelevant, one was filmed in Paris and the other was a French production, tous les deux are Gallic.

Hugo deserves as many awards as it can get. The Artist should be Best Picture because it is so novel. Michel Hazanavicius, as its director, should take the Oscar.

Both leads in The Artist also should win, Jean Dujardin for best actor and Berenice Beijo for best supporting actress.

Virtually every performance of Glenn Close is Oscar-worthy. Meryl Streep has plenty of Oscars, and the role of the Iron Lady should have gone to Helen Mirren.

Viola Davis gave The Help what it needed to lift itself up from previous civil rights movies and deserves best actress.

Kenneth Branagh deserves best supporting actor. A true renaissance performer on stage, on screen or producing and directing.

For musical song, head south for the samba. Rio in Rio.

This year seems to have a surplus of excellent and original movies, including “The Tree of Life” and “The War Horse.”

The Artist has an old-fashioned kicker, a surprise ending not to be revealed here.

Entertainment Industry Picked Wrong Time to be Money-Grubbers

One evening in Manhattan in the mid ‘70s I was leaving Rockefeller Center for home and the thunder began.

I could have taken a subway, but chose to dance my way “Singing in the Rain,” literally.

The way things seem headed, if I tried it today the copyright police would be after me.

Yes the industry has slipped some new obstacles past us, but they seem to be losing the war.

Entertainment is about the only bright thing on the horizon in these dismal days. Don’t expect any sympathy from the 99 when all that money is going to the 1ers.

A quietly negotiated Web strangling agreement is being repudiated. A European judge blocked an order requiring social media to insert filters to prevent copyright abuse.

Back in the day many, if not most, would have had no argument with making sure entertainers got their fair share. With the earnings in the billions it is hard to shed more than a crocodile tear.

The concept of making music cheaper and infinitely easier to acquire, might have held the high ground.

Not so when an online bookseller got $15 from me for a Kindle edition by a little-known writer.

Few subjects are less prone to be targets of the Occupy people.