1. Damn. I really enjoyed watching the past award winners present the nominees too. It made the whole ceremony feel much more significant to both the audience and the new winners. I thought that really captured the significance of the brotherhood/sisterhood that is the Academy Award winners.... I hope they keep that integrity!!!

Posted at 4:15PM on Nov 17th 2009 by Mike

2. What the hell do you mean, bad-mouthing Roger Corman, you dipshit? Apparently you think the Poe cycle films are trash, you idiot. Not to mention that he practically discovered every seasoned American actor and director working in films since the sixties. Do your homework asshole. That oscar is well-deserved

Posted at 4:22PM on Nov 17th 2009 by Dan West

3. I am glad they are getting rid of that it was hokey and I don't think it worked real well. It felt like some sort of coven inducting a new person. LOL It was nice to see them try something new than they way they were doing it with the previous year's opposite gender winner doing the award.

Then again, I am all for not having the Oscars on TV anymore. Televising what is essentially a corporate award ceremony is silly. I have to sit through them for my company, why would I want to sit through it for someone else's?

Posted at 4:27PM on Nov 17th 2009 by Rich

4. Did you seriously fucking write that? You actually, in addition to taking a direct swipe at Corman, made an analogy using Uwe Boll?

Your apparent ignorance of Roger Corman's filmography, and completely childish dismissal of the man's life's work, should be license to fire you and ban you from ever writing about film again.

That isn't hyperbole. Stop writing about film you tasteless, classless ignoramus. You're clearly a fucking dolt.

Posted at 4:41PM on Nov 17th 2009 by Slappy

5. As long as we're making sweeping generalizations...
Roger Corman is an American hero. He is a brilliant businessman, a visionary director and radically altered the landscape of the industry and artform. He also provided more filmgoers across the world with more entertainment and satisfaction than any other filmmaker who ever won an Oscar.

Posted at 5:05PM on Nov 17th 2009 by Chris Stangl

6. Yeah... Roger Corman made some terrible films; he also made several great ones (the same could be said of Hitchcock). And, like they say, he jump started the careers of, like, the majority of important American filmmakers and actors for a generation (that generation being The Second Golden Age of American Cinema, no less). Bad form, dawg.

I think it's too bad they're cutting this from the regular program too. It's always been one of the main highlights of the Oscars for me.

Posted at 5:05PM on Nov 17th 2009 by Davey

7. Eric, I must agree with Dan and Slappy. I have been writing about film for years (at Cinema Styles) and if I were to ever write anything that clearly ignorant of a film director's career I would rightly expect to be called upon to throw in the towel. Despite giving starts to practically every A-list director of the seventies Corman also has to his credit an impressive list of films done on shoestrings with cobbled together crews and available sets and still possessing of a style and grace that outdid many big budget films of the time. His Poe films were on par with the work of Hammer Films and that's saying quite a lot.

Having read these stunning words about Corman in your piece I was sent scrambling to check out your bio. I came upon this question and answer:

WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO WRITE ABOUT MOVIES?

"Being unable to write knowledgeably about anything else"

I'm afraid, Eric, you must now add movies to that long list of subjects upon which you cannot write knowledgeably. Sorry.

Posted at 5:07PM on Nov 17th 2009 by Greg

8. On this day, November the 17th 2009, Eric D. Snider committed professional suicide by making a moronic statement confirming his complete ignorance of film history. All of us with a brain henceforth know if he continues to write about film to disregard his empty-headed opinions.

Posted at 5:17PM on Nov 17th 2009 by Slappy

9. When did the comments on here turn into an aintitcool.com talkback?

I enjoy some good, colorful language as much as the next guy, but angrily tossing around expletives just because you happen to disagree doesn't supplement your argument. It makes you seem like a self-righteous fool looking for a fight.

How about before you guys jump to name-calling you remind yourselves of a few important facts:

1) You are not the person being written about. Therefore any criticisms are not a personal attack on you.

2) We're talking about movies here. Make believe. Entertainment. This isn't life and death, people.

3) Opinions are subjective and everyone is entitled to their own.

Let's cut the bloggers on this site a little more slack and at least attempt to express ourselves in a mature manner. You can disagree without being deliberately confrontational.

Posted at 5:22PM on Nov 17th 2009 by Mike

10. Eric Snider must have been very good friends with someone to be writing for Cinematical. How many films directed by Roger Corman has he actually seen? "The Intruder"? "The Mask of the Red Death". "X - The Man with the X-Ray Eyes" (a favorite of someone Snider might have heard of, Martin Scorsese)?

And while we're at it, is Snider even aware that Corman was the one during the early to mid-Seventies to bring Fellini, Truffaut and Kurosawa's films to the U.S. No less than Ingmar Bergman expressed his appreciation for Corman's distribution of "Cries and Whispers", his most successful film to play in the U.S.

Cinematical has their reputation tarnished with the inclusion of a so-called writer who is too lazy to do some first hand research.

Posted at 5:33PM on Nov 17th 2009 by Peter Nellhaus

11. I'm with Snider on this one.

Yes, Roger Corman has made a lot of movies, each of them with the kind of passion and creativity that we wish everyone would put into their work. But that passion and creativity produced a lot of garbage. At best, I would say a handful of his movies were entertaining. I would not say a single one of them were great. I don't envy the folks in the editing room when the Academy has to cut that career montage together.

As for his influence, it is true that he gave several actors and directors their first jobs. But to that I'd say: 1) Let's not confuse "having an eye for talent" with "being talented;" 2) He gave several people their first jobs, but I can't recall him really ever giving anyone their "big break."

If you love Corman, great. If you're happy to see him get an Oscar for his work, good for you. But if someone has a differing opinion, and their opinion kinda has a point, maybe don't call them names and ask for their resignation.

Posted at 5:31PM on Nov 17th 2009 by John Ramistella

12. See, this is factually inaccurate.

Roger Corman wasn't a talent agent. Talent agents don't do ANYTHING on the day to day of actually making a movie.

Roger Corman PRODUCED those films which launched countless careers and CREATED the space for them to grow and emerge through actually FINANCING AND PRODUCING the films.

Corman did tactile things that had, and have a STILL RIPPING effect on our industry. Basically, if you enjoy nearly ANYTHING that plays at your multiplex today Roger Corman probably had an impact of how it got there.

That's the kind of ignorance I'm talking about. Lifetime Achievement. Undeniable. If your opinion is otherwise, you must only watch movies from Asia and Europe that were made in a vacuum that Hollywood movies of the last 40 years weren't shown.

Posted at 5:41PM on Nov 17th 2009 by Slappy

13. "Corman, who has directed more than 50 films and produced nearly 400 (!), has never been nominated for an Oscar, probably because all of his movies are terrible."

That speaks for itself. Firstly, "all of his movies are terrible" is a definitive statement that implies that Snider has seen all of Corman's movies and in fact thinks they're terrible.

If he hasn't seen them and makes such a dismissal of a legend's career, well, there's one strike of ignorance against him. If he HAS seen them and still can't appreciate that countless careers of our best talents behind and in front of the camera were launched in that body of work, and can't seem to figure out why that would merit a Lifetime Achievement Oscar, that screams even louder as to his ignorance of film history.

Of course, being a moronic twit, he'll probably hide behind the guise of "it was a joke." Well, whether or not it was a joke, you have no business writing about film if you're that ignorant of film history. Why should anyone take a word you say seriously after saying that?

Here's my definitive statement, nobody who thinks ALL of Roger Corman's movies are terrible is worth a damn to read.

Posted at 5:36PM on Nov 17th 2009 by Slappy

14. So, I guess this means that mediocre thang Almodovar passed off as a film won't get a nom (for once)?


P.S. Yea, tangy on Corman? So not cool bro.

Posted at 6:10PM on Nov 17th 2009 by claireg

15. Yup, this article lost my interest when you started bad mouthing Roger Corman. So ignorant it could make me puke.

Posted at 6:38PM on Nov 17th 2009 by Jon Leo

16. Seriously, the Poe movies directed by Corman are awesome and number of influential filmmakers whom he mentored is second-to-none. Saying he's a terrible filmmaker is pretty foolish.

This website is getting more and more like Ain't It Cool in its eagerness for dissing things it knows nothing about. That's not a good thing.

Posted at 8:06PM on Nov 17th 2009 by joe

17. For anyone who's unaware, Roger Corman is responsible for jump-starting or helping to propagate the careers of James Cameron, Ingmar Bergman, Jonathan Demme, Frederico Fellini, Martin Scorsese, Gale Anne Hurd, Francis Ford Coppola, Peter Fonda, Jack Nicholson, Peter Bogdanovich, Ron Howard, Robert DeNiro, Jonathan Kaplan and Dennis Hopper.

The award is not given for the films he directed and produced, but his effect on film history. More of a talent forebearer than an important artist.

Posted at 8:35PM on Nov 17th 2009 by Stefani

18. Am I the only one outraged that Lauren Bacall will not be accepting her honorary award -- the one that is supposed to make up for her never winning an Oscar -- in front of the televised audience? I'm disappointed!

I also thought the coven was creepy. Glad it was a one-time thing only.

I hope that the In Memoriam montage will be in focus this year, instead of trying to look like an experimental film.

(I got your back, Eric D. Snider!)

Posted at 9:11PM on Nov 17th 2009 by Michelle

19. I loved the five person presenting of the award - it made me happy to pack in even more of the actors we love and give a little more credit to nominees. But I expect this year to possibly be great with the choice of co-hosts, but we shall see. The awkward two person award presentations will have to do once again.

Second, these people speaking in ALL CAPS...really, Corman? Who can forget such classics such as Carnosaur 3? I mean come on folks - have you never read Snider before?

Posted at 10:05PM on Nov 17th 2009 by Melanie Addington

20. I loved the five person presenting of the award - it made me happy to pack in even more of the actors we love and give a little more credit to nominees. http://fernsandpetals.wordpress.com

Posted at 10:50PM on Dec 3rd 2009 by Ferns and Petals