James Bates: Behind the Screen

All you need to know about how hard it will be to get people to watch the Oscars is that a nominated documentary about penguins has been watched by more moviegoers than any of the five best picture contenders.

March of the Penguins was great. The only one of the Best Picture nominees I’ve seen is Crash, which I thought was engrossing, but perhaps not Best Picture quality.

Or that four out of five people — and sometimes fewer — tuning into the broadcast will not have seen any of those movies in a theater.

I don’t plan on watching the Oscars either.