. . . King Kong, Batman Begins, that silly but visually impressive Star Wars thing or even Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? Or the globe-trotting Munich or Syriana, or any dozen other large-canvas productions that achieved their storytelling goals?
There's certainly something wonderful about the most philistine of Hollywood insider groups opting for a slate of modestly scaled, character- and issue-focused movies for a change. But that seems to be the fad this season, and going for the critics-approved Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Crash, Good Night, and Good Luck and Walk the Line makes the Producers Guild race look like just another Oscar-style popularity contest.
Which is what all these Hollywood union awards really are anyway. But, ideally, shouldn't this guild at least make a stab at honoring the art (term used loosely here) and science (term used in a business sense only) of the difficult job that producing a major motion picture always is? Just asking.