Are the BAFTA and Oscar judges out of touch?

Over the past couple of days lots of awards have been revealed from the BAFTAs to the Oscars to the Razzies, but they lead to one question from me: are the judges out of touch with the modern audiences?

OK, let's not kid ourselves that popular opinion equates quality. If it did the Twilight films would have sunk without trace, '50 Shades of Grey' would have been on remainder piles, and most of the X Factor contestants would be playing their local pubs (well, after their contract runs out, they tend to be). But surely it's a decent enough yard stick?

Let's tackle the BAFTAs firstly. There are five nominees for 'best film'. Out of these you've probably only had the chance to see are Argo (7th Nov) and Life of Pi (20th Dec). The others are Les Miserables (tomorrow), Lincoln (25th Jan, two weeks away) and Zero Dark Thirty (the same date). So, basically, in the BRITISH Academy Film and Television Awards, three of the five contenders for best film will only have been seen by British people if they've been to the Premiere in London or downloaded a dodgy copy from Limewire featuring Americans standing up in front of the action going for another helping of popcorn. How does that make sense?

These five films pretty much dominate the rest of the proceedings but at least their is more love for films in the 'Outstanding British Film' category and 'Animated Film' alongside the other smaller acknowledgements, but the bigger ones are dominated by films we haven't even seen.

Last year 'Skyfall' was huge and, aside from being popular, was well done. It does appear in the aforementioned British category and has a considerable number of nominations in 8 but how many of these will it get and why none of the big ones?

I did a straw poll yesterday of friends and 95% said their film of the year was 'Cabin In The Woods'. Yes, it's not a typical awards-friendly film but it was very popular with the younger aim of the market and if 95% of my circle of friends enjoyed it surely it should have got some sort of recognition?

It's all well giving 'Lincoln' ten nominations and 'Life of Pi' nine but is that reflective of everyone? I'm sure they're great films but they are on the high-brow scale of movies. You don't find most music awards going to obscure artists but to the big sellers, unless it's the Mercury Prize which we know if the weird, black sheep of the awards scene.

"Dame Judi Dench: Skyfall snub 'a pity'" is one headline from today (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-20976116) and it is. Shamelessly populist it might be, but it was a well scripted and shot film that was both critically and publically acclaimed. If that doesn't make it a 'best film' contender what will?

It's a similar story with the Oscars nominations even if they do have the reason that most of the films have been out in America already. Plus, it's great to see some love in the animated film category for Aardman flick "Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists". How can that be nominated in the awards across the pond but not in our home grown awards ceremony? Terrible.

I'm not going to be naive and be surprised that the BAFTA and Oscar nominations are cliquey, out of touch, and high-brow, but the nominations have proven once more that the films that will win aren't necessarily the best or most popular films but the movies that people feel should win. I'm not saying that 'Les Miserables', 'Lincoln' and 'Zero Dark Thirty' aren't going to be good films - I believe they are - but it would nice for the British audience to get a taste of them first but also get their tastes acknowledged. 'Cabin In The Woods', 'Skyfall', 'The Dark Knight Rises' and 'The Avengers Assemble' are firmly in the popcorn camp of films but why should that stop them being winners?