“A Los Angeles Times study of the 5,765 Academy members concluded that 94 percent are Caucasian (77 percent male), 2 percent are black, and less than 2 percent are Latino. The average age is 62, with only 14 percent younger than 50. Looking at this pasty gray demographic, one can’t help but wonder whether or not they saw the lovely little coming-of-age film Dope, or were at all interested in the powerful N.W.A biopic Straight Outta Compton, or cared about Spike Lee’s insightful Chi-Raq, or marveled at Samuel L. Jackson’s mesmerizing performance in The Hateful Eight. Why Concussion‘s Will Smith was ignored is still a head-scratcher. Maybe they thought his previous two nominations were enough.” — from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar‘s 1.27 Hollywood Reporter guest column titled “Why Black People Are ‘Invisible’ to Oscar Voters.”

HE to Abdul-Jabbar: (1) My Sundance review of Dope, posted on 1.26.15, called it “smartly assembled exploitation crap — a fleet, Tarantino-like hodgepodge of fantasy bullshit in the vein of a New Line Cinema release from the ’90s (i.e., House Party), and adapted to the general sensibility of 2015…nothing is soft or subtle or indirect.” (2) HE on Compton, posted 7.31.15: “A tight, satisfying, straight-ahead telling of the N.W.A. saga from ’86 to ’95 (roots, breakout, success, conflict and falling apart, concluding with the death of Easy E.), and quite an indictment of police racism and brutality to boot. Deals tough straight cards.” (3) I never saw Chi-Raq. (4) Jackson delivered his usual ballsy-loquacious Tarantino thing in The Hateful Eight — okay as far as it goes but rote, familiar. (5) From my 11.11.15 Concussion review: “Smith delivers a better-than-decent performance, nicely augmented by what sounded to my white-ass ears like a believable Nigerian accent, but at best he’s a mild Best Actor threat. If he gets nominated, fine…but the film isn’t good enough to bounce him into contention.”