What’s the difference between a movie for grownups and an adult movie? If you can’t answer that, google it. All kidding aside, this year’s Oscar nominees all qualify as” movies for grownups”. By that, we mean movies with an intriguing story, characters you care about and memorable direction. And no, they are not movies about people of a certain age or “chick flicks”.

That does not mean Hollywood doesn’t have an age problem. Like race, age is an ongoing issue, mainly for actresses as roles disappear with the years. Unless you’re Meryl Streep or Helen Mirren, don’t expect your phone to ring much after the age of 40. The actor Russell Crowe was quoted recently as saying, ”Women don’t get those roles because they don’t want to play their age.” Hogwash. By the way, he made exceptions for both Streep and Mirren. We would make exceptions for many more actresses. The fact is, no one is creating older roles for these women.

On the up side, the average age of this year’s male nominee is 45. And for the women, 38. That is the narrowest gap to date. Which brings us to this year’s nominees – all of them movies for grownups. Not a “Batman” among them. (Don’t get me wrong – I loved all of Christopher Nolan’s Batmen). And interestingly, “Birdman”, “Boyhood” and “Still Alice”, all deal with mid-life crises, which is a decidedly grown-up issue. “Still Alice” tackles Alzheimer’s disease and “American Sniper” delves into post- traumatic stress disorder. Maybe Hollywood is growing up after all.

Listen to Bobbie discuss Oscars nominees and ageism with film critic Eleanor Ringel and Entertainment writer Lisa Clark: