Saw an article pointing out that, in another first, this is the first year in which two of the acting noms are for LGBTQ+ roles actually played by out LGBTQ+ actors, Colman Domingo and Jodie Foster. There are more than a few barriers being broken this year…while it’s nonsense that Gerwig and Robbie didn’t make the cut, there’s still plenty of good news.
I guess it’s time for my annual whine about the olden days where Best Picture nominations were limited to 5 films.
I have seen 5 of the 10 BP nominees so far: Barbie, Oppenheimer, Maestro, Poor Things, and The Holdovers.
I predict Oppenheimer will win, but I really, really liked The Holdovers.
mmm
I surprised at that. I would have thought Lily Gladstone was the clear favorite
I liked the Holdovers, but wasn’t blown away by it. I felt that it had all been done before, and the characters were predictable. However, it was really well done, for what it was.
And, in the category of “Pretty Good Film That Might Not Win Any Awards But Was Entertaining”… the Oscar goes to…
Does What Was I Made For? or I’m just Ken win Best Song?
The former is a far better song, but the latter is the earworm of the bunch.
Quiz Lady
But Billie Ellish just won an Oscar for a very similar song. Voters may want to give it to something different,
It’s Hollywood. Different is not good, it’s bad. Tried and true is the law of the land.
Only partly sarcastic.
I like the Billie Eilish song, and I like Billie Eilish, but why is her song better? Because it’s a serious ballad?
It’s not that long since Mark Ronson won one, if that’s a factor. Although it wasn’t similar to IJK.
I’ve now seen most but not all of the Best Picture nominees, and although most deserve to be on there, I’m perplexed by American Fiction being nominated but not Nyad or Saltburn. Obviously the judges are influenced by factors other than just artistic merit.
I assume both AF and Barbie got the nod because of their presumed “social relevance”, but there were lots of superior movies last year both in terms of creative skill and in terms of pure entertainment. ISTM that writers, directors, cinematographers, and performers applying their creative skills to entertain us is the basic purpose of movies; to the extent that they evoke emotions that resonate with us, that’s part of the “entertainment” aspect.
I’m reminded of the apocryphal story sometimes attributed to Samuel Goldwyn – but also to others – that “if I want to send a message I’ll use Western Union”. This is one version of it:
“Mr. Goldwyn,” [a scriptwriter] said, “this is a wonderful opportunity to point out labor’s battle against capitalism. You have a chance here to bring a great message to the people.”
Goldwyn looked at him. “Messages, messages,” he said. “From Western Union you get messages. From me you get pictures.”
Oscar films are nominated by the more than 10,000 members of the Academy in a sequential voting process.
I haven’t seen AF, but perhaps for Barbie they were influenced by the $1.5 billion in box office, the A cinemascore, or the impressive way a commodity toy was brought to life with, yes, a social message.
As for Saltburn, that feels like your thing, not theirs. I thought it was a mediocre movie with some flashes of interest, and the B- cinemascore suggests I’m not alone in that.
But that’s movies, man, and that’s just our opinions.
This is important to keep in mind when discussing the Oscars. The voters are all involved in the industry and generally have achieved a measure of success in the industry (you don’t just get an Academy membership along with your SAG card). That means they are older and not very diverse (though they are trying to remedy this). In the general categories like Best Picture, the nominations and winners are going to be dominated by the largest segment, the actors.
Since they are in the industry, they will have a “been there, done that” attitude towards films that don’t do anything to stand out from what came before in a given genre. Oddly enough, it’s unlikely that many of the Academy voters saw all of the nominees prior to the announcements of the nominees. They are all successful and have a lot on their plate, so they don’t have the time to see everything. But they will have seen pictures with a lot of buzz, particularly buzz about the acting. Saltburn and Nyad came out late and did not generate a huge amount of buzz.
An interesting POV, because I’d put American Fiction above most films I’ve seen this year. I liked it more than Oppenheimer for one.
À chacun son goût, everyone’s entitled…
I notice I didn’t even mention American Fiction or Maestro in my first assessment of the Best Picture nominees.
I’ve since seen Zone of Interest, and IMO it fits into that second tier of films that aren’t my choice, but I wouldn’t be that disappointed if it won. (A truly harrowing film with no violence shown at all)
American Fiction and Maestro fit in with The Holdovers in my own assessment of the nominees. Very well made, excellent performances, but not showing me anything that I haven’t seen before in films of a similar “type” (satirization of the white liberal/black experience in America, biography of the great man’s rise and tribulations, and boarding school drama where a young person comes of age through mentorship with an old curmudgeon).
As always, YMMV.
Thank you (and to @peccavi and @ISiddiqui) for the insightful comments. I should maybe mention here that I’m not especially pushing Saltburn as a Best Picture nominee, though I did really enjoy it. It was written and directed by Emerald Fennel, who also did Promising Young Woman, but I must concede it wasn’t nearly as good. PYW was nominated for Best Picture and four other Oscar categories for the 2021 Academy Awards, and won for Best Original Screenplay. Fennel is very talented.
There is a unique rule concerning Best Picture nominations: nomination ballots are filled out in preference order (i.e. each voter lists their #1 choice first), and only films that get #1 votes on at least 5% of the ballots can be nominated if at least five such films qualify. It is quite possible for a film to be in a significant number of people’s “top five” but just not in enough’s “top one.”
I’ve just come back from watching the nominees for best Live Action Short and Best Animated Short. I figured this would be the best thread to discuss these.
Why does the Academy favor nominees that boil won to “life sucks, then you die”? With rare exceptions, these were a depressing slog.
The lists with my takes on each nominee:
Best Animated Short Film
Letter to a Pig d. Tal Kantor
An old man tells his tale of escaping the Holocaust, which sucks. Deep metaphors abound regarding pigs, which are, presumably, all dead by now…
Ninety-Five Senses d. Jared Hess
Life described through the five senses sucks big time. Then, most definitely, he dies.
Our Uniform d. Yegane Moghaddam
Childhood in a hajib sucks, then you travel.
Pachyderme d. Stéphanie Clément
A little girl stays with her grandparents, and it ends up sucking. Then some people die.
War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko d. Dave Mullins
War sucks. Some live, some die. Shoot the messenger. The best of a dolorous bunch. Still, My Choice.
Best Live Action Short Film
The After d. Misan Harriman
Random acts of violence suck. Loved ones die and it doesn’t get better.
Invincible d. Vincent René-Lortie
French juvie sucks. So does suicidal escape from French juvie. Based on a true sucktastic story.
Knight of Fortune d. Lasse Lyskjær Noer
Having a wife die sucks, but provides some deadpan laughs in a Danish hospital.
Red, White and Blue d. Nazrin Choudhury
A timely story on the criminalization of abortion and how much it sucks to be working poor (and a twist that shakes some smug assumptions). Based on recent Alabama law, somebody dies.
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar d. Wes Anderson
A full Wes Anderson joint, with some of his troupe of famous actors, crammed into 40 minutes. Some people die, but it’s funny. Besides, it’s the perfect opportunity to give Anderson a Best (short) Picture Award. My Choice.