“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way–in short, the period was so far like the present period that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.” – Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
It was a time when movie theaters no longer mattered in any significant way to the people who make movies, the people who star in them, and the people who produce them. Even the films that faithfully headed to theatrical walked into a trap. Other than Dune, with $108 million, the films that counted on an industry standing behind them for their efforts could not rouse their target audience out of their COVID cocoons – Drive My Car ($1 million), Belfast ($9 million), Nightmare Alley ($11 million), King Richard ($15 million), Licorice Pizza ($17 million), West Side Story ($38 million).
By the end, it didn’t turn out to be a war between the old way and the new. The two films in contention for Best Picture are both on offer from streamers. Apple has CODA, with the least number of Oscar nominations, and Netflix has The Power of the Dog, with the most nominations. Both films are directed by (white) women. Both films have high scores at Rotten Tomatoes. But one film, CODA, has something the others don’t. It has something and someone to root for that isn’t problematic in any way.
CODA isn’t a bad movie. In fact, it fits my own longtime definition of the ONLY kind of movie that can win Best Picture, which is to say it’s a movie you can sit anyone down in front of and they will get if not love it. Anyone you know, anywhere in the country. CODA, I was surprised to find out, is even liked on the Right. A review over at Ben Shapiro’s The Daily Wire has the headline:
How can I complain about that when I have spent the better of a year infuriating many of my readers with my push towards some kind of awareness of the “other half” of America. The problem for the Oscars right now isn’t even just winning over right-leaning viewers. Although it sometimes seems that those who vote on these awards don’t seem to realize it because they are trapped in the same system as all of us are – as we work toward finding Oscar voters their perfect specialty meal in First Class. All they have to do is lift the silver dome and taste it. If they like it, they vote for it. If they don’t, they won’t. There is no organic process to finding Best Picture. Not now at least. Not as we make our inevitable ascent, or descent, out of the world of tickets bought and fair market assessments.
We are in the White House Screening Room. Meanwhile, we were blown away when @potus and @FLOTUS told us that they loved #CODAfilm and its theme of family authenticity. We also found out that the White House staff cried when they watched the film! 🤟🏻🤟🏻 @appletvplus pic.twitter.com/3jN7fOKP8c
— Marlee Matlin (@MarleeMatlin) March 23, 2022
And we are moving in that direction. For all of our hand-wringing over Netflix all of these years, all of that fear that they were “destroying movies” and movie theaters, for all of the animosity aimed at Ted Sarandos and all of the money they have spent trying to win Oscars, all of that was wiped clean away when the right movie about the right thing that hit the right notes and tickled the right spots came along — from an even bigger big-tech powerbroker. Now, looking at how the movies that tried to stick with theatrical release weren’t rewarded for it, not even a little bit, they all better drop to their needs and thank Buddha that Netflix exists. And perhaps now they have realized it.
Every major award of the season has gone to a streaming platform:
Golden Globe: Netflix
Critics Choice: Netflix
BAFTA: Netflix
Producers Guild: Apple
Directors Guild: Netflix
Screen Actors Guild: Apple
The only group that awarded a theatrical movie was the Toronto International Film Festival’s audience award, way way back in the time of the dinosaurs, and that movie was Belfast.
So I don’t want to hear another word, not another single word from anyone about Netflix or streaming. The awards community has spoken, the people who watch their movies have spoken. It is over. Perhaps, as someone mentioned in an Ankler piece a day or so ago, once the industry crosses over completely, there might be another explosion of creativity and competition.
But ultimately, once you take away the ticket-buying public and the new financial metric is based on competing for subscribers — that just puts all into our individual spheres, our hives, our little mini-universes where we must follow the guidelines of that corporation’s edicts. “Woke Capitalism” means anyone can be ejected at any time for saying the wrong thing or writing the wrong thing — even thinking the wrong thing, if you are found out, that is. I can only hope these large companies don’t become the “Inner Party” of 1984.
The year began as it always does – at Telluride, on the heels of Venice, in a year where the Oscar calendar was once again going to be extended by one month. At that time, The Power of the Dog and Belfast seemed to be the two movies to beat. No one was really thinking about CODA except for a couple of guys on Twitter who really liked the movie and kept saying it could win. Belfast, despite being a crowd-pleaser and a feelgood movie is harder to connect with because the vignette style of its plot lacks the linear formula familiar to most movie-goers. Large groups voters can’t seem to parse complexity outside the norm. Trust me on that one. The Power of the Dog is even more complex than Belfast. It requires you must lean into it, to reach in and access what it is really about. Are thousands of people, of all different backgrounds and frames of reference, able to do that and coalesce into a united consensus? We won’t know for sure until Sunday night.
I personally never thought The Power of the Dog could win Best Picture, certainly not on a ranked-choice ballot. But I watched as Belfast was not only ignored but actively undermined as a contender. Not overtly destroyed; this wasn’t Green Book. But surely had it won any major award it might have been. Hollywood seems to me to be in the grips of a “White Man Scare,” where any white man is less appealing to put in any position of power, let alone win awards. It isn’t even just about white men, it’s men in general. For instance, it took me watching the Honest Trailers’ version of the Oscars to see that some people thought it was weird that King Richard was about the dad instead of Venus and Serena.
This is a forced change, not a natural one. It has to be. Natural change was taking too long. It is a collective effort towards reaching a kind of equity. The BAFTAs forced it a different way, with committees, but here, after the Green Book win, there has been a collective effort to push for change. That’s part of the reason why we’re in the second year where films by two women are competing for the prize. Another reason of course is that women are getting more opportunities in the industry than they ever had before. And it should be no surprise that women are proving themselves just as capable.
When you consider this shift, and you think about streaming, you can see a perfect storm to create an awards dynamic that can be the change it seeks. Turns out Gandhi was onto something. When the box office was still involved, pre-COVID times anyway, the free market helped tell us what movies people like to watch. Male protagonists have always been the default. Movies about men directed by men always make more money. Always. (Well, unless they’re Birdmen.) Hollywood hasn’t stuck to male-driven fare because of any bad ulterior motives. They did it to make the most money.
Even on streaming, the films led by male stars were the most viewed:
I fully expect CODA, should it win on Sunday, to do what Apple needs it to do – bring more people to their subscription platform. Listen, I am an Apple consumer of the highest order. I have the watch, the laptop, the M1 iMac. I have the latest iPhone. I wait for their announcements. I use their fitness app. I know that with Apple I am always going to get something BEAUTIFUL to hold in my hands and something smartly designed. I would prefer if they didn’t outsource their technology overseas to be built by labor forces in various questionable conditions, but in America and especially on the Left we can’t talk about that. I think CODA might be the film version of what Apple does, even if it isn’t their own homegrown product. It provides a satisfying user experience that makes people feel good about the world.
The Academy, for its part, has decided to provide a parallel live-stream of the Oscars made more accessible in American Sign Language:
The Oscar voters are never going to head down the path towards awarding or even nominating a movie like Spider-Man: No Way Home. That kind of theatrical experience, save for the crafts, will be kept outside of their Shangri-La. But streaming gives them a comfortable and profitable platform for the kinds of movies that Americans have mostly stopped buying tickets to see. And so it was decided and so it was done.
So clap for them when they close the circle at last. The TV ratings won’t matter eventually, once the Oscar telecast itself becomes yet another Hollywood institution that dwells in the land of the streamers. Then, as with the film that is probably going to win Best Picture this weekend, the Oscars can exist with no concern for how many people watch them. Anyone who truly cares to watch will pay a streamer to do so. For CODA, that means fewer than a million viewers on streaming, $1 million at the box office, three Oscar nominations – have you ever seen anything like it?
We are living through a strange time in this country. Some, like myself, see it as evidence of a Fourth Turning. Out go the Baby Boomers, and in come the millennials and Generation-Z. Good on the Academy for appealing to them in their own language, with online polls, with the inclusion of influencers encouraged to promote the telecast by posting clips. That seems to be the accepted way to survive now. It may be the only inevitable way to survive a generational shift like this one.
Worst case scenario, we are also potentially headed into a third world war. Everything and everyone might face dramatic change. When you think about all of these things put together, CODA prevailing on Oscar Night does make sense. It could represent a bridge from one world to another, one generation to another, one Oscar era to another.
Here are my final predictions. As with all things, adapt or die.
Best Picture
CODA (SAG ensemble/WGA/PGA)
Alternate: The Power of the Dog (Globe/BAFTA/DGA)
Potential spoiler: Belfast (Toronto audience winner, Globe Screenplay winner)
The rest of the nominees
Don’t Look Up
King Richard
Nightmare Alley
Dune
Drive My Car
West Side Story
Licorice Pizza
Best Director
Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog
The nominees:
Kenneth Branagh, Belfast
Paul Thomas Anderson, Licorice Pizza
Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Drive My Car
Steven Spielberg, West Side Story
Adapted Screenplay
CODA, Siân Heder (BAFTA/WGA)
Alternate: The Power of the Dog, Jane Campion
The nominees:
The Lost Daughter, Maggie Gyllenhaal (Scripter)
Drive My Car, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Takamasa Oe (potential spoiler)
Dune, Jon Spaihts, and Denis Villeneuve, and Eric Roth
Original Screenplay
Belfast, Kenneth Branagh (Globe winner)
Alternate: Licorice Pizza, Paul Thomas Anderson
Wild card: The Worst Person in the World, Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier (potential spoiler)
The nominees:
King Richard, Zach Baylin (possible)
Don’t Look Up , Adam McKay, David Sirota (if it wins the WGA….then maybe)
Best Actor
Will Smith, King Richard (Globe/SAG/Critics Choice winner)
The nominees:
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power of the Dog
Javier Bardem, Being the Ricardos
Andrew Garfield, tick, tick…BOOM!
Denzel Washington, The Tragedy of Macbeth
Best Actress
The Best Actress race remains suspenseful. Pete Hammond and Clayton Davis, along with Jeff Wells, have predicted Penelope Cruz to upset based on the chatter among Academy members. Parallel Mothers is the best of the bunch as far as pure cinema. Cruz is beloved in the industry. It’s definitely possible. But I will still go with:
Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye (SAG winner)
Alternate: Penelope Cruz, Parallel Mothers
Wild card: Kristen Stewart, Spencer
The nominees:
Nicole Kidman, Being the Ricardos
Olivia Colman, The Lost Daughter
Best Supporting Actor
Troy Kotsur, CODA (SAG/Critics Choice winner)
The nominees:
Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Power of the Dog (Globe winner)
Ciarán Hinds, Belfast
Jesse Plemons, The Power of the Dog
J.K. Simmons, Being the Ricardos
Best Supporting Actress
Ariana DeBose, West Side Story (SAG/Critics Choice/Globe winner)
The nominees:
Aunjanue Ellis, King Richard
Jessie Buckley, The Lost Daughter
Judi Dench, Belfast
Kirsten Dunst, The Power of the Dog
Best Animated Feature
Encanto
Alternate: The Mitchells vs. the Machines
The nominees:
Flee
Luca
Raya and the Last Dragon
Best Cinematography
Dune, Greig Fraser
Alternate: The Power of the Dog, Ari Wegner
The nominees:
Nightmare Alley, Dan Laustsen
The Tragedy of Macbeth, Bruno Delbonnel
West Side Story, Janusz Kaminski
Best Costume Design
Most likely: Cruella, Jenny Beavan
The nominees:
Dune, Jacqueline West and Robert Morgan
Nightmare Alley, Luis Sequeira
West Side Story, Paul Tazewell
Cyrano, Massimo Cantini Parrini and Jacqueline Durran
Best Documentary Feature
Summer of Soul
The nominees:
Flee
Ascension
Attica
Writing with Fire
Documentary Short
Audible
The nominees:
The Queen of Basketball
Three Songs for Benazir
When We Were Bullies
Lead Me Home
Best Editing
Dune, Joe Walker
Alternate: King Richard, Pamela Martin
The nominees:
The Power of the Dog, Peter Sciberras
tick, tick…BOOM! Myron Kerstein and Andrew Weisblum
Don’t Look Up, Hank Corwin
International Feature
Drive My Car, Japan
The nominees:
Flee, Denmark
The Hand of God, Italy
Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom, Bhutan
The Worst Person in the World, Norway
Makeup and Hairstyling
The Eyes of Tammy Faye
The nominees:
House of Gucci
Coming 2 America
Cruella
Dune
Original Score
Dune, Hans Zimmer
The nominees:
Encanto, Germaine Franco
Don’t Look Up, Nicholas Britell
Parallel Mothers, Alberto Iglesias
The Power of the Dog, Jonny Greenwood
Original Song
“No Time To Die” from No Time to Die, Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell
The nominees:
“Down To Joy” from Belfast, Van Morrison
“Be Alive” from King Richard, DIXSON and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter
“Dos Oruguitas” from Encanto, Lin-Manuel Miranda
“Somehow You Do” from Four Good Days, Diane Warren
Best Production Design
Nightmare Alley
Alt: Dune
The nominees:
Nightmare Alley
The Power of the Dog
The Tragedy of Macbeth
West Side Story
Best Animated Short Film
Bestia
Alternate: Robin Robin
The nominees:
The Windshield Wiper
Affairs of the Art
Boxballet
Best Live Action Short
The Long Goodbye
Alternate (and should win): Ala Kachuu – Take and Run
The nominees:
The Dress
On My Mind
Please Hold
Best Sound
West Side Story
Alt. Dune
The nominees:
Belfast
No Time to Die
The Power of the Dog
Visual Effects
Dune
The nominees:
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Free Guy
No Time to Die
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
It’s been a really fun year, despite it all. If you’ve read this far, thank you for being an AwardsDaily reader. All the best for a fun Sunday. I will be attending the Oscars and will report back my findings from my visit to Shangri-La.
Well I locked in to end my unwanted but necessary 10 yr boycott of Oscars BUT somehow I need do split screen mode oh my TV as it overlaps with my work hrs today….Nd unfortunately that be challenge cos I do graphic intensive work it be too small to work lol…I find a way… OH if AMPAS DARE to undermine their PGA and SAG combination guild winner and WGA winner, give to any other film I switch off. It simply INEXCUSABLE FOR AMPAS to go full on off their rocker and go against the PGA, WGA and SAG winner. And no ratings will improve somewhat but nowhere hear levels they capable being for it need be seen much more than just this year’s Oscar winner need to get attention of majority who still Bern boycotting Oscars hence it declining ratings I warn AMPAS ⚠️ q host, better entertainment btw awards improved presenters to big awards will ONLY fix 50%!! Of ratings crisis
Meanwhile, James LeBron, Jared Leto and Bruce Willis are among new recipients of Razzie Award. Congratulations!
Hey everyone, just wondering if anyone can help with last minute tracking down the live action shorts mission before tomorrow. I have managed to find all but 1 of the documentaries and animated shorts (Bestia and When we were Bullies I haven’t seen) but the only live Action short I have managed to track down is the long goodbye.
I wish the service playing them in cinemas came to New Zealand but it doesn’t and I’m told some are available on vimeo but only in the US and it seems to realise if I use a VPN and block me anyway. If anyone knows of any locations online playing them (I’m happy to pay for them obviously I just want to see them).
Deadline editor Joe Utuchi, on twitter: “I’m hearing the 4pm-5pm Oscars “pre-show”, in which 8 categories will be awarded off-air, won’t be accessible even in the backstage press room. The only people who’ll ever see it unedited will be those taking their seats early in the Dolby. Doesn’t this just add insult to injury?”
I think we anti-streamers need to accept that there will be a streaming Best Picture winner tomorrow. It was a valiant fight against this guerilla form of movie releasing. We beat back Roma, and have held the line. But change is inevitable. And tomorrow will be the start of that new era.
Just want a #DuneHalfDozen and I’ll be happy. 2021 was a very good year for film.
I’ll be cool as long as AMPAS reverts to and keeps the eligibility rule of 7 consecutive days of 3 screenings/day (with 1 between 6—10pm) in a theater in an eligible metro area. (I’d add Dallas and/or Houston to that list, though.)
I hate Diane Warren’s sappy songs but give her the Oscar already like how many times has she been nominated. Like who cares if a crappy song wins it’s a normal incurrence in the category.
I don’t understand why animation studios aren’t rushing to hire her to compose an Oscar-contending theme song.
Why does the Academy need ASL? Subtitles work better for the home audience.
NOBODY LIGHT A MATCH IN HERE! With all the verbal flatulence being expelled from the assemblage of pretentious gasbags, this place is liable to blow!
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/732266dc36dae9e6beb229acf7b809534d389b854f21fa9d5f1f61184aba7e86.png
As Julie wrote earlier today, a win for CODA will be too much of a letdown. For me as well.
I think I’ve made it clear that my two favorites this year are Drive My Car and The Power of the Dog. Both films are phenomenal and reveal new layers every time I watch them. And I’ve seen both several times already. They surprise me, make me uncomfortable, soothe my aches and inspire me.
But there are other films that can win. And I’d respect these wins.
Licorice Pizza will be a charming winner – smart, funny, full of heart and joy. And a wonderful lead performance by Alana Haim. I can enjoy a win for West Side Story. I don’t love it but I can see why some people do. I am more than fine with a win for Dune. I respect the ambition, the precision, the vision. It’s not my favorite among the nominees, but I’d understand why some people want to see it recognised. I see something in it. On the screen.
But a win for CODA would be painful. Because this won’t be a win for anything even remotely artistically satisfying, something genuine and honest. Nope, it will be a cynical win for the Apple machinery that fed people schmaltz, cheap sentimentality, some bad writing, and amateurish direction, and then pretended they had given them a film that deserves to be recognised as an artistic achievement. It’s not an artistic achievement, it’s mediocre. But what makes it even worse is that it’s dishonest, calculated, a recipe of a movie.
Sorry, this is too much. Some people might like CODA. Hey, I like some bad movies. They give me something I need at a moment in time. But this does not mean that I don’t see beyond this fleeting comfort, beyond the lie, beyond the cheap substitute. I can’t pretend a bad movie is great. I can’t agree that it deserves an Oscar because of its cast or its relentless campaign. A campaign so tasteless that it got votes at the expense of the deaf community. A deaf community that’s irritated by the ‘a child of deaf parents find music as a means of expression’ cliche. I am enraged by the poor writing, the cheap Lifetime aesthetics, the schmaltzy predictability, and the sugary take on family. I am enraged that years after Moonlight, No Country For Old Men, Parasite, The Departed, the Academy will honor a film that does not take a single chance. A film that is the epitome of safe and average.
In the end, CODA will be a new low for the Academy, an Academy that has reached several lows throughout the years. And in this year of some wonderful films, seeing something like CODA reign supreme would be too painful, I guess.
CODA, the new patron saint of mediocrity.
I am with you one hundred percent – and frankly – I almost matched your wins category to category except for Coda as BP. That and I really did not like Belfast. THe kid felt so orchestrated – nothing felt organic. It was uber cute kid and then, tried and true actors to hold up the rest of the show. I watched twice now and I get why it fell short. It’s schmaltz. Anyway my two – Power of the Dog for the win BP. Although I suspect you are right on regarding CODA. Also, why would Lord of the Rings and Dune be nom’ed but not Spider Man. I don’t get it.
The Power of the Dog is closer to going home empty handed than to winning Best Picture. Campion’s controversy affects her liberal voting body, while with Green Book people were voting to own liberals. The ballots are indicating a surge for SS, and if there was one more month I’d end up predicting Spielberg.
This is one of those years, like the Million Dollar Baby year, like in the Spotlight year, like in the Apollo 13 year where everything is just messy. It’s ridiculous that some people are holding on to the “Power of the Dog can’t go 1/12”, “The Worst Person in the World can’t upset” or “Penelope Cruz can’t upset
because she didn’t get in at the precursors.
The Best Picture winner literally has three nominations, because it literally wasn’t widely seen until after the nominations and the SAG Ensemble win. Anything can happen and stats mean shit this year.
The Power of the Dog won’t go 0/12, even though I prefer it to 1/12. But I don’t find the 1/12 likely. It’s competitive in Picture, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, even in Score and Film Editing.
I find it damn near impossible for Campion to lose Directing. But I have it going 1/12 in my predictions. It’d be crazy to have a director only winning film for the fist time since THE GRADUATE… And even that had fewer nomination than TPOTD.
I don’t know where Dog can pull another win from. No Best Picture in the preferential ballot era won without either a SAG or PGA win. It lost USC Scripter. CODA won WGA (Dog wasn’t eligible). Cinematography, Score are likely Guild winner Dune. Editing is between King Richard who won ACE and Dune.
There’s nothing like about it any of it. If this season gas taught us anything, it is to expect the unexpected. The only certain winners are Campion, Smith, Debose and Kotsur. All the other major categories are up for grabs. Cinematography could easily go to The Power of The Dog since it is statistically the favourite.
You make it sound as if CODA’s wins will be totally precedented. Throw your rule book out the window.
Of course, TPOTD can go 1/12, but it’s rather unlikely.
The Worst Person in the World can upset, of course, but I don’t think enough voters are paying that much attention to International. How many upsets have there been in international since the year the category was moved for voting by the entire Academy?
And even though Cruz is an option and an upset like this one might happen, it’s also necessary to repeat that since the introduction of SAG, no actress has won the lead category without a SAG nomination. Riva came close but didn’t succeed in the end. And while Cruz has some precursors on her side, she hasn’t been successful getting a single nomination for an industry-voted award. She didn’t even make the BAFTA longlist.
They didn’t see her movie.
By the way, Obama did not have CODA as one of his favourite films of 2021. Biden can love it all he likes. He’s a disappointing old man who has always fought in favour of the status quo.
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You have to hand it to the CODA people for their campaign to mconvince critics and audiences alike that their remake of an eight year old French film and a similar 1999 German film was somehow original and award worthy ! How many knew that 12 years a Slave had been done on public television and that The Revenant was a remake of an old Richard Harris / John Huston movie ! But for some reason the story behind CODA ‘s success seems more egregious !
CODA is not a remake. A remake implies there is some form of reimagination. There is no imagination, it’s a ripoff.
Which makes it an even more impressive success for Apple’s marketing team. In the end, it doesn’t matter that it’s a terrible movie.
Hope it will be CODA and not The Boredom of the Dog
Well, you know what they say. Mediocrity is greatness in the eyes of mediocre people. I think CODA bros are the embodiment of that.
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Can we at least call them, BRODA’s?
Let’s call them BRODAs.
If it wasn’t for how the ending came together I would have called it a pretty boring waste of my time.
A couple of days ago I switched my predictions to Penelope Cruz in Best Actress and Worst Person in Best Original Screenplay and now that I am reading the secret ballots I think I’ve done wisely. I see Flee appearing in a lot of ballots which is great, hopefully it will win in one of its categories.
Best Actress is definitely my favorite category this year – nothing to complain about. Right from the beginning it was a toss-up for me between Penelope and Olivia but at this point I’d vote for Penelope. Looking back on it it would be a great win in the history of the Academy (well..I was thinking the same for Isabelle Huppert and Emanuelle Riva and look how that turned out).
Still mulling over a few categories… Mainly techs. I really think WSS will get Sound. Though Dune is the most predicted.
Flee missing in all 3 categories just seems wrong. It has to hit one! Not International Featiure.I don’t think doco either. So does it get Animated film?
Chastain may get best actress. I’m going in for a No Guts No Glory pick with Cruz. Otherwise, I’m going for the locked Acting categories.
Animated over Disney? ABC will cancel the Oscars if they go there lol.
I know right! I just feel it has to win somewhere… Maybe I’ll switch Doco..
I have this weird feeling that we have too many categories in which we call something a lock just because it won the guild plus BAFTA, but it’s far from being over. This gives me the nagging 2017 feeling when everybody was predicting La La Land to sweep techs and Jackie for costumes, but the Academy surprised us that night in so many ways.
I hear you. This year is going to be quite unpredictable with techs and shorts. I’ve just watched a few shorts now and it’s everywhere with what I deem winning material. So far I have Dune winning three all up.
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Sad that a charming twohour version of Parenthood or thirtysomething might win best picture over works of actual filmmaking that ambituously embrace and expand the medium — The Power of the Dog, Licorice Pizza, Drive My Car, and even West Side Story. I would fully support CODA winning the Emmy for best TV movie.
I think TV movies celebrated by the Emmys these days are a lot edgier than CODA.
haha actually true
I am still here on an Awards website for the film comments and community. I still like film and the Oscars from a nostalgic sense, but, if I’m being honest, this will likely be the first Oscars I haven’t watched since being a kid. Maybe they just seem silly now. Maybe I’m just getting older and get tired and would prefer to go to bed. Or, maybe I’d just prefer to watch the college basketball tournament in the U.S. if I can stay awake. But, I guess, reading this piece, it has me thinking, that’s just where I’m at these days with the Oscars. (This sounds negative, I don’t mean it to be that way, but just a moment of reflection that had me thinking).
Same here. This will be the first year since I don’t know when that I won’t be watching.
IMO all the movies nominated (and performances) are pretty mediocre, something that has been happening for a while now.
Every year the awards get more and more “political”, meaning that the quality doesn’t count as much as the campaining, if you know what I mean.
Very sad indeed.
Same. I will not be watching and the discussion of these particular movies have been exhausting and I am ready to move on. If I never watch them again, (except for the WSS musical numbers) it will be too soon.
Agree strongly
I have been watching all the games, too. I feel the same. I may go to bed, have my dentist appointment in the morning, then watch. I like the community, but not this year. There are too many people who think everybody should love the movie they do and are mean about it. If Coda and Cruz are winning—-Oscars are gone for me after thirty plus years of predicting. That would be one too many letdowns.
I finally watched the shorts and oh boy, its going to be hard to predict.
I loved the following shorts — Audible, Queen of Basketball, Three Songs for Benazir, The Dress, Ala Kachuu, The windshield wiper, Affairs of the Art.
I know that the Academy tastes are different from my own. So if I have to predict, it would be
Short Animated – Robin Robin (too simple for me). I hope it is Windshield wiper which is technically brilliant and about Love
Short LiveAction – The Long Goodbye (we all love Riz Ahmed – he was nominated for best actor last year AND he was associated with Flee this year).
Short Documentary – Queen of Basketball (lovely doc, winning story, emotional, progressive)
Anyone has different opinions on this one?
I loved The Queen of Basketball, Bestia, The Dress, Ala Kachuu, and Affairs of the Art. I disliked Three Songs for Benazir. Audible was fine, although it felt directed in so many ways in which a documentary shouldn’t be. I’ll be rooting for The Queen of Basketball. This was the sole documentary that had my eyes glued to the screen for its run of 30something minutes. It was deceptively simple in its approach but it was extremely effective. Of the animations, Affairs of the Art is my prediction. I simply loved it. I loved the animation, I loved the humour, both visual and in terms of storytelling, I loved everything about it. I’m predicting it, mostly based on my own love for it.
Finally, we agree on something friend :). I too found Affairs of the Art magical, such a brilliant unique emotional honest little film, rare film. I will be happy if it wins (or if The Windshield Wiper wins)
PS: Drive My Car is my Fav of the year. If it wins, we both can be happy
I’m in the minority here, but I don’t feel The Long Goodbye looks like a winner in this category. well-known names don’t necessarily translate to wins for live action short (just ask Branagh, for example), and I think the film will look like a glorified music video to some voters, so that’s why I’m not predicting it. I would love to be wrong though, because I like Riz, and I loved the film. but then again, I have no solid pick to offer instead.
Robin Robin and The Queen of Basketball feel like the consensus options and the safest in their categories, and I’m going with them too.
as for what I loved in the shorts categories: The Dress, The Long Goodbye, Audible, The Queen of Basketball, and most of all Bestia (although I’m also traumatized by it and probably will never want to watch it again in my life).
the only one I didn’t care for was The Windshield Wiper (sorry!). with all the other ones, I’ve had at least an ok time watching it.
The short films were excellent this year. Better than some of the features
Ala Kachuu seems like the clear choice in its category. I think it probably won’t win, but it’s impressive that they were able to tell such a full, heavy, engaging story in a short.
Agreed – if the voters watched all five, I think Ala Kachuu might (should) just pull out a win
It’s either Ala Kachuu or the Riz Ahmed film. If they name-check, it’ll be Riz. But when this award was voted by people who had seen the films in contention, the longest film usually won. Not always but a lot of times. And Ala Kachuu is so good. I don’t want to spoil anything. What works for it, I think, is that it has an interesting title. If voters are voting randomly in the category, they don’t have to have seen it to vote for it.
Wouldn’t it be fun if they announced the top 2 in each category first, and then call out the winner’s name? Kind like a beauty pageant, or even better…announce the top 3 for Best Picture and announce the winner, leaving everyone in a quandary, wondering which came in 2nd and which came in 3rd. Imagine the fun! Well, I’m proud of myself this year. I saw a lot of the nominated films…All Best Pictures, all 20 Acting nominees, all International/Foreign films, all Animated films and all Documentaries. How many did you see this year?
They could build suspense throughout the evening by announcing the winners ala American Idol. Ryan Seacrest calling out the bottom 2. Jessica Chastain, you are safe! Please take a seat. Kristen Stewart, your journey ends right now!
The Oscars at their worst have better ratings than these music realities, so why bother?
First, it’s a joke. Secondly, the Oscars is once a year and these competition shows are weekly. It’s not a fair comparison.
I watched all the nominated films that are feature film… missed a few of the shorts
Bottom 2 of each actor’s category have to play the same scene in order to pass to next round..Boys will play the Joker. Girls A star is born.
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What is your problem girl?
I am feeling better now. I will be back on the site. I made the mistake of posting while I was in a very upset mood. Sorry.
It’s so odd three acting categories seem sure things but Best Actress so up in the air. Chastain a slight edge with SAG and Academy voters loving “beautiful actress gets ugly under makeup.” Yet secret ballots seem to favor Cruz and the international voters likely behind her despite no SAG nom or such. Not to mention still Kidman and Stewart in the mix and BAFTAs no help not nominating any of them. Makes it really tough to call, think Cruz might get it but could still be Chastain, just uncertain more than ever.
I’ve always been skeptical of Dog’s winning potential, but after some decent frontrunning through the awards season, toothless easy-to-handle comp (until Coda’s bullet) and the 12 noms I started to believe.
I know that there is a lot of hollow hype behind Jane Campion by people who haven’t really seen much of her films, let alone loved them. Her name brand precedes a deeper genuine familiarity in the mainstream. And seeing a film with strong Oz/Kiwi links seriously contending for Best Picture is rare (usually a tech or feelgood), ESPECIALLY an art film (you really have to go back to The Piano for something sorta like that), I’ve seen our hopefuls fail to contend or even get nominated time and time again (2021’s masterpiece Nitram will take its turn this coming season), and I predicted something along the lines of the Sam Elliot comment a couple months ago, with Slow West (also See Saw) the best recent forebear we had for a NZ-shot American-set western which bruises American delusions regarding their perceived ownership of the west. Campion’s films are also rewarding growers that benefit from a few viewings. Same goes for the ‘gay cowboy’ picture like this and Brokeback. The right wingers end up seeing and liking it, but not voluntarily here and now, rather in the safeness of hindsight.
That the seeming usurper is CODA is poetically revealing of how insular and simplistic the Oscars truly remain.
Every time I see The Power of the Dog I see something new. Yesterday I was discussing a pivotal scene in which Peter tells Phil more about his father’s death. I find the implications this scene makes through three lines that Peter says with minor pauses in-between interesting. I believe many probably had the same thoughts. But I had to rewatch the scene. Once I started, I decided to watch the film from the very beginning, and this time around I didn’t experience Peter’s determination to get rid of Phil as a constant from a certain point onward, the way I had in the past. Every time I see this film, there are new nuances, new glimpses into these characters.
The other day, I decided to rewatch CODA for the first time since the summer of 2021 when it was released on AppleTV+. Not much changed. The film relies heavily on its safe storytelling devices, on a story that’s not about insights into human behaviour but about repeating storytelling bits that had proven successful in the past. It’s too safe, by the numbers, as if it follows a recipe. I am also a bit puzzled by that old cliche about CODAs and music as a channel of self-expression. I found Marlee Matlin’s character quite irritating. Yes, the scene between father and daughter in the end had warmth and pathos, but the film felt like an old TV movie. Schmaltzy, like a rewatch of an old movie that feels familiar and safe. You spend two hours with it, it doesn’t give you much, you forget it right after. And cinematically it’s just as remarkable as the average TV flick on NBC. The film dictates its viewers what to feel, when to feel it. It pushes buttons somebody else had written down before. It doesn’t create characters, it doesn’t provide insight into human behaviour that would allow the viewers to go through an experience and feel something on their own.
Too bad this one is winning picture. The Power of the Dog is an entirely different universe of depth, nuance, layer upon layer of meaning through visuals. It’s cinema. If we have to compare them, CODA has the depth and the meaningfulness of a commercial.
My final rankings:
Remarkable films
1. Drive My Car
2. The Power of the Dog
Outstanding films
3. Licorice Pizza
Good films (although I have some major issues with them)
4. Dune
Well, not bad at all
5. West Side Story
6. Nightmare Alley
Meh
7. Belfast
8. King Richard
Didn’t work for me at all (bad)
9. Don’t Look Up
Terrible films
10. CODA
Remarkable films
1. Drive my car
2. Dune
Remarkable films
1. Drive my car
2. Dune
Outstanding films
3. The power of the dog
4. King Richard
Good films
5. Licroice pizza
6. Belfast
Meh
7. Coda
8. Don’t look up
Terrible
9. West side story
10. Nightmare alley
CODA doesn’t even pretend to be original. Scene between father and daughter is exactly the same as the french film it is supposedly “based on”. It is a carbon copy of the original. There is nothing “based on” about it.
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The movie itself does not pretend to be original or important or truthful. But the filmmakers suddenly started playing that tune after the SAG Awards. The Apple machine is working days and night to make this win happen by exploiting the deaf community (a community that has mixed feelings about the film, to put it mildly).
and the original was way better? I did not feel as manipulated by it. It felt more honest.
Not to mention Caroline Link ‘s Oscar nominated 1999 German film Beyond Silence !
Which was so much better. Although she played an instrument (if I remember correctly).
Well, the son in the remake is hotter.
and much older! that’s one of the biggest alterations in the new version.
and much older! that’s one of the biggest alterations in the new version.
HEY! That’s my wife’s friend’s cousin you’re talking about! lol
Which one?
The son in CODA.
Yes and the styling and characterisations taken straight from the original. (tall, grizzly gangly father; edgy, attractive mother). Even the way the music teacher is costumed is a direct rip off! There are some minuses for me in the original, despite loving the work in other movies of Karin Viard and Francois Damiens as the parents , there is an authenticity in CODA that feels a little farcical in Belier Family, but the formulaic and copy-cat elements in CODA may win it BP, but for me, should not win the Screenplay prize.
Those would be my choices also ! By the way why did the L.A. times do a hit piece on Licorice Pizza yesterday about that problematic character with the Japanese wives ! He was a jerk ! End of Story ! So because John Wayne’s Character in The Searchers was a racist which he was does that make The Searchers racist ? Because the dog in Sam Fuller’s antiracist masterpiece White Dog is trained to attack Black people does that make the film racist ? The Catholic Church in Godfather 3 is shown as corrupt ! Does that make the film anti -Catholic ? The answer to all those questions is No !
John Wayne is an actual racist and not just because he played one in The Searchers.
Hate on John Wayne all you want but leave The Searchers be
I’m not hating on John Wayne and pointing out someone’s racism doesn’t mean you’re hating on them. I was merely pointing out the fact that he was a racist. I’m not the hater here, he was. Also, people can hate on a film if that’s how they feel, but I don’t hate The Searchers. Far from it. In fact, I’ve talked about it having one of the best imagery in film I’ve ever seen. Plus, it’s a so of a redemption for Ford’s long career of romanticism of the Western mythology. I like The Searchers and The Man Who shot Liberty Valance. They are the only two films starring John Wayne that I can stand because it shows Ford finally awakening to the ugly truth.
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I am thinking about leaving the site and having all my posts deleted, but while I am considering it, I am starting to do it myself.
I don’t know how any right-wing nutjob who think any other film winning Best Picture is “wokeism” of the highest order while there is nothing remotely woke about CODA. These people who keep repeating nonsense like “The Oscars are about good people wanting to do good things”, “the only reason this film or that film won is because Hollywood NEEDS to reward films directed by women”, or “films focusing too much on the injustice of the discriminated and marginalized are woke”. Spoken without any irony indeed. CODA fulfills ALL of these nutjobs’ woke criteria.
But I guess a film is only distastefully woke if it’s a film you dislike. Suddenly, there’s nothing woke about a little seen film directed by a woman about the challenges faced by the hearing impaired community and really nice people wanting to do good things so that Oscar voters can feel good about themselves making history in rewarding a film about hearing impaired communities directed by a woman. And these people whining about Oscar ratings ruin are suddenly behind one of the historically least seen films among the nominees?
No gay characters. That’s what Ben means when he says it’s “not woke”.
In the end, I guess all it is is good ol’ homophobia and racism barely disguised as “wokeism”.
Didn’t these same fools say Parasite and Nomadland won because of the disgusting woke liberals? These clueless anti-woke warriors make me ill. Constantly speaking with both sides of their mouths whenever it fits their agenda.
The film is actually anti-woke but tries to manipulate the woke crowd. The woke crowd is crazy about the fact that the majority of the actors are deaf. But the film as cinema is as anti-woke as it gets. It’s all about average people doing average things. It’s all about middle-class family values and some well-meaning (but truly uninteresting) people. This is a film that wouldn’t insult anybody (except for people with taste) because it has nothing to say.
In what way is CODA “anti-woke”?
In its celebration of middle-class values. Woke requires a certain self-awareness that this film does not have. It’s not about the world we live in or the real problems people face every day (even though it pretends it touches upon that). It’s an unrealistic fairy tale that both celebrates and embodies the averageness of the dream, middle-class America. It’s also tone-deaf.
I agree with you overall although I would argue that it only pretends to celebrate middle class values. At the end of the movie the main character leaves to go to an elite school. A true values-based film would have her staying home to help her family, not run off to audition for American Idol for the sake of her own vanity.
It gets better. Love is all you need this Oscar season indeed. And the original actress even looks like Marlee Matlin.
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Isn’t it more fun and interesting to enjoy a movie in terms of the story it is telling, and not try to shoehorn it into “culture war” bullshit?
Do you anyone involved in making this movie was thinking to themselves “This movie is about middle class people. So anti-woke! Take that, The Left!” Or were they just making a movie?
the only woke movie in the lineup is DLU. Preachy, self-aware, establishment baaad (well, that is true ha ha), muh climate, culture war (Look Up – Don’t Look Up) ham fisted satire of obvious real people. I liked it a lot. Leo gave the best performance of 2021 and Jlaw was terrific too.
I’m not sure about that. If it was, then they did a terrible job. In fact, they couldn’t have done a worse job. As the old saying goes, ” hell is paved with good intentions”.
nah they did the best they could. I was indifferent to White House but everything about the astronomers was great. Elon Thunberg was a fun character too.
No, I think McKay and others think they helped the climate change issue with this film. I think the film is ad stupid as the people their calling out as stupid. In part, that’s why a lot of people like the film. I got that straight away when I saw it. However, this is far from helping us address this urgent crisis.
movies never help anything. it’s just propaganda that they do to give them more importance.
I never expected that, especially not from the likes of Adam McKay. I just can’t stand the self satisfaction and smug. It’s too satisfied with their stupidity and frivolous nature.
It’s so interesting, because CODA is actually incredible WOKE in the best ways.
Random observation: in Parallel Mothers, Penelope Cruz’s character wears a shirt that says “we should all be feminists”
All while she is keeping another woman’s baby lol
I think that is what’s called irony.
In three anonymous brutal Oscar ballots CODA came in at number 1, 1 and 3. POTD came in at 9, 4 and 10. Maybe POTD has not finished in second spot after the counting was done. Belfast was ranked ahead of POTD.
Right now, I think Cinderella would come in higher than Dog.
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I think Spiderman No Way Home should win the Oscar fan Favourite movie. Why is POTD on that list? Its imdb score is less than 7/10.
Alright, my final predictions:
Best Picture; Power of the Dog
Director: Jane Campion
Actor: Will Smith
Actress: Penelope Cruz
Supp. Actor: Troy Kotsur
Supp. Actress: Ariana DeBose
Original Screenplay: Belfast
Adapted Screenplay: Drive my Car
International Feature Film: Drive my Car
Cinmatography: Dune
Editing: Dune
Production Design: Dune
Costume Design: Cruella
Make-up/Hair: Tammy Faye
Score: The Power of the Dog
Song: Dos Oruguitas
Documentary: Summer of Soul
Documentary short: Three Songs for Benazir
Animated Feature: Encanto
Animated short: Robin, Robin
Live Action Short: The Long Goodbye
Sound: Dune
Visual Effects: Dune
Still thinking about Cruz. I love the performance, and I know that Chastain, like her The Help co-star Davis, is rubbing a lot of people the wrong way, but I don’t know whether a lead actress with no Globe, SAG, and BAFTA nods would be able to pull this off. Emmanuelle Rita couldn’t even after beating Lawrence at the BAFTAs and winning a bunch of critics’ awards. Her film was also a much bigger contender, with screenplay, directing, and best picture nominations. But if anybody beats Chastain, it’ll be Cruz. She’s the clear go-to nominee.
I decided to move to Dos Oruguitas last week. It’s a good and touching song, LMM is well-liked, while Billie might be considered too young to win this.
I rewatched Dune last night. I can see it take Editing, but sports movies always have an advantage. I really don’t know in this category. A month ago, I expected this to be a random Power of the Dog win, which can still happen if the film wins picture. The category is so all over the place that we have three options: either the showiest nominee wins (Don’t Look Up; King Richard?), the most nominated/liked film wins (The Power of the Dog), or the tech juggernaut wins (Dune).
I have to admit I didn´t see “The Eyes of Tammy Faye”. Some years ago I was really motivated to see all nominated films (especially in the acting categories) that were available before the show but meanwhile I just skip the ones I´m not that interested to see (like King Richard for example). But I have seen and liked very much the performances by Cruz, Colman and Stewart (while I found Being the Ricardos truly terrible). I think I just follow my gut feeling here, in addition I assume the Academy won´t follow 4/4 the SAG decisions and there is room for at least one surprise in the acting categories.
Besides, the only film I truly love in this year´s line-up is “Drive my Car” – and since it won´t win Best Picture I´d be fine with POTD and Licorice Pizza (even though the latter one does not stand a chance).
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No one was really thinking about CODA except for a couple of guys on Twitter who really liked the movie and kept saying it could win.”
That would be me. 🙂
And me.
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True non movie buffs could care less about The Oscar’s. I haven’t watch them since my mom died. It used to be our thing even if we didn’t see it together we will call each other afterwards. I only go online afterwards to see who won and to look at the fashion. I only watch the nominees if they are on one of my streaming apps or interest me.
Do we really think that other than Chastain or Kidman has any shot of winning best actress? None of the rest has won any of the major precursors, some weren’t even nominated (Cruz and Stewart). I don’t know, it seems very unlikely.
Not happening. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/151ad916c7c998edf863f57d5f8b34fe9ae39913f40386ad8f5062c9218198a9.gif
Cruz is pushed by a lot of those “secret ballots” predicting her and think she does have support (she did have enough for the nomination). Like you, harder to see her becoming the fourth person ever to win Oscar without a SAG nod first but things are changing given new Academy membership.
Personally, would like Chastain winning but the Cruz buzz growing and factors of how nuts that race has been this year.
“My push towards some kind of awareness of the “other half” of America.” Do you mean the half that supports a pathological liar/wannabe autocrat who tried to overthrow American democracy? Yeah, we’re aware of them.
Both leaders are repugnant.
Please remind me when the Democrats tried to overthrow the will of the American people.
Not American. Don’t care. Biden’s a creep and a menace to society. Trump’s a creep and a menace to society.
Okay, well understand this. The three most important things about America are God, country, and Taylor Swift.
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I think America is a very decent country filled with very decent people. It’s leaders? Less so. I am also not a big fan of all of this blind hatred for ‘the other side’. It’s terribly reductive and you’re giving yourself a coronary about it for no reason.
All animals are equal but some are more equal than others. All Presidents are creeps but some are creepier and more criminal than others. A former Leader of the Free World endorsing, supporting, defending and praising communist Russia and murderous dictator Vladimir Putin as a smart and savvy peacekeeping genius while attempting to overthrow a democratically elected government of the United States of America. And you think that’s the same level of menace to society as anyone else that ever resided in the White House including Richard Nixon? Please.
Biden has an appalling record. He and Trump are different cheeks of the same arse. The rest of the world can see this.
Sure. Keep pretending you speak for “the rest of the world”. I don’t think Biden is a great Leader by any means, but there is a world of difference between mediocrity and a good ol’ fraudster and sex criminal. Keep equating Mc-orange clown, the communist-supporting, Martial Law-embracing, democracy-hating, bleach-injecting, Sharpie-doctoring narcissist with 26 rape allegations and 30000 lies, with the rest of them “appalling” ones.
Well, one cannot compare Biden to the orange ogre, but Biden has been a pretty disappointing president as well. As we’ve seen time and again, he has no foreign policy plan at all. For the record: I’m not even American.
All presidents live and die by their domestic policies and Biden hasn’t been successful at home yet. His foreign has not been bad except for the huge own in the withdrawal from Afghanistan, which was laid out for him by Trump so he didn’t have much option but he could’ve controlled the withdrawal better and he didn’t. It’s domestic policies that will decide his fate, which is more important for Democratic presidents since they don’t know how to use foreign policy and nationalism as a cloak against criticism.
You seriously pretending Joe Biden is not a sex criminal?
Again, where is your evidence? The most he was accused of was hugging few women. That’s not good but that doesn’t make him a sex criminal. And this mischaracterisation completely undermines your credibility.
You are seriously telling me that footage of Biden sniffing the kids doesn’t give you the creeps? Go watch it again or pull the other one.
Sniffing the kids? Ha are you an idiot?
Sure, that’s “exactly the same” as Trump with 26 rape allegations. Creepiness, oohhhhh, giving you nightmares, it’s the stuff that sex crimes are made of in Hans Andersen’s fairy tales.
I find your whataboutery in this matter reprehensible. Both are repugnant.
Sure, sentence a “creepy” man to 30 years in prison like you would a rapist. Equally repugnant indeed. That’s what happens in a communist country, where they jail political opponents just because they are “creepy”. Fits your profile. Don’t whataboutism me.
Sure, sentence a “creepy” man to 30 years in prison like you would a rapist. Equally repugnant indeed. That’s what happens in a communist country, where they jail political opponents just because they are “creepy”. Fits your profile. Don’t whataboutism me.
Communism? Oh dear.
Yes, “smart and savvy peacekeeping genius”, remember? When your words are repeated over and over on Russian State Propaganda Media by Vladimir Putin to justify its war against a sovereign country, you ARE a commie-lover.
Quite apart from the subject at hand, it’s genuinely embarrassing you believe that Putin is a communist. So I bid you good day, Mr. Tan. I bear you no ill will.
What is Vladimir Putin if not a communist, genius? I know what he says he is, I really want to know what YOU think he is?
He is difficult to categorise. But in my view he is above all a nationalist running a capitalist regime. And he certainly possesses some significant autocratic tendencies… communism diminished years ago in Russia and capitalism flourished. But Putin is a danger to be sure.
Creepiness = sex crimes. Sure. Where did you get your law degree, genius?
I won’t be hiring you as my babysitter any time soon, Daniel.
Better me than you. Creepy-hater. Rape-defender.
I’ll throw that right back at you. Funny how ‘Believe all women’ fell by the wayside with Tara Reade.
Was Tara Reade raped?
According to Tara Reade, yes.
(A) That’s not what Tara Reade said, genius. She said it was an abuse of power, NOT sexual misconduct. Don’t conflate the two.
(B) Let’s assume you are right and Biden is a “sex criminal”, for equivalency’s sake, 26 against 1. Please go find another 25 against Biden. The closest you might get to is Andrew Cuomo, 11 vs 26. And Andrew Cuomo is now a shameful blot in political history. Donald Trump is celebrated like the second coming of Jesus Christ.
The horror. The horror. All the same. Sniffing. Raping. Creepiness. Pedophilia. Communism. Corruption. Insurrection. Defamation. Hatred. Racism. Insurrection. All the same. And you think you make a great babysitter?
OK, Dan. You lost the argument ^
That’s your best comeback???? I guess this conversation is over. At least your babysitter response was mildly entertaining.
I think you casually insinuating that just one sexual assault was all good with you was what tipped me over the edge. For your own benefit, I didn’t want to draw too much attention to it.
Equivalence. One allegation may lead someone to cast doubt. 11 allegations – no argument. 26 allegations – absolutely unequivocally a rapist and SEX deviant, pervert and criminal.
That’s the difference between those 3 gentleman. And yet you think they are ALL THE SAME.
Keep telling the world a creepy man is the same as a 26-victims raping man.
You seriously pretending to know it all?
Huh?
You are right. We must impeach Mr. Trump at once.
So, you are defending him judging from your sarcastic response to a reasonable statement about Trump’s litany of abuses of his office.
Here we go again with the ‘if you don’t agree me with you must be a Trump supporter’ approach. The point, which has sailed over your head, is that Trump is now out of office. You folks should move on and hold your current president to task.
It’s not about supporting Trump but you are clearly dismissing valid criticism against him which make me think that you are not really interested in constructive criticism. Make constructive criticism rather and we can see you are not falsely equating Trump with Biden, who may not be a great president but is nonetheless a very decent man.
It goes without saying Trump is an embarrassing, selfish and sexually deviant degenerate – and complete waste of space. But he is no longer in office. Whilst we fundamentally disagree about Biden being a decent man, you shouldn’t hate for me holding an opposing view. We probably agree on most of the important things.
No, I’m not hating fir speaking your mind. I’m just wondering why you’re criticism Biden and let Trump off lightly. He may not be in office but he’s still playing an active role and the Republican party is still beholden to him. Trump as a major political force might be over but Trumpism certainly isn’t over. The Great lie that the election was stolen from is still dominant among Republicans and the insurrection of January 6 2021 is still in party lines. Trump is still here, whether we like it or not.
Because enough words have been spoken about Trump. Biden is the one currently holding the reins and he and his cronies are leading us into a hot war.
But the only specific criticism you’ve made against Biden are things he did 20 and 30 years ago and things he did as a young Senate nearly 50 years ago and which he apologised for and made amends for long before becoming president. The people most angry with him about those things have moved on long time ago and you should probably move on, too. Biden is known for been very cautious about military action and opposed mpst military actions during Obama presidency. He’s cautious but Iraq war is the odd one out. How is he leading us to war? The war in Ukraine isn’t his doing, it is Putin’s. Or do you think Putin is a genius, and we should just let him do whatever he wants? No, screw that! We must stand up to him while we can because it will only get worse if Putin doesn’t pay a heavy price for invading Ukraine.
The war in Ukraine is the doing of both the West and Russia. NATO’s advance across Europe precipitated this whole messy business, just as the Cuban Missile Crisis 60 years previously. Am I take it you’re in favour of introducing no-flight zones over Ukraine?
I’m in favor of all global political allies joining forces to admonish a ruthless communist dictator for slaughtering women and children in a sovereign country. NATO’s advance led to this messy business??? I’m sure Putin agrees with you. Where I stand on this? Unless NATO were dropping bombs on you and your people, NOTHING justifies a unilateral war and genocide, no matter how much of a “savvy peacekeeping genius” you are.
Daniel. Stick to the Oscars, honey.
Nah. I prefer to expose the ignorance flooding the internet. It’s much more fun.
I see lots of people in the West parroting Russian talking points and unfairly condemning NATO and naively mischaracterising its mission. First, let’s get one thing straight, NATO and the USA are not the same. Unlike the USA, NATO is a defensive organisation and acts to protect its members and to preserve their peace. The only time NATO’s mandate was activated was the end of 2001 AFTER the USA was attacked on 11 September 2001. If you can’t understand the need for nations in Europe to want to join NATO, then perhaps the war in Ukraine is a big clue. These Democratic states are looking to NATO for protection and they know who is the big bad guy they fear. They’re also trying to join the European Union for prosperity, democratisation and brotherly. These two organisations are the reason peace has been preserved in Europe for more 70 years. It’s not so much about NATO or EU as it is the need for advancement by the countries in the former Soviet Republics and especially their concerns of the threat posed to them by the tyrant in the Kremlin. Also, many on the right were a big fan of Putin and his strong man approach and especially his version of Christian nationalism, but they have all become silent all of a sudden. The poster boy for many right wing extremist parties has been shown for who he really is.
I’m going to be as delicate as I can in my response, and I am not trying to patronise as you clearly smart. But your thinking is too black and white on this – and other matters. You really ought to widen your readership of this complex subject and consult some sources outside of the mainstream media. And I am not talking right-wing voxpops before you start. You need to consider immersing yourself in published and respected histories and analyses of the region and Russia’s relationship with NATO which *predate* the current crisis. If you would, you would find glaring inconsistencies in everything you’ve read in the newspapers over the past month.
Nobody is denying that Putin is a bad guy and a threat to all of us, but you are falling into the trap of viewing things from a biased lens whilst yourself parroting think pieces you’ve read in the New York Times. Everybody who knows anything knows about NATO knows that it was set up to put the willies on Russia. And Ukraine is next door to Russia. It was a given that they were going to start defending themselves at any cost. But the US and the UK governments cannot now turn around and act like they are the good guys after the millions of lives they took in the Middle East because they wanted to drain the region of its resources. We live in scary times but don’t make the mistake of thinking the US is one of the good guys.
You don’t strike me as the reflexive America is bad left wing type or the Putin apologists of the right wing. I don’t read left wing or right wing news sources, but I do read established news sources from both right and left. I, guess, you can read any news source as long as you know to question their claims and that have a balanced view of the issues. Now you can question the editorial choices of these major news organisations but the news they deliver is both factual and high quality. That’s the difference between Fox News and similar type of sensationalist news and globally respected organisations like the New York Times and Washington Post, CNN, BBC, Guardian and Al-Jazira English. You can question their editorial choices, as all kinds of people have always done, but the facts are sacred to them, something you can’t say for Fox News and others. You don’t have to be a Trump loving extremist right winger to disagree with their editorials and, in fact, many left wingers disagree with it, too. There’s no question that the NYT and WaPo happen to be the two most informed news sources, especially in US politics.
I will speak mostly on the British media outlets as I am British. Believe me when I say that the Guardian places very little stock in the facts, and despite ostensibly leaning to the left it worked unambiguously (along with the BBC) to overthrow the last Labour leader because he threatened the status quo. The BBC is even worse because it exists as an arm of the government. Its news department is notoriously right-wing, and its viewership trust the baloney it puts out with little argument.
What do these two outlets have in common? Well, once upon a time they used to stand for something and both had journalistic integrity. The same can be said for the NYT and the Washington Post, but things have changed and journalism has moved on, and not for the better. We must not let the previously well-earned reputation of these outlets cloud the reality that the ‘truth’ they currently report is no longer reliable. In many cases, their ‘lack of reporting’ (Julian Assange, for example) is deeply disconcerting.
I make my living as a historian and academic. If I blindly believed the historical consensus without consulting the original sources themselves, I’d soon be travelling down the wrong road. Truth is paramount, but the Guardian, the BBC and the NYT no longer offer it.
Donald Trump is the default leader of the Republicon and Republicommie party, the second most important party in the USA, remember?
He’s already been impeached twice. Didn’t stop his worshippers from making him a martyr and believing him when he said he won in a “landslide” in 2020 and want to hang Mike Pence and murder Nancy Pelosi for him.
You misunderstand me if you think I am supporting Trump by deriding Biden.
You support Trump by equating everyone else with Trump. Biden being creepy is the equivalent of 26 rape allegations against Trump?? Please.
Receipt, please? Biden isn’t popular and hasn’t been a successful president but how is worse than Dubya let alone be as bad wannabe megalomaniac Trump?
Where do we start? His deeply controversial crime bill, pro-segregation stance, his full-throated endorsement of the Iraq War and his family’s shady dealings. Don’t even get me started on that repugnant – and never-ending – footage of him sniffing women and girls. Biden’s thinly veiled neoconservatism makes him as bigger threat as Trump.
Are you making this criticism as a Democrat, liberal or black community? Because if not, you must realise that Republicans and Conservatives were very support of segregation as well as the crime bill, as were many Democrats of the latter. Iraq war was supported by many Congresman and was based on lies told to them by the Bush administration. Biden admitted his mistake and apologised for it. He has humility unlike the narcissistic orange idiot. The crime bill was also of its time and was seen as a solution at the time by a great many people. But those were long time ago and Biden has taken strides to take a different stance on them and has championed many reforms since. Perhaps you missed it because he was elected on making such reforms! The black community supported him heavily during the primary and national election because he was the VP for the first black president and he now has a black and first woman VP. I think you might call a great turn around.
I am not American and therefore neither Democrat or Republican. This refusal to accept anything outside of the US political sphere is exhausting. Both parties to me represent two cheeks of the same arse because the particular brand of neoconservatism they espouse is distinctly right-wing to me. Those concessions you are making on behalf of Biden would seem misjudged. And OF COURSE the black community supported Biden over Trump.
We have almost the same… but I have The Power of the Dog as winner (and Belfast, then CODA as spoilers, with a minor open window for King Richard, if it wins editing or surprises at original) and Cruz as number 1 and then Chastain as alternate. Everything else, we have exactly the same winners. Also I have The Power of the Dog taking Adapted, despite CODA’s surge.
Best I ever had was 93… I only failed Supporting Actress (Anna Paquin) as I had Wynona Ryder for The Age of Innocence and Rosie Perez as alternate, and I don’t recall what was the other one, but some technical. Hopefully this time I do as well, if not better.
I so wish I had been around back then when the Oscars were real fun. I’ve watched all these clips countless times and I love all these upsets: Paquin, Coburn, Spacey’s win for The Usual Suspects, Marisa Tomei!!!, Joe Pesci, Day-Lewis’s win.
I especially remember Tomei (as i thought at the time she had the LEAST chance to win) and Paquin – it was so amazing to see this young girl be speechless at first – so dazzled and dazed in the moment, just a wonderful Oscar memory.
I still think that was one of the most undeserving wins in this category in history, as much as I loved Marisa Tomei as an actress and the works she’s done since. Judy Davis had arguably the best supporting performance in the 90s, still holds up so well to this day, despite the stain on all Woody Allen films.
Oh I did watch them all, a wonderful exciting time (even though having them on a Monday seems odd now).
Paquin’s win is my all time favorite win and moment of Oscar night. I watched The Piano shortly before the ceremony and was amazed by her performance, and how she was so integral to the film, and her performance on the same level of Hunter’s, Neill’s and Keytel’s, making it really difficult to actually say, who of the four was the stand out, if any. The Piano could have really, really swept the 4 acting Oscars, but inexplicably, the leading men (and Michael Nyman’s iconic score) were snubbed in the nominations, and before the ceremony, it seemed that The Piano would win just Lead Actress and Original Screenplay as its only reward, despite being the only film that seemed to have a shot to upset – not really – the overdue Spielberg’s double threat of Schindler’s List and Jurassic Park (7+3 Oscar wins)… and also in Supporting Actress, given than Thompson won the year before, and Hunter was going to win in lead, it looked like a clash between Rosie Pérez (amazing in Fearless) and Wynona Ryder (who had been building a status), and almost no one did bet on Paquin (child performances normally don’t win), but even her fellow nominees singled her out as the win they would like to see (if they wouldn’t win)… and I think Pérez said that publicly, which maybe signed the deal for the (much deserved) upset.
The downfall of Paquin’s win, was that Kirsten Dunst was snubbed from a nom and win, the following year, for “Interview with the Vampire”, another of the best child performances… plus, in 1993, Christina Ricci was snubbed for the other absolutely fantastic (comedic in this case) child performance as Wednesday Addams, in “Addams Family Values”, which also should have led her to a nom…
Ryder should have won for that movie. Fearless is a brilliant underrated movie.
I am an Apple person of the highest order as well. I’ve already bought five MacBooks and I’m in my 20s. And I’ve received AppleTV+ subscriptions as part of purchases (iPhones, MacBooks). I would never pay for the AppleTV+ service. It’s truly mediocre, just like this trashy, schmaltzy, insultingly simplistic film CODA. I’m disgusted by Hollywood’s embrace of it.
I am an ex-Apple user (had iPod touch, iPhone 4 and iPad 2, and switched to Android… one of my exes gave me a MacBook Air during our relationship – which I returned) and now I have an iPod mini (which I found on the streets in the middle of nowhere) and an iPhone 8 (which I was given as emergency replacement, I use to play solitaire and as MP3 to save battery while I travel to and back from work, so I don’t need to recharge my Samsung Galaxy S9+). Always tempted due to the tsunami of advertising to go back to Apple, but then I remember all the issues it has, all the limitations and how much they overcharge for everything… and that they are more interested in branding than in usefulness and a good ratio of quality and price, and of course, compatibility, to not force into a closed environment… with Android, you can choose between brands / manufacturers.
To be honest, there was one good TV show on AppleTV+, Tehran. Everything else is kinda meh.
I love the design, I love that the battery has a long life, especially on their 2020/21 lines. I love that I can do a lot (even editing) without the laptop getting on fire (mostly true of my new one, the previous ones weren’t that good).
But yeah, it just feels right to use it and I can’t imagine moving to a Windows laptop. I use my iPad mostly for reading NYTimes and The New Yorker plus some silly games. I read on an ebook. I’ve never had compatibility issues. Maybe it depends on what you use the laptop for. The 2020 Apples had some editing software issues but this has been taken care of.
But I’ve hated Apple so much the last few days due to CODA that the relationship will never be the same.
Ted Lasso <3
I am not going to subscribe to Apple just to watch one movie. I unfortunately had to pirate view it. And I enjoyed it. But now that movies that are on tv are winning best picture, why don’t we call it an Emmy.
Because Coda is too mediocre for an Emmy. The Emmys have stuff like Succession that’s ten times better than most of the Oscar nominees. Back when the Oscars were giving awards to The Artist, the Emmys honoured Breaking Bad and Mad Men. Even though most TV sucks, there is some greatness there.
My guts tell me to go with Cruz…
… My guts or my desperate hope that something, even if it’s just in one category, good happens on Sunday.
I have hope because every time I feel as if this year might go in so many directions a day before the Oscars, it’s a bore. When I’m disappointed and desperate, like I am now, something happens. I felt like this three times: in 2016 (the year of Spotlight, Ex Machine, Mark Rylance), 20017 (the year with all the upsets), and in 2020 (the Parasite and Bong Joon Ho year). So maybe I should be hopeful. I don’t know. But I’m terribly disappointed by how this season played out.
Worst-case scenario (I need to get this out of my system):
Best Picture: King Richard
Best Director: Kenneth Branagh
Best Actor: Will Smith
Best Actress: Nicole Kidman
Best Supporting Actor: J. K. Simmons
Best Supporting Actress: Judi Dench
Best Original Screenplay: King Richard
Best Adapted Screenplay: CODA
Best Film Editing: King Richard
Best Sound: Belfast
Best Song: “Somehow You Do”
Best Costume Design: Cyrano
Best Makeup and Hairstyling: House of Gucci
Best International: The Hand of God
(If a category isn’t listed, I wouldn’t have a problem with any of the nominees winning/losing)
Call me crazy… But I have a feeling you’re not a big fan of KING RICHARD.
https://media1.giphy.com/media/6Q2KA5ly49368/giphy.gif
It’s just been so crazy. I had thought maybe Stewart at the start, then Kidman, didn’t give Chastain much of a chance until SAGs, now they’re saying Cruz despite her not winning any major precursors and we’ve been burned before on the “secret ballot shows momentum shifting” stuff. Just so much harder to tell this year.
Sasha this is the second time in a week you’ve used that Tale of Two Cities quote maybe read some other books that aren’t by Charles Dickens or Dinesh D’Souza
Wait, there are books by other people??? https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e685bea18dd8ba0d3399131ffa0168b616032d05e8bb0b93ce6b075e0f998206.gif
I am an Apple person of the highest order as well. I’ve already bought five MacBooks and I’m in my 20s. And I’ve received AppleTV+ subscriptions as part of purchases (iPhones, MacBooks). I would never pay for the Apple service. It’s truly mediocre, just like this trashy, schmaltzy, insultingly simplistic film CODA. I’m disgusted by Hollywood’s embrace of it.