Finding anyone in Hollywood or who covers Hollywood who will tell you the truth is nearly impossible. To be a truth teller you, as Dylan would say, “ain’t got nothing, you got nothing to lose.” Those with nothing to lose are often the canceled, the disappeared and those like Barry Diller whose career is behind him. Trust me when I tell you that trying to tell the truth is like trying to climb a muddy hill in heavy boots. On Twitter they will gaslight you or struggle session you back into understanding and living with the lie. In media, journalists always tell the Emperor his clothes are beautiful. Everyone is looking out for their own best interests – their reputation, their platform, their status.
But the truth is the giant elephant standing in the middle of the room. Just because people are too afraid to talk about it doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Just as it took a child in the Emperor’s New Clothes to point out the obvious and say the Emperor is buck naked, it sometimes takes people who are brave enough and who give no f*cks to say it.
And that brings us to Barry Diller. Here is what Diller says about Hollywood and the Oscars:
If you just back up ten years ago, eight, seven, eight years ago, we had a big cable bundle that was getting every year priced higher and higher. Every year, the number of things we were offered were getting more and more in number, and we were paying more and more for them. And cable companies, the people who warehoused all of this, their margins of profit decreased. At just the same time, under their little noses, comes a company called Netflix, which says, ‘We’re going to stream things and deal directly with the consumer. And we’ve got a better proposition than you cable folks do. You can watch things whenever you want. You can watch all of it at once. It’s on demand, on your personal demand. And you just point and click and it streams to you, directly to you.’ And out of it, under the noses of the entire wisdom of the entertainment business, the ground completely shifts. And then along comes the pandemic, and that increases the shift because people stay home more, etc., etc. So there are more subscriptions, etc. The entire movie business crashes because there’s no movie theaters, because people can’t go to the theaters. And that whole infrastructure of– the hegemony, let’s call it, of Hollywood, which had ruled for 75, 80 years, it only took three or four years for it to totally disappear. Totally disappear in the sense that it’s over. There is no hegemony anymore of those, let’s call it those major motion picture companies. It’s truly finished. It is never coming back.
And:
[The Oscars are] an antiquity. It’s from a whole other era. There really is no movie business anymore. It doesn’t exist. The whole motion picture role of, let’s say Hollywood producing about 125 movies a year, rolling them out theatrically, that’s over. And all award ceremonies were based upon this hierarchical process of a movie going to a theater, building up some word of mouth if it was successful, having that word of mouth carry itself over. And yes, there were people campaigning to get awards and to get appreciation for it. But it was all following a kind of regular path. That path no longer exists. So whoever shows up on that path, whether it’s through a movie that no one saw, through some sort of manipulation or not, and ends up in an awards ceremony that every year people watch less and less, just tells you that that way- I mean, there are people old enough, younger than me, but old enough to have been alive during the entire transition right now from a rising world, say, ten years ago to five years ago, four years ago, three years ago until the pandemic that was pretty predictable to one that is completely unpredictable.
HOOVER: Is there a reform formula for the Oscars?
DILLER: No. They are no longer a national audience worth its candle because that audience is really no longer interested.
HOOVER: They’re not interested in the awards and the showmanship of the awards?
DILLER: They’re not interested in the whole process of it. Just, by the way, the awards don’t reflect their interests either. It used to be that there was congruence between the movies that people went to see and the awards that were given to those movies that were most popular. Not that they were the most necessary or the least artistic or whatever, but there was a real correlation between popular movies and the giving of blessings on those movies and the people in them. But that disappeared a while ago, and the awards went to movies that nobody watched, nobody went to see. And then no one went to see anything because the pandemic came. So the whole house has kind of collapsed upon itself. And what I think is, is that the awards ceremony should be for the industry and not for consumers. And that would change everything.
The short history goes something like this: Hollywood did to movies what fast food restaurants did to mom-and-pop diners in every town, the USA. The formula worked well: limited choices, familiar brands, and expectations met. This is what happened to Broadway with recycled ideas driving their business. Movies became about the franchise, about fewer choices with expectations met.
The only way for the Oscars to survive was to take a different road. The Harvey Weinstein model of the “Oscar Movie” meant they could keep churning out the kinds of movies voters liked – many of them made in countries that don’t rely on a Capitalist model as we do — and hand-delivering them to Oscar voters. All of us play a part in this process. It didn’t use to be so manufactured and micro-managed as it is now. Since everyone is getting paid, hardly anyone says anything.
Film Twitter is happy because all of their favorite movies are often represented and the whole thing happens inside a bubble that seems like a big deal if you are also in the bubble. Critics feel more influential than every so they aren’t going to say anything. Almost everyone who covers film or watches “Oscar movies” now exist inside the bubble so most of them either don’t realize anything is even wrong or like it as it is.
The problem is that the Oscars were designed to recognize high achievement in film and the highest achievement used to be strong box office. A movie was good, word of mouth spread and the industry rewarded the producer of that film. It was a hit and it mattered.
The Oscars, then, elevated the whole industry because they had something to aim for, a high bar to reach, while also entertaining the public. Now, this year especially, voters get a massive pile of screeners of movies no one wants to watch. Why, because they are often about suffering, or existential angst but always somehow adjunct to politics. Films for the Royal Court can’t tell any really good stories because the entire industry has walled itself off from the struggle of daily life.
One of the best films this year that wasn’t nominated was Mark Mylod’s The Menu. It is the perfect metaphor for what has happened to the Oscars. There is no joy in making the very best food with the finest ingredients if it is only attainable by the richest people in the world. To the Ralph Fiennes character, the joy has been completely removed. What he craves instead is to make the perfect cheeseburger for Anya Taylor-Joy who is a working class sex worker. She will tell him if it’s good or not. She is hungry. He wants to feed her.
The rest of it has no meaning, no point. Who cares what the food critic or the billionaire thinks? That’s the Royal Court and it is finite. It has no real-world impact.
Explained beautifully here:
The Menu was one of the organic successes this year with $38 million, along with A Man Called Otto ($54 million).These films were ignored by the Oscars because they were ignored by the tastemakers. We can all do better. But we have to first recognize the problem to solve it.
When I first started, all of these things would be considered before the consensus was built and in fact, they’d be built off that consensus. We’d all think, wow, The Menu did really well that makes it one of the year’s success stories. Instead, movies that were hothouse flowers, or ushered through the season by people like me, held their place in the consensus.
Incidentally, that taste-making process is how Danielle Deadwyler and Viola Davis were in the consensus long before Oscar ballots were in hand. We are always tinkering with the ideal presentation for Academy voters to “get it right.” The Andrea Riseborough thing upended that process. But really, the process itself is broken and has to be re-examined.
There is no reason why The Menu should not have been considered in the Best Picture lineup. It was one of the films that made an impact this year among movie goers. The best way to fix this problem is to change the date on the Academy voting. Right now, mid-February is when they should be voting on the nominations, not the winners. By now we know what the big successes were for the year, what moved the needle, what resonated, what people remember. And that should be reflected in the Oscar nominations.
The Academy seems to be, I think, content with their new fate of abandoning the American public. But remember, we’re still in pre-revolutionary America and I personally think this will change. But for the moment, they’re aiming their product more internationally – which is also what is happening in our government at the moment, with the Great Reset. But eventually, I personally think the whole thing is coming down as it did after the last Gilded Age. When that happens, there will be, I predict, a renaissance in movies and storytelling.
The public and the Oscars have split to form new species over the past 20 years. What should happen is that the two come together again. That is only possible if the extreme polarization we’ve been living through and the politicization of the Oscars go away. I feel heartened by the new Ben Affleck/Matt Damon movie Air. I watch this trailer hit 4 million views in a day:
This film is based on a new model of profit sharing invented by Ben and Matt called Artists Equity, which they say is a “creator-focused studio that can optimize the production process with shared participation in the commercial success of projects.” What I like about this is that it looks like an old-fashioned Hollywood movie that the Oscars should consider, provided the snooty gatekeepers can get out of the way and let the process play out the way it was designed: Hollywood makes movies for THE PEOPLE. If they’re successful they are awarded for that.
With that kind of innovative thinking, all is not lost.
So I don’t think it’s all the way dead as Diller believes. The old way is dead, perhaps. The “Oscar movie” is dead. The Weinstein model is most definitely dead. Film criticism might be over. Heck, even Oscar blogging might finally breathe its last gasp. But movies and movie theaters will live on and as long as the Oscars honors what plays in them, what people actually see — when you give them what they’re hungry for? Well, then, the whole industry will live to see another day.
I don’t think anyone knows what is going to win Best Picture. But there are a few clues to look for:
If: Top Gun Maverick wins anything major, either the PGA, WGA or the DGA, it’s winning Best Picture.
If: Everything Everywhere wins the PGA or the DGA it is winning Best Picture.
If: We have three different winners of the PGA, DGA, SAG — it will likely go to the SAG winner.
Best Picture
Everything Everywhere All at Once or Top Gun: Maverick or The Fabelmans or The Banshees of Inisherin
All Quiet on the Western Front
Tár
Elvis
Avatar: The Way of Water
Triangle of Sadness
Women Talking
Best Director
Steven Spielberg, The Fabelmans
Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Todd Field, Tár
Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin
Ruben Östlund, Triangle of Sadness
Best Actor
Brendan Fraser, The Whale or Austin Butler, Elvis or Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin
Paul Mescal, Aftersun
Bill Nighy, Living
Best Actress
Cate Blanchett, Tár or Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Ana de Armas, Blonde
Andrea Riseborough, To Leslie
Michelle Williams, The Fabelmans
Supporting Actor
Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Brendan Gleeson, The Banshees of Inisherin
Brian Tyree Henry, Causeway
Judd Hirsch, The Fabelmans
Barry Keoghan, The Banshees of Inisherin
Supporting Actress
Angela Bassett, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin
Stephanie Hsu, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Hong Chau, The Whale
Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Adapted Screenplay
Women Talking or Top Gun: Maverick
All Quiet on the Western Front
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Living
Original Screenplay
The Banshees of Inisherin or Everything Everywhere All at Once or Tár
The Fabelmans
Triangle of Sadness
Best Editing
Top Gun: Maverick
Tár
The Banshees of Inisherin
Elvis
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best Cinematography
All Quiet on the Western Front
Elvis
Tár
Empire of Light
Bardo
Best Costume Design
Elvis
Babylon
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris
Best Production Design
Avatar: The Way of Water
Elvis
All Quiet on the Western Front
Babylon
The Fabelmans
Sound
Top Gun: Maverick
All Quiet on the Western Front
Elvis
Avatar: The Way of Water
The Batman
Visual Effects
Avatar: The Way of Water
Top Gun: Maverick
All Quiet on the Western Front
The Batman
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Makeup and Hairstyling
The Whale or Elvis
All Quiet on the Western Front
The Batman
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Best Original Score
The Fabelmans
Babylon
All Quiet on the Western Front
The Banshees of Inisherin
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best Song
“Naatu Naatu” from RRR or “Hold My Hand” from Top Gun: Maverick
“Applause” from Tell It like a Woman
“Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
“This Is a Life” from Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best International Feature
All Quiet on the Western Front, Germany
Argentina, 1985, Argentina
Close, Belgium
EO, Poland
The Quiet Girl, Ireland
Best Documentary
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
All That Breathes
Fire of Love
A House Made of Splinters
Navalny
Animated Feature
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Marcel the Shell With Shoes On
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
The Sea Beast
Turning Red
Animated Short
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It
The Flying Sailor
My Year of Dicks
Ice Merchants
Live Action Short
An Irish Goodbye
The Red Suitcase
Ivalu
Le Pupille
Night Ride
Documentary Short
The Elephant Whisperers
How Do You Measure a Year?
Haulout
The Martha Mitchell Effect
Stranger at the Gate
not really over, but with the focus now on so many other alternatives to the big hollywood movie, it certainly has moved to a different, less impactful phase
“the awards ceremony should be for the industry and not for consumers”.
so what’s the point of: media coverage? red carpet and designer dresses and jewelry? tiktoks of afterparties? discussions on the internet about who’s going to win? slaps trending on social media? hashtags of love, hate and envy? crazy fanbases?
If it’s a ceremony solely for the industry, the actors would not care about it. The “stars” are in it for the exposure. They’re in it for the media attention, for the likes, for the tweets. No consumer cares who’s going to win the Best Hair and Make-up Award and the actors know it. They are there because the ceremony is for the consumers. If the awards are only for the industry, yes, it’s all over.
Everything changes and the Oscars are changing too. I didn’t like Top Gun:Maverick but I will not get upset if it wins Best Picture. Actually I think it should win. Looking from the outside (I’m not American and I don’t live in America) it’s the movie that I think that better represents the zeitgeist out there in the USA. Quick story: In 1998 I went to Chicago for work and I stayed at the company’s campus in St. Charles. Watched the telecast at the bar where everyone used to gather in the evening and Titanic won all those awards… The crowd was loud and cheerful. Titanic was NOT my favorite back then but I got it. I understood the excitement. That was America. For the better and for the worse.
Still… Dear Academy member, if you’re reading this please vote for EEAAO. It’s the best picture of the bunch.
Short answer: no
Why: Who is Barry Diller?
re: Air: why are we once again making a film that should be about a bigger story, about the person (or people in this case) behind the scenes, e.g., King Richard?
This is a story that should be about Michael Jordan that has been turned into a story about the white guys behind the scenes.
So, to clarify, the storyline in both King Richard and Air is not about the accomplishments/achievements of those who achieved them but rather those who gave them the opportunity to accomplish/achieve. Talk about burying the lead…what a sad state of affairs.
Re: The Menu: I didn’t find the film of
R what it had to say particularly strong enough that I would expect the Academy to recognize it. Hong Chau was the best part.
The 2022 Minnesota Film Critics Alliance (MNFCA) Nominations
Best Picture:
“The Banshees of Inisherin”
“Everything Everywhere All At Once”
“The Fabelmans”
“Tár”
“Women Talking”
Best Director:
Todd Field for “Tár”
Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert for “Everything Everywhere All At Once”
Martin McDonagh for “The Banshees of Inisherin”
Sarah Polley for “Women Talking”
Park Chan-Wook for “Decision to Leave”
Best Actor:
Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in “Elvis”
Colin Farrell as Pádraic Súilleabháin in “The Banshees of Inisherin”
Brendan Fraser as Charlie in “The Whale”
Gabriel LaBelle as Samuel Fabelman in “The Fabelmans”
Paul Mescal as Calum in “Aftersun”
Best Actress:
Cate Blanchett as Lydia Tár in “Tár”
Viola Davis as General Nanisca in “The Woman King”
Danielle Deadwyler as Mamie Till in “Till”
Mia Goth as Pearl in “Pearl”
Michelle Yeoh as Evelyn Quan Wang in “Everything Everywhere All At Once”
Best Supporting Actor:
Paul Dano as Burt Fabelman in “The Fabelmans”
Brendan Gleeson as Colm Doherty in “The Banshees of Inisherin”
Brian Tyree Henry as James in “Causeway”
Barry Keoghan as Dominic Kearney in “The Banshees of Inisherin”
Ke Huy Quan as Waymond Wang in “Everything Everywhere All At Once”
Best Supporting Actress:
Angela Bassett as Ramonda in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”
Jessie Buckley as Mariche in “Women Talking”
Kerry Condon as Siobhán Súilleabháin in “The Banshees of Inisherin”
Nina Hoss as Sharon Goodnow in “Tár”
Stephanie Hsu as Joy Wang in “Everything Everywhere All At Once”
Best Ensemble:
“Babylon”
“The Banshees of Inisherin”
“Everything Everywhere All At Once”
“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”
“Women Talking”
Best Screenplay:
“The Banshees of Inisherin” by Martin McDonagh
“Everything Everywhere All At Once” by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert
“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” by Rian Johnson
“Tár” by Todd Field
“Women Talking” by Sarah Polley
Best Editing:
“The Banshees of Inisherin”
“Everything Everywhere All At Once”
“Nope”
“Tár”
“Top Gun: Maverick”
Best Cinematography:
“The Batman”
“Elvis”
“Nope”
“Tár”
“Top Gun: Maverick”
Best Music:
“Babylon”
“The Banshees of Inisherin”
“The Batman”
“The Fabelmans”
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”
Best Costume and Make-up:
“Babylon”
“The Batman”
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”
“Elvis”
“Everything Everywhere All At Once”
Best Production Design
“Avatar: The Way of Water”
“Babylon”
“The Batman”
“Elvis”
“Everything Everywhere All At Once”
Best Sound Work
“Avatar: The Way of Water”
“The Batman”
“Elvis”
“Nope”
“Top Gun: Maverick”
Best Special Effects
“Avatar: The Way of Water”
“The Batman”
“Everything Everywhere All At Once”
“Nope”
“Top Gun: Maverick”
Best Animated Feature
“Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood”
“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”
“Marcel the Shell with Shoes On”
“Puss in Boots: The Last Wish”
“Turning Red”
Girl, you literally have white supremacists going off in your comments section. You cool with that?
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f391b96fa31635431a221778b689aed3ef3d16e2400def1576eb979bb289e8c1.jpg
I thought usually have an issue with Disney winning everything. Now it’s indie animation?
Just on Warner Bros in order to determine which youtube clips are more credbile in their claims than others need be measured against the trend of flow good of bad of similar information – particularly when it comes to Warner Bros red flag danger signs with their over eagerness to sell out to streaming services compromising integrity of number of flagship film releases on big screen…but given sources this clip adapts from are likes of some most respect Financial/ NASDAQ/ industry insiders who tracking trevails and needless self implosion potentially of Warner Bros.
This is OTHER profound implication of film studios going woke..and being p[ressured by online community- preferencing their needs over filmmakers like Zac Snyder or christopher Nolan this is far bigger issue than anyhting in this years watered down underwhelming oscar race.
Studios blindsiding their own filmmakers..exploiting and violating trust certain filmmakers and franchises- such as wont be Aquaman 3 , Justice LEague story cannon compromised cos entirely contempt Warner Bros had for Snyders preferrred Cut which is a entertainment masterpiece has to be said..because they felt it was only way to keep online community onside.
Sacrificing filmmakers and relinquishing/ compromising big screen cinematic releases for nothing more than risky bad investment gamble go all in on their ‘discovery’ horseshit..and i predict theiur ‘dragon’ alternate streaming service has sugar hit now but when sugar runs out crash comes it come..
The public do not take kindly to big studios selling them out to appease the minority..yet this is exactly what happening..it a pattern and Warner Bros is culpable for that..inexcusable…this not your usual every now and then chop and change direction this is radical extreme..in fact pattern of discontinuing certain franchises and imposing creative restrictions on some their filmmakers now left like Nolan and Snyder… is unheard of at magnitude of crisis Warner Bros finds itself in.
BIG MISTAKE TO RAILROAD THE SNYDER CUT from seeing light of day and forcing Nolan to compromise on TENET that as result i concede did confuse missed crucial parts i no doubt if Nolan had his way he had every right to as filmmaker it could been amongst his best potential was their but WArner Bros didn’t resperc that.
Will WArner Bros be around in 5 years? their debt is something out ofa raw terror movie worse than horror…it take more than a ‘The Batman 2″ or “Joker 2” to genuinely help them recoup there losses. I know Shazam sequel coming u0p next..will they cut that one off at the knees? and we know Aquaman ending after no.2 unless they change their mind on that too..
But even if Shazam 2 and Aquaman 2 make money up against nearly 10 billion plus debt!, WArner Bros have to make hell lot more smarter decisions than they are.
I have 0 sympathy for James Gunn not all filmmakers are savvy at business level ..he should just stay as filmmaker he taking Warner Bros in a disastrous direction the chop and change constant cycle mentality do people here believe have patience to reinvest in new DC VERSE no continuity..little of it..and sacking of well renowned biggest assets that Warmer Bros had at their disposal in Snyder and Nolan?
I definitely reasonably expect we all should Nolan best work even top The Dark Knight and Inception even, is yet to come…esp with Universal resisting the appeasement of minority needs and embracing creative verve and potential of filmmakers at its disposal. Watch this space.
There are profound lessons here everyone for future path film studios seeing what Warner Bros dissolving edifice is showing…DONT SELL out to point it creates conflict of interest between filmmakers and studio…and dont put so much overhyped stock in to online streamintg either..i hope Warner Bros find a way repay the debt cos this could be biggest cinema tragedy in Hollywood since MGM was in crisis long time ago…
Peridot. It’s a 2022 film, obviously not well known. Popped up on Amazon Prime in the “We’d think you’d like” line. I did.
It’s a flawed piece and that’s what makes it so entrancing. Maybe it’s not flawed, maybe it’s just original. Don’t know.
It kinda reminds me of Aftersun in that it’s more of a scrapbook of scenes that when seen together paint that sought after “bigger picture.”
Anyway, it’s written and directed by Shayne Pax who also stars. He’s a boy next door blonde in his early twenties. Plays a male prostitute who manages to steal from his clients more often than having sex with them (or so it seems). He meets a woman, a well known author, and an unusual but somewhat conventional friendship ensues. The scenes with the two of them are unadorned and that makes them compelling. We never get that emotional payoff you expect from movies, something I deeply respect. Life’s relationships work that way.
There are enough scenes that work for me to give it a strong recommend. There are enough scenes that don’t work to warn you that you might hate it. But at 64 minutes, it’s not a heavy investment.
Is this the year where they do Oscar’s family album, where they all have the acting winners of the past and now come up on stage and sit looking marvelous in tuxedos and dresses or will be the 100th anniversary of the oscar
I going out limb here… i feel this oscar race is warm up act to BIGGEST intriguing SHOULD be all round blockbuster smash bunch of contenders next year.
And if there one film i supremely confident we all should be that could beat Dune pt II..assuming both this film and Nolan’s latest offering are big hit with critics not just box office..
Then it is OPPONHEIMER.. it extraordinary to think 3/4 of Nolanus films in last 20 yrs or bit
under been either mentioned or ended up being oscar contenders
for at best few measley technical
wins.
Nothing for Inception , Interstellar or The Dark Knight ( afilm that kust be pointed out has most quotable lines
of best of contemporary filmmaking in last 35 yrs!!
Yet he yet to win i thinka DGA.
Or PGA for his films.. maybe he too
clever for the Academy.. maybe he too much of avgame changer in advancing traditional rules and redefining them of pragmatic filmmaking…
But there no excuse… sure, TENET was not his best but that as direct consequence of Warner Bros playing ‘ dictator’ curtailing limiting Nolans rights to creative freefom. And blimddiding the filmmaker maestro with non negoytiable release on streaming and cinema.. there ample evidence to believe that it was Warner Bros thst diminished capacity Nolan do Tenet exactly as he intended NOT how Warner bros controlled him to do it. As we know not first time Warner Bros has meddled rejected filmmakers own pure creative rights …more on that ltr..
Enter Universal a studio if i not mistaken only had 3 best picture winners winners in last 20 yrs.
Lower than WB, fox searchlight , etc…
But when i mentioned ‘ Cocaine Bear ‘ there serious film studio eeolutionary side to it UNIVERSAL ENRRUST RATHER THAN BE CONTROL FREAK AS TO EXTENT CREATIVE FREEDOM RESPECTED AND EMBRACED NOT CHALLENGED
AND THE INNOVATION FILMMAKERS CONTRACTED TO UMIVERSAL BRING .( see article interview to Elizaberh Banks. ON VARIETEY
COM)
We shOuld wll be greatly relieved after Warner Bros ( let face it they made disgusting decisions axing zac Snyder mqnipulating the scenario to push Nolan to quit with Warner Bros and terminatimg type sequels we needed . Justice League Dark… and replacing it wirh lesser known new branches of DC universe it WONT work. That Nolan rightfully wanted find a studio after his public fallout with WB that strengthrn entrust him with creative his own disgression before studios directivr he with.
As much i really enjoyed The Batman i still have BIG misgivings of upteenth batman reboot u simply cant top Dark Knight trilogy regardless…
So Warner Bros mispriotised miscalculated and stripped undermined their thrm more vidionary bolder cretive minds in favour something new need bosd James Gunn might just self implode WB that be first for studio.
Universal gave licence to Elizabeth Banks do Cocaine Bear EXACTLY as she wanted. And they got right behind snapped upcChristopher Nolan who is top echelon of todays filmmskers around. Who now commited to Universal in post Warner bros era.
It game changer for Universal. And with Opponheimer i predict they be powerhouse . At oscar time. On hopegul ASSUMPTION oscar start look more fsvoursbly at estsnlished
reputable hollywood filmmakers
who macimise crsative freedom
how they widh to portray events
moments …in their films..
ONLY REASON NOLAN NOT HAD ANY TRACTION with academy win director or pictur is thus far.. there been constant white anting campaign against films by filmmakers who even before warner bros pushed Nolan away… Nolan made it clear he believed it paramount right of filmmaker who does all hard work grunt work spends overwhelming years shooting etc… refining the product that it HIS right like other filmmakers
excersise have their own creative judgement trusted. Not at whims of twitter or studios some them like WB increasingly tepid raise white flag accept role of rampant activism online .
Nolan was justified speaking out against this is what galvanised award season against him.
Even with his more conservative Dunkirk.. way he portrayes events .. was unlike anyway war film been presented before … despite getting best pic n it was too ambitious ..in way it presrnted events ..for oscar value beyond tech awards.
Opponheimer is film that is looming as Oscars salvation from the oppresseion inflicted by twitter and social mefia digital intimidation and tje PC moralising thst all but demolishing reoutation in eyes of majoroty come oacar timre.a film helmed by
most gifted filmmaker of contemporrary generation since new millenium.. who is certain to while no doubt paying full respect to pivotal historic event of development and test of America’s first nuclear bomb.. while likely be anchored by importance being true to history more than his other films expect where Nolan did wirh Dunlirk to.lesser degree Nolsn to express and represent some moments visuslly with his signature creative freedom.
Not only that but next yesr well be year of i owe you’s maybe Oppenhrimer may not be his best work doesnt need to be.. not given Nolans pedigree anyway.. but it has string chsnce at very least be close to his best..
But also i owe you for Emily Blunt yet win an oscar i never thouhght ANYONE could reenact recrwaye Mary Poppins come as xlclose as great Julia Andrews did but damn did Emily Blunt come close
. . Nolan..Robert Downey Jnr what redemption story his path been since his dark days surely oscar recognize that given his performances always fsntastic. And cillian murphy yet get oscar . Nomination built one heck resume.
So i predict boldly Opprnheimer vs. Dune 2 as lead contendrrs IF Oscar step away from their online apeasement activism favouritism mentslity…
Finally unlike any of oscar contenders to be released round mid year it telling OPPENHEIMER being advertised only one do do on billboards in cinemas 5 months before it release that is telling.
I would argue the most quotable film in the last 35 years is Mean Girls.
Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetle–
If not for Ledger’s death, people would have felt more comfortable openly discussing the numerous problems Dark Knight had.
I am really struggling to enjoy this Woke Super Bowl. Whatever happened to the good ol’ days when straight white men were the quarterbacks? At this rate America is going to reject football and soon it will be a niche sport.
Luckily there was a reprieve with a commercial for tenth Fast and Furious movie. Looking forward to it’s immense popularity amongst common everyday working Americans. It’s probably my early pick for Best Pic, and if it doesn’t win, movies will go the way of football.
The coaches aren’t wearing suits, the halftime show rejected the Bible, and we’re supposed to think this is normal?
Hoping the tenth and eleventh Fast & Furious movies are not like the eighth one, which divisively clowned on the real hero: whoever Scott Eastwood’s character is.
They semi-lifted the plot from the season 12 arc of the U.S. tv show Bones. Hero kills a Big Bad in front of his son and son vows ruin on him and his family.
Conservatives actually tried to marginalize Mahomie by saying he’s bi-racial to try and negate the moment.
if you believe in DNA everyone is bi-racial at this point
I don’t believe in DNA. That’s more Deep State BS. #stopthesteal
BTW, I’m finally getting around to see RRR on Netflix. I don’t know about Best Picture status but this sure deserved a few technical award noms and daring just for the sheer insanity of it.
Well said. A real surprise.
The film really deserved technical awards (Production Design & Camera work blew me away) but sadly only its (wild) song was nominated.
Well said. A real surprise.
The film really deserved technical awards (Production Design & Camera work blew me away) but sadly only its (wild) song was nominated.
That song is awful. I fail to understand what’s so good about it.
I think it’s the exaggerated dance that had the biggest impact (At least for me, it’s insanity & wild moves was rather surprising and fun).
I would have nominated S.S. Rajamouli of RRR instead of Spielberg in Best Director…!
No, please.
this. yes I would too
No, sorry. It doesn’t deserve anything. I think the West has been deprived of watching such ridiculous and laughable movies for a long time so people there are going crazy about it. That movie is shite! Even by Bollywood standards, it’s awful. It’s a shame the Academy has ignored amazing Hindi masterpieces over the years and has nominated this load of crap.
Anyone else having trouble sleeping ever since that evil ceremony at the Grammys? All the costumes and lights made me think of a scary storybook and I think everyone should take this extremely seriously.
I turned the Grammys off when Trevor went into the audience and started name-calling. I went to Youtube to catch the Hip Hop segment, but honestly, I wasn’t interested in anyone else who was supposed to be on the show. And I used to LOVE the Grammys.
Just the Red Carpet was a disappointment with the clownish styles. I wish the celebs would stop wearing clothing designed by their next door neighbor.
I did not watch them live I just heard people talk about the scary and very real ceremony. I think it was a real attempt to be nice to the devil and that it is connected to other stuff. I think celebrities should listen to reactionary conspiracists and regurgitate their second-hand readings of televised imagery without question.
If Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris wins Best Costume Design and Top Gun 2 wins Best Picture then it is a sign that the celebs have learned to love people and will once again pay top dollar for the fanciest suits and gowns.
The people freaking out over Sam Smith apparently live in a world that never contained David Bowie, Marc Bolan, Sweet, Queen, the New York Dolls, and Lou Reed.
Santa Barbara IFF 2023 – “Tar” Director Todd Field Presents Cate Blanchett Outstanding Performer Award
https://youtu.be/aIQ-ln0nfXk
Apparently Lydia Tar was supposed to play the Halftime Show until she had to go and throw it all away.
If Top Gun 2 wins PGA, Spielberg or Tar wins the DGA and EEAAO wins three Sag awards who wins Oscar BP and BD?
This could actually happen. Field stuns and wins the DGA but thereafter Blanchett stunningly loses the Sag.
I think Women Talking might surprise in SAG ensemble.
Is that a path for it to win the BP Oscar? Like Spotlight. BP,, Adapted Screenplay.
Maybe…
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/02/12/politics/unidentified-object-canada-alaska-military-latest/index.html
Aliens amongst us …well let face it it worst kept secret clearly not another balloon.. judy govt cant comment confitm or deny … it a UFO aliens !! but if that too bizarre for you thrn….
This just IN!
COCAINE BEAR HAS BECOME SHORTENED ODDS TO LEAD NOMINATIONS BEST PICTURE NEXT YEAR ..( assuming as pundits expect EEAAO been unable win thing so far could well be on track win LESS precursors potentially than CODA laat year … somehow wins best picture).
Well ? If a film is well written if well actrd evrn within type film it is ( do i sense weta digitals eerily lifelike bear set be first digital acting pergormance to win?:P next yrs oscars?)
abd if it well directed …good chance could be.. well if as seems be some unexplained reason crazinesa of EEAAO is best pic winner than doesnt matter how ccrrraazzzy upcoming films cpuld be for meabs truly if EEAO wins best pic ANYTHING any themed film win best pixture right ?
Wrll..at very least sight of a bear getting high off cocaine is super frwaky intriguing trip.
well… IF we haven’t been hearing about the China’s spy balloons… (which actually kind of defies logic and geography), then there would still be a remote possibility of me being puzzled by the incident in Canada.
But actually what worries me, is how the USA has been not so subtlely cornering China… which is probably the worst and scariest non-integrist government in the world. It’s a continuous increase of pression against China, the big rival and future supreme superpower (and main reason, geostrategically, for the wars in Syria and Ukraine, by the way… weakening Russia to finally make their government fall and have their resources on NATO side, and away from China’s control)
It topic for another time but no way US are aggressor it is China that been extraordibarily aggressive to rest of world. Under Xi jing Ping this supposed future superpower is being undrmined by most cunning greedy brutal govt on the planet. It have adverse effect it will drive people AWAY from relying on China products. They are threatenibg Taiwan ..they are threatenibg peace in our region… they CHOSE to conceal truth whrn and how though we all worked ot out the pandemic was unleashed
.to which global ecobomy is teetering ….when a country like Aust at start of pandemic took a stand to demand rightfully reasonably independemt inquiry into psndrmic involving the WHO.. Chinese govt turned feral. Nobody hassled or asked China under communist partty to ban economic crucisl trades. Xi jin ping prosecutes minorities.. and he is ‘ shadowing’ Russias genocidal operation against Ukraine. Spying on crucial US military intelligence and insrallations is breach of ttust or worse. As you say given China are a superpower what righy do they have ferl as u say ‘cornered’ by anyone?
The thibg we really must fear is what Chinas next ultra aggressive move will be. They will strike Taiwan Xi jing Ping is a master nanipulator … the ultimatr deciever. He hoodwinked the world into thinking economic power other nations give him in trade bargaining be used for peaceful purposes and cobsttuctive civil use? Nobody had foresight see undrr communist regime China would abuse all financial ttudt nations put in it. In Australia undrr left labor govt…thry foolish enough to think Chinas behaviour has changed. As we kniw? What China want us yo tjink bout their fake ‘change’ and reality based on deploying spying baloons and passive aggressive expansion of their naval forces in international not China claimed waters near our region .. belie any notion whatsoever China are feeling cornered they are agitators and the US need continue rrmain ever vigilant esp all these weird foreign ovjects likely from China oddly not confirmed off US Canadian airspace. One wonders why only US or Canada ey?
sorry, the USA is the most aggressive country of the last century… manipulating worldwide so their corporations make business… you can ask in Latin America or Middle East, for example. Or do you still believe that legend of the American Eagle fighting for democracy and freedom everywhere?
Google up School of Americas or check out that great documentary that is Shock Doctrine, based on Naomi Klein’s book (free to watch on YouTube, by the way)… I assure you it is not conspiranoia… in case you never read what I previously posted in other moments, I’m geographer with cum laude in Contemporary History (thanks to a research about the Causes and Consequences of the Fall of the Communist Block), with two diplomas in Development and that worked in Africa for the goverment of my country in International Cooperation (even representing my country in a meeting, lol). And I can tell you that what’s talked in any party, or gossip, at diplomatic level, is way different what your beloved mainstream and supposedly independent media would tell you. An eye and mind opening experience.
I would need pages to expose, how the world actually works. Been inside the mechanism – and left. I like living with a clear conscience… Every time i hear about the 100 million killed by – supposed – communism, I always repy… let’s double that, or make it 3 times… and then let’s talk about the billions killed by capitalism. Trust me, I am an expert. 😉
UPVOTE!!
“Or do you still believe that legend of the American Eagle fighting for democracy and freedom everywhere?”
Woody Harrelson’s monologue in Triangle of Sadness well summarizes it all..! 🙂
Another upvote here, Jesus.
I just read that guy above you and I was… WTF?
Intersting i will … but defining ‘ clear conscience ‘ is truth of history vs. Trivialising too many people do of history. Not saying you but what i found realky distutning i more willing engage in denate with yiu as this matter likely undrestsndsbly come up from time to time i def am gicen u willing be cobettuctivr as i am and i have lot respect for you evrn when u disagree quite a bit with me herr thst great u have dif view.
But while i admit i not had hard experience in industru or politics directly as u have…i say this.
This my theory serms credible. Some pple not necessarily you are feeling that juat cos we may be entering asian century ( ALOT depends of Chinas attitude) in tgeir place in the wprld) i hope u not buying xi jing oings ratiobal and mentaluty thst for instsnce democratic country likey own.. has right to call out condrmn a supposed ally anytjing but for their disgrace snd biggedt scandal of 21st century lying coverimh up then crippling key industrys in our economy way China mishandled ehole thinh is squarely blame on their side. Landrmic would be hslf as bad if China notofied world rnsble eorld yo.prepare for pandemic ehtn thry knew bout Wuhan instead thry denied obfuscated interfrtrf eith justified independent investigations…. in course doing so wotld pay heavy price trusting commimist china. If pandemic startrf in America i lityle doubt cos unlike Chins or Russis thry RESPECT their role i world.. to inform communicate copperatively eith majority likeinded nations… withiit douny thry would let us know …if pandemic was bout spill out city to othet parte of world.
Tell me you serm kern defend importance og communist ideals… but it not Russisor China that ultimatrly wete biggest contributor end WWII
For russia it was yrmporary alliamce of convrmirnce it suitrd Stalin Goals to quell he saw as power struggle of Hitler.. and overejelmingly most troops smd casuslties militarily were of US UK
. As fact cos thry came ftom far more avrnues from theor depoloyment. I hope u not suggesting greatest war i history WWII was success because it was overwhelmingly cos of Soviet forces.
What if anythinh has cmumism evet avjieved for people that ruled by these desppts ey? What if amythinh has it broughy to south america? I know my history as truyh it been told i learnt my prior parents learnt … and my gparents testimony. Frankly Soviet forces in WWII joinef in after DDAY lsnding AFTER US UK euripean forces ectended throt invasion well into adjacrnt territories oneithet side of nazi germany. Soviets sure thry had battle stslimgrad but their casualties and scale of forces paled compared to both fronts and casualties of allied forces. Yes i credit Soviets communists liberating SOME concentration deatb camps. But MOST givrn location of thrm.liberated ny allied forces.
I agree america no angel it naive think i think America are perfrct or golden saviour i admit Vietnam wad mistske that first tainted the US role in world.. Afghanistsn Iraq war largrly cos thry fsiled in their objective and scandal of abu Gjraib is stsi on US reputation.
But frankly we be fuked without strong US strong Europe.. do you honestly think more timid nsive america strip back it military program would see China or Russia remsin passive? Thry will as commimism proven tp in past history at timr of Soviey Empire they wint stop at NOTHING rxpsnd territory.
I relieved as thry did in WWII. The USA after aar was one hitler was defeated that they left Eiropeans save assistinh in reconstruction andass contineoont wide clean up …thry had dignity snd honor when war was one gradualy withdraw and entrust european gobts as is yhror tihht snd US redpected that rihht to allow Europeans to restore control to them. US did not make power grab conttol or territorial conquest.
Which i msy adf is EXACTLY what Russia and China are doimg cos their communist ideals.
China yet to inflict mass casualties but whtn war breaks out in pacific and sadly it WILL u watch mass massacres that Chinese governmrnt isstigate. Why else thry startef aggresdive expansion building bases in waters not theirs to conttol ? Why else is Taiwan under military thrsat ? Do we kmow how many pple im Homg Kong werrr massacred by Chinese regime before China conquered hong kong ? Hiw many weagres have they executed? How big is theor oen death camp program to persecute mimoroties? Is Putin determined not stop till Ukrainians wiped out?
So tell me i see u coming from diff perspective but it really pretentuous argumrnt comlpare rate xasualties between US and communists. Dknt forgrt Stalin starved and murdered 4 million his iwn pple. It bout circumstances round causr of casualties not raw numbers see?
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/986ffc08d0134efc12ea9359fe031bd80a5f3962223102af644c7b960087d313.png
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b224c1e65f29d3431cdb67b6ee0397e1a04c0cee1e8036647daa681a90d619ba.png
This is a bit worrying because the same idiot Academy that overlooked Mr Cuaron’s masterpiece (Roma) might repeat their mistake and mistakenly give the Oscar to Top Gun 2 (Though hopefully at the very least they can choose a weaker while still better pick like Green Book back then since Roma was too much in their opinions).
mmm… while Roma is certainly better than Green Book on all counts…
… I think Roma shouldn’t have won Best Picture. Out of the nominees, Blackkklansman was my winner. Out of the non-nominees… Armando Iannucci’s scary and hilarious satire, The Death of Stalin, was my winner for Picture, Director, Supporting Actor and Adapted Screenplay right away
Blackkklansman was wonderful but Roma was something else. It had everything an awards winner should have though perhaps that’s not the best argument.
The Death of Stalin though, I can’t judge well enough because I was busy laughing the whole time (Plus as a fan of Iannucci, I’m a bit biased but then I’m a Cuaron fan too, so who knows?).
I know your position on Roma, but, golly, that final scene in the water is worth two Best Picture awards.
My, that final scene.
So true and also, your assertion is worth two upvotes (at the very least).
sorry, you know. Technically, a masterpiece – and I give it a 5 stars rating! – but it’s mostly an ego trip and sends the wrong message (rather than a tribute to his nanny, it rather looks as how the wealthy family got her out of problems…)
If Top Gun 2 wins the PGA Spielberg of Field wins the DGA and EEAAO wins three SAG Awards what happens? I think that could happen. Then who wins the Oscar BP BD?
Field stuns by winning DGA. But thereafter Blanchett stuns by losing the.Sag.
Sammy is it possible that for once you correctly predict best pic winner? I admit i cant really truly judge on TaR till i have chance see it on syreaming or blu ray didnt last lomg in theatres… should not come out till 2 wks ib new yr NOT like bloody well just after nee yrs…given average film cycle for non blockbuster is 3 weeks… even on fewer screens… and even for faie hit i sure Tar was.. for time it was around… it was is very frustratibg i need wait another few weeks see it. Nothing on streaming yet. But i put leap of faith in all my comments warming to Tar tgat it more than jusy exercise in social activism aporasement what u think wondrful Sammy? How u been ?
Actually Tar is on Peacock.
Wait, you’re actully insulting OTHER people about the tics in their posts? Ok, then.
Is Cate/Yeoh the first ever (top two) duel in an acting category between nominees from Southeast Asia/Oceania? I can’t seem to recall a previous example where a competitive Oscar was guaranteed to this adjoining region of the world.
As Bestas SWEEPS Goya Awards, 9 wins out from 17 nominations. Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actor, Original Screenplay, Score, Cinematography, Film Editing, Sound…
… it had another 3 acting noms (5 in total!), and there’s the feeling left, that maybe it should have been submitted for Oscar consideration instead of Alcarrás (Golden Bear in Berlin)… I wholeheartedly disagree… As Bestas is described as too hard to watch sometimes… Alcarrás stood a bigger chance.
The highlights for me…
– Career Goya for Carlos Saura who died just the previous day. He was in paliative care and he couldn’t have attended anyways, so his last partner and 2 of his sons and daughters
– Goya Best Picture presented by a Belle Epoque (winner of both Goya and Oscar, 30 years ago!) reunion of the 4 sisters of the film: Penélope Cruz, Maribel Verdú, Miriam Díaz-Aroca and Ariadna Gil (if you never saw this film, or Carlos Saura’s Ay, Carmela!, there’s a hint here of two bittersweet must see films, even if Belle Epoque’s Oscar I would have given to Ang Lee’s The Wedding Banquet, also nominated)
– Acceptance speech for As Bestas vindicating Spain’s multicultural nature (we don’t speak only Castillian – what you know as Spanish – but there are plenty of other languages and dialects: basque, catalonian (I speak a bit of that, improving it), galizian (one of As Bestas’ languages), bable… only in my birthtown, Melilla, you can hear on the streets, castillian, hebrew, arab, french and bereber… I wish I spoke all 5, and that in a population of just 70,000)… this kind of speech makes me proud (extreme right wants to impose castillian over every single other language or dialect, to create uniformity, as in Franco’s times)
– Denis Ménochet winning Best Lead Actor in front of 4 fantastic spanish actors performances… I barely remember 2 times that a foreign actor won for acting, generally speaking – and that’s something Ryan Reynolds (Buried), Naomi Watts, Ewan Mc Gregor and Tom Holland (The Impossible) and Nicole Kidman (The Others), among others, suffered… they normally stand zero chancs of winning whatever quality the perfomance has (Reynolds, Watts, Holland and Kidman actually should have won), in favor of spanish actors… I just don’t know if because of connections, because for Goya there isn’t as much campaigning as in Oscars… Menóchet certainly has almost zero connections, making his win even more amazing (for the record, his brief performance in Inglorious Basterds was the other half of probably of the film’s best scene, the prologue and introduction to Hans Landa – Christoph Waltz’s character, a masterclass in acting on both sides… he’s a fantastic actor and I am really happy for him)
EDITED:
I forgot to mention that New Actress went to Laura Galán, for Piggy… an acclaimed performance in an horror film – acclaimed both sides of the Atlantic, by the way, as the movie was well received in the USA by reviewers. And New Actor to Telmo Irureta, for La Consagración de la Primavera, making it the second time Goya rewards a performer with brain paralisis, first one was rapper El Langui who won also New Actor but also Best Song for El Truco del Manco, 2008. Neither of them was a surprise – I’d say both were clear frontrunners in those categories, and both moments were pretty much highlights…
Wow, was not expecting that.
Alcarrás seemed like a sure thing but I’m kinda happy. Both are excellent films and sadly both are really overlooked / underrated (Especially As Bestas).
Alcarrás went emptyhanded, I forgot to say…
Bit unfair but what do I know.
Thanks for the information and your post.
Fantastic writeup. Thank you!
Sadly Bestas is not available in the US 🙁
If any 12 year olds are reading this, my punctuation in the previous reply is really a homemade emoji.
and I missed it on theaters, and still not on streaming… sigh. I have to wait.
Thx for info and data! Seen Piggy, she was fantastic!
I missed Piggy so far. Eager to watch it… I skip the short film it’s an expansion from, till I see the long feature first.
I’m watching she said right now and it was overlooked at the Oscar’s this year maybe it’s because it’s too close to best picture winner spotlight.
Odd thing is Spotlight is one of the BP winners I rather disliked while She Said is one my favorite films of 2022 that didn’t get a single nomination.
Overlooked indeed (Upvote).
True!
I think, similar to movies made by black or other minority directors, She Said was ignored because it’s about women as victims, written by a woman, and directed by another woman.
It’s perceived as some niche, i.e. not intended for me, film. If She Said was directed by some white male director, it would have been taken more “seriously”. And further with Women Talking released at the same time, (superficial) people just got kind of think they’re the same movie.
Then again, I’m not saying that revelatory.
I think most people in Hollywood lived through the Weinstein era and this film would have offered them nothing that they didn’t already know. While wellmade, there was no dramatic tension if you already know the outcome.
And there’s that aspect as well. Confluence of reasons for them not to watch the screener.
Process of franchising cinema is at highest point now. Marvel and Disney changed the meaning of popular movie. This is the main reason why the taste of Academy is so far from viewrs perspective. Those frinchise products (whatever Jimmy Kimmels of this world would say) are impossible to be awarded in categories besides technical. They offer joy and entertainment but dosen’t need creativity the way real cinema needs. That is why cinemas are today closer to theme parks, as someone wisely said. Streaming and tv series replaced them after cinema producers gave up big part of adult audience. So shows are Oscar movies now. Like Succesion or Veep – highly entertaining, extremely popular and at the same time a great commentary to modern reality that people cares about. Big studios are no longer interested in making those kind of movies for the silver screens cause they know it is better to keep funds for another superhero-sure-thing. There was no money for creativity long ago, at least 15 years we’ve been watching like Hollywood production is less and less verious. Oscars had to turn to independent movies and Sundance-like productions. So I don’t think that Netflix, HBO or Amazon Prime destreoyed cinema. No, they’ve come to answer the call from public that needed sth different that American cinema no longer delivers.
Upvote.
That’s why I love Netflix, Amazon Prime & HBOMax and what I believe they are providing.
Just a little side note on this part: “[Franchise product] dosen’t need creativity the way real cinema needs”.
Actually I feel many of the franchise films contain some creativity and artistic merit because even its younger audiences have started to care about such standards (Of course then there are bare franchises like Fast & Furious or Jurassic World that aim for Razzies but some of DC & Marvel films have really raised the bar).
Not all of them of course but the better ones shine and truly deserve non-technical awards (Definitely more than Top Gun 2s of cinema).
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1c21aa18226fda126357c8bb17cd6356ee6daea628d9639d1ed42afe2a3278c9.png
spoiler for The Menu’s ending scene.
have you people contemplated the chance that the Cheeseburger most likely is made out of poisonous meat? There’s an scene way earlier in the film where Hong Chau’s character explain how the meat they use is used just at the right moment to extract the most flavor, but that just a single day after, is poisonous and will kill whoever eats it… that makes sense with the chef actually letting Anya’s Margo go away with her cheeseburger… the moment she tasted it, she was doomed as well, but he spared her from being part of the final dessert… as she didn’t belong to his perfect menu… however, in his eyes, it wouldn’t be perfect if she was left alive…
That’s a very interesting take and I think you’re right.
Saw a YouTube featurette on this, and in any other year, this would’ve been Ralph Fiennes’ Oscar to lose.
Beef doesn’t work like that, so what animal are they eating?
it doesn’t matter. It’s all symbolic. It’s a satire, that in no moment pretends to be realistic. From the get-go… which kind of luxury restaurant would survive like that? And yes, I am aware how difficult is to get to the Award-winning El Bulli restaurant in Spain and how most of their costumers are for business meetings to impress the other part of the negotiation…
May well be so. I hadn’t considered it.
TG: Maverick is gonna be the too domestic boxoffice 2022 winner. I know that now. Way of Water estimated to earn $7m this weekend. Domestic will be around $647m. It was a pipe dream of mine that maybe it would beat Melr. C
Chalk up another staggering feat for the king of the movie directing world; Cameron will be the first director in history to have TWO DIFFERENT $600m+ hits in the Top 5 on the same weekend.
no one cares about American Club Soccer! Not once on my facebook feed have i ever seen it mentioned.
But back in 1980, only the Phillies won the whole thing, but Eagles lost the SB to a video game franchise, Sixers lost to Magic Johnson, and the Flyers lost to someone, probably the Islanders. So that was all 4 major sports.
But don’t give up hope on the Sixers just yet, you’d think they’d put it together sooner or later.
So in The Menu, the heroine comes to understand the chef when she sees that a long time ago he won an award while working at a burger place, and she sees how proud he still is of it. But it is obviously true that the nearest McDonalds and Burger King outsold whatever burger place he was working at. Since they were more popular, don’t they deserve the award instead of him?
No, because popularity was not the point. The point of the ending is that a good cheeseburger, made with skill and passion, is better than fancy gourmet stuff made without it. True quality matters more than fanciness.
Besides, if popularity is the point, shouldn’t Avatar 2 be winning? It made WAY more money than TGM did; hundreds of millions more. Wouldn’t TGM winning be an insult to the general public?
Where’s the upvote button?
I liked The Menu the most specifically for the ending point you mentioned. Quality (+ passion) matters more.
Also upvote for your Avatar 2 point. It made way more money (Plus its actually somewhat artistically better and is NOT based on an already dated 80s B movie)
We really need the upvote button back.
International Box office is not as important as Domestic Box Office as far as American Awards go.
Then I guess Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens is the best film ever made.
Plus Fast X is going to become the best film of 2023 and save cinema + Oscars.
Is that the one where Luke Skywalker tells Han Solo to leave the gun and to take the cannoli?
Upvote 100%
“The problem is that the Oscars were designed to recognize high achievement in film and the highest achievement used to be strong box office. A movie was good, word of mouth spread and the industry rewarded the producer of that film. It was a hit and it mattered.”
I call this era of oscar the ” seriously jaded delusional age” . And with srlf defeatest dills like Diller well if lord forbid Oscar and awards season goes THAT route then thry might as well literaly oscars pack up and ship themselves off to set up a new facility and theatre beside netflix HQ or the like.
That BETER not happen. Spot on Sasha as you are most of time.
Ok i informally unofficially ended my sabbatical but i cannot ignore my love of film awards season long forcwhat it deserves to be ..NOT what it become.
No! No need for popular film category , or to return to 5 best pictures it about common sense reconnecting mainstream filmgoers to oscar it doable only if oscar ignore voices like defeatest twat Diller on conservative side and block out deafening whit noise of social media . It really not that hard..oh and stop pretending that Oscar are an international export primarily secondary yes jever primarily. That what international film festivals are for.
Diller is full of SHIT!
apoligy to deniz i absolutely sincere my well wishes all i said i guess in a way we must not surrender things we love discuss or debate..less day we do that is way evil and negative feelings prevail i hope deniz u find outlett in debating cinema here. Nevergeless i on part time ‘ sabbatical’ everyone hence wht my posts shorter..ptob make mote sense too 🙂
i PRETTY SURE i could be wrong interestingly enough, but ‘Cocain Bear’s’ insane hits on youtube of 13 million! views thus far has surpassed hits of ‘Winne the Pooh Blood and Honey’ which has 7 million if i not mistaken the dates between the 2 could not be more different- ‘Cocaine Bear’ trailer just dropped under week ago, the full “Blood and Honey” trailer dropped few weeks ago..yet in shorter time, ‘Cocaine Bear’ nearly DOUBLED THAT IN A FRACTRION OF THE TIME.
I say this RITE NOW .. Both films cou8ld be bigger than anyone expects let alone filmmakers themselves- what motivates them? they dont give a shit what online or politics activism has to say they want to tell stories that evolve the genre they passionate about and they get rewarded in box office for it.
Dont be surprised also if COCAINE BEAR appeals to more than ‘Blood and Honey’- despite fact both do and deserve to do very welll.
IF BOTH surpass critic expectations cmbined with big public buzz that build if as i suspect both them be big hits.. dont be surprised if both filmmakers esp that of Cocaine Bear at best attempt to campaign for next years oscars…
well? anything can happen…wow the PC crowd demographic would be shitting their pants if unlikely not impossible event eiother or both these films got into some awards consideration for best picture!
I admit all depends how BIG impression both on public and critics these 2 hardcore R rated restricted horror- comedy dramas really will be..
We wait and see. Like Elizabeth Banks said: ” when i first discovered about ‘Cocaine BEar’ REALLY did happen , then I just thought to myself ‘surely this couldnt actually happened’ She was then inspired to adapt this true scenario with her own spin why hell not? we can adapt true story’s integrate in filmmakers own unique (in Banks case semi crazy ONLY semi crazy:P translation). And use their creative freedom cos they DONT ALLOW themselves to be dictated by the PC police…i think these films that found both finestcritical acclaime and public success they NOT DICTATED by the morality police and direct on instinct.
It not too far a stretch to declare with TOTAL confidence thaT Winnie the Pooh Blood and Honey AND Cocaine Bear have strong central story, cleartly defined central characters and inventive story that MAKES sense people can engage with and admire the courage of filmmakers to bring these stories to life…however unspeakable the gore and crudity is. But, given sizeable crudiy is inconserquential with everything everywhere all at once, now there licence and gates be left ajar for horror genre like Pooh Bear or Coccaine Bear to attack awards seaosn take it completely by sur[prise! esp IF EEAAO wins best picture…Frankly i could argue
sexual connotatrions with mustard and sauce coated ‘sausage fingers’ in one of multiverse scenes in EEAAO and the bloodied double dildo sucking and slapping attacking scenes.. are way more gross than reenacted slow motion mauling of person slowly being eaten by drug raged bear..or sadistic dismemeberment etc of deprived and depraved Pooh Bear.
Honestly? things in EEAAO are just plain gross- put people off eating sausages at very least for a day or so!
https://variety.com/2023/film/features/elizabeth-banks-cocaine-bear-gory-1235515340/
Now ok, honestly, I know i posting in AWARDS site no less about what could be one most delightfuly, craziest amusing hyper violent movies ever made – least in my life time- but..
Consider:
1. They gave best picture and everything else to film titled ‘parasite’
2. They considering giving best picture to film that literally tries to be everything and anything all at once – everything but something specific, memorable and targeted at its core.
Yes, yes i get it Parasite is well made film. sure..but still nobody in million years at film title would consider something as unsavoury as that title to see headlines : ” A PARASITE wins best picture at hte OScars”..They really could picked more self respecting film title for that film honestly..
But think about this:
Elizabeth Banks is hugely respected..and to do a film as crazy and loony at surface on a bear that snorts cocaine, then goes on murderous uber gory violent hilarious killing and eating spree… – except for one thing this extraordinary story REALLY happend. (UNLIKE Parasite and EEAAO that frnakly beggars belief that any those characters trevails could credibly happen.- esp EEAAO)
Sure she done some flops.. but in this PC SOCIETY isn’t it truly refreshing to have high profile female actress turned director actually direct something that for too loong would been insanely unheard of for female filmmaker to direct?
COCAINE BEAR. well? put it this way..at surface it wont be oscar worthy BUT…at budget of 30 million it nee donly make 3 times that amount..have film critics on board and attract strong public interest and some staying power at box office…
Rest is history…as they say..then given nature of calibre of films they considering best picture this year, in EEAAO and film titled ‘parasite’ won nbest picture.
Is it REALLY bad thing that film like ‘Cocaine Bear; mauls its way to the top of Oscars? or realistically outside chance to be contender?
REad this article for yourself… sure people remember Elizbath Banks for her deeply ineffective rehash of prior far superior ‘Charlies Angels’ movies. But this is a BIG STEP for female director and very welcome one..
Hard to believe it is ‘Cocaine Bear’ really did happen as idea.. as an event but movie while taking some liberties rightfully so…to have different setting…and has to say the MOST believable CGI bear ever made.
Elizabeth Banks speaks her mind defies the online savages that out to get her for violating every moral code that online community insists is in breahc of “the PC CORRECT ACT” i can just no i cant wait for conflected hypocritical outrage by activists when they see way drugs comically and yet- truthfully to considerable point used and violated by of all things- a BEAR!
There are 2 bear horror movies coming about…I do wonder…will people ‘snort up’ Cocaine bear or be lured y the honey in Pooh blood and honey?
Cant wait to see both…watch for conflected online outrage for both : “Pooh Blood and Honey”- no, how dare you violate corrupt the sacred classic origfinal cartoon and story- whinge online crowd
“Cocaine Bear” – ‘omg! the way the bear has been violated by drugs it just oh soooooo wrong..-Elizabeth banks is a disgrace- she a %##& and traitor to her kind for directing such a insulting offensive, disgraceful pretentious piece of work.
Funny that.. I describe online actvism as ‘disgraceful, pretentious, offensive and unsulting’.
Check out this image courtesy of ‘variety;com;’ i admit it last place i expected such candid revealing insightful interview between journalist and Elizabeth banks check out this image of Mrs. Banks hamming up with Cocaine Bear himself! (courtesy of Jackson’s own revolutionary game changing WETA DIGITAL studios – maybe the great Peter Jackson is in hibernation himself in film world atm ;)! https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/39403ee189603fa6e8dec8c02adf166fcf6734ecde80f9475ae04e11504c5a08.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d3f9e4da235fc632da1e8dc987e759742fcf9fc810e0077f935aff5e5164eae8.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/144d4eb915320a1aa92233d336a025fb4c6ebe1783cd0f5c4246b7d769a690c1.jpg
I opt for Cocaine, Blood and Honey NOT the hysteria and PC police patrol online bulldust that will try i sure- in vain to discredit filmmakers and story attached to these to projects to sleeper hits of the year no doubt! what youi think?
From my perspective, the interest with the Oscars is decreasing not because of some disconnect between voters and the general public, but because the public is finding more attractive alternatives to their own personal views.
Right now, there is an impossible number of productions being released every week. I’ve seen 130+ movies from 2022 and I still haven’t seen The Gray Man, Mrs. Harris Goes To Paris, The Whale, Bardo and so many others. 130 movies is not a number most people watch in a year, so if I’m not able to keep up with the releases with this number, how could the general public do it watching way less? They probably stick to what they think they’ll like, which is a fair thing to do, but it will probably not reflect what is going to be nominated at the Oscars. This specific taste leads me to the second factor: bubbles and internet.
People who, like me, constantly visit this site, probably like/love awards season. We want to predict what will happen with noms/wins, we go after performances and movies that are being talked about, we foment a bubble that reflects our tastes. A taste that we think is the correct one. This bubble doesn’t need the seal of approval of any award, but loves to receive one anyway. That’s why we continue following awards season year after years. We want to see the artists we admire being recognized for their works.
That is not the case for other bubbles. The horror fans, the franchise fans, the “auteur” fans and many other groups stay within their niche. Within Bubbles that reaffirms their own opinions and taste.
With the internet, people realized that they don’t need the Oscars to validate their feels towards a movie, therefore the award doesn’t matter that much to them, or at all. They may still have interest in seeing what’s nominated, they may still watch all the nominees and talk about the movies, but they’ll choose to see the results the day after, on Twitter or in a website, instead of watching a long ceremony that doesn’t reflect their opinions. The bubble already exists to do that with way less time being spent.
So, yeah, the Oscars are losing public attention, but I don’t think that this is a problem that can be solved, with the biggest box office of the year winning Best Picture or not.
…Yet another unsubstantiated excuse for Oscar to not so much get it wrong hut get it embrassingly DIABOLICALLY wrong. Suffice to say nobody here ever suggested let alone me that Oscar need to be precognitive level psychic ..predict furure before it happens ey? Get into everyones mind to work out overwhelming majotity peoples prefeences?
Ridiculous i never said nonody elsechas save youraelf that Oscar need to reflect 95% of what filmgoers want c win best picture.
ONLY reason frankly people dobt care bout oscars majority dont is cos Oscar have tutned their bqcks of public conttibution NOT as u say the cart before the horse. The horse is academy their choice for largely poor lesser known films domiating oscar regardless wherger it strwaming or no it INCONSEQUENTIAL.. i seen it for long time i sensed it from year of Dark Knight snub… that clearly people accustomed to expecting oscar nominations undermine as they did others like Avatar, this yr top gun maverick.. by undrrmining thrm obvious chouces should dominated nominations..people not interated if the bigger hifh profile quality eevent films constsntly get undrrmined and frushed by ‘ pander to minority ‘ agenda.
So hence to people it ‘ more of the same’ …THAT not your pie in sky tgeory is ONLY reaso that people tur ed their back on oscar it bout ACADEMYS CHPICE NOT WHETHER PEOPLE choose see streaming ir not.. clearly…
Perfectly said — there’s just a lot of stuff out there to watch. This interview (above) is typical oldster commentary: “Blah, blah, blah . . . it was so much different and better.” I’m in my late fifties and would HATE to see anything from the past return. If Hollywood didn’t evolve, we’d still be watching black-and-white silent films.
You are so right. I was a teen in the 80’s. And there was nothing for me. Maybe 3 or 4 movies a year. It forced me to like much more mature films than I should have at my age. (Which may not be a bad thing)
But yeah, the cineplex had 5 movies, and never a foreign or an art film.
Upvote! There were only 3 TV networks when the Oscars first made their appearance on the medium, and while there were a lot more movie theaters in small towns and such, the only places to see anything other than what Hollywood chose to release would be in big cities and/or college towns (the former in tiny little theaters, the latter on campus). Now, between cable TV, the internet, streaming, and God only knows what I’m missing here, we don’t all end up consuming the same media, and consequently aren’t as interested in awards who mostly still run along the same lines they did 40-50+ years ago. It stinks for everyone who remembers the “good old days” of the Oscars, but we’re in the middle of huge cultural and media changes, and such is life. (I’m still annoyed that I went to bed after seeing Paul McCartney and Wings performing “Live and Let Die,” thereby missing The Streaker that year. Damn it, damn it, damn it…)
Anyway, I’m sticking by the Oscars for the spectacle, for being able to root for my favorites, and to see shit hit the fan on live TV…and to gossip about who wore what/did what/won what. Planning my munchies as we speak…
Barry who?
Aw, sweet, the ramblings of an ugly man close to the age of 100.
The Oscar race is far from over…
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8a8126e7e9170692447e12bdb102f516a7a14843b7e932bdc3aa5a6e440a64e8.jpg
You make me want to see this film!
It’s fun.
Thanks for the recommendation, I will see it – movies like that can work for me sometimes (I also liked Chocolat which is hated by many because it is for sure very kitchy and saccharine. But also fun to watch, at least for me).
Enjoy. I found the plot a tad overstuffed, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself all the way through. And the costumes — including authentic ’50s Dior — are extraordinary. As for Leslie Manville portraying Mrs. Harris, well, it’s no surprise that she gives an expert performance.
I love Chocolat.
I’d like to see it win the Oscar for Best Costumes.
As everything becomes more splintered critics become more valuable. They sift through the manure to find the blooming flowers. People like flowers. I like flowers. I don’t like manure.
I mean, you don’t see manure stores. You don’t buy your loved one a pile of manure. People don’t throw manure all over the church for weddings.
It’s simple. People like guidance. That’s why Netflix keeps their top 10 up. It helps people find what others are watching (and like.)
Hugh Hudson, R.I.P.
One of the most spectacular, famous upsets in Oscar history. Warren Beatty’s Reds had the inside lane on getting best picture, (also Raiders of the Lost Ark + On Golden Pond, too)…
And then this happened: youtu.Be/6vW8VrB_a8g
FF to 3:13 and watch Loretta Young send the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion into delirium….
What a stacked BP field that year
Reds
On Golden Pond
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Chariots of Fire
Atlantic City
Can you imagine how some people today would have reacted to films about Communism, British sprinters, Senior Citizens, and an elderly gambler being in the same field with Spielberg/Lucas/Ford?
Chariots of Fire had American Sprinters too! Brad Davis!
One of the most beautiful men in movies ever. For some reason he faded but, man, he was a comet for a few years there. Probably got blacklisted for making Querelle.
Querelle, for those not in the know, is a landmark gay film. It’s not a good movie, but it is fascinating to watch.
Davis faded because he got HIV and committed suicide
I just learned he died in 1990. I knew he had AIDS, and thought he died of it be like 1985 because the last I saw him was in Querelle. Of course, I didn’t have IMDB back in the 90’s when I thought about this last.
I remember being more upset at ET losing to Gandhi than I was at Raiders losing to Chariots of Fire. (In retrospect, of course, The Verdict should have beaten both ET & Gandhi)
I like the predictions… I am still not sure between Banshees and Everything for Original Screenplay so we’ll see.
after watching The Fabelmans… it can upset at Picture, Director, Original and Score.
I am extremely uncomfortable with the notion that artistic merit should be primarily or even exclusively determined by sales. The snobby side of me says that this is a non starter because Americans by and large have TERRIBLE taste. Seriously, Iron Man 3 made more money at the Box office than every single Best Picture winner since Titanic. Does that mean that Iron Man 3 is the peak of artistic achievement compared to the last 25 Best Picture winners? God freaking no.
I am equally uncomfortable with the idea that if a movie idea isn’t going to be a blockbuster, then it shouldn’t be made. Because that’s the theme that keeps coming to the surface whenever people all but openly say “how DARE this movie get an Oscar instead of (fill in the blank)”. This site is extremely fond of Annie Hall (for good reason). Take the zero sum culture war mentality of today and send it back in time to 1977. Would we see sky is falling denunciations of Star Wars not sweeping in favor of a movie “isolated from moviegoers by coastal elites”? You bet we would.
By the way, just because something isn’t a smash hit doesn’t mean it’s not artistically worthy. The Velvet Underground and Big Star in their lifetimes barely moved enough albums to pay for the gas in their tour vans. Yet 50 plus years later they’re considered two of the most important bands in American rock history. Reassessments happen and simply data crunching ledger numbers not only misses the forest for the trees it misses the whole damn planet.
You make a good point.
https://media4.giphy.com/media/JQODyLnXukFK7xvbB2/giphy.gif
Case in point.
Hell, look at Stravinsky and Debussy. Their works were so controversial that literal riots broke out when they were performed. Now, not only are they in the canon of classical music, they’re almost regarded as stodgy and stale in some corners. You see the same thing in Jazz with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie where people today say “what was the big deal”
Tastes change and evolve over time.
There is nothing more boring that a figure skater using Firebird.
This got me thinking of my personal BP choices since 1977 until now. So here goes what SHOULD”VE won.
1979: Apocalypse Now
1980: no preference
1981: Chariots of Fire or Reds
1982: Gandhi
1983: The Right Stuff
1984: Purple Rain
1985: none
1986: Platoon
1987: Broadcast News
1988: Rain Man
1989: Field of Dreams
1990: Ghost
1991: Dances With Wolves
1992: Unforgiven
1993: Schindler’s List
1994: Forrest Gump
1995: Apollo 13
1996:
1997: Titanic
1998: Saving Private Ryan
1999: The Sixth Sense
2000: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
2001: Moulin Rouge!
2002: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
2003: Lost in Translation (rotten timing, Sofia w/Return of the King rightfully sweeping things)
2004: no preference
2005: Good Night, and Good Luck
2006: no preference
2007: no preference
2008: The Dark Knight
2009: need you ask? 😉
2010: Inception or The Social Network
2011: Moneyball
2012: Silver Linings Playbook
2013: Her
2014: Interstellar
2015: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
2016: Arrival
2017: Dunkirk
2018: Black Panther
2019: Avengers: Endgame
2020: Trial of the Chicago 7
2021: Dune
Chicago 7? Really? Just kidding.
But you know what, that should be the fun part of this, all of us sticking up for the films we like and even learning about films we wouldn’t have normally seen.
Aaron Sorkin fan…
I loved Rylance in that film, but turning Jerry Rubin into the reluctant radical was such a bizarre bit of revisionism.
Aaron Sorkin is a pretty great writer, but a truly terrible director imo.
I’ve been defending the oft-mocked Chariots of Fire my whole life. But suddenly, recently, it seem to finally be gaining the respect it deserves.
Always been a classic for my family…
I don’t know who Big Star is.
Maybe they need another 50 years.
Oh Wait, I looked them up. I love the thirteen song! Thankfully Handsome Devil featured it. Never heard the song elsewhere, although there’s a remake out there by, I think, Hooray for the Riff Raff and someone else.
Big Star is worth a deep dive. There’s a fairly interesting documentary about them called “Nothing Can Hurt Me” that’s well worth a look.
I am going to. I really like that song. Like a LOT. It’s been on my “to do” list which I think has grown to 1000 items over the years.
Big Star has been called the American Badfinger both in terms of sound and staggering bad luck.
Our national papers reporting- call it coincidence in timing? of A SPLIT in polling and support for ‘ the voice’ the voice in it very simplest terms is indeed advocating for right of indeginous portion of our population to partake in the democratic process unquestionably this should be the case..however when consulting with and working with the variable organisations as is SUPPOSED to be DUTY OF CARE AND OBLIGATION of our Federal Government they must PRIORITISE TO LISTEN to concern of ACTUAL Indeginous people and NOT dilute and DISTINGUISH between massive gulf of online radical left activism vs. the REALITY from ACTUAL PEOPLE WHO EXPERIENCED the hardship and decades of trauma.
But ‘ the Voice’ , model must be presented correctly to REFLECT expectations of balanced and fair way to integrate authentic tride and true Indigenous culture and representation into our constitution..and NOT borrow or adapt from online activism and extremist protestors- which incidentally in our country 90% of that ironically is coming from far left protestors FACT- most of 15,000 that protest to bully and harass federal govt in trying to rush and outcome and decision- DESPITE THAT FACT the Federal Govt is rightfully pursuing t’he Voice’ were NOT and it clearly visible through TV cameras on the day- that even from top view AND STREET LEVEL VIEW only 10%!! of protestors were actually indigenous..the rest? well brandished signs of ‘Extinction Rebellion”, ” and clearly were NOT indigenous.
Hence..under pressure the Federal Govt caught itself out by OVERREPRESENTING the issue as seen through prism of social media and extreme left protestors..anti- abortionists, lgtiq, environmental extremists, pacifists, sorry these are NOT REPRESENTATIVE NOR HAVE clue of hardship and history specifically to indigenous culture this is NOT RACIS THIS IS FACT! In course of fdoing so, The left has SPLIT on the issue.
No more blatant example of that than a recently resigned extremist Greeny in ‘Lydia Thorpe’ by far even too extreme for the Greens Party- cos she was fearful Albanese Govt accomodated ‘other external’ voices too much..hence diluting effectiveness of ‘ the voice model’ but more concerning for her was unnjustly that ‘COLLECTIVE BLACK SOVEREIGNTY MEANT THE VOICE NEVER GONNA GO FAR ENOUGH’ this is what you call DARK GREEN. Way and above and beyond voice of more measured left.
So..what may you ask has this got to do with anything at all? Well at BEST it now 50/50 the referendum to be middle this year will get public tick of approval..lesson of this for AWards Seasons, especially Guilds and the Academy? is putting too much time into listening to external voices and white noise will only further deteriorate the Academy and Award SEasons reputation…in as always has till last decade REFLECT both critical and public appraisals…films that reflect the times but do not sacrifice vision, positive creative energy and verve…this year the great danger to giving EEAAO best picture as as i reefernced above in principle…Academy in process for many years, has regrettably accomodated external voices of people have NO CLUE what truly makes best picture that reflects broad will of mor common place critic and filmgoer and only care about their narrow selfish agenda..and in accomodating external voices Academy put themselves in the ‘multiverse’ in tangled web of mess of confusion as they try to build most awkard rickety falling apart bridge into the ‘black donut’ in everytthing everywhere’ cos like EEAAO Academy dont have clue of their original intent and purpose and goal in what trul;y constitutes best picture..They lost their way.
Perversely i must concede EEAAO winning best picture would be fitting acknowledgement of reflecting ACademy’s farcical, needless state of conflict and confusion- and NOTHING MORE..try have think about relevance of what i raise happening in our country, relative to what i predict is boudn to happen in ytour country..
LEFT of politics in being so desperate to accomodate endless network of activist grumblings is about to become split…and it goes deeper and more profound than Biden’s teetering on brink rocky leadership or lack thereof.
For record ONLY 15,000 (out of i may add in Victoria my home state alone, ) out of Statewide population of 7-8 million (for inner suburbia and CBD this would be bout 4million) – so, should these rampant far left activists whingeing and bleating about process that WAS on right trakc when our Govt was PRIMARILY and SECONDARILY listening to people be MOST impacted by the Voice for the beter in indeginous communities…get the attention by governments, institutions that they clearly so desperate to have? Talk about empowering what i call the ‘estranged minority’ – remember, Twitter are not indigenous by and large, nor is facebook activist or any social media platform activists..they are a byproduct of degenerate egregious, bewildered, angry parasites that frankly exist somehwere in black void of chaos and confusion between world as we know it and their misguided ideals..This for record does NOT describe lgbtiq or indigenous people directrly…for more people than onlne activists like to think of these communities dont trust or engage or take up toxic brand of socialist online activism.
I urge people to read carefully before criticising me for attacking ‘ socialist activism’ for i distinguished between line of TRUE indigenous concerns for instance and FAKE activism BIG difference.. I defined it clearly..sure you can be critical myt view but as i encourage others when they criticise others online here and what they written…dont misrepresent what they themselves stand for.
BTW i seeing ‘ the woman king’ very very soon on my blue ray..One film i feel that could be a defining moment that see the artistic left split between hardline hypocrits and the moderate more rational left…make not of it people ‘ for i never thought i see day in Academy’s new world pro- twitter order, that they would snub i think first ever all black female cast of potentially powerful story that goes to heart of battles go on in AFrica today- in a way- despite fact The Woman King is set in far older times…just simply supereme hypocrisy a snub that could do damage to the existing arrangement between academy and external sinister social media forces..i hope it does do damage to ACademy it seems it only way to rebuild their reputation and brand..byu tearing itself down…just such a great shame it come to that for the Academy well looking that way atm..
Well, I’ve been saying that in this comments section for the past couple of years.
“The industry” = studios, producers, artists and the blogosphere (or whatever you call it)
The People’s Choice Awards has the exact down the middle blockbuster only mentality this article and Barry Diller seem to want. Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness won Best Picture. OH, and the ratings for the broadcast were in the toilet.
The sky is falling! The sky is falling!
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7e180dac169e09312a0627b4d11fc3eb2b281af2d9ff6cbe7f6eb6ba6e4803d3.gif
I just thinking of you ever so irrepressible Chase 😉
How are you? hope you are well I see your fuill o’ beans with your chicken dance routine lol
But seriously i think it time to bring Megyn Kelly into the debate agian ey? cos this ‘Diller’ bloke that declared waaay prematurely that ‘Hollywood is Dead’ you could argue is struggling for even MORE relevance than Megyn Kelly generally speaking ey?
I Still think Megyn Kelly could run the oscars better than anyone else 😛 well? maybe we agree on ojne thing on that Chase: Megyn Kelly would make a GREAT host of OScars ey? cant say she lacks fdor personality and charisma even if you have 0 respect for her ey?
As for Dillon? store him in a cryogenic freezer for ETERNITY (unlike Austin Powers who well,….you could argue maybe world would been better for him to STAYED in cryogenic stasis given hwo perverse everyone became around him ey? 😉 https://media0.giphy.com/media/3o7bugMEMJx8235gac/giphy.gif
Watched “Blonde” last night after many warnings not to.
EGAD! I really was hoping to like this since I loved Assassination of Jesse James, by the same director. Ana was very good and impressive but had to slog through such an exploitative, gross, seedy, and drawn out movie. It’s amazing that she was able to emerge from this mess with an Oscar nomination.
To me, that makes De Armas’ performance that much more impressive. She brings heart and life to a heartless and joyless production.
Fuck Barry Diller. If someone’s going to give advice on how to “fix” the Academy, it’s not going to be someone who hated Roma and voted for Green Book.
I am excited to watch Green Book again. Roma felt like a homework assignment
I don’t think Diller is saying that Hollywood is over (Oscars, yes). He says that theater movies are over, or rather serious theater movies and their correlation to the Oscars.
Obviously Hollywood would still exist and thrive. They are making the products that replacing the serious theater movies, streaming contents.
This is brave and true. I am seeing so much clothing right now.
I think what he is saying that the likes of a film such as Terms of Endearment winning Best Picture are finished,something for the whole family with big movie stars as nowadays it would go to streaming.
That was a questionable call, too, especially in the year of The Right Stuff.
But the Monday Morning Quarterbacking of the final results is supposed to be a fun part of all of this, but now it’s all getting looped into ominous mutterings about the “great reset” or “fourth turning”.
Everyone, myself included, could stand to back away and make this fun again.
He’s saying that the days of a film such as Terms of Endearment making money at the box office are finished. CODA was a straightforward movie that the whole family can enjoy, and it won Best Picture. It just can’t make money in theaters.
If Terms of Endearment came out today, it might go to streaming or it might go to theaters and make $25 million and then go to streaming, but either way it would be an Oscar contender.
Putting aside the “pre-Revolutionary America” (huh) and while I can get the idea of change and all that, as others say, thinking the highest-grossing movies mean they’re “the best” is a bit foolish. The Oscars have always been about the Academy trying to look “highbrow” in places so often bridging box office success with smaller films and quite a few Best Picture winners nowhere near highest grossing of that year. I do think streaming has changed it but so many of the complaints are really rehashing stuff said for decades, just in a different way so the industry is just reluctant to adapt to change, another old story of Hollywood.
Hugh Hudson, R.I.P.
One of the most spectacular, famous upsets in Oscar history. Warren Beatty’s Reds had the inside lane on getting best picture, (also Raiders of the Lost Ark + On Golden Pond, too)…
And then this happened: youtu.Be/6vW8VrB_a8g
FF to 3:13 and watch Loretta Young send the Shrine Auditorium into delirium….
DGA Winning Films – BAFTA Best Film/Best Director relationship in The Preferential Era:
2009: The Hurt Locker: won BAFTA Best Film + BAFTA Best Director
2010: The King’s Speech: won BAFTA Best Film
2011: The Artist: won BAFTA Best Film + BAFTA Best Director
2012: Argo: won BAFTA Best Film + BAFTA Best Director
2013: Gravity: won BAFTA Best Director
2014: Birdman: won BAFTA Best Cinematography
2015: The Revenant: won BAFTA Best Film + BAFTA Best Director
2016: La La Land: won BAFTA Best Film + BAFTA Best Director
2017: The Shape of Water: won BAFTA Best Director
2018: Roma: won BAFTA Best Film + BAFTA Best Director
2019: 1917: won BAFTA Best Film + BAFTA Best Director
2020: Nomadland: won BAFTA Best Film + BAFTA Best Director
2021: The Power of The Dog: won BAFTA Best Film + BAFTA Best Director
BAFTA has missed on 7 of the last 8 BP. They no longer are relevant.
I think the BAFTA winning film will win the Oscar this season… 🙂
because you think that film will be Tár (I also think so, by the way)
I have noticed this anecdotally. In a lot of recent years, the Oscar battle is between a more “artsy” film that is frontrunner for Directing, and another film that is mostly strong in Writing. BAFTA has recently usually given both its Picture and Director awards to the “artsy” one – which then usually lost Best Picture at the Oscars, but did win Best Director.
I have noticed this anecdotally. In a lot of recent years, the Oscar battle is between a more “artsy” film that is frontrunner for Directing, and another film that is mostly strong in Writing. BAFTA has recently usually given both its Picture and Director awards to the “artsy” one – which then usually lost Best Picture at the Oscars, but did win Best Director.
TÁR is also strong in Writing, I would say… 🙂
Well, I’ve been saying that in this comments section for the past couple of years.
“The industry” = studios, producers, artists and the blogosphere (or whatever you call it)