93rd Annual Academy Awards

[metaphysician]

If you win an Oscar but no-one at home watches it happen, have you actually won anything?

Given the number of Best Picture contenders that were clearly designed purely to contend for Best Picture without even an effort at achieving broad cultural appeal. . . *cough*

 

[Gold Samurai]

I’m dreading but knowing the ratings were probably dismal tomorrow

I didn’t even pay attention this year. Nothing really to root for

Probably lowest ever. Not a single commercial film nominated, since nothing came out last year.

Called it

 

[Mysteryman]

Called it

It will be better next year,COVID19 at the very least, will be less of a factor, which hopefully will translate to more people going to the movies. Also, it wouldn't hurt if the Academy nominated some blockbusters. They used to do it all of the time.

 

[CaptainWagner]

I would argue that, if the Academy were actually as willing as you claim, then we wouldn't be having this debate, because movies like Winter Soldier and Deadpool would have been contenders. Instead, they weren't, not because of some mythical decline in audience taste, but because the Academy voters are biased against "genre movies" or "franchises". Despite movies like Forest Gump and Dances with Wolves *absolutely* being on the same artistic level of "pop culture creations", they got far more respect because. . . well, I'd say mostly because of 70s New Hollywood reverence for auteur directors as the font of all that is good and true.

This is absurd. Forest Gump and Dances with Wolves are in no way the same manner of film as a blockbuster superhero franchise. The Academy used to nominate blockbusters because DIFFERENT TYPES OF MOVIES USED TO BECOME BLOCKBUSTERS. The Godfather was a blockbuster. If it (or, heck, to use your examples, Forrest Gump and Dances With Wolves) were released today, they'd be getting the same treatment today's awards features get.

Lord of the Rings was the last major franchise to receive major awards attention and compare it to the level of artistic effort that gets put into your typical franchise movie today. I can probably count on one hand the number of CBMs that would be worthy of an Oscar nomination. They shouldn't be shoved into the running just to boost ratings.

I love superhero movies. But I don't get all indignant when Hollywood doesn't pretend they're high artistic cinema.

 

[Detective Conan]

 

[chesslover]

Divide the box office into 5 equal sections and choose one nominee per category from each section

 

[Hannibal75]

This is absurd. Forest Gump and Dances with Wolves are in no way the same manner of film as a blockbuster superhero franchise. The Academy used to nominate blockbusters because DIFFERENT TYPES OF MOVIES USED TO BECOME BLOCKBUSTERS. The Godfather was a blockbuster. If it (or, heck, to use your examples, Forrest Gump and Dances With Wolves) were released today, they'd be getting the same treatment today's awards features get.

Lord of the Rings was the last major franchise to receive major awards attention and compare it to the level of artistic effort that gets put into your typical franchise movie today. I can probably count on one hand the number of CBMs that would be worthy of an Oscar nomination. They shouldn't be shoved into the running just to boost ratings.

I love superhero movies. But I don't get all indignant when Hollywood doesn't pretend they're high artistic cinema.

Infinity War, Endgame, Spiderverse, they all had better critic ratings in Rotten Tomatoes than almost half the movies that were nominated for Best Picture in their respective years. I'd love to hear the argument about why Bohemian Rhapsody Darkest Hour, or Green Book are somehow inherently superior to CBMs because ...reasons.

 

[Asr]

Heh I started watching the Oscars the other night but turned it off after about 10 minutes because it was so boring.

Usually I do a pretty good job of watching the Oscar-nominated films in any given year, but I was surprised that I ended up missing most of last year's releases for whatever reason, especially when there weren't as many movies released. Of the BP nominees I've only seen one of them - Promising Young Woman - and I honestly can't fathom how it got nominated because it was neither directed or written that well. And with the exception of Carey Mulligan, I haven't seen any of the other films that had a nominated acting performance (leading or supporting).

I know this gets said every year, but I feel like a lot of the nominees & winners were probably awarded out of political correctness, rather than based on merit.

The only other major winner I've seen is Soul, and I suppose that made sense as the winner, but personally that movie didn't do anything for me, and I actually like jazz music too. Really felt like it was one of Pixar's worst movies, IMO.

 

[chamber-music]

I tend to agree with James Berardinelli's take on the declining ratings from last year:

I can’t argue with the statement that Parasite deserved Best Picture. I would have said the same about 1917, The Irishman, Once Upon a Time, or Joker. But the “Best Picture” category has never been fully about merit. It’s about celebrating cinema and, on that level, Parasite falls short. Why? Because hardly anyone has seen it. For 2019, it ended up at #70 on the box office chart with a domestic gross of $35M. To be fair, that’s an incredible haul for a subtitled movie and indicates it had some penetration into multiplexes. Nevertheless, Joe Mainstream or Jane Mainstream probably didn’t see it. And that’s where the Oscars’ continuing problem lies. Think back to the ‘90s and titles like Dances with Wolves, The Silence of the Lambs, Unforgiven, Schindler’s List, Forrest Gump, Braveheart, Titanic. Those were excellent movies that everyone saw. They were worthy of the Best Picture designation. In the 2010s, however, there have been The King’s Speech, The Artist, Birdman, Spotlight, Moonlight, The Shape of Water, and now Parasite. It’s not a matter of quality, it’s a matter of perception. And the perception is that the Oscars have become elitist, losing touch with “regular” movie-goers.

I saw four of this years best picture nominees. Sound of Metal, Judas and The Black Messiah, The Trial Of the Chicago 7 and Promising Young Woman.

I didn't see Mank, Nomadland, The Father and Minari. I doubt many people did see those films.

The only person I really cared about that won was Daniel Kaluuya. Mostly just because I wanted to see the guy that played Tea Leaf be called an Oscar winner.

Get Ricky Gervais to host, add some Marvel movies to the categories and you’ll have a winning combo.

I would love to see Richard Ayoade host the Oscars but it won't happen because most of mainstream America has no idea who he is, his humor is very dry/awkward and he probably wouldn't do it anyway.

 

[chamber-music]

Chloé Zhao’s historic win at this year’s Oscars censored in China

Not too surprising given her comments and that since the age of 15 she has lived in either the UK or U.S.

Zhao's three indie films are all about America. Her movies probably weren't even released in China.

Her success would only been used by Chinese state for propaganda purposes anyway so I doubt she is that upset about being censored. The ban only proves her point.

 

[Detective Conan]

Not too surprising given her comments and that since the age of 15 she has lived in either the UK or U.S.

Zhao's three indie films are all about America. Her movies probably weren't even released in China.

Her success would only been used by Chinese state for propaganda purposes anyway so I doubt she is that upset about being censored. The ban only proves her point.

This makes me wonder how Eternals will be handled in China. Given the fact it will apparently have Marvel’s first on-screen LGBTQ relationship it’ll definitely be censored in that territory, but I have to wonder if China will go as far as to ban the movie entirely because of her statements. If they don’t go that far, then perhaps they’ll censor her name in the credits for the Chinese release. Now I’m sure if they do press tour in that country that topic will come up(assuming she’s even allowed to do press in that territory).

 

[Drizzle]

I would love to see Richard Ayoade host the Oscars but it won't happen because most of mainstream America has no idea who he is, his humor is very dry/awkward and he probably wouldn't do it anyway.

Hollywood tried to make him happen in the States back in 2012 when he had a co-starring role in that movie The Watch, but it was a flop. He's found more success in voiceover roles recently between The Mandalorian and Soul.

 

[Detective Conan]

 

[DarkKnight88]

Hopkins has got my dance moves.

 

[Captain Tired]

Lecter's introductory scene in Lambs would have been ten times creepier if he'd been doing those moves when he first appears in Clarice's line of vision lol.

'Good morning.'

 

[CaptainWagner]

Infinity War, Endgame, Spiderverse, they all had better critic ratings in Rotten Tomatoes than almost half the movies that were nominated for Best Picture in their respective years. I'd love to hear the argument about why Bohemian Rhapsody Darkest Hour, or Green Book are somehow inherently superior to CBMs because ...reasons.

How do we still not understand that Rotten Tomatoes is not a comparative platform? Bohemian Rhapsody and Green Book were both famously overrated, but to suggest that any of the Avengers films required more artistic talent and deserved more nominations? Really?

Also, Spider-Verse won the Oscar in its category, so weird of you to bring that up...

What's Hopkins doing with Salma Hayek? Are they shooting something together or did he just host his own personal Oscars party?

 

[Boom]

Anthony Hopkins has more energy in his 80s than I do in my 30s.

 

[Hannibal75]

Bohemian Rhapsody and Green Book were both famously overrated, but to suggest that any of the Avengers films required more artistic talent and deserved more nominations? Really?

Yes. Really.

 

[Black Narcissus]

Hollywood tried to make him happen in the States back in 2012 when he had a co-starring role in that movie The Watch, but it was a flop. He's found more success in voiceover roles recently between The Mandalorian and Soul.

Ayoade should honestly direct more. His two films have been pretty damn good.

 

[Drizzle]

Ayoade should honestly direct more. His two films have been pretty damn good.

I didn't even know he directed. Nice new avvy, btw

 

[chamber-music]

There was a short lived forgotten BBC sketch show called Bruiser in the year 2000 that featured a whole bunch of British comedic talent in front and behind the camera. Martin Freeman, Richard Ayoade, Ricky Gervais, Olivia Coleman, David Mitchell, Robert Webb and Matthew Holness.

Hollywood tried to make him happen in the States back in 2012 when he had a co-starring role in that movie The Watch, but it was a flop. He's found more success in voiceover roles recently between The Mandalorian and Soul.

I'm pretty sure he only did the watch as a favor to Ben Stiller because Stiller produced one of his movies.

Ayoade is very well connected and well liked by a lot of people who work in Hollywood (which is why he keeps getting offered small roles in stuff like Neo Yokio, Lego Movie, Paddington, The Mandalorian and Soul). I get the feeling Ayoade isn't super ambitious though which is why he is happy to mostly just do shows for channel 4 and Dave. Ayoade doesn't seem interested in being a major Hollywood comedic star.

Ayoade should honestly direct more. His two films have been pretty damn good.

I like both of his films but neither of his films were commercially successful which is why he hasn't directed more.

Ayoade filmmaking idols are people like Woody Allen, Ingmar Bergman, and Federico Fellini. He is a lot more of an art house leaning director.

 

[Evil Twin]

There's a certain irony to this year's ratings. We've been hearing "Streaming is the way of the future." for years now. This year you could easily see a whole bunch of these movies streaming, I saw 7 of the 8 Best Picture nominees that way, and people were like "I never heard of these films."

Make up your mind folks.

This was always destined to be a down year in the ratings. It wasn't helped by some of the choices in the show. The technical categories in particular could use clips. And a host would have helped. Nothing to be done about the sparse attendance though. But, with In the Heights, Dune, and West Side Story pushed back, and I have my doubts about at least 2 of them being contenders, the Academy Awards were always going to resemble the Independent Spirit Awards more than ever.

FWIW, I thought Nomadland was easily the best of the nominees and think the award was well deserved. It's a very cinematic look at America with a great central performance by Frances McDormand. It would be a strong contender in most years. And, in any event, I can't really blame the Oscars for awarding one of the most acclaimed films of the year. I do agree that with so much turmoil, the critics associations and awards bodies could have been 100% more daring in what they called attention to, why not The Invisible Man or Palm Springs, but unfortunately it seemed like the same old Oscars Industrial Complex.

Incidentally, I think it's a mistake to blame the winners for low ratings. Nobody really knew that Boseman wasn't going to win and the ratings were baked in at that point. Parasite was a surprise win and the field was full of big box office hits. Joker made a billion, even. This year, there was not much that could be done. And no impetus to see these films quickly as they were already in the streaming ecosystem where they'll exist forever.

I think the Oscars should focus on what they can control. If West Side Story and/or In the Heights are nominated in 2022, there's no reason you can't make the show a celebration of musicals, for instance.

 

[metaphysician]

Yes. Really.

Doubly so. Green Book especially was absolutely stereotypical Hollywood pablum, with all the artistic aspiration of an airport romance novel. "It theoretically occurs in the real world" does not grant one iota of artistic achievement.

 

[Drizzle]

Doubly so. Green Book especially was absolutely stereotypical Hollywood pablum, with all the artistic aspiration of an airport romance novel. "It theoretically occurs in the real world" does not grant one iota of artistic achievement.

I really wish the Academy would release the voting results for Best Picture because I wouldn’t be surprised if Green Book won due to vote splitting between two other nominees.

 

[Dave McFly]

I did not make it past the first category it looks so bland I miss having the large audience, the big stage, the live orchestra, etc it was so meh I turned it off and looked up who won the next day lol