Awards Season 2023

[knives]

Great points brundlefly. Also here’s a list of all the films to qualify for nomination this year. To the above point while there are a number of non-American films listed not all of them have that Neon money to support nominations.

[therewillbeblus]

Stray thoughts about nominations:

-BPs were the most predictable in some time, I wonder how many of us would've aced that category under DI's nomination-guessing system from last year
-The director pool is solid. Happy to see Triet and Glazer's names up there. I want Payne to get some love, especially since he's an uncredited co-writer in the one category his film might win
-America Ferrera is a weird wild card. Just when I thought the Academy 'got' the film with Gosling's standout nom, the crowd who whittled it down to the fine but hackneyed back-patting speech that solely landed her this nomination plugged it over Gerwig or Robbie, who put in the most work. I feel like that's ironic and contrary to the feminist ideas of the film.
-I love that America loves Sterling K. Brown, though let's go back in time and throw a bunch of those Waves castmembers acting noms please... anyways, it's a shame that American Fiction will be a mostly shut-out and forgotten BP nom, but I'm glad it's up there. I'm also happy Ruffalo's hysterical perf beat Dafoe's only-slightly-less-deserving hysterical perf into the group. Melton's snub is offensive (all the May December absences are felt, but none more than this), and RDJ is going to get a career-W for the worst part of America's favorite movie of the year. Look, I like him too, and I bet he throws killer dinner parties, but his is the only vapid performance up there next to four good-to-great ones. And most importantly, they're all pretty unique types of roles to make the list, particularly the only two threats to Downey: Gosling and Ruffalo. If this category upsets, it'll be cool.
-I figured Flower Moon would either win or not even be nominated for Adapted Screenplay, and the more surprising of those options happened
-Colman Domingo, inching one step closer to usurping Leo's throne

[spectre]

Great points brundlefly. Also here’s a list of all the films to qualify for nomination this year. To the above point while there are a number of non-American films listed not all of them have that Neon money to support nominations.

Excellent, thanks for posting this. Of course any of my gripes are tilting at windmills and it’s all about campaigns, money, etc., just as it’s always been. But imagine an alternative Academy Awards that saw its brief as celebrating the best artistic achievements in global cinema every year (with all the above parameters in place) – scrolling through the list above, would you come back with 80% American films in the Best Picture nomination list as a baseline minimum?

Besides Anatomy of a Fall, I reckon it’d be hard to dislodge About Dry Grasses, Afire, Perfect Days or Tótem – add those five to, say, Past Lives, The Zone of Interest, Killers of the Flower Moon, Poor Things and (through gritted teeth) Oppenheimer, and you’d have a pretty high-calibre selection. You can of course take or leave any of those suggestions or swap others back in, but for me a line-up like that would be one that is genuinely trying to present the best of world cinema rather than merely gesturing towards it.

[swo17]

If our list projects are any indication of the spread of great cinema across the world, closer to half should come from the US

[knives]

Honestly, nothing beats Barbie for me. I really loved that film and wish it wasn’t going to be stuck in second place throughout.

As for campaigning, I don’t think it’s terribly realistic for any one person to see all 300+ films that qualify. That’d practically be a job in itself so I view campaigns as necessary to tell people what to prioritize. Realistically, at most these folks are going to have enough time in the year to get to 30 of them.

[soundchaser]

Hillary Clinton weighs in, with bonus confusing hashtag.

[therewillbeblus]

Hey, I'd buy a Hillary Barbie

[Matt]

The living embodiment of the “The party ended an hour ago and he’s still here” meme. When will it stop being 2016 in this country?

[eerik]

Gerwig and Robbie are both nominated for the Best Picture as producers anyway.

[swo17]

And Gerwig for Best Screenplay

[beamish14]

Hey, I'd buy a Hillary Barbie

I still have a John McCain “inaction figure” from one of the great Kickstarter debacles

[swo17]

My question to all those (but especially the celebrities) criticizing Barbie's failure to secure 10 noms instead of 8: Whose nominations would you rescind to make room for Gerwig and Robbie?

[knives]

Scorsese seems like the obvious choice on director (though Triet also seems like a glad just to be here vote). Don’t feel knowledgeable enough on Best Actress though.

[Never Cursed]

No one for Director, but Annette Benning for Actress. That said, in a more just world, it would be Portman rather than either Benning or Robbie in that category (see also: DiCaprio instead of Domingo in Actor, Julianne Moore instead of, well, everyone save Da'Vine Joy Randolph in Supporting Actress, and Melton, Dominic Sessa, and Dafoe in lieu of RDJ, Gosling, and Brown in Supporting Actor)

[hearthesilence]

My question to all those (but especially the celebrities) criticizing Barbie's failure to secure 10 noms instead of 8: Whose nominations would you rescind to make room for Gerwig and Robbie?

I wish someone would ask this of anyone in the business incessantly complaining about nominations - unless it’s Best Picture with empty nomination slots, this is exactly what they’re demanding.

[The Narrator Returns]

My question to all those (but especially the celebrities) criticizing Barbie's failure to secure 10 noms instead of 8: Whose nominations would you rescind to make room for Gerwig and Robbie?

I really don't like Poor Things at all, and specifically think it botches and/or simplifies many things that I love about Barbie, but I know that Lanthimos was always getting in Gerwig or not, and Stone is good in it despite how much I resented the assignment handed to her. And I haven't seen Nyad yet but there's a negative chance I like that performance more than Robbie's, who I'd also put far above Stone and Mulligan even if they both do good work (I'm seeing Anatomy of a Fall tomorrow and I'm sure it's a worthy inclusion in both categories). Of course, my reaction to Barbie was such an intensely personal one that it's been bizarre thinking about it in horse-race terms, and exponentially more bizarre than that now that actual death threats are being sent over it. I gave up on the possibility of being normal about Greta Gerwig the second I took her name, but what is everybody else's excuse?

[swo17]

I should clarify my question. I'm sure anyone here could come up with a list of their own top 5 whatever and easily switch out one or more nominees from what the Academy selected. My question was more posed toward things like this article which seem to be predicated on the notion that Barbie is the only movie that came out last year

[soundchaser]

Women are famously overlooked in the Best Actress category; it's true.

[knives]

I should clarify my question. I'm sure anyone here could come up with a list of their own top 5 whatever and easily switch out one or more nominees from what the Academy selected. My question was more posed toward things like this article which seem to be predicated on the notion that Barbie is the only movie that came out last year

For a lot of people that probably was the only movie they saw last year. Obviously those people should realize they’re coming from a place of ignorance, but whatevs.

[The Curious Sofa]

My question to all those (but especially the celebrities) criticizing Barbie's failure to secure 10 noms instead of 8: Whose nominations would you rescind to make room for Gerwig and Robbie?

Probably an unpopular opinion but would chose Margot Robbie over Lily Gladstone, who I think is very good as the quiet centre of that movie but that's what she is. It's also a borderline supporting performance, she is missing from Flower Moon for long stretches and Robbie is at the centre of her movie and she is 50% of why it works. Then again, I wished Greta Lee had been nominated and ultimately I hope Sandra Hüller wins (she probably won't)

I'm less invested in Gerwig for director and while I haven't seen Poor Things yet, I haven't liked a single Lanthimos movie so far. If he got his fish eye lens out again to rub in how weird and crazeeey his movie is, I'd happily drop him for Gerwig.

On a different note, because it's the field I worked in for much of my career, I feel rather invested in The Creator winning for special effects and it should have also been nominated for a production design. The film has its flaws, but it looks like it cost three times of what it did, the designs are gorgeous and the effects work is flawless.

[swo17]

There's definitely a lot of fish eye lens in Poor Things!

[The Curious Sofa]

Oh well, I'll still watch it for the costumes and Emma Stone.

[therewillbeblus]

I think there's an interesting parallel of the process for how women are 'discovering themselves' as separate from patriarchal objects in both Poor Things and Barbie, and Robbie's snub probably comes as a result of her being less 'showy' about those changes, perhaps due to her character always having to 'put on a face'. But that's part of the thematic material, and what some may have seen as a plastic perf I saw as one brimming with a sour aftertaste about what it still means to be a woman once the film's credits stop and the cheers fade away - it's a part worthy of a nomination and it's absence to me reflects Academy voters' tendency to attract to shinier things (ironically by neglecting a shiny object doll that just doesn't want to only be a shiny object anymore)

That said, Stone's perf is a shiny thing that deserves the statue, and Robbie's doesn't. The fifth slot should've gone to Portman, and she should be Stone's main competition too. I've loved Gladstone about as long as most here (i.e. the theatrical screening on Certain Women) and she's very good and understated in her role, but I have to agree with the above post that she's not enough of a 'heart' within the evil content to move it away from the attention to scoundrels' muck and towards the humanism at the center of the film. The problem is that it's intentionally blurry next to the perspective of the delusional rationalizers, which is the point - to make us uncomfortable by placing us in their shoes - but because of that point, Gladstone's presence is less pronounced to carry a top acting prize. Now that I think of it, I think Killers of the Flower Moon and The Zone of Interest have very similar motives and even approaches to quietly but aggressively engage their audience

[Matt]

Nyad is exactly the kind of nakedly emotional, "inspirational," elevated TV movie that gets beloved actresses of a certain age awards nominations. There's usually one every year: Glenn Close, Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, Olivia Colman, Renee Zellweger, Judi Dench, et al, et al. The performances are fine, nothing special, and the nomination is generally more for career longevity and overall warm regard. In this case, Bening and Foster have won Best Actress and Supporting Actress in the AARP Movies for Grownups Awards, the Women Film Critics Circle's "Best Screen Couple" award, and Bening the Alliance of Women Film Journalists' "Grand Dame for Defying Ageism" (not making that last one up, I swear). Also, Richard Roeper, Rex Reed, and Peter Travers all praised it. So you can see the kind of middlebrow appeal it has, and the Oscars are nothing if not middlebrow.

You do appreciate that someone is still making movies with roles for women over 40, but you also wish these women were getting better material. Foster is actually, legitimately good in this and deserves awards that are not condescending, but Bening in lesbian drag doing "a voice" and battling jellyfish is a little embarrassing.

The movie around them is a by-the-numbers sports achievement story complete with gauzy flashbacks and a defiant "I won't give up this time" or "they said I couldn't do it" attitude.

Barbie is really not that good either. Would I have picked Margot Robbie in Bening's place? No. Maybe Michelle Williams in Showing Up or Natalie Portman in May Decemberor Paula Beer in Afire. Robbie producing the top-grossing movie of the year (1.5 BILLION dollars worldwide) that is also nominated for 8 Oscars including Best Picture should be more celebrated. You can count the number of female producers with an achievement like that on one hand.

[Walter Kurtz]

Four paragraphs and you nailed every fucking one.