95th Annual Academy Awards

We can only do one poll per thread so it would have to be one category. Best Picture?

 

Would it be too much to create a temporary sub forum with a thread for each category?

 

Don't know if it would get enough traffic, but I'll run the idea with the other admins.

 

I'm loving Quan's comeback but all this fawning for him and Fraser feels disingenuous. You have the likes of Sandler and Spielberg circling around them now as allies but where were they at their lows? Say what you want about irrelevance or blacklisting, but these two absolutely have a superseding power to them. Like, no more room in Grown Ups 2 or his Netflix movies? Couldn't squeeze Quan into Ready Player One?

 

Overall a fairly noncontroversial slate this year with some present surprises. Most of the major films that got snubbed - Nope, Decision to Leave, Pearl - were expected. The two crazy categories though were Lead Actress and Cinematography: Davis and Deadwyler BOTH missing Lead Actress is a huge snub and of course more bad optics for them, while the Cinematography lineup makes no sense at all. Claudio Miranda had WON almost every precursor and now he's not even nominated when Maverick overperforms in categories it had no business in, like Screenplay?

 

That'd be fun.

 

I enjoy the film, but 65% of the script is just;

Plane go zoooooooooooooooooooooooom.

 

No nominations for the cinematography of Banshees and Nope is crazy, the lighting in those films is fantastic.

 

Its interesting to me that Disney only had 1 of 3 movies nominated for best animated movie and the one nominated wasn't one I particularly liked. I would have bet before 2022 lightyear would have been the big one with money and nominations.

 

Razzies need to go away in general. It’s just mean spirited.

Razzies Apologize for Nominating Child Actor, Introduce Age Limit - Variety

 

I mean don't nominate kids for a start. It's all good fun when the recipients embrace it and are part of the joke, but otherwise yeah.

 

You guys are nuts. MAVERICK has a terrific screenplay. It's lean, economical, perfectly structured, and pays off every single story beat in the extended action climax, only for it to all to perfectly culminate in an emotional climax that ties the whole movie together. This wasn't a story that they just threw together in between plane stuff in the editing room, this thing had to work on the page. It's brilliant blockbuster screenwriting and there's no way in hell it would be the run away smash hit that it is without it.

The best screenplay category has historically been over-represented by movies that are primarily being recognized for their dialogue, ignoring the many other crucial parts of writing. A movie like TOP GUN: MAVERICK is absolutely the kind of nomination we should be celebrating, not scoffing at.

 

I guess it got in due to the Adapted Screenplay category not being as stacked as Original Screenplay and it just got thrown in there because popularity. Looking at what didn't make it, She Said is the one that stands out most as what should have gotten in there instead of Maverick.

 

Understandable, but a terrific tight 'outline' shouldn't be held up that high. The cinematography and editing makes that screenplay become something else entirely. While on the other hand... I can read The Batman's script, hell even Aftersun's and still regard them as masterpieces of art. The last page of Aftersun's script guts me like a fish.

Honestly, 7 of my top 10 would be ideal horror/crime/thriller novels;

The Batman
Tár
X
Aftersun
Decision To Leave
Speak No Evil
Bones & All

Only left off EEAAO (the visuals, man) / Pearl (not as straight-forward as X) / Crimes Of The Future (needs that Cronenberg eye for some scenes)

 

I really, really like Top Gun: Maverick but I think a best picture nom even is pushing it pretty goddamn hard.

It's not a bad script, it's very solid and achieves exactly what it needs to achieve, but its highly functional more than it is an impressive piece of writing.

 

The Fabelmans is not deserving of a Best Picture nom either.

The Northman should've gotten nominated. But such is award season.

I don't like having 10 Best Picture nominations. If one has 10, then ALL OF THEM should have 10.

Also once again, animation is excluded from major nominations.

 

I don’t know why people keep praising The Fablemans.

 

Top Gun: Maverick I would agree is a tight, lean screenplay and gets the job done. But is it an excellent screenplay? I dunno about that.

The Batman is also not deserving of a screenplay nomination because at a story level it has too many flaws.

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, are we truly going to say that script isn't worthy of a nomination because its animated and a kids film? It's a superlative script and actually does interesting new things with the character. Makes Puss in Boots vulnerable, cleverly written. Uses the Puss in Boots character to talk about the hero legend. Are heroes even heroes? Are they even legends? Puss is allowed to grow from his cowardice and find his strength again. It was powerful.

And people generally agree, do they not? So why can't a movie like The Last Wish be recognized?

1. Because it's animated. 2. Because it's animated it's seen as for kids and not worthy of a nomination.

3. Shrek's own script nomination is the exception that proves the rule.

 

As a Spielberg fan I really enjoyed The Fabelmans and IMO it's his best work in over 20 years. I think it's deserving of its praise but I can also see how it may not be everyone's cup of tea. I think it stands a strong chance of winning but I'd prefer to see Everything Everywhere take the top prize.

 

I know this was never ever going to happen, but in my heart HE got snubbed;

 

I don't think we should be so dismissive of screenplays being functional. So very many of them aren't, and I think it's only easy to take for granted because the good ones seem in a way obvious, but that's just the magic trick of good writing.

There's a reason guys like Rian Johnson and Tony Gilroy spend 90% of their time on structure and outlines.