95th Annual Academy Awards

I got lucky, was visiting my friend in Portland and I saw it at their refurbished old theater - Cinema 21 in Nob Hill district.

 

With low (and getting lower) TV ratings and last year’s Oscar Slap™, the Academy really couldn’t afford more bad PR. And rescinding Riseborough’s “grass roots” nomination would have been a very bad look.

 

This is what I see happening, though I do think The Daniels could pull it off in Directing and I don't really buy Butler being second in the case of a Fraser fumble. Especially with ranked choice voting, I don't see him having enough second-place votes to carry him to the top if there isn't a clear winner. IMO, Fraser still has this. And if not him, Farrell.

 

I don’t think Farrell gave a “Best Actor” worthy performance in Banshee. While I liked the movie and his performance, it was kind of forgettable to me. Butler transformed himself to play Elvis. I haven’t seen The Whale but I can imagine Fraser did a lot of work for his character as well (even if he wore a fat suit). Those performances will be memorable for years to come IMO.

 

Ten bucks says he goes back to his normal accent after awards season.

 

I thought Farrell's work was really brilliant in Banshees, and I'm so happy that its gotten awards love. Quiet character work like that so rarely gets appreciated these days. "Transformations" always dominate the conversation. Maybe its because I related to the character so much, but he really sticks with me still and I expect him to for a long time. He won at Cannes for a reason.

Honestly, I'm so happy with this Best Actor lineup. You have Butler and Fraser for the "transformations," and they're absolutely great, but Farrell, Nighy and Mescal all give less showy performances as original characters that struggle to find love most years. This may be the first time I can remember that my personal Top 5 in any category might wind up the same as the Academy's, though Park Hae-il might still wind up in.

 

I saw The Fabelmans and Everything Everywhere All At Once the last 2 days. Bringing my BP noms I saw count to 5. The Fabelmans was a very solid movie and I would say Speilbergs best in years, but EEAAO was much more original. I think it could have been maybe 10 or 15 mins shorter, but that's a nitpick.

As of now, my BP ranks go:

Everything Everywhere All At Once
The Fabelmans
Elvis
Avatar: The Way of Water
Top Gun: Maverick

Remainders still pending. Targeting Banshees next. Would love if me and the wife could fit in both that and Tar.

 

To answer the poll:

EEAO
Spielberg
Blanchett
Butler

 

Anyone think there will be a reference to or joke about the slap from last year?

 

Since they made an attempt to get Chris Rock to host this year, I'd count on it.

 

I hope not. It was a serious issue the Academy failed to address in the moment and making a dumb joke about it is tired and predictable.

At least Viola is an EGOT winner now

 

I love Kimmel and am looking forward to his monologue. He’s probably the second best choice to host after Ricky Gervais, IMO.

 

I never enjoyed Ricky Gervais as a host. He can be funny. But there’s a fine line between light roasting and mean spirited-ness.

I understand trying to make a statements and not sucking up to celebrities like they are the greatest thing ever and pointing out their hypocrisy. But a good host makes people feel at ease while also making it enjoyable for people at home. He only seems to care about the latter.

 

These snobs at these awards shows are just patting themselves on the back anyway. They and we know that they're essentially worshiped like gods. They've got thick enough skin to be taken to task or get some light ribbing on occasion. Even at the Golden Globes, plenty of folks did still laugh at Gervais' jokes despite many of them being taken to task. Not all of them. Tim Cook's scowl still makes me laugh. You can have a safe, funny host, if Billy Crystal or Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are any indication. Even Seth MacFarlane got laughs out of the audience, and this is the same guy who made a date joke about Chris Brown and Rihanna! Which, side note, you can see Robert Downey Jr. applaud after it.

These people and we as the audience place them on a pedestal enough times that they can be knocked off it for an awards ceremony, and still wake up like a million bucks the next day.

 

Watched Banshees of Inesherin just now. I know the movie was highly acclaimed, but I found it just very actively unpleasant to watch. Performances were great, but wouldn't watch this again and enjoyed several nominees more.

 

He was good in this. But I liked the duo when the movie was called In Bruges a lot more

 

None of which will be funny.

I'm still livid that they're having Kimmel host. The dude has an annual tradition of mocking the nominees as "boring movies that nobody saw." Just last year he was a huge pusher of the "No Way Home should be Best Picture" nonsense. I'm so, SO tired of the Academy refusing to simply celebrate the art instead of acting embarrassed of their own choices.

 

I am not mad NWH didn't get nominated or whatever last year. But that said, i would argue that NWH was for me way better than either Top Gun Maverick or Avatar The Way of Water. So I don't think arguing in its favor is all that ridiculous

 

Maybe as a story or its characters touched you more, but it didn’t have the filmmaking expertise behind it like those two films. Think of any blockbuster that usually gets nominated at the Oscars for Best Picture, and a sometimes revered director whose visuals are top-tier is behind it. NWH didn’t have anything that stood out visually in that department.