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95th Academy Awards (OSCAR NIGHT): You're all feckin' boring!

Mladen

By Mladen,
in Entertainment

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Heartofice Council Member

Heartofice

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I reckon I will watch EEAAO pretty regularly, it's just too much fun not to, even if its just jumping into certain scenes. 

However, I don't know why anyone would think 'Oh I'd love to watch The Shape of Water again'' or 'Birdman, that was so enjoyable, lets sit and watch it again!'

 

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Annara Snow Council Member

Annara Snow

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It's interesting to see EEAAO provoke such visceral reactions. I guess that makes me unusual, because really enjoyed it, but didn't love it 

However, its win makes me happy because it's one of the more original movies that have won Best Picture. It doesn't make me as happy as the Parasite or Moonlight win, because I really loved those, but it's a good sign.

But it's sad that other movies didn't get anything. At least they could have given Original screenplay to Triangle of Sadness or one of the supporting acting awards to The Banshees of Inisherin, etc. It feels like the only reason any other movie got a major category award is because EEAAO couldn't be nominated in those categories to begin with (lead actor and, obviously, adapted screenplay).

Even though I'm not the movie's #1 fan, I have to say: if complaining about the "Marvelization of movies" is what negative criticism of EEAAO is based on, it's very poor criticism that completely misses the mark. Whoever says that clearly doesn't understand why people have a problem with the dominance of Marvel movies. No, it's not because of people having superpowers, or SciFi themes like time travel and AUs. It's because Marvel movies are overall rather samey and unchallenging and limited by the studio demands and commercial concerns (even the more original of them have to stick to certain rules and demands). That's what the problem is, and that's why Scorsese said they were like theme parks more than films. But that's definitely not the case with EEAAO. No one can accuse it of lacking originality.

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TheLastWolf Council Member

TheLastWolf

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3 hours ago, Heartofice said:

However, I don't know why anyone would think 'Oh I'd love to watch The Shape of Water again'' or 'Birdman, that was so enjoyable, lets sit and watch it again!'

I would, for the sheer value of cinematic experience :)

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Mladen Council Member

Mladen

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I honestly am in two minds regarding EEAAO. On one hand, I do recognize originality and I can sense the difference in the way AMPAS voted. I think we can say small passion project won, we can say something unorthodox, original won over several classic Oscar baity movies. I do believe it has potential to become this generation movie, the one that may change the game. However, it should be noted I don't believe it will happen over night, and I am still not convinced whether this is the result of those "The Shape of Water" and "Parasite" game-changing victories, or if this is a whole new thing, standing on its own. 

I belong to the camp "I liked it, didn't love it", as @Annara Snow said. That said, us Europeans were always less inclined to fall for a movie like this, which is also reflected in box office (70% US, 30% international speaks that it is very US-centric movie). In comparison, international BO for "Banshees" and "TAR" is circa 70%. So, it is always amusing how European-centric audience is less thrilled about EEAAO than American. 

And I am not sure EEAAO as movie caused visceral reaction. I mean, Shapiro is more inclined to throw hate at Hollywood for being what they are. I doubt it has more with EEAAO than Hollwood's liberal views and proving the point people don't remember the movies as they used to. Shapiro most certainly is not alone in this and it is not like right-wing opinion that Oscar movies are doing terrible with the audience and that they are forgotten as soon as Oscar season is over. Time has not been exactly kind to the previous 10-15 Best Picture winners. One can argue that it is reflection of Hollywood making Oscar season an entire "horserace" where studios, producers, directors and actors all get involved into this very dirty game. The last two weeks of the season is usually filled with all sorts of "gloves off" behavior (case in point: Michelle Yeoh's Instagram post about history-making victory for her and the fact Cate Blanchett already has two Oscars). I wonder if things would change with shorter season, less precursors and critics doing their job and not trying to predict Oscars.

Another big criticism is that AMPAS allowed themselves to get carried away with narrative voting. Those are always good in terms of a specific moment but rarely ages well. It will also depend what Daniels and the winning actors continue to do. I can see Daniels failing hard with some quirky, outlandish movie they make in the future. We'll see how actors will use their Oscars... I think Fraser is most likely to get nominated again (he is already in Scorsese's new movie that will premiere at Cannes). I hear some rumors that Disney wants this year's Oscar winners in acting categories at their roster. And while I am not sure about it, the idea of Ke Huy Quan doing some remake of Indiana Jones, or perhaps spin-off, does sound interesting.

And I know we talked a lot about winners and losers, but if I was sad about one loss below-the-line it is that Justin Hurwitz lost the Oscar for Best Score. His music is so beautiful and I hate how he got caught up in AMPAS' total rejection of Babylon. 

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Cas Stark Council Member

Cas Stark

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7 minutes ago, Winterfell is Burning said:

I don't think the Academy was ever on rails to begin with 

Possibly.  They did after all award Around the World in 80 Days with a best picture win, and Judy Holiday beat Bette Davis in All about Eve and Gloria Swanson in Sunset Blvd. for best actress and that was back in the 50s.  However, the crop of best picture winners over the last 10 years must be the weakest stretch in film history, not completely the fault of the academy voters, but still.  CODA? Spotlight? Birdman?  Nomadland?  That's a weak stretch.

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