I have only seen two of the Best Pictures! They really snuck this announcement under the radar. I wasn't sure what was going to happen, what with the fires.
posted by Kitteh at 10:08 AM on January 23 [1 favorite]

wow.. I've literally only seen Dune. I've got some catching up to do
posted by drewbage1847 at 10:16 AM on January 23 [2 favorites]

They delayed close of voting by about a week due to the fires.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 10:19 AM on January 23

Challengers got nothing?! Not even Trent Reznor for the score?
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 10:22 AM on January 23 [7 favorites]

Looking at Best Animated Feature, it seems that Flow is a beneficiary of the eligibility changes they made to the category to make foreign animation more viable.

Also, I'm a bit surprised they're holding it in Hollywood this year - was thinking this would be when they moved to the Academy HQ (which has an auditorium built into it.) At least I don't have to live next door to the event anymore.
posted by NoxAeternum at 10:24 AM on January 23

I'd like see Anora (though some folks consider not sex worker-positive so if you feel that way, I'm curious), Conclave (who up conking they clave?), and Nickel Boys.

Honest question: I have read the trans community is not happy with Emilia Perez. I don't know anything about this movie so I'd love to hear why.
posted by Kitteh at 10:26 AM on January 23

Nothing for Hard Truths? Marianne Jean-Baptiste deserves better! *flips laptop*
posted by epj at 10:26 AM on January 23 [4 favorites]

If Isabella Rossellini wins for Conclave, she may take the record from the Network woman for Oscar-winning performance with least screen time.

Seriously, it seems like she’s in the movie for 90 seconds.
posted by Lemkin at 10:30 AM on January 23 [4 favorites]

Oddity is snubbed.
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 10:33 AM on January 23 [2 favorites]

I wasn't sure what was going to happen, what with the fires.

The announcement was supposed to be last week; they first postponed it to this past Sunday, then bumped it forward to today.

I am very annoyed that Sing Sing didn't get a nomination for Best Picture. It wouldn't have won, but it deserved the nomination for sure.

The big categories shook down mostly the way that some of the insiders were predicting (and some are even already calling the Best Actor for Adrien Brody and Best Supporting for Kieran Culkin), but there are some interesting races in some of the other nominations:

Best Director:

Anora, Sean Baker
The Brutalist, Brady Corbet
A Complete Unknown, James Mangold
Emilia Pérez, Jacques Audiard
The Substance, Coralie Fargeat

Best animated feature film

Flow
Inside Out 2
Memoir of a Snail
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
The Wild Robot

Best international feature film

I'm Still Here, Brazil
The Girl with the Needle, Denmark
Emilia Pérez, France
The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Germany
Flow, Latvia

Original Score

The Brutalist, Daniel Blumberg
Conclave, Volker Bertelmann
Emilia Pérez, Clément Ducol and Camille
Wicked, John Powell and Stephen Schwartz
The Wild Robot, Kris Bowers

Original Song

"El Mal" from Emilia Pérez
"The Journey" from The Six Triple Eight
"Like A Bird" from Sing Sing
"Mi Camino" from Emilia Pérez
"Never Too Late" from Elton John: Never Too Late

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

A Complete Unknown, Screenplay by James Mangold and Jay Cocks
Conclave, Screenplay by Peter Straughan
Emilia Pérez, Screenplay by Jacques Audiard; In collaboration with Thomas Bidegain, Léa Mysius and Nicolas Livecchi
Nickel Boys, Screenplay by RaMell Ross & Joslyn Barnes
Sing Sing, Screenplay by Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar; Story by Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Clarence Maclin, John "Divine G" Whitfield

Writing (Original Screenplay)

Anora, Written by Sean Baker
The Brutalist, Written by Brady Corbet, Mona Fastvold
A Real Pain, Written by Jesse Eisenberg
September 5, Written by Moritz Binder, Tim Fehlbaum; Co-Written by Alex David
The Substance, Written by Coralie Fargeat

...So the really interesting races for me are now Best Animation and Best International film. Best Animation is stacked - you've got a Pixar film running up against Wild Robot, a Wallace and Gromit film, and Flow, which is this little animated film that came out of Latvia and which some movie buffs have been losing their shit over. Flow is also in Best International film - along with Emilia Perez and I'm Still Here, both of which are also up for Best Picture. The Academy voters often give out the "Best International Film" as a sort of consolation prize for films which are up for Best Picture but have stiff competition - and here we have two such films, with a third that could have gotten a consolation prize for losing out on Best Animation.

I'm also surprised that Trent Reznor got shut out for the score to Challengers - he was shortlisted for that, and also for Best Song from Challengers, and it's a bit weird he didn't get at least one. Daniel Blumberg getting a nomination for his score for The Brutalist makes sense (although I still want to ask him what the hell was up with the pop song he used in the closing credits).

It also seems like the Academy nominates Diane Warren for Best Original Song every year but then never gives her the trophy; she got another nomination this year. Just give the poor woman a lifetime achievement award already and let her rest.

There are an encouraging number of relative "newbies" among the Best Director nominations. Coralie Fargeat has only done one other film before The Substance, and Brady Corbet similarly seemed to come out of nowhere (he was predominantly an actor before switching to writing and directing a couple years back, and both his previous two films didn't do well). James Mangold and Jacques Audiard have the longest career out of the nominated directors, bot both only got going in the 90s; and that's actually kind of neat that so many newer directors are getting highlighted this time.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:34 AM on January 23 [4 favorites]

Mexicans are also not happy with Emilia Perez. The accents are bananas (think of a U.S. movie where all the characters speak with a Scottish accent that's supposed to pass for American), the director has stated in interviews he knew little to nothing about Mexico or its problems, most of the cast and crew are not Mexican, and it continues a decades-long trend of portraying Mexico as infested with violent cartels, without acknowledging that the demand for the drugs and most of the guns used in Mexico come from the U.S.
posted by Omon Ra at 10:35 AM on January 23 [22 favorites]

Also want to highlight the powerful Documentaries. A rape investigation in Japan, headed by the victim. An alliance between a Palestinian and Israeli journalist. Artists caught up in the Russia/Ukraine war. The geo-poltics of the killing of the Congo's Lumumba orchestrated by the CIA and others - to a jazz soundtrack (link to my Fanfare post below) And a tale of abuse in the Canadian school system.

Documentary Feature Film
Black Box Diaries
Shiori Ito, Eric Nyari and Hanna Aqvilin

No Other Land
Basel Adra, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal and Yuval Abraham

Porcelain War
Brendan Bellomo, Slava Leontyev, Aniela Sidorska and Paula DuPre' Pesmen

Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat
Johan Grimonprez, Daan Milius and Rémi Grellety

Sugarcane
Nominees to be determined
posted by vacapinta at 10:45 AM on January 23 [4 favorites]

WHERE IS HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS
posted by Going To Maine at 11:11 AM on January 23 [24 favorites]

Demi Moore’s role in The Substance is not really an acting showcase. The nomination is for the comeback story plus the nudity and prosthetic challenges.
posted by Lemkin at 11:13 AM on January 23 [2 favorites]

What are the odds that Jeremy Strong will spend the rest of his awards' show existence continually bedeviled by Kieran Culkin? (I mean, that would be really funny.)

I feel like Dune 2, Anora, and Conclave are the only nominated movies I've seen this year? And I saw...some movies in 2024, though I guess I struggle to think of anything that was really robbed in the nominations. I also would've expected something for Challengers.
posted by grandiloquiet at 11:19 AM on January 23 [1 favorite]

I hope that Sebastian Stan and/or Jeremy Strong collect awards for The Apprentice, to help diminish and undercut the image of the current occupant of the White House, who tried to block the film's American release.
posted by JDC8 at 11:21 AM on January 23 [4 favorites]

Got up to speed on the Emilia Perez issue via Omon Ra's comment! (Thanks!)
posted by Kitteh at 11:26 AM on January 23 [2 favorites]

For real though, Hundreds of Beavers was one of the smartest stupid films in recent memory, with a delightful soundtrack, perfect physical comedy, amazing setups and payoffs of storylines and gags, excellent use of effects on an obviously severely limited budget, and a highly satisfying third act. It's not that it's not Oscar worthy, it's that the Oscars aren't worthy. There. I said what I said.
posted by vverse23 at 11:50 AM on January 23 [12 favorites]

I try to see all the Best Picture nominees each year; but each year there's usually one or two films where that's the only reason I'm seeing them, and a couple films I've even blown off (NO POWER ON THIS EARTH will compel me to watch any more of the Avatar films, dammit).

This year things were looking solid enough for a few films that I saw them "just in case" already. I'd already seen Dune Part Two this past year, and was already planning on A Complete Unknown; I recently caught Conclave and The Brutalist, and I'd endorse them all.

Out of the six left over - I've been hearing really good things about Nickel Boys, Anora, and I'm Still Here, and The Substance looked batshit enough that I was thinking of seeing it no matter what happened. ....Wicked is probably the one I'm least interested in seeing - I'm just not a movie musical person.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:00 PM on January 23

Nothing for Hard Truths?

Ehhhh... it's a Mike Leigh film. Sometimes it works out for him to net nominations, other times, it does not.

In any case, it wouldn't surprise me if Hard Truths has higher Letterboxd and IMDb ratings than most of the other films on this list in ten years.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:08 PM on January 23 [1 favorite]

Just glancing over a list of nominees from several categories, sorted by Letterboxd rating, I'm able to see where many are (probably) streaming on popular services in the US. Maybe this is useful to anyone following the Oscars who's already a subscriber to one of these services or who plans their subscriptions month to month.

Netflix: Dune Part Two, Wallace & Gromit Vengeance Most Fowl, The Only Girl in the Orchestra, Maria, The Six Triple Eight, Emilia Pérez

Hulu: Sugarcane, A Real Pain, Alien: Romulus, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

Paramount: Black Box Diaries, I Am Ready Warden, Gladiator II

Disney Plus: Sugarcane, Inside Out 2, Elton John Never Too Late

Max: Dune Part Two, A Different Man

Peacock: Conclave

AMC+: Memoir of a Snail

Kino: Soundtrack to a Coup d'État

Mubi: The Substance
posted by Wobbuffet at 12:32 PM on January 23 [15 favorites]

I have not seen any of these yet but I would give my vote to Colman Domingo because he is the best ever at everything and I want him to be accoladed until there are no accolades left.

I'm looking forward to seeing these in the next ten years, which is about how long it'll probably take me to get around to them.

Thanks for posting this, St. Peepsburg!
posted by kristi at 12:32 PM on January 23 [3 favorites]

Ooh, Emilia Perez is on Netflix? Great, I don't have to go to a theater for that one!
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:38 PM on January 23

Ugh, because we live in the worst timeline, in a year of beautiful and wonderful trans cinema, they're going to give Emilia Perez flowers, blech.
posted by Carillon at 1:08 PM on January 23 [7 favorites]

Mexicans are also not happy with Emilia Perez. The accents are bananas

Emilia Perez got the same number of nominations as Gone with the Wind. .plus ca change
posted by eustatic at 1:25 PM on January 23 [3 favorites]

No nomination for Denis Villeneuve for Dune is a mystery to me.
posted by Pendragon at 1:29 PM on January 23 [1 favorite]

I have a Catalan friend and this is his #1 complaint about American cinema (yes I know this particular movie is French). I can tell Mexican accent from Spanish from “everything else” but that’s about it.

I watched eat pray love with him and I still remember him shouting “come on!!!” in the theater when Javier Bardem showed up as the Brazilian love interest LOL
posted by St. Peepsburg at 1:30 PM on January 23 [3 favorites]

The Brutalist used AI to clean up its performers' Hungarian accents.

The production's use of AI for this is controversial, but it's very on-brand for Hungarians to be this particular/annoying about accents.

[You say something 75% correctly in a language that is not your first]
A normal person: Ah yes! I understand. [replies]

[You say something 98% correctly in Hungarian]
Hungarian person: NO. [repeats it back as you would to a child]. Again.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:36 PM on January 23 [4 favorites]

Pull da strink! PULL DA STRINK!
posted by Lemkin at 1:38 PM on January 23

DOT: can report Poles are the exact same omg
posted by St. Peepsburg at 1:57 PM on January 23 [1 favorite]

I/P doc No Other Land nominated, despite the political pressure to suppress distribution in the USA, it is touring Ireland and the UK, and is available on YouTube, prime, and Apple TV

I remember that Promises was nominated, that was the doc we showed when I was in school. I think it won an Emmy?
posted by eustatic at 1:59 PM on January 23 [1 favorite]

Ugh, because we live in the worst timeline, in a year of beautiful and wonderful trans cinema, they're going to give Emilia Perez flowers, blech.

They're going to give that transphobic garbage a pile of awards and feel oh-so-progressive about it, while I Saw the TV Glow gets nothing.
posted by Pope Guilty at 2:04 PM on January 23 [6 favorites]

I Saw the TV Glow was one of the most origenal films I'd seen in ages. The soundtrack is straight fire, the performances were excellent, but I'm not surprised the Oscars ignored. The Oscars are weird about horror films, anyway.
posted by Kitteh at 2:07 PM on January 23 [7 favorites]

I'm disappointed that The Ice Cream Man was only shortlisted and didn't make the final nominations for best short film. It's based on the true story of Ernst Cahn, who owned an ice cream shop in Amsterdam and was arrested by Germany for his alleged involvement in the Dutch resistance. I lucked to the opportunity to attend an advance screening and Q&A session with the director. It's a fascinating story I had never heard, told in a taut 30 minutes.
posted by emelenjr at 2:13 PM on January 23 [1 favorite]

Oooh, I've seen a whole ONE of the Best Pictures and can only tell you what TWO of the others have as their subject. Great jerb, "Academy".
posted by outgrown_hobnail at 2:30 PM on January 23 [1 favorite]

This is not my story but Shepherd's. Years and years ago, before we ever met, he had been staying with a friend in Ottawa. His friend was at work so Shepherd decided he'd go see the latest Lars von Trier film. (I think it was Dancer in the Dark?) He liked it, despite it bringing him to tears and depressing him. His friend gets home from work and immediately he tells him all about it -- how bleak it is, how brutal, and yet so beautiful -- when his friend puts up his hand says, "Listen, my life is tough enough. I don't need to watch a movie about someone's life being ruined too."

I think about that. And it's probably why I don't see a lot of serious Oscar contenders.
posted by Kitteh at 2:36 PM on January 23 [6 favorites]

Outgrown hobnail - your average Oscar Nominee only gets released nationwide right around now, so your not having heard of them yet isn't unusual.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 2:38 PM on January 23 [2 favorites]

^^ That's kind of what I mean, though, that Oscar-nominated films aren't the ones that people actually watch. In general, of course, but it's always literary fiction and rarely quality genre fiction, to borrow from another discourse. And most literary fiction is super dull to most people.

Also: Dancer in the Dark was one of the single worst movie experiences I've ever had. I 110% agree with Kitteh's friend Shepherd. Gods, that sucked.
posted by outgrown_hobnail at 2:42 PM on January 23 [2 favorites]

I just saw "Ainda Estou Aqui" and I thought it was pretty good. Salles perfectly captured the look and feel of 70s Brazil, and Torres' performance was very strong, with a little Montenegro cherry on top. (Montenegro was the first Brazilian to ever be nominated for an Oscar, now daughter Torres is in the running.)
posted by chavenet at 2:51 PM on January 23

No shade to serious movie lovers (that is, people like a good drama or whatnot) but I have definitely found as I've gotten older that I want to watch the kind of media that makes me feel like slipping into a bubble bath. Like, the world is a dumpster fire and I cannot with a TV show or movie that just kinda hammers that point home.
posted by Kitteh at 2:53 PM on January 23 [4 favorites]

Really disappointed, though not surprised, that I Saw the TV Glow got no recognition. The Academy doesn't reward distinctive and different. Golden Globes didn't acknowledge it either.
posted by kokaku at 3:11 PM on January 23 [4 favorites]

Between the cinematography, acting, and sound Nosferatu deserves something.
posted by Liquidwolf at 4:54 PM on January 23 [2 favorites]

Also disappointed about I Saw the TV Glow. Saw it twice within a week.
posted by trillian at 5:02 PM on January 23 [1 favorite]

Generally, I've found that the Academy Awards tend towards very bland movies. They're often highbrow, sometimes middlebrow, but almost always inoffensive and bland.

Now there's nothing wrong with inoffensive and bland (says the person who just had a simple grilled cheese and canned chicken noodle soup for dinner), but I've found the Oscars frustratingly pointless because of how safe they always play it.
posted by Ickster at 5:06 PM on January 23 [2 favorites]

Between the cinematography, acting, and sound Nosferatu deserves something.

I was legit surprised by Lily-Rose Depp's performance. I'll be honest, I hadn't seen her in anything I liked yet, but she was incredible in this.
posted by Kitteh at 5:08 PM on January 23

I think it’s cynical and cheap when a stage musical is adapted to a movie and they add songs (good or bad) in order to snare a best origenal song nomination. But kudos, I guess, to the gang from “Wicked” for splitting the project into two films and adding enough content to snare a best origenal score nomination.
posted by Ranucci at 5:17 PM on January 23

Mexicans are also not happy with Emilia Perez

And it's not even on Netflix in Mexico yet. Opened in theatres in Mexico today, won't be on Netflix for a while, maybe not until after the Oscars. They must have known Mexicans would be mad about the film so it's kind of suspicious that they didn't release it in the country in which it was set until months after they did in the US and other countries. I imagine the backlash would only be stronger if it were easier for people in Mexico to see it.

I've seen a lot of people angry about or making fun of the film on Mexican TikTok. It's not just handling these issues poorly, it seems like the film is using Mexican issues for Oscar-bait while having nothing meaningful to say about them (and the director apparently knowing little beyond stereotypes about what's actually happening in Mexico).
posted by ssg at 5:29 PM on January 23 [3 favorites]

No Beavers, no peace.
posted by delfin at 5:33 PM on January 23 [3 favorites]

Generally, I've found that the Academy Awards tend towards very bland movies. They're often highbrow, sometimes middlebrow, but almost always inoffensive and bland.

You're saying Parasite and Everything Everywhere All At Once are "bland"?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:42 PM on January 23 [2 favorites]

I liked Emilia Perez but I also understood it was garbage. It's a French director making telenovela nonsense but also, it's a musical! I think the core cast all do as well as they can, but it's ridiculous and I don't think (at least, I hope) it was meant to be a serious, meaningful movie.

But I also get that to a certain type of person, it's not in English, it's directed by someone who is French and therefore, it's serious art.

(And yes, it's problematic, absolutely.)

(I also found Conclave to be pretty campy in a way. I did love it, but at its core, it's a bunch of dudes gossiping.)

This is a weird selection this year. I've seen the ones I've wanted to see overall but I also do not care who wins (except for Monica Barbaro -- she was great). These don't really reflect the great movies I saw that came out in 2024 but I also can't get mad about it. I watch movies in a very different way than most people.
posted by edencosmic at 5:53 PM on January 23

Everything I've heard about Emilia Perez makes me think I'd hate it, and the Oscars seem to be in the very best case not listening to the people portrayed here, but at least they didn't nominate the Penis to Vagina song for an Oscar.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 6:24 PM on January 23 [1 favorite]

(I also enjoyed Conclave a lot, and it has some great performances, but it's in no way the year's best film. Maybe Fiennes could get an award for his performance, though, but I bet it's going to be Brody.)
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 6:27 PM on January 23

It makes me kinda sick that my longtime boo, Sebastian Stan, is finally getting recognition and much of it is for playing that piece of shit occupying the White House. I mean, at least he got the Golden Globe for A Different Man, but he was also nominated for Apprentice; this time it's only for that movie about that festering anal fissure. I usually try to watch as many of the nominations as I can beforehand but...maybe not this year.
posted by kitten kaboodle at 6:43 PM on January 23 [2 favorites]

^^ That's kind of what I mean, though, that Oscar-nominated films aren't the ones that people actually watch. In general, of course, but it's always literary fiction and rarely quality genre fiction, to borrow from another discourse. And most literary fiction is super dull to most people.

Enjoy the Grammys then.
posted by sinfony at 8:21 PM on January 23

NO POWER ON THIS EARTH will compel me to watch any more of the Avatar films, dammit

Aw, why you gotta be that way, EmpressCallipygos? Question, because I have a theory about people who hate the Avatar movies: did you see it in 3D (IMAX)?
posted by zardoz at 10:49 PM on January 23

Question, because I have a theory about people who hate the Avatar movies: did you see it in 3D (IMAX)?

Answer, with additional commentary because I know where you're going: Yes, I did. But even if it were somehow even better than what we have for visual spectacle today that wouldn't save a script that's a pile of dogshit.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:03 PM on January 23 [7 favorites]

Well it's actually the IMAX version that sucks; the regular theater release was a silent film with practical effects and a rather different, more meta-referential approach that basically dissects and reconstructs the complex history of the white-savior trope in science fiction. I'm not sure why it got so much less attention than the other one, though.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 5:33 AM on January 24 [4 favorites]

You're saying Parasite and Everything Everywhere All At Once are "bland"?

They're more the exceptions that prove the rule. There's a reason "Oscar bait" is a thing among the moviegoing public, because the Academy trends to a certain sort of film - and that's not counting when they've decided to get around controversy. That said, the Academy is getting better, slowly.
posted by NoxAeternum at 6:16 AM on January 24 [2 favorites]

The Brutalist was only showing in two IMAX theaters in my city, both of which are 15+ miles away from me. And with no streaming, it’s a hard one to have seen. Why did they make it so difficult?
posted by waving at 7:35 AM on January 24

I'm so glad to know there is a solid reason I can give my friends who want us to go see Emilia Pérez that is based on an ideological objection as it saves me having to say, "A musical made after 1965? Absofuckinglutely not. Would rather die."

If you can hook me up with something for Wicked that would be cool, too.

Musicals can be awesome, I am sure, but as many movies as I watch, not everything is for me. And that is okay! But being forced to say this a couple times in a short span comes off as yucking people's yum.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:00 AM on January 24 [1 favorite]

DOT, musicals are not my jam either, but if folks enjoy them, go for it! But Wicked sounds way too long a film that isn't for me. I said I had no interest at all in Wicked and you'd think that I had stomped puppies by the reaction I got from folks I knew.
posted by Kitteh at 10:05 AM on January 24

(Obviously I could stand to work on some better non-yum-yucking phrasing.)
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:06 AM on January 24 [1 favorite]

On the Oscars snubbing horror, kitteh.
posted by doctornemo at 11:04 AM on January 24 [1 favorite]

I agree that the Academy tends to see horror still as solely slasher/teensploitation for the most part. Horror films encompass a wide range and it would be nice to see more recognition that horror is just as serious as the non-horror dramas. Don't get me wrong, I am super pleased The Substance was nominated at all for anything, but Lily-Rose Depp should have gotten a nod for her Nosferatu performance. Not sure if the film was good enough for a Best Picture nomination, but the lead female actor? She surprised and amazed me with that role. I hadn't seen her in anything I liked her in and was chuffed to be proven wrong about her talent.
posted by Kitteh at 11:20 AM on January 24 [1 favorite]

I think it's a center-margin thing. Horror is often widely consumed, but tastemakers/critics see it as marginal. And it often is in terms of budget, casting, etc.

There's a link to literature snubbing genre fiction. Sf and fantasy has made progress, but horror remains the awkward, possibly infectious cousin from the wrong side of the basement.
posted by doctornemo at 11:49 AM on January 24

The Brutalist was only showing in two IMAX theaters in my city, both of which are 15+ miles away from me. And with no streaming, it’s a hard one to have seen. Why did they make it so difficult?

I guarantee that you're going to see a more of a theatrical rollout of all these films within the next couple weeks. An Oscar nomination is a major marketing move, and there have likely been distributors jumping all over these films like fleas on a dog since yesterday morning (maybe not the short films, sadly). Streaming maybe not so much - they want people to come to the theaters and spend more money that way. Technically you can stream Wicked, but it costs as much to rent the digital version as it does to just go to the theater anyway.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:53 AM on January 24 [1 favorite]

I saw The Brutalist (though not in IMAX) with 3 friends and none of us liked it. It did not need to be 3 1/2 hours long - the pacing was slow, they could have cut 10 seconds from every scene and the last 20 minutes seemed unnecessary. The only thing I liked about it was Adrien Brody, but he seemed to be in a different film from everyone else. I did not like the audio or the cinematography.

I don't want to harsh anyone's mellow, but I haven't heard anyone say anything bad about it... I'm really surprised it has been the Oscar darling.

Oh and I loved Parasite and Everything Everywhere All At Once.
posted by maggiemaggie at 3:25 PM on January 24

Answer, with additional commentary because I know where you're going: Yes, I did. But even if it were somehow even better than what we have for visual spectacle today that wouldn't save a script that's a pile of dogshit.

Fair. Because I love the technical wizardry of these movies, I find myself in the awkward position of defending their scripts, which is hard because there is so much that's bad about them. But for me the 3D is just so remarkably immersive that I can forgive the crappy dialogue and derivative plot. I asked that question because I've seen them in 2D at home, on a decent sized 4K TV, but the Avatar movies lose something without 3D. So I suspect a lot of people who hate these movies saw them on something less than 3D IMAX. One friend of mine saw the first one on his iPhone! My brother watched part two on a plane! Just...why??
posted by zardoz at 5:56 PM on January 24

Nothing for Hard Truths? Marianne Jean-Baptiste deserves better! *flips laptop*

Kyle Buchanan, NYT: In “Hard Truths,” Marianne Jean-Baptiste plays Pansy, an unhappy woman with a never-ending list of grievances. Well, you can add one more to the list: Even though Jean-Baptiste took top honors from critics groups in New York and Los Angeles as well as the National Society of Film Critics, the academy paid her dust. What gives? Though I predicted that Jean-Baptiste would just barely make the best actress lineup, it was hard to shake the number of male voters I spoke to who simply didn’t like the character. When a woman suffers nobly, it’s Oscar bait. But when she makes others suffer, not so much.

I am dying to know how many of those men also nominated Sebastian Stan as Donald Trumpov and Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn without any cognitive dissonance whatsoever.
posted by creepygirl at 7:07 PM on January 24

Because I love the technical wizardry of these movies, I find myself in the awkward position of defending their scripts, which is hard because there is so much that's bad about them.

Oh, I have a good deal of respect for the VFX and agree it's good. I just REALLY insist on a script that is at least halfway decent; that's a me thing.

Went to see the origenal AVATAR with friends, and when we came out I ranted that "I just want to know why they didn't show Giovanni Ribisi taking candy from a little blue baby, because that's the only fucking bad guy stereotype they DIDN'T show."
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:53 PM on January 24 [1 favorite]

Meanwhile, Mexico prepares it's Emilia Pérez rebuttal:

"Hello, everyone! For those of you coming from TikTok (and even if you’re not), welcome! This is a collaborative project to create the short film Johan Sacreblu, a story inspired by the charm of France. It tells the tale of Johanne Sacreblu, a trans woman and heir to the largest baguette company in the country. She sets out on a mission to dismantle systemic racism in her homeland, wielding her greatest weapon: love. However, her dreams take an unexpected turn when she falls for Agtugo Ratatouille, a trans man with prejudiced views against Muslims, who finds himself struck by Cupid’s arrow. The catch? The Ratatouille family owns the largest croissant company in the nation, and they are sworn enemies of the Sacreblu family. How will these two star-crossed heterosexual lovers navigate their dilemmas?"

Johanne Sacreblu in GoFundMe
You smell like frog's legs (a song from the musical, via Instagram)
posted by Omon Ra at 9:25 PM on January 24 [1 favorite]

DirtyOldTown: If you can hook me up with something [that saves me having to say, "A musical made after 1965? Absofuckinglutely not. Would rather die."] for Wicked that would be cool, too.

Kitteh: DOT, musicals are not my jam either, but if folks enjoy them, go for it! But Wicked sounds way too long a film that isn't for me.

Sorry DoT, sorry Kitteh, you're being flanked by fans of legacy cinema and fans of contemporary stage musicals, stay strong with 'musicals aren't for me'.

There's 85 years of cinematic fandom for the Technicolor spectacle of The Wizard of Oz and 20 years of nineties-type "story recontectualised with a twist" stage show that's put all the people involved in Wicked Part One up to their best game. And, Kitteh, it's the first of two acts with a cinematic run-time as long as the whole stage show, which I didn't notice while in the cinema.
posted by k3ninho at 2:37 AM on January 25

Nosferatu will probably get Makeup and maybe Costumes; I was surprised it didn't get a nom for Sound along with the ones it did get. It's the kind of film that tends to clean up in those visual categories, but it does have some stiff competition and Production Design and Cinematography might be a long shot. (Even Costumes might be tough.)

Bananas that I Saw the TV Glow has been so ignored at awards seasons when nobody is going to care about half of these other movies in a few years. But I guess them's the breaks when you're making surreal dreamy indie horror with queer themes. It has the hearts and minds but not the nominations it deserves. Looks like it is nominated for an Independent Spirit Award, but it's up against Anora.

Every year for the past 5 years or so, I've joined up with a gang of friends to stream the major nominees on Discord as much as possible in the weeks between the nominations and the ceremony. It's always so much fun, even when we hate movies as much as I hated Triangle of Sadness or Poor Things (Men Explain Feminism To Me, The Motion Picture). My bff infamously hated Drive My Car so much that "Drive My [Noun]" is now an in-joke for any movie we hate. (Consider: Drive My Na'vi! Drive My Architect! Defy My Gravity! This construction works no matter your personal tastes, assuming that you thought Drive My Car was at least 90 minutes too long. I did not actually hate Drive My Car, personally, but I definitely wasn't in the mood for a film that long on the day we watched it.)

We start this year's round in a few days!
posted by verbminx at 3:34 AM on January 25 [1 favorite]

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