February 8, 2022

I've never cared less about the Oscars.

I'm only noticing that the nominations just came out because one of my sons texted me.

108 comments:

gilbar said...

They (apparently) are picking The Worst, Stupidest movies for Oscars now
Don't Look Up has been nominated as Best Picture... Don't Look Up has sold Nearly a Million tickets (well, that's not quite true; but it Did sell a Million dollars worth of tickets its first weekend(well, THAT'S not quite true... It sold NEARLY $700,000 worth of tickets... And That means NEARLY 70,000 people saw it's opening credits before walking out in disgust))


Caroline said...
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Caroline said...

And the Oscar goes to….Intersectional Mediocrity

gilbar said...

Serious Question
Are the Oscars for TV shows now?

rehajm said...

There was a time when I saw everything. Dune, Free Guy, the Bond movie, Cruella…I saw only because others wanted to watch.

I assume the best pictures are ‘important’ somehow. No Wes Anderson? Was he cancelled?

Two-eyed Jack said...

I've never cared less about the Olympics.

Mike of Snoqualmie said...

They believe that "Don't Look Up" is Oscar worthy? I haven't seen it and have no intention of seeing it. It's very woke. That must make it Oscar worthy. We're all doomed due to "Climate Change." We've had 50-years of doomsday prediction, but we're still here and prospering.

Kevin said...

Don’t Look Up for Best Picture?

Hahahahaha!

The joke is on them.

Joe Smith said...

A bunch of rich, privileged, smug, hypocritical, low-IQ assholes who play dress-up for a living giving each other prizes.

Ask me what I really think.

Jaq said...

Well, I saw Dune, and liked it a lot. The effects were great. Just make sure you have read the book if you want to follow the story though. Other than that? Nothing I even want to watch, so let me get back to my copy this month's Nostalgia Today, that rocking chair on the porch isn't going to rock itself!

Robert Marshall said...

The measure of my apathy is that I've only heard of a few of these, haven't seen any, and have no plans to do so.

R C Belaire said...

This is such an easy topic to ridicule. The film industry is mostly pathetic -- and it appears to be getting worse.

Big Mike said...

Wife and I didn’t see a single one of the films nominated. Not one. That’s pretty unusual. Our local multiplex theater is showing oldies on some of its screens to bring people in, like “Princess Mononoke,” “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg,” and the original “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.”

wendybar said...

Nowadays, if you aren't nominated whilst black, they will boycott. The Oscars went woke a while ago. They are done. Nobody cares anymore.

William said...

Ever since Harvey Weinstein went away, the Oscars were never really the same. The way they give prisoners a humane exemption to attend a close relative's funeral, they should let Harvey out to attend the Oscars. With Harvey in attendance, we can see what the Oscars are all about.

Paddy O said...

10 best pictures? I thought they only had 5 like the rest of the categories?

Jersey Fled said...

The last Oscar winning movie that I actually viewed at a movie theater may have been Apocalypse Now.

DanTheMan said...

>>Well, I saw Dune, and liked it a lot.

We went to see Dune. I just can't get past a civilization that can fly across the galaxy, but fights with knives and swords.

One Eye said...

Lady Gaga was apparently "snubbed".

Is it really snubbing if she's not a POC?

Jennifer Hudson ... snubbed.

Ricky Gervais is the only thing that could get me back.

Gerda Sprinchorn said...
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Gerda Sprinchorn said...
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Sebastian said...

Hollywood went prog-niche. Audiences have more options. Result: fragmentation. Only heard of a few of these, wife and I haven't seen -- etc. No sympathy for the moguls, but the loss of unifying events and rallying moments affects the culture.

Joe Smith said...

Who is nominated for the quota awards this year?

Andrew said...

The Spider Man movie should just sweep everything. But that's the only movie I saw in a theater the past few months.

I haven't even heard of these movies. Power of the Dog?

I've heard of course of the revived West Side Story. I'm their target audience, because I love musicals. But I had zero interest in watching it.

Jefferson's Revenge said...

How is it possible that the entire film industry does not understand that everyone else is laughing at them?

Achilles said...

I care more about the Olympics now than I have in a long time.

I want everything involved in the Olympics to fail.

I want to make sure all of the sponsors pay for supporting the Olympics.

I want a new system that does not take advantage of the athletes. I want capitol punishment for the corporate oligarchs that have corrupted this system.

Ceciliahere said...

I saw one movie in a theater, Nightmare Alley mostly because Bradley Cooper was in it. It turned out to be a pretty good movie.
But, are they for real…. Don’t Look Up? I saw it on Netflix and it was a waste of Leon DeCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence talents But, I guess they did the movie because they are “true believers.” Meryl Streep for sure. Hollywood “fat cats” sending a message to the little people again…how tedious. BTW, the movies was really a bomb!

I would like to see Drive My Car, the Japanese movie. This is based on a Haruki Murakami short story which was as usual strangely wonderful. Marakumi is currently, my favorite writer.

Quaestor said...

This year, I'm awarding Larrys, mostly to Disney productions.

There are still several open nominations, particularly in the category, Most Absurd Marvel Screenplay.

dbp said...

When I was a kid, the Oscars were great!

The main reason was that they showed clips of interesting grown-up films and there wasn't any other way to see these. There were TV commercials for movies and previews of coming attractions when we went to the movies. These aren't the same, or as compelling, as a well-chosen snippet from a great movie.

Now, the academy nominates politically correct crap and you can get all the information you want, whenever you want it. The show is just not entertaining and not worth watching anymore.

Big Mike said...

Scary to imagine that except for Alec Baldwin doing a negligent discharge of his firearm, we might even have seen “Rust” on the list.

Lucien said...

Once they start nominating based on Woke “principles”, who cares.
Could you imagine respecting a court composed of judges selected explicitly based on race, sex, sexual orientation, or ethnicity?

Skeptical Voter said...

Oscars? What's that? Olympics? What's that?

At some point one lets things (especially silly things in the case of the Oscars) go.

Big Mike said...

@Two-eyed Jack, I don’t care much about the Olympics, either. How do you make the Olympics boring? NBC has figured it out!

I had hoped to watch Mikaela Shiffrin on the Giant Slalom, but then I learned she had fallen. I did see her teammate’s horrendous crash just seconds from crossing the finish line. I hope the girl is okay. [shiver]

maximusK said...

FWIW, I thought Don't Look Up or down, whatever it's called, was funny. I know they thought they were making fun of me and "my people," but they were actually making fun of themselves and didn't realize it, which is what made it funny to me. "Your mom and I are for the jobs the comet will provide" was a funny line, I don't care what side of the aisle you're on. Also "impact deniers." To think that Meryl Streep was their caricature of the Trump administration was funny too, I thought it was more a caricature of the swamp in general, and as I recall she had a picture of her with Clinton on her desk so were they lampooning Dems?

Big Mike said...

@Two-eyed Jack, I don’t care much about the Olympics, either. How do you make the Olympics boring? NBC has figured it out!

I had hoped to watch Mikaela Shiffrin on the Giant Slalom, but then I learned she had fallen. I did see her teammate’s horrendous crash just seconds from crossing the finish line. I hope the girl is okay. [shiver]

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

Prediction:
Not one single word of mocking towards Hunter Biden during the ceremony.

[*Imagine if Hunte Biden were Hunter Trump]

rcocean said...

Its like sportsball, once you stop watching, its hard to restart and care again. I used to be an NBA fan, and now whenever I see a the NBA on TV its seems so absurd. A bunch of enourmous oversized grown men playing a kids game.

I've gotten that way with new movies and new TV shows too. Unless my wife drags me to something, I don't watch. Another problem - for me - with new Movies is that I've seen so many, I automatically start comparing the plots and actors to the older better ones. "oh, this is just a remake of old movie X, or they're recycling the plot from movie Y"- I think.

Occasionally they'll redo some old trope and it will be done in a fresh, better way. CF: Dunkirk.

Michael said...

It really is something how the major cultural touchstones (Oscars, Olympics, even baseball) have all slipped into a diminished relevance.

MadisonMan said...

Agreed. I don't know if it's my age, and Hollywood catering to young folks, or just Hollywood cratering in general.

narciso said...

I've heard good things about Belfast, the others meh,

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

The leftist company called "GoFundMe" - a company who supports leftist terrorism, is about on par with my opinion of Hillarywoodland.

Michael K said...

Does anyone outside of China actually see these movies ?

PM said...

1. How can "Dune" be considered for an award when it's only HALF A MOVIE?
2. Other than that, the closing of theaters and the loss of that immense and immersive public experience makes movies seem smaller and less important and, so too, the Oscars™.

wildswan said...

I try to imagine 21st century situations since I think that the movies and TV have become boring by repeating 20th century situations. For instance, young people are immersed in wokeism and cancel culture whereas a person my age is almost entirely insulated from it. When I disagree nothing happens. Even the worst wokesters are just condescending or patronizing and that's always been the fate of the one saying: when I was your age blah, blah. But young people can have some serious problems trying to get started on careers and such stories could be the basis of great movies. Won't be because the people causing the problems make the movies but could be. Peng Shuai, the tennis player. Then there's the various ordeals of Jordan Peterson, Bari Weiss and Joe Rogan. For instance, there's a fascinating video of Bari Weiss and Jordan Peterson talking to each other about why they did what they did. What about Joe Rogan and Bill Maher taking to each other? Or Joe Rogan and Seinfeld? And the situations they describe as the basis for interesting movie storylines? Or I can imagine a movie in which the Russians invade the Molraine by simply crossing in regular clothes as is happening at our Southern border and so the US can't object and the way out is and then at that moment the first woman black President takes the reins of power ...?

https://www.reddit.com/r/RinoDinoPorcupino/comments/nzdn89/bari_weiss_and_the_new_york_times_the_jordan_b/

Jim Gust said...

Although it is technically true that I have never cared less about the Oscars, as caring can't go below zero, it has been a decade or more since I cared even a little bit.

The big entertainment money these days is in video games. Hollywood decided to not compete.

M Jordan said...

Watching HBO's "Gilded Age." It's TV, not movies, but it really is a great watch. Julian Fellows, "Downton's" creator, has stepped outside of his beloved England and his examination of America, money, power is keen. Only been three episodes so far but the show has my wife and I waiting for each "Next Monday" with anticipation, something we hadn't done since the "Dallas" days, I hate to admit.

madAsHell said...

It hasn't been the same since they caught Harvey Weinstein masturbating!!

Howard said...

I haven't seed none of the movies but I know they are all political correct crap because that's how I am told to feel about Hollywood these days. Besides between Judge Pirro, Laura Ingraham, Mark Lavin,Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Greg Guttfield and the rest of the Fox Family, who has time for entertainment when the world is constantly on the brink of disaster.

Howard said...

Just kidding. The Hair of the Dog was pretty creepy. Belfast looks like a good one. Don't Look Up was OK, not Oscar worthy.

For a good quiet film that covers the mid 70's to mid 80's I recommend Clooney's "Tender Bar". He really nailed the Zeitgeist of those days.

netmarcos said...

Aren't Oscars those voracious cichlids that don't get along well with other fish?

netmarcos said...

I will one day see Dune and Free Guy. I have seen 3 of the animated features (I have grandchildren). It is safe to assume that I will never see the rest of the nominees - not even for free.

Chris Lopes said...

"Joe Smith said...
A bunch of rich, privileged, smug, hypocritical, low-IQ assholes who play dress-up for a living giving each other prizes."

You forgot white. They are overwhelmingly of the pale penis tribe. But they let black people in their movies and Hispanics do their lawn and clean their pools, so they are good progressives. Let the circle jerk begin.

JAORE said...

I used to look forward to Oscar parties hosted by friends. We'd usually been to the Best Picture nominees at a minimum. Contests on which picture won best, which had the most Oscars. Lots of fun.

Today? Haven't seen them, don't care to see them. (Well Dune, perhaps.) Over the years my taste and that of the selection committees have diverged. A standing O for a child molester didn't help.

The Olympics? Similar. They stopped focusing on sports forty years ago. To draw in women viewers, so they said. Franky I don't care if a Belgian bobsled pusher has six adopted kids - especially when his team places 23rd.

Kevin said...

Oscars so Joke.

David Begley said...

Other than West Side Story and Being the Ricardos, my Frankenstein, Part II is better than all those other movies.

Javier Bardem was great. So was Nicole Kidman.

Best Picture was West Side Story. But if Wild Mountain Thyme was released in 2021, it should win.

Thorley Winston said...

I’ve seen Dune and I’m planning on watching Free Guy and the two MCU movies when they’re available on streaming. I hadn’t heard of The Power of the Dog before but I love westerns and it looks like an excellent cast so I’ll probably make it a point to see that one at some point.

Iman said...

I can almost smell their TV Sheets…

Iman said...

Benedict Cumbersquash as a cowboy?

That’s why they call it acting!

Mike Sylwester said...

In 2019, my wife and I went to watch the Korean movie Parasite in a movie theater. I thought it was the worst movie I ever had seen, and I wrote so on my Facebook page.

Later, I was astonished to see that it won the Oscar award for Best Picture.

TaeJohnDo said...

Like Big Mike, we haven't see any of the movies either. In fact, we have only heard of a few of them. We tried to watch Dune when it was streaming but missed it by a day. I have no interest in seeing any of the others - even the "Westside Story" remake. If they come on a streaming service we might watch some of them. But we won't go out of our way to see them.

Václav Patrik Šulik said...

I liked King William and Belfast. Both were movies about families growing up in a time/place of strife, yet finding a way to endure and thrive. The solutions weren't trite or easy and may not be the best, but the love in both cases came through.

The dance scene in Belfast can be seen briefly in the trailer, is one that brought sentimental tears to my eyes. The young boy, Jude Hill, should have received a nomination for best actor, he was far better than Tatum O'Neil in Paper Moon, who won in 1973. If Kenneth Branagh wins the best director, it will be for the performances he brought out, including young Mr. Hill. I also thought Caitriona Balfe was deserving of a nomination. Belfast comes from the same era I grew up in - as did Branagh - and there's a lot of loving touches in the background.

I was hoping to see Riders of Justice receive a nomination in the Foreign Film category. It can be seen on Hulu currently. Think of the comedy The Dream Team crossed with a revenge movie like Taken. Except this is a dark comedy that will make you think.

Václav Patrik Šulik said...

Now, having gotten my comments in on three new movies I genuinely enjoyed, I agree with you. I really don't care about the oscars anymore. The last group of movies that was at all interesting was 2003 and the awards have become incredibly political. But thanks for sharing the link so I could check the few movies I did care about.

Fernandinande said...

I want to see the new "Nightmare Alley" because the story by William Gresham is one of the creepiest I've ever read. The 1947 movie was comparatively mild, but perhaps Guillermo del Toro can capture a bit more of the book.

Left Bank of the Charles said...

As between Dune and Don’t Look Up, the two movies I have seen for best picture, Don’t Look Up should get the Oscar. I would like to see The Power of the Dog, Belfast, and Nightmare Alley. King Richard and Drive My Car might be interesting. The French Dispatch and Pig were rightly snubbed.

Matt Harris said...

The only film I saw on that list was Spider-Man.

Leora said...

I'd stream "Drive My Car" if it were available.

Ted said...

There were years when I would have seen all the best-picture nominees in a movie theater, either on a date or with a group of friends. They would have been memorable, immersive experiences, and as a result I would have opinions about -- and actually care about -- which film should win. (In fact, I could usually guess all the winners with a high level of accuracy.)

But I've only ever seen this year's movies on a TV screen (many were made to be viewed that way), and I barely remember most of them. In the future, I'm guessing a few movies each year will seem important or "blockbuster=y" enough to see in a theater, but we'll be streaming most of them at home in between "The Office" reruns. And the Oscars will seem just like the Emmys, with slightly more expensive outfits.

Mike of Snoqualmie said...

All of these best(worst) picture nominees are box office duds.

Bill Peschel said...

This weekend my wife and I are sitting down and watching "Lawrence of Arabia."

(Admittedly, we also have "The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard" and "Used Cars" featuring a '70s Kurt Russell) on tap, so don't hold me to it.

We just saw "Shang-Chi," in which Awkwafina, after one day's practice shooting arrows, was able to slay a dragon. I hope it was nominated for Best Picture.

Temujin said...

I think the first time I realized that the Academy Awards was not necessarily about the Best Picture or Best Actor/Actress, etc., was in 1970 when John Wayne won the Best Actor Oscar for his role in True Grit over both Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman for their roles in Midnight Cowboy (which won Best Picture). I used to love John Wayne and his movies, but they were not so much artistically great as they were a very specific character placed in different scenarios (John Wayne playing himself in the West, Alaska, Africa, or wherever). Hoffman and Voight, two young actors, gave performances of a lifetime and were...left dangling. It was not the first time or last time that had happened.

But over the past couple of decades into today, it's gotten so bad, so politicized and now, Wokesized, that the awards don't make much sense at all. They make statements. Couple that with the lack of quality adult movies, I lost interest in the Academy Awards years ago. I used to love the movies. Now I typically ignore them. I kinda gave up.

I did see "The Power of the Dog" and "Don't Look Up", the former being a very good movie, but 'Best Movie" material? Director? Yes. But the movie?...compared to the past, no. By today's standards, Yes. But hell..."Don't Look Up" was a lark. A half-assed, fun, irreverant movie. It was not a great movie and it wasn't meant to be a 'great' movie. It was a fun 'B' level movie. At best. That's all. And THIS is exactly why the Oscars are not worth paying attention to anymore. I just read through some of the nominees in 1967, 68, 69, and 1970. My God, comparing the levels of quality movies from then to today, you'd have thought either the movie industry had folded, or should be made to fold.

They embarrass themselves with some of their crap. And for those serious filmakers and actors it has to be frustrating to get good work made these days.

rcocean said...

People need to understand that Hollywood is now a GLOBAL industry. Its gets 51% of its $$ from overseas and the percentage of profits from china, india, etc. is growing.

Hollywood doesn't need white america. It certainly doesn't need old white boomers, or Center-right Americans. They make enough $$ off libtards who'll watch any Industry swill and enjoy it.

In fact, all Hollywood has to do is tell Libtards they're supercool for watching Hollwyood crap, AND they're not like those stodgy Goddamn Conservatives. And that's all the Lefty morons need. Quality is irrelevant.

Some people have noticed the rise in black actors in Hollywood. The reason is simple. Market research has shown Blacks like to go to movies with black poeple on the screen. Whites don't care.

Jaq said...

Howard is obsessed with Fox because that's all they talk about on CNN.

Drago said...

I wonder if the lefty Heroes of Hollywood will be able to keep themselves from giving convicted child rapist Polanski ANOTHER globally televised standing ovation followed up by once again calling Harvey Weinstein "sort of a god"?

Ceciliahere said...

I really enjoyed the very twisted (Oscar winner) Korean movie “Parasite”, as well as the Chinese movie, “The Farewell”. I would recommend streaming both. Now. Looking forward to the Japanese film “Drive My Car.” I’m covering the Asian film market.

Andrew said...

The Oscars have no relevance anymore. I don't know a single person who watches them. For years, not one person at work talked about them the next morning. I have two kids - neither they nor their friends have paid the Oscars any attention. No one cares.

I wrote a comment in one of the Olympics posts about how fondly I remembered the Winter Olympics in the 80s. If the Althouse commentariat will indulge me, here are the Best Picture nominees from the years I was in high school. Honestly, they look like they came from an entirely different country. I look at this list, and think that it's no wonder the Oscars don't have an audience anymore. The movies simply aren't of the same quality or significance. Read them and weep.

1984: Amadeus, A Passage to India, A Soldier’s Story, Places in the Heart, The Killing Fields.

1985: Out of Africa, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Prizzi’s Honor, The Color Purple, Witness.

1986: Platoon, A Room with a View, Children of a Lesser God, Hannah and Her Sisters, The Mission.

1987: The Last Emperor, Broadcast News, Fatal Attraction, Hope and Glory, Moonstruck.

Those were the days.

Signed, an old crotchety white male.

ColoComment said...

A couple of days ago, our local Denver-area, Independence Institute founder, Jon Caldara and Christian Toto, a conservative movie critic (endangered species?) discuss Hollywood, et al.

https://youtu.be/H5GJp8kGqh0

Jim at said...

It really is something how the major cultural touchstones (Oscars, Olympics, even baseball) have all slipped into a diminished relevance.

Yep. Because everything the left touches turns to shit.

When you tell half the country they're a bunch of stupid, racist hicks - while preening on and on about your so-called 'virtues' - don't be surprised when the rest of us tell you to fuck off. Or worse, stop caring at all.

Amadeus 48 said...

Pauline Kael's obvious contempt for the Academy Awards influenced me in the late '60s. I have not been interested in the Oscars since 1968.

Michael said...

Haven’t watched the Os in years. Haven’t been in a movie theater in years. Scroll through Netflix and Amazon and wonder who thought these movies were good, who convinced themselves that it wasn’t crap, who thought they would make money?

Anthony said...

"Oscars"?

Amadeus 48 said...

"Howard is obsessed with Fox because that's all they talk about on CNN."

Just wait until they start doing real news on CNN. Howard may reveal a whole new side, where his irony and wit would be based on real things happening in the real world.

Brian Stelter is going to need a new home. He would fit right in on The Young Turks channel, except that he lacks Cenk Uygur's objectivity and gravitas.

JAORE said...

The last time I was interested in the Oscars, was Joan Rivers blasting what the stars wore.

Yep, guilty pleasure.

Howard said...

Tim In Florida: I don't watch any news. Zero. I get 90% of my news here. The other 10% from skimming headlines on my google news feed. News is in the ether these days. Only suckers read and watch the details.

You people are abscessed with the Fox personalities and it obviously hit a nerve with you.

Bilwick said...

To me, awards shows reached their peak at a Tony Awards a couple of years ago when Cynthia Nixon read a speech from "The Little Foxes" about people who trample on other people. The speech was meant as a dig against Trump, and was written by Lillian Hellman, an apologist for Stalin.

Jaq said...

Say what you will about Harvey Weinstein, Hollywood made better movies then. It's interesting that Left Bank thinks the stuff is all great, which tells you a lot about how true it is that it all leans left. I am looking forward to Death on the Nile, and not just because it has Russel Brand in it, but that is a bonus, but because it looks like actual entertainment, rather than lefty hectoring like "Don't Look Up."

When I was done with the Academy Awards was when they gave Best Actress to Olympia Dukakis for playing the southern lady with the Brookline accent, because it was a feminist movie (Steel Magnolias, hear them roar) and because her brother was the Democrat nominee for POTUS.

3john2 said...

I've never cared less about the Oscars ... or the Olympics.

Same propaganda, different channel.

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

netmarcos,

Aren't Oscars those voracious cichlids that don't get along well with other fish?

Yes, they are. Though cichlids as a class don't generally get along with other fish. Lake Titicaca must be a tumultuous place.

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

Of all those candidates, "Don't Look Up" is the only one I have seen, and that's because it was on Netflix. I thought it was, meh. Nothing else on the roster interests me much, except perhaps "Belfast." I haven't been in an actual movie theater since long before COVID; think the last one I actually saw was the last Bourne movie. And before that, "Ratatouille."

Michael K said...

I used to love the movies. Now I typically ignore them. I kinda gave up.

I still like them but just not the recent ones. I liked "Robin Hood," although having "Maid Marian" prancing around in armor was silly. I liked "Gladiator." I have a collection of DVDs with favorites going back to "My Man Godfrey."

What Hollywood is turning out now is trash.

Michael K said...

Blogger Mike Sylwester said...

In 2019, my wife and I went to watch the Korean movie Parasite in a movie theater. I thought it was the worst movie I ever had seen, and I wrote so on my Facebook page.

Later, I was astonished to see that it won the Oscar award for Best Picture.


I had the same experience with "Thin Red Line." I went to see it with my son and his wife. About 1/3 of the way in, I began to notice people leaving. I thought they were going out for popcorn or to the restroom but they never came back. By the time I suggested we leave, too, the theater was almost empty.

Another "Best Picture."

AndrewV said...

"I would like to see Drive My Car, the Japanese movie. This is based on a Haruki Murakami short story which was as usual strangely wonderful. Marakumi is currently, my favorite writer."

I really like to original short story, so I'd like to see it too. However the nearest theater where it's playing is in a neighborhood where I'm worried about parking my car. Oh well, it's being distributed by Janis Films, so it should be streaming on the Criterion Channel in the near future.

BUMBLE BEE said...

Have some Hollywood Biggies on my wife's family side. As mentioned upstream here, Asia is the goal. They've been working on/in China for at least five years now that I know of.

mikee said...

We are at a meta level of social media advertising with this post. A social media blogger has asked us to give notice to the Oscars, a social media event specifically designed for and by the movie media to promote their products, an art media designed for consumption by the masses.

Let's add a level of advertising and talk about the designers of the dresses worn by actresses, on the runway to the show. Then we can discuss product placement in the movies that win Oscars!

guitar joe said...

I saw "Power of the Dog" and "Don't Look Up." Liked the first one, thought the second was amusing in spots but way too obvious and heavy handed. "Power of the Dog" had great camera work and some very strong acting, but some stuff that was probably more carefully developed in the book was not as smoothly set up as it could have been. Also, Cumberbatch was good, but as soon as he spoke in the early scenes in the hotel dining room, I thought he should have been wearing a sign that said, "repressed homosexual." Again, I'm eager to read the book to see if some plot points were more subtly developed. I downloaded a sample on Kindle and it reads well.

PB said...

few care. the movie the most people paid to see should be the winner.

Chris Lopes said...

"You people are abscessed with the Fox personalities and it obviously hit a nerve with you."

Don't watch Fox, don't care about Fox, still think the Oscars are a shit show. I came to that conclusion without any input from people named Hannity, Ingram, or Carlson. I guess some people need to cling to stupid stereotypes to justify their own (unjustified) feelings of superiority.

Ann Althouse said...

Seems like some people care so little about the Oscars that they stopped at the capital O and imagined this post was titled "I've never cared less about the Olympics."

guitar joe said...

The decline in interest in awards shows like this--across the board--tells me how much the cultural landscape is shifting. When you had to leave the house to see a movie, or buy a record to hear something you liked, it meant more. And it may very well be that people are tired of what passes for entertainment. I'm still a liberal dem in a lot of ways, but the woke attitudes showing up in films and TV shows is just tiresome. It's like the worst Christian movies. They're aiming for the already convinced.

Drago said...

Howard: "You people are abscessed with the Fox personalities and it obviously hit a nerve with you."

Thread topic: "I've never cared less about the Oscars.
I'm only noticing that the nominations just came out because one of my sons texted me."

Discuss.

Rollo said...

Television is the new film. We talk about TV shows the way people 40 or 50 years ago talked about movies (and I guess we talk about movies the way we used to talk about television shows). 90 or 100 minutes isn't long enough to tell a story any more.

gpm said...

>>I am looking forward to Death on the Nile

Death on the Nile was the final Jeopardy "question" tonight. I screwed it up in my private game (that I sometimes share with a couple of people) because I thought they were asking for the author rather than the title. For similar reasons, screwed up the same way as the poor little loser schmuck in the case of Georgetown/George III.

>>when they gave Best Actress to Olympia Dukakis for playing the southern lady with the Brookline accent

I thought Olympia Dukakis was good in Moonstruck. Pretty much everyone else, except I can't stand Nicholas Cage.

The Duke lives less than two miles away from me, though I live in Boston, not Brookline. Not recently, but I've seen him a few times power-walking along the Riverway. Also a few times on the street when he was teaching at Northeastern. I thought he was OK as a governor. As president, maybe not so much, but we'll never know.

--gpm

gpm said...

>>1984: Amadeus, A Passage to India, A Soldier’s Story, Places in the Heart, The Killing Fields.
>>1985: Out of Africa, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Prizzi’s Honor, The Color Purple, Witness.
>>1986: Platoon, A Room with a View, Children of a Lesser God, Hannah and Her Sisters, The Mission.
>>1987: The Last Emperor, Broadcast News, Fatal Attraction, Hope and Glory, Moonstruck.

Love Moonstruck (which I just posted about) and A Passage to India. A Room with a View, Hannah and Her Sisters, Last Emperor, and Broadcast News also pretty good. But I'm a much bigger fan of/familiar with/knowledgeable about movies before (somewhat arbitrary cutoff) 1960. Which is why I watch almost exclusively TCM, even though they have become very repetitive in a lot of their prime time showings. A lot more interesting in weekday, daytime showings.

--gpm

rcocean said...

"I had the same experience with "Thin Red Line." I went to see it with my son and his wife. About 1/3 of the way in, I began to notice people leaving. I thought they were going out for popcorn or to the restroom but they never came back. By the time I suggested we leave, too, the theater was almost empty."

Same experience. I and six others were the only ones who made it to the end. I think a lot of people went to TRL expecting "Private Ryan in the Pacific". The Speilberg film had been a Tribute to the GI's in Normandy, and people wanted a tribute to the Marines/GI's on Guadacanal.

Malick was a former hippie and many people couldn't take a Vietnam allegory/fantasy/antiwar movie about a real life WW2 battle where thousands of Americans died. Its not really true to the Jones novel either.

rcocean said...

Oscar, Oscar, Oscar.

As Felix would say.

Big Mike said...

Seems like some people care so little about the Oscars that they stopped at the capital O and imagined this post was titled "I've never cared less about the Olympics."

Almost. It’s that I don’t care about either one.

Jaq said...

"You people are abscessed with the Fox personalities and it obviously hit a nerve with you."

Do you want me to fake it, so that you won't feel bad about your weak trolling?

Methinks the troll doth protest too much.

PM said...

Amadeus 48 2:33PM

You'll enjoy this if you haven't already:
http://www.geocities.ws/paulinekaelreviews/index.html

Mike of Snoqualmie said...

The Thin Red Line stars Sean Penn. That's a turn off. Sean Penn is on my Do not watch list.

Mel Gibson's Hacksaw Ridge is worth watching many times. About World War II American Army Medic Desmond T. Doss, who served during the Battle of Okinawa, refuses to kill people and becomes the first man in American history to receive the Medal of Honor without firing a shot.