No Oscar thread? Did I miss it? Where's Midnighter?

ApexLion

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Nov 1, 2021
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Best Picture

Belfast

CODA

Don’t Look Up

Drive My Car

Dune

King Richard

Licorice Pizza

Nightmare Alley

The Power of the Dog

No Lady Gaga and the Gucci movie anywhere. When does Adam Driver get his due?



 

Midnighter

Well-known member
Oct 7, 2021
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Best Picture

Belfast

CODA

Don’t Look Up

Drive My Car

Dune

King Richard

Licorice Pizza

Nightmare Alley

The Power of the Dog

No Lady Gaga and the Gucci movie anywhere. When does Adam Driver get his due?




LOL. Thanks for posting. I was going to start a thread but figured no one would be interested with everything else going on. I'm working on seeing as many of these as possible (top of my list is 'Drive My Car', the Japanese film based off the Haruki Murakami story which is playing in DC but sadly I can't make it), and most critics/film fans I follow are fairly happy with the nominations. Could make a case for most of the names in any category, but I do think Lady Gaga not being nominated is a standout missed opporutnity. Adam Driver is always excellent but this is going to be a Cumberbatch/Will Smith showdown for Best Actor IMO. I don't fret for Driver though - he's -going to get his one day.

Some random thoughts....

  • 'Don't Look Up' as a Best Picture nomination is interesting. It likely gets Leo to the show, which everyone always loves. It's a weird dark horse though; some theories that in the Darkest Timeline, it wins...
  • Best Original Song is brutal - Lin Manuel-Miranda is an Oscar away from his EGOT, and he will eventually get it, but Disney screwed the pooch by not submitting 'We Don't Talk About Bruno' for consideration; it's an internet phenomenon! Still, 'Dos Origutas' is a beautiful song but has to deal with the Billie Eilish 'Bond' song as well as Beyonce's 'King James' contribution...Bond songs have a history of beating better songs just because the Oscars love Bond - Taylor Swift's 'Safe & Sound' was much bvetter than Adele's deriviative 'Skyfall' for example...
  • Wonder if this is the year for Paul Thomas Anderson as best director? He's basically the Hollywood punchline to the joke, 'Someone asked Steven Speilberg what it's like to the best director in the world, and he said 'I don't know - ask Paul Thomas Anderson.' He's getting quirkier and quirkier and his films are getting smaller. I haven't seen 'Licorice Pizza' but it's next after 'Drive My Car'. But, gauntlet of a year for him - has Campion, Speilberg, Branagh, and smoking hot Hamaguchi to deal with. Sigh...
  • Best Actress is also really, really competitive. Lots of historical favorites, but I think Coleman is a standout. Maybe best actor in the world. Jessie Buckley who plays her younger version in 'The Lost Daughter' is tremendous too, but her category is equally as tough.
  • Rooting for Jesse Plemmons in the Supporting Actor category; but, his castmate Kodi Smit-McPhee is the likely winner IMO. Two outstanding perfomances though you wonder if they might split the 'Power of the Dog' vote...
  • Best Animated Feature might be the toughest category of all - 'Encanto', 'Raya and the Last Dragon', 'Mitchells vs. The Machines', 'Luca', and indie favortie 'Flee' will duke it out. It's hard not to see 'Encanto' winning, but the others were all great!
  • I mean, there are ten Best Picture nominations. Maybe squeeze in 'Spiderman' - nearly the most popular movie of all time - to get some younger folks to tune in? Can we nominate Zendaya for anything? Her red carpet looks are events these days...this vintage Cavalli dress is a showstopper.





I'm looking forward to the show. It has to be more entertaining than last year's where the movies were just too heavy and mostly unseen. Hoping for a Red Carpet because I love those polls...
 
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psuro

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LOL. Thanks for posting. I was going to start a thread but figured no one would be interested with everything else going on. I'm working on seeing as many of these as possible (top of my list is 'Drive My Car', the Japanese film based off the Haruki Murakami story which is playing in DC but sadly I can't make it), and most critics/film fans I follow are fairly happy with the nominations. Could make a case for most of the names in any category, but I do think Lady Gaga not being nominated is a standout missed opporutnity. Adam Driver is always excellent but this is going to be a Cumberbatch/Will Smith showdown for Best Actor IMO. I don't fret for Driver though - he's -going to get his one day.

Some random thoughts....

  • 'Don't Look Up' as a Best Picture nomination is interesting. It likely gets Leo to the show, which everyone always loves. It's a weird dark horse though; some theories that in the Darkest Timeline, it wins...
  • Best Original Song is brutal - Lin Manuel-Miranda is an Oscar away from his EGOT, and he will eventually get it, but Disney screwed the pooch by not submitting 'We Don't Talk About Bruno' for consideration; it's an internet phenomenon! Still, 'Dos Origutas' is a beautiful song but has to deal with the Billie Eilish 'Bond' song as well as Beyonce's 'King James' contribution...Bond songs have a history of beating better songs just because the Oscars love Bond - Taylor Swift's 'Safe & Sound' was much bvetter than Adele's deriviative 'Skyfall' for example...
  • Wonder if this is the year for Paul Thomas Anderson as best director? He's basically the Hollywood punchline to the joke, 'Someone asked Steven Speilberg what it's like to the best director in the world, and he said 'I don't know - ask Paul Thomas Anderson.' He's getting quirkier and quirkier and his films are getting smaller. I haven't seen 'Licorice Pizza' but it's next after 'Drive My Car'. But, gauntlet of a year for him - has Campion, Speilberg, Branagh, and smoking hot Hamaguchi to deal with. Sigh...
  • Best Actress is also really, really competitive. Lots of historical favorites, but I think Coleman is a standout. Maybe best actor in the world. Jessie Buckley who plays her younger version in 'The Lost Daughter' is tremendous too, but her category is equally as tough.
  • Rooting for Jesse Plemmons in the Supporting Actor category; but, his castmate Kodi Smit-McPhee is the likely winner IMO. Two outstanding perfomances though you wonder if they might split the 'Power of the Dog' vote...
  • Best Animated Feature might be the toughest category of all - 'Encanto', 'Raya and the Last Dragon', 'Mitchells vs. The Machines', 'Luca', and indie favortie 'Flee' will duke it out. It's hard not to see 'Encanto' winning, but the others were all great!
  • I mean, there are ten Best Picture nominations. Maybe squeeze in 'Spiderman' - nearly the most popular movie of all time - to get some younger folks to tune in? Can we nominate Zendaya for anything? Her red carpet looks are events these days...this vintage Cavalli dress is a showstopper.





I'm looking forward to the show. It has to be more entertaining than last year's where the movies were just too heavy and mostly unseen. Hoping for a Red Carpet because I love those polls...
If she doesn't straighten out her posture, she is going to have an issue in her L4 and L5 vertebrae. They are so bent right now, her chiropractor could pay off his mortgage straightening her out.
 

ApexLion

Well-known member
Nov 1, 2021
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LOL. Thanks for posting. I was going to start a thread but figured no one would be interested with everything else going on. I'm working on seeing as many of these as possible (top of my list is 'Drive My Car', the Japanese film based off the Haruki Murakami story which is playing in DC but sadly I can't make it), and most critics/film fans I follow are fairly happy with the nominations. Could make a case for most of the names in any category, but I do think Lady Gaga not being nominated is a standout missed opporutnity. Adam Driver is always excellent but this is going to be a Cumberbatch/Will Smith showdown for Best Actor IMO. I don't fret for Driver though - he's -going to get his one day.

Some random thoughts....

  • 'Don't Look Up' as a Best Picture nomination is interesting. It likely gets Leo to the show, which everyone always loves. It's a weird dark horse though; some theories that in the Darkest Timeline, it wins...
  • Best Original Song is brutal - Lin Manuel-Miranda is an Oscar away from his EGOT, and he will eventually get it, but Disney screwed the pooch by not submitting 'We Don't Talk About Bruno' for consideration; it's an internet phenomenon! Still, 'Dos Origutas' is a beautiful song but has to deal with the Billie Eilish 'Bond' song as well as Beyonce's 'King James' contribution...Bond songs have a history of beating better songs just because the Oscars love Bond - Taylor Swift's 'Safe & Sound' was much bvetter than Adele's deriviative 'Skyfall' for example...
  • Wonder if this is the year for Paul Thomas Anderson as best director? He's basically the Hollywood punchline to the joke, 'Someone asked Steven Speilberg what it's like to the best director in the world, and he said 'I don't know - ask Paul Thomas Anderson.' He's getting quirkier and quirkier and his films are getting smaller. I haven't seen 'Licorice Pizza' but it's next after 'Drive My Car'. But, gauntlet of a year for him - has Campion, Speilberg, Branagh, and smoking hot Hamaguchi to deal with. Sigh...
  • Best Actress is also really, really competitive. Lots of historical favorites, but I think Coleman is a standout. Maybe best actor in the world. Jessie Buckley who plays her younger version in 'The Lost Daughter' is tremendous too, but her category is equally as tough.
  • Rooting for Jesse Plemmons in the Supporting Actor category; but, his castmate Kodi Smit-McPhee is the likely winner IMO. Two outstanding perfomances though you wonder if they might split the 'Power of the Dog' vote...
  • Best Animated Feature might be the toughest category of all - 'Encanto', 'Raya and the Last Dragon', 'Mitchells vs. The Machines', 'Luca', and indie favortie 'Flee' will duke it out. It's hard not to see 'Encanto' winning, but the others were all great!
  • I mean, there are ten Best Picture nominations. Maybe squeeze in 'Spiderman' - nearly the most popular movie of all time - to get some younger folks to tune in? Can we nominate Zendaya for anything? Her red carpet looks are events these days...this vintage Cavalli dress is a showstopper.



I'm looking forward to the show. It has to be more entertaining than last year's where the movies were just too heavy and mostly unseen. Hoping for a Red Carpet because I love those polls...
Good review of the hopefuls in each category @Midnighter

Agreed on 'We Don't Talk About Bruno'. All of our kids sing it everywhere.

I would guess its Anderson vs. Branagh for best director. Can you get best director and not best picture? Maybe this year.

Best supporting actress goes to DeBose! History repeats itself (Moreno won it for the same role).

Encanto in a landslide
 
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Midnighter

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Good review of the hopefuls in each category @Midnighter

Agreed on 'We Don't Talk About Bruno'. All of our kids sing it everywhere.

I would guess its Anderson vs. Branagh for best director. Can you get best director and not best picture? Maybe this year.

Best supporting actress goes to DeBose! History repeats itself (Moreno won it for the same role).

Encanto in a landslide

I think the Oscars, more than ever, try to reward each movie with *something*. Remember in 2017 Damien Chazelle won Best Director for 'La La Land' but Best Picture went to 'Moonlight'. It happens. Rarer is a Best Picture winner that didn't get a Best Director nomination. That has only happened five times (63 times out of 93 Best Director has also won Best Picture).

I haven't seen West Side Story but it would only be the third time an actor has won an Oscar for playing the same role in a different film (Ledger and Phoenix for Joker, Brando and De Niro for Vito Corleone) and would be cool to see. I'm looking forward to watching the film too.
 
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Midnighter

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For those wanting to catch Japanese Oscar nominee 'Drive My Car', it's streaming on HBO Max. And it's a wonderful, careful study of love, loss, grief, moving forward, and maybe most of all, how life imitates art. The plot is relatively straightforward - a skilled theatre director and actor (who loves his bright red Saab) suffers an immense personal tragedy. Sometime after, he is selected to perform his production of 'Uncle Vanya' at an arts festival in Hiroshima. His version is unique in that he hires actors from all over the world to play the parts in their native language. That alone is fascinating to watch (especially a particular Korean actress who shines in her role both on stage and off). As part of this deal, he must allow someone to drive him to/from his hotel (and anywhere while working for the festival) because of liability concerns. He slowly forms a friendship with his young, female driver who is reserved at first, but like him in ways the two do not discover for some time. There are also people in his play from his previous life whose secrets - some known, some not known - are revealed over the course of the film.

The story is a mash up of three Haruki Murakami short stories but you wouldn't know it; they merge seamlessly into one very compelling narrative. The director, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, directed another Murakami story for another film this year that was equally as lauded ('Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy' - streaming on Prime). All the acting here is top notch; the dialogue can be sparse and direct at times, but everything has a purpose and meaning. I highly recommend noting it is a three hour movie but doesn't feel like one....

 

Moogy

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According to my 12-year old, Dune is the worst movie ever made ... I thought it was tolerable, as long as you were doing something else while watching it.

Only other entry I've seen is Don't Look Up and that was a decent time-waster that just got way too straight-forwardly preachy and lost its wit and its wink along the way.

May check out Nightmare Alley tonight.

I scanned the nominees quickly and swore the last one read "The Power of the Dong" at first. I wondered if the Oscars and AVNs had merged.
 

Midnighter

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Since I'm deaf, I'm a bit biased and am rooting for CODA.

In my post about ‘Drive My Car’, I mentioned a Korean actress who is absolutely mesmerizing to watch. It is because she speaks using Korean sign language which I have never seen before. It’s used to extremely great effect in this film.
 

Moogy

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Finally took the time to watch CODA ... it's a righteous movie. Formulaic plot, but just well crafted and acted.

I don't really care much about movie awards, except that, if I see something get nominated, it may increase the likelihood that I'll check it out if it wasn't on my radar before ... but I have to say, this movie garnered a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, and not for Best Director. For me, if you take what could be a cheesy, formulaic movie, and turn it into a well-paced, well-acted, touching story that makes you forget the poor plotting until you have time to reflect on the movie after its completion, that's stellar directing ... and poor writing.

Oh well.
 

Midnighter

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Oct 7, 2021
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Finally took the time to watch CODA ... it's a righteous movie. Formulaic plot, but just well crafted and acted.

I don't really care much about movie awards, except that, if I see something get nominated, it may increase the likelihood that I'll check it out if it wasn't on my radar before ... but I have to say, this movie garnered a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, and not for Best Director. For me, if you take what could be a cheesy, formulaic movie, and turn it into a well-paced, well-acted, touching story that makes you forget the poor plotting until you have time to reflect on the movie after its completion, that's stellar directing ... and poor writing.

Oh well.

CODA?
 
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Moogy

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Is that the film you’re referring to in your post? I think so but since it was also nominated for Best Picture, wasn’t sure.

Yes, it was. I was referencing its nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, with no nomination for Best Director. I thought Heder's writing, insofar as it involved the general plot layout, somewhat limited the movie ... but that her directing is what saved it and made it a very good movie.
 

LionJim

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Finally took the time to watch CODA ... it's a righteous movie. Formulaic plot, but just well crafted and acted.

I don't really care much about movie awards, except that, if I see something get nominated, it may increase the likelihood that I'll check it out if it wasn't on my radar before ... but I have to say, this movie garnered a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, and not for Best Director. For me, if you take what could be a cheesy, formulaic movie, and turn it into a well-paced, well-acted, touching story that makes you forget the poor plotting until you have time to reflect on the movie after its completion, that's stellar directing ... and poor writing.

Oh well.
Formulaic, yeah.
 

Midnighter

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Yes, it was. I was referencing its nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, with no nomination for Best Director. I thought Heder's writing, insofar as it involved the general plot layout, somewhat limited the movie ... but that her directing is what saved it and made it a very good movie.

Well, it was adapted, so maybe trying to stay true to the source material? Dunno - I want to see it though.
 

Moogy

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Formulaic, yeah.

Very early on, you kinda knew what was going to happen, and how it was going to unfold, but I just didn't care as I watched it. It just flowed beautifully and sucked you into the very believable struggles. I may or may not have shed a tear while she was signing toward the end of the movie (I won't reveal more as it would be a SPOILER ALERT).
 

bbrown

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Best Picture

Belfast

CODA

Don’t Look Up

Drive My Car

Dune

King Richard

Licorice Pizza

Nightmare Alley

The Power of the Dog

No Lady Gaga and the Gucci movie anywhere. When does Adam Driver get his due?



I've seen a few of them but I have no idea why Dune is being looked at so favorably. I thought it was pretty boring and I like Dune and yes even Lynch's version has a spot.
IMO this years group is pretty weak. And how is Tragedy of Macbeth not listed? Washington was excellent and I loved it in B&W.
 
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