I have no special knowledge who will win tonight, but here are my choices. Do you plan to watch the Oscars? Who do you think will win?
BEST PICTURE: The Power of the Dog
BEST DIRCTOR: Jane Campion
BEST ACTRESS: Jessica Chastain
BEST ACTOR: Will Smith
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Ariana DeBose
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Troy Kotsur
I haven’t seen any of the nominated movies/performances and, for the first time in 50 years, I just don’t care about the Oscars. We didn’t even do our family Oscar pool this year because only Lilly had seen any of the movies. Lilly is coming over to watch the show with John, but I’ll undoubtedly be asleep before Best Picture is announced.
Deb, the ratings for the Oscar Ceremony have plummeted. Like you, I’ll be fast asleep by the time BEST PICTURE is announced. Diane might stay up and watch it.
None of the nominees meet the Joe Bob Briggs standard of blood, breast, and beasts, which, IMHO, is the only way the judge motion pictures. So…yawn!
Jerry, dragging the Oscar Ceremony out for 3+ hours don’t help, either.
Over the last ten years or so my interest in the Academy Awards has declined steadily without a corresponding decline in my interest in movies. So I have no real rooting interest in who or what wins. I have noticed that the Best Picture money has moved slowly from “Power of the Dog” to “CODA”, which I haven’t seen and have no idea what it’s about. So I’ll likely get the winners on my phone tonight while watching something else.
Michael, I would like to see CODA win, but I suspect the Fix is in for POWER OF THE DOG.
So you think the selecting is “fixed”, as in they don’t vote for what’s best? Whoa.
Rick, I think the majority of the Academy will vote of THE POWER OF THE DOG over a little film shown mostly on Apple+. Size matters.
Well…perhaps Campion’s healthy? self-appreciation in front of the Williams sisters the other day helped her film lose, even if she did win as director.
Todd, the ways of the Academy are mysterious. They do like to spread the Oscars around.
Since I’ve repeatedly said “who cares?” to all Oscar questions, it would be foolish (and perhaps, hypocritical) to pick potential winners, especially as…who cares? When the Oscars start at 8, we’ll be watching CALL THE MIDWIFE on PBS. That said, I do want to see CODA too. Jackie hated POWER OF THE DOG. I didn;t hate it, but I didn’t love it either, while acknowledging how well made it was. Can’t believe the stupid DON’T LOOK UP got a Best Picture nomination.
I also object – STRONGLY – to the plan of removing 8 awards from the show (yet it is still scheduled to run at least 3 hours!).
Oh, for the days f real movie stars. If I was producing the show, I’d start out by inviting the participation of past winners, starting with Sophia Loren, Julie Andrews and Julie Christie, Barbra Streisad and Maggie Smith, all of whom won Best Actress Oscars in the 1960s. Then there weer Gene Hackman, Jack Nicholson, Glenda Jackson, Jane Fonda, Liza Minnelli, Ellen Burstyn, Faye Dunaway, DIane Keaton, Richard Dreyfuss, Jon Voight, Dustin Hoffman, and Sally Field in the 1970s. What is the over/under on how many of these people will be on stage tonight? I’m guessing zero to three, at most. Have you see ABC’s advertising? Reba McIntire? Sad.
Now get off my damn lawn! I’m glad my mother never lived to see this pathetic day.
Lest we forget the Supporting categories: George Chakiris, Joel Grey, Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, Shirley Jones, RIta Moreno, Estelle Parsons, Goldie Hawn, Tatum O’Neal, Lee Grant (94 or 95!), Vanessa Redgrave, and the rarely seen or heard of Meryl Streep (joke).
Jeff, I loved CODA but I suspect THE POWER OF THE DOG will end the evening with a BEST PICTURE Oscar. The Ceremony itself tends to drag over those 3+ hours. And, you’re right about the lack of true Stars in attendance.
I always watch. And since I seldom fall asleep until @ A.M. the length doesn’t bother me. I really hope Will Smith doesn’t win for the mediocre bio pic he starred in. I also didn’t much care for Coda. I prefer Nightmare Alley or Licorice Pizza. And West Side Story was very well done, and I don’t ordinarily like musicals. Don’t Look Up shouldn’t have been nominated. Macbeth should have. And again I wish they would drop the musical numbers.
Steve, a lot of my friends like LICORICE PIZZA but I haven’t seen it yet.
I still miss Johnny Carson. Not Bob Hope, though.
Michael, most of my students wouldn’t know who Johnny Carson was.
It’s a charade, a parade, it’s old marmalade and no thanks. Not a movie goer, George says it’s rigged and Jeff doesn’t care, so why bother?
For those who’d prefer, GONE WITH THE WIND is on TCM today, no commercials.
Never cared for Oscar ceremonies, and do love film.
Todd, like you, I’m not a fan of Award Ceremonies of any sort.
Don’t know, don’t care, don’t like Will Smith at all.
Bob, I liked Will Smith in INDEPENDENCE DAY and the first MEN IN BLACK movie.
So did I, back then! But I heard he joined a cult and then tried to promote his ugly kid to stardom and I was fed up with him!
Bob, as you know by now, Will Smith won BEST ACTOR.
I dunno. Didn’t like Anything about ID4, and Smith channeling his handsy, self-righteous character at the ceremony didn’t make me like Smith the nan any better, even given the mechanical insensitivity of Rock’s joke.
Todd, in most of the polls, Will Smith had a lock on BEST ACTOR.
I think my first memory of the Oscars was the year George C. Scott turned down his award and I remember thinking, even as a kid, that his reasons were pretty solid and always wondered why they didn’t simply hand out statues of merit instead of seemingly arbitrary “bests.” I’ve never been able to get into the head of Academy voters and didn’t want to try for fear I’d end up like William Peterson in MANHUNTER.
I couldn’t be less interested in this year’s awards; mostly out of disgust at most of the truly important creative categories not being telecast (simply inexplicable) but also I can’t think of another roster of nominees so awful looking I wouldn’t watch them if you put a gun to my head.
It’s odd how disconnected the academy has become. They seem utterly, arrogantly ignorant of the great films and talent they once recognized (ending, I’d say, about 1965 although they’ve always had their share of bonehead calls).
More and more I have to agree with Brad Bird who said that it might be best for the Oscars to return to their roots as a simple awards dinner without the dog and pony show. My sympathies to anyone who sits this out. My only wish is that POWER OF THE DOG (stupid title by an overrated director) loses to ANYTHING else.
Byron, you got your wish! CODA won BEST PICTURE. That’s the movie I would have voted for if I had a vote. Here’s my review of CODA: http://georgekelley.org/coda-apple-tv/