Does anybody really care about the Oscars anymore? Will people tune in just to see if someone gets slapped or punched? I have no special knowledge about these movies. I watched most of them on a streaming service since the movie theater industry–especially Regal–seems to be going bankrupt. Here are my picks. Who do you think will win?
BEST PICTURE: Everything Everywhere All At Once
BEST ACTOR: Austin Butler, Elvis
BEST ACTRESS: Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All At Once
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Ke Huy Yuan, Everything Everywhere All At Once
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS; Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Insherin
BEST DIRECTOR: Daniel Qwan & Daniel Schelnert, Everything Everywhere All At Once
For the most part I don’t know the actors or movies! Nor do I care! I would tune in to see Will Smith get punched!
Bob, Will Smith has been banned from the OSCAR Ceremonies for 10 years.
Oscars? One’s a grouch and the other co-wrote OKLAHOMA. Anything else you need to know, George?
Jerry, your comment has my head spinning like a Carousel!
You mean also the carousel that is Lady Elaine’s Museum-Go-Round? (Yes, SS-adjacent rather than directly relevant…almost surprised it came to me, but I was a viewer of Fred Rogers’s series in its first decade…and Bob Keeshan’s in its second…and SS from jump, just before PBS supplanted NET).
Todd, I was referring to the 1945 musical CAROUSEL by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II.
No, I got you–hence the reference “also” to the prominent carousel on MR. ROGERS’ NEIGHBORHOOD…I imagine your kids might well remember it better than you, unless it wasn’t to their taste…
Todd, both Patrick and Katie watched and enjoyed MR. ROGER’S NEIGHBORHOOD. I did forget that carousel…
If you had told me even five years ago that the day would come where I (1) knew next to nothing about the nominated movies & performances and (2) didn’t care, I never would have believed it, but here we are….
Deb, many people feel the same way you do about the OSCARS. After 95 years, it has become irrelevant.
Maybe Deb and I could start a club. I’m sure others would join us. It’s been years since I last watched the Academy Awards, and almost as long since the winning Best Picture was one I had seen (2013, TWELVE YEARS A SLAVE) or even most of the nominees.
Fred, the steaming services have made the OSCARS irrelevant.
The voters made Oscars irrelevant LONG before streaming services raised their poormouthing heads, alas. As with most such industry awards, it has long/always been about what makes money for the industry and who likes/kisses up to whom rather than anything like a measured view of quality, even given the potential matter of tastes alwaays being subjective.
Todd, the OSCARS (and almost all other “awards”) are simply marketing devices. The winning movies tonight will gain more viewers in the days and weeks ahead. Which means more money…
I’ve actually seen five of the nominees, about four more than I usually have by this time, and will add a sixth if I watch WOMEN TALKING this afternoon on Prime. I found TOP GUN MAVERICK and ELVIS to be moderately enjoyable, although neither of them screams BEST PICTURE. The others I’ve seen were boring or stupid or both. I found EEAAO to be abysmally stupid, and had lost track of its chaotic, WTF plot after 20 minutes. And how could a movie with one of my great loves, Cate Blanchet, possibly be as boring as TAR? So impress me WOMEN TALKING–you’re my last hope.
Michael, I agree with you on TAR. Cate Blanchet gave it her all…but the screenplay was fatally flawed.
I still mean to see all of EVERYTHING (it was by me too kute at the half hour point, Michael isn’t too far wrong above), and TAR and WOMEN TALKING…I think it might take a while for the Oscars to be more a travesty than the best picture award for CRASH (2006), the worst film I’ve paid for and sat through in a theater (I’ve walked out of three so far in my life).
Michelle Yeoh, almsot exactly two years old than I (we share a birthday) is a probable win, and I hope it gets her more work. Difficult for me to care about too many of the others, though Jamie Lee Curtis picking up an award for similar reasons wouldn’t upset me (she could use some work which isn’t a HALLOWE’EN sequel).
Memory slip…CRASH (not the rather good J. G. Ballard adaptation, but the tv writer and jackass’s shallow piece of tripe) was among the winners from 2004. It just Seems as if was a couple/few years less.
The other films I’ve walked out of, if anyone is wondering, have been THE FOOD OF THE GODS (Bert I. Gordon died recently), the first film version of Asimov’s short story NIGHTFALL (the second one was apparently atrocious, as well)), and CHILD’S PLAY, the first Chucky film. In each case, my companions wanted to leave even more urgently than did I, but I could see where they were coming from, though they were more upset than I was annoyed by the films in question, which was plenty in each case. I came close to doing so with NO WAY OUT, the Kevin Costner spy film, which I had a free ticket to for some forgotten reason. Non-clever/stupid stupid films really rub me the Wrong Way. CRASH (2004) had exactly one good scene, where the actors involved managed to overcome script and direction, and that was perhaps 2 minutes out of the 2 hours or so that pile wasted of so many lives.
Todd, to be perfectly honest, my favorite movie of 2022 is TOP GUN: MAVERICK. Pure entertainment! In general, most of the movies I saw in 2022 sucked.
Sorry about that! I haven’t seen so very many that weren’t much older….
Todd, I know this statement I’m about to make will be viewed as “politically incorrect” by some, but I’ll be glad if Michelle Yeoh wins (and hopefully other actors with Asian heritage) during these troubling times when street violence and threats to Asians are on the rise.
Though without Presumptive Turnip out of the WH, at least it isn’t being cheered on from quite so unearned a perch.
I saw and enjoyed Elvis and Top Gun. I’m really hoping Everthing Everywhere all at once sweeps. A friend of mine’s nephew is one of the Daniels. He took her to the Baftas with him and she posted a bunch of fun pix. He did a shout out for people to get pictures taken with “aunt Vicki” and she posted ones with Jamie Lee Curtis & Key Huy Yuan – apologies for misspelling.
I have Banshees 0f Insherin recorded but not yet watched.
Maggie, I’m rooting for EEAAO, too. I think the Daniels will find it will be raining money on them if they win. I’ll be interested to see what their next project is.
Just watched WOMEN TALKING and I have a new favorite which I’m not even going to try to describe. An enigmatic movie I knew nothing about except that it’s directed by the terrific Sarah Polley with a knockout cast. It absolutely demands another look, and I can’t wait to see it again. How can you fail to love a movie that includes both “Nearer My God to Thee” and “Daydream Believer”?
Michael, I’m moving WOMEN TALKING up on our WATCH LIST!
The German movie “Im Westen nichts Neues” about the horrors of WW1 has several nominations – will it get an oscar?
I’ll probably be in bed when this happens – it’s already 9 pm here …
Wolf, I read ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT when I was a kid. It haunted my dreams for days!