Completed Category: Original Screenplay

I love to think about the Screenplay categories! In fact, I want one of my next checklist projects to be: Watch All the Nominated Screenplay Films Ever.  That will take a while. In the meantime, this year: 

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

I only just this week completed this category because I had September 5 lingering for a while simply because #IAmVeryBusy and also I knew it was easily available to rent on demand as opposed to some others in which one must still be in pursuit* and so I knew I'd get around to it as soon as I could get around to it. 

*This year, we're looking in pursuit at you, Porcelain War. And with Ukraine having become a daily news story this week, at that! Every damn year, we are forced to go through this with one or two nominated flicks - a refusal by the distributor to, ya know, distribute the film during the two months between Oscar nominations and Oscar ceremony. It's so fckng stupid, every damn year. It's like - "Hi! We want to give you our money! Please take it in exchange for a streaming rental  of your film!"   "No."  "OK well, could you have it play in theatres across the country/world?"  "No."  "Hmm, well, we really want to see it? Can we please? Remember, we are trying to pay you for this. Money for your film! Isn't that what you wanted?"   "Why oh why is the film industry dying nobody goes to movies why oh why won't they see my film i weep i wail i gnash my teeth why oh why!"  "Um..er..." 

Anyway, that was a tangent about a totally different category. Back in Screenplay-land, September 5 is available, and I paid for a streaming rental and watched it! Amazing how that works! I enjoyed the movie and thought it was well done, everyone all tightly crammed in the control room and whatnot. I was also like, hey! I know her! about the actress playing translator and much more Marianne - not a real person, a composite character - as she starred in last year's International nominee The Teachers' Lounge.  Good for her, Oscar-ing it up two years in a row.  I think this screenplay fully and completely did its job, keeping you interested and invested, while laying out and guiding you through the story, but I am pretty sure it will not win, as people are heavily invested in voting for some of its competition. 

The Brutalist is going to get votes, in this and in other categories. I think it is going to get more votes in other categories.  First of all this thing is long and it pummels you, and I mean, as a story it's fine and all (if a little bit terribly intense) but its strengths are more so in the Directing, Cinematography, Score, and other elements of its pummeling you for four hours of your life.  We could possibly see it sweep all its nominations, but I don't think so. Don't worry, you're still the Brutal-est screenplay. 

Although I've gotta say, The Substance almost gives ya a run for yer money in the brutal department!  The Substance  is glorious and crazy and ridiculous and socio-philosophical and wonderful and I love it. That being said, the ending where it gets a little shaky (or splattery) before bringing it all home is its weakest point. I still love it and I forgive it all its flaws and won't mind even a tiny bit if it DOES win here - and it does have a chance - but I think we have to seriously reckon with the other two competing nominees. 

A Real Pain accurately describes its character played by Kieran Culkin, who is likely to win Supporting Actor for his co-starring lead role. This is a typically perfect kind of Screenplay winner: indie vibes, but famous people, and interesting content that raises some socio-political questions, and also fun. I personally related immensely to this film, because I too took a trip to Poland as an adult and met up with a group of other adults (on a Habitat for Humanity build) and then took a week by myself to go see my great-grandparents' hometown. So I was nostalgia-loving this in addition to being entertained by it. The only annoying thing about this film is its accurately described title (lead!) character, whom you want to throttle. Screenwriter (and co-star) Jesse Eisenberg just won the BAFTA, too, and had no speech written, he said, because he didn't think he would win. True? Maybe. A Real Pain had all the buzz for quite a while. What overtook it? 

A film that had even earlier buzz, then cooled a bit, but has surged back even more since nominations day: Anora. This thing is a well-done screenplay of misfit friends, another title character who comes into situations like a wrecking ball (but is met with other wrecking ball types who outdo her in that department), surprising scenarios, an ante that gets upped a few times, and the edginess that people love to love in their films. I personally walked away from Anora shaking my head and wondering #WhyAreMen, but the sex-work-is-work prostitution apologists will be out in droves making sure that question doesn't get too much attention to distract us from the feel-good train wreck of Anora. 

Order I want them to win: A Real Pain, September 5, The Substance, Anora or The Brutalist

Order I think they will win: Anora, A Real Pain, The Substance, then a gap and then The Brutalist, September 5. 

This is too close to call.  But I do think the bolder Anora might succeed here.
Which one do you think will win? 

Completed Category: Original Song

 This past weekend I finished up Original Song. After watching both Feature and Short Documentaries for a few days, I really wanted to watch something where nobody killed anybody. I turned to Elton John: Never Too Late. 

Original Song
"El Mal" from EMILIA PÉREZ
Music by Clément Ducol and Camille; Lyric by Clément Ducol, Camille and Jacques Audiard
"The Journey" from THE SIX TRIPLE EIGHT
Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
"Like A Bird" from SING SING
Music and Lyric by Abraham Alexander and Adrian Quesada
"Mi Camino" from EMILIA PÉREZ
Music and Lyric by Camille and Clément Ducol
"Never Too Late" from ELTON JOHN: NEVER TOO LATE
Music and Lyric by Elton John, Brandi Carlile, Andrew Watt and Bernie Taupin

It's always interesting to see how many nominees in this category are her for Song and Song alone, and how many are from films nominated for other stuff. This year, it's a 3/2 nominees split and a 2/2 movies split, as there are two songs nominated from the spectacular mess that is Emilia Perez. 

Unfortunately, even though it's a total disaster and the music is so dumb, E.P. might win. The influencers seem to have decided on "El Mal" so that the two noms don't split the E.P.  vote.  Godz do I ever dislike that movie. 

Anyway, the other movie that is a "real" nominee and not just a Song nominee is Sing Sing, which got nods for Adapted Screenplay and Lead Actor (Colman Domingo) as well. I would love for it to sneak in and have a chance. The movie makes people think about such important things (wrongful incarceration, finding purpose in life, making art, perseverance, healing etc.) but it might end the night with no wins. 

Elton John: Never Too Late was a pleasant enough documentary to watch and Elton is, of course, mega-talented, but I don't get a lot of feelings of grandeur from this song, at all. He already has not just Oscars but he's an EGOT person! No offense to Brandi and Bernie but this song this year just isn't it. 

You know who doesn't have a competitive Oscar yet? Despite 16 nominations?  Diane Warren! And here she is again, with a song written for a flick that many people did not pay any attention to until she was nominated for her umpteenth Oscar for it. This movie, actually, was an enjoyable watch, because it told such an interesting story from history that nobody remembers. And listen, I've heard far worse Song nominees. (Like the two nominated songs from E.P.!)   Let's give Diane the Oscar. Seriously. Please? 

"All the times you thought you'd never make it through
Felt just like the world had turned its back on you
Didn't stop you" 

Indeed!

Order I want them to win: 
"The Journey" times one million, then maybe "Like A Bird" 

Order I think they will win: 
"El Mal" (ugh), maybe "The Journey" if everyone's feeling a little wild, "El Camino" ugh, maybe "Never Too Late" because people like Elton and were maybe at that last Dodger Stadium concert featured in the Doc, and then poor "Like A Bird" sadly

Completed Category: Documentary Shorts

Friends, enemies, countrypeople, et. al., it's one of those years where I'm going to insist that you absolutely need to watch the Documentary Shorts. 

Documentary Short Film
Instruments of a Beating Heart
Incident
I Am Ready, Warden
The Only Girl In The Orchestra 
Death By Numbers

This year we have: life, death, death, life, and death.

Issues include: racism, death penalty, killing of civilians by police, school shootings, sexism, grief, the meaning of life, creating art, and overcoming obstacles. 

You can see the Doc Shorts in select theatres this week and honestly, yes, it's worth dropping whatever you have to do or have scheduled the next few days.  Seriously, get a babysitter, take the afternoon off work, skip your church group - or heck, gather up and bring your church group - and hie thee to the cinema. 

Now, this is certainly a viewer-discretion-is-advised situation, but on the other hand, this is documentation of real life, and nobody really exercised discretion to prevent the real-life people from having to witness and/or experience terrible things up to and including being shot and killed. 

For those who cannot get to the cinema, please watch the ones that are available at home via streaming. Here is the link to Incident, which should be required viewing for you, your family, your neighbors, your friends, your enemies, and whoever else you can find strolling blithely around this Earth. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oW65ChIjur4 

Incident depicts the killing of a Black man by police in Chicago, and the things the officers both instinctively and calculatedly say and do in the minutes following the incident.  I want this one to win. I think it might. I've never seen a Doc Short quite like it, the way it uses and split screens the various body camera and CCTV camera footage. 

I Am Ready, Warden depicts the lead-up to the execution date for a death row inmate, with input from the condemned man, his murder victim's son, his own son, a church lady who has become his adopted godmother, and a Texas government official. I also want this one to win. It could. It crafts this story so, so, so very well. The "cast" of characters really immerse you in the swirling realities of one man's sentence to death. 

Death By Numbers  depicts the written and spoken reflections of Sam Fuentes,  one of the survivors who was injured in the Parkland, Florida school shooting a few years back as she prepares to testify and speaks to the killer at the sentencing and victim impact statement days in court. She's a great writer. I hope she continues to heal and survive, and to gift us with her words.  I mourn the friends and teachers she lost that day as well as everything that has been taken from her and from other dead and living school shooting victims.  

One of the "feel-good" ones of the bunch is The Only Girl In the Orchestra, uplifting despite the gasp-out-loud sexism and affecting consideration of questions of what should we do with our lives? I recommend it for anyone who has: played music, listened to music, lived in New York, lived as an artist, admired a family member, admired a teacher, watched classic Westerns (no, seriously), touched a stringed instrument, moved a piano, or celebrated the gift of being alive.  It's on Netflix. 

The other feel-good one is Instruments of a Beating Heart, despite the occasional kids crying after either not getting a part they auditioned for or making mistakes as they rehearse the parts they did get. This is an adorable slice of life little film about 7-year-olds preparing to perform "Ode to Joy" with tambourines and whatnot for the incoming first graders at their school in Japan. I adore it. I recommend it to anyone who has ever tried to do something, failed, or succeeded.  It's available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRW0auOiqm4 

Order I want them to win:  THIS IS SO HARD
Maybe Incident or I Am Ready, Warden, then Instruments of a Beating Heart, as those three are such interestingly crafted documentary observances, and then the other two which are also A+ content if a bit more traditional let's-follow-this-person storytelling -- Death By Numbers  and The Only Girl In The Orchestra.  I will not be mad when any of these five win, except for the part where the other four have to not win.  

Order I think they will win:  I DON'T KNOW I said this is hard!!!!!! maybe Incident? 

Completed Category: Animated Short

Well, I guess it wouldn't be the Animated Shorts if there weren't something totally bananas that makes you go, What in the what did I just watch? 

Animated Short Film
Beautiful Men
In the Shadow of the Cypress
Magic Candies
Wander to Wonder
Yuck!

This is how it breaks down: two that you can watch with your sanity intact, one head-scratcher, and two why-jesus-and-all-the-gods-why. 

The two that you can watch with your sanity intact are Magic Candies and Yuck!  This is not to say there's nothing weird in Magic Candies -- talking inanimate objects really get the ball rolling here. But it's cute, follows a well-paced narrative, has clear and convincing animation, and delivers a good message. 

Yuck! has a lot of the same attributes, actually, with less surrealism (despite being French!)  This is simply a sweet story about the universal experience of being kids who are thisclose to outgrowing their "eww gross!" reaction to K-I-S-S-I-N-G.  Will either of those two short films that I liked win?  Well, I don't know.  What does the Academy want from an Animated Short?  Do they want things I want, like sharp, clear visuals and sensible narrative and reasonably intact sanity?  Or do they want - something else? 

Perhaps they want a whale - a very large and very square whale - washed up on a beach, and some fever dreamy attempts to save it interspersed with flashbacks and chaos and feelings of despair. If so, then In the Shadow of the Cypress is for them!  This is definitely a little film for people willing to puzzle out some layers of symbolism.  If you're the type who can't even get past things like the green light on Daisy's dock then this might not be the unpacking of symbols task for you. 

This year in the Oscars, we have a lot of men -- not just in the number of Acting nominees, but also in the titles of films nominated in Visual Effects, Makeup, Live Action Shorts - and here in the Animated Shorts, it's Beautiful Men time. Now, do you think that these men are, in fact, Beautiful, or might the title be wry and cynical in some way? Well... have I taught you nothing?  By the way you will get the chance to judge a whole lot of an animated's man's body to decide if he is beautiful. I mean it. There was a not-appropriate-for-children disclaimer and everything. 

And if you like naked men in your Animated Shorts and you're ready to go full wacko?  Well, have we got the Animated Short for you. It's time to Wander to Wonder, kids.  I really don't know what to say about this one - and I mean that in 100% earnest. I simply don't know what to say. This film is not for everybody, but I guess it's for somebody. That somebody is not me. 

Order I want them to win: Magic Candies, Yuck!, In the Shadow of the Cypress, [big gap], Beautiful Men, [bigger gap], cancel the Oscars, outlaw all animation forevermore, Wander to Wonder. 

Order I think they will win: Magic Candies, maybe In the Shadow of the Cypress, Beautiful Men, Yuck!, please-all-the-gods-forbid Wander to Wonder

Check out the Shorts in a cinema near you, now playing! But, don't say I didn't warn you about the weirdos and the naked men and the weirdo naked men! 

Completed Category: Animated: Redux

 Yesterday I was tired; this morning I found the energy to say a tiny bit more about the Animated Feature Film nominees. 

Have you seen them?

First of all, Flow is amazing and might win. It's about a cat!

Of course it should win! Actually, it's a wonderful, mesmerizing little journey and misfit friends story. It's also nominated in the International Feature category; it's Latvian, with no dialogue; the director is fun on the socials. Bet against it in your Oscar pool at your own risk.

My second favorite is Inside Out 2, which I thought was clever and actually engaged me more than the first one (which won). I rather enjoyed Ennui ("Ennui, are you paying attention?" "Non.") and I think the broccoli boat should be a Disneyland ride?!

Memoir Of A Snail is the weirdo one, and not for kids. It was so not my style at all, but then grew on me a little bit because the old woman voiced by Jacki Weaver is amazing (in a kind of get-off-my-lawn way) and I love the snail at the end

Also not really my thing is Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, although I'm sure that humor and the misunderstanding between them works for some people. It makes me feel anxious about the dog! Like, wake up dumb human! Anyway, this had a major scene with a bridge that tried to get in on last year's Mission Impossible/Indiana Jones years-later-sequel-dramatic-scene -of-peril-on-a-big-high-bridge who-wore-it -better territory.

Speaking of who-wore-it-better, this year's theme is robots that you order or buy to do a job and whose prime directive may or may not jibe with what you need. Reality, much? The Wild Robot is not the only nominated flick to do this (in various categories) but it's a big one and lots of folks' favorite. Could win.

What's your vote?

Toutes les réactions :

Completed Category: Animated

This will be brief because I am tired.  Not because I've reached that point in the Oscar season of being tired but because of too much life stuff. But, maybe I do need to start taking off the entire month of February for watching Oscar nominations!  

Animated Feature Film
Flow
Inside Out 2
Memoir of A Snail
Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
The Wild Robot

I liked: Inside Out 2. 
I ... meh:  The Wild Robot, Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
Not really my thing, although bits of it grew on me, mostly the snail saving the day: Memoir of a Snail

But I LOVED: Flow

It's about a cat. 

I would be perfectly happy to have more movies like Flow! 
Let's give it the Oscar. 

The End. 

Completed Category: Lead Actress

 The film I saw to complete this category also completed Best Picture but we'll save that for later, and for now just think about...

Actress In A Leading Role
Cynthia Erivo - Wicked
Mikey Madison - Anora
Demi Moore - The Substance
Fernanda Torres -  I'm Still Here
Mr. Carlos "Karla Sofia" Gascon, a man - Emilia Perez

 Are you thinking to yourself "Gee that's weird, why is there a man nominated in the Actress category?"  Well, posterity, if you're reading this and the human species has somehow managed to survive, you probably have history books that note the 2020s as a time of great strife, and a whole lot of nonsense, sometimes simultaneously. One of those areas is the idea that there are "transgender" people who somehow aren't the sex that they are. We're not going to waste any more time on that here (Ask Me Anything - but elsewhere) other than to point out how totally fucking stupid this category is this year because of the nomination of a man, and how sad we are for Angelina Jolie, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Pamela Anderson, Nicole Kidman, Amy Adams, or whichever woman would have had that fifth slot. 

Now, I will also say that while there are four wonderful performances by Actresses in Leading Roles here, they all make me sad (as does the man's - for being nominated), except for Cynthia in Wicked.  On the contrary, Wicked is so much pure joy!!!
Even though it, too, has many layered socio-philosophical questions and lots of turmoil, the movie and the production and everything about it just bring me so much joy, and I'm so happy for the supremely talented Cynthia Erivo in this nomination. I might even be rooting for her if I weren't annoyed by the category fraud regarding her --> co-star Ariana Grande, who is nominated in Supporting. The category fraud sort of spills over and ruins this nomination.  Anyway - she also might get nominated for Second Wicked, when that comes around. She really is so talented.  She's an "EGOT nominee" as they say. and has won several awards.  Someday, Cynthia. 

As much as we love Wicked, most people think one of two other nominees will be the likely winner.  And most people do not think that it will be the man, Gascon, nor that it will be Mikey Madison from Anora.  I mean - she was great, in that she carried the movie, basically the entire thing, and it was entertaining. That flick is not for everybody, but a lot of people sure do love it, and there is certainly talk about it winning in major categories (even Director and Best Picture!)  However, there are two stronger contenders here.

Fernanda Torres is nominated for the Brazilian film I'm Still Here, which is also nominated for not only International Film but Best Picture as well, and it is a heartbreaking performance.  Based on a true story, it made me sadder than just about anything has in a while - humanity is so frustrating and infuriating and horrible from time to time, and the thing is, people simply don't have to be the way they are, but they are.  I get so sad, after watching I'm Still Here, thinking about the family, and the other families of other victims of dictatorships, and about the people who suffered and were tortured and died, for no good reason. None. Fernanda's character endures impossible things, and she might - juuuuuust might - be the winner. 

But. Then we have The Substance. 

Demi Moore is enthusiastically supported and beloved in this 100% bonkers film that I absolutely adored. It's got Hollywood (in spades!), it's got messages, it's got a star we've all grown up with or seen 100 times, finally getting her Oscar nomination.  It is a rollicking ride and it ups the ante multiple times and Demi Moore knocks it out of the park, giving us everything we could want and more on this wild ride. 

With her Golden Globe win and her trending buzz (and her lack of public relations nightmare mistakes - at least not yet!), Demi Moore is starting to really be favored to really win this Oscar, and I am 100% OK if the Academy makes this choice. 

What a year. What a time to be alive. 

Order I want them to win: 
Demi, Fernanda, Cynthia, Mikey

Order I think they will win: 
Demi, Fernanda, Cynthia, Mikey, the man

Who was your favorite Lead Actress performance? 

Completed Category: Makeup & Hairstyling

 Over the years, the Makeup category has given me the chance to see some films I otherwise never would have seen! 

Makeup and Hairstyling
A Different Man
Emilia Perez
Nosferatu
The Substance
Wicked

This year, four of the films got a bunch of other nominations, but the weird one that is here for the Makeup party is A Different Man. Interestingly, its star, Sebastian Stan, is nominated for a freaking Lead Actor Oscar, for a different film! What a weird year. A Different Man definitely does some very interesting, very heavy things with makeup and hair. Mostly makeup though, except for fitting hair all around the "deformities" I suppose... interesting little film. 

Not the weirdest film of the bunch, though!  There are at least two that are weirder, and mostly not in a good way.  It is really saying something when the land of Oz from the perspective of the Wicked Witch is the most normal of the bunch! On that note, I would love for Wicked  to win here and everywhere it's nominated (except Score ... and, well, I'm not really into Ariana's category fraud) but I don't think it's going to. I think one of the weird ones will. 

Emilia Perez?  Gods forbid. I hate that movie. The less said about it the better, although I suppose the whole transforming a man into both a creepy-ass looking drug lord AND a man pretending to be a woman is a bit of work for the Makeup artists and Hairstylists. So much ugh. Next? 

Nosferatu?  I mean - definitely some cool and creepy looking folks running around this one, too. And, I'm assuming Makeup helps with all the blood and bite marks and whatnot?  Pretty good work all around. 

Still - I am on #TeamTheSubstance. I definitely want The Substance  to collect some awards (Go Demi!) and this is absolutely one where it has a good shot. I won't spoiler you but let's just say when you think you've seen some impressive stuff, there is still more to come with prosthetics and skin and hair and all of it. It's a crazy, ridiculous, profound movie and I'm definitely one of its fans.  Have you seen it yet?  What did you think? 

Order I want them to win: 
The Substance x 1,000,000 
then Nosferatu or Wicked or  A Different Man ... but really just still The Substance

Order I think they will win: 
The Substance, A Different Man, Wicked, Nosferatu, Emilia Perez