Two Completed Shorts Categories

I saw the Live Action Shorts on Friday, and thought they were almost all really good, so I guessed that this year the Animated would be creepy or whatever, since in many years one or the other of those two sets of Shorts has been known to be a bit off the rails.  But then Saturday I saw the Animated Shorts and they were... also good?!

Live Action Shorts (in the order presented in the cinema program)
The Singers
A Friend of Dorothy 
Butcher's Stain
Two People Exchanging Saliva
Jane Austen's Period Drama 

Animated Shorts (in the order presented in cinema program) 
The Three Sisters 
Forevergreen
The Girl Who Cried Pearls 
Butterfly
Retirement Plan 

So not only do I not loathe any of this year's Best Picture nominees, but this year we're also safe from creepy what-the-hell- did-I- just- watch! shorts. So far. 

All right.  Do I have clear favorites? I just might have one or two. Of the Live Action Shorts: Butcher's Stain and  Two People Exchanging Saliva. I also think each of those has a chance to win.

I have read mixed reviews of Butcher's Stain  but really haven't agreed much with criticism I've read so far. It's hot topic political, as the Butcher in question is a (Palestinian?) Arab working in a grocery in Israel. But it's not really "about" that conflict per se, as much as it is about misunderstanding, judgment, betrayal, and how we're all struggling and lots of us are making others struggle. I think that after seeing it, when you look back you see how precise each moment was. In it, the personal is political, while in Two People Exchanging Saliva, the political (or societal) gets very, very personal. The minute I saw this mildly bodily-fluid-esque title on the Shortlist, I thought two things:  1. That's probably French (yes) and 2. I'm going to hate this, aren't I?  NOT AT ALL!  I loved it.  It is dark, moody, riveting, subversive, and exquisitely executed.  I think any voter would have to acknowledge that this is the best-crafted of the five nominees! I absolutely recommend it - and the less you know about it beforehand, the better.  I found myself thinking about it while brushing my teeth later that night. 

Of the three others, two were lovely and one is stupid. The Singers was lovely, and great in its simplicity that  really brings emotional complexity. It also makes you want to go hang out in the bar with these gruff, grizzled old guys for an evening!  It would be an honor - like this Short being nominated. A Friend of Dorothy I've heard getting some buzz for a possible win, which I think would be a mistake. Don't get me wrong, as it was sweet and also very well done, but a little predictable and the smarmy white grandson  is a caricature.  I did like that last lingering shot, though.  As for Jane Austen's Period Drama, I already knew it was stupid, as I watched it on Kanopy a few weeks ago. It is nothing more than a Saturday Night Live sketch with editing.  I could not believe I was watching an Oscar-nominated short. Ridiculous.

My favorite of the Animateds was Forevergreen.  Oh, I loved it so much.  There is a little sound the bear makes when first picked up by the tree that warmed my heart! Forevergreen is fun, humorous, and adorable, while also being profound, touching, and cautionary. It's an allegory and a joy. I want it to win! 

There are three others that I liked but don't necessarily want to win. Retirement Plan is great, and I wasn't the only one laughing out loud multiple times because it's delightful while also being starkly true, but it is kind of slight, really when you get down to it, as a cinematic endeavor. It's a bit like that world-renowned Baz Luhrmann song "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)." The Girl Who Cried Pearls is the stop-motion one (right? See, I've learned a thing or two about animation Istilldon'tcareaboutit shhhhdon'ttellanybody.)  It also has a nice story with a good, solid ending and it's one I could see people voting for.  Butterfly is pretty and also packs a political punch, but also feels a bit slight compared to some others. 

But the real contender here could be The Three Sisters. This was absolutely glorious, fun, and low-key exhilarating to watch, while being not quite like any animation I've seen before. It looks like a camera holding a wide landscape shot, and the way the drawn characters move is so interesting. It's also funny and quirky and clever.  It only loses one little half-star for, you guessed it, bodily fluids. But I basically forgive it because it's wonderful. 

I don't think I'm going to give you my Order I Think They Will Win because I don't know  I am very busy and life is Short.  (See what I did there.) 

Completed Category: Best Original Song

 Oh, this weird little category!

Original Song
"Dear Me" - from Diane Warren: Relentless
"Golden" - from KPop Demon Hunters
"I Lied To You" - from Sinners
"Sweet Dreams of Joy" - from Viva Verdi!
"Train Dreams" -  from Train Dreams

Now, listen.  I am going to tell you right now that I greatly enjoyed the Diane Warren documentary, and I don't care what anyone thinks about my enjoyment of it.  Notably, it did not make the shortlist for Documentary Features, but this latest song that Diane wrote did in fact get her another Original Song nomination, and she once again, I'm sorry to say, is unlikely to win. I learned so much about her and her life and her friend group, and I will tell you that her prickly personality, stream of f-bombs, and liking animals more than people all really work for me.  The song "Dear Me" is performed by Kesha and is not the greatest Diane Warren song. Oh well. Try again next year! 

Another movie I love, but am not picking to win this category? Train Dreams.  I still want all of you to watch that gorgeous, sad, lovely movie (it's on Netflix!) when you are in an appropriate, thoughtful mood.  The song, performed by  Nick Cave, very much fits the vibe of the movie, but it's not anything next level as a song.  Moving on... 

Viva Verdi! is the "Huh?" movie of this year's Oscar nominees. Well, it's a documentary about some folks living in the retirement home in Italy designed by Verdi himself (!) as a home for retired/older musicians. It was a really interesting little slice of life, but again, not nominated as a doc but rather for the song "Sweet Dreams of Joy."  Well, it was fine.  You can actually enjoy the folks singing a lot of more famous songs throughout the film in little snippets, by the way, if you're into that kind of thing.  But the movie also features their personalities and some history. It's available to rent on the Jolt indie film streaming service (I told you, Huh?)  Thanks, Jolt!  It's an honor for you to be nominated, Viva Verdi. 

Right, then. Sinners vs. KPop Demon Hunters.  It is going to be hard for anything to beat the extremely popular and now Grammy-winning "Golden" and KPop Demon Hunters delighted everybody, or at least a lot of bodies. But there is a tiny smidgen of a chance that Sinners busts out to a big night and collects trophy after trophy including this one for "I Lied To You."  That of course would mean Sinners seizes the glory - and the Oscars - from One Battle After Another  or as I now think of it One Nomination After Another.  A girl can dream. 

Which of these movies and songs did you like? 

Order I want them to win:  
Keeping in mind that I'm not sure how much I care, really?  And that as much as I liked Sinners I'm not all that into blues, which I know is like an egregious sin among most guitar players but I said what I said? Probably the same as the... 

Order that I think they're likely to win: 
Golden, I Lied to You, big gap here, still in the gap, still in the gap, Train Dreams, then another gap and then Dear Me or Sweet Dreams Of Joy  

Two Completed Categories: Supporting Actress & Supporting Actor

I completed these categories, along with Lead Actress, when I watched Sentimental Value last week, because the general approach with that movie seemed to be "You get an acting nomination! And you get an acting nomination!"  However, the same could be said of One Scene Battle After Another.  Each of those flicks has FOUR acting nominations.  And Sinners got three. 

Actress In A Supporting Role
Elle Fanning -Sentimental Value
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas - Sentimental Value
Amy Magigan - Weapons 
Wunmi Mosaku - Sinners
Teyana Taylor - One Battle After Another 

Actor In A Supporting Role
Benicio Del Toro - One Battle After Another
Jacob Elordi - Frankenstein
Delroy Lindo - Sinners
Sean Penn - One Battle After Another 
Stellan Skarsgard - Sentimental Value

 

That means out of 20 acting nominations, 11 are for only three movies, and then there are nine where only one performance is nominated from the film.  Of the ten Supporting nominations, EIGHT are from those same three movies, and then one in each category from a single nominated performance. The interesting thing though is that there are two films with four nominations, but not one in each of the four categories; rather, one film doubles up in Supporting Actor with no Actress nom and one doubles up in Supporting Actress with no Actor nom. 

Yes, this is interesting.  I mean, you know. If you're an Oscar dork/completist such as myself. 

So anyhoo, what do we like, loathe, or think is overrated?  And will the movies that doubled up split the vote and thus lose those particular categories? 

I mentioned already that I like Sentimental Value.  Really. But I think y'all need to calm down a little bit about it. Actually, I don't know that I could see either Elle or Inga winning even without a vote to split, but they are just part of the freely doled out love for that movie. It's a movie that people are proud of themselves for liking. You might think that's One Interminable Scene After Another, but no, that's different; that movie is one people are pressured into liking by the film zeitgeist and the insistence that you love Paul Thomas Anderson, no really, you do. That being said, Teyana Taylor has a reeealllly good chance here. People loved her in One Battle... and she honestly might also be carrying a bit of the torch for the other women from her film that didn't end up getting nominations -- yes, people thought there might be even more.  She seems to be everywhere, she won the Golden Globe (but she read her speech off a piece of paper, boo), she presented at the Grammys, and she is definitely running strong for this award.  

While I am hoping (against hope?) that Sinners does win some awards and is not completely steamrolled by Seventy-Five Million Battles One After the Other, I think Wunmi Mosaku is the honor-to-be-nominated one and this won't be the category where Sinners triumphs.  The absolute wild card here is Amy Madigan in Weapons. I weirdly saw Weapons in a crowded theatre the Thursday evening that it came out down the street from where I lived last August - I know, who am I, right?! - and it's not my kind of movie and it was a bit silly and Amy Madigan as Aunt Gladys was completely batshit crazy but hey, she did her thing, and she is loved. Enough to upset everybody on Oscar night?  Who's to say?  Weirder things have happened. Including in several of these movies, where lots and lots of weird stuff happens. 

Speaking of weird, Sean Penn's absolutely looney tunes unhinged performance is nominated along with Benicio Del Toro for Is This Battle Still Going On Seriously.  That movie just would not end, but when Benicio showed up is when it pulled me back in.  I thought he was fantastic in a million ways, which is not to say that Sean wasn't great, but Sean was around for more of it (and there was so, so much of it) and his character is evil and weird and gross and basically Benicio was one of the best parts of the flick, but really at any rate neither of them is that likely to win this -- they really might split their One Vote After Another.  I think it is more realistic that nobody calms down about Sentimental Value and Stellan Skarsgard wins, and thus the movie that doubles up in one Supporting category wins the other Supporting category both times.  

I personally loved Frankenstein and Jacob Elordi, who is definitely honored to be nominated. But! Could Delroy Lindo in Sinners work some magic here? He is - like Amy Madigan - loved by many actors and others and it is strongly felt that he is overdue; he could be the surprise here in that kind of Mark Rylance way. We shall see. 

When I don't hate any of the movies -- even the one that dragged on and on and on -- it's harder for me to rant about who should win. Delroy Lindo's was one of the most captivating performances.  Jacob Elordi  had a lot going on, and his degree of difficulty with how lovely he made that character is something to behold. I'm always fond of Benicio and Elle, including their work here. I'm not really mad at anyone who wins these -- even if I really couldn't stand the characters played by either Teyana Taylor or Sean Penn in One Battle After Another After Another. 

Order I want them to win for Supporting Actress, I guess: 
Wunmi/Amy/Teyana barely separated, then a gap, then Elle then Inga, but all are so close. I just don't have a strong soaring favorite here, but I do like Sinners the most.  

Order I think they will win: 
Teyana Taylor, Amy Madigan, Elle Fanning, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Wunmi Mosaku. 

Order I want them to win for Supporting Actor: 
Benicio or Delroy, Jacob, Sean, Stellan
Order I think they will win: 
Stellan Skarsgard, then Delroy Lindo or Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Jacob Elordi

Which performance was your favorite?  

Completed Category: Lead Actress, featuring 5 women

Quick reminder that I am #TeamBugonia and I would love for that film to be rewarded in spades but let's get real about the Best Actress  situation, shall we? 

Actress In A Leading Role
Jessie Buckley - Hamnet
Rose Byrne- If I Had Legs I'd Kick You
Kate Hudson - Song Sung Blue
Renata Reinsve - Sentimental Value
Emma Stone - Bugonia 

First, I would like to congratulate the Academy for nominating five women in this category. Please keep doing that!

Second, the reality of this situation is that Jessie Buckley is heavily, heavily, heavily favored to win this.  And I'm not really mad at that, other than it being no fun to have foregone conclusions or even frontrunners; we want suspense!  I liked Hamnet, it was lovely and faithful to the book, her character is earthy and witchy, and also I think Jessie Buckley could maybe play me in the movie of my life.  The only thing I'm bummed about is we have had to endure all of Yorgos Lanthimos' weirdo films, including his multiple collaborations with Emma Stone, including the psychotic Poor Things for which she won her second Oscar for goodness' sake (should have been Annette Bening in Nyad that year!!!)  and I was so very sick of their madness and then Bugonia  this year was so wonderful. Based on everything the two of them have put me through, my expectations couldn't have been lower, so I was pleasantly shocked at how fantastic it was. The best thing Yorgos and Emma have done to us by far, and THIS is the year that she has no real chance? Sigh. 

Well but them's the breaks. You know who else likely has no chance and whose performance I greatly enjoyed? Kate Hudson in Song Sung Blue. To be clear, that movie was a mess, with both screenplay and tone swinging wildly all over the place and hitting very little, but I could watch Kate singing Neil Diamond songs with Hugh Jackman for another two hours or two days or two months maybe.  Absolute Kate Hudson performance charm doing its thing, with some surprise serious moments to really act some different emotional stuff. (Because the movie is all over the place, as mentioned.) 

I could be the tiniest bit worried that Renata Reinsve could pull some votes because people have lost their minds about Sentimental Value. This is another film that I liked, after gingerly approaching it with trepidation due to the previous off-putting collaboration from that actress and director.  It's no Bugonia, but I really liked it. But it's as if people had decided they were going to nominate her before they even watched it. And nine nominations for the film? Nine?!  We kinda need to calm down about Sentimental Value.  

And then there is Rose Byrne.  She won the Golden Globe for Actress-Musical or Comedy (Jessie Buckley won Actress-Drama of course) and some people are whispering that she maybe upsets and wins the Oscar for the lunatic shitshow that is If I Had Legs I'd Kick You. And there is nothing I want less for this movie than an Oscar, except for how much I want my life to be nothing like anyone's in this movie at any point ever.  I do have legs, and if I could kick a film with them, I would kick this one. It is an excruciating journey through several people's terrible behavior, terrible choices, and terrible reactions to other people's behavior and choices.  You know how I've praised Hamnet for having three kids in big roles and none of them even slightly annoying? Yeah, If/Legs/Kick is the exact opposite of that.  The child is a total nightmare in every way from first scene to last.  I am on the hamster's side and everything about this flick can go away. Rose Byrne was definitely fierce and committed and whatnot but my goddesses can we please just not. 

And so. 

Order I want them to win: 

Emma Stone, Jessie Buckley or Kate Hudson, then a big gap, Renata Reinsve, then an even bigger gap, then Rose Byrne please no no no no although at least she is a woman but still just no 

Order I think they will win: 

Jessie Buckley

Then maybe if there's like voter fraud or we ban Shakespeare or some other crazy thing, maaaaaaybe people will make psychotic choices for Rose Byrne, or get nostalgic about their years of loving Kate Hudson and her family, or feel proud of themselves for watching Renata Reinsve in films with subtitles, or remember how much they like Emma Stone even though they gave her Oscars for all the wrong movies.  

But probably it'll be Jessie. 

Two Completed Categories: Adapted Screenplay and Original Score

Welcome to the end of the first week of Oscar nominations! 

Have you made your checklists? Have you added up your totals of how many you need to see?  Have you lamented the fact that unless you are in Southern California you might not get to see Viva Verdi before the ceremony?  Have you asked yourself why you haven't yet moved back to Southern California?  I have done all of these things!

As of nominations morning, I already had two completed categories. 

Adapted Screenplay
Bugonia
Frankenstein
Hamnet
One Battle After Another 
Train Dreams 

Original Score
Bugonia
Frankenstein
Hamnet
One Battle After Another
Sinners

Similar nominees! Let's see what separates them, and what we think. 

First of all, I'll make it clear from the outset this year that I am a full-fledged member of #TeamBugonia. I love it, and I absolutely love it.  It is the best thing Emma & Yorgos have done, by far.  I was getting a little tired of their cinematic antics and when the Lanthimos-directed Poor Things earned Emma Stone another Oscar a couple years ago I was miserable; I loathed that flick. And I was dreading Bugonia, and my expectations couldn't have been lower as I grudgingly headed into the theatre back in November. Much to my pleasant surprise, it was fantastic.  I will be thrilled if it wins anything, although I don't know that it will. More on that as we move through the season. 

On the other hand, I am completely not buying the hype for One Battle After Another.  Yes, it was wild and had moments of hilarity and serious themes and staggering sequences and great performances. It was also interminable. I call it One Scene After Another. Enough. 

Adapted Screenplay is an interesting category. As much as Bugonia is my favorite of the five films, I don't know if it's the best adaptation of previously published material. It is based on a Korean movie, Save the Green Planet!  For this category, I think about what it took to take the prior work and turn it into this work, and in that sense I think there are two other strong contenders, both of which I also like immensely, Hamnet and Train Dreams. 

Hamnet is a wonderful, earthy, lovely, witchy, gritty, literary book that I found to be such a clever re-imagining of what led to Hamlet,  and the film was beautifully faithful to the book while giving us a glorious cinematic experience.  I am 100% OK with Hamnet winning everything, too. 

Train Dreams is a slight, odd novella that I read last year in anticipation of then-months-off Awards Season, and when I read it I thought it might work better as a film. I now agree with myself. The book is barely more than an idea, but the movie is another earthy, gritty, quietly powerful bit of art that rewards quiet contemplative viewing.  Did you see it?  What did you think? 

And Frankenstein?  Again, not so much the screenplay moved me here as Guillermo del Toro's weird and wondrous and lush filmmaking vision.  But it was beautiful and bookended well, with lots of great choices -- and his films don't always necessarily land for me, either, but this one surely did. 

And then there's Original Score, which is always hard for me to decide short of a true marvel (for example, The Brutalist last year or Gladiator more than two decades ago) because I honestly sometimes forget to pay attention.  When I contemplate these nominees now, I have to think back to how I was ushered through the film.  And honestly, all of them are fine, although it is unnecessary to reward One Battle After Another here. The music of Sinners was absolutely a huge part of it, but not necessarily because of the Original Score. It's possible that Sinners, a stunning movie, will pick up a slew of awards including this one. But the same can be said for Hamnet.  Will Bugonia and Frankenstein be shut out? 

Order I want the Adapted Screenplay nominees to win from my #1 pick to no thanks: 
Train Dreams, Hamnet, Bugonia, Frankenstein, One Battle After Another
Order I think they will win, if you'd like my help in your Oscar pool (ha!): 
Hamnet, One Battle After Another, Bugonia, Train Dreams, Frankenstein 

Order I want the Original Score nominees to win: 
Bugonia, Hamnet, Sinners or Frankenstein, One Battle After Another 
Order I think they will win (although I'm really truly not sure): 
Sinners, Hamnet, One Battle After Another, Frankenstein, Bugonia 

Well, that's two categories done out of 24! 
How about you? 
Is your Oscar nominee viewing off to a good start? 

Who Wore It Better? Mid-Life Crisis Edition

Checking in quickly for an early, special edition of Who Wore It Best?

This year, George Clooney, Julia Roberts, and Brad Pitt, those high wattage movie star besties so dear to my Gen X heart, all starred in awards-conversation films featuring a full-fledged middle-age-turning-to-later-years What Is My Life's Work? crisis, with a bonus shared plot point of Who Does This Young Whippersnapper Think S/He Is? 

And I loved all of them. 

Only F1 has ended up with Oscar nominations, so Brad is going to have to carry this particular torch through the home stretch ("Wait for the straightaway!") but the Golden Globes did acknowledge George and Julia too. 

Jay Kelly - Hollywood, fake friends, Europe, awards, acting, sincerity, trains, career-spanning montage 

After the Hunt - academia, fake friends, pontificating, marriage, relationships, advisors, group think, ivory tower, identity, was-s/he-just-using-me? 

F1 - racing, real friends, fake fans, managers, family, co-workers, team building, car building, media, corporate sponsors, mavericks, mistakes, Europe, Las Vegas, Abu Dhabi, casino, podium finish, lessons learned 

Who Wore It Best?  

I LOVE THEM ALL 

#swan 

Left Without Our Own Devices

So the coolest thing happened today. My phone died for a little while. 

I do not mean that like, "Oh my phone died better grab a charger and plug it in whoops!"  In fact it was plugged in and it was  supposedly charging and I was driving down the highway singing along to my Spotify playlist of choice (R.E.M. "Man on the Moon" was the tune) and suddenly nothing. 

First I kept driving with one hand while with the other I reached for the charger and tried re-plugging it into the phone to coax it to revitalize itself and whatnot and the screen was like, nope, no devices are connected, wouldn't you like to connect one?! and then I picked up the phone and it was so dead even though it had been plugged in for the last hour or so as I was driving around rurally rural Minnesconsin. 

You know, Minnesconsin? I was in that very very northwestern part of Wisconsin right up against the state line where the trees and the landscape and the vibes and the mosquitoes all feel a bit more like Minnesota. And you get Minnesota stations on the radio, which I find sort of vaguely freaky, being east of the Mississippi but having the Man on the Radio be all "K-letter-letter-letter" which I really never thought about that much before today.  Anyway, I've been hanging out in Ashland and Bayfield enjoying the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore and my favorite lake, Lake Superior (it's the most Superior of all the lakes) for a few days and today I checked out the tallest waterfall in Wisconsin, Big Manitou Falls, and then I was headed to get an iced coffee and start wending my way back down into Wisconsin-Wisconsin and the closest iced coffee to be had in a southerly direction was a Caribou Coffee in Hinckley, Minnesota and I was almost there when my phone died. 

One thing about me is that I have to basically be dragged kicking and screaming to get a new phone. My phone works and it has my things and why do I need a new one? has sort of been my take for the last two or three decades. But, every 3 years or so the planned obsolescence demands that I get a new one and we are at a solid 3.25 years on the current device and so I really feared that I was just really truly phone less. In rurally rural Minnesconsin. And without having yet confirmed my lodging destination for tonight.  

Do you realize how much we rely on our phones? 
I mean, I know you think you do.  We all chuckle about it nonchalantly all the time. Ha ha ha we are all so addicted to our phones ha ha ha.  But most of you flick on the GPS to drive to a freaking restaurant. You don't even have a little mini-spiral-bound Rand McNally atlas in your backpack (as I do). 

OK but let's focus on what was viscerally important: I was arriving in Hinckley, Minnesota, population 1800-ish, and I knew I had another hour before the closing time of the coffee, according to what my still-alive phone had told me an hour or so earlier in the state park, and I figured I could go in to the coffee shop, plug in my phone to the wall and see if that was any better than the car charging (that was not charging), and or get out my laptop to connect to worldly things. 

My phone always has issues with Android Auto. But because I don't own my own car right now (urban walkable lifestyle for the win!) I only remember this when I have a rental car, like this week. It does occur to me, occasionally at least, that updating my phone more often might alleviate this. Maybe if I had my own car I'd care. But it's always disconnecting and re-connecting, which is why it had taken me a second to grasp how really dead it was in the first place. Side if not obvious note that the oldness of my phone and charger also concerned me and so as I drove around this tiny town of Hinckley NOT in fact spotting the Caribou Coffee but spotting the True Value Hardware store, I thought, let me get a new charger and maybe solve some of this problem. 

The man in the hardware store dutifully led me to his Android phone chargers, lamented with me how dependent we are on phones now, and described to me how to get to the Caribou Coffee: it's IN Tobie's Restaurant at the gas station.  Ah. It's not a real Caribou Coffee. I mean, it has all the drinks and the espresso and such, so I got my iced latte, but what it doesn't have is anywhere to sit or plug in. 

So, back in the car with the iced latte I try connecting the phone with the new charger and it is just not having it. It seems to recognize, with a little lightning bolt, but then nothing, No 1%, nothing. It was time for desperate moves. I drove on down the road to the McDonald's parking lot, sat there in a parking spot, pulled out my laptop, used the new charger to plug THAT in and give it a little power, made a hotel reservation a couple hours down the highway, and thought about how many road trips I went on in my late teens and early twenties with nary a smartphone in sight.  

What is wrong with us? Seriously? Why can't we make plans anymore? 

But beyond that, why must I use the phone for every thing? 

Because now it's later and I'm in a hotel room and my phone has charged after being plugged into an outlet (it was simply NOT having the car connection, clearly) and I really do need to get a new phone but this one might just get me through a few more days as I head home and all, but I'm sitting here typing on my laptop with my phone purposefully across the room from me. And I started thinking about how very many web sites demand two-factor authentication.  Both work-related and personal. I am forever entering the codes sent to my phone. What if I needed one of those earlier?  What is this brave new world we have created where every other moment of our existence sends us scurrying to this stupid device that is tracking everything we do (and say!) and selling all the data to billionaires galore?  How many hours could I last without using my phone, before some company demanded I access it in order to log in to their site? Let alone how work demands its use (without offering anyone company cell phones - I mean just to log in to fckng Microsoft or Salesforce or whatever). 

For me, text messaging is the biggest thing I miss if I don't have my phone or it's charging in another room; it's what I check most often throughout the day. So I mean, that's a decent reason to use a device frequently  - in contact with actual human beings one actually knows. 

But it really annoys me that banking and credit cards and email programs and work profiles and Outlook and several other daily task things send me to my phone before I can use them on a laptop.

I really really want to do some kind of a 72-hours-without-phone challenge.  I seriously don't know if it's possible at this point in the way my daily life is constructed - and workplace apps and two-factor authentication are the biggest parts of that. 

How long do you think you could go without touching your phone?   

Who Wore It Better? - 2024 Oscar-nominated flicks edition

Who Wore It Better? is my new annual blog post about the things that weirdly showed up in more than one Oscar-nominated film this Awards Season. In fact, this year it's more than two films in a lot of instances, making it a game of Who Wore It Best? instead. 

Non-Human Primates: 
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Better Man, Wicked

As Peter Brady reminds us, "A primate has / the size and shape / of a monkey, a man, or any old ape!"
I have spent a LOT of time with Apes over the last few weeks, OK?  I made a side quest for myself to watch ALL of the Planet of the Apes films from Charlton Heston through this year's Kingdom of..., which I spent the last month doing in all my (not!) free time. Better Man, the whole time you're just like - why are we doing this effect, again?  And Wicked  is of course amazing but this isn't even in the top ten best things about it. 
Who Wore It Best?  Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.  (I'm a full-fledged devotee at this point.)
 

Iranian Father-Daughter Drama With Trees In The Title: 
The Seed of the Sacred Fig, In the Shadow of the Cypress 

Who Wore It Better? The Seed of the Sacred Fig.  One of the best films of the year. Don't miss it. In the Shadow of the Cypress  was an inscrutable fever dream.  Sacred Fig was vivid and heartbreaking. 

Robots That May Or May Not Perform The Tasks You Want Them To:
The Wild Robot, Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, Alien: Romulus, I'm Not A Robot 

Who Wore It Best?  Everyone knows I'm Team Flow for Animated Feature; I found The Wild Robot kind of annoying. (The film and the robot itself.) The gnomes in Wallace ... Fowl were psychotic, but, spoiler alert also kind of saved the day. I hadn't watched an Alien... film in some time and enjoyed Romulus. But without spoilers, I'll say the Live Action Short I'm Not A Robot  wore it best - if you think you are in control of your robot situation, you might wanna take that hubris down a notch. 

People In Rome Trying To Figure Out Who Should Be In Charge: 
Conclave, Gladiator II 

Conclave is sharp, tense, and riveting. Gladiator II is totally unhinged. These power struggle stories are great in different ways. Who Wore It Better?   TIE! 

Injecting Yourself With Substances Provided By Questionable Professionals In An Attempt To Make Your Body and Your Life Different: 
The Substance, Emilia Perez

I absolutely love The Substance with all of my sardonic, profound, socio-philosophical, cynical being. I think E.P. is a goddamn mess. Singing terrible songs about phalloplasty and pretending people can change sex? No thanks. A vicious takedown of the pressures to look good imposed from without and from within, courtesy of no-holds-barred performances from two amazing actresses? Yes, please.
Who Wore It Better? The Substance. By far. 
 
European Actresses Who Starred in a Recent International Foreign Language Nominee And Showed Up This Year To Star In An English Language (or mostly) Nominee
Leonie Benesch from The Teachers' Lounge in this year's September 5
Renate Reinsve from The Worst Person In The World in this year's A Different Man

Both were good. Both had me going "Wait a minute, I know her!" and scurrying to IMDB (because I am the worst person in the world at recognizing faces). Leonie had a more demanding and dramatic role in some ways.  Who Wore It Better?  Leonie in September 5

Man/Men Titles: 
Better Man, A Different Man, The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent, Beautiful Men
(dishonorable mention (get it): real-life man nominated for a Best Actress award despite being a man)



Who Wore It Best? If for nothing else, let's reward The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent for having a distinctive title.  (Nah but also he was awesome for standing up. Sad short film. Sadly relevant too.) 

This Isn't Your Grandma's Musician Biopic: 
A Complete Unknown, Better Man, Maria 

Did you have a friend who was reluctant to see these movies because s/he's sick of biopics?  Did you, like me try to convince said friend that this year's crop of biopics are a little bit different from some of the usual fare?  Two of these opted to tell a brief period of the subject's life, rather than a whole life story, and one was more traditional in a starting-in-childhood kind of way but was off-the-hook original in its vibrancy and chimpanzee representation of the main character.  

Who Wore It Best?  I loved A Complete Unknown, as it spoke directly to my heart, but as a weird and surprising biopic? Better Man.  I can't believe how well it worked

Not pictured, for obvious reasons, but still judged

Men (#whyaremen) in New York buying human flesh, paying women to have sex with them, in the prostitution industry that is rotten to its core while also weirdly creepy and not-at-all-private as everyone does their business barely separated by a wall or maybe only a few inches of space:  Anora, The Brutalist

Immediately after seeing The Brutalist  I told people, this movie pummels you for four hours of your life, but one thing I noticed about it that was great was the scene where the men fresh off the boat pay for some sexual relations, and the scene manages to not objectify women and women's bodies at all. It was the exact opposite of similar scenes in Anora in every way.  More like this, please? The Brutalist wore this depiction of awfulness better. 

Animated Short male anatomy, specifically, the penis, or several of them: Wander to Wonder, Beautiful Men
These two short films traumatized me. 
Who Wore It Better? A big fat neither one.  

I mean clearly the big winner of Oscars season is men, men, men everywhere. Ugh. Men need to calm down. 

This concludes this year's edition of Who Wore It Better? aka  JFC What  A Year. 

Completed Cateogry: Best Picture

 Oscars Day is here! 
Everything is terrible in current events - but we still have the Oscars.
(Which also have some terrible things happening.) 

Best Picture

Anora
The Brutalist
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Dune: Part Two
Emilia Perez
I'm Still Here
Nickel Boys
The Substance
Wicked

Remember: The interesting thing about the Best Picture race, nowadays, is that in the era of the preferential ballot voting (aka ranked choice voting), anything can happen!  And if your movie gets a lot of second, third, and fourth place votes, that can help you more than getting a bunch of first and last place votes. 

If I were a Best Picture ballot-wielding Academy member voting today, I... would be late, first of all, as voting has already closed.  But if I were a Best Picture ballot-wielding Academy member voting on time two weeks ago let's say, here is my ballot! 

Order I want them to win - and due to human psychology, affected by "knowing" other people will be voting for certain films: 
1.I'm Still Here   2.The Substance  3. Conclave  4. A Complete Unknown   5.Wicked   6.Dune: Part Two 7.Anora  8.The Brutalist 

not getting any votes on my ballot (because, simply, I don't want them to win Best Picture - I'm not actually saying there is nothing redeeming about the films. I'm saying I do not think either of them deserves to win Best Picture, and therefore I won't give them even my 9th or 10th place vote for Best Picture):  Nickel Boys, Emilia Perez

The five movies that I loved are in my top five spots, with a bit of playing with the order in which I loved them just a bit, to try to put my (fake) vote where it can do the most. My #1 and #2 choices here, are partly because I do NOT think either of those will be the first one eliminated. (I also loved them.)  When things start to get serious, I want Conclave to get my vote over Anora and The Brutalist, so I can't put that too far down. I'm sad that I don't think A Complete Unknown has a chance in this category, but I did love it, as I did Wicked, which has slightly more of a chance here of getting loads of second and third place votes.  Then spots 6 through 8 are simply the order I want them to have my vote. 

Order I think they will win: 
Anora  or Conclave- I'm still not sure which, The Brutalist,  I'm Still Here, Wicked, The Substance, A Complete Unknown, Emilia Perez, Dune Part Two, Nickel Boys   

Completed Category: Visual Effects

 It's my last completed category! I watched my last of this year's nominees today! 
I'm a #Completist. 

Visual Effects
Alien:Romulus
Better Man
Dune Part Two
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Wicked 

Furthermore, the reason that the last movie I watched, today, was the last nominee I watched is because I additionally set a side quest for myself: to re-watch/watch ALL of the Planet of the Apes movies, starting with the 1968 Charlton Heston original, through the sequels, the remake, and the excellent reboots, ending with this year's nominee. And I did it!  I triumphed over Oscars season. I am a completist AND I did a side quest.  So many apes. I got really into these last few - which have also been nominated for Visual Effects, during years when I didn't complete all the nominees and had a few rogue leftover Makeup, Sound, Song, Visual or other random flicks still to watch. But this year, I decided to correct this situation, check off a few more past nominees, and why not just watch all ten Apes movies, eh? 

So: should Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes win Visual Effects?

Well, I mean, that would be fine. These reboots are so well done, with the motion capture and this wondrously imagined world. (I'm actually going to miss it, after being so devoted to my Apes for a few weeks here). 

But is it more likely that Dune: Part Two or Wicked will win this category?  Yes, I think so.  Dune: Part Two is gorgeous and a stunning achievement and I think everybody wants to give it some technical awards.  On the other hand, First Dune did win some a few years ago, and we also have another gorgeous achievement, Wicked, which everybody wants to give some awards, but then again, they know there will be a second Wicked, so ...?  It's confusing. 

Alien: Romulus also created a world although a lot of it was on a spaceship, and while it paid some fun homage to the original Alien flicks, it might just be an honor to be nominated. 

Better Man is the weird nominee here; it's a fancifully, inventively done biopic of Robbie Williams, who is far more famous in the U.K. than the U.S.A., and who is depicted in the entire film as a monkey. I cannot explain for the life of me why this works so well but it's really marvelous and quite enjoyable. It would be delightful and amusing if it wins over the big multiple-noms films. 

Order I want them to win: 
I don't even know. It's the end of Oscars season! I'm so tired. 

Order I think they will win: 
Dune: Part Two, Wicked, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Better Man, Alien: Romulus 

Well - which Visual Effects nominee do you think is the best? 
The best film overall? The best technical achievement? Both? 

And, are you a #completist? 

Completed Category: Documentary Feature

My second-to-last completed category!  One more nominee to see after this. 

Documentary Feature Film
Black Box Diaries
No Other Land
Porcelain War
Soundtrack To A Coup d'Etat
Sugarcane

Let me just say, once again, that whether a documentary is interesting or good is not based on the topic.

 There can be an amazing documentary about a subject in which I have no interest that has me riveted. Or, the opposite: a topic I would love to know more about can be covered in a terrible documentary, making for an excruciating 2.5 hours, such as is the case with Soundtrack To A Coup d'Etat.  Holy cow is this a boring look at the mid-twentieth century tragic and murderous foreign policy of Belgium and the U.S., and political shenanigans in the Congo, up to and including the murder of Patrice Lumumba. I am deeply interested in this history! This documentary bored me immensely. Also, it was irritating. There's this whole jazz motif going on, and it drove me straight up a wall.  I really don't like jazz and I'm pretty sure that's related to how much I hate this film.  The film is constructed of various jazz music that is sometimes lyrically appropriate and sometimes relevant because the film at that time is talking about when Louis Armstrong or whoever traveled to Africa at that time -- so many layers, like a piece of jazz music, right?  Ugh. It was awful. There were actually close-ups of people singing where you could see their saliva - gross, shudder.  And the shots of Dizzy Gillespie's puffy cheeks gave me the fantods. Now, on the other hand, the frequent clips of Malcolm X talking were by far a highlight of this film - more of that, please. Less of everything else.  Side note: this is not solely about "We Didn't Start the Fire" (Belgians in the Congo!) but also a fair bit of Car 54 Where Are You?  (Khrushchev's due at Idlewild!) 

Anyway. Onto the four good documentaries! 

Black Box Diaries - haunting, stunning achievement, quite personal while being globally relevant, as one woman documents her pursuit of justice in the aftermath of a sexual assault. Why are men. 

No Other Land -  depressing, infuriating look at oppressively macho Israeli military posturing over a bit of land that they would like to forbid Palestinians to live on, for no discernible reason.  

Porcelain War - still more depressing stuff, with art and nature and beauty struggling to keep their heads above the mass of violent warfare that is the Russian invasion of and war in Ukraine.  

Sugarcane -  another personal depiction that meanders through major trauma and its effects years and decades later on the survivors of "Indian schools" in Canada as well as on their descendants. I really thought this was well done, with the weaving of one personal search for healing amid the wider community and even world search for healing related to this horrible bit of history. 

There is really only one that I can't bear to see win, but my order in which I'd like to see them win:  Sugarcane, Black Box Diaries, Porcelain War  (really, any of those three!), then No Other Land

Order in which I think they'll win: 
Maybe Porcelain War? Or Black Box Diaries.  I might like Sugarcane more than some other people do, but I did notice Lily Gladstone's name as an Executive Producer, which probably means she'll have  successfully campaigned it to some extent.  No Other Land probably won't work for some people. I don't know who votes for Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat ... Steely Dan fans? Overwrought fever dreaming men? I don't know. 

Which documentary did you think was the best? 

Completed Category: International Feature

I greatly enjoy foreign films. One of my favorite categories! 

International Feature Film
Flow
Emilia Perez
The Seed of the Sacred Fig
I'm Still Here
The Girl With The Needle

This year? Not easy, my friends. 

There are four incredible cinematic accomplishments and one travesty of a nomination. I do not see how any member of this or any other Academy who watches all five of these could even consider voting for the abject mess that is Emilia Perez.

Flow is a sweet little cat film 🐈‍⬛️ and misfit friends story with no dialogue and lots of struggles and success, as we have mentioned elsewhere. Welcome to this party,  Latvia! If Flow loses both here and in Animated, I'll be devastated.

The Seed of the Sacred Fig is such a well-done look at Iran; it skillfully incorporates real-life videos of protests from recent years while placing you into this family's little world, then creating tension that sneaks up on you and builds to a fever pitch. 

I'm Still Here, also nominated for Actress in a Leading Role (Fernanda Torres) and freaking Best Picture is incredible - except that it depicts a true Brazil story - and I've not felt sadder in some time than I did after watching this loving family experience man-made tragedy. 

And then last night I watched The Girl With The Needle, which is a slow burn but then dear gods will it mess you up. There are so many questions to contemplate about these characters and their choices. What should we do, what can we do, why are men, why are humans, why any of it? Go see it knowing absolutely nothing! Other than: humans, poverty, Denmark, war, devastation, black and white -- the film, not life choices. But prepare for heart palpitations. 

Order I want them to win:  Any of the three, seriously. Maybe Seed of the Sacred Fig, I'm Still Here, The Girl With The Needle. Next Flow only because it better freaking be winning Animated. And then a giant huge gap bigger than sixty- four Grand Canyons, and then gtfo E.P.

Order I think they will win:
I'm Still Here maybe possibly please. Then stupid freaking E. Perez because humans are the worst. Then the others... although if the voters have the sense the gods gave a goose then they'll do the right thing here. Which is to say, do anything but the worst thing. 

Completed Category: Live Action Shorts

I headed down to my local cinema to finish off the Shorts today. 

Live Action Short Film
A Lien
Anuja 
I'm Not A Robot
The Last Ranger
The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent 

Three of these are available for you to watch online, which I did do over the past few weeks, and that's great because then when I go to the theatre to catch the others, during the ones I've already seen I can either re-watch, or I can go get my popcorn refill! 

This is definitely one of the years that I prefer the Live Action Shorts to the Animated Shorts.  They are  all a little depressing, though.  Why are humans?  I do continue to ask this question.  Also, there were a couple of my fellow moviegoers chatting in the lobby afterwards who were flummoxed by how these Shorts left things unresolved at the end.  It's a fair point; it was very Lady-or-the-Tiger-esque up in the Live Action Shorts.  At any rate, issues presented include: immigration/deportation/removal by ICE, child labor/opportunity for education, authoritarian regimes on the verge of genocide, humanity vs. robots, and the murder of innocent animals by poachers for their tusks & horns so that some horrible men can get rich and or feel more "virile" and strong.  #WHYAreMen, seriously.  

Order I want them to win: 
The Last Ranger, The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent, honestly this is so hard, I won't be mad if any of them win, maybe Anuja-A Lien then I'm Not A Robot? This is not to really take anything away from I'm Not A Robot. This category might be the least dud-ly of all the categories.

Order I think they will win: 
Wow I really don't know. They're all so timely. I'd like some others to weigh in here! 
But maybe A Lien (timely) or The Last Ranger (infuriating but galvanizing)? , The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent -- so timely -- then I'm Not A Robot (also so timely) and Anuja?  Dude, I don't know. 

What do you think? 

 

Checking In With One Week To Go

As of 1:30 pm on Sunday (Feb 23) one week before the Oscars, here's where I am: 

I have four more categories to complete. 
* Live Action Shorts
* International Feature Film 
* Documentary Feature Film 
* Visual Effects 

I have completed: 
Documentary Shorts, Animated Shorts, Animated Feature
Lead Actress, Lead Actor, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress  
Directing, Adapted Screenplay, Original Screenplay
Cinematography, Editing, Production Design 
Makeup & Hairstyling, Costume Design 
Sound, Original Song, Original Score
and Best Picture 

So far I have mixed feelings about a lot of the categories, but especially the Acting awards, because there is such egregious category fraud going on in the Supporting races, and it's all but a foregone conclusion that the fraudulent will win. It's so annoying. 

The Documentary Features (I have one left) and Documentary Shorts, as in so many years, are amazing, and devastating. 

Speaking of brutal things, I do still think The Brutalist will win stuff. Will it win all the stuff?  Will it triumph over buzz-a-licious Anora?  Can The Substance sneak in and win a few things -- and will it definitely win for Actress (Demi Moore) and  Makeup?  Will Wicked get a slew of well-deserved visual and technical awards or will the wealth be spread around?  Could we have a blessedly Emilia Perez-free evening?  How amazing would that be. A step toward making up for the EEAAO year we recently suffered through. 

And will we ever know why there are so many monkeys? 

By the way, I launched myself on an additional project during this year's Oscar viewing. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is nominated for Visual Effects. Now, the last few Apes reboots have also been so nominated, but I wasn't able to be a completist in those years, and in my non-completist years it's often been a few rogue Makeup, Song, or Visual Effects nominees that are the ones lacking and I have not watched any of the reboot series. This year, I knew I'd be a completist, which would entail watching Kingdom...Apes, and so I decided a few weeks ago to watch all of the Planet of the Apes movies -- all of them.  Starting with a re-watch of the original 1968 Planet of the Apes that I saw in my childhood. And that has been my side quest, in between watching this year's nominated flicks.  During the past months I have re-watched or watched all five of the original series (some are far worse than others) and am now catching up on the modern ones, and will end with Kingdom...  thus completing both my Apes side quest and my Oscar-nominated 2024 films main quest later this week, if all goes according to plan and the world doesn't, like, collapse in the next few days or anything. 

So, coming up this week will be: 
Four more completed categories
Best Picture (which is done, but have to save that category post for last) 
Perhaps a ranking of all the nominated films
Perhaps another edition of Who Wore It Better? 

Enjoy the last week of Oscar season! 

Completed Category: Costume Design

I actively like so much of what's going on this category! 

Costume Design
A Complete Unknown 
Conclave
Gladiator II
Nosferatu
Wicked

Look. I love Wicked. I love it, and I said when I watched it that I wanted it to win everything it's nominated for. And that's still mostly true, other than the fact that Ariana is category fraud supreme and I just can't even but the odds-on favorite Zoe is also fraudulent, and for a disaster of a film, so it might as well be Ariana, but anyway the point is yes I would be happy for wonderful, creative, gorgeous, inspiring Wicked to win for Costume Design. 

But. I would also be just fine, it turns out, with Gladiator II winning in this category. !  No seriously though, Emma the Cat and I just watched it this week during our little winter vacation ski trip and boy were we riveted. The costumes are so beautiful, and so detailed, and so MANY.  I was super into revisiting the Gladiator world and I think I kind of like sequels that leave 20 years in between more than every-couple-of-year sequels. There is so much delicious craziness in this flick, with Denzel, and the loony twin emperors, and a billion soldiers, and it's all exquisite. And this is the only nom that the film got. We might have to take this one away from Wicked, y'all. What do you say? 

I really don't think the others have a chance.  Conclave would if it was on its way to a sweep - remember, people really thought Conclave was going to be our Best Picture for a while - but that ship seems to have sailed.  The cardinals' get-ups are gorgeous and fit for each one of the characters specifically but it's still less of an Achievement in Costume Design than either Gladiator II  or  Wicked. 

Nosferatu might be able to pull this off just because it's so fanciful, unreal, and set long ago & far away.  (But then - so are Wicked  and Gladiator.) 

 A Complete Unknown  is honored to be nominated. The most recently set AND most relatable and realist  of the Costume nominees is almost never the winner. Conclave is more recent but isn't a period piece, and its world is removed from us regular folks (even us Newport Folk Festival-playing regular folks), but even it I think doesn't really have as much of a chance. 

Order I want them to win: 
Gladiator II, Wicked, Conclave, A Complete Unknown, Nosferatu 

Order I think they will win: 
Wicked, Gladiator II, Nosferatu, Conclave, A Complete Unknown 

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?