Oscars time!

 The Oscar nominations are here, which it means it is time for my annual attempt to reignite the fire that once was this blog, Linda Without Borders.  Let's see if we can make it burn in 2024!  Because guess what? I am flamin' hot! More on that below. 

Prior to Awards Season, I had not been going to movies at the theatre much for a while; 2023 was a bananas year. Like many of you, I did go see Barbie and Oppenheimer. Unlike many, I had absolutely zero interest in going at any point close to opening weekend. I saw Barbie in September and Oppenheimer in October. Then, because #IAmVeryBusy I didn't do much else until basically Golden Globes week -- and it was time to dive in! But I did see Poor Things in time to have lots of opinions for that ceremony, and my opinions are mostly "UGH why Emma Stone must you participate in this why UGH" but more on that later as well, surely, with its obnoxious amount of noms. 

And so that brings us to Nominations Tuesday!  What did we think? 

Oppenheimer leads the way! 
I am good with its thirteen nominations and I will be OK with it if Christopher Nolan finally wins for Directing. Well done film! I was in Los Alamos just last year; it's such a weird little place plunked down in the middle of my beautiful Southwest, and when I was hiking in the Bandelier National Monument and some other spots around there I just kept thinking about how terrible it was for all of the birds, deer, squirrels, snakes, coyotes, rabbits, and so on and so on when suddenly a bunch of humans murdered the air and land and thousands of animals, on their way to murdering a few hundred thousand humans. We (humanity) are honestly so horrible to every living thing and this movie is great and, alas, it goes over some people's heads and they go "Oooh! We are smart! We make science!"  Great film. Horrible species. 

But, do I want Robert Downey Jr. to win? 
Weeelllll, maybe. I am disappointed in the Supporting Actor category. Because it is missing Willem Dafoe in Poor Things. 

But I hated Poor Things?
Yes, that is correct. I disliked Poor Things, but Willem Dafoe's performance is one of the most interesting portrayals that I have ever seen in my life. I won't spoiler anything here, but every second he is on screen and every new bit you learn about his character and every decision he makes - it's remarkable. I don't usually get too involved in this or that "snub" but I am so, so disappointed about him. This is one of my already completed categories, so we'll delve into it soon. Speaking of "snubs"...

Was Margot Robbied?
I'll tell ya what. When Barbie made a billion dollars, which is like 25 times more than many Oscar nominees make, I kinda forgot to anticipate that 25 times as many people would come out of the woodwork and onto the internet on Nominations Day with their opinions about what the Academy should/shouldn't/did/didn't do. It is amateur hour out there!  When I got sick of people re-sharing the meme on Tuesday about how Margot and Greta Gerwig not getting nominated is the whole plot of Barbie, I started commenting asking people which of the five nominated actresses they didn't want in the Lead Actress category. Some said, "Carey Mulligan" which tells me that they haven't yet seen Maestro, except for the one person who told me herself. I quote this person: "Carey Mulligan. Not a diss on her, and I haven't watched Maestro, but she should have been considered in the Supporting Actress category. I can't recall ever seeing the Oscars nominate anyone but a singular lead for a biopic."   I -  what?  That is such a spectacularly bad take.   
First of all, you haven't seen this movie but ... ?   SO then maybe don't proclaim this? Maestro is about their relationship. Mulligan is 100% a star of that film. 
Secondly, you "can't recall" that, eh?   That doesn't mean it hasn't happened. The Theory of Everything. What's Love Got To Do With It. Walk the Line - Reese Witherspoon won Lead Actress. Seriously just no. Anyway, that is what it was like out there yesterday and today on the internet.  Sure, I'm sorry for Margot. But I need people to stop pretending they know what they are talking about regarding the Oscars and the Academy.  And by the way, Actress is one of my other already completed categories, so we'll talk more about this soon, but how about we get rid of, if anything, Emma Stone's nomination for depicting all different kinds of sex? Yes, that's another eye-roll at Poor Things. There will be more. I will roll so many eyes that I might need Willem Dafoe to surgically implant a new one in my head.  

What nominations are we happy about? 
I mean - Jodie and Annette!!  I am one of a few (apparently) who loved Nyad, but more so I loved both of their performances fiercely and while I was so worried leading up to Awards Season that it sounded like Natalie Portman was going to steal Annette Bening's Oscar again, as she did in 2010 (Black Swan), only this time it would be with Natalie in the movie with Julianne Moore (May December) instead of Annette in the movie with Julianne Moore (The Kids Are All Right) but that TOTALLY didn't happen. No Natalie, only 1 nod for May December and it's not for any acting, and Annette is instead going to have her Oscar stolen by - ugh, Emma Stone.

Also happy about Past Lives, which I adored, getting two nominations -- but I wanted more. 

We will (maybe) get into all of these categories over the next few weeks here on the blog (somebody hold me to this), but first let's talk about the very best thing that happened while I was listening to the Nominations live announcement. Now remember: I was behind, but during Golden Globes week I set out to become less behind, checking off a few of the multiple GGlobes nominees that I suspected would also become multiple Oscar nominees and delving into the biggies: Killers of the Flower Moon, Poor (ugh) Things, Anatomy of a Fall, American Fiction, and the like.  Well. So there I am listening to the nominations and they list the songs, and yeah two songs from Barbie, and the Wahzhazhe from KotFM, and oh of course a song from Diane Warren called "The Fire Inside" and let's see what increasingly obscure film did she write a song for this year to collect her billionth nomination and never win every year forever ... Flamin' Hot. 

Wait. Flamin' Hot?! I SAW that movie. I had a total moment with that movie. Not in a theatre, not on a streaming service, and not on a DVD. At the UnidosUS work conference I attended last July, our Saturday night gala event was a screening of Flamin' Hot - with both the star of the film and the real life guy who invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos both there in attendance.  My co-worker and I had a blast eating seven billion snacks including these flamin' hot man n' cheese balls that changed my life. We somehow made our caterer waiter love us so he kept bringing us extra. We hobnobbed and took photos and enjoyed the film. I went into that evening derisively:  a movie about the guy who invented flamin' hot Cheetos? Seriously? and I left a new woman, with a true appreciation for all things flamin' hot.  It's an ongoing thing for my colleague and me. And in all sincerity, I enjoyed the film, directed by Eva Longoria. I really recommend it!  But I also had entirely expected to hear it announced on Nominations Day.  Goooo Diane Warren! Maybe the two songs from Barbie can split their vote. 

What about you?  What did you think of the nominations? 

What have you seen? What do you want to see next?  With only 29 or 41 that I need to see, depending on how you count the Shorts, I don't even have to watch one a day and I can still be done by the end of February, as long as everything that needs to come to theatres for me in fact does come to theatres.  I am  on track for a totally manageable completist year. Let's blog about it!