Simon Boccanegra

Oh, yeah. It instantly went into the pantheon with the Niven streaker, Sacheen Littlefeather, Vanessa Redgrave excoriating "Zionist hoodlums" (and getting upbraided shortly after by Paddy Chayefsky), Snow White duetting with Rob Lowe, Benigni walking on the seats, Halle hyperventilating, the Best Picture blunder of 2017... Whatever one's take on the behavior of the people involved, it's assured of being in every "Oscar history" article.

Yes. That's accurate for the entrance music of both. Kaluuya was presenting in tandem with H.E,R., but that doesn't make it any more sensible a choice.

An excellent take on The Incident and the whole bloated ceremony from Daniel Fienberg: I don’t know how else to put this: If a comedian — one as brilliant as Rock at his peak or as hacky as Rock was Sunday night before the G.I. Jane joke — makes fun of you, you yell back at them. You ask Chris Rock when he was last funny. You make fun of the size of his genitals. Maybe you swear at him, because you’re angry and protecting your wife. You don’t stand up and commit assault on national TV, and it’s tempting to wonder what would have happened to anybody who had done the same thing and wasn’t 15 minutes away from winning an Oscar. I’m fairly sure a civilian taking a swing at Chris Rock for no reason would have been arrested. I’m not sure what happens if Javier Bardem, who was never winning Sunday night, had come up and slugged Rock, but I’m guessing he’d have been escorted out of the building at a minimum. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-reviews/academy-awards-show-review-1235120455/

We're in a streaming age now. Five of the Best Picture nominees debuted on a streaming service either instead of or in addition to wide release in theaters. The other five were all available to stream as part of a subscription (Netflix, Disney, HBO, etc.) or watch at home via rental weeks or months before the telecast. So, you can't look at box-office numbers alone and generalize about no one caring about the movies. Don't Look Up was the second-most-streamed movie in the history of Netflix. Not everyone loved it, of course, but it got watched a lot. Also, maybe some people watch the ceremony to see their favorite stars, then they see clips or hear what someone says and they think, "That looks interesting." Many years ago, if the movie wasn't still playing near them, their only hope would have been catching it on television years later. I have no doubt that in future years they'll use it in marketing somehow, even if obliquely so as not to be accused of bad taste. Maybe a shot of Will and Jada seated together while the announcer says "The Academy Awards...where anything can happen!" The Oscars finally has its "Stephen and Irene' moment. When the story below broke about ten years ago, I was done with them. https://www.thedailybeast.com/inside-will-and-jada-pinkett-smiths-scientology-school But I did see King Richard as pre-Oscars due diligence, even though biopics are usually a chore for me to get through. It's a decent movie. Will typically doesn't choose projects I have an interest in, so he's easy for me to avoid. Jada does so even less often. I swear, I don't think I've seen her in a movie since Scream 2.

I remember that his first hosting turn didn't go well. That was 2005, the year of his infamous riff about the unworthiness of the actors Hollywood puts forward as movie stars, such as Jude Law. It landed awkwardly in the auditorium. Sean Penn came up to present an award later and said, "Forgive my lack of humor, but Jude Law is one of our finest actors," to applause. (Penn didn't punch anyone, though, and he's been known to do that. Sean Penn, model of restraint!) I have a bad opinion of the Smith/Pinkett-Smith couple for several reasons, and while I thought Rock's joke was mean, Smith came out of the night looking worse. Way to shit all over his big night, Jane Campion's, the CODA people's, et cetera. This has been going on forever. They tweak this and that, promising that now the show will be swiftly paced and will end by whatever time, and it never happens. Because when they pull something out, they think it clears them to add MOAR BANTER and other filler.

Two things I noticed and loved on a rewatch: Doc's line from the 1961 film "When do you kids stop? You make this world lousy!" is reassigned (not quite word for word, but too close for coincidence) to one of the distressed merchants, in Spanish, when the Jets are running loose on the sidewalks at the beginning. Also, the nerdy-looking dance chaperone's line (a Kushnerism, not in the original) "Give us some hope, just for a little bit. Then you can revert back to your true feral selves" is essentially a summing-up of the story. Tony and Maria are the hope, just for a little bit. Then, as so often in real life when groups are at odds on ethnic, racial, political, or religious grounds...

Finally! Ten Best Picture nominees up, ten down. Thank goodness for the concept of the "free trial." It's a likable movie, and I didn't dislike any of the characters (well, any of the significant ones; I'm not counting walk-on snobs at the school), even when they did things that didn't show them at their best -- the love interest gabbing to his friend about Ruby's parents and not realizing it will get around, the parents undervaluing Ruby's life beyond being their support, the music teacher being a divo about his valuable time. In every case, I could see it from their point of view. For example, Ruby wasn't all that forthcoming with the music teacher about how stretched thin she was. She was the kind of person who would say "I'll be there at 6:30" and really mean to be there at 6:30, but something would come up. And I've dealt with people who overpromised, so I get it. I wouldn't have reacted well to a sulky "It was only 20 minutes" either. I was aware while watching it that it wasn't anything revolutionary as writing or filmmaking, and the pacing was more languid than it needed to be, but it shows us familiar scenes from an underexplored angle. For example, the mother and father have a bedroom discussion about whether to loosen their grip and let their daughter pursue her dreams. I've seen some version of that scene many times, but here it was with sign language, as well as with an undercurrent of dependency on their part...or, at least, a comfort and familiarity with the status quo. The characterization of the brother and his feelings about his sister's plans were interesting too. I think Kotsur is getting most of his awards on the basis of that scene where he asks her to sing the song to him. It's a shame Emilia Jones was excluded from the Best Actress Oscar race, because she had to learn a lot for this and she provided a strong center. It's this year's Minari. Neither was my favorite for the year at issue, but I was happy to have seen them, and I don't begrudge them their acclaim and success.

Yeah...I actually do love my share of Woody Allen films, but not so many from the 21st century. He just started repeating himself and seeming out of touch with the world. Vicky Cristina Barcelona is one of the better ones from that period, and I was happy for Cruz when she won, but the Almodóvar films such as Volver, Broken Embraces, and Parallel Mothers showcase the best of her. I hope they continue to work together for as long as he goes on.

An actor, director, producer, marketer, and casting director share their choices anonymously with EW. Read at your own risk. A lot of admissions of turning movies off halfway through or not watching them at all. But I am happy for the Penélope Cruz love. https://ew.com/awards/oscars/2022-oscars-secret-ballot

For whatever reason, it seems Indiewire always has the more decorous "honest Oscar ballots," and Hollywood Reporter has the bitchy/petty ones. I don't know if it's a matter of editing or if it has to do with the people they ask, but it's been consistent for years. Hollywood Reporter is where you get "this actress in her seventies, with a past Oscar nomination of her own" who says things like "I didn't even watch The Worst Person in the World. Why are they making a movie about the worst person in the world? Why not the best person in the world? We need more positive messages." And "I'm not voting for Steven Spielberg. He can walk around smiling all he wants, but we know the truth." And "Denzel shouldn't even have been nominated, because he's played that role on stage before, so he already knew the lines." (Those aren't actual quotes.)

I'm so happy to read this. Mike Leigh is a cinema treasure, and Secrets & Lies is an outstanding example of him and his unusual working method (and his always-superb actors). Definitely a top-five Leigh.

I was re-reading Steve Pond's gossipy The Big Show recently. It covers a 15-year period in Oscar-telecast history beginning with the Allan Carr debacle of '89 and concluding with 2004, when The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King won. It's a reminder that concerns about the popularity of the nominated movies are nothing new. Gil Cates [edit: Quincy Jones was an earlier year] was producing the '97 telecast, and he felt he'd drawn a tough hand. The producer -- knowing the show is going to be judged on its viewer retention numbers -- always hopes for a year when big hits are nominated. That chapter is full of hand-wringing about how Jerry Maguire is the only blockbuster in contention, among challenging non-mainstream fare (The English Patient, Fargo, Secrets & Lies, Shine). Today, I'd say Fargo ($60 mil, a modest hit at the box office) is the most widely beloved nominee from that batch. A lot of people caught up with it later, on home video or on television. I suppose most people who were teenagers or older in the '90s do still remember the lines "Show me the money!" and "You complete me" from JM.

What I always found interesting about the process is that the nominees are chosen by the branch at issue, and then the winners are chosen by the entire Academy. Randy Newman gave a memorable interview on that years ago. At the time, he had 12 or 13 nominations (a combination of his scores and his songs) without a win. He said it really is an honor just to be nominated, because it's your peers recognizing you. But there were times when the score that won the award -- bestowed by the collective Academy -- was something the composers might have had third or fourth on their list. He said it sometimes was hard for him as an Academy member to decide what to pick in certain categories. One year he really liked The Talented Mr. Ripley, so he threw support to it in the craft categories where it was eligible, but "What do I know about makeup?" Then he gestured at his own schlubby clothes and added, "Or wardrobe, obviously."

I liked it too, but it was...leisurely. Coast My Car, at times. I've seen movies with the opening titles placed pretty far in, such as Midsommar, but a 40-minute pretitle sequence is really hitting another level. I was at that point thinking we were going to do without them entirely (as is pretty common nowadays), and then when I saw titles appearing, I almost laughed. "We're still doing that? Really?" However, I'll say that while it asks for patience, it's the kind of movie I tend to remember the best parts of now, at the remove of a few months. That next-to-last scene is beautiful.

To my surprise, I like all nine of the BP nominees I've seen. Almost every year, I can count on a Promising Young Woman or a Ford v. Ferrari or a Vice (and so on) for the "Please, anything but that" slot, but this year. I'd give even the ones I liked least a solid "7." So, unless I absolutely loathe CODA, which I've been procrastinating over for weeks now...

I remember those being a somewhat controversial element of the movie at the time. Some people thought they were terrifying; others thought they were badly done. I leaned more toward "terrifying." Looking at the Carl scene from YouTube, I think I've put my finger on the issue: it depends on whether a viewer is focusing more on sight or sound. The visual effects are thin by the standards of what was possible in 1989-90, but the noises are unsettling in the extreme. Those noises make me want to lead a more virtuous life. One comment on the YT clip says the effect was achieved by recording crying babies and slowing them way down, which, if true, is very cool. (And very Lynchian...the only thing about Ghost that reminds me at all of David Lynch. He achieved a blood-curdling effect in the 2017 Twin Peaks miniseries with Beethoven slowed down to unrecognizability.) It's nice to see such interesting discussion of a movie I haven't thought about in a long time. When Ghost was a new film, I was seeing more of the big-star commercial films that tend to be released in the summer. Honestly, if more of them were at Ghost's level, I'd still see more of them. It was soulful, an interesting mingling of genres; the three leads were perfectly cast for what they could do best, and all were at the peak of their powers.

There can be a kind of pleasure in being a little ahead of the characters, and that might have been what Ghost was intending. I haven't seen the movie in a long time, but as I recall, Sam/Swayze is really stunned and hurt when he sees what his supposed friend is capable of. We in the audience have had a view from farther back, so if we feel there's something shifty or off about Carl almost from the start, it works. He's not our friend. I recall that when Carl is impaled, Sam is horrified. Like, the guy may have turned out to be a mercenary little weasel who would hire a Willie Lopez and then threaten (more) murders at his own hands to get what he wanted, but Sam still didn't want that for him. There's a very meme-able look of wide-eyed horror and aversion of eyes from Swayze at the impaling, and when he sees Carl in ghost form, knowing what's about to come, there's no satisfaction. He says, "Oh, Carl," mournfully. It's a nice character touch.

Oh, yes. About other qualities she had, there can be discussion and debate, but when the topic turns to beautiful crying -- not only in this but About Last Night... and some others -- she is one of the masters, worthy of the Ingrid Bergman Award for Distinguished Achievement in Crying. (The award is shaped like a perfect single tear.) Something I always remember about Ghost: A movie-loving friend of mine (who, alas, has passed to the other side herself now) was merciless with Ghost for what she felt was the telegraphing of the villain. She did a hilarious slice-and dice (complete with impressions) of the "There's too much money in these accounts, Carl"/"Oh, don't worry about that! Go home to your pretty girlfriend" scene. She saw Ghost with another friend of hers, and when that scene was playing, she nudged the friend and said, simply, "Carl." The friend looked at her like "What do you mean?" and then later claimed to have been completely surprised! Heh. I didn't think that that telegraphing was such a big deal, personally. I actually thought they threw us a clue even earlier, by highlighting Carl's greed/materialism re: the expensive car and having Sam tell him to pay off his Mustang first.

I was thinking the same thing the other day, Rinaldo. It could be argued that Hurt was the "great serious actor" leading man of movies in the '80s. It was nearly a given that he would be in something every year that would get him more raves and awards consideration. As an illustration, Roger Ebert did a piece in 1986 on another actor, and he wrote: "The movie industry does not know how he will turn out, but he holds the potential to be mentioned with Brando, De Niro, Hurt and the others who come surrounded with the aura of a special talent." I think anyone reading that today who wasn't actually going to movies in the '80s would be surprised to see Hurt in that company. They might even be unsure whether Roger meant William or John. I'd say the last role of that part of Hurt's career was The Doctor in 1991, just barely past the decade-turn mark. Of course, he continued to stay busy, but it didn't seem he was considered for the same sort of things (or, as you speculate, was interested in them?). Some of it may have been the way he aged after 40. He no longer had what one of the obits called a "blond Don Draper" look, as he had had in films such as Broadcast News. Someone else whose peak period was very neatly circumscribed by the decade of the '80s was Kathleen Turner. She had had a run comparable to Hurt's...sometimes in the same movies.

Altman in general repeats well, I find. As casual as his movies can look, they're full of dialogue and business and, usually, enough characters for two or three films. There are a few I just loved from the first time, and some others were good enough to see again and then they grew on me. I love the organic treatment of conversation and seemingly effortless atmosphere in almost everything he made. That isn't to say he didn't make some hopeless duds, because he did, and not all of his classics have stood the test of time equally well. McCabe & Mrs. Miller yes, M*A*S*H* not so much. Gosford Park is one I should see again. When I saw it in 2001 or early 2002, I liked it, but I recalled that USA Today (I think it was) had published a non-spoilery "who's who" page detailing the characters and their relationships. As I sat in the theater, I wished I had closely read it beforehand. That was before we had Wikipedia.

A 2022 "anonymous Oscar ballot" from an unnamed director, via Indiewire. https://www.indiewire.com/2022/03/anonymous-oscar-ballot-2022-director-overhyped-the-power-of-the-dog-1234706678/

This will come to the topic eventually. I was watching the 1955 Alfred Hitchcock film To Catch a Thief recently, having seen it only once a long time ago. Besides Cary Grant and Grace Kelly and a couple other English or American supporting players, almost every actor is a native French speaker (the story is set on the Riviera). There's a lot of non-subtitled French in it. But it works the way the new West Side Story works. If you know French, great; if you don't speak a word of it, you get it from the tone and expressions and even half paying attention to the movie. For example, there's a funeral scene in which a woman shouts at Cary Grant at length. The gist is "Get out of here! You're responsible for my father's death!" It's obvious what she's angry about from the story to that point. It made me think about the over-the-top reaction to the way WSS handled its Spanish, mostly from people on social media vowing they weren't going to see it now. I wish someone had pointed out that this "golden age of Hollywood" crowd-pleaser movie, made by Alfred Hitchcock of all people, had at least as much untranslated foreign language as Spielberg's. More, I think.

Or (in the lead category) Far From Heaven. She'd have had my vote that year, over Nicole's Virginia Woolf. She was also pretty damn great in her first nominated lead performance, The End of the Affair, totally overcoming my doubts about her suitability for it (I love that novel). But there, I really can't quarrel with the Academy's choice (Hilary Swank for Boys Don't Cry).

Ha. Larry managed to get that HBO documentary scrapped mere hours before it was to begin streaming. Is there anything more Larry David than that? I wonder if he told HBO it would be too upsetting because his stepfather was in a coma. https://nypost.com/2022/03/01/larry-david-story-hbo-doc-cancelled-day-before-premiere/

Yeah. And she went all-out. Self-produced biopic! Playing from teens to sixties! Prosthetics! Accent! Heart! Humor! Pathos! Singing! That's some nuclear-option Oscar baiting. But I have no idea what will happen in Best Actress. I could see any of them winning it. Colman and Kidman have "She's already won" working against them, but that didn't hurt Frances McDormand recently. Cruz's previous win was in Supporting, she's now a veteran international great, and she's really impressing people who see Parallel Mothers. Stewart was the presumptive front-runner for so long, but faded...but not so much that I'd consider her out of it. Chastain has as good a chance as anyone, maybe more. She's been solid or more in so many critical favorites (The Tree of Life, Take Shelter, Zero Dark Thirty, A Most Violent Year, the Scenes from a Marriage miniseries) as well as more commercial films (The Help, Interstellar, The Martian). Even if the Tammy Faye picture isn't someone's thing, she might get it for career achievement and lack of prior wins. She's also well liked, and a lot of people filling out ballots will have worked with her.