2022 Awards Season

[kiddo82]

I learned about the preferential ballot system a few years ago.  I don't know.  I like it.  As someone who can never make up her mind anyway I feel like it would give me an opportunity to give some love to my top two or three knowing that it still might help one of them win.  I always like to ask myself how I would vote/rank.  Dune for example just isn't my cuppa tea but I can't deny the skill it took to make it.  I would have that somewhere in the middle over movies that I maybe enjoyed more but are less impressive.  I could concede that my favorite movie isn't necessarily the best movie, but at the same time, I don't think I could highly rank a movie that I simply outright did not like no matter how technically good.  Do I bury a movie at 9 or 10 not because I truly think it's the worst nominee but because it has a realistic chance and I do not want to see it win?  Do I highly rank its closest competitor even if I wasn't head over heels for it?  The psychology behind this interests me.

[PepSinger]

@kiddo82 and @Simon Boccanegra I agree with you both about Drive My Car. It definitely could’ve been thirty minutes shorter, but the scenes that impacted me have stayed with me. Granted, I only watched it on Tuesday. I also think the comments about the lead actors goes to something that I believe is the next hurdle: nominating actors in foreign language films in the acting categories. I remember thinking that if the rich mom character in Parasite were portrayed by a white actor, then she would’ve been nominated.

One BP nominated movie that disappointed me was The Lost Daughter. It was well acted and directed, but I didn’t like the story at all. I found myself wondering what the point was.

Edited March 26, 2022 by PepSinger

[ProudMary]

4 hours ago, PepSinger said:

One BP nominated movie that disappointed me was The Lost Daughter. It was well acted and directed, but I didn’t like the story at all. I found myself wondering what the point was.

Just as info, The Lost Daughter isn't nominated for Best Picture. Its three nominations are for Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay.

[kiddo82]

Just under the wire I watched Don't Look Up yesterday so I have officially seen all ten best picture nominees.  Although, I wont be able to squeeze in The Tragedy of MacBeth or the Lost Daughter today so I will have to live with the big, fat failure.  Anywho, I seem to be in the minority as I neither loved nor hated Don't Look Up.  My biggest critique is that I just don't think McKay balanced the tone he was going for well enough.  It needed to be more absurd in certain areas but played straighter in others.  I think he was trying to play the middle sometimes and it didn't quite work for me.  Bar none, the best parts for me were anything involving Cate Blanchette and Tyler Perry.  That was an area where I think they were just over the top enough where you get the satire, but it's straight enough so that it doesn't feel goofy.  The Meryl Streep/Jonah Hill scenes were almost too broad especially when you consider we are not that far removed from Veep which hit those notes perfectly.  Also, you could almost feel the self-congratulatoriness wafting off some of those scenes.  And, a running theme this Oscar year, what was up with the run time?  2 hours and 20 minutes for a dark comedy?  The only movie up for best picture that showed any restraint at all in the editing process was Belfast.  For that reason alone I would rank it number 1.  (and in fairness, West Side Story's run time, while long, isn't terrible considering it's hard to trim down a musical).  Back to Don't Look Up though, I don' think it's a bad movie, but I also don't think it compares to other recent dark comedy/satirical screenplay winners like Promising Young Woman, Get Out, and Jojo Rabbit.  (the trifecta of the last few years as far as I'm concerned.)  Those three managed to walk a tightrope that Don't Look Up never really does for me.

[katha]

I think McKay is trying to strike again like he did with "The Big Short" and is never quite getting the tone right tbh. "The Big Short" went for these broad comedic asides and it was deliberately smug and annoying until it went full horror movie in the last part and you realized "Holy hell, this is still happening, there were no consequences, the same people will get victimized and the same assholes will keep getting away with it." It was a drastic tonal shift and yeah, broad, but really worked for me. The stuff he's done after that kinda wants to go in the same direction but isn't hitting as hard IMO. 

[kiddo82]

I did like The Big Short a lot.  I even liked Vice to an extent although I get why others didn't.  Don't Look Up just missed the mark for me.

[Ms Blue Jay]

I think I liked Vice and Don't Look up about the same, which is better than neutral.

I liked The Big Short the least of those.

I definitely did not hate Don't Look Up but it was wayyyyyyyyy too long for what it was.  At least 30 minutes could have been easily cut.  It's easy to see why people feel like it was indulgent.  I loved Leo DiCaprio in it (but I love him in everything).

3 hours ago, kiddo82 said:

Back to Don't Look Up though, I don' think it's a bad movie, but I also don't think it compares to other recent dark comedy/satirical screenplay winners like Promising Young Woman, Get Out, and Jojo Rabbit.  (the trifecta of the last few years as far as I'm concerned.)  Those three managed to walk a tightrope that Don't Look Up never really does for me.

Agree with you strongly on this though, PYW and GO definitely, just haven't seen JR.

[Hiyo]

Well, Will Smith livened up this years Oscars, that's for sure.

[Spartan Girl]

Some good wins. And Paul Thomas Anderson and Aaron Sorkin both got nothing for their overrated movies, so there’s that.

[Ms Blue Jay]

46 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

Some good wins. And Paul Thomas Anderson and Aaron Sorkin both got nothing for their overrated movies, so there’s that.

NOTHING went down as I expected.  I assume The Power of the Dog was the frontrunner for BP but then CODA got a big groundswell of support in recent weeks?

Also, Jessica Chastain...... same thing I guess.

I'm glad Cruella won Best Costume Design instead of freaking Dune.  I haven't even seen Cruella.  I just couldn't bear the thought of Dune winning something else.  There were 3 films that looked like they had amazing costumes, I'm glad one of them won.

[Shannon L.]

I vaguely remember someone, somewhere on this thread, said something about if CODA wins, it will be the first streaming movie to win Best Picture.  I just learned today that it was also the first Sundance winner to win a BP award.  They wrapped up quite a few firsts last night.  Good for them. 

I liked the movie a lot.  I hadn't seen most of the BP nominees so I can't really say if it was better than all the others, but I always like it when a more mainstream type of movie wins over the long, drawn out, artsy ones that most people have either never heard of or never seen. 

[scarynikki12]

6 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

I assume The Power of the Dog was the frontrunner for BP but then CODA got a big groundswell of support in recent weeks?

CODA winning at SAG gave it a boost, as the actors are the largest voting body in Academy and there's enough crossover with SAG for that win to matter. What cemented it was the PGA win a few weeks later. Historically the Producer's Guild has the best track record for predicting Best Picture and adding in the support from the actors and that was that. 

[kiddo82]

Extracurriculars aside, I think the winners went pretty much as expected.  I was happy that Chastain got her Oscar but if I'm being honest with myself I think Penelope Cruz gave the better performance.  (In a better movie.)  I just wish that Nightmare Alley had managed to pull off an upset in either costumes or production design.  I don't think it deserved to go home empty handed.  I didn't even like Dune all that much but since it won so many technical awards I'm surprised it never really gained traction as a best picture threat.  It was always Power of the Dog and then CODA in the pole position.  The prevailing theory seems to be that the voters are waiting for part 2.  The only thing that truly surprised me was Branagh winning for the Belfast screenplay.  Once again I am torn because I liked that movie but if I'm being honest with myself it should have gone to The Worst Person in the World.  For adapted screenplay I would have given it to Drive My Car.

[Ms Blue Jay]

I heard that was Branagh's first Oscar, then I felt so bad for FFing through his speech LOL.  I just wanted to catch up to be live.  Now I gotta go back and watch it.  

https://ew.com/awards/oscars/kenneth-branagh-wins-first-oscar-belfast-original-screenplay/

https://variety.com/2022/awards/awards/kenneth-branagh-oscar-nomination-record-1235172548/

Edited March 29, 2022 by Ms Blue Jay

[Simon Boccanegra]

9 hours ago, kiddo82 said:

Extracurriculars aside, I think the winners went pretty much as expected.  I was happy that Chastain got her Oscar but if I'm being honest with myself I think Penelope Cruz gave the better performance.  (In a better movie.) 

Same. The Eyes of Tammy Faye was, IMO, the worst movie nominated for anything in the major categories (acting x4, writing x2, director, picture). I try to keep up and see everything in contention, and that's the kind of movie I dread most every year: a biopic of the quality of what used to be made-for-TV, framing an awards-chasing performance.  

I've liked Chastain in a lot of things, and I'm happy for her even so. I just would rather see her winning acting awards for projects like The Tree of Life, Take Shelter, Zero Dark Thirty, or that HBO remake of Scenes from a Marriage.

[Hiyo]

Quote

I was happy that Chastain  DeBose got her Oscar but if I'm being honest with myself I think Penelope Cruz both Aunjanue Ellis and Jessie Buckley gave the better performance. 

My version.

As for the Best Actress, I would have been happy had anyone but Stewart won.

[Hiyo]

Quote

I heard that was Branagh's first Oscar

He is (or was) on the list of like Glenn Close who shockingly have yet to win any type of Academy Award (and people no longer with us like Peter O'toole who never won as well).

[kiddo82]

4 hours ago, Hiyo said:

I was happy that Chastain  DeBose got her Oscar but if I'm being honest with myself I think Penelope Cruz both Aunjanue Ellis and Jessie Buckley gave the better performance. 

Fair.  I still would have voted for DeBose but I thought Catroina Balfe was totally robbed of the nomination.

[Ms Blue Jay]

15 hours ago, Simon Boccanegra said:

I've liked Chastain in a lot of things, and I'm happy for her even so. I just would rather see her winning acting awards for projects like The Tree of Life, Take Shelter, Zero Dark Thirty, or that HBO remake of Scenes from a Marriage.

I absolutely adored her in "The Help".  I remember being like WHO IS THAT????????????????  But I haven't seen a performance from hers since that I liked as much.  But, I haven't seen that much.  I saw all of SFAM and I thought she was very good in it.

[Shannon L.]

@Ms Blue Jay , i liked Jessica in The Help, too. I also really liked Molly's Game.

[Ms Blue Jay]

10 hours ago, Shannon L. said:

@Ms Blue Jay , i liked Jessica in The Help, too. I also really liked Molly's Game.

I didn't love it, but I don't blame Jessica.  I just thought it was a bit boring lol.

[Shannon L.]

4 minutes ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

I didn't love it, but I don't blame Jessica.  I just thought it was a bit boring lol.

I guess I liked it because I really like the genre.  I especially liked her scenes with Idris Elba. 

[caracas1914]

LIke many here I hate watch Oscars hoping I'm not too disappointed  enough to  slap who's sitting next to me.

Best Picture:  CODA

Nice choice, the films was surprisingly quirky, though I hate once again that the director of the BP wasn't even nominated;     

though not gonna lie, The Power of the Dog was the "art film" which I thought was so accessible per it's theme and I was rooting for.    

Drive my Car, Belfast, West Side Story, King Richard, even Dune (HALF a movie) all had their merits.

I would have bitch slapped everyone if Don't Look Up had inexplicably won, WTF??  

 

Will Smith was OK for best actor, shades of Julia Roberts winning for Ellen Brokavitch, mix in  the coronation of a career  of a popular actor with an uplifting true life  underdog story, insert OSCAR.   Could have been worse, Javier Bardem could have won.

Thought that both Benedict Cumberlatch and Andrew Garfield  gave superb full bodied performances in very challenging roles that could have gone off the rails very easily... and Denzel's mastery of the Scottish play was an acting class exercise.  

 

Best Actress: Jessica Chastain,   sigh the worst choice won. Olivia Coleman and Penelope Cruz would have thrilled for either, just great performances.  People trash Kristen Stewart but that was an impressive and surprising performance, would not have been crushed if she won.   Glad she got the nomination after so many downgraded her chances.  Kidman..meh.

The best supporting choices I can't quibble with.  However looking and sounding nothing like the real life character/actor William Frawley, JK Simmons spin on him was so interesting and "lived in". Mike Faist in WSS, that was an indelible performance that was overlooked for a nom.

Best supporting actress, Can live with Debose: just wish either Ruth Negga, Tessa Thompson or Cailtrona Bailfe were nominated 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 30, 2022 by caracas1914

[Ms Blue Jay]

23 hours ago, Shannon L. said:

I guess I liked it because I really like the genre.  I especially liked her scenes with Idris Elba. 

He could read the phone book for 2 hours and I would like it.

More seriously, I thought Michael Cera was fantastic in that movie.

21 hours ago, caracas1914 said:

Best Actress: Jessica Chastain,   sigh the worst choice won. Olivia Coleman and Penelope Cruz would have thrilled for either, just great performances.  People trash Kristen Stewart but that was an impressive and surprising performance, would not have been crushed if she won.   Glad she got the nomination after so many downgraded her chances.  Kidman..meh.

I did want Kristen to win, but of course I'd be happy with Penelope.  I just haven't seen anything except Spencer so I don't feel I have a good place to comment.  This year I felt so out of it.  I had only seen a handful of these movies.  All I know is that I loved King Richard, I wanted Kristen to win, and I thought Dune was extremely average!

Edited March 31, 2022 by Ms Blue Jay

[PepSinger]

I also think Jessica Chastain have a great performance in The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby. I wish that movie had more traction when it came out, particularly the two different parts, Him and Her.

[JaniahHardin]

My GF and I watched King Richard at the cinema. Actually, it was the first movie we watched together in the cinema and we really liked it. It’s the best movie we watched last year. Btw, guys, why does nobody here talk about TV shows? Have you watched Acapulco on AppleTV+? I can’t wait to see the third season of Acapulco. Btw, everybody says how Will Smith played his role (he’s actually fantastic), but for some reason, nobody has mentioned those girls! They are wonderful! I mean, the movie lasts about 2.5 hours or so, but when we finished watching it, we felt like we had spent only 30 mins at the cinema.

Edited January 8, 2023 by JaniahHardin

[ProudMary]

2 hours ago, JaniahHardin said:

Btw, guys, why does nobody here talk about TV shows? Have you watched Acapulco on AppleTV+?

Primetimer is predominantly a TV site. It's movies that are secondary. 🙂 Most TV shows have at least their own page and the big shows have full forums where individual episodes are discussed. Here's a direct link to the page for Acapulco:

 

[absnow54]

Oops, wrong thread...

Edited January 11, 2023 by absnow54
Posted in 2022 thread instead of 2023