Awards Season 2023

[TechnicolorAcid]

And that’s a wrap. After party drinks are available on the counter.

[Never Cursed]

Congrats to Wazoo, and what a great crop of winners in general! Really the only big one to quibble about is American Fiction

[therewillbeblus]

I was happy with that one!

Also learned tonight that I share a birthday with Emma Stone’s toddler

[Grand Wazoo]

Folks can check the numbers themselves, but I'm pretty sure that Grand Wazoo has this won - Even if Stone wins, I'll be one point behind. Congrats!

Thanks everyone. Pouring one out for Lily, but glad(stone) to eke out a win in a year where Jonathan Glazer provided us with the elusive Actually Meaningful speech. I'd love to recommend the board watch Peter Watkins' The Journey, but I guess I'll have to be practical. I didn't have a choice lined up so I'll investigate what is relatively accessible and get back to y'all.

[hearthesilence]

Didn't realize this, but Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell are now, respectively, the youngest and second-youngest people ever to win a second Oscar.

Once again I missed the Oscars - went to see Jonathan Richman instead (he was awesome) - but this is kind of like The Simpsons where it used to be something I'd follow all the time but eventually the show really did seem to go downhill and finally one day I just made the effort NOT to watch because I clearly wasn't enjoying it anymore. I think Joseph McBride made the saddest assessment, and I kind of agree. Regardless of what I thought about the winners or nominees, it was still something that really celebrated filmmaking - mostly Hollywood to be fair, but at least it seemed to try and impart some appreciation for the work done. There was one year where they introduced categories by showing what that work was like, and the clip shows were usually great, especially when you saw the life's work of someone like Stanley Kubrick or Frank Sinatra or Gene Kelly or whoever the honorary winner was that year. I kind of feel like they were running away from that, and Joseph McBride's observations from last year echo Brian's sentiments - it's like the producers were either afraid or truly hated film culture. Even when they honored it last year - I think with The Godfather? - it's like they didn't have any appreciation for why it was great except for the fact that it made a lot of money, and instead of letting the work speak for itself, they re-cut it and even plastered on some incongruous music like they were making a shitty TikTok video.

[felipe]

Congrats to Wazoo, and what a great crop of winners in general! Really the only big one to quibble about is American Fiction

American Fiction is an important, relevant film that speaks to our times. No wonder it won.

[DeprongMori]

Once again I missed the Oscars - went to see Jonathan Richman instead (he was awesome)

I was at that show at the Bell House too. Yes, Jonathan Richman was once again awesome. Didn’t miss the Oscars one tiny bit.

[colinr0380]

Regardless of what I thought about the winners or nominees, it was still something that really celebrated filmmaking - mostly Hollywood to be fair, but at least it seemed to try and impart some appreciation for the work done. There was one year where they introduced categories by showing what that work was like, and the clip shows were usually great, especially when you saw the life's work of someone like Stanley Kubrick or Frank Sinatra or Gene Kelly or whoever the honorary winner was that year.

I still remember the effect that seeing the montage honouring Antonioni from the 1995 awards had on me, years before having the opportunity to see any of the work in question. That's an important function of shows such as this. Although I wonder how much the divisive lifetime achievement award to Elia Kazan affected doing such things going forward. Those honourary/lifetime achievement awards seem very necessary to such ceremonies though, because they act not just as a celebration of a career but also function as a gauntlet thrown down by masters of their craft to the next generation.

[Brian C]

One small but telling detail last night was Kimmel’s dumbass joke about all the movies being too long. He wasn’t even complaining about the nominated films in particular! He was talking about the top box-office movies of last year.

And I mean … we’ve known since the earliest days of mass-market cinema that people will happily watch long movies! THE BIRTH OF A NATION was over 3 hours long! In 1915! Over a hundred years ago! Since that the list of all-time box office campions have been dominated by long films.

And here’s the Academy putting Jimmy Kimmel on stage to do these weird gatekeeper-y jokes. It just seems so painfully out of touch. Like I say, a small detail, but just one of a million examples of how the show seems to hate movies.

[beamish14]

One small but telling detail last night was Kimmel’s dumbass joke about all the movies being too long. He wasn’t even complaining about the nominated films in particular! He was talking about the top box-office movies of last year.

And I mean … we’ve known since the earliest days of mass-market cinema that people will happily watch long movies! THE BIRTH OF A NATION was over 3 hours long! In 1915! Over a hundred years ago! Since that the list of all-time box office campions have been dominated by long films.

And here’s the Academy putting Jimmy Kimmel on stage to do these weird gatekeeper-y jokes. It just seems so painfully out of touch. Like I say, a small detail, but just one of a million examples of how the show seems to hate movies.

All of the talk about the length of Flower Moon in particular just floors me. It’s the same length as Giant and The Godfather Pt. II

The part that really pissed me off was again denigrating animated films. I don’t blame Miyazaki for a second for not wanting to attend this bullshit that doesn’t recognize him as a legitimate artist

[beamish14]

Regardless of what I thought about the winners or nominees, it was still something that really celebrated filmmaking - mostly Hollywood to be fair, but at least it seemed to try and impart some appreciation for the work done. There was one year where they introduced categories by showing what that work was like, and the clip shows were usually great, especially when you saw the life's work of someone like Stanley Kubrick or Frank Sinatra or Gene Kelly or whoever the honorary winner was that year.

I still remember the effect that seeing the montage honouring Antonioni from the 1995 awards had on me, years before having the opportunity to see any of the work in question. That's an important function of shows such as this. Although I wonder how much the divisive lifetime achievement award to Elia Kazan affected doing such things going forward. Those honourary/lifetime achievement awards seem very necessary to such ceremonies though, because they act not just as a celebration of a career but also function as a gauntlet thrown down by masters of their craft to the next generation.

The ones I really remember were Satyajit Ray’s deathbed award and the incredibly well-edited career highlight reel for Robert Altman (along with his accompanying admission about getting a heart transplant in 1996).

These lifetime achievement awards haven’t done a damn thing for Charles Burnett, Euzahn Palcy, or Haile Gerima, none of whom have been able to get new features off the ground since being rewarded by this oh so inclusive organization

[Matt]

It’s also ironic since we’re all watching a show that’s over three hours long and mostly consists of people standing around on stage talking. I think Scorsese, Spielberg, Cameron, Nolan, et al should draft an open letter to ABC and the Academy asking their hosts to shut up about how long movies are. It’s a hack joke and such an easy thing to just not mention at all.

And we also want an In Memoriam montage that’s just clips and pictures with music underneath and legible names. No dancers, no internationally renowned singers, no guest musicians, no funny camera angles, no audible applause.

[beamish14]

It’s also ironic since we’re all watching a show that’s over three hours long and mostly consists of people standing around on stage talking. I think Scorsese, Spielberg, Cameron, Nolan, et al should draft an open letter to ABC and the Academy asking their hosts to shut up about how long movies are. It’s a hack joke and such an easy thing to just not mention at all.

And we also want an In Memoriam montage that’s just clips and pictures with music underneath and legible names. No dancers, no internationally renowned singers, no guest musicians, no funny camera angles, no audible applause.

I think they muted the applause this year, which was the sole good decision they made with that oft-dreaded portion

They keep including more and more publicists, agents, and executives each year

[therewillbeblus]

And here’s the Academy putting Jimmy Kimmel on stage to do these weird gatekeeper-y jokes. It just seems so painfully out of touch. Like I say, a small detail, but just one of a million examples of how the show seems to hate movies.

I feel like both Kimmel’s lack of effort, and the audience’s lack of willingness to play along, speak volumes about where a lot of folks are at (I guess mainly leftists here, but everyone really) - just tired of all the sensitization and not in the mood. Not an excuse for poor material, just a hypothesis.

Other than that, the only things that really rubbed me the wrong way were how the memorial slideshow was shot from an obscene distance so that we could watch the dancers or whatever. Couldn’t even see who was being remembered half the time because the camera wasn’t focusing there.

The main problem I had though, was the way the acting categories were done. I think it’s great (and about time) that actresses awarded fellow actresses, instead of having last year’s male introduce women and vice versa (one step closer to non-binary awards, or just un-gendering it, now that sensitivity to this is clearly in behind-the-scenes conversation?) But it just felt forced a lot of the time, when the actor connections seemed like stretches and generally superfluous. All the consolidated praise to each person clearly made some uncomfortable- being nominated is enough of an honor already; you’re in the spotlight. It’s kinda weird to then go further, as if you needed to coddle the losers with proactive confidence before they lost. And it came at the expense of clips of the acting, which would actually remind the audiences why they’re here! I don’t care about what Tim Robbins has to say about Robert De Niro, at all, and he clearly didn’t either by his expression! But I do want to see De Niro react to applause at the literal evidence of his skills.

[Brian C]

Can we draw out the In Memoriam also to include more people? Like it doesn’t have to feel like something we’re obligated to get through in 4 minutes. I’ll even let them keep the audible applause and the singers as a compromise.

[TechnicolorAcid]

They keep including more and more publicists, agents, and executives each year

Normally I would be fine with that because less recognized people are getting their due but the absolute gall not to mention Kenneth Anger at all during the In Memorial is honestly a joke.

[beamish14]

Can we draw out the In Memoriam also to include more people? Like it doesn’t have to feel like something we’re obligated to get through in 4 minutes. I’ll even let them keep the audible applause and the singers as a compromise.

They ALWAYS screw over big names in non-Hollywood features. I still remember how they left out Nagisa Oshima and Bigas Luna

[beamish14]

They keep including more and more publicists, agents, and executives each year

Normally I would be fine with that because less recognized people are getting their due but the absolute gall not to mention Kenneth Anger at all during the In Memorial is honestly a joke.

He was on the text wall at the end, apparently

[TechnicolorAcid]

Did they show the closeup of that screen? Because I don’t remember that happening and even so, there’s an argument to be made that Anger is more influential than like maybe half of the people they actually showed on screen. I’m not mad just disappointed.

[beamish14]

Did they show the closeup of that screen? Because I don’t remember that happening and even so, there’s an argument to be made that Anger is more influential than like maybe half of the people they actually showed on screen. I’m not mad just disappointed.

Nope. I thought you could see the names listed at the AMPAS’ website

[beamish14]

Godzilla Minus One is the first film to get a VFX Oscar that was shared by its director since 2001

[thirtyframesasecond]

Is Billie Eilish the youngest double Oscar winner? I can't believe her song won over I'm Just Ken. I barely remember it (it sounds like a Billie Eilish song is the way I can describe it).

[beamish14]

Is Billie Eilish the youngest double Oscar winner? I can't believe her song won over I'm Just Ken. I barely remember it (it sounds like a Billie Eilish song is the way I can describe it).

Her and Finneas are the two youngest double winners

[soundchaser]

Re: Kimmel -- I maintain that this ceremony could go hostless apart from the presenters and would be all the better for it.

[hearthesilence]

The ones I really remember were Satyajit Ray’s deathbed award and the incredibly well-edited career highlight reel for Robert Altman (along with his accompanying admission about getting a heart transplant in 1996).

Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin's introduction was brilliant - again, they GOT what was so unique about his work and put that across in an entertaining way. You'd have to be really dense not to get it, but I get the impression the asshats producing the show these days would think it'd be too esoteric.

Re: Anger, his official social media page showed a screenshot, and it's embarrassing. You know how streamers and TV credits basically pack in a bunch of names and fly through them as if to say "we're meeting our minimum obligation and we don't give a shit about these people or whether or not you can read their names"? That's exactly how it looks.