2023/2024 Oscar Nominations Reactions

Support me by re-clicking on this story at Patreon or Medium if you have an account there.

-The nationalities of the 20 best actor nominees are:

16 US nominees though 2 are second-generation Latin American (Colman Domingo’s parents are from Guatemalan and Belize, America Ferrera is Honduran); 1 Canadian in Ryan Gosling; 1 Irishman in Cillian Murphy 1 German in Sandra Huller; 1 British (2nd generation Irish) in Carey Mulligan

-Zasie Baetz was announcing like she was giving away cars on either the Price is Right or Opera. At first, I was convinced that she was stanning American Fiction but that was likely my bias. Jack Quaid is one of my favorite young stars of Hollywood, but isn’t there still room in Hollywood for Jack and his dad? #FarFromHeavenforever

-I’ve seen 6 of the 10 nominees (Check: Oppenheimer, Killers of the Flower Moon, Anatomy of a Fall, Maestro, Poor Things, Holdovers, Didn’t See: American Fiction, Zone of Interest, Past Lives, Barbie) and 14 of the 20 nominees (Paul Giamatti, Cillian Murphy, Bradley Cooper, Carey Mulligan, Emma Stone, Sandra Huller, Annette Bening, Lily Gladstone, Robert DeNiro, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr, DaVine Joy Randolph, Emily Blunt, and Jodie Foster). Of the remaining four, I haven’t seen Zone of Interest holds the least interest to me. I don’t pressure myself to see everything that’s out there.

-The woke crowd will probably be split, but with the surprise inclusion of Sterling K Brown, America Ferrera, and the fact that one woman was still nominated (Justine Triet), they don’t have much basis that the patriarchy squeezed their voices out. To the degree that foreign film enthusiasts overlap with woke advocates (a lot of foreign films are made by white people and that’s all that counts to the woke), there’s much to celebrate on that front as three foreign films have never been among the final ten. I saw Anatomy of a Fall and the subtitles made the story difficult to follow, so audiences will have to adjust.

-Killers of the Flower Moon is the 12th Best Picture Nominee that Robert DeNiro has appeared in: Godfather II, Taxi Driver, Deer Hunter, Raging Bull, Soldier’s Story, Awakenings, Goodfellas, Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle, Irishman, Joker, and now Killers of the Flower Moon. It’s likely a new record. Leonardo DiCaprio is close behind at 11; Matt Damon, Willem Dafoe; Jesse Plemons (who’s had a streak of 6 in 7 years: Brides of Spies, The Post, Vice, Irishman, Judas and the Black Messiah, Power of the Dog), and Bradley Cooper are tied at 7;Emma Stone is at 5; and Margot Robbie, Gary Oldman, and Paul Giamatti are at 4

-These were the most competitive female acting categories in years. Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman in May December; Greta Lee in Past Lives; Fantasia Barrino and Taraji P. Henson in Color Purple; Rachel McAdams in Are You There God It’s Me Margaret; Rosamund Pike in Saltburn were all in the running. The last one in each category was likely the two elderly ladies from Nyad: Annette Bening and Jodie Foster. I’ve never loved a Jodie Foster performance but somehow she won me over this time. I think, all factors considered, Foster, got in on that extra bit of sparkle she bought to that inspirational role. Bening got in because of the tendency to award people who transform and exhaust themselves. They couldn’t recognize her in the role.

-Congratulations to Bradley Cooper, Jodie Foster and Annette Bening for being in the 5-timers club. Why Cooper is already considered by pundits to be out of running for the award is already beyond me. He completely transformed himself for the role, he keeps the movie watchable through his pure joy, and he’s turned into a great spokesman for classical music through the journey. He also co-wrote, directed, and produced the film. If he doesn’t get an Oscar now, he might get desperate enough to go full-Revenant and get eaten by a bear.

Congratulations to the 2023/2024 Oscar Class. These people all have a screen credit (as determined by Rogerebert.com) in one of this year’s best picture nominees: Adam Brody, Alexandra Shipp, America Ferrera, Anne Rotger, Antoine Reinartz, Barry Corbin, Benny Safdie, Bradley Cooper, Brendan Frasier, Camille Rutherford, Cara Jade Meyers, Carey Mulligan, Carrie Preston, Casey Affleck, Christopher Abbott, Christian Friedel, Cillian Murphy, Daniel Holzberg, David Krumholtz, Da’vine Joy Randolph, Dominic Sessa, Emma Mackey, Emma Stone, Emily Blunt, Emily Cass McDonnell, Erika Alexander, Florence Pugh, Gillian Vigman, Greta Lee, Gustaf Skarsgard, Helen Mirren, Issa Rae, Jack Quaid, Jason Clarke, Jason Isbell, Jeffrey Wright, Jehnny Beth, Jerrod Carmichael, Jesse Plemons, John Cena, John Lithgow, John Magaro, John Ortiz, Josh Hartnett, Kate McKinnon, Keith David, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone, Lucy Boynton, Margaret Qualley, Margot Robbie, Mark Ruffalo, Matt Bonner, Matt Damon, Maximilian Beck, Maya Hawke, Medusa Knopf, Michael Cera, Michael Urie, Milo Machado Graner, Myra Lucretia Taylor, Olivia Thirby, Paul Giamatti, Ramy Yousef, Rhea Pearlman, Robert DeNiro, Robert Downey Jr, Ryan Gosling, Sascha Maaz, Sandra Huller, Sarah Silverman, Simu Liu, Scott Shepherd, Stephen Thorne, Skyler White, Sterling K Brown, Swann Arlaud, Tate Donovan, Teo Yoo, Tony Goldwyn, Vicki Pepperdine, Willem Dafoe, Will Ferrell

The nationalities of the 20 best actor nominees are:

16 US nominees though 2 are second-generation Latin American: Colman Domingo’s parents are from Guatemalan and Belize, America Ferrera is Honduran; 1 Canadian in Ryan Gosling; 1 Irishman in Cillian Murphy 1 German in Sandra Huller; 1 British (2nd generation Irish) in Carey Mulligan

15 Best Scenes at the Movies 2020

 Out of about 46 movies I saw this year, this list was surprisingly easy to make owing to the fact that there are some great movies I saw that I can’t remember a stand-out scene from months later. Not every film here is among my favorites but I have a clear memory of the scene and continue to look back on these film moments fondly.

1. Borat 2-Rudy Giuliani gets caught with his pants down

Perhaps as an effort to differentiate himself as one of the good guys, Sasha Baron Cohen opted for more staged scenes than trickery with his subjects that could be construed as mean-spirited. One walloping exception? Rudy Giuliani, one of the most hated politicians of 2020, got caught in a compromising position. It was authentic, true to what we’d come to expect of Giuliani, hilarious and damn cathartic.

2. Trial of the Chicago Seven-The List of Fallen

Sorkin’s latest courtroom drama represents a drastic improvement in self-constraint for the bombastic screen writer. Rather than deliver a big soliloquy to close out this nonsensical court case, the Chicago Seven fights nonsense with the perfect counterdose of nonsense. As a closing statement, Tom Hayden (Eddie Redmayne) reads a list of names of fallen soldiers rather than save his neck for a lighter sentence. In reality, the list of names was read throughout the trial but it’s an acceptable break from history

3. 7500-Lifeboat ethics pushed to the limit

With Trial of the Chicago Seven, Project Power and this tightly scripted thriller, JGL batted three for three and elevated a typical genre picture to a visceral film about the difficulty of lifeboat ethics at certain points. Gordon-Levitt plays a pilot who has to face down the demands of a hijacked plane and decide between placating terrorists or letting his pregnant girlfriend perish.

4. Palm Springs-Montage of Hijinks

Palm Springs spoke to where I was this year as it spoke to the fun you can have out of static circumstances (yes, I’m talking to you Covid). Andy Samberg has always been more goofball than actor but it was a joy to which Christine Milioti go toe for toe with him on such fun adventures like stealing a plane and upstaging the bride at a wedding by pretending to be Russian spies.

5. Project Power-Surviving a Bullet to the face

Never underestimate the potential for a good action scene when you have a clever enough concept. In Project Power, a street drug enables the user to have superpowers for exactly one minute. An undercover cop (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) takes the drug that gives him bulletproof abilities and sets the timer on his watch down from 60 before pursuing a couple of enhanced criminals. When a trigger-happy perp shoots him, he falls to the ground right as his superpower expires and the bullet bounces off his face. Behind the scenes, Gordon-Levitt endured having his face air blasted.

6. Promising Young Woman-“What are you doing?”

If there’s a case for screenwriter Emerald Fennell to get the Oscar (which she won), it’s her knack for throwing twist after twist that shakes up the direction of the story all over the tonal spectrum. None is as killer as the first one where Carey Mulligan’s character, Cassie, looks as if she’s about to be raped before she turns the tables on her assaulter. All Cassie needs to do to establish control of the situation is to add a dash of inflection to her voice.

7. Seberg-A Sincere Apology Too Late

Several films this year entailed roughly the same plot: Marginalized historic figures (most often black) in the mid-20th Century being horrifically conspired against by powerful institutional forces comprised mostly of white men in suits that are governed by wrong-headed beliefs. United States vs Billie Holiday, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Trial of the Chicago 7, Seberg and (from what I hear) Judas and the Black Messiah make up this list. Additionally, they all have an upright figure caught in the middle who’s morally conflicted about it. I wouldn’t call Seberg the best of these films. However, the covert conversation between G-Man Jack Solomon (Jack O’Connell) and actress Jean Seberg (Kristen Stewart) at an anonymous hotel bar where he issues a fruitless apology (her life has already been ruined) is certainly a poignant scene.

8. Trial of the Chicago 7-Quote of the Year

Yes, Aaron Sorkin gets blabby as stated earlier but a good courtroom drama needs great dialogue. The characters are lightning quick in expressing their thoughts in ways that the screenwriters get some leeway with since these are characters who have been schooled on how to best use the spoken word. Anyway, this is a doozy:

Judge Julius Hoffman: Mr. Kunstler, I have lived a a very long time, sir, and you’re the first person ever to suggest that I have discriminated against a black man!

Leonard Weinglass: Then let the record show that I am the second.

9. The Father-Antony shows a little more kindness to Laura

Just as a film based around a first-person look at dementia is constructed like an enigma, so is Antony. He’s charming one minute and fiercely defensive the next and at one point he’s downright cruel to his new nurse (Imogen Poots). The next day, the two meet for their first session and it’s a sweet moment of connection combined with a deserved apology. This scene also sets up a casting shift later on as Poots is replaced by Olivia Williams.

10. Tenet-Crashing a plane into an airplane hanger

Making no compromises in terms of stunts or production, Christopher Nolan ran up a bill of over $200 million (his second most expensive film) and had the misfortune of having it released during the pandemic. Poor guy. If he’s willing to crash a freaking plane into an airplane hangar for our enjoyment, I’ll give him a slot in the top ten.

11. Troop Zero-Two old comrades share a cigarette

This Southern-fried tragi-dramedy of a spunky girl’s (McKenna Grace) dream to enter a Girl Scout contest and win contact with astronauts isn’t about a triumph of the underdog or the joy of achieving your dreams. It’s a bittersweet slice-of-life drip about the noble struggle in almost making it. Viola Davis plays a beleaguered legal assistant, Miss Rayleen, to Grace’s father who begrudgingly takes over troop leader duties when no one else will take the job and she finds herself dealing with a rigged playing field by a scout administrator (Miss Massey, Allison Janney) who happens to be a childhood friend. A certain amount of racism or classicism is coming into play over what’s holding the pair back but this isn’t a film about the evil of racism as it is just a portrait of what is. At the end of the film, the two colleagues share a cigarette and Miss Massey tells her she should go off to law school implying that she knows life’s unfair in this town and there’s a place where she’ll be more appreciated.

12. Bill and Ted Face the Music-Bill and Ted create the most elaborate avant-garde song yet

One of the best gags of this much-anticipated laugh fest is seeing Bill and Ted going “bigger is better” with an increasingly elaborate song for Missy’s wedding dance. It starts with the traditional guitar and drum set-up before jumping into steel drums, throat singing, bagpipes, and poorly played jazz trumpet while the newlyweds have to figure out how to dance to this atonal arrhythmic mess. Eventually, Ted’s dad pulls the plug on the atonal mess which is a shame because I wanted to know where the song went next. Fun fact, Keanu Reeves learned to play the bagpipes for this scene.

13. My Octopus Teacher-Our eight-legged friend survives shark attack #2

Whether the octopus or shark survives is all part of the food chain — either one goes hungry or one becomes dinner — but this documentary created an unshakable bond between the octopus and audience at the expense of his predator. After losing a couple limbs in round one, the octopus swung around and latched himself onto the shark’s back when it came for him in the second round.

14. I Care a Lot-Two enemies agree to a compromise

For much of its running time, I Care a Lot is a brutally insensitive film that asks us to root for a heroine who commits the horrific act of elder abuse. Her only saving grace is that she’s going up against the mob but it’s a pretty close call who’s worse. I’ve rarely seen a film save itself in the past few minutes, however. When the two bad guys form an alliance at the end, the film morphs from being a misguided fable to a black comedy in which everyone has blood on their hands.

15. Prom-The “Love Thy Neighbor” number

Thank god for the against-type casting for this Broadway adaptation which saw James Corden play the flamboyant gay Midwesterner and Andrew Rannell (a gay actor who often gets cast that way) playing a non-descript Julliard graduate who shines as one of the film’s side characters. His “You Pick and Choose” number shows off Rannell’s effortless showmanship as he dances around a mall food court in a musical number that’s reminiscent of a modern day flash mob (they all take place at malls, don’t they?). His number echoes what most biblical scholars already know: That any condemnations of divorce, homosexuality, or marriage out of wedlock are pretty selective readings of the Christian bible.

Honorable Mention:

Blow the Man Down-Margo Martindale faces down three of her peers who object to her vice

Borat 2-Borat convincing Tutar that every women with a driver’s license they encounter is secretly a man

Borat 2-Borat’s encounter with a Holocaust survivor

The Dig-Lily James and Johnny Flynn get it amidst the psychological ruins

The Dig-Carey Mulligan goes to bat for Ralph Fiennes

Hillbilliy Elegy-Amy Adams cutting through the hospital on roller skates

Kajillionaire-Gina Rodriguez taking Evan Rachel Wood up on her offer of $1000 to say “I love you” and whisking her away from her abusive parents

I’m Thinking of Ending Things-Cut to a janitor who might or might not be Jesse Plemons

News of the World-Tom Hanks’s unusual ammunition

Palm Springs-Andy Sambergs cuts through the dance floor with perfect precision en route to impressing Cristin Milioti

Promising Young Woman-Cassie’s posthumous fail-safe mechanism

Soul-Our first view of the Great Beyond in its multi-chromatic splendor

Unhinged-Russell Crowe making mincemeat of Jimmi Simpson at a diner counter

United States verse Billie Holiday-“God Bless the Child”

Every Film I've Seen in 2014: Ranked 1-29

1. Gone Girl-Everything I look for in a great film: David Fincher's latest work is challenging, thought-provoking, engaging and novel. It asked profound questions about our presumptions and biases in the media age with one of the most gut-wrenching twists in moviedom and a wonderful coming out performance for frosty Bond Girl Rosamund Pike. Ben Affleck, Casey Wilson, Carrie Coon, Kim Dickens, Neil Patrick Harris, and *gasp* even Tyler Perry deliver great supporting performances for one of the year's most unlikely ensembles.

2. Grand Budapest Hotel-Wes Anderson never fails to deliver on his quirky style but this was one of his more translatable and universally profound films. The comical performance by Ralph Fiennes and the relationship between Gustav and Tony were two things that made the film timeless outside of the Wes Anderson fan contingent. On top of that, the picturesque setting of a posh hotel in bizarro Central Europe lends itself well to some of Anderson's best visuals.

3. Interstellar-To call this film ambitious is an understatement. To translate a realistic look at space travel with black holes and relativistic jumps in time is a tall order but Christopher Nolan's up for the challenge and did not hold back on his intricately crafted style of storytelling. Some found the story ridiculous with "love" saving the day but I went along for the ride.  

4. Whiplash-Like the first three entries on this list, this film is thought-provoking and novel. It's kinetic, it takes you deep into a world you never knew existed before, and it has some of the most memorable scenes of the year. A fully-realized film thematically, no scene is really wasted here.

5. Wild-A masterful adventure film based on the true-life story of a woman's journey along the Pacific Coast Trail. Directed by Jean-Marc Vallee of "Dallas Buyer's Club," the film enables the viewer to really experience the physical strife and isolation of Cheryl Strayed's journey. It's like "Cast Away" or "127 Hours" but it also works well when it features the protagonist making connections with other people.

6. Calvary-The film is an exploration of grief, sin, unhappiness, faith, and the emptiness that comes with wealth. In spite of all that, the journey of the priest (played brilliantly by Brendan Gleeson) is one of hope despite the fact that this could possibly be his last week on Earth.

7. Pride-A feel-good film that balances a large ensemble incredibly well. It's a little sugary but it's based on a sugary historical moment, so oh well. 

8. Birdman-Films about actors and filmmakers can become a little vain. This is the third time in four years that a film about making a film (or a play) won Best Picture and that's slightly problematic. Alejandro Inarritu unapolagetically wears his heart on his sleeve when he makes pictures and that human touch ties so many disparate projects of his. In this case, the performances are great and the merging of story, technological innovation (which some might call trickery), and a wicked score merge to make something that's awards worthy on some level.

9. Into the Woods-The film is adapted from a Stephen Sondheim play which presents some near-impossible challenges when it comes to deciding how to intermingle the light-hearted humor and Gothic angles. It's hard to say whether director Rob Marshall nailed the transitions. On top of that, the film's tone is incredibly jarring as "Happy Ever After" turns into six different levels of weird in the second half. In spite of all that, the film was really memorable in a twisted way. Moreover, the musical element adds something: The song's aren't particularly hummable but the cast displays their theatricality with the numbers. 

10. A Million Ways to Die in the West-With the exception of one scene (Neil Patrick Harris's shoot-off) Seth McFarlane stays clear of overly crass and low ball humor in this extremely hilarious parody that makes great use of McFarlane's hyper familiarity with pop culture. Although it's definitely a popcorn film more than an ambitious comedy (by Jason Reitman, Edgar Wright or Christopher Guest), few comedies can deliver such a strong rhythm of laughs like this and that deserves credit. The film's also better looking than a comedy has any right to be.

11. Still Alice-Better known as the film that won Julianne Moore an Oscar but no one saw (this happens nearly every year in the Best Actress category and occasionally the Best Actor category too). The film is a bit devoid of momentum at times but the film is visceral and Julianne Moore's performance is a great example of an actress winning an Oscar for the right role. Alec Baldwin is great here as well.

12. Imitation Game-The way this biopic screams out for Oscar is mildly off putting if you're conscious of Oscarbait. The the story's insistence on cutting back to Turing's childhood is unnecessary, but the historic personalities portrayed here are very strong and memorable. Math isn't a very sexy topic and this film doesn't make it wholly interesting but it comes close.

13. Chef-Not a particularly ambitious film but a thematically coherent and well-paced one with a clear passion for its subject. 

14. X-Men Days of Future Past-The first couple X-Mens would probably have made my top 10 of their respective years and this one doesn't provoke that level of amazement from me but it's not really a flawed film either (except for the fact that actors like Anna Paquin, Halle Berry and the rest of the older X-Men are pretty much wasted in cameos). The film could have used some more focus on some of the other characters but the small scale focus on Beast-Wolverine-Magneto-X-Mystique is an interesting change and I like that it transitions decades rather seemleesly.

15. Begin Again-The narrative didn't really have that high of a high (Knightley's character anticlimactically decides to release the music herself anyway and the marriage reconciliation is equally forgettable) but it has some memorable moments and is made with a certain amount of passion for its subject. As a mood piece, it's very inviting and a worthy follow-up for Jay Carney for Once.

16. The Judge-Hank (Robert Downey Jr.) is such a dislikeable character that he turns this film into a downer pretty quickly. The argument scenes are almost like Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, for example. At the same time, there's a lot to respect the film's ambition and there are a lot of thought-provoking moments here and there. Certain characters like Dax Shepherd's dim-witted lawyer and Vera Farmiga's Sam shine. The courtroom drama underneath it all is pretty decent too.

17. Boxtrolls-The only animated film I saw this year. It was interesting visually and I admired it's slightly darker themes. 

18. Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit-This film certainly came in under the radar (I didn't hear about it until I took a chance on it at the Redbox) but I liked the idea of a hero who was essentially an analyst ("Get Smart" tried this on a comic level) with brains. Even his fighting style (I'd go so far as to say my two my favorite action scenes of the year were in this film) were fought using not just Jack Ryan's reflexes but his smarts. The score and visual look were also somewhat inviting.

19. Horrible Bosses 2-This is not a film with anything original to offer as a sequel. It's last act is too confusing to follow and I get the sense I'm not supposed to care. That said, it was more or less what I paid for: The familiar rapport between three solid comic actors with winning chemistry and some memorable set pieces. The addition of  Chris Pine and Christophe Waltz into the cast didn't hurt. Besides, the part of me that quit "House of Cards" because Frank Underwood never got his comeuppance, enjoyed seeing him in the slammer here.

20. Top Five-I love Chris Rock as a stand-up and I applaud him for making a personal film but I don't know if he's actually saying anything here. When given the opportunity to create, Rock's messages are somewhat pessimistic and a downer (His conception of Everybody Hates Chris is a loving family that's always threatening disciplinary measures on him). While the film worked thematically, I didn't feel like even the allure of Rosario Dawson could fill the holes of emptiness created by the protagonist's wealth. 

21. Long Way Down-Pretty much a by-the-book adaptation of a pretty unique story. A couple of the changes worked (making Toni Collette's character's son slighty able, softening Pierce Brosnan's character) while others didn't (shipping the two younger characters, the lack of resolution from the journalist spy/lover incident).

22. Cantinflas-A middling biopic with a few bright spots. It's specific to a setting but I was a little disappoint by how Mexican it felt beyond the subtitles.  The best part perhaps was seeing the guy's creative process in a trial-and-error kind of way.

23. Bad Words-Like "The Judge," it's main character was too dark to be uplifting or rootable. At the same time, I admire Bateman's decision to try something a little darker (whereas for Downey Jr., it's just routine). The movie would have been better if it had some interest in recapturing the spelling bee and recreating that drama. This could have been an opportunity to go specific. .

24. Snowpiercer-The premise for the film is novel and sets up some cool visuals and could go deeper into some sort of mythology if it held up under any level of scrutiny. Why are humanity's last survivors convinced that cramming into close quarters with people who want to oppress/murder them on a never-ending train is a good idea? The steps in the plot (someone dies, someone else gets shot in revenge) were repetitive and the ending was muddled.

25. Lucy-The film set up some cool action scenes and special effects. Moments like Lucy ignoring flight safety or chatting with her roommate while using 20,000 times more brainpower had a funny catharsis. I got behind the story of the character (and like what ScarJo did with Lucy) but a cool concept became more and more outlandish to the point of stupidity. The Morgan Freeman narration trope is getting strained at this point.

26. Foxcatcher-I'm sure I'm in the minority here but this film was as dull and as a Hallmark movie-of-the-week. So the creepy-acting guy with an inordinate amount of time to pursue his interest of a sport where young males touch and tumble with each other and barely acceptable ways, turns out to be a pedophile. That's a surprise? The film's scarce musical score is also annoying.

27. Captain America 2-A couple of the action scenes were great but I found myself caring so little about these characters that it felt like I was dropped into a long-running procedural midway through the season. Why do I care about Captain America as someone who didn't see the Avengers or the first Captain America film? Maybe I wasn't the target audience?

28. Mazerunner-I thought this was going to be about people trapped in a maze like what Ariadne would have designed in "Inception." And maybe they would have been running instead of walking. So much for reading too much into the title. It turns out they were trapped in a village without adults like "Kid Nation" with a more dramatic score and desperate ambitions to be a tentpole film. But, hey it was nice to see Patricia Clarkson for a few minutes.

29. Camp Takota-I was intrigued by the backstory of three YouTube stars crowdfunding their way to a film, but if this is what new media has to offer, I'm fine with the old studio system. This had no edge and barely even had a grasp of what summer camp is like. I wouldn't say Hannah Hart, Mamrie Hart and Grace Helbig are necessarily bad actors or that there personalities didn't shine through but it was a lazy attempt to fit their comic persona into a story.