This morning, darlings, the Oscar nominations were announced. It used to be one of the most exciting days of the year, but now it is like,,,,who cares?
Everyone is upset about Bradley Cooper being snubbed for Best Director. Like I give a hoot. But I am livid about Lucas Hedges. This fine young man should have been awarded something for all his work this year. I was sure he would get a nod for "Boy Erased," as well as Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe, but all this snubbing does is prove the Academy is as homophobic as it was, back in the day of "Brokeback Mountain."
But, let's take a look at some of what got nominated---
Best Picture
"Black Panther"
"BlacKkKlansman"
"Bohemian Rhapsody"
"The Favourite"
"Green Book"
"A Star Is Born"
"Vice"
What??????????? No "Can You Ever Forgive Me?' and "Boy Erased?" I look at this list and see no film that I like; that is, would want to see. The only one on here I have is "A Star Is Born," and what a waste of time that was!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Best Actress
Yalitza Aparico, "Roma"
Glenn Close, "The Wife"
Olivia Colman, "The Favourite"
Lady Gaga, "A Star Is Born"
Melissa McCarthy, "Can You Ever Forgive Me?"
Yalitza, who? Never heard of her! Lady Gaga? Don't make me barf! After
years of playing forward thinking roles, it would be criminal for Glenn Close
to finally win an Oscar, for playing a submissive wife. At least Jane Wyatt,
on "Father Knows Best," did it, tongue in cheek!!!!!!!!!!! Olivia Colman is a
fine actress, but what about "The Favourite?" Is it really that great?
I say, "Go, Melissa?" This was a spectacular breakthrough performance about
a disturbed soul, whom I never expected to blow me away! But she did!!!!!!!!
Best Actor
Christian Bale, "Vice"
Bradley Cooper, "A Star Is Born"
Willem Dafoe, "At Eternity's Gate"
Rami Malek, "Bohemian Rhapsody"
Vigo Mortensen, "Green Book"
Christian Bale, as Dick Cheney? Is that interesting? Does anyone care?
Does anyone want to see it? I don't!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now, Bradley Cooper
was OK, but not the powerhouse James Mason was in the 1954 classic.
When Cooper committed suicide, I hardly blinked. The real performance
in this film was Sam O'Neill. So, where the hell is he? Willem Dafoe? Fine
actor, but what the hell is this film, and who cares??????????? Lucas
Hedges should be in the spot Rami Malek is, and who the hell is he,
anyway? Vigo Mortensen is a good actor, but is the film genuinely forward
thinking, or a token nod from the Academy stating they are not racist, when,
actually, they really are??????????????????
Best Director
Alfonso Cuaron, "Roma"
Yorgos Lanthimos, "The Favourite"
Spike Lee, "BlacKkKlansman
Adam McKay, Vice"
Pawl Pawlikowski, "Cold War"
Hmmmm… Now, Spike Lee has done good work, but has anyone seen it?
Same with Adam McKay, and "Vice," and just who is he, anyway? Pawl
Pawlikowski will fare better in the Foreign Film category, and who the hell
is Yorgos Lanthimos, and what is so great about "The Favourite?" Looks
like Alfonso is going to take it home, for "Roma."
Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, "Vice"
Marina de Tavira, "Roma"
Regina King, "If Beale Street Could Talk"
Emma Stone, "The Favourite"
Rachel Weisz," The Favourite"
Wipe that smirk off your face, Emma Stone; you are a lousy actress. The only
reason to see "The Favourite" is to laugh, when you get tossed into the mud!
Ah, Amy, our beloved Amy! How many nods is this? Five? Six? Amy is SO
overdue for an Oscar, but, alas, this will not be her year, because it is already
clear Regina King is going to take it! Stone's spot should have gone to
Nicole Kidman!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Best Supporting Actor
Mahershala Ali, "Green Book"
Adam Driver, "BlacKkKlansman"
Sam Elliott, "A Star Is Born"
Richard E. Grant. "Can You Ever Forgive Me?"
Sam Rockwell, "Vice"
This looks to be the strongest acting category of them all. Sam Rockwell is
a great actor, but he just won, and is "Vice" all it is cracked up to be??????
Same with Mahershala Ali; he recently won, is he a trailblazer, or just a good
actor? And I have my reservations about "Green Book." Adam Driver is a
fine actor, but is his role justified? That leaves the two REAL contenders,
Richard E. Grant in "Can You Ever Forgive Me?" and Sam Elliott in "A Star
Is Born." Now, Grant won the New York Film Critics Award, and McCarthy
did not, so I would like to see Melissa win Best Actress, and Sam Elliott take
it for "A Star Is Born." Grant was great in "Can You Ever Forgive Me?," but
Melissa MADE that film! As did Elliott in "A Star Is Born." So, honor that
film by giving it to the only REAL performance in it!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That is as far as I am going to go, girls! Again, Lucas should be in here some
where; what about "Ben Is Back?" Everyone was touting Julia Roberts for
a nod for the same film--what went wrong?
The Oscars will be handed out Sunday, February 24, starting in our area, at
8PM, EST. Stock up on No-Doz, or something to keep you awake!
And wipe that smirk off your face, Emma!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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ReplyDeleteThis is poised to be the biggest fail in Oscar telecast history: were it not for the reflexive global audience that tunes in by rote, ratings would likely fall to Tony levels this year. Kevin Hart must be relieved: he dodged a bullet.
ReplyDeleteWTH were they thinking with these scattershot, disconnected nominations chockablock full of movies people didn't see, didn't like, or couldn't care less about? "Black KKKlansman", SERIOUSLY??? Four years ago, before Twitter virtue signaling began dictating every aspect of our lives, that movie would have been forgotten already (just like every other movie Spike has ever made).
"The Favourite" was amusing taken on its own (not terribly ambitious) terms, but realistically 99 out of 100 people would consider it an extended episode of Masterpiece Theater played in cinemas. The three leads were good, but none was stretched beyond their usual forte (Rachel Weisz: scheming bitch, Olivia Colman: addled middle aged woman, Emma Stone: snarky millennial). Most damning, nobody saw it- I mean nobody. Just as literally nobody saw or cares about the actors in "Green Book", "The Wife", "Can You Ever Forgive Me" or "Vice".
Don't even get me started on "Roma", the most over-hyped, under-baked, disappointing vanity project of the past decade. As the kids used to say, it sucks so hard it blows. I usually LOVE the work of Alfonso Cuaron, but he went off the rails here. Black and white? Bitch, please: the last director to pull that off successfully was Woody Allen, and that was forty years ago using actual FILM (it looks mega fake and pretentious shot on today's high def video origination). Cuaron's trademark swooping, soaring camera work backfires on him here: horrendously inappropriate when filming mostly inside an upper-middle class home (the constant sickening motion makes "Blair Witch Project" seem static).
And what does his exquisitely composed and processed black & white imagery lovingly focus on, over and over, closer and closer? DOG SHIT. Literally, piles and piles of the family dog's feces. Disgusting: whatever strained analogy he was trying to make about his bourgeois upbringing is lost yuckiness (even John Waters limited the feces fun to a single shot). OTOH, at least the piles of dog feces provoke an emotional reaction from the audience- which is more than you can say about lead "actress" Yalitza Aparico. The gimmick of pulling some rando off the street with no prior acting experience in a misguided bid for "authenticity" is Cuaron's undoing: the woman is mute, stonefaced, and a non-entity for nearly the entire running time, coming alive only in the final ten minutes. With her character and performance DOA, there is nothing else to hold onto in "Roma": everyone else is either a bore or an asshole (usually both, including the insufferable kids).
BUT: again, due to SJW Twitter pressure, it swept the noms and will sweep the awards, without earning any of them or providing a single moment of pleasure to anyone unlucky enough to pay to see it. The real crime is how the Academy completely ignored Cuaron's stunning, gut-wrenching earlier films like "Children Of Men" (despite the fact it handled Roma's themes of alienation and surrogate motherhood far, far better with full audience engagement).
Sooo... looks like I'll be totally skipping the Oscars, for a second year in a row. Along with millions of others, no doubt. On the plus side, at least I'll be spared the pious, hollow snipes from the podium from wealthy protected celebrities who think the rest of us should live like the people in "Roma" (i.e., running for their lives from armed communist mobs every time they go shopping for groceries).
ReplyDeleteWell, that finishes "ROMA" for me. Really,
the only one of the nominated films I was
interested in seeing, but I will not waste
my time and money on the garbage you described.
I am rooting for Melissa, and poor Amy is going
to be shut out again! Time for her to win an
Oscar!