Hey, Crash seemed really deep to me when I was a white kid in a private middle school.
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1917 was good, but idk about best picture territory.
Then again if the Oscars were worth shit The Lighthouse, Nightingale, Uncut Gems, Midsommar, and The Farewell wouldn’t be snubbed the fuck out.
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I’ve always felt really bad that I loved Crash when I was like 15.
I still cringe when I think of my Dad being like, “Why is this happening?”
And then my dumb 15 year old self being like, “That’s the point DAD.”
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Same… However as someone who grew up in the very white suburbs of Detroit (which has absolutely no history of racial issues), Crash was one of the first movies I saw that actually made me think more about how race and ethnicity might affect folks who don’t look like me. Granted, that’s solely because my brand of precociousness during my early teens was using Oscar nominations as recommendations, and I have since seen other films do a much, much better job at what Crash attempted once I realized that movies with subtitles/without major distributor backing were often worth seeking out.
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I’ve never seen Crash, but I’ve noticed online I see people shitting on it without ever actually saying why it’s so bad, and in my head it’s become one of those cultural “movies we just shit on” things. I dunno. It sounds fine.
Basically it’s peak white Hollywood. It’s a mess of small scale personal stories told with the world’s bluntest metaphors, and they all interconnect in some way because that was the trend Linklater and Kieslowski cursed subsequent “deep” movies with at the time. Really though, it was just a bland-ass movie that used the gestures and symbology of racial consciousness to tell a narrative that neither challenged much of the status quo or displayed any tangible sense of immediacy to convey the gravity of what is talked about. Instead it’s just a quintessential Oscar Bait movie about race that primarily appealed to rich white audiences and the Academy’s voters (which made it much easier to vote for in 2005 than Brokeback Mountain or Capote).
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I mean, it’s a movie where a white police officer sexually assaults a black woman he pulled over. But it’s ok because his dad has dementia I guess? Also, he saves that woman from a burning car at the end, so he’s basically a hero.
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God, I haven’t seen Crash in 15 years, but that sounds about right. I mostly just remember the daughter buying blanks for her dad’s new gun (and him realizing how terrible he felt after using it), and that one dude in the beginning talking about how bus windows are like display cases for poor, black people.
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Alright I’m definitely getting it now.
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I just saw Parasite last night and I think it’s easily the best of the best picture nominees by a couple hundred country miles. It’s just a meticulously crafted thriller about wealth and class disparity and I’m still under it’s spell to be perfectly honest.
2nd on my list is Little Women. I found this movie delightful in a similar way to anyone could find the other adaptations of Little Women delightful. I think what set it above was Greta Gerwig’s applying a very modern approach to a traditional story. The performances between all the sisters was so natural, the pacing and the way in which it plays with time gave it more dramatic weight. Timothy Chalamet was an absolute dreamboat. And even though everyone knows what happens in Little Women, the film still managed to find a way to make me doubt the outcome and then devastate me anew. I do think Florence Pugh was better in Midsommar though.
Once Upon A Time In Hollywood - I do feel that the whole alternative history as played out in Tarantino’s mind is a little problematic. I wasn’t sure what to make of it in Inglorious Basterds, but I guess it’s clearer here with the Manson Murders. This in the end is a fairy tale where the Manson Murders never happened, and old hollywood met new hollywood with a warm embrace and nothing ever really changed. It’s maybe peak Tarantino in love with the movies. And for that I loved the movie. I also think Leonardo DiCaprio’s whole movement through that one day on set - from crying in front of the little girl to struggling with his lines through to him nailing his scene was absolutely beautiful to watch.
Marriage Story - Think this was great as a love story played in reverse, where the legal procedures take what is an amicable split and tears it apart. You also go from loving the characters to hating them. I’ll literally watch Adam Driver in anything, ScarJo is also at the top of her game. It’s just an impeccably acted movie.
JoJo Rabbit - I enjoyed JoJo Rabbit fine. I laughed where I was supposed to and cried when I was supposed to. On reflection, in 2020, with fascist feeling in the air, I do wonderas others have done if the whole ‘haha let’s all point and laugh at the silly Nazis’ is enough to counter what is actually happening in the world. Probably not. I read an interview that Taika Waititi didn’t do any research into Hitler, as of course he didn’t have to. I think Tarantino said the same thing when he was asked about research into the Manson Murders, and he kind of wrote it off and didn’t want to enter that mindset at all. Which I can understand, but both movies do gloss over real world tragedies and are both braying for crticial acclaim and I guess I’m not sure what I make of that.
The Irishman - Have talked to a lot of people who didn’t like this move. Either they thought it was too long or it was once again Martin Scorsese glorfying the life of a gangster… which I just don’t agree with. It is a long movie, but it’s supposed to make you feel the weight of a life of violence. It’s a long movie where characters don’t necessarily say exactly what they’re thinking. When most gangster films end with criminals dying either in a blaze of glory or the opposite, whether they do survive but are left constantly looking over their shoulder - I do think De Niro’s depiction of a character at the end of his life having lost everything was very powerful.
1917 - this movie deserves every technical award it can, because it is a marvel and I would recommend seeing it on the biggest screen imaginable. The scene at night with the flares and the ruins is just amazing to watch. I do think it is a case of style over substance, whatever tension it has at the start evaporates by the second half - and weirdly, for a movie that wants to put you there in the trenches and show you how awful World War 1 was, I think Steven Spielberg’s War Horse did it better. Having been taught all about the war as a kid, and how it was defined as a morally grey conflict between nations - it’s strange that every German soldier comes off as an absolute bad guy. I just find it unfathomable how this ‘war movie with a gimmick’ is somehow getting more acclaim than Dunkirk - another war movie with a gimmick that still gets me choked up by thinking about it.
Joker - I think Joker was a beautifully shot movie with a great central performance by Joaquin Phoenix, but ultimately I think it’s an ugly nihilistic movie, that rides on the coat tails of a bunch of other movies. Even though it was poised as a stand alone feature it’s probably going to become the bedrock of a new Batman franchise. Though I do think the Batman they’re teasing here - a clown hating - capitalist beater of poor people - could be interesting. For everyone who has loved this movie, I’ve been telling them to go watch You Were Never Really Here that came out the year before. Joaquin Phoneix plays a would-be vigilante who has to care for his sick and frail mother whilst coping with a life of abuse and trauma. That movie left me spellbound. Joker just left me feeling nothing.
Didn’t see Ford V Ferrari - It looked like a perfect one of those movies, in which a group of underdog mavericks do something amazing in their respected field. I always like watching Christian Bale in stuff. Less so about Matt Damon.
The biggest shuns in terms of best picture are Knives Out, Bait, The Farewell, Midsommar, Us, Uncut Gems, David Copperfield and Pain and Glory. I guess they can’t all be nominated, but there has to be a better way to reward excellence in movies. I guess I should just be happy that there are so many great movies being made today outside of the big studio machine.
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Pick any random prestige-indie film from the late-90s/early-2000s. Odds are “follows the stories of [number] strangers in New York/LA whose lives cross in unexpected ways” is part of the synopsis.
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made an oscar pool for anyone that wants to join (you can use your forum name where it says discord name) https://forms.gle/gYrZ8eTPp1ruvLJu8
just points! no money. responses are locked in after submitting so make sure you’re sure!
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Reading this list has made me realize I REALLY haven’t seen any prestige movies this year. I’ve usually seen at least one or two, but truly nothing this year. Thus, my guesses are based purely on the DISCOURSE and what BS I think they’ll pull. Excited to not watch it.
I voted on wish fulfillment more than sincere predictions, except in categories where I either didn’t like or didn’t see any nominees, in which case I went with what the discourse inclines me to believe.
Also, I think the google form submitted twice, so apologies for that. Chrome acted up.
The Independent Spirit Awards kinda kicked ass, if anyone needs a pick me up after the Oscar’s inevitably disappoint
Uncut Gems took home three awards, including Sandler for best actor. Willem Defoe won best supporting, The Farewell won best feature, Parasite won best international film
And Joker was nowhere to be seen
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Any way to remove required answers? I don’t feel like I should be voting in categories where I haven’t seen even one of the films.
The Oscars picking the one Disney/Pixar film up for nomination is so, so boring.
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That sucks I’m so tired of them doing that. So much interesting, challenging animation out there today and they pick the same shit every year.
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Well this is cool to see, at least
And shout out to Jin Won Han for reminding the viewers that there are other places movies get made besides Hollywood
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7:07: The Lighthouse not winning for Cinematography… the disrespect.
8:02: The montage of people who passed this year is always quite sad, but every time I remember Godfrey Gao is gone I am immediately in tears. Rutger Hauer, too… rough year.
