2023 Oscars

[Milestones]

I did not see any of the films and watched maybe three minutes of the Awards.  That's pretty typical for me.  I do go with the notion that there are still good films and filmmakers.  

But Kimmel had quite a funny line about the Scorsese film:  "When I went to see ‘Killers of the Flower Moon,’ I had my mail sent to the theater. It’s so long, you could drive to Oklahoma and solve the murders yourself.”   When I get around to seeing it, I'll be sure to schedule a dinner break and at least two bathroom breaks. 

 

 

[Ken Dryden]

I avoid televised award shows, especially the Oscars and the Grammys. I rarely go to movies and the artists featured performing or being honored on the Grammy shows are of absolutely no interest to me.

[Dub Modal]

I saw Oppenheimer last year and was unable to watch these awards. Saw that it basically cleaned up. I wasn't impressed, but like Titanic, it must have involved a bunch of sophistication, tech specs etc that film buffs love and reward. It had its moments but overall was a boring slog for this uneducated film goer. 

[jlhoots]

I thought it was O.K. Lily Gladstone should have won.

[soulpope]

I don`t care about both the show and the Oscars overall .... 

[jlhoots]

Apparently very little "love" here for current movies. I'm not in that group.

OTOH, the Grammys do nothing for me. Although Jason Isbell did win this year.

Edited March 12, 2024 by jlhoots

[Dub Modal]

I should have mentioned that I don't mind these award shows, although the Academy awards are usually my least favorite as they tend to be a bit stuffy and drag along a bit. They were much better those years that Billy C hosted. 

[gmonahan]

I love movies and go see a lot of them, so I always watch the Oscars. Of course, living on the west coast helps. I record it and then can fast forward through a lot of the glop. Robert Downey had a cool speech, Ryan Gosling did a good musical number, and Kimmel was ok.

 

[soulpope]

12 hours ago, jlhoots said:

Apparently very little "love" here for current movies. 

Great appreciation for "Perfect Days" dir. Wim Wenders .... btw which didn't find sufficient love at subject "film festival" ....

[Kevin Bresnahan]

I had several people tell me that Oppenheimer was boring as hell. Once I heard that, I knew it would win big at the Oscars. They love their navel-gazers.

[Rooster_Ties]

I thought Oppenheimer was mostly pretty riveting (my wife did to) — and walking out, I left wanting to see it again in another week or two (but never did).

And I’d gone into it half dreading a 3 hour film on the Manhattan Project (especially after work, since I work weekends now) — but the only time I glanced at my phone to check the time was shortly after the point in the film after the bombs had been dropped… and I was actually relieved(!) that there was almost a full hour of the film left! — and the last hour was as riveting as the first two, imho.

I saw someone mention online that you see very little actually being done in the film… that it’s almost 90% dialog and very little ‘action’. But I thought the film demanded my attention and kept my interest pretty much throughout (or at least 80% of the time).

Also, I haven’t seen much Robert Downey Jr. — mainly Chaplin over 30 years ago, and 2-3 other films he had smaller parts in (all back in the 90’s). But based on Oppenheimer — I will absolutely go see any ‘serious’ film he’s in from now on (especially anything that’s a period piece).

I also hadn’t ever seen any Christopher Nolan films — other than his first Batman film (which was fine for what it was — maybe the only Batman film I’ve ever seen, come to think of it) — but I need to go back and see some Nolan stuff at some point too.

Edited March 13, 2024 by Rooster_Ties

[jlhoots]

17 minutes ago, Rooster_Ties said:

I thought Oppenheimer was mostly pretty riveting (my wife did to) — and walking out, I left wanting to see it again in another week or two (but never did).

And I’d gone into it half dreading a 3 hour film on the Manhattan Project (especially after work, since I work weekends now) — but the only time I glanced at my phone to check the time was shortly after the point in the film after the bombs had been dropped… and I was actually relieved(!) that there was almost a full hour of the film left! — and the last hour was as riveting as the first two, imho.

I saw someone mention online that you see very little actually being done in the film… that it’s almost 90% dialog and very little ‘action’. But I thought the film demanded my attention and kept my interest pretty much throughout (or at least 80% of the time).

Also, I haven’t seen much Robert Downey Jr. — mainly Chaplin over 30 years ago, and 2-3 other films he had smaller parts in (all back in the 90’s). But based on Oppenheimer — I will absolutely go see any ‘serious’ film he’s in from now on (especially anything that’s a period piece).

I also hadn’t ever seen any Christopher Nolan films — other than his first Batman film (which was fine for what it was — maybe the only Batman film I’ve ever seen, come to think of it) — but I need to go back and see some Nolan stuff at some point too.

👍

[ghost of miles]

I saw Oppenheimer twice (the second time on the full-size iMax screen at the Indiana State Museum) and loved it. So happy to see it have a big night at the Oscars. In fairness, the only other best-picture nominee I saw was Barbie, so I can’t weigh in on the merits of the others, but Oppenheimer definitely seemed Oscar-worthy to me (including Cillian Murphy’s performance for the ages in the title role). Plus I love that a three-hour dialogue-driven historical film about a scientist could be a box-office blockbuster in 2023.

The only other Nolan films I’ve seen are his Batman trilogy, which I thoroughly enjoyed, especially The Dark Knight, which I’d rank among the best movies of the 2000s. 

[clifford_thornton]

22 hours ago, jlhoots said:

I thought it was O.K. Lily Gladstone should have won.

yeah, agree. Poor Things is an awesome movie and Emma Stone was superb, but Gladstone's portrayal in Flower Moon is unfuckwithable. Flower Moon is great, certainly "Scorsese-ish," but also an important film that needed to be made. The book is even better.

Flower Moon also did not feel long to me. It's very engrossing.

[mjazzg]

Lanthimos is a great director, I've enjoyed all his films up to 'Poor Things' which I'm yet to see. There's been some interesting commentary over here on the power dynamic between the main male and female characters and whether it's exploitative of the Stone character. That will be interesting to judge for myself

I also thought 'Flower Moon' was terrific and definitely not too long

[soulpope]

1 minute ago, mjazzg said:

Lanthimos is a great director,

I`m very fond of "The Lobster" (2015) ....

[Rooster_Ties]

Literally just saw American Fiction — finished moments ago, in fact.  What a great movie!!

Noticed Patrice Rushen did the score and much of the soundtrack.

[gmonahan]

On 3/13/2024 at 10:25 AM, Rooster_Ties said:

Literally just saw American Fiction — finished moments ago, in fact.  What a great movie!!

Noticed Patrice Rushen did the score and much of the soundtrack.

Yes, I loved that one, especially the ending. I thought all the best pic noms were good this year...well, all I've seen. Haven't seen "Anatomy of a Fall" yet.