{"id":2593,"date":"2020-01-24T14:39:08","date_gmt":"2020-01-24T14:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/geneseymour.com\/?p=2593"},"modified":"2020-02-06T17:19:49","modified_gmt":"2020-02-06T17:19:49","slug":"seymour-movies-senses-oscar-isnt-going-to-take-much-more-of-whatever-this-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/geneseymour.com\/?p=2593","title":{"rendered":"Seymour Movies Senses Oscar Isn’t Going To Take Much More of Whatever This Is"},"content":{"rendered":"

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It will do no good to say, as we tend to do every year at about this time, that there are far more important things to think about than the damn Oscars. Of course there are. There always will be. The hum of impeachment hearings in the background as I’m writing this blog keeps pulling my attention away from such burning issues as whether Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood\u00a0<\/em>is better than\u00a0Jackie Brown\u00a0<\/em>(not quite) or whether Charlize Theron’s impersonation of Megyn Kelly is as scary or as bravura as Renee Zellweger’s of Judy Garland. (A\u00a0 hard “yes.”) But here I am asking myself these questions anyway and you know why, don’t you? Because you can be entertained by senate hearings for only so long and we go to the gauze of Oscar because we need escape hatches from solemnity.<\/p>\n

The troublesome part comes in gauging whether the media industrial complex now cares more about the Academy Awards than movies. Moving pictures come and go through whatever delivery system we can imagine and we still wont know for another ten years which of these movies will last, or what we’ll even mean when we talk about movies in 2030. I am sure that no one will remember or care who wins what in a couple weeks because none of you (I bet) will remember who won what a year ago.<\/p>\n

I do know this: a borderline-exceptional year for movies yielded, as I wrote someplace else<\/a>, one of the least exceptional list of Academy Award nominations in years. Not that the movies themselves are bad. Quite the contrary. But this was a year so filled with quality pictures that the Academy could have taken more chances, nominated less-expected-but-just-as-worthy movies and actors. We can delve deeper into the MIAs as we always do: with a For Whatever It\u2019s Worth (FWIW)<\/strong> blurb, whenever and wherever applicable.<\/p>\n

The competition, as depicted below, is pretty much coated with chalk; in sports terms, this means prohibitive favorites with apparently unimpeded rides to victory, especially in the acting categories\u2026maybe.<\/p>\n

What I\u2019m also sensing from this year\u2019s assortment is a (somewhat) reactionary bent from an academy that may have gotten (somewhat) fed up with the hoops it\u2019s had to leap through over the previous decade on matters of diversity, independent films and streaming services. If there were a comic-book superhero movie successful enough to be worth the trouble, members might not only have nominated it, but given it several key awards just to spite the cinema snobs.<\/p>\n

Oh wait. There is, in fact, a comic-book supervillain movie showing signs of doing exactly that on the evening of February 9th.<\/p>\n

Zounds! That means this thing is bearing down on us harder than usual this season. So why wait any longer to get to the picks? The future, in more ways than one, is now.<\/p>\n

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Best Picture:<\/strong>
\nFord v Ferrari<\/em>
\n The Irishman<\/em>
\n JoJo Rabbit<\/em>
\n Joker<\/em>
\n Little Women<\/em>
\n Marriage Story<\/em>
\n x-1917<\/em><\/strong>
\n Once Upon a Time in Hollywood<\/em>
\n Parasite<\/em><\/p>\n

Director:<\/strong>
\nMartin Scorsese The Irishman<\/em>
\nTodd Phillips, Joker<\/em>
\nSam Mendes, 1917<\/em>
\nQuentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood<\/em>
\nx-Bong Joon Ho, Parasite<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Irishman <\/em>looked like an early favorite heading into the season. But the suspicion here is that, as with Marriage Story<\/em>, there\u2019s just too damn much Netflix around this stuff for movie traditionalists to come to terms with. Roma<\/em> had the same problem last year, along with English subtitles. This latter aspect would seem to disqualify Parasite<\/em>, though its overall popularity is far broader than Roma<\/em>\u2019s ever was. Something tells me that, of all the rest, 1917<\/em> is exactly what we think of when we think of \u201cOscar bait.\u201d It has all the elements: a big-screen narrative far more suited to theatrical than living-room viewing; technical virtuosity in service to a grandly mounted tribute to The Human Spirit (plus it’s a truly absorbing ride); and it has Sam Mendes, who carries the kind of cachet of Serious Adult Film Director that Fred Zinnemann, William Wyler or David Lean used to carry into battles for Oscar, even though I happen to think he\u2019s closer to Zinnemann than to the other two. That Mendes already has one of these (2000 for American Beauty<\/em>) won\u2019t necessarily keep him from getting another. Lately, however, the splits between best film and best director have happened more often than they used to, and Parasite<\/em> has connected so hard and deep with all kinds of audiences living life in the 21st century\u2019s global economy that it\u2019s not inconceivable that its director will be honored individually for it, along with the all-but-inevitable Oscar the movie will receive for what they\u2019re now calling \u201cInternational Feature Film.\u201d<\/p>\n

FWIW<\/strong>: Just for the record, my favorite movie of 2019 was The Last Black Man in San Francisco<\/em>, which is the very antithesis of whatever \u201cOscar bait\u201d means. I also would have been OK with The Irishman<\/em> or Once Upon a Time\u2026in Hollywood<\/em> winning the top prize. But those two, I think, were made for the longer haul of historic debate, not for Oscar\u2019s ultimate approbation.<\/p>\n

Lead Actor:<\/strong>
\nAntonio Banderas, Pain and Glory<\/em>
\nLeonardo DiCaprio, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood<\/em>
\nAdam Driver, Marriage Story<\/em>
\nx-Joaquin Phoenix, Joker<\/em><\/strong>
\nJonathan Pryce, The Two Popes<\/em><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

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Phoenix has specialized in desperate, marginalized men driven to erratic, often explosive (mis)behavior. He once played somebody with those traits named \u201cJoaquin Phoenix\u201d who showed up on David Letterman\u2019s couch seemingly intent on setting his career on fire. Here he\u2019s perceived as having gone \u201call out\u201d with this persona and there\u2019s nothing Hollywood likes better than honoring performances perceived as being \u201call out\u201d as opposed to just \u201cout there.\u201d It will do no good to maintain that he was better in Inherent Vice<\/em> or even The Master<\/em> because those characters just, you know, bothered people. As God\u2019s Lonely Guy who became Batman\u2019s nemesis, he\u2019s made marginalization palatable, even tamer, by ramping up the pathos and making The Joker (or is it now just \u201cJoker\u201d?) a surrogate for all those who feel left out. Which is no small achievement \u2013 and destined for the Academy\u2019s enshrinement.<\/p>\n

FWIW:<\/strong> Of course, I preferred the quieter and thus more unsettling alienation afflicting Banderas\u2019 aging artist in Pain and Glory<\/em>. And however much I became annoyed with Driver\u2019s younger, more mercurial artist in Marriage Story<\/em>, I believed him to be much more an embodiment of the present-day zeitgeist than Phoenix\u2019s prancing sociopath. But I\u2019d much rather talk about Eddie Murphy\u2019s noticeable absence from this list. What happened? Was Murphy\u2019s Rudy Ray Moore not outrageous enough? Or would the Academy have been more wowed if he\u2019d done his own spin on Moore\u2019s Dolemite character? Maybe there simply wasn\u2019t enough room for Murphy \u2013 or, it would seem, for anything else connected with Dolemite is My Name<\/em>, which may not have been the year\u2019s best, but was a better and more revelatory movie than Green Book<\/em>. And while I understand Adam Sandler\u2019s relief over not having to wear a tux for a few more nights, he should have been in this mix for his nitro-powered jitteriness in Uncut Gems<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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Lead Actress:<\/strong>
\nCynthia Erivo, Harriet<\/em>
\nScarlett Johansson, Marriage Story<\/em>
\nSaoirse Ronan, Little Women<\/em>
\nCharlize Theron, Bombshell<\/em>
\nx-Renee Zelwegger,\u00a0Judy\u00a0<\/em><\/b><\/p>\n

As with Phoenix, Zellweger is this year\u2019s exemplar of a performer going \u201call out,\u201d specifically in an eerily on-point evocation of a stage-and-screen legend in decline. Also as with Phoenix, pathos has a lot to contribute to her big lead — and she does all her own singing, too. It\u2019s such a compelling turn that almost everything else about the movie blurs around it. And this could be a problem for her. She wouldn\u2019t be the first star whose movie ultimately lets her down. (It seems a recurring liability in biopics.) Because of this as well as some shade being thrown on her movie by Garland\u2019s daughter Liza Minnelli, Zellweger\u2019s lead is the one most vulnerable to an upset \u2013 though one wonders if a Scarlett Johansson win would be much of an upset. Hers is the performance on this ballot that grows on you the most with its emotional variety and tonal progressions. And the fact that she\u2019s under Academy inspection for another performance in another category could enhance her chances here. Hollywood worships Judy Garland and admires anybody willing to do her justice. But to take a cue from Sally Field, Hollywood likes, really likes Scar-Jo and could show her how much they do in this category \u2013 or even in the other one. But we\u2019ll get there soon enough.<\/p>\n

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UPDATE (2\/6) — Forget\u00a0Marriage Story<\/em>. Not at all as beloved in L.A. whose residents, I sense, feel somewhat dissed by their depiction. It’s Zelwegger after all.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Supporting Actor:<\/strong>
\nTom Hanks, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood<\/em>
\nAnthony Hopkins, The Two Popes<\/em>
\nAl Pacino, The Irishman<\/em>
\nJoe Pesci, The Irishman<\/em>
\nx-Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I hope Pitt appreciates the magnitude of his competition. All the other guys have won before and been nominated more often. The thing is: Pitt does appreciate it, which is what makes him as lovable among voters as Johansson. Then again, they liked Sylvester Stallone, too and Mark Rylance picked his pocket (deservedly so) four years ago in this category. The same thing could very well happen here as this is the one category where acting chops are given heavier weight than in others. (Pesci or even Hanks could be the beneficiary.) Pitt\u2019s performance, however, is a marvel of subtle grace and containment, verities of terrific screen acting that never \u2013 or practically never \u2013 are honored by Oscar whenever they surface. I\u2019m still going with Pitt, but I think his triumph here will be a bigger \u201cupset\u201d than most believe.<\/p>\n

FWIW:<\/strong> Would Christian Bale or Matt Damon in Ford vs. Ferrari<\/em> qualify here or for lead actor? Either way, I\u2019d have been happy to see one or both in this board game along with Wesley Snipes in his sneaky-great eccentric turn in Dolemite.<\/em><\/p>\n

Supporting Actress:<\/strong>
\nKathy Bates, Richard Jewell<\/em>
\nLaura Dern, Marriage Story<\/em>
\nx-Scarlett Johansson, JoJo Rabbit<\/em><\/strong>
\nFlorence Pugh, Little Women<\/em>
\nMargot Robbie, Bombshell<\/em><\/p>\n

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Dern is Hollywood royalty and Hollywood\u2019s been waiting for an opportunity to reward her years of daring and diligence. Though I think her harder-than-it-looks work in Little Women<\/em> was what should have landed here, her icy, commanding divorce lawyer is likely very familiar to most Academy voters and the shock of recognition alone could be enough to power her to the winner\u2019s circle.<\/p>\n

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FWIW:<\/strong> Then again, Johansson\u2019s performance as single mom to a Nazi brat in JoJo Rabbit<\/em> is, as critics have observed, the luminous soul of the movie and if she doesn\u2019t upset Zellweger in the lead category, she could very well pull it off here.\u00a0 (UPDATE\u00a0 (2\/6) — I’m now thinking she will.)\u00a0<\/strong>As for MIAs, my one-and-only here is Idina Menzel as Adam Sandler\u2019s taking-no-shit-and-giving-negative-fucks wife in Uncut Gems<\/em><\/p>\n

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Adapted Screenplay<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Irishman<\/em>, Steven Zaillian
\nJoJo Rabbit<\/em>, Taika Waititi<\/strong>
\nJoker<\/em>, Todd Phillips, Scott Silver
\nLittle Women<\/em>, Greta Gerwig
\nThe Two Popes<\/em>, Anthony McCarthy<\/p>\n

Here is where the consolation prizes are usually given for those movies otherwise overtaken elsewhere and it\u2019s where I think Irishman<\/em> avoids getting skunked for the night \u2013 though either Joker<\/em> or JoJo<\/em> could take it away.<\/p>\n

FWIW:<\/strong> The case has been advanced — though not, in my opinion, made \u2013 that Gerwig\u2019s interpretation of Louisa May Alcott\u2019s book errs too much on the side of modernist, or even post-modernist thinking, robbing the story of the warmth and magic that has sustained it through several previous adaptations. I can\u2019t believe that the Academy carries similar qualms, but I suppose it\u2019s as good an excuse as any to wave her along. I hope in any case that I\u2019m wrong about this.<\/p>\n

UPDATE (2\/2) — Whoops! The WGA has spoken and it done fell in love with\u00a0JoJo<\/em>. Nobody said a motherin’ word about\u00a0Irishman\u00a0<\/em>or\u00a0Joker\u00a0<\/em>or any of Those People.\u00a0 I’m going with them, though it’s by no means a mortal lock.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Original Screenplay:<\/strong>
\nKnives Out<\/em>, Rian Johnson
\nMarriage Story<\/em>, Noah Baumbach
\n1917<\/em>, Sam Mendes and Krysty Wilson-Cairns
\nx-Once Upon a Time in Hollywood<\/em>, Quentin Tarantino<\/strong>
\nParasite<\/em>, Bong Joon-ho, Jin Won Han<\/p>\n

Another strong field, and the tendency as always is to go with the dude with the smartest, freshest mouth in the pack. Johnson\u2019s crafty script is a dark horse. But here is yet another opportunity to gauge the degree to which Parasite<\/em> has become a global phenomenon.<\/p>\n

FWIW:\u00a0 <\/strong>OTOH, if\u00a01917\u00a0<\/em>gets this, the night is essentially over.<\/p>\n

Animated Feature:<\/strong><\/p>\n

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World<\/em>
\nI Lost My Body<\/em>
\nxKlaus<\/em><\/strong>
\nMissing Link<\/em>
\nToy Story 4<\/em><\/p>\n

J\u00e9r\u00e9my Clapin\u2019s odyssey of a disembodied hand in search of its owner was one of the most original films of any kind this past year. Of course, this means it hasn\u2019t a chance in hell of overtaking Buzz and Woody\u2019s latest adventures. Curiously, though, any of the remaining three contenders could.<\/p>\n

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UPDATE (1\/27) — And if the shockeroo pulled off by the “Annies” the other night is any indication, it looks as though it’s going to be the St. Nick origin story.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Best Documentary Feature:<\/strong><\/p>\n

American Factory<\/em>, Julia Rieichert, Steven Bognar
\nThe Cave<\/em>, Feras Fayyad
\nThe Edge of Democracy<\/em>, Petra Costa
\nFor Sama<\/em>, Waad Al-Kateab, Edward Watts
\nx-Honeyland<\/em>, Tamara Kotevska, Ljubo Stefanov<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite the Obamas\u2019 enthusiastic endorsement, American Factory<\/em> likely wont overtake the near-miraculously rendered account of Macedonian beekeepers in conflict over the future of their ancient trade \u2013 and in a larger sense, the future of the planet. That it\u2019s also nominated in the category just below speaks to its preeminence.<\/p>\n

Best International Feature Film:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Corpus Christi<\/em>
\nHoneyland<\/em>
\nLes Miserables<\/em>
\nPain and Glory<\/em>
\nx-Parasite<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sorry, Maestro Almod\u00f3var. But the South Korean juggernaut, as dark and wild as anything you\u2019ve wrought in the past, is too strong for your masterly elegy to overpower.<\/p>\n

FWIW<\/strong>: I was sort of hoping for some love here for Mati Diop\u2019s haunting, allusive Atlantics.<\/em><\/p>\n

Cinematography:<\/strong>
\nThe Irishman<\/em>
\n Joker<\/em>
\n The Lighthouse<\/em>
\n x-1917<\/em><\/strong>
\n Once Upon a Time in Hollywood<\/em><\/p>\n

Robert Richardson\u2019s orchestration of sunlight and shadow in Once Upon a Time\u2026<\/em> is invaluable in achieving a sense of a lost world that almost, but never, was. I\u2019m rooting for him, but guessing that Roger Deakins will repeat a year after his long-denied first-time win.<\/p>\n

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Original Score:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\n
Joker<\/em><\/strong>
\nLittle Women<\/em>
\nMarriage Story<\/em>
\n1917<\/em>
\nStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalker<\/em><\/article>\n
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<\/div>\n
\u00a0Some hallowed names \u2013 John Williams, Alexandre Desplat, Randy Newman, Thomas Newman \u2013 are assembled here and they all showed up and produced big-time. Nevertheless it\u2019s the relative newcomer — Hildur Gu\u00f0nad\u00f3ttir \u2013 who scores big on her first try.<\/div>\n
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Original Song:<\/strong>
\n\u201cI Can\u2019t Let You Throw Yourself Away,\u201d Toy Story 4<\/em>
\nx-\u201cI\u2019m Gonna Love Me Again,\u201d Rocketman<\/em><\/strong>
\n\u201cI\u2019m Standing With You,\u201d Breakthrough<\/em>
\n\u201cInto the Unknown,\u201d Frozen 2<\/em>
\n\u201cStand Up,\u201d Harriet<\/em><\/p>\n

If anybody is going to beat a drama-laden rouser from the Frozen<\/em> machine, it\u2019s Sir Elton, who even at or near his dotage can out-rouse anybody who throws down the spangled gauntlet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                      It will do no good to say, as we tend to do every year at about this time, that there are far more important things to think about than the damn Oscars. Of course there are. There always will be. The hum of impeachment […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[124],"tags":[1030,1028,1017,1029,435,995,1011,147,1031,488],"class_list":["post-2593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-adam-sandler","tag-bong-joon-ho","tag-brad-pitt","tag-eddie-murphy","tag-greta-gerwig","tag-joaquin-phoenix","tag-laura-dern","tag-quentin-tarantino","tag-renee-zellweger","tag-scarlett-johansson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/geneseymour.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/geneseymour.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/geneseymour.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geneseymour.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geneseymour.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2593"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/geneseymour.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2593\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2663,"href":"https:\/\/geneseymour.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2593\/revisions\/2663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/geneseymour.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geneseymour.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geneseymour.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}