"Awards season is trying to kill me," a paranoid confession.
Sunday, February 3, 2019 at 11:53PM 
by Nathaniel R
You guys. WHAT is happening? Not to sound paranoid but award season is trying to kill me. Day after day things worsen. Am I inside a Black Mirror episode through the use of some technology I wasn't even aware of? Or have I fallen through a rabbit hole to an alternate dimension where all obsessions curdle in on themselves to become one's worst fears? Are you also experiencing this nightmare with me? Please tell me it's not all in my own head.
The film year started out so well...
Though we didn't get our Oscar wishes last season it was hard to gripe too much about The Shape of Water taking multiple prizes when it was such an atypical Oscar choice and from a respected auteur with an original voice. The acting awards were similarly okay but not great but it's hard to complain when all four winners have been such consistent dynamos onscreen for years. And there were other signs that the year ahead would be a giddy fantasy come true...
The wonderful trans drama A Fantastic Woman won Best Foreign Film and just two months later its amazing Chilean director Sebastian Lelio was back in movie theaters with an even better movie (Disobedience). Many fine films emerged in the spring and summer (Tully, Paddington 2, Hereditary, Eighth Grade, BlacKkKlansman). Films that the public went absolutely bonkers for in the first 3/4ths of the year were, by and large, strong quality popcorn entertainments (Incredibles 2, A Star is Born, Black Panther) but sometime in November, things went completely haywire and we're now living in a nightmare world where a messy homophobic biopic with a casual relationship to truth that barely survived its production nightmares surrounding its famously and frequently alleged sexual predator director is considered to have the year's best editing (ACE EDDIE AWARD WIN. what the what now?) and best acting (SAG BEST ACTOR) for Rami Malek's lipsynching and wearing of false teeth.
Meanwhile Bradley Cooper, one of the world's finest leading men and most talented actors, made like Warren Beatty and did everything for his movie and then some (directing, acting, writing, producing, songwriting, singing, guitar playing, acting coachery -- oh come on you know he did that, too, for novice Gaga) and gifted the world with a really popular blockbuster romantic drama which Hollywood has now refused to hand even a single trophy to beyond trophies for its signature song "Shallow". All this despite it being Cooper's best performance ever that's up against relatively weak competition in the form of lipsynching mimicry from someone in a bad film and prosthetic mimicry from a strong actor who has already won but is hardly giving one of his very best star turns and letting his Batman voice sneak in a bit.
Not that there weren't warning signs that a personally hurtful but public apocalypse was coming. Oscar's popular film announcement fiasco revealed all of the Academy's self-destructive worst instincts. So did their repeated insistence that only Kevin Hart would do as a celebrity to hand the world stage to --as if there aren't dozens upon dozens of funny, famous, movie-loving celebrities in the world, who have never joked about beating up gay kids. The worst news of all, though less glamorous for the media to cover, was that the Oscar governing body had decided that the problem with the #1 most popular awards ceremony in the world which happens to be about honoring filmmaking was that it wasn't more like all those other less popular awards shows and all that pesky filmmaking was to blame: cinematography, costume design, production design, GROSS! You can happen during commercial breaks because no one cares.
Except, you know, the core audience, the base of people who look forward to the Oscars every year.
Hell even the three short film categories, which used to be the least popular given the difficulty of knowing anything about them (and the most theoretically easy to axe if you wanted to reduce the size of Oscar night each year), have received a noteable uptick in audience interest in the past two decades with online ease of access and the now popular theatrical packages that screen in big cities where you can see all the nominees together. This package release was a novelty idea not so long ago and in a short time it's become a popular arthouse box office tradition. Why isn't the Academy investing in these types of "fixes," ones that actually make Oscar season more fun, more film-loving, and more accessible to audiences?
Sincere question which makes us feel even more insane to have to voice: if no one cares about anything beyond leading actors, household name stars, and Best Picture how is it, exactly, that the Oscars are still more popular than all the other awards shows that no longer or never did award craftsmanship of any kind other than the very "top" categories like the Globes, the Emmys, SAG, Grammys, and Tonys. All of those shows are less popular (look it up) and less culturally obsessed over than Oscars. The Academy itself though, by all recent accounts, propositions, and behavior, believes the polar opposite, the "fake news" if you will that they are irrelevant and unpopular.
What's to be done and how much worse will it get? Why do all the people in charge of the Oscars seem to hate the Oscars and its traditions? Why are they incapable of understanding that, even if its subconcious, the public values showbiz tradition and institutional history in the same way they enjoy, say, familiar holiday traditions; they bitch about them because they love them. How else to explain Oscar's perpetual dominance in two fields (awards shows in general / movie industry specifically) through 90 years of changing public tastes?
We can all accept a tweak here and there to keep up with the times. Some of the recent changes -- like expanding their voting body to diversify their membership in age and ethnicity and nationality -- have been smart and welcome. But a full scale misunderstanding of your own identity -- a movie award wanting to ignore movies -- is all but courting suicide. Which speaking of...
How are we to continue covering our favorite showbiz tradition if that tradition loses its own identity? The winners of the acting categories presenting to their parallel category each year is corny, yes, like a beauty pageant winner handing the next reigning queen her tiara, but it's also adorable; it grants a sense of succession and immediate history to proceedings which all too often seem embarrassed about their own lineage. We see this all the time in their shunning of previous generations of stars in favour or whoever is hot that year -- remember when Miley Cyrus was suddenly a favourite presenter despiting having very little in the way of movie connections because she was popular with kids at the time?
And even in the matter of CELEBRITY Oscar's current leadership is hopelessly delusional and confused. They haven't asked last year's winners to present because they aren't famous enough but these are hardly obscure celebrities: Frances McDormand is beloved for her iconoclastic grumpy behavior and constantly memed on social media when she shows up to events. Gary Oldman has also been famous and respected by multiple generations for 30 years now. The public has proven over and over again with their eyeballs in high-rated series after high-rated series, that they love watching Allison Janney on the regular. So what does Oscar want exactly? They say they want famous people that the general public is interested in but then they toss out these beloved people while threatening to axe song performances by household names like Jennifer Hudson and Emily Blunt, the latter of whom starred in TWO blockbusters this year. Lady Gaga reportedly straightened out that mess by threatening not to perform if the other nominees were shunned but the very fact that Oscars powers-that-be thought that the public wouldn't be interested in hearing Jennifer Hudson (who?) and Emily Blunt (who?) sing just goes to show how truly, well, stupid they are about both celebrity and the appeal of their own show. (Note: Emily Blunt won't be singing but they've found someone else famous to sing her song. And listen, that can't have been hard to do as the world has plenty of famous singers.)
If the history of other awards shows is any indication, Oscar's plans to jettison 'a few' of their creative categories to commercial breaks will devalue those awards so greatly that they will never return to the ceremony and all craft categories will eventually be off air entirely. By 2022 will anyone care who wins Costume Design/Cinematography/Production Design if they have no memories of who won before or of those joyful moments with important artists who they might not know as celebrities but can enjoy as more 'real' kind of people having the biggest moment of their lives? Has anyone in charge of the Oscars even realized how often those categories have the most surprising speeches and emotion? Has anyone in charge of the Oscars ever noticed how popular some of those moments become? Think about Sandy Powell's oft-quoted over-it "I already have two of these" curtness on her third Costume Design win or all the chatter about that credit card dress for weeks after Priscilla won costume design.
If Costume Design or Production Design are presented off air this year we might lose totally historic televised moments in which the first African-Americans EVER win in those categories (via Black Panther, not so incidentally the public's very favourite film this past year). If Sound Editing or Sound Mixing goes to First Man off air we'll lose the totally historic moment of seing the very first Asian win either of those categories. What's more any of those four prizes could easily go to women and women are sometimes in short supply on Oscar night outside of the female acting categories -- that inequality never reflects well on Oscar.
In conclusion...
DOES ANYONE IN CHARGE OF THE OSCARS EVEN LIKE THE OSCARS?
DOES ANYONE IN CHARGE EVEN LOVE MOVIES?
Asking for a friend who is me (and presumably many of you), who loves watching the Oscars but might not continue to love it, once it stops being the Oscars altogether.
Reader Comments (66)
At least we can take some solace in Glenn winning. :)
Fantastic points that I am sure all of us agree with, Nathaniel.
I prefer to live in Oscar past these days. Which is why I love the smackdown so much.
The Academy has become an abusive lover to whom we keep returning even though we know how they'll treat us.
i gave up on following this season in the night of the golden globes. it is getting worse every year. i'm quitting this 20+ years hobbie and currently searching for new things to be excited about. great movies don't need awards season anyways.
🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌
You're absolutely right, Nathaniel.
I have a few qualms with The Academy and their board of governors.
I get that they have a big task to undertake, as they have to produce a profitable show that fits well with its network but also honor its history and the history of moviemaking. Not an enviable task. Ratings shouldn't matter, but they do, so they have to work with it.
HOWEVER... Those fools keep taking one step forward, two steps back.
There is no fixing the core business of the Oscars - awarding prizes and hearing speeches from everyone involved in their business. Here and there a moment of humour, a song, whatever, but the core of the cerimony can't and SHOULDN'T change.
That said, things I think could help The Academy both ways (ratings + Oscar fans):
1. Start the show earlier (the Superbowl does it, so the 2nd most highly-watched show on the planet can do it, too) so when Best Pic is announced, people are still awake
2. This can also help with captivating younger viewership - as they can ACTUALLY sit and watch the Oscars
3. Cut the host and pick funny and charismatic movie people (and if you really need to, pair them with a comedian or a TV star) to present the awards
4. Montages and moments honoring movies and/or showbiz folk are OK; but shorten it so that they don't take forever; people from abroad won't probably care that much...
5. Bring your show to late January or early February so it doesn't become and endless repetition of winners in EVERY. SINGLE. CERIMONY. SINCE. THE. GLOBES.
Or... PICK DIFFERENT WINNERS. Your call, Academy.
P,S, - And bring back the Honorary Oscar recipients to present something... It's ridiculous what you do to forget your own history...
I agree sir. It is so disheartening. And it feels like the same stupidity and short-sightedness that affected our presidential election 2 years ago is now infiltrating the Academy. By all means, bow down to the lowest common denominator - that's the way to honor great films and keep the tradition of quality alive. I'm so disappointed.
Sigh. Oscar is Britney and this is his 2007 (ABC is Sam Lutfi?). Let us pray he gets it together and rebounds back in full force ASAP, but agreed, this has been a horribly frustrating year. Have some integrity, Oscar!
It's been a tumultuous awards season for sure. But I can't say I'm as shocked by some of this. In the main acting categories, Oscars and the televised precursors have for a very long time loved the mimicry roles. Winston Churchill, Steven Hawking, Lincoln, King George, Harvey Milk, Idi Amin, Truman Capote...the list goes on and on. In that respect, Bale is actually quite good and while I may disagree, many connect very strongly with Malek's performance too. It's extremely rare for an actor to win for a non-mimicked or non-showy role, which is a shame, but nothing new. That Glenn Close could actually win this year after it eventually seemed like Nathaniel was the only one in the world who thought she was still a frontrunner is actually fantastic. If Regina King pulls it off, that's equally fantastic. The only thing that puzzles me a bit in terms of a likely winner is Green Book. I can only explain that one in the sense that the problems with the story really went past most people, and it definitely otherwise ticks off a lot of the boxes as Oscar bait. Enough to give Mahershala a second Oscar in the same category so quickly? Seems so.
I suspect a big part of this has to do with ABC owning the Oscars. It's a big night for them and makes them a ton of money, and they are clearly trying to chase profit by making the worst decisions possible.
The Oscars have been getting a steady share of the ratings (around 20-24% of audiences) for the past 15 years, so I don't get why they want to change the formula. Last year was much lower than expected, but probably not a huge deal. I mean, having Kimmel do it twice in a row wasn't a great decision, but that's also very ABC - they only want their own network stars.
Hopefully this gets figured out in the next two weeks, because a lot of what makes the Oscars fun is staying up late, socializing, and just enjoying the categories.
It's incredibly depressing. I've followed the Oscars closely for well over 20 years now, but I'm about ready to give up.
The Golden Globe Awards are a major issue in that they have far too much influence over the Academy, but I'm not sure how to limit it.
I'm also exhausted by the constant holding up of anything produced by the Three Amigos as genius. Directing awards are all about personality and reputation now. I have no doubt that if Moonlight were directed by Cuarón or Iñárritu, it would have won Best Director. Eventually this trend will wear down, like all trends, but for now, if one of the Three Amigos are competing in an awards year, the other directors need not even compete.
All I wanted from Oscar this year was a Glenn Close coronation. I'm getting it so I'll allow the fucker-y just to this once for the sake of securing what should have been ages ago an Oscar for Glenn. Lucky for us since this is her fourth nod in Best Actress she defaults to perennial (Pet) status according to Nick Davis. And at least the Oscar she's getting are the bronze base ones. God they look so much more striking than the tin can multi-dipped ones we're used to.
It seems like every few years they get some crazy ideas about what would benefit the telecast (remember the year they handed out awards in the aisle?) not to mention crazy ideas about what constitutes a good movie (admittedly this has always been true of the Academy but feels really rough this year conisidering recent progress).
That said, something does feel more different about this year. Perhaps it’s some combination of the breakthrough in streaming movies being represented (as someone who lives in middle America and has always had trouble getting to indie films, I’m not complaining) but also the seeming endless disfunction of the show. We don’t as of yet know what will come of that (if you’re cutting the host, the craft awards and several musical numbers, what’s left?) or what ultimately will win.
I try to have faith in the new Academy demographics that a surprise is in store. As for the show itself, it would be wrong to say I’m hopeful ratings are bad, perhaps I’m fairly certain that these changes won’t improve ratings (even with blockbusters and streaming titles in the mix) because that’s not how TV works anymore. Their obsession with ratings is like the classic tale of the desperate man, tearing at the earth lamenting his woes and not realizing he’s dug his own grave (that’s not a classic tale. I just made it up).
I guess we’ll see what happens. But there are lots of people out there who will fight for movies and the Oscars as an impetus to spur good movies. I always appreciate you using your platform to do just that.
I have to tell u all...
I am Brazilian and the last four weeks we had faced nazi candidate be named president (and started his government), one of the left leader leaving Brazil because of the death sentences he has received in the past months (Jean Wyllys), the terrible terrible terrible desaster in Brumadinho (human failure!) and now the news that activist Sabrina Bittencourt, who has denounce religious leader like Jon of God and others for sexual abuse, has kill herself last night, in other to protect their sons, husband and family.
It has been too much to my country, and to movie lovers, Oscar lovers in special, this time could be the healing time we all needed. We the news of no original songs alive, no tech categories announced alive, no Gary-Frances-Allison-Sam presenting the acting Oscars (and Gary is my Favourite actor of all time, and Glenn my favorite actress, you all could imagine how excited I am for seeing this two together in the stage as winners!), I am asking myself why I am still thinking in watching the ceremony this year. The video of Glenn winning will be online next morning and I could cry watching her be finally crowned!
But the other things that I mentioned and some of the NO nominees like Leave no trace / The Rider / Suspiria / and no more nominations for If Beale street could talk, At eternity's Gate, Can you ever forgive me?, Shoplifters
makes me thing that this could be the first time since 2002 that I will not and don't wanna watch the Oscars.
"AMPAS AND Governors kill the dream I see (every year)"
Well said, Nathaniel.
I think that the continued success of Bohemiam Rhapsody (or whatever individual award decision one disagrees with) in this season isn't half as worrying as the difficulties with the televised show. The latter seem like a profound lack of awareness, or lack of skill, on the Academy's part, and that worries me a lot.
I mean, this site frequently proposed sensible and doable tweaks to the show that would make it better, whereas the Academy, of late, only seems to come up with bad ideas.
I'm pretty sure I'll always follow the Oscars - this is my 32nd season of following it, and that means I've weathered some storms as a fan! - but I really do want them to sort out the show (by which I mean, recognise that it didn't really need sorting out at all).
I love the Oscars and hate them at the exact same time. It's complicated..
I have hopes that some day we'll remember this year as a novelty. We'll say, "Remember that year when the Academy chose to award craft categories during commercial breaks? That was almost as bad as that year when Rob Lowe sang a 10-minute song with Snow White!"
I wish the Academy would read this.
Cooper's performance in ASIB was just fine. He got his nomination because of the success of the film
Completely agree.
Nothing makes sense, except for Glenn as best actress.
I've been reminding myself this year that if they destroy the Oscar broadcast, I'm OK. The nominations are always fun and becoming a little idiosyncratic, I have Venice and CANNES to follow. I love a good 3.5-hour Oscar telecast, buy my heart will go on without it if it loses its soul. My soul belongs to the movies.
A Star Is Born as a film getting blanked is disappointing but Cooper’s performance being blanked is what’s really driving me up the wall. I think it’s truly a revelatory performance and the fact that he hasn’t won one major award against such mediocre completion is pretty disheartening. It’s my favorite performance of all the acting nominees and probably my favorite performance of the year in general.
Just as people tune into the SuperBowl to see the commercials, why isn’t the Oscar telecast a prime spot for studios to unveil their trailers for next year? ABC owns Disney, and the last that I heard they have a few movies that audiences probably want to see in 2019.
Bravo! Bravo to ALL this!
(PS - I might be in the minority, but while I believe "Bohemian Rhapsody" to be a truly awful film in every way, I thought Rami Malek was incredible in it - risible dental prosthetic notwithstanding - and if he wins the Oscar, I really won't be mad. Though, far and away, it should go to Bradley Cooper, who gave his finest performance to date. And, not to forget Ethan Hawke, who should have been nominated and won!)
This has to be one of the best articles you have ever written,so on point,why do the oscar producers only cater to the masses,some of us sweat all years about our favourites and they want to shunt them to 1 side to make way for whatever they call a star.
Everyone knows who Frances,Gary,Allison and Sam are,they go the movies,they stream,they watch,if your interested in movies you know who these people are even if the huge masses may not,we want to see Frances being Frances cos otherwise when would she get the spotlight,Great work Nat.
Context: The world is in crisis (as Shoshua reminds us), the U.S. is in crisis (longest government shutdown ever, longest investigation into a sitting president ever), Hollywood is in crisis (because of changes in technology, distribution models, etc., and because the sexist racist culture that has guided it forever is finally being held accountable)...and so the Academy is also in crisis.
John Bailey's reign has been one mess after another. (Bring back Cheryl Boone Isaacs!) There's a constant stream of announcements and retractions. THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO. The Twitterverse makes it worse every day, an elite, insular, amplification system that clouds perspective and yet exerts a ridiculous amount of influence, creating narratives around virtue and villainy that only lead more conservative elements to dig in their heels. Bohemian Rhapsody and Green Book are not the problems. The problem is that the Academy has no sense of leadership, of vision, of a way forward through these turbulent and divided times. But I think it will pass...
I believe this is a transition moment, and I think, dear Nathaniel, that you need to look at a bigger picture, taking a longer view. The failure of Bradley Cooper to gain wins for his project is not at the same level of the failure of the Academy to wrestle with staying relevant, which is not at the same level as Hollywood's entrenched, destructive patriarchy. We're in radical times, and like the 1970s (another decade of seismic changes), the gloss of awards shows starts to seem a lot less important. Remember when nominated actors regularly didn't show up to the Oscars, because it was seen as middlebrow and uncool? The Oscars survived that era, Hollywood survived, and now the wheel of fortune has turned again.
We don't know where we'll end up, but I really don't think the Sky Is Falling. BlacKkKlansman and Black Panther are best picture nominees! Progress is being made, one year at a time.
Make this an open letter and send to the AMPAS members you know
Go awf, Nathaniel!
I'm predicting this years Oscars to be an absolute shit-show resulting in sweeping changes for next year (without knowing if those changes will be better or worse).
Lose the short films, keep everything else, and for gods sake, bring back honorary Oscar
I co-sign most everything you say above. That said, I don’t think the Oscars are more popular than other awards ceremonies because they award technical achievements (the “below the line” categories). They’re popular because they’re the oldest award body and are made up of everyone you think of when you think of Hollywood.
The public at large probably wouldn’t care if craft categories were axed. However, Oscar fans would care and that is sufficient reason for why they absolutely shouldn’t relegate awarding to these categories during commercial breaks. The Academy keeps thinking that the way forward is to cater toward people who don’t like the Oscars, but I’d suggest the opposite is actually wisest. Fans of Oscar are tastemakers— think of the pop culture commentators who always chime in on the Oscars, from news shows to magazines to Twitter personalities. These folks like the Oscars and Oscar traditions just like we do. When Oscar pulls these stunts to try and woo theoretical viewers at the expense of Oscar fans’ preferences, they are creating negative buzz for the Oscars. They are practically writing “The Oscars happened yesterday and were meh” reviews. Dance with who brought ya, cater to your base, and those tastemakers will drum up the buzz (at least, as much interest as is possible in this changing TV landscape for the Oscars to have).
I really can't blame the Oscars for "ignoring"/"disrespecting" their core audience when that audience spends most of their time bemoaning all and every thing about the Oscars. Every year we'll complain the broadcast is bloated and overlong but try trim it (you have to take something out to make it shorter) and we riot. No previous host could be bothered to return because we make sure the task is thankless at best. We want them to honor films that are outside the mainstream but of course anything that Oscar touches instantly becomes mainstream and deserving of derision (like how "The Artist" a French black-and-white silent film become a "safe" hoi polloi satisfying Best Picture pick).
Last year really crystallized it for me, in a year where Oscar finally smiled on Gary Oldman, Sam Rockwell, Allison Janney, Guillermo del Toro, Roger Deakins and James Ivory and the response from so much of the 'core audience' was unrelenting negativity (and now we're mad these 'disappointing' winners aren't showing up this year to present).
We simply cannot be pleased and we'll still be watching no matter what. And that, my friends, is why our cries and shouts at the Academy doesn't exactly shake them to action. And even if it did we'd probably just end up bitching about all the same.
Remember It's just the Oscars...
Bohemian Rhapsody now has a bigger box office than A Star Is Born. Looks like Rami Malek is definitely going to win the Oscar.
Moe -- i have thought about this too but seemed too complicated a notion to try to shove into this already lengthy rant. It's definitely true that people will bitch about the Oscars no matter what. And that negativity is not helping but then the world is no negative in every aspect now. Hopefully will seem a return to calmness and sanity in the world and hopefully that will spread to people being nicer about everything including what they have to say about entertainment in general
I'm with you Nathaniel, but the strain of making the Oscar broadcast into a relevant entertainment TV show, has finally broken it's backbone..that being, a tradition for those of us truly interested in the people behind our beloved movies. The cinematographers, the editors, the composers, writers, and of course the actors... to share in their night of achievement recognition. That's all been lost in the ratings and time constraint narrative.
I have watched every single Oscar telecast has it was happening since 1968..... yes... I repeat... since 1968.... the night they deigned to delay for the funeral of Dr.Martin Luther KIng. And yes the repulsive Bob Hope made a "quip" about it. Bob Hope always sucked..
For the Academy Awards to survive to 100 years old.... they must break the contract with ABC and go with a streaming service. Get creative directors involved in the production.. Scorsese, Spielberg, Lee..both Ang and Spike. Trusted actors on the Board, like the Bening, must know these rash new decisions spell doom. Bring to the production the skills inherent to movie making ... the way the Tony's bring their singular skills to their production.
Forget the mass audiences... they have always bitched about the Oscars. Yes, even in 1968.
I am sick about Cooper!!!!!
Hear, hear, Nathaniel! And San FranCinema, excellent follow up comments. Yes, the Academy is in meltdown mode but it will hopefully recover, just as it did after surviving its late 60s/early 70s Uncool phase. But def get rid of that incompetent John Bailey - worst Academy President ever. He lacks any sort of vision, preferring instead to just flail about making bad choice after bad choice.
The minute Glenn Close gets her much-deserved Oscar I'm going to fall into the deepest depression.
Moe- I think you’re confusing Oscar complaints. What Oscar-obsessive that you know complains about the show’s length? Or that the awards go to films that are too esoteric? Certainly nobody I know. But that’s mostly what the Academy is trying to combat- they want a short ceremony that awards all the baitiest box office hits.
Oscar-obsessives complain about just the opposite— that AMPAS’s choices are too bland and their show too populist. It’s not that they’re upset that they’ve failed to please us and have given up on trying. They’re trying hard to please some mythical would-be viewer in their heads.
I am not sure who said it here first but someone said that the Oscars just need to go to HBO or something. Have a channel that doesn't care about how long the ceremony is and can go as long as they need to so the audience who watches and WANTS to watch can. I'd sign up for HBO if it was playing there. All this outside interference is hurting so much.
Nathaniel, have you even mentioned that "Roma" won the Directors Guild of America last night, increasing its Oscar chances. What's going on?
At this point, is it a sure thing they are cutting awards from the show? With all the backlash, they must know it's not the way to go.
Very well put.
One thing I never understood is why they insist that the show has to end by a certain time (9pm PST or something). I can't imagine anyone waiting impatiently for the Oscars to be over so that they can watch the programming that follows. Who does that?? And to watch WHAT exactly??
It's a once-a-year EVENT, for god's sake!
Oh thanks thanks thanks for this Nathaniel - feeling with you ! And that said ... Not even to mentioning the best actress race... am I the ONLY ONE who is completely in disarray about Yalitza Aparicio's performance ??? And the rave for Roma ? Yes its a great story behind the scenes of this stunningly shot movie that creates impressive rating images ... but honestly it's like watching pain dry - I wanted to love it - but it was hard after an hour of watching someone clean in black & white ... will I ever watch it again ? NO ! Very honest and sweet performance BUT better then Collettes Tour de Force ???? Better then Blunt or Roberts or even Thompson this year ? Will we ever see her again in the nominations - No - and I know that shouldn't matter if her performance was something really outstanding... but this must just feel like a political slap in the face of hard working actresses like Toni & Emily ...
sorry didn't spell-check - and thanks to San FranCinema who put my heart at ease in general ;-)
The Oscars will cease to exist anyways by the end of our lifetimes. I'm convinced of that occurrence happening. We'll watch movies through chip devices implanted into our brains and eye sockets, and awarding subjective art with tacky gold-plated statuettes will be considered a passé relic of a befallen epoch of history. It doesn't help that the modern film industry is in utter chaos, and Netflix is about to do to it what Napster did to the music industry. The Academy is trying to please warring gods and failing on both ends with the liberal elites and middle Amerricah. Audiences are a fickle beast, but they're only a by-product of what superhero garbage the studios feed them. The era of the mid-level adult drama is gone! I can't muster up too much outrage over the craft categories being time-shifted to the commercials or the Academy thinking that Kevin Hart is the only human being alive capable of hosting their camp event. We ALL have bigger fish to fry now! Trump is on his way to a second term. Fight THAT! Or explain to me why and how Rami Malek is winning an Oscar for a homophobic whitewashing of a gay icon directed by a child rapist? This world befuddles me, truly.
I committed to skipping this year's telecast back in the summer when they announced these asinine decisions (I would have been willing to grimace through a 'best popular film' category, but the shunting of craft categories to off-air announcements was a deal breaker for me). And since it looks like a lot of wins will go to actively bad movies like Bohemian Rhapsody and Green Book, maybe skipping the show isn't just a bad thing this year.
But if they can't course correct for the years to come, I may have to give up this hobby permanently. End of days. Sad stuff.
I agree Martin- she is NOT a trained actress, has no formal training, has never studied acting and had never acted before, not even in a School play. This nomination is a testament to Cuaron's methods and how well he coached and handled her, above everything Else.
Will she have a career in Hollywood? No. As far as I know, she doesnt speak english and even If she did, Hollywood would never know what to do with her and would only cast her in maid, Nanny or illegal immigrant roles
Apparently Malek was ''too deep into his performance'' to be aware of Bryan Singer. So now that's a campaign plot.