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Entries in Best Picture (399)

Monday
Mar112024

Oscar Night Winners: "Oppenheimer" and "Poor Things" Reigned

by Nathaniel R

Emma Thomas (Oppenheimer producer) hugs Emily Blunt after winning Best Picture. Screenshot from ABC

Another Oscar season has come and gone and we'll dig into the ceremony in a bit which for the first time in known history came in under its alloted air time.  Moving it an hour earlier was a good move! But for now the winners list. Oppenheimer emerged as the night's champ as everyone on the planet predicted but it proved less than a giant sweeper. Sweeps just aren't popular at the 21st century where spreading the wealth is the semi-norm for wins, if not nomination tallies. Still, since the first year of the "Expanded Era" (2009) when we saw an expansion of the Best Picture field and new voting rules, its seven wins place it in a tie for most Oscars with 2013's Gravity (which did not win Best Picture) and 2022's Everything Everywhere All At Once

The only other films to win multiple Oscars last night were Poor Things with 4 statues includly a tough race in Best Actress and The Zone of Interest with 2 statues including a not totally surprising (on account of how often the work was discussed) but still highly unusual win in the Best Sound category. More to come!

COMPLETE LIST OF WINNERS IN ALL 23 CATEGORIES

Picture Oppenheimer
Director Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer
Actress Emma Stone, Poor Things
Actor Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer
Supporting Actress, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers
Supporting Actor Robert Downey Jr, Oppenheimer
Original Screenplay Anatomy of a Fall
Adapted Screenplay American Fiction
Cinematography Oppenheimer
Costume Design Poor Things
Production Design Poor Things
Film Editing Oppenheimer
Visual Effects Godzilla Minus One
Makeup and Hair Poor Things
Original Score Oppenheimer
Sound The Zone of Interest
Original Song "What Was I Made For?" Barbie
International Feature The Zone of Interest 
Live Action Short The Wonderful World of Henry Sugar
Animated Feature The Boy and the Heron
Animated Short War is Over!
Documentary Feature 20 Days in Mariupol
Documentary Short The Last Repair Shop

Sunday
Mar102024

Best Picture in Black-and-White: 2023 Edition

by Cláudio Alves

Re-releasing films in black-and-white, whether in theaters or through physical media, has become something of a trend. This year, Godzilla Minus One prompted a new edit with color stripped away, revealing a new way to consider its post-war twist on the kaiju mythos. I understand why audiences and filmmakers get carried away by these experiments. After all, for the past few seasons, it's a The Film Experience tradition to re-think the year's Best Picture Oscar nominees in silvery monochrome, pondering what each flick would look like transformed.

This is an exercise that can reveal qualities in composition and lighting, as well as provide a reference for the role of color in visual storytelling. Sometimes, its absence makes no difference. In other cases, a movie can't work in grayscale… 

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Saturday
Mar092024

Split Decision: "Barbie"

No two people feel the exact same way about any film. Thus, Team Experience is pairing up to debate the merits of this year’s Oscar movies. Here's the last discussion, between Mark Brinkerhoff and Nick Taylor on Barbie

NICK: Hi Mark! We’re coming to you live and in color - but mainly in pink - from Barbieland for today’s split decision. This is the only one of these where I get to be on the side of positivity, so if the runoff of good vibes is Too Much, forgive me. Either way, I’m very excited to talk to you about Barbie. I’m not sure this makes it into my top 10 for the year, but it’s almost certainly the 2023 film I’ve watched the most, and I think it’s a total delight with as much on its mind as any of Greta Gerwig’s previous films, albeit in a very different key from Lady Bird and Little Women. I’d say more, but I don’t want to start our chat with a three-paragraph monologue. So, Mark, what’s keeping you from feeling the Kenergy?...

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Friday
Mar082024

Split Decision: "The Holdovers"

No two people feel the exact same way about any film. Thus, Team Experience is pairing up to debate the merits of this year’s Oscar movies. Here's Abe Friedtanzer and Cláudio Alves on The Holdovers

ABE: Cláudio, it is always my pleasure to talk about films with you even though I know our tastes rarely overlap. In fact, when I met you in-person at the Toronto International Film Festival last year, you noted that we were barely seeing any of the same films. I was only in Toronto for three and a half days and saw a whirlwind eighteen films in that time, the best of which was The Holdovers. My editor decided to hold my review for the theatrical release, which proved somewhat underwhelming, but fortunately there was plenty of awards acclaim for the film to keep my enthusiasm up about this gem.

I remember seeing Sideways twenty years ago and very much enjoying it as I was just starting to really get into film (and The Film Experience as a reader), and it's great to see Alexander Payne reunited with his star Paul Giamatti for a role that's perfect for him. He's one of the best parts of this film but there are so many, at least in my opinion. Cláudio, tell me about your experience of seeing the film and what did and didn't work for you...

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Wednesday
Mar062024

Split Decision: "Poor Things"

No two people feel the exact same way about any film. Thus, Team Experience is pairing up to debate the merits of this year’s Oscar movies. Here's Abe Friedtanzer and Nick Taylor on Poor Things

NICK: Hello Abe! Congratulations on Poor Things winning the Team Experience Award for Best Picture. I’m glad a film that moves, sounds, and dresses in such an offbeat manner has become such a critical and popular hit. It’s always nice to see weird art winning. That being said, I don’t count myself as a fan of Poor Things, and have a lot of complaints I could throw at its many, many, unapologetic excesses. Still, I like starting these Split Decision panels on notes of praise, and I’d really love to hear what you think of Poor Things.

ABE: Hey Nick! Always happy to chat about movies. I had the pleasure of seeing Poor Things at the New York Film Festival back in September right after May December, a film that many liked that I did not. I've been a fan of Yorgos Lanthimos' since the incredible Oscar-nominated Greek film Dogtooth, and I found both The Lobster and The Favourite extremely interesting and engaging. I was very turned off, however, by The Killing of a Sacred Deer. Lanthimos' offbeat nature and his winning blend of pitch-black comedy and drama is usually quite effective, but Poor Things is a departure even from that…

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