Throwing Copper

I haven’t been as engaged with a movie and it’s characters and what’s going to happen to them all year.

Do not read reviews for it, just the blurbs and letter scores.

OldBoy

Sounds great. I just saw 88 on RT and that Rex gives performance of life.

Decker

I've heard some really negative things about Red Rocket. Seems like it's a love-it-or-hate-it sort of movie.

dex14

Red Rocket, like all of Sean Baker's films, is great. Rex's performance is better than most of the ones nominated.

story

Wow, no love for A24 films except The Tragedy of MacBeth?! I'm surprised there isn't something for Lamb or The Green Knight.

I hope Spielberg gets it for directing, at least at my first glance of the list.

Dune, Dune, Dune!

Daytripper

Gaga did a fine job, but it was not an award winning performance. Out of the 5 actress that were nominated, she wasn't better than any of them IMO. In fact, I could name several more who turned in better performances who were also not nominated. It doesn't help that the movie was not good.

dex14

Their 2021 slate didn’t have much of award contenders. Lamb and The Green Knight never had a chance of this level of award. They were banking on MacBeth, Red Rocket, and C’mon, C’mon. It didn’t work out. The Spirit Awards nominated them for a bunch.

Neon has bested them this year for sure.

davidh777

CODA!

Kinda thought Last Night in Soho might get something like production design.

Decker

Coming 2 America, Cruella and Free Guy all got nominations for Oscars. The French Dispatch was shut out.

davidh777

I liked Free Guy and think it deserved a VFX nomination.

AaronHernandez

The Costumes and makeup in Coming 2 America were impressive. The failures of that movie were entirely with a lifeless script not any of the techie people.

Daytripper

If there were still only 5 movies allowed for Best Picture, my guess they would be:

"Belfast"
"The Power of the Dog"
"West Side Story"
"Licorice Pizza"
"Nightmare Alley" or "CODA"

I was kind of surprised that "King Richard" got a nomination. I expected one for Smith, but not the movie itself. And "Drive My Car" would get one for Best International Film for sure. But there is no way "Don't Look Up" would get noticed had there still been only 5 nominees. I still stand by that "The Last Duel" deserves to be on this list.

John Galt

Quoting dex for easy reference to titles available for streaming.

Added list of titles with physical releases before the Awards. Keep in mind release dates are subject to change and occasionally get pushed back after award nominations. I did not include shorts or documentaries. If someone wants to add those, I'll edit this post to include them.

Belfast (3/1 BD)
Coming 2 America (3/8 BD)
Cruella (UHD out now)
Dune (UHD out now)
Encanto (UHD out now)
Flee (3/1 BD)
Four Good Days (BD out now)
Free Guy (UHD out now)
King Richard (UHD out now)
Luca (UHD out now)
Nightmare Alley (3/22 UHD)
Raya and the Last Dragon (UHD out now)
Shang Chi (UHD out now)
Spencer (BD out now)
The Eyes of Tammy Faye (BD out now)
The Mitchells vs the Machines (BD out now)
West Wide Story (3/15 UHD)

Looks like the list of movies you'll have to catch in theatres are:

Cyrano (opens 2/25)
Licorice Pizza
Parallel Mothers
Spider Man
The Worst Person in the World

House of Gucci hasn't been mentioned yet, but will be available for digital rental on 2/22.

Decker

There’s been a lot of discussion about the bland and uninspired set of nominees this year and why they couldn’t have found a space for Spider-Man No Way Home in a group of ten nominees. The most interesting take I heard on a podcast was that while the Oscars had wanted more mainstream movies to compete and therefore opened up the Best Picture category, the also then had to address #OscarsSoWhite and did so be expanding its membership by like 33% with most of those new members being young and many international. Those members apparently don’t have any interest in keeping the Oscars relevant and are just picking the film they liked the best. That, combined with the fact that they just stream everything and no longer watch films with an audience in a crowded theater means there really isn’t much difference between the Oscars and the critics awards. Cultural impact, box office success and worldwide sentiment no longer figure in the equation. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. On one hand you’re going to reward very deserving movies and performances. On the other you are going to keep getting Oscar telecasts that are out of touch with the moviegoing audience that will become lower and lower rated and less relevant every year.

Jaymole

That is why I view I don't take the Oscars seriously, they care too much about ratings. Nominations & awards should be given to the most deserving films, not to the ones that will bring in the biggest viewing audience.

Decker

It’s not ratings that are the concern, ratings are down for everything. What is the concern is relevance. The Best Picture was always controversial but it at least mattered. Movies like Unforgiven, Gladiator, Platoon, Rain Man — those may not have truly been the best movie in a given year, but they were at least very good, very popular and the Best Picture win cemented their importance in the culture. Now with Nomadland and maybe Power of the Dog, these are movies that might be admired, but are they beloved? Will anyone care about them move after their wins? There’s become a real disconnect between the voters and the moviegoing public, whatever is left of it. The Oscars are becoming less of a coronation and more of a stamp of approval. Not the victory lap, more of a critic’s blurb in the ad campaign. They used to be the end-all of awards, the pinnacle. Now they feel kind of like the Palm d’Or at Cannes : a nice honor, but ultimately who cares?

dex14

GoldenJCJ

^ Seth Rogan is right but I also think there’s a lot more of a personal connection that movies create than automobile awards or the Espys or something. If people see a movie that resonates with them, they want to see it succeed. If I see a movie like Jojo Rabbit that I absolutely love but others may not know about it, I’ll recommend it to all my friends as a great movie they HAVE to see. Now MY “taste” credibility is on the line. If it cleans up at the Oscars, or is even just nominated for Best Picture, it provides some sort of validation for me.

dex14

PTA did a Q&A for The Worst Person in the World… a film he is nominated against for Best Screenplay. I love what he said about the academy overlooking Reinsve for Best Actress. Yes, they’re stupid.

GoldenJCJ

The Oscars could definitely benefit from a Lord of the Rings or Braveheart every year. I know it’s difficult to predict what movie will be really good AND connect with audiences but when it comes down to it, that burden is on Hollywood to make great movies that also connect with movie goers. If they don’t, then they have years like this with Power of the Dog and CODA. No one is saying they’re not deserving of the award but they certainly don’t have the cultural impact of a Forrest Gump or Titanic.

With a post-COVID and streaming world, I’m not sure we’re ever going to see that again.

GoldenJCJ

DVDTalk Posters: “Why doesn’t Paul Thomas Anderson get more love from the Academy? When will he finally win an Oscar?!

PTA: “Fuck all those stupid Academy voters!”

Throwing Copper

Wouldn’t be surprised if he finally won this year for Screenplay. Lol

Coral

He'd probably think "Idiots who know nothing about film awarded me an Oscar. What does that say about my work?".

Crocker Jarmen

2006

Best Picture:
Crash
Brokeback Mountain
Goodnight and Good Luck
Capote
Munich

Best Actress
Reese Witherspoon in Walk The Line
Judi Dench in Missus Henderson Presents
Felicity Huffman in Transamerica
Keira Knightly in Pride and Prejudice
Charlize Theron in North Country

Looking over the years, it's very common for only one of the Best Actress nominees to be for a movie nominated for Best Picture.

Decker

Three of those movies nominated for Best Actress I feel like I've never even heard of. And certainly never remembered that Huffman was a Best Actress Oscar nominee.