The Official 2023 Oscar Discussion/Contest Thread

[mae]

[mae]

[Randall Flagg]

I just can't bring myself to watch two podcasts totaling over 2 hours on predictions. Hell, the entire Oscar show is under 4 hours.

[mae]

I just can't bring myself to watch two podcasts totaling over 2 hours on predictions. Hell, the entire Oscar show is under 4 hours.

I watch at 1.5 speed! I find it fun though.

[mae]

[mae]

[Still Servant]

And the nominees are...

Best Picture

All Quiet on the Western Front
Avatar: The Way of Water
The Banshees of Inisherin
Elvis
Everything Everywhere All at Once
The Fabelmans
Tár
Top Gun: Maverick
Triangle of Sadness
Women Talking

Best Directing

The Banshees of Inisherin — Martin McDonagh
Everything Everywhere All at Once — Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert
The Fabelmans — Steven Spielberg
Tár — Todd Field
Triangle of Sadness — Ruben Östlund

Best Actor in a Leading Role

Austin Butler - Elvis
Colin Farrell - The Banshees of Inisherin
Brendan Fraser - The Whale
Paul Mescal - Aftersun
Bill Nighy - Living

Best Actress in a Leading Role

Cate Blanchett - Tár
Ana de Armas - Blonde
Andrea Riseborough - To Leslie
Michelle Williams - The Fabelmans
Michelle Yeoh - Everything Everywhere All at Once


Best Actor in a Supporting Role

Brendan Gleeson - The Banshees of Inisherin
Brian Tyree Henry - Causeway
Judd Hirsch - The Fabelmans
Barry Keoghan - The Banshees of Inisherin
Ke Huy Quan - Everything Everywhere All at Once

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Angela Bassett - Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Hong Chau - The Whale
Kerry Condon - The Banshees of Inisherin
Jamie Lee Curtis - Everything Everywhere All at Once
Stephanie Hsu - Everything Everywhere All at Once

Best Costume Design

Babylon
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Elvis
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris

Best Sound

All Quiet on the Western Front
Avatar: The Way of Water
The Batman
Elvis
Top Gun: Maverick

Best Original Score

All Quiet on the Western Front
Babylon
The Banshees of Inisherin
Everything Everywhere All at Once
The Fabelmans

Best Adapted Screenplay

All Quiet on the Western Front
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Living
Top Gun: Maverick
Women Talking


Best Original Screenplay

The Banshees of Inisherin — Written by Martin McDonagh
Everything Everywhere All at Once — Written by Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert
The Fabelmans — Written by Steven Spielberg & Tony Kushner
Tár — Written by Todd Field
Triangle of Sadness — Written by Ruben Östlund

Best Live-Action Short Film

An Irish Goodbye
Ivalu
Le Pupille
Night Ride
The Red Suitcase

Best Animated Short Film

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
The Flying Sailor
Ice Merchants
My Year of Dicks
An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It

Best Animated Film

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Marcel the Shell With Shoes On
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
The Sea Beast
Turning Red

Best Original Song

“Applause” from Tell It Like a Woman; Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
“Hold My Hand” from Top Gun: Maverick; Music and Lyric by Lady Gaga and BloodPop
“Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever; Music by Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Goransson; Lyric by Tems and Ryan Coogler
“Naatu Naatu” from RRR; Music by M.M. Keeravaani; Lyric by Chandrabose
“This Is a Life” from Everything Everywhere All at Once; Music by Ryan Lott, David Byrne and Mitski; Lyric by Ryan Lott and David Byrne


Best International Feature Film

All Quiet on the Western Front — Germany
Argentina, 1985 — Argentina
Close — Belgium
EO — Poland
The Quiet Girl — Ireland

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

All Quiet on the Western Front
The Batman
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Elvis
The Whale

Best Production Design

All Quiet on the Western Front
Avatar: The Way of Water
Babylon
Elvis
The Fabelmans

Best Cinematography

All Quiet on the Western Front
Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths
Elvis
Empire of Light
Tár

Best Visual Effects

All Quiet on the Western Front
Avatar: The Way of Water
The Batman
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Top Gun: Maverick


Best Documentary Feature

All That Breathes
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
Fire of Love
A House Made of Splinters
Navalny

Best Documentary Short Subject

The Elephant Whisperers
Haulout
How Do You Measure a Year?
The Martha Mitchell Effect
Stranger at the Gate

Best Film Editing

The Banshees of Inisherin
Elvis
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Tár
Top Gun: Maverick

[mae]

Anyone else annoyed that sequels are eligible for adapted screenplay? They are not adapting a previous work in any real sense. They’re an original screenplay based on preexisting characters. In most cases, characters from an original screenplay. I don’t think that should qualify. Or even things like Joker, based on the comics characters but it’s a wholly original story, it’s not actually adapting any comics.

[Still Servant]

I think this is a pretty good field of nominees. Everything Everywhere All At Once is my favorite film of the year, so I'm very happy to see all the love for that one. I also loved Banshees, so I'm good with those nominations as well.

As always, there are a few glaring snubs along with some head-scratching inclusions. The biggest omission for me is Decision to Leave not getting nominated for Best Foreign Film. I could make an argument it should have been nominated for Best Picture, let alone Best Foreign Film. Park is a well-respected director too, so I'm not sure what happened there.

I know it's a polarizing film, but I thought Babylon should have been nominated for BP. I thought Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt were deserving of nominations as well. While Top Gun: Maverick had a great showing, I can't help but think it was snubbed for Best Cinematography.

I'm not really understanding all the love for The Fabelmans. I thought Michelle Williams gave a very uneven performance. I also don't think it's a lead performance. Judd Hirsch also got a nomination. He appears in exactly one scene, a scene I missed while in the bathroom. Lastly, the fact that Avatar gets a Best Picture nomination is an absolute joke. It's an average movie at best.

I have no doubt there will be a lot of discussion about the fact that no women were nominated for Best Director. Viola Davis in The Woman King and Danielle Deadwyler in Till getting snubbed will most surely become a topic of discussion. I never like getting bogged down by such talks. There were quite a few people of color nominated in the acting categories, and I'm not sure there was a female director more deserving than the men that were nominated.

I still need to see Tar, Triangle of Sadness, and Women Talking. I didn't think Tar looked that interesting, but the buzz is impressive. I loved the trailer for Triangle of Sadness, but that film seemed to disappear. The BP nomination is a surprise. Women Talking looks very good and has a stellar cast.

[mae]

Tar will be streaming this Friday on Peacock, so I’m excited.

My biggest pleasant surprises were Paul Mescal and Ana de Armas. Aftersun was a very small and quiet film that at first I wasn’t sure I even liked, but I couldn’t stop thinking about. It’s now one of my favorites of the year and it’s great to see him get the nom. And also Ana for Blonde! This movie got so much hate and vitriol thrown at it, but I think it’s mostly misplaced and misunderstood. I thought the film was tremendous and her performance was indeed one of the best of the year, so memorable and heartbreaking. Great seeing Ana’s name popping up in several precursor awards and also recognized by the Academy, quieting those critics.

[Still Servant]

Anyone else annoyed that sequels are eligible for adapted screenplay? They are not adapting a previous work in any real sense. They’re an original screenplay based on preexisting characters. In most cases, characters from an original screenplay. I don’t think that should qualify. Or even things like Joker, based on the comics characters but it’s a wholly original story, it’s not actually adapting any comics.

I could not agree more.

[Still Servant]

Tar will be streaming this Friday on Peacock, so I’m excited.

My biggest pleasant surprises were Paul Mescal and Ana de Armas. Aftersun was a very small and quiet film that at first I wasn’t sure I even liked, but I couldn’t stop thinking about. It’s now one of my favorites of the year and it’s great to see him get the nom. And also Ana for Blonde! This movie got so much hate and vitriol thrown at it, but I think it’s mostly misplaced and misunderstood. I thought the film was tremendous and her performance was indeed one of the best of the year, so memorable and heartbreaking. Great seeing Ana’s name popping up in several precursor awards and also recognized by the Academy, quieting those critics.

Oh, good. I will definitely check that out.

I've heard nothing but great things about Aftersun. I can't wait to check that one out too. You're one of the first people I've heard that loved Blonde. Usually, people are applauding her performance, but then mention the film wasn't very good.

[mae]

When I read Blonde reviews on Letterboxd I feel like physically facepalming. Maybe it’s just me but I thought it was a masterpiece. It’s very very surreal and haunting. But all of the criticisms about it don’t ring true to me. One of the better reviews I saw correctly said that if this were directed by David Lynch, people would be celebrating it.

One of my friends who’s also a big Marilyn fan also loved it as much as I did and she said most of the hate appeared to be “virtue signaling” basically, people parroting some supposedly pro-feminist talking points, but actually doing the opposite. We both felt this movie understood Marilyn and treated her with respect, while showing what her experience of fame must’ve been like, keeping in mind this was an adaptation of a fictional novel, not a biopic as such.

It will be for sure in my Top 10 for the year.

[Still Servant]

When I read Blonde reviews on Letterboxd I feel like physically facepalming. Maybe it’s just me but I thought it was a masterpiece. It’s very very surreal and haunting. But all of the criticisms about it don’t ring true to me. One of the better reviews I saw correctly said that if this were directed by David Lynch, people would be celebrating it.

One of my friends who’s also a big Marilyn fan also loved it as much as I did and she said most of the hate appeared to be “virtue signaling” basically, people parroting some supposedly pro-feminist talking points, but actually doing the opposite. We both felt this movie understood Marilyn and treated her with respect, while showing what her experience of fame must’ve been like, keeping in mind this was an adaptation of a fictional novel, not a biopic as such.

It will be for sure in my Top 10 for the year.

I need to see that Top 10 pronto!

[mae]

It’ll be a while but I’ll try to make my list before the Oscars. I’ve expanded my usual 30 to 35, too, but I still have lots of 2022 movies still to watch that should make my list, like Joyland. Hope to get to them in the next couple of months before working on my Top 35 of 2022.

[Still Servant]

It’ll be a while but I’ll try to make my list before the Oscars. I’ve expanded my usual 30 to 35, too, but I still have lots of 2022 movies still to watch that should make my list, like Joyland. Hope to get to them in the next couple of months before working on my Top 35 of 2022.

I get it, I will have to update my list as well. I need to go dig up that thread so we can update it.

[ICry4Oy]

I don't get all the love for the Everything/Everywhere movie. I thought the concept of the movie was cool but the execution was just stupid to me. Now it wasn't as horrible as that Green Knight movie or that incredibly bad White Noise movie, but seriously, hot dog fingers?!!! Sorry I wasted my time watching it.

[Still Servant]

I don't get all the love for the Everything/Everywhere movie. I thought the concept of the movie was cool but the execution was just stupid to me. Now it wasn't as horrible as that Green Knight movie or that incredibly bad White Noise movie, but seriously, hot dog fingers?!!! Sorry I wasted my time watching it.

Really? The film actually has a ton of heart. It really made me think about life and my journey and how we have to be happy where we are and not always wish for things to be different.

I felt better about life after leaving the theater, something that is really hard to do.

[OldCrow88]

I don't get all the love for the Everything/Everywhere movie. I thought the concept of the movie was cool but the execution was just stupid to me. Now it wasn't as horrible as that Green Knight movie or that incredibly bad White Noise movie, but seriously, hot dog fingers?!!! Sorry I wasted my time watching it.

I just think it's ironically cool that a person with a bologna avatar is fussing about hot dog fingers.

[mae]

[ICry4Oy]

I don't get all the love for the Everything/Everywhere movie. I thought the concept of the movie was cool but the execution was just stupid to me. Now it wasn't as horrible as that Green Knight movie or that incredibly bad White Noise movie, but seriously, hot dog fingers?!!! Sorry I wasted my time watching it.

I just think it's ironically cool that a person with a bologna avatar is fussing about hot dog fingers.

[mae]

[mae]

[mae]

[fernandito]

I don't get all the love for the Everything/Everywhere movie. I thought the concept of the movie was cool but the execution was just stupid to me. Now it wasn't as horrible as that Green Knight movie or that incredibly bad White Noise movie, but seriously, hot dog fingers?!!! Sorry I wasted my time watching it.

I mean, it was creative, funny, zany, heartfelt, hopeful, heartbreaking, had a wonderful message about family and a love that can transcend universes.

I don't get how people can not love it tbh.