Academy Award Nominees -- any interest?

[SimonDoom]

The nominees are out and the ceremony is on March 2, still a way off. So, do people care? Any favorites, or non-favorites? Any particular films or performances you recommend?

I don't care all that much about awards, and I don't see as many movies each year as I feel like I should, but I check out nomination lists in case there's something that looks interesting to me.

I've only seen three of the nominated films: Dune 2, Conclave, and Emilia Perez. I thought Dune 2 was a masterful interpretation of the story and is Oscar-worthy, even though science fiction movies like that almost never win (LOTR 3 Return of the King is the only exception I can think of). I thought Conclave was fine, but not special. Emilia Perez was, I thought, literally the worst movie I have ever seen that received any critical acclaim. It's a woke movie that fails to be woke. The trans lead comes across as mentally ill, psychopathic. It's a shallow treatment of the country in which it is mostly set, Mexico. Selena Gomez is in it-- one doesn't need to say much more than that; she is devoid of talent. It's a musical with terrible music and terrible choreography. The ending makes no sense. I didn't even like Zoe Saldana much, and that takes a lot because she's appealing. I wanted to see her don her Uhura costume and beam the hell out of there. A wreck of a film through and through. I cannot believe it has received any nominations, let alone 13.

I'm looking forward to seeing The Brutalist and Wicked (which actually DOES have some good music and is supposed to have a very talented lead as Elphaba). Maybe The Substance or Complete Unknown.

Any thoughts or recommendations?

 

[Omenainen]

I don’t give a crap about the awards, but I just saw The Substance and I thought it was excellent. Definitely worth seeing.

 

[SimonDoom]

I don’t give a crap about the awards, but I just saw The Substance and I thought it was excellent. Definitely worth seeing.

Good to know. It sounds interesting.

 

[TheRedChamber]

Awards like this, whether voted for by committee or the public, mean a lot less to me than a top ten (or however-many) list by a critic or even friend whose opinion I respect and who gives reasons for why they chose what they chose.

The Oscars have been around long enough that you don't really think about it, but in the last few years in video gaming there's been this push to set up The Game Awards as the 'definitive' award to beat all other awards for games and it has annoyed me so much that it's made me actively hate the Oscars as well.

I saw Dune 2 (and indeed 1) and just didn't gel with how Villenerve chose to present it - slow, colourless and much more dull and serious than I remember the books being.

The only other two films I saw from the list are 'Inside Out 2' and the Wallace and Grommit movie. The original Inside Out movie has a special place in my heart, having been released at the same time as my first daughter was born and watching the new one together with her (not quite as old as Riley, but not that far behind) made me tear up even if it was objectively just more of the same. The Wallace and Grommit series also has a special place in my heart as a Brit with a foreign wife who fell in love with W&G early in our relationship. So, hard to pick a winner there, but I think W&G was better.

 

[MrPixel]

The Oscars have been around long enough that you don't really think about it, but in the last few years in video gaming there's been this push to set up The Game Awards as the 'definitive' award to beat all other awards for games and it has annoyed me so much that it's made me actively hate the Oscars as well.

Yeah, that's my issue. It and the other award presentations have become self-congratulation versus recognizing talent in your field by your peers. When the "Golden Globe" award show was created, it hit me as a lame excuse for B-list performers to strut and preen, cashing-in on their popularity as media celebrities.

That said, my wife and I have more than passing interest in the Academy Awards as recognition of behind-the-scenes achievements. To heck with the big stars, tell us how the Academy feels about the great work of some otherwise unknown grip making a difference in the quality of a production.

 

[D_K_Moon]

I haven't been to a movie in years, honestly, nothing has interested me. So, the Oscars, who cares?

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I've only seen Wallace & Gromit, which is excellent. I don't know how well some of the humour will travel internationally, though.

I saw Wicked the musical, which is a bunch of unmemorable songs and a terrible script, not to mention not matching up with the original book and some very dodgy views on disability. Although the cast sang and danced their little hearts out and it was a shiny spectacle. When it came out, they gave away copies of the book it was based on, the first six or so chapters, and it was sub- Dan Brown writing. I'm told the film is better, but I'm not paying to see it.

A lot of the nominations seem based on 'did this person we like win recently? No? Let's nominate them.'

Back when half the Oscar films hadn't yet come out in the UK, watching the Oscar show was a fun way of seeing a bunch of trailers you wouldn't see otherwise, but now I could just look online if I cared.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Sorry, Simon, but not for me. I can already pat myself on my own back. Watching the glitterati doing the same just ain't my cup of tea.

YMMV and so be it.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I don’t give a crap about the awards, but I just saw The Substance and I thought it was excellent. Definitely worth seeing.

Copy this, The Substance.

If Demi Moore wins Best Actress, it's well deserved. It's a quirky, gutsy movie.

 

[TheLobster]

I saw Dune 2 (and indeed 1) and just didn't gel with how Villenerve chose to present it - slow, colourless and much more dull and serious than I remember the books being.

Seems like a faithful adaptation then. Slow, colorless and dull is pretty much exactly how I'd describe the first Dune book having read it somewhat recently (~5 years ago?).

 

[AwkwardlySet]

I thought Dune 2 was a masterful interpretation of the story and is Oscar-worthy

Huh, really? If anything it was worse than the first part, and I didn't even like the first part.

 

[SimonDoom]

Huh, really? If anything it was worse than the first part, and I didn't even like the first part.

What didn't you like about it?

I liked everything about it. The visuals were the best of any science fiction movie I've ever seen. The casting was good, other than Christopher Walken as the emperor. Music was good. I think it improved upon the book in some ways. Chani had more agency and was more interesting. There was a little bit of humor, which was missing from the book. The movie wisely got rid of Alia, for the most part, because there's no way to do her character well in a movie, as the 1984 Dune showed.

 

[ChloeTzang]

The nominees are out and the ceremony is on March 2, still a way off. So, do people care? Any favorites, or non-favorites? Any particular films or performances you recommend?

I don't care all that much about awards, and I don't see as many movies each year as I feel like I should, but I check out nomination lists in case there's something that looks interesting to me.

Not really. Apart from Dune 2, I don't find any of the movies are ones that I enjoy - and Dune 2 is the only one on the list that I've watched.

And in all honesty, I have never watched the Academy Awards.

 

[ChloeTzang]

If you've never seen Hyena Road tho, good move and the full movie is here

 

[lovecraft68]

I'll pass on a bunch of pedos who were at the Diddy parties preaching and telling all us common folk how to be 'better'
More rape and sexual abuse happens there than in Lit's NC category.

 

[Kitty_so_frisky]

List of nominees:
https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/o...list-nominees-97th-academy-awards-2025-01-23/

Feel free to link in OP for anyone wishing to join the conversation.

Personally, I’ve only seen 3 of this year’s Best Picture nominees, and a handful of other nominees, so I couldn’t begin to speculate on who deserves to win this year.

I do think their system of having people in each craft nominate their peers and having just over 10,000 Academy members who are also considered the best in their craft vote on it is more meaningful than say, journalists, or a small panel of whomever, or any gamer or teenager who submits a vote, like other awards shows. Like I don’t know the first thing about lighting and sound design, and no one can tell better than fellow costume designers how many hundreds or thousands of hours of work go into making some particularly spectacular costumes, or how fellow actors can tell how deep an actor had to dig to get a particular performance.

While I don’t always agree with who wins, I do sometimes use the Academy Awards or other awards shows as something that will bring movies to my attention that I may have overlooked, via the buzz, the esteem to which it is held by peers, the montages, and sometimes even the winners, if it’s something I hadn’t seen before. Add to that, I also enjoy the red carpet fashion and some of the live music performances. As with any awards show though, the hosts can be very hit or miss.

 

[Belegon]

I like the Oscars mostly because of how much they mean to the people in the running for them. I also like that they are kinda peer-based, with the people doing the voting and especially the nominating knowing a lot about the particular craft.I loved when Halle Berry won a few years ago, I loved Spike Lee finally winning and I especially liked that Samuel L. Jackson was there on stage. And I really loved when Marty Scorsese finally won and three of his best friends and respected colleagues were doing the presenting.

 

[karina_jayde]

I don't think I've ever watched the ceremony or ever will, and don't really place much stake in the nominees. It is nice to see when a smaller film gets some traction or lots of love, though.

In particular it's been fun/cute to see some of the Latvian pride and hype for 'Flow' as part of this award season.

 

[SimonDoom]

Copy this, The Substance.

If Demi Moore wins Best Actress, it's well deserved. It's a quirky, gutsy movie.

I just watched it.

I can't agree. I admire Demi Moore's performance, but the movie left me cringing. Not in a good way.

Everything is overdone. This is a criticism I have of many movies I see these days. I recoil from the camera work and the shots and the way characters are presented, much as I did when I watched Emilia Perez. I feel like the director doesn't trust me and thinks she has to hit me on the side of the head to get a reaction. There's not a single line of good dialogue in this movie, no meaningful exchanges between two real people. Literally, ever, in this movie. All the characters who are foils to Elisabeth Sparkle are cartoon characters. I want to see movies with adults acting like adults. There was none of that. I didn't like it at all.

 

[Omenainen]

There's not a single line of good dialogue in this movie, no meaningful exchanges between two real people. Literally, ever, in this movie.

Addiction is a lonely place.

All the characters who are foils to Elisabeth Sparkle are cartoon characters.

That’s how it might feel when your world is collapsing.

I want to see movies with adults acting like adults. There was none of that. I didn't like it at all.

Now I’m kind of tempted to watch Dune 2 to see how much adults acting like adults it has …but not enough to actually watch it.

I’m sorry you didn’t like it.

 

[grey228]

I don’t give a crap about the awards, but I just saw The Substance and I thought it was excellent. Definitely worth seeing.

Copy this, The Substance.

If Demi Moore wins Best Actress, it's well deserved. It's a quirky, gutsy movie.

There was a plot hole with some of the logistics in the movie. I never see Sparkles make a payment to her supplier on screen. I doubt the supplier sends that stuff out from the goodness of his heart.

 

[Omenainen]

There was a plot hole with some of the logistics in the movie. I never see Sparkles make a payment to her supplier on screen. I doubt the supplier sends that stuff out from the goodness of his heart.

A lot of practicalities were bypassed in the movie. She never ordered groceries either, etc. I found they weren’t relevant. The thing that felt like a plot hole to me was why the guy slipped her the advert in the first place. What did he benefit from it? Was he somehow involved?

But then it wasn’t really a movie about inventing that mystery substance, either, but rather this one person’s obsessions and self image and life’s choices.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

What didn't you like about it?

I liked everything about it. The visuals were the best of any science fiction movie I've ever seen. The casting was good, other than Christopher Walken as the emperor. Music was good. I think it improved upon the book in some ways. Chani had more agency and was more interesting. There was a little bit of humor, which was missing from the book. The movie wisely got rid of Alia, for the most part, because there's no way to do her character well in a movie, as the 1984 Dune showed.

I was never much of a fan of the book. The first movie was slow and too bleak visually for my taste. But there was a touch of character development that seemed promising. In part two, I didn't really see it anymore. The large action scenes were okay but I am unable to appreciate them in this age of computer effects. Every movie has them more or less. And the ending with the fight and all was just cringe for me.

 

[OffNSFW]

My favorite movie of the year was I Saw The TV Glow, and the Academy ignored it. Which more or less sums up how that's going for me.

I still laugh when I think about Bong Joon-ho saying he didn't have much interest in the Oscars, that they're "very local."

 

[cadeauxxx]

Lost all interest in Hollywood at the end of the 2010s. It's pretty much dead with the studios eliminating the mid-budget movies in favor of pumping out 'content' linked to established franchises. They are out of touch with modern American culture with all their preaching and lecturing. There's still some stuff here and there that looks interesting. Taylor Sheridan is making great stuff, but there's not enough creatives like him to resurrect it.