Academy Award nominations 2022

[bear88]

Posted: 2/7/22 at 5:05am

We'll find out soon enough what will be nominated, but here's my thoughts on what I actually liked (and what seemed underwhelming to me.) YMMV, and will vary, of course. I haven't seen CODA, The Tragedy of Hamlet, House of Gucci, Spencer, or any of the international films yet.

-- The Power of the Dog. I've seen it 2 1/2 times, because my wife initially wasn't interested. I like it more each time, in part because I can watch how Jane Campion - as screenwriter and director - sets up both the twist in the middle and at the end. Jonny Greenwood's score adds a lot to the film. The movie has benefited from another pandemic year, because I doubt it would have done much at the box office. 

-- Belfast. It's a solid film with a very good performance by Jude Hill as the little boy. I'm not passionate about it.

-- West Side Story. The ending is a bit of a letdown, but the overall film is quite good and enhances the very familiar musical. The pandemic hurt this one more than any other contender, it seems, because it carries with it the stench of a box office bomb even though more people actually saw it in a movie theater than most of the other major contenders. I thought Mike Faist was excellent and deserves more awards consideration than he's received. 

-- Licorice Pizza. Or, "Running in LA." The near-universal praise for this movie mystifies me. I reacted to it the way people who hated Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood reacted to that film. Paul Thomas Anderson loved shooting his lead actors running idiotically through the San Fernando Valley so much that he included a flashback of it. The story devolves into a meandering mess with random scene following random scene, including several that borrow from Taxi Driver for no particular reason. I know Hollywood loves this sort of self-indulgent stuff about Hollywood, but at least Tarantino's movie had some terrific set pieces. I found this film so tiresome by the end. I just wanted it to be over.

-- Dune. I read the novel as a boy, and this film adaptation is not a disaster or anything. But it's half the story that still somehow seems to shortchange the quirks and complexities of the novel. Lady Jessica is just a much more interesting character than was portrayed in the film. Plus, for a movie that's getting so much credit for its special effects work, why did it never look hot on Arrakis? The characters never looked like they were breaking a sweat. Timothee Chalamet didn't get enough credit. The movie was an actual hit in the midst of a pandemic, which should count for something.

-- King Richard. This is the sort of middlebrow crowdpleaser with a longtime movie star that usually does well in awards season. And it's fine for what it is. I didn't dislike it, or Will Smith as Richard Williams. But while Smith has been labeled the frontrunner from the start, I don't really see how his performance stands up against some of his top competitors. He does a good job. Smith has been a movie star since forever. But a lot fewer people saw this film than West Side Story.

-- Don't Look Up. Don't get me started. Ariana Grande gave the best performance in the movie. Adam McKay thinks he's written this wicked satire when the movie just reeks of self-satisfaction and a fundamental misunderstanding of how Americans - and people - deal with crises. An approaching comet threatening the immediate destruction of the earth is just going elicit a much different reaction than climate change, and yet McKay pretends otherwise so he can act like his movie is somehow important. It's going to get nominated anyway because there are lots of big Hollywood stars in the movie.

-- tick... tick... Boom! I think this was one of the most successful films I've seen this year. Andrew Garfield was fantastic as Jonathan Larson. The movie does a terrific job combining Larson's original "rock monologue," the musical that was written after his death, more traditional biopic material, and director Lin-Manuel Miranda's flights of fancy to cobble together a new movie musical that really worked. There were minor flaws, but I was surprised by the film's tepid critical reception. During awards reason, it will go as far as Garfield will take it. I'm hoping it manages a Best Picture nomination but that's touch and go.

-- Being the Ricardos. It was better than I thought it would be, and Nicole Kidman managed to pull off the role even though she wasn't the right age through a combination of skill and some clever lighting. But it's still an Aaron Sorkin movie, which means you get some clever dialogue that doesn't sound like it comes from real people and, in this case, J. Edgar Hoover to the rescue.

-- Nightmare Alley. It's stylishly shot and well-acted. The film has its moments but it kind of fell apart in the final act (which, ironically, is the part with Cate Blanchett going full femme fatale, which would have been more fun if the story at that point made more sense and wasn't charging into its full-circle ending).

-- The Lost Daughter. The film plays with a lot of interesting ideas that I haven't seen on film before but I didn't think it really worked as an actual story. 

-- C'mon C'mon. I really liked this one and feel like it's gotten a raw deal from industry awards groups. It's a really good movie! People should see it. Joaquin Phoenix does some really nice work, as does Gaby Hoffman as his sister. Woody Norman has gotten the most attention as the Hoffman character's child, who is difficult to handle.

-- Pig. It's Nicholas Cage trying to be a real actor again, and it's nice to see he hasn't forgotten. The movie is a little out there, but Cage holds the thing together.

Updated On: 2/7/22 at 05:05 AM

[bear88]

Posted: 2/8/22 at 8:58am

Drive My Car did very well, with nominations for Best Picture and Best Director along with International Feature.

Nightmare Alley got a Best Picture nomination

Andrew Garfield was nominated as Beet Actor for Tick… Tick… BOOM! and it got a film editing nomination. But no Best Picture

Ariana DeBose was nominated for West Side Story but she was the only actor from the film. It did get a Best Director nomination for Spielberg, Beet Choreography and some below-the-line awards.

The Power of the Dog solidified its status as the favorite. All of its actors were nominated, including Jesse Plemons, and I can’t think of a category it missed. 12 nominations overall.

I think Passing got snubbed. Kristen Stewart made it into the Best Actress category for Spencer. Lady Gaga didn’t get in. 

Judi Dench was nominated for Belfast because she’s Judi Dench and Caitriona Balfe is not, apparently. Jessie Buckley was nominated for The Lost Daughter along with Olivia Colman and screenwriter Maggie Gyllenhall. Javier Bardem got the last Best Actor spot.

Updated On: 2/8/22 at 08:58 AM

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 2/8/22 at 10:39am

bear88 said: "Andrew Garfield was nominated as Beet Actor for Tick… Tick… BOOM!”

It is a pretty juicy role.

 

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 2/8/22 at 11:02am

Ariana DeBose was nominated for West Side Story but she was the only actor from the film. It did get a Best Director nomination for Spielberg, Beet Choreography and some below-the-line awards.

It also got a best picture nom which ain't below the line.

Congratulations to all the nominees and to the Academy for realizing that The House of Gucci was embarrassing trash. 

[bear88]

Posted: 2/8/22 at 5:50pm

I’m on the West Coast, it was really early, and I obviously had a little trouble typing Best - or, for that matter, distinguishing between cinematography and choreography.

Even at 5:30 am, I know Best Picture is a major nomination, just didn’t mention it for West Side Story because it was expected.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 2/9/22 at 1:58am

Call me a new-fangled upstart but I think if something like "Passing" gets no nominations it should automatically become Emmy-eligible.

 

It's a dang shame the musical of the year, "Annette," was not acknowledged at all.*

* I have not seen Mr. Spielberg's West Side Story but I am familiar with Romeo & Juliet.

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 2/9/22 at 11:16am

Passing tried too hard. You should see West Side Story, it's a great new version with some damn good performances. Loved Annette, though. 

[bear88]

Posted: 2/10/22 at 5:18am

I liked Passing for its two leads, Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga, and its stylish direction that served a purpose.

Annette was such an unhinged and unpredictable experience. The film doesn’t always work but it’s rarely dull.

West Side Story Is definitely worth seeing. It’s tough to make a new adaptation of such familiar material but Spielberg pulls it off. And there are multiple performances that range from very good to fantastic.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 2/10/22 at 2:12pm

Annette really does reward a second (and more) viewing.

I have been planning to see WSS. I picked a day to see an uncrowded screening at my multi-variant-plex and the night before they announced the streaming start date on Disney-positive. Since signing back up to that for a month will be cheaper than the movie theater I will hold off.

I *did* see "Parallel Mothers" at the theater and I just think there's almost nobody s good as Penelope Cruz when she's working in her first language.

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 2/10/22 at 2:29pm

It's also on HBO Max on the same date if you have that (WSS).

Penelope Cruz can't do wrong honestly, I haven't caught that film yet but will try to soon. I hate movie theaters since the kids CANT get off their fu*king phones and look up at a bigger screen for two hours. 

Totally agree with multiple viewings of Annette. 

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 3/11/22 at 1:33pm

Just finished watching Drive My Car, the Japanese film nominated for four Academy Awards( Best Picture, Best Director, International Feature Film, and Best Adapted Screenplay). This is easily in my top two (along with West Side Story) of all the films I’ve seen from last year as well as the ten movies nominated for Best Picture. 

On the surface, it might seem like a movie about how art (in this case, stage plays) has the power to transform & confront the actor. And that’s certainly an essential element, but for me the heart and soul of the film is how that theme of the film intersects with how the film and its inhabitants grapple with the specter of grief and how while we would like to be done with it, grief is never really done with us. That seems especially powerful and important after these last two long, hard years. It’s a film of hard, unflinching truths. There are also, true to the name of film, many beautifully written and acted scenes inside, yep you guessed it, a car.  

I especially appreciated the unpredictability of the narrative. In a movie landscape where almost all of Hollywood output consists of predictable plot points you can see telegraphed from miles away, that was incredibly refreshing. 

It’s certainly a movie that I would encourage people to seek out. It’s currently available on HBO MAX which is where I watched it. A 3-hour movie with subtitles is probably not for everyone, but I found it very rewarding. It seems that WSS is probably out of the running for winning the big prizes at the Oscars so I’d be thrilled if Drive My Car pulled a Parasite from couple years ago and won Best Picture and/or Best Director. It seems a lock for winning in the International Feature Film category, but I’d also like to see its screenplay recognized. 

The Power of the Dog seems to have all the momentum behind it to win both Best Picture and Best Director. And while I liked it as well and won’t be upset if it wins, I’m really pulling for WSS and DMC.

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 3/11/22 at 1:37pm

I like most of what was nominated for Best Picture. I only still need to see Belfast and Licorice Pizza as I’ve seen the other eight nominees.

I’m a little surprised Don’t Look Up got nominated. I expected to hate it and I didn’t, but I need more than that from a Best Picture nominee.

Coda is a sweet little movie. I really liked it, but I don’t think it has the heft of a Big Picture winner.

Dune was a little underwhelming to me although often stunning to look at.

King Richard features some very good performances even while I do think they tried to redeem the title character a bit too much. Nominee, sure. Winner, no.

Nightmare Alley. I love this director’s movies. I’ll admit this is not his best, but I especially loved that last scene. Chilling!

The Power of Dog - I found this a bit uneventful to sit through, but it was invigorated by that last revealing the plot point.

West Side Story - When so many modern movie musicals of late have fallen flat, Spielberg does the impossible and improves on the original which many already consider a classic. The only movie I’ve seen in a theater in the last two years and I went twice!

[blognohu]

Posted: 3/12/22 at 4:32am

ga

[bear88]

Posted: 3/20/22 at 3:36am

Miles2Go2 said: "Just finished watching Drive My Car, the Japanese film nominated for four Academy Awards( Best Picture, Best Director, International Feature Film, and Best Adapted Screenplay). This is easily in my top two (along with West Side Story) of all the films I’ve seen from last year as well as the ten movies nominated for Best Picture.

On the surface, it might seem like a movie about how art (in this case, stage plays) has the power to transform & confront the actor. And that’s certainly an essential element, but for me the heart and soul of the film is how that theme of the film intersects with how the film and its inhabitants grapple with the specter of grief and how while we would like to be done with it, grief is never really done with us. That seems especially powerful and important after these last two long, hard years. It’s a film of hard, unflinching truths. There are also, true to the name of film, many beautifully written and acted scenes inside, yep you guessed it, a car.

I especially appreciated the unpredictability of the narrative. In a movie landscape where almost all of Hollywood output consists of predictable plot points you can see telegraphed from miles away, that was incredibly refreshing.

It’s certainly a movie that I would encourage people to seek out. It’s currently available on HBO MAX which is where I watched it. A 3-hour movie with subtitles is probably not for everyone, but I found it very rewarding. It seems that WSS is probably out of the running for winning the big prizes at the Oscars so I’d be thrilled if Drive My Car pulled a Parasite from couple years ago and won Best Picture and/or Best Director. It seems a lock for winning in the International Feature Film category, but I’d also like to see its screenplay recognized.

The Power of the Dog seems to have all the momentum behind it to win both Best Picture and Best Director. And while I liked it as well and won’t be upset if it wins, I’m really pulling for WSS and DMC."

I thought Drive My Car was an extraordinary and moving film, one that revolves around grief and how it keeps coming back at us. In that respect, it feels both timely, for the reasons you mentioned, and timeless. The film is a bit daunting, both because the play, Uncle Vanya, plays such a key role in the film and because of its three-hour running time in Japanese (along with other languages). I have never seen or read Uncle Vanya, which I probably should have done before seeing the film, but that somehow didn't interfere with my enjoyment of the movie. (If anything, trying to decipher the play's storyline - and its connection to director Ryusuke Hamaguchi's themes - kept me more engaged.) But the movie is not dull. It moves along at a brisk pace, often taking unpredictable plot turns. 

I want to single out one actor who really stood out for me: South Korean actress Yoo-rim Park, who plays a mute peformer who is part of the Uncle Vanya cast - acting in sign language - and has several knockout scenes.  The film is easily the best-written film I have seen this year, but the direction - especially Hamaguchi's interesting choices about who to focus on - is also terrific. It has stayed with me since I saw it on HBO Max and it's a film I am eager to revisit.

 

[bear88]

Posted: 3/20/22 at 4:10am

It seems to be peaking at the right moment for awards purposes, but I will provide a dissent on CODA. It's not just that I don't think the film is worth the praise it's getting, or the growing likelihood it will win Best Picture after its Producers Guild of America win on Saturday.

CODA isn't a good movie. It's blatantly manipulative, waves away the central conflict at the end, and often treats its deaf characters like clowns. I know many people really like the movie, and I understand the desire for a feel-good film in these dark times as well as a movie that includes deaf actors in lead roles. But couldn't it be a better, less by-the-numbers movie? Hell, I even got annoyed that Emilia Jones, who plays the hearing daughter, kept singing in an octave that was too high for her when she's supposed to be a musical prodigy.

The movie just piles on the schmaltz along with a few scenes that actually work (Marlee Matlin's scene in which she tells Jones she hoped she would be deaf was effective, and Troy Kotsur did a fine job as the father despite the script). Scenes in which Jones' character must translate for and defend her parents were sometimes effective - if too often undermined by attempts at comedy. The portrayal of the parents as randy teenagers was meant to convey that they were a truly loving family, but it just made them seem ridiculous at a certain point.

It's pretty much the anti-Drive My Car of the season. It's a Hallmark TV movie with enough representation to make awards voters feel like they're doing something virtuous by supporting it. The fact that the sign language scenes in Drive My Car are so much more powerful really struck me, especially since they are competitors for adapted screenplay as well as Best Picture.

I understand that a film like Drive My Car isn't going to be for everyone, but there are certainly worthy choices for Best Picture. The Power of the Dog is excellent. West Side Story is an interesting and often-inspired adaptation. If CODA actually wins, it will go down as one of those embarrassing Oscar winners that people shrug about in future years.

[bear88]

Posted: 3/27/22 at 6:06pm

A few films I have seen during the last few days:

-- The Worst Person in the World: The cast, led by Reinate Reinsve and Anders Danielsen Lie, does a fine job, and the film has its moments, but I was less enamored with it than many others even though it is brisk-paced and sometimes quite funny. The writers, one of whom is director Joachim Trier, focuses on an intelligent young woman but displays little interest in anything beyond her romantic life. Julie writes an essay about sex that, we're told in overused voiceover, was much-discussed. But there's no follow-up because the writers aren't interested in Julie's professional life, aside from indicating that she doesn't really know what she wants to do. This is charming enough for a while, and some of its individual "chapters" work as short stories, but I eventually grew tired of Julie - or at  least the filmmakers' limited conception of her. The movie seems to treat political concerns as a joke even when the writers occasionally get in some pointed observations. The film takes a turn towards the end when a major character gets seriously ill, and the film suddenly feels like it's been focused on the wrong person all along.

-- Parallel Mothers: This is Penelope Cruz's movie, and while it's mostly a soap opera with some serious issues tossed in somewhat awkwardly, she does a fine job. Written and produced by Pedro Almodovar, the film's plot is easy to guess in advance, with one exception that's tragic and a second one that's shoehorned in and then quickly dropped.

-- Flee. The animated documentary isn't fancy with the animation but nonetheless tells a compelling true story of a boy's departure from Afghanistan with his family.

-- The Mitchells vs. the Machines: An entertaining tale of a misfit family that saves the world. It's amusing if a bit formulaic (despite the low-key portrayal of the about-to-go-college heroine, Katie, as a lesbian), but I enjoyed some of its hokey qualities. There's nothing especially revelatory in the film, but I think I liked it more than Encanto. 

[bear88]

Posted: 3/27/22 at 7:05pm

For the first time in a long time, I've seen all the films in most of the major categories, so I'm going to pretend I'm a member of the Academy and vote. In the case of Best Picture, I will list my second and third choices because it's a preferential ballot. 

Best Picture: Drive My Car. It's the artiest film with a three-hour runtime in multiple languages, but it had one of the largest themes - grief and how we deal with it - and was executed wonderfully. (Second choice:The Power of the Dog. The best of the films with a realistic chance to win. A smaller story, told well. Third choice: West Side Story.)

Best Director: Jane Campion (close here between Ryusuki Hamaguchi and Steven Spielberg, who did a terrific job with a very familiar musical)

Best Actor: Andrew Garfield, Tick... Tick... BOOM! (The degree of difficulty here is pretty tough to match, and it's almost impossible now to imagine anyone but Garfield pulling off this role.)

Best Actress: Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye (I don't really have a strong rooting interest here. I think all the nominees did fine jobs in flawed films.)

Best Supporting Actor: Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Power of the Dog (I know Troy Kotsur will win for CODA, and he was fine, but Smit-McPhee had the more challenging role.)

Best Supporting Actress: Ariana DeBose, West Side Story (Had she been nominated, I would likely have voted for Yoo-rim Park, who played the mute South Korean actress who stole every scene in Drive My Car and was a compelling character.)

Best Cinematography: Ari Wegner, The Power of the Dog (This is a really tough category, and I was certainly tempted to choose Janusz Kaminski for West Side Story, but Wegner's cinematogaphy stood out as much, albeit in a less flashy way.)

Best Film Editing: Andrew Weisblum, Myron Kerstein, Tick... Tick... BOOM! (They had a lot of work to do to pull together all the different elements that made the film work as well as it did, and I have repeatedly been struck by it.)

Best Original Screenplay: Kenneth Branagh, Beffast (It's a flawed group of nominees. I liked Belfast more than most people.)

Best Adapted Screenplay: Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Takamasa Oe, Drive My Car (This is not a close category for me, and it's also the one in which the possible victory of CODA is infuriating. Even if you like CODA more than I do, the screenplay is by far the weakest part of it. Drive My Car is such a rich script.)

Best Original Score: Jonny Greenwood, The Power of the Dog (It's the one I remember.)

I'm not voting in the other categories because I haven't seen all the nominees. (I definitely favor Drive My Car over The Worst Person in the World for Best International Film.) I'll check back in a few hours and see that not a single one of my personal choices won, with the probable exceptions of Campion and DeBose. Maybe Chastain, but I don't feel strongly about Best Actress.

[bear88]

Posted: 3/28/22 at 3:59am

It turned out about as I expected. Mildly surprised that Dune swept pretty much all the craft categories, including the tough Cinematography contest. People wanted a movie that shook them repeatedly to insist that they feel good, so CODA it is. (I still can't get over its Adapted Screenplay win. I am never surprised when my personal choice doesn't win, but it's especially twisted to pick the worst choice in a category.) Apple did a fine job promoting the film, and all of the people involved seem very nice, and there was representation of deaf actors in the remake, so there you go. 

The only thing people will remember from these Academy Awards is the slap.