"Awards" Season 2017/2018

[Regina Phalange]

Ok, so I saw Green Book. Um... wtf? It wasn't bad, but even if you leave aside ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL the problematic baggage both off and onscreen, it's not very good? Viggo was terrible. No one was memorable. I love Ali but is everyone who votes for this dick-notized by him?

As a person of Italian American heritage, I was not amused by how we were portrayed. People kind of ignore it or don't see it, but there is a lot of ugliness against us in American media. Not to compared to other groups. Oh fuck no. But we're like the shit white people... and while we are considered white, it hasn't been for that long and a LOT of people still don't consider us white. I know because I have had this said to my face, usually by them sheepishly saying a few minutes later "You don't look Italian."

But at the same time... I could have been related to that whole family of stereotypes. Or does my idiot family act like that because that's what they've seen themselves represented as on tv and movies?

Seriously, the whole movie was a crock of "Are you kidding me?" so I am not saying the worst thing in there was the fucking Mario Brothers Plumber we got as the protagonist, but it is something I hadn't seen a take on so I wanted to mention it. I don't want to detract by the bizarre portrayals of the black people by bitching about my personal pet peeves, but I had to get it out. And Southerners. And women? What women? Can you have a negative Bechdel score? Why was everyone a tremendous embarrassment in this movie and yet it's getting so much praise?

I don't care if it was "loosely" based on a true story either. What a mess of a MOVIE.

The music was good when the Doc played. There's that.

I didn't HATE the movie, but I'm just so confused by all the choices it made.

Usually there's a movie or show every year where I feel like either everyone else is on crack or I have a traumatic brain injury. For tv awards this year it was ACS Versace, which I actively hated. I guess Green Book is my movie this year.

Oh man, I had liked all the other noms I had seen. I hope I'm not going to spiral into a depression of whirling vortex of overhyped mediocrity after this. Like last year, 3 Billboards was problematic, but I understood a lot of the praise, as well as its criticism. The acting was outstanding. But this... didn't even have that.

[Spikey]

Regine, first let me say - you are one of my favorite people alive because of how you express yourself with written words. This is not a disclaimer, I just love reading you.

Second, I really agree on ACS season 2. Loved the production quality, costumes as well as the acting but... it wasn't anywhere near the level of the first season oddly carried by Sarah Paulson, and why the hell did they tell the story backwards? I don't get it. One day I'm going to put it into chronological order and try and watch it again. But not right now, because I actively hated it too. It is a story about a serial killer, but they named it Versace to attract a certain type of audience. On top of that, it was like they tried to pour all the empowering stuff of the first season into a gay thing in the second season, and it just didn't work.

Third. I really liked Green Book which I saw in the cinema sort of spontaneously, though I can't really explain why I liked it. I honestly didn't realise for myself who Viggo even was until the credits started to roll, I thought he might be Grant Show for a good part of the movie (which is redic I know). The suppression of the gay thing was well portrayed. The Italian thing, yeah... I get what you mean, but... I just loved the irony here was that a lower class white person in a certain day and age got hypothetically stereotyped in the eye of the beholder only because of his contrast to a sophisticated and intelligent gay non-white person. Anyway, remember that "Italy" is only a relatively recently invented country of sorts, Mario is a Brooklyn person invented by the Japanese, and you and I with them Mediterranean roots are so much more than spaghetti eating slime slobs!
.

[Regina Phalange]

Regine, first let me say - you are one of my favorite people alive because of how you express yourself with written words. This is not a disclaimer, I just love reading you.

...
I honestly didn't realise for myself who Viggo even was until the credits started to roll, I thought he might be Grant Show for a good part of the movie

Right back at you

Yeah, I left off in my rants that the Italians are always Sicilian. Sicilian and wearing tank tops. Arguably the greatest musicians and artists who've ever lived, an enormous percentage of them, are from Italy/what is now Italy. Early scientific minds. Galileo, ffs. But I guess only the shitty ones' descendants moved to the US, and of course only Brooklyn and the Bronx and Queens. Maybe some moved to Chicago eventually to do crimes. But that's it. No more. Shirtless, dark skinned, dark haired, and screaming in NY somewhere.

One of the things I like so much about the upcoming I Know This Much Is True is that there is (in the book, at least) a reckoning with this and a half Italian character who could otherwise be a generic white dude. He's not mumbling "fageddaboudit" constantly.

I decided I wanted to celebrate this terrrrrrrrrible Black History Month with better black films so today I did BlackkKlansman and Black Panther.

I am not a fan of Spike Lee. I don't like his directing. I think his voice and his storytelling are super important, but I don't enjoy watching his films from a mis en scene, camera angle, etc., technical perspective. So I didn't like his choices in editing and framing, eg, but I really enjoyed the movie. Well, that might be too strong. I was hysterical sobbing at the end and my fists were clenched with rage for most of it, but I was engaged and committed to it. I even laughed a lot, which I didn't expect. Stollworth's actor was fantastic, better than Driver to me. It was a great history story and it just nailed its relevance to today... it not a little heavy-handedly.

I had to pause Black Panther but I'm not liking it. I'm not hopeful the last 15 minutes are going to change the whole experience for me. To be fair, I don't generally like Superhero movies, especially this whole Marvel universe. So it's no worse than any of the others I've tried to watch. (I put on Doctor Strange and wandered off, forgetting I had even started it.) My biggest complaint is the green screen and CGI. I found it distracting. I wish they could have filmed some of the outside stuff outside. Or used stock footage or drone vids. Maybe they did and just colored it funny. I miss warmth in films.

[Volta]

You're both watching all the best pic nominees?
If Roma is the odds favorite to win.. then I think there is a really big chance for an upset. But the reason I think Roma win on the ballot it's on is that it's preferential. If Roma doesn't get a single #1 vote on any card as long as it gets the most #2 votes It's going to win. And I see that happening. I see a lot of fans of the other nominees voting for the picture they loved and putting Roma in second. And that will be that.

[Regina Phalange]

You're both watching all the best pic nominees?

I'm going to watch most of the major noms I haven't already seen. I picked Green Book to start at random and then the other two to cleanse my palate.

I mean, I don't mind occasional foreign language movies. But I don't know if I can watch 4-5 of them in the next few weeks. It needs a level of attention I'm just not willing to give right now.

[Spikey]

I'm not particularly planning that, but maybe I should. Me and my bf switched last minute from "Mary, Queen of Scots" to "Green Book" while buying tickets, because of Rotten Tomatoes ratings. And I recently binged Reign on Netflix, so I've seen a lot of Mary and Elisabeth as of late haha.

Yeah, I left off in my rants that the Italians are always Sicilian. Sicilian and wearing tank tops. Arguably the greatest musicians and artists who've ever lived, an enormous percentage of them, are from Italy/what is now Italy. Early scientific minds. Galileo, ffs. But I guess only the shitty ones' descendants moved to the US, and of course only Brooklyn and the Bronx and Queens. Maybe some moved to Chicago eventually to do crimes. But that's it. No more. Shirtless, dark skinned, dark haired, and screaming in NY somewhere.

Haha, yes - Sicily is a different beast altogether, but I love it all the same. I regard Italy as the definitive cradle of all of modern western European society - the genuinely ancient art and architecture (like... even from the period before 1000AD) you can still find there is so rare that it boggles the mind. It is only in the last two centuries or so that Italy, Spain and Portugal sank to the poorer side of the rich countries of Europe.

I had to pause Black Panther but I'm not liking it. I'm not hopeful the last 15 minutes are going to change the whole experience for me. To be fair, I don't generally like Superhero movies, especially this whole Marvel universe. So it's no worse than any of the others I've tried to watch. (I put on Doctor Strange and wandered off, forgetting I had even started it.) My biggest complaint is the green screen and CGI. I found it distracting. I wish they could have filmed some of the outside stuff outside. Or used stock footage or drone vids. Maybe they did and just colored it funny. I miss warmth in films.

The Disney Marvel universe is a major snooze in my book, and almost painful to watch thinking of the 60s and 70s comics. One of my main problems; there just aren't enough female superheroes in them. And not enough non-white people. This is in sharp contrast to the comic book history as a wholewhere Marvel was groundbreaking with the Avengers. If you break down Avenger characters over the years in the comic universe, the only founding members left out of the movie were Wasp and Antman - but they added 1970s recruit Black Widow and Captain America. If they were going so far away from the source material anyway, they may well just have added the likes of Black Panther, Falcon, Moondragon, Hellcat or Scarlett Witch right off the bat. There is no excuse. Black Panther was the first African superhero in mainstream comics (1966). The Falcon was the first African-American superhero in mainstream comics (1969). Now, they are going to release a Captain Marvel movie, but they didn't select the first female Captain Marvel Monica Rambeau as the character - an 1980 Avengers recruit, team lead, high profile, pretty amazing power set and the first african-american heroine to join the avengers. Instead they selected Carol Danvers - white, blonde, important storylines about being a victim, probably sells easier. Ugh. I hope they'll have Rogue cross over from the Fox universe and take all her powers away.

But I haven't seen Black Panther yet. So far, I've enjoyed 20th Century's Marvel way more, and those last R-rated movies Logan, Deadpool and Deadpool II are actually really good - if you want to attempt anything, I'd say go with the Deadpools. They are both hilarious and touching - and I'm biased against Wolverine being used as a solo character. I'm curious to see what Disney will do to the upcoming X-men movies "New Mutants" and "X-men: Dark Phoenix", both well under way when they took over the rights to X-men.

[Regina Phalange]

I went for a music theme today with A Star is Born and Bohemian Rhapsody.

Oh boy I did NOT like ASIB. I don't know if it was objectively bad or if it's one of those movies that just doesn't do it for me. Like I HATED Titanic. I'm drawing a blank about others, but I know there are a few movies that I'm supposed to like as an American Female but I'd rather yank out my own fingernails than rewatch them. I can see why Cooper didn't get director nod. I thought it was directed oddly. Gaga was ok. I can see to a certain extent why she's had a lot of noms, but I can see even better why others tend to win. Her facial expressions and gestures are good, but her line readings are off. Usually singers SAY their lines fine but can't move their faces properly, so it's weird to see one do the opposite. Plus while I like her as a performer, by the end I wanted to delete my iTunes library. It was so shouty and with affectations and ugh just not for me. Especially that ass song. WTF was that shit?

Sam Elliott was good, but so brief in it that it makes it hard to root for him. I generally think Cooper is terrible. He has crazy eyes and not in a good way. I can only buy him as a super comical bad guy, like in Wedding Crashers.

I have not seen the other versions of this movie, so I have no idea how different this script was. But holy fuck did I hate these people.

I cannot understand why I'm supposed to root for them as a couple. He shows up at her show, drunk as a skunk, yanks off her eyebrows in a creepy display of dominance, negs her, sends Matt Fucking Parkman to stalk her when he won't take no for an answers, puts her on the spot LITERALLY in front of 100s/1000s of people. Like these are all Inter Partner Violence RED FUCKING FLAGS.

Plus the hair people? They need to be fired. Why were the actors greasy the entire fucking film? Did they run out of shampoo budget? I know Elly or whatever her name was was supposed to be dumpy and he's supposed to be the only one who can see her true beauty but could she at least comb her gd hair?

It wasn't technically awful, other than the hair, but I don't know if it was best pic worthy. Although it is nice when a more popular film is nominated and it's not all weird niche movies.

But is this a movie that's going to be remembered by people in the future? Sure, the people who like it now will like it in 10 years and watch it however we'll be watching things in 2032, but will their kids? Is it an all-time classic or a movie that just captures a slice of 2018? I assume it was 2018 for while everyone had current tech, all the furniture and clothes looked like they were borrowed from the 70s version.

Bohemian Rhapsody was a delight. Not sure if it is also best picture worthy, but I enjoyed the fuck out of it. Sobbed from Wembley through the end.

I don't know how much of my positive feelings for the movie are mixed up with my positive feelings for Mercury and Queen. It's hard to hate a movie with such a naturally good soundtrack. So is this only good because of the subject themselves? If it were about a shittier band with a less tragic lead singer, would it have been as compelling?

Rami was convincing, but sometimes I felt like he was more doing Mercury doing Tim Curry as Dr Frankenfurter.

It's also hard to pull for it because of the Singer stuff. I also don't get why I read a lot of stuff about Mercury not being gay enough. We saw him with men, he said out loud he was bi... I didn't feel he was shoved into a closet. I know it's not my place to have final say on its gayness, but it puzzled me. It doesn't seem to be in favor to win any Oscars, but I also don't know if it was GOOD ENOUGH on its own.

[grapefruit_is_winning]

Sam Elliott was good, but so brief in it that it makes it hard to root for him.

Plus the hair people? They need to be fired. Why were the actors greasy the entire fucking film? Did they run out of shampoo budget? I know Elly or whatever her name was was supposed to be dumpy and he's supposed to be the only one who can see her true beauty but could she at least comb her gd hair?

It wasn't technically awful, other than the hair.

Bwahaha - I liked the movie more than you did, not tons more, but definitely more, but what a refreshing take! Literal LOL - ran out of shampoo budget! That is hysterical

Could not agree more about Sam Elliott. Totally mystified by the praise for his performance. It's basically just... him. And he's certainly a fine actor, but not much of a role at all and not even the slightest stretch based on his repertoire.

[Regina Phalange]

Are they TRYING to destroy the awards entirely? I know the whole Kevin Hart thing was a disaster not ENTIRELY of their making, but the last few years have been trainwreck (OscarsSoWhite) after trainwreck (literally announcing the wrong BP winner). It's turning into the Trump administration of awards. Swamp people destroying it from the inside.

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[Adirondak]

These awards shows are in their death throes. I think much like being trapped in quicksand the thrashing around trying to get better ratings is going to result in them sinking faster.

[grapefruit_is_winning]

I'd have to agree. I think they're like the variety shows of the 60s and 70s.... they just don't qualify as proper entertainment anymore. In the first place, they're appointment television, a concept that we've moved way past. And they're so self congratulatory and boring. And it makes me angry when my picks don't win. And I can never forgive the Oscars for Forest Gump and Crash winning Best Picture. And honestly can we just disqualify Meryl Streep from ever winning again? What in god's name is the point of her winning another award? And the hosts are always at least semi embarrassing to watch.

[Regina Phalange]

Not having a host should give them MORE time. Cut the awkward banter, have clips be limited to just a few seconds, not long looks... or none at all. Have the show start earlier. Cut the half hour ABC does of red carpet (oof, it's terrible). Instead of having the entirety of each song, a medley of them could work if done well.

There is a lot of wasted time so getting rid of awards on air is a terrible idea. Plus let's not forget there are more awards that should be there and aren't. Comedy vs drama. Stunts. Virtual performances.

All the other shows have MORE awards. I don't know why the Oscars can't get their shit together.

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One thing I don’t think ABC is taking into account with the Oscars is, every category matters, and is exciting/fun, if you have entered an Oscar pool, or placed some kind of side bet. Checking Twitter to see which of the “important“ categories was decided offscreen is just lame.

Final thought: I’m perfectly aware that a nerd like me is not the audience ABC is chasing, but the “unimportant“ categories are often where the best and most exciting television happens.

I don't know off the top of my head if any people of color have won this one, or how many in the other axed awards.

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[Volta]

I'm not particularly planning that, but maybe I should. Me and my bf switched last minute from "Mary, Queen of Scots" to "Green Book" while buying tickets, because of Rotten Tomatoes ratings. And I recently binged Reign on Netflix, so I've seen a lot of Mary and Elisabeth as of late haha.



Haha, yes - Sicily is a different beast altogether, but I love it all the same. I regard Italy as the definitive cradle of all of modern western European society - the genuinely ancient art and architecture (like... even from the period before 1000AD) you can still find there is so rare that it boggles the mind. It is only in the last two centuries or so that Italy, Spain and Portugal sank to the poorer side of the rich countries of Europe.

The Disney Marvel universe is a major snooze in my book, and almost painful to watch thinking of the 60s and 70s comics. One of my main problems; there just aren't enough female superheroes in them. And not enough non-white people. This is in sharp contrast to the comic book history as a wholewhere Marvel was groundbreaking with the Avengers. If you break down Avenger characters over the years in the comic universe, the only founding members left out of the movie were Wasp and Antman - but they added 1970s recruit Black Widow and Captain America. If they were going so far away from the source material anyway, they may well just have added the likes of Black Panther, Falcon, Moondragon, Hellcat or Scarlett Witch right off the bat. There is no excuse. Black Panther was the first African superhero in mainstream comics (1966). The Falcon was the first African-American superhero in mainstream comics (1969). Now, they are going to release a Captain Marvel movie, but they didn't select the first female Captain Marvel Monica Rambeau as the character - an 1980 Avengers recruit, team lead, high profile, pretty amazing power set and the first african-american heroine to join the avengers. Instead they selected Carol Danvers - white, blonde, important storylines about being a victim, probably sells easier. Ugh. I hope they'll have Rogue cross over from the Fox universe and take all her powers away.

But I haven't seen Black Panther yet. So far, I've enjoyed 20th Century's Marvel way more, and those last R-rated movies Logan, Deadpool and Deadpool II are actually really good - if you want to attempt anything, I'd say go with the Deadpools. They are both hilarious and touching - and I'm biased against Wolverine being used as a solo character. I'm curious to see what Disney will do to the upcoming X-men movies "New Mutants" and "X-men: Dark Phoenix", both well under way when they took over the rights to X-men.

I've attempted to binge Reign. There are only 2 million hour-long episodes.. but something about that show knocks me out.
I do however love Mary, Queen of Scots the Vanessa Redgrave classic and Anne of a Thousand Days.. another classic. IF you haven't watched them don't let their old age fool you. Very good movies.

[Volta]

I am so bothered by them cutting those awards out. This is the freakin' Oscars. You show the whole thing!
I don't see the Oscars ever going away from network tv. Low ratings but there are events with even lower ratings. It's a prestige thing. ABC owns the Oscar telecast? If they gave it up another network would take it. Now, in 20 years will you have to watch the Oscars on TBS or another cable? I can see that.

Did any of you watch the BAFTAS? I couldn't get past how awful the host was. Patsy. The jokes went nowhere and there wasn't a single laugh. When Rachel Weisz won supporting actress early on I was completely satisfied.. back to the Grammys I went.

[Regina Phalange]

I couldn't figure out when the BAFTAS were on, so I missed them.

I guess they're not cutting those four awards but not showing them live and then showing them on a delay to not waste time having these non-celebs walk from their back row seats or something. I don't know. It seems like a whole lot of mess. Like it feels more they made a clumsy choice and backpedaled than that they had a clear plan to begin with. Like the host thing all over. Or the "last year's winners won't be presenting this year" thing.

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2. Live Action Short for "The Silent Child".

Rachel Shenton signs her acceptance speech to the film's 6 year old deaf actress.

3. Makeup and Hairstyling
All 3 winners for the first time.
Kazuhiro Tsuji, who befriended the great Dick Smith (who Oscars gave an Honorary Oscar too) says: "And finally, thank you to the Academy, and this is a dream come true for all of us"

4. Editing
Aussie Lee Smith (prev noms The Dark Knight, Master & Commander) wins his first Oscar. As his speech reaches the time-limit he quips "can't talk any quicker. I'm an editor, I should be able to this very quickly."

All 4 speech only worked when heard in full. Not as 5 second-highlight.
1. The relief of Deakins *finally* winning.
2. An *entire* speech signed.
3. A sculptor's thanks to Oldman - who responds back during his speech.
4. A rambling speech with a witty "observation" by an editor

It should be noted that the 4 categories relegated to commercial breaks contain neither "Black Panther", or "Mary Poppins Returns" noms.
Both films are Disney.
Disney owns ABC which televise the Oscars.

Now, if they're only cutting out the 'walk to the stage', the what's the point! You're saving a few mins if that.
Categories only work if they are 'live as it happened'. The build-up to the announcement, audience reaction, the next presenter riffing on something said.

The Academy's updated statement says "Time spent walking to the stage and off, will be edited out"

I mean, your saving, what... 4 mins?
How farcical.

Plus broadcasting them later means viewers lose the thread/flow of the live narrative.

One of their worst decisions ever.

God forbid the Academy cant show happy, proud category winners walking from their seat to the stage receiving the accolades of their peers.

Every year there is a film nominated that I think I'm going to love best and when I watch it I'm sorely disappointed. This year's award for "oh man, I really thought I'd love it" goes to........... The Favourite. I didn't think the acting was that great the whole time. I had a hard time following it. I hated the artsy fartsy camera angles (why did every other scene need to look like you were viewing it through a peephole, distorting everything?). I couldn't tell any of the men apart. I thought the verbal barbs were going to be devastatingly sharp but there was better writing on The Golden Girls.