More Oscar Thoughts…
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I’ll save my comments for the Best Picture contest. I’ve seen six of the ten, with the four holdouts listed below. Of those six I’ve sen Oppenheimer, Barbie, American Fiction, and Killers of the Flower Moon Twice. The other four all look terrific, and I have no particularly good excuse for not yet watching them.
- Past Lives
- The Holdovers
- The Zone of Interest
- Poor Things
- Anatomy of a Fall
- Oppenheimer
- Barbie
- American Fiction
- Killers of the Flower Moon
- Maestro
I have little to add to the general theory of how this evening is likely to proceed. Oppenheimer should win most of the premier categories, and to my mind largely deserves to do so. Of the films I did see the only one that I didn’t particularly care for was Maestro, not necessarily because it was bad as musical biopics just aren’t really my thing.
By the way, here’s a pretty good account of how some of the backlash to Barbie being shut out of two big categories misunderstands the voting system. To my mind Gerwig absolutely should have been nominated for Best Director, but I’m not nearly as irritated by Robbie’s exclusion from the Best Actress category.
… it occurs to me that at least three of the Best Picture nominees are about academics and academic life, which is probably one big reason I was so happy with this year’s slate of nominees…
Let this serve as an open thread for at least the Red Carpet and the first hour of tonight’s Big Show.