Oppenheimer wins 7 Oscars (Best Picture) (film & awards)

[QAnonKelly]

Fyi, Parasite's on Hulu now. My sister and I watched it last night and I enjoyed it greatly. Probably need to see it again to form a full opinion.

[QAnonKelly]

https://twitter.com/hulu/status/1247953608080949250?s=20

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

Wow, owning an immigrant for not knowing enough languages. Great job, Hulu marketing team *cringe*

[T'Chenka]

Wow, owning an immigrant for not knowing enough languages. Great job, Hulu marketing team *cringe*

That's... not what happened though...?

[Progressive Pessimist]

Fyi, Parasite's on Hulu now. My sister and I watched it last night and I enjoyed it greatly. Probably need to see it again to form a full opinion.

Thanks for sharing that it's on Hulu. I watched it last night.

It should be apparent by now that I'm not much of a band-wagoner when it comes to movies, but this one met or exceeded every massive expectation I had for it. Yes, I'm a raving fan of this film too and it is among my top three favorite films of last year, well, so far. I still have a few more major films of 2019 to go through (next time: 'The Lighthouse' now that it's coming to Amazon Prime in a few days) I almost don't have much else to say about 'Parasite' though because I don't have much new to add to what has already been said about it over and over again.

I will say that in going into it trying to avoid as much information about it as possible, as is often advised by those who recommend it, even while it was blowing up in popularity; I was caught off-guard by how surprisingly lighthearted it was, at least for the first half. I anticipated it to be mostly dark and dour. It certainly was at times, but it had a great balance in terms of its tone. Bong himself has described it as a "tragicomedy," and that actually seems like a pretty apt description of it. It isn't the pure white-knuckle thriller film that I expected. Though it did succeed at being incredibly tense at times. Once a certain turn happened, I was on the edge of my couch for the remainder of the movie.

Also usually I am able to find something about any film that I disliked. After all, no film is truly perfect. And for this one I was a little bothered by how absurdly gullible and oblivious the Park family was. It didn't seem very realistic and I was kind of frustrated by it. BUT after thinking about it a bit, even that works! When I considered the motifs, subtexts, and themes of this film that actually ended up having its place. In fact, the more I think about the movie overall, the more I like it. It really is crafted to the nines. Thought was considered for every single solitary detail of this film. 

So yeah, this film is near-perfect and has earned every accolade it has received.

[GoTfan]

Went back to watch Amazing Grace yesterday. Absolutely fantastic.

[T'Chenka]

I watched Gaslight (1940) and Gaslight (1944) this week. Both were good but IMO not "very good". I'm slightly disappointed but I don't regret watching them.

[QAnonKelly]

Fyi, Parasite's on Hulu now. My sister and I watched it last night and I enjoyed it greatly. Probably need to see it again to form a full opinion.

Thanks for sharing that it's on Hulu. I watched it last night.

It should be apparent by now that I'm not much of a band-wagoner when it comes to movies, but this one met or exceeded every massive expectation I had for it. Yes, I'm a raving fan of this film too and it is among my top three favorite films of last year, well, so far. I still have a few more major films of 2019 to go through (next time: 'The Lighthouse' now that it's coming to Amazon Prime in a few days) I almost don't have much else to say about 'Parasite' though because I don't have much new to add to what has already been said about it over and over again.

I will say that in going into it trying to avoid as much information about it as possible, as is often advised by those who recommend it, even while it was blowing up in popularity; I was caught off-guard by how surprisingly lighthearted it was, at least for the first half. I anticipated it to be mostly dark and dour. It certainly was at times, but it had a great balance in terms of its tone. Bong himself has described it as a "tragicomedy," and that actually seems like a pretty apt description of it. It isn't the pure white-knuckle thriller film that I expected. Though it did succeed at being incredibly tense at times. Once a certain turn happened, I was on the edge of my couch for the remainder of the movie.

Also usually I am able to find something about any film that I disliked. After all, no film is truly perfect. And for this one I was a little bothered by how absurdly gullible and oblivious the Park family was. It didn't seem very realistic and I was kind of frustrated by it. BUT after thinking about it a bit, even that works! When I considered the motifs, subtexts, and themes of this film that actually ended up having its place. In fact, the more I think about the movie overall, the more I like it. It really is crafted to the nines. Thought was considered for every single solitary detail of this film. 

So yeah, this film is near-perfect and has earned every accolade it has received.

I knew the plot switched at the halfway point but I was surprised just how well it was pulled off.

[Progressive Pessimist]

I saw 'The Lighthouse' last night. Yep, add another one to my favorite movies of last year list. It was as great as I expected. Robert Eggers really might be becoming one of my favorite directors too. I can't wait to see what else he has up his sleeve. I'm loving these artsy surrealist period pieces with people in isolation and meeting creepy animals. This one isn't really a horror film as 'The Witch' was though. It's kind of genre-bending. It's like if David Lynch directed 'The Shining.'

Between Eggers' two films, I still think I prefer 'The Witch' overall. That movie made me feel more, and what I felt was dread and a lack of sleep due to nightmares. Seriously, I know others may not disagree, but that film is the scariest movie I have ever seen. That's not to say that I felt nothing from 'The Lighthouse' though. I felt a lot, just not at as high of a level as the uneasiness I had in watching 'The Witch.' Also 'The Witch' clicked for me a little more. I understood it pretty easily. 'The Lighthouse' is a bit more abstract and seems to require more thought and interpretation. I think I mostly got it, but there are still a few gaps and things that I can't quite piece together though. It might require another watch at some point, and I'll be more than happy to do so.

Thankfully, unlike with the first time I watched 'The Witch,' I remembered to put subtitles on so that I knew exactly what the characters were saying in their period form of communication. 'The Lighthouse' is more contemporary though so even if I didn't, I still would understood the majority of what they were saying. Though it's better with subtitles on, even if it's just for Willem Dafoe's monologue where he chides Robert Pattinson for not liking his cooking. That was my favorite moment of the film, and maybe one of my favorite film monologues ever. I want to memorize it and say it to whomever I get into a future argument with. Supposedly Dafoe delivered the full two minute monologue in one take without blinking too. Now that's impressive! And it made what already became my favorite performance of 2019 all that much better. Pattinson was good too, and continues to prove that he is actually a good actor in spite of the 'Twilight' series. But once again I found myself noticing an inconsistency in the accent he was using. It started out sounding like Dafoe's sailor dialect, but then morphed into a New England accent as the film went on. I wonder if maybe it was intentional though, as part of a deception that is revealed about Pattinson's character eventually. I don't know. But either way, it did not impair my enjoyment of this film.

It's not for everyone, but it was definitely for me. I welcome more fart jokes in art films. Yeah, the film actually has a decent amount of humor in it too. It's truly unique.

[T'Chenka]

I just watched Gräns ("Border"), a 2018 Swedish indie film that was nominated for Best Hairstyling & Make-up at the Oscars. It was a VERY unique film with high potential, good cinematography and good acting. I give the film a solid B (6.0/10) because it's a mixed bag of really good stuff and a couple of things that really made the film noticeably worse than it had to be. Overall a good and unique film worth watching.

The dialogue could've been better. The film moves a bit slow later on but glacially slow for the first half. The worst part IMO was the character depth. All of the actors do a VERY good job considering what the screenplay gives them in this regard, unfortunately the screenplay doesn't give them enough depth (IMO) and the film suffers for it.

There are some truly "WTF" moments in this movie that I wouldn't want to spoil for you. It's one of those "the less you know beforehand, the better" type of movies.

My honest recommendations are:

--- go in completely and totally blind

OR

--- watch the official trailer I've posted below
--- watch this movie later if you get a chance to see it
--- don't watch the trailer more than once or twice
--- don't watch the trailer if you plan to watch the film shortly afterwards

[T'Chenka]

Summer 2020 Update

The Oscars have moved from Feb 2021 to Apr 2021. Several of the anticipated awards season films have been pushed to next year. Most of the big movies this year haven't come out and could possibly be pushed until winter or 2021.

Hollywood is mostly watching COVID-19's status in New York, California, Texas and Florida (and Europe, China) to see when it will be safe and profitable to stop delaying the films and release them in theaters.

The big contenders
MANK - Netflix film due for end of the year
DA 5 BLOODS - On Netflix now, didn't quite reach all the expectations
WEST SIDE STORY - Due in December
THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 - Just purchased by Netflix
DUNE - Due for December
TENET - Due for August (delay coming?)
THE FRENCH DISPATCH - due for October
AMMONITE - Coming to Toronto International Film Festival
NOMADLAND - Might be pushed to 2021
HILLBILLY ELEGY - Netflix film coming in a few months
MINARI - Already had a film festival debut
SOUL - Due for festival debut, due in November
NEWS OF THE WORLD - Due in December
NEXT GOAL WINS - No release date, post-production finishing now

Then there are another 10 or 15 films being talked about, a few will be really good
C'mon C'mon
Respect
The United States vs Billie Holiday
Stillwater
Red, White, And Water
On The Rocks
several more I don't want to type right now

Delayed or extremely likely to be delayed
Nightmare Alley
untitled David O Russell film
The Last Duel
Last Night In Soho
Infinite
Blonde
King Richard
Eternals
In The Heights
The Many Saints Of Newark
Everybody's Talking About Jamie

[Mike Thick]

I'm Thinking of Ending Things, Charlie Kaufman's new movie for Netflix, is coming out in September. He kind of fell off after Synecdoche, but I think this could be in contention for Adapted Screenplay. Jesse Plemons, the lead actor, is no slouch either.

I have tickets to a virtual event with Kaufman tomorrow night. It was supposed to be an in-person thing, but they had to move it online because of COVID. Kind of bittersweet -- he's probably my favorite writer alive for any medium, and I was really looking forward to seeing him in person. Sure it'll be a blast nonetheless, though.

[T'Chenka]

BUMP

We are now getting into Oscar season. I'm going to post a bit of info here and hopefully we can have some fun but spoiler-free conversations.

BEST PICTURE FRONT-RUNNERS
- Nomadland (in theaters Dec 04)
- Mank (streaming on Netflix starting Dec 04)
- The Trial Of The Chicago 7 (streaming on Netflix now)

BEST PICTURE - SECOND TIER FILMS
- One Night In Miami (streaming on Amazon Prime starting Jan 15)
- The Father (in theaters Dec 18)
- Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (streaming on Netflix starting Dec 18)
- Soul (streaming on Disney+ starting Dec 25)

BEST PICTURE - "MAYBE / MAYBE NOT" FILMS
- Minari
- The United States vs Billie Holiday
- News Of The World
- Judas And The Black Messiah
- Da 5 Bloods
- Cherry
- Hillbilly Elegy
- Promising Young Woman

OTHER NOTES
- Best Actor will either be Chadwick Boseman or Anthony Hopkins
- Amanda Seyfried is the front-runner for Best Supporting Actress
- Chloe Zhao has (IMO whatev it's worth) a very good shot at Best Director
- Soul and Wolfwalkers are front-runners for Best Animated Feature

[T'Chenka]

I've seen The Trial Of The Chicago 7, and despite it being a very well made and "good" movie, it doesn't deserve to win Best Picture. I rate this movie below Green Book, which I thought 2 years ago was not good enough to win Best Picture.

All reviews indicate that Mank is too "out there" and lacks mass appeal, so it probably won't win even if it's clearly better than Chicago 7. Therefore, at this juncture, my early prediction is that Nomadland will win Best Picture via winning Best Director. If you didn't know, almost every Best Picture winner also wins Best Director or Best Screenplay or both, so without winning either, your "path" to Best Picture is possible but very unlikely.

[Progressive Pessimist]

It's funny that this thread is being bumped because I finally saw '1917' the other night. It was definitely a nice change of pace from your typical war movie and even though a lot of people have claimed that it's a style over substance movie, you cannot hold the style of this movie against it. It wasn't a gimmick, it just added to the suspense and thrills. This movie really was a feat that deserves as much recognition as possible for the craft that went into it. One thing that was notable to me were the varied locations and colors in each of them. When you picture World War I you picture mud and trenches, and while there was plenty of that, you also saw that war, even at its most brutal can create breath-taking scenery. It definitely helps to undertake something like this when you have Roger Deakins, the King of Cinematography, working on your film. The technical aspects aside I also actually gave a s*** about our characters in this movie. I was invested in them and their objective's. This movie is like what 'Dunkirk' should have been. I enjoyed it a lot, and that's even without seeing it in a theater. I don't usually like seeing movies in theaters, but I could definitely see why people advised how a big screen enhances the experience. I kind of wish I did now.

So with that I am finally caught up on the big Oscar movies from last year. I personally think that 'Uncut Gems' was my absolute favorite from last year though, even as it didn't get any Academy Awards. Hell, I watched it again recently. I love that movie.

In 2020 however I have absolutely no idea what the Awards Season is going to like for this year. In fact, I have only seen four movies that came out this year and none of them are awards worthy to me.

I'm Thinking of Ending Things, Charlie Kaufman's new movie for Netflix, is coming out in September. He kind of fell off after Synecdoche, but I think this could be in contention for Adapted Screenplay. Jesse Plemons, the lead actor, is no slouch either.

I have tickets to a virtual event with Kaufman tomorrow night. It was supposed to be an in-person thing, but they had to move it online because of COVID. Kind of bittersweet -- he's probably my favorite writer alive for any medium, and I was really looking forward to seeing him in person. Sure it'll be a blast nonetheless, though.

I watched it a few weeks ago. I like most of Kaufman's films aside from 'Being John Malkovich' (a controversial opinion perhaps), but this was one where I didn't quite hate it, but I didn't like it all either. I enjoyed the acting, surrealism-as I often do with movies, and surprisingly ominous tone but the parts where the two leads were talking in the car (roughly 45 minutes of the entire movie) was kind of agonizing. I think I mostly understood the movie's themes and how those scenes factored into it, but that doesn't mean it was fun to watch. I also thought the overall point of the movie ended up in a fairly simplistic place after all the build-up. It was definitely one of the more unique films I've seen with how it seems to blend genres, I'll give it that. And it really made me want ice cream.

[T'Chenka]

I watched Mank tonight.

Pretty good movie. Not mindblowing or incredible, but 100% deserves a Best Picture nomination, even in other stronger years than 2020. For example, if we combined 2017 2018 and 2019 into one Oscar season, I would nominate this for Best Picture over Green Book, Get Out, BlackKklansman, Black Panther, Vice, Ford V Ferrari, Darkest Hour, Bohemian Rhapsody and The Post.

I honestly prefer it to The Trial Of The Chicago 7 for Best Picture. Which brings me to my next point: Mank vs Chicago 7 is definitely Roma vs Green Book all over again. However, this year we also have Nomadland as a wildcard. I haven't seen that yet.

I don't think Mank or Chicago 7 are ideal Best Picture winners, so my preferences thus far are this:

1 - Nomadland (really good - 4/5 stars or better)
2 - Mank
3 - Nomadland (fairly good - 3.5 or 3.75 stars)
4 - The Trial Of The Chicago 7
5 - Nomadland (just so-so - 3.25 star film or less)


In my opinion, the folllowing nominations for Mank should be locks, and them not hapening would be snubs.
- Best Picture
- Best Actor (Gary Oldman)
- Best Supporting Actress (Amanda Seyfried)
- Best Cinematography
- Best Original Score
- Best Production Design

[T'Chenka]

SOUL
4.0 stars out of 5

This is a very good and enjoyable movie, and I'd certainly recommend it to anybody who likes animated films. I felt that the emotional beats and "moral of the story" didn't fully nail the landings, and the third act was a mixed bag of greatness and sloppiness, in my opinion. People hyping this to be better than Toy Story are smoking something I think. Still quite good. This will probably win Best Animated Feature unless Wolfwalkers pulls an upset.


MA RAINEY'S BLACK BOTTOM
3.25 stars out of 5

The acting and dialogue is absolutely top notch in the movie. Chadwick Boseman MUST be nominated for Best Actor and he will probably win, unless Anthony Hopkins does. Well made film in generally every way, except for the script (non-dialogue aspects) and pacing, which prevent this from being a 4 star film.

[Middle-aged Europe]

I've also seen Mank tonight.

Not Fincher's best work, but Gary Oldman still deserves an Oscar for it.

[T'Chenka]

UPDATE
Golden Globes nominees have been announced.


2020 films - Oscars - Best Picture nominees

WILL DEFINITELY BE NOMINATED
- Nomadland
- The Trial Of The Chicago 7 (netflix)

EXTREMELY LIKELY TO BE NOMINATED
- Judas And The Black Messiah
- Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (netflix)
- One Night In Miami (amazon prime)
- Promising Young Woman

VERY LIKELY TO BE NOMINATED
- Mank (netflix)
- The Father

POSSIBLY WILL BE NOMINATED
- (0 or 1 or 2 other films TO BE DETERMINED)
----- Da 5 Bloods (netflix) ?
----- Minari ?
----- News Of The World ?
----- Soul (disney+) ?

CLICK HERE TO SEE GOLDEN GLOBES NOMINEES

[Former Crackhead Mike Lindell]

Da 5 Bloods was phenomenal, hoping it exceeds expectations when it comes to the Oscars. Delroy Lindo, AT LEAST, deserves a nomination.

[T'Chenka]

The Golden Globes will be taking place tomorrow night (Sunday Feb 28th).

Whichever film wins "Best Picture - Drama" has a very good shot at winning Best Picture at the Oscars in April.

[NewYorkExpress]

I wouldn't be shocked, given how weak the field is compared to most years, for Soul to win both Best Animated Picture (where it's a lock), and Best Picture (harder, but if an animated movie were to pull this off, this would be the year.)

[T'Chenka]

I wouldn't be shocked, given how weak the field is compared to most years, for Soul to win both Best Animated Picture (where it's a lock), and Best Picture (harder, but if an animated movie were to pull this off, this would be the year.)

There was talk of that in the autumn, but based on all the precursor awards, at this point Best Picture looks like "one in a milion" odds.

[T'Chenka]

Two of the big movies this year - "Mank" and "Judas And The Black Messiah" - prominently feature historical American socialists: Herman Mankewicz and Fred Hampton.

[DaleCooper]

I don't think Mank will win Best Picture. Those biopics about great men and women in the industry tend to win the acting awards but not Best Picture.