Oscar Talks: Best Picture
by pauliek2003@gmail.com
Okay kids so Oscar’s Best Picture nominations are up to 10. Quite a bit, I know. Below is the list and we will talk about them.
All Quiet On The Western Front
Avatar: The Way Of The Water
Banshees of Inisherin
Elvis
Everything Everywhere All At Once
The Fabelmans
Tar
Top Gun: Maverick
Triangle of Sadness
Women Talking.
That is a lot of movies, and they are all good, well I didn’t see Avatar, but I’m sure it’s a technical achievement. I think we can whittle these all down to 5. Elvis, (because he’s Elvis) Maverick, EEAAO, Fabelmans (because it’s Spielberg) and Banshees. Out of all of these, the real movies that stand tall on actual merit and not their director’s reputation is Banshees and EEAAO. So I would hope, one of these two will win the big prize. I don’t think Tar, Triangle, and Women Talking have impeded the culture and the mainstream awareness to gain any voting traction. I am sure they are great movies, but they do not have the mainstream consciousness that is needed to have voters think of them when the ballots are passed out.
Fabelmans is Spielberg’s autobiographical movie loosely based on his family. Something he was urged to make by many Hollywood titans because they believed his story needed to be told – so he has inside support already – the movie is just not as good as the rest of the list.
Maverick brought people back into theaters in a huge way, grossing a disgusting amount of money. All the money was made in theaters only – since Cruise refused to stream it anywhere and forced everyone to come out again into the sunshine. It is a great sequel, progressing the original storyline and actually having new people and a whole new angle to Maverick, which is something sequels do not do anymore. Sequels are usually just the same story, the same character, just with a new guy in it. Usually the flavor of the month, like Kevin Hart, to spice it up.
All Quiet On The Western Front is a war movie, war movies always get consideration. So there’s that.
Baz and Austin Butler did a tremendous job with Elvis. Somehow modernized him and made him relevant, which everyone has been trying to do for decades since his death. The music is fantastic, music is one of Baz’s major strengths, going back to Moulin Rouge – Baz always creates a hit song with his movies, and that is no small feat. Updating Elvis’s image is a very tough thing to do, and these two guys did it very well, so if they could sneak in there and grab the prize – I would not be surprised.
Avatar of course, is a courtesy nod to James Cameron who is just ridiculous. The guy has done so much for Hollywood – he has to get nominated. He continues to push the envelope for films, even though no one remembers anything about AVATAR, everyone still went to see it and was floored by the techniques. EEAAO and Banshees are the real films here that deserve to be on this stage. No smoke and mirrors, no political pull, no inside track, no reputation, just good filmmakers telling an incredible, original, enthralling story, which is what films are meant to do when they are at their best. I hope to see one of these films win the award, and not have the Oscar go to some irreverent name because of their political pull and inside friendships.
