Awards Season 2024

[Aunt Peg]

Another great Demi Moore performance is as a detective on a relentless hunt for serial killer Kevin Costner in Mr. Brooks. Her one eyed dedication for her work all whilst battling a sleazy ex-husband who is trying to force a big payout from her for their divorcee going on in the background I found incredibly gripping in itself. She also get kidnapped and taken away in a van and has to fight for life to escape - the sheer energy of that seen. I do hope Mr. Brooks is reevaluated in years to come.

Also worth noting the If These Walls Could Talk (1996) was a long term passion project for Demi Moore. The tried to get the studios interested but they all declined and thankfully HBO came to the rescue. Sad that the film still remains so relevant in 2025 - on of the best pro-choice films made. Demi's segment set in the 1950s was the very best of three and she also gave the best performance overall in the film over heavy hitters such as Sissy Spacek & Cher.

A Blu Ray release would be most welcome.

[The Curious Sofa]

The first time I noticed Demi Moore was in the 80s horror film The Seventh Sign, a couple of years before she hit it big. The movie is hobbled by being a little too ambitious for its budget and it never goes for all out horror but it's well acted and directed and an interesting variation on the religious horror film, being based on Hebrew mythology and the Book of Revelations. Playing a pregnant woman with a history of depression and being in almost every scene, she's very good in a challenging role so early in her career. I still think it's my favourite performance of her's.

[domino harvey]

Moore is not really an actress I've ever held any kind of strong opinions on (positive or negative), and I imagine most of the Academy feels similarly. But there's absolutely a recurring thread in the Academy of rewarding performances by aging actresses like this (especially on a scale like this), and the theme will carry it to a win, I suspect (helped also by it overperforming with Best Director and Best Picture nods). And it doesn't matter that the film is so gory, because many of these voters won't bother to see the movie before casting their vote. This is the universal law of Oscar prognostication: you don't need to see ANY of these movies to be able to predict votes, and in fact biases from viewers with strong opinions more often than not lead to people getting led astray from where the voters go

[swo17]

It's also a movie about how hard it is to be an aging actress in Hollywood. I imagine that will resonate with a lot of people who might not have otherwise been drawn to it

[The Curious Sofa]

I haven't seen Wicked or I'm Still Here, but with Demi Moore and Karla Sofía Gascón the Academy, as so often, is rewarding narratives rather than performances, and Gascón just drove hers spectacularly off a cliff. Of the three films I have seen, only Mikey Madson gives an actual performance worthy of a statuette. And that's no disrespect to Moore, it's just that her role is confined to a limited register because she's literally only playing one half of her character. (The screenplay nominations for The Substance are equally questionable, it's entirely a director's film, with the script providing the bare frame for visual ideas.)

There is an interesting narrative to Moore's life and career, and she has certainly been the victim of double standards. Hers is the hard-luck story of someone who rose from an awful childhood to become the highest-paid actress of the mid-90s. Then there was a considerable amount of schadenfreude when her career went into a steep decline after a few high-profile flops that, to be fair, must have all looked good on the page. Having recently seen her in Andrew McCarthy's Brat Pack documentary, she comes across the best of the main players: self-aware, perceptive, and genuinely kind, she gets to talk some sense into McCarthy.

[domino harvey]

And, I must reiterate because it's so crazy, Moore is also the model in the famous poster art for I Spit on Your Grave

The only way I see Madison winning is if the Academy decides it's all in on Anora. Which is not out of the realm of possibility, but even Stallone couldn't win for Rocky when it surprised and went the distance

[The Curious Sofa]

Unlike Mickey Madison, I'm not sure Stallone has ever done any actual acting in his life. Even the misguided Academy members awarding Rocky Best Picture in that line-up must have realized that.

I doubt Anora will win much if anything, it's more of a festival than an awards darling, and its momentum seems to have fizzled. Not so long ago, Conclave was the type of film that would sweep the awards, and with Emilia Perez's chances dwindling by the day, it may be the boring but safe choice and become this year's Spotlight. And the plot twist even gives voters a chance to vote for

SpoilerShow

LGBTI+ rights if they want to send a message and Emila Perez doesn't seem so appealing anymore.

[colinr0380]

The first time I noticed Demi Moore was in the 80s horror film The Seventh Sign, a couple of years before she hit it big. The movie is hobbled by being a little too ambitious for its budget and it never goes for all out horror but it's well acted and directed and an interesting variation on the religious horror film, being based on Hebrew mythology and the Book of Revelations. Playing a pregnant woman with a history of depression and being in almost every scene, she's very good in a challenging role so early in her career. I still think it's my favourite performance of her's.

Demi Moore had an early role - in 3D no less! - in 1982's Parasite.

(If whoever is doing the opening monologue of the night makes a joke about mixing up that Parasite with the Oscar winning Korean one from a couple of years ago, we'll know they read the forum!)

[The Curious Sofa]

It feels like half of Hollywood's stars started out in low budget horror. I saw Parasite on VHS back in the day. It got released on Blu-ray in 3D a while ago and I was tempted as I love vintage 3D, but it was too expensive for what is a pretty dull movie

[domino harvey]

Critics Choice gave the top prize (and only the top prize) to... Anora. But before you start placing bets, they also gave Wicked a WIN for Best Director, so they're clearly just winging it

[GaryC]

Australia's AACTA Awards. Better Man had had the most nominations of any feature film (sixteen) so unsurprising it won nine of them. Memoir of a Snail took the female acting awards. Is this the first time someone doing motion capture and not speaking any dialogue has won an acting award?

[The Curious Sofa]

Australia's AACTA Awards. Better Man had had the most nominations of any feature film (sixteen) so unsurprising it won nine of them. Memoir of a Snail took the female acting awards. Is this the first time someone doing motion capture and not speaking any dialogue has won an acting award?

Voice acting and motion capture so far have found little consideration outside of specialised awards (for animation, special effects)

There has been talk for a long time that voice performances such as those in Memoir of a Snail, which is stop-motion, should be eligible for awards, especially around the time when Scarlett Johansson's performance in Her received much acclaim. Personally, I think it should have had its own category a long time ago, but it's not fair to put it up against live action performances.

Zoe Saldana recently spoke out about the lack of recognition given to motion-capture performances, but that's a different issue. These are now almost entirely actor performances, delivered through the "avatar" of a digital model. The technology has evolved massively over the last couple of decades. When Andy Serkis was acclaimed for his motion-capture performance as Gollum, it required so much correction and tweaking by the animators that it was not clear where the performance ended and the animation began (animators pushed back at Serkis' claims at the time). Almost all of the facial performance, for example, was done by animators. Now the technology has advanced to the point where every nuance of a performance can be captured, so I agree with Saldana that it should be considered.

[pianocrash]

According to The Substance wiki entry

For his lunch scene with Demi Moore, Quaid consumed approximately 2 kilograms (4.4 lb) of shrimp.

so that's already like half the weight of an actual Oscar? I can only hope Conan ressurrects Vomiting Kermit in tribute on the night of just for old time's sake...

Moore is a shoo-in, mostly for what the performance in that film says because it's Hollywood we're dealing with here, and it's always about how the Academy wants the world to see as themselves.

Madison, if anything, stands as the complete opposite ideal of that, which is a shame, but that's showbiz

[domino harvey]

PGA and DGA tonight. These were voted on before the blowup, so if Emilia Perez wins, that's (partially) why. And if it doesn't, then it is surely done now (Prediction: It will win tonight, and if it doesn't, whatever does is prob the real frontrunner)

[The Narrator Returns]

I guess Anora could wiggle into some of what were once Emilia Perez's spots, but its goose seems cooked

Happy to admit when I'm wrong, Sean Baker just won the DGA.

[domino harvey]

Wow! I don't think anyone saw this coming, what a shocker. Rocky underdog momentum could be real here

[domino harvey]

Anora won PGA. There it is, wow, what a complete shift overnight

[Altair]

Anora has to be the favourite now - I can't imagine The Brutalist winning Best Picture now.

[hearthesilence]

Very pleased with this turn of events. Truth be told, I wish this was for one of Baker's earlier films, but better now than never, and I generally prefer him over the other nominees.

[thirtyframesasecond]

Anora has to be the favourite now - I can't imagine The Brutalist winning Best Picture now.

Bookies now have Anora favourite for Picture and Director.

[therewillbeblus]

It'd be weird seeing Anora win top prizes without actress, I wonder if the Moore narrative will dwindle and Madison can make a comeback

[domino harvey]

Birdman won without Keaton. I do love the irony of Moore losing to the youngest nominee though

[therewillbeblus]

Yeah though Birdman was a case where the technical/directorial achievements were discussed just as much as Keaton's comeback perf. It didn't feel so strange. Anora has a lot going for it outside of the central performance (including a cast of performances that are on par with her's) but the early narrative around it rested primarily on Madison's star-making perf

As of right now, I'm predicting the SAG goes to Moore and Madison upsets for the Oscar W

[The Narrator Returns]

It does seem strange but also the movie's big turn hinges on her being forced into the passenger's seat for an hour. I assume the awards bodies were a lot more convinced by the ending's return to her than I was, but it's surprisingly easy to come out of it with her not as the #1 thing about it. Personally, I think the Academy's most puzzling error with where it will choose to reward vs. not reward it is them not nominating Toros.

[Mario G.]

It does seem strange but also the movie's big turn hinges on her being forced into the passenger's seat for an hour. I assume the awards bodies were a lot more convinced by the ending's return to her than I was, but it's surprisingly easy to come out of it with her not as the #1 thing about it. Personally, I think the Academy's most puzzling error with where it will choose to reward vs. not reward it is them not nominating Toros.

The groups coalescing around Borisov is still shocking to me when Karagulian is giving such an obviously entertaining and breakout performance. It's the kind of performance that's large enough and memorable enough that it could have rode the wave of new momentum to a win. It also helps that Karragulian's underdog narrative is pretty compelling (and better than Culkin's imo).