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mfunk9786 wrote: Fri Jan 04, 2019 4:12 am

ianthemovie wrote: Thu Jan 03, 2019 4:48 pm 52 Directors Pick the Best Films and TV of 2018.

Listening to the Filmspotting Top 10 podcast for 2018 and Sean Baker narrowed his "in no particular order" list to a three-way tie for best of the year:

01 (tie). Border (Abbasi)
01 (tie). Let the Corpses Tan (Cattet/Forzani)
01 (tie). Vox Lux (Corbet)

Certainly an interesting enough (and personally agreeable enough) tippy top to make me see the two of the three that I haven't seen!

I thought it would be worth mentioning that the Japanese zombie comedy film that Baker mentions, One Cut Of The Dead, is going to be released by Third Window in the UK in the next month or two.

I'm glad ....Versace did so well at the Globes. Big fan of that series, thought it trumped the OJ one tbh.

BigMack3000 wrote: Mon Jan 07, 2019 4:53 am I think Samberg won last time he hosted.

So what were the speeches for Bohemian Rhapsody? Did anyone mention Singer?

I didn't watch the show myself but a very reliable source told me that there was no mention of Bryan Singer.

Never Cursed wrote: Mon Jan 07, 2019 5:08 am True, though it kept Wes Anderson from an award

Does that mean Spider-Man won?

knives wrote: Mon Jan 07, 2019 3:41 pm

Never Cursed wrote: Mon Jan 07, 2019 5:08 am True, though it kept Wes Anderson from an award

Does that mean Spider-Man won?

Probably the only award they got right (except for some Roma love that I'm fine with)

Manohla Dargis posted this about the Golden Globes. Again, it's baffling how the Golden Globes have gotten any prestige at all. For a very long time it was rightfully a joke.

She also posted this as a follow up:

Manohla Dargis wrote:Here's whose in the HFPA as of 2015 - note, the group does include two very worthy and professional colleague/friends: Emanuel Levy and HJ Park (who's also in LAFCA)...these preposterous awards are chosen by a small group of people who "disseminate information." The Academy Awards - love them, loathe them or just ignore them - are chosen by some 7,000 movie-making professionals. You can read more about the Hollywood Foreign Press members in the Vulture story linked below.

Boy, Schrader must have burned so many bridges in his career to be this unpopular with all but the critics

How is A Quiet Place nominated for it's script? Did they not see Support the Girls? Sorry to Bother You?

domino harvey wrote: Mon Jan 07, 2019 7:13 pm Boy, Schrader must have burned so many bridges in his career to be this unpopular with all but the critics

Was thinking the same thing about the Coens, whose film is being treated as though it didn't even come out by what seems like all the guilds

mfunk9786 wrote: Mon Jan 07, 2019 8:08 pm

domino harvey wrote: Mon Jan 07, 2019 7:13 pm Boy, Schrader must have burned so many bridges in his career to be this unpopular with all but the critics

Was thinking the same thing about the Coens, whose film is being treated as though it didn't even come out by what seems like all the guilds

Or maybe, just maybe, the other nominees are that good!

That's got to have more to do with lingering distaste for treating Netflix releases on equal footing with traditional releases, right? I know Roma is certainly not showing obvious signs of being hindered by this, but even if the margin of those harboring these feelings is something like 10-15% of the voters, something with Roma's near-universal acclaim can overcome that where Scruggs might fall out of contention.

If it weren't for Roma, I would buy into that explanation.

The only viable narrative for First Reformed I can see now is being viewed similar to how The Tree of Life was in 2011, in that it was a critics juggernaut but a guilds no show but still found support among the more high brow Academy.

(And I would say that this year has the most in common with 2011 compared with every other season this decade, if nothing else in quality of contending films)

I still don't even think Hawke is nominated. Surprise me, Academy

I really liked Buster Scruggs, but even aside from the Netflix factor, it's easy to imagine it just not being something a lot of people liked all that much. Even Coen fans seem fairly lukewarm about it in general, from what I've seen. I don't see where it has the pockets of enthusiastic support that First Reformed does, although I may just be missing it.

The ASC Nominees for Cinematography:

Cold War
The Favourite
First Man
Roma
A Star is Born

Talking about guild misses, Beale Street is massively underperforming from what I expected, 98% certain to miss at DGA tomorrow and I have no idea how is performs at the Oscars.

I can remember when it was La La Land vs Moonlight that everyone was sure Chazelle and Jenkins would be the new light of the future of these Oscar films (not a personal comment in the films or directors). Sad to see how quickly we went straight back to shitty Oscar bait.

I agree that Beale Street seems to be underperforming expectations, but the only one of those ASC nominees I haven't seen is A Star is Born, and I can't say I'd give Jenkins' film any of the other four spots.

I'm starting to think that the number of deserving high-quality films is having the paradoxical effect of splitting the vote in these bodies that normally aligns with the cinephile perspective, thereby opening wider lanes for the more broad Oscar bait films (Green Book, Bohemian Rhapsody, A Quiet Place) to steal nominations from the likes of First Reformed, You Were Never Really Here, Beale Street, Leave No Trace, etc.

The problem is that all these critical favourites have made less money then Winter's Bone, the lowest grossing Best Picture nominee ever, in the year of Popular Film and (subconsciously) trying to prevent that from being floated again.

Yeah, the general rule of thumb seems to be excepting specialty categories a film needs to have at least $6mil to be nominated. That puts a no, excepting the Jenkins which was only just released, the above plus Blindspotting, Disobedience, Ben is Back, Suspiria, Don't Worry He Won't Get Far on Foot, and The Rider.

DarkImbecile wrote: Mon Jan 07, 2019 8:42 pm I agree that Beale Street seems to be underperforming expectations, but the only one of those ASC nominees I haven't seen is A Star is Born, and I can't say I'd give Jenkins' film any of the other four spots.

I'm starting to think that the number of deserving high-quality films is having the paradoxical effect of splitting the vote in these bodies that normally aligns with the cinephile perspective, thereby opening wider lanes for the more broad Oscar bait films (Green Book, Bohemian Rhapsody, A Quiet Place) to steal nominations from the likes of First Reformed, You Were Never Really Here, Beale Street, Leave No Trace, etc.

A Quiet Place, a mainstream horror movie with no social commentary element, can not be called Oscar bait in the slightest. What we are seeing signs of this year is a return to the older model of the Oscars from the studio era, where the majority of titles nominated for above the line categories lean more heavily on popular films as opposed to prestigious or critical darlings. Of course, even much of commercial filmmaking was better back then, which is why it smarts more now, but in a world of Love is a Many Splendored Thing et al, Best Picture Nominee Crazy Rich Asians &c only sounds weird coming a few short years after Birdman and Moonlight et al won the top prize

Yeah, I should have written “more broadly appealing and/or Oscar bait films”, as the second and third films I listed weren’t really Oscar bait and the first hasn’t proven particularly popular.

Regarding Beale Street, is it maybe a mistake to keep holding the most "difficult" film of awards season until the very end of every year to get drowned in easier entertainment? It buried Silence in 2016, and last year Phantom Thread barely screened for critics before best of lists were published, where they all seemed to place much lower than the esteem people held it in a month later. I get the urge to hold onto the most anticipated film for a finale of sorts but I think they'd play better earlier with more room to breath.