I used to blog about every single Oscar category I completed.
To be honest, that shit got annoying after a while. It’s not like I was drawing ad revenue or anything. So not sure why I kept it up for all of those years, except I guess out of habit. So I’m not doing that shit anymore. Gonna throw some thoughts at you today, I’ll come back with some Best Picture stuff later. Maybe something else. Maybe not. See how I feel.
Alright, here’s the big one people seem to want to complain about this year: F1.
I’m watching it as I work on this. I enjoyed the hell out of this one. Sharing similar DNA with Top Gun: Maverick (with good reason, as they share a director), F1’s the kind of classic big-budget original picture we used to get all the time.
… which seems to be a lot of people’s complaint. It’s big budget. It’s too commercial. It’s popcorn.
YES!!!
That’s the entire fucking point, people. It’s only in the last 20 years that the Oscars have gotten away from nominating stuff that people really went to watch all the time, and the world is way worse off for it. As movie theaters continue to die, we as an industry need to do anything and everything to get people’s asses back into those theater seats. Having a film like F1 that is a massive critical and commercial success is a great way to do that. Also: It’s an original film. No IP. No comic books.
Isn’t that what we want? Fuck yeah, it is. The more F1s that get a crack at the gold statue (and we all know it ain’t winning), the better off the film industry is, like it or not.
That said, it’s also amazing that something that was as commercially successful as Sinners got the most nominations in Oscars history. That film is something, man. Vampires may not be your jam – and they’re not mine – but daaaamn… Michael B’s never been better, the music is just phenomenal (never seen a non-musical use music like this), and it’s got a couple big-time twists. Even if From Dusk Til Dawn kinda got there first…
Vampires to zombies: I went to see 28 Years Later: A Bone Temple last week (this is going somewhere, I promise). So I rewatched 28 Years Later. I’ll tell you… that is a shockingly beautiful film. I think the weight of expectations (as in: similar to the two that came before it) kinda wigged me out a little at the theater last summer. But watching it with a clearer mind… woah. Alex Garland is just an amazing writer. Dude takes real big swings every time, and he always finds something to say. Memento Mori, my friends. This one could’ve been on the Best Picture list.
Jesse Plemons and Chase Infiniti got robbed, man. Plemons has been flirting with Oscar fame for a while, and should’ve gotten there for his multi-layered turn in Bugonia. Infinity… if you’re in a movie and you out-act DiCaprio, Penn, and Del Toro (all of whom did get nominated), you deserve a gold statue.
Super pumped to see Delroy Lindo get his first nomination in his 70s. Man has been one of my favorite character actors forever (Gone in 60 Seconds, dude was FIRE), so great to see him finally get his shot at the big stage. Ditto Stellan Skarsgard. Star Wars, Marvel, Good Will Hunting… and finally gets it for a small Norwegian film. Good for you, dude.
Let me bring this full circle: Train Dreams may have been my favorite film of the nominated ones (I’m still pondering this). But it’s a crime that it didn’t get a wide theatrical release. Its cinematography, sound, and music deserved the biggest screen in the darkest theater possible.
On that note: I watched The Rip last week. This film’s got Oscar nominees out the yin yang – Damon, Affleck, Yeun, Taylor, Chandler… Yes, it’s a B thriller. Yes, it’s not going to win awards.
What do these movies have in common?
PEOPLE NEED TO SEE THESE IN THE THEATER, MAN.
Studios need to understand that they can’t evaluate a film’s theatrical prospects on a per-film basis. The point is the SLATE, my dudes. The reason why no one is going to the theater is that they’re only putting three movies out there: (1) Big franchise films, i.e., comic book (and I love me some Marvel), (2) Low budget horror, where there’s no risk, and (3) Oscar bait.
That’s it.
But you want to bring people back to the theater. Why? Cause you can’t spend a billion dollars making Avengers: Doomsday and NOT put that shit into the theater. Doesn’t work. To do that, you gotta get people used to coming back to the theater. Which means you need to put movies on the big screen that attract ALL the viewers.
Think about it, man. Train Dreams, playing next to The Rip, playing next to 28 Years Later, playing next to Sinners, playing next to F1, next to Hamnet, next to One Battle After Another…
If you watch movies, you’ve watched one of those, almost for sure.
It starts with putting all kinds of films back in the theaters. Then find a way to make the experience better (bet your ass I’ll be back to talk about that down the line, but that’s it for now, folks).
(BTW… I’m not doing SEO anymore. Fuck that shit.)
