Official 2023 Oscar Nominations And Discussions Thread (7 Viewers)

[JoeStemme]

Agreed - the problem isn’t so much ratings in my view, the problem is that the Academy used to understand and regularly acknowledge that artistry took many forms and came in many varieties, and then at a certain point went all in on the idea that only modestly budgeted dramatic films, particularly those one might call “downers,” were the only things that counted as art.

That's looking at the wrong end of the telescope.
The real issue is that the studios who used to make WELL BUDGETED dramatic films stopped making them because audiences prefer sequels and blockbusters. The reason Miramax filled a void with the "modestly" budgeted dramas was that those are as rare as a good Uwe Boll film nowadays.
There was a time when Well Budgeted Studio Dramas made real money - I.E. KRAMER VS. KRAMER made the equal to about $400M back in the day. It beat the first ALIEN and STAR TREK at the box office that year! That wouldn't happen in a million years today. A reboot of KRAMER VS. KRAMER even with stars as big as Hoffman and Streep would be lucky to earn $40M. Lucky. Now, instead of a $35M studio feature like KVS.K we get the $15M MARRIAGE STORY with lesser stars and it goes straight to Netflix. Can you blame the studios?

It's a sorta chicken or the egg sitation, but, it really is on US, the AUDIENCE more than the "Academy" and "Hollywood".

 

[benbess]

If I were voting, here's what I'd pick. These aren't what I think will win, but what I personally liked best among the nominees....(Home some others here will post their picks.)

Best supporting actress: Angela Bassett, "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever"
Best costume design: "Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris"
Best sound: "All Quiet on the Western Front"
Best original score: "The Fabelmans"
Best original screenplay: "The Fabelmans," Tony Kushner and Steven Spielberg
Best supporting actor: Judd Hirsch, "The Fabelmans"
Best adapted screenplay: “All Quiet on the Western Front,” Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson and Ian Stokell
Best international feature film: "All Quiet on the Western Front" (Germany)
Best animated feature film: "Turning Red"
Best makeup and hairstyling: "Elvis"
Best production design: "The Fabelmans"
Best film editing: "Everything Everywhere All at Once"
Best cinematography: "All Quiet on the Western Front"
Best visual effects: "Avatar: The Way of Water"
Best actor: Austin Butler, "Elvis"
Best actress: Michelle Williams, "The Fabelmans"
Best director: Steven Spielberg, "The Fabelmans"
Best picture: "The Fabelmans"

 

[Malcolm R]

The folks involved with Till are not happy at their film being snubbed (link to story and the director's statement, below; producer Whoopi Goldberg also made comments on "The View" this week).

Till director Chinonye Chukwu slams 'misogyny towards Black women' after Oscars snub

 

[Colin Jacobson]

The folks involved with Till are not happy at their film being snubbed (link to story and the director's statement, below; producer Whoopi Goldberg also made comments on "The View" this week).

Till director Chinonye Chukwu slams 'misogyny towards Black women' after Oscars snub

Has there ever been a time people behind a film were happy their film WAS snubbed?

 

[Malcolm R]

No, but it they're coming across like they think they "deserved" one.

 

[MartinP.]

I just feel that Oscar nominations shouldn’t be expected for any film I or others like. That just then brings out that dumb “snubbed” word when it’s not nominated.

If they want to talk about what wasn't nominated, they need to find another word than "snub."

--snub
verb
rebuff, ignore, or spurn disdainfully.
noun
an act of showing disdain or a lack of cordiality by rebuffing or ignoring someone or something.

I don't believe there's any malicious intent if something is or isn't nominated. Our own personal likes and dislikes will rarely align with film awards from any group. Sometimes that's maddening. I happen to think Ron Howard's film Thirteen Lives, starring Viggo Mortensen, Colin Farrell and Joel Edgerton, was one of the best films I saw this year and critics and audiences like it according to online sources. I just looked up to see what it did in theaters, but I didn't find out anything but this: Thirteen Lives was released by United Artists Releasing in select theaters on July 29, 2022, before streaming on Amazon Prime Video on August 5. The film was originally scheduled for a fully theatrical release by United Artists Releasing on April 15, 2022, and was then postponed to November 18 in response to the best test scores in MGM's history. In May 2022, however, the film was brought to its current release date due to Amazon's acquisition of MGM in March. ? ? ?

 

[SD_Brian]

If the movie didn't receive a single nomination, "snubbed" doesn't feel like the right word. "Not nominated" seems more fitting. To be snubbed (in my view, anyway) is when a movie gets nominated in every major category, including Best Picture, but one player is conspicuously left out, and that omission feels like a slap in that person's face.

A few examples of what I would consider to be legit snubbing:

The Godfather: 11 nominations, no Best Director for Francis Ford Coppola; Al Pacino nominated for Supporting Actor when his was the lead role
The Color Purple: 11 nominations, no Best Director for Steven Spielberg
The Prince of Tides: 7 nominations, Barbra Streisand snubbed for Best Director and Best Actress
Titanic: 13 nominations, no Best Actor for Leonardo DiCaprio or Original Screenplay for James Cameron (say what you will about the dialogue, the screenplay's structure is impeccable)
Gladiator: 12 nominations, nothing for Ridley Scott
Argo: 7 nominations, Ben Affleck not nominated in the acting or directing categories

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Al Pacino nominated for Supporting Actor when it was the lead role

I wouldn’t consider this a snub because he would have been submitted in that category. It’s a commonplace move for studios to split up co-leads into the category designations they believe are most likely to give them the best shot at a win.

 

[MartinP.]

^^^ re: Brian's post...

I don't really agree with that, because the definition of snubbing implies willful intent and I don't think the voters, whose separate branches vote for the nominees in their field, sit down and start out that process by purposely excluding anyone. It's just the way the process works.

The folks involved with Till are not happy at their film being snubbed (link to story and the director's statement, below; producer Whoopi Goldberg also made comments on "The View" this week).

Till director Chinonye Chukwu slams 'misogyny towards Black women' after Oscars snub

Whoopi expressed disappointment, but her comments were more generous, while the director said, "We live in a world and work in industries that are so aggressively committed to upholding whiteness and perpetuating an unabashed misogyny towards Black women," Chukwu wrote on Instagram on Tuesday.

When did progress in areas of diversity become entitlement?

 

[SD_Brian]

I wouldn’t consider this a snub because he would have been submitted in that category. It’s a commonplace move for studios to split up co-leads into the category designations they believe are most likely to give them the best shot at a win.

True, but Pacino didn't attend the ceremony in protest over "category fraud" because he felt he'd been nominated in the wrong category. So, while maybe not "snubbed," he definitely felt "slighted."

 

[JoeStemme]

If they want to talk about what wasn't nominated, they need to find another word than "snub."

--snub
verb
rebuff, ignore, or spurn disdainfully.
noun
an act of showing disdain or a lack of cordiality by rebuffing or ignoring someone or something.

I don't believe there's any malicious intent if something is or isn't nominated. Our own personal likes and dislikes will rarely align with film awards from any group. Sometimes that's maddening. I happen to think Ron Howard's film Thirteen Lives, starring Viggo Mortensen, Colin Farrell and Joel Edgerton, was one of the best films I saw this year and critics and audiences like it according to online sources. I just looked up to see what it did in theaters, but I didn't find out anything but this: Thirteen Lives was released by United Artists Releasing in select theaters on July 29, 2022, before streaming on Amazon Prime Video on August 5. The film was originally scheduled for a fully theatrical release by United Artists Releasing on April 15, 2022, and was then postponed to November 18 in response to the best test scores in MGM's history. In May 2022, however, the film was brought to its current release date due to Amazon's acquisition of MGM in March. ? ? ?

I've been fighting this fight for YEARS. Glad to have another warrior in the ring with me!
NOBODY uses the term "snub" like this in their personal lives. If you get snubbed by someone - you know it!
The only real and genuine Awards "snub" in recent memory was Roseanne after she made her racist remarks. That was a genuine snub. Deadwyler not getting nominated was a faux "snub" - she simply got outvoted by her PEERS.

 

[benbess]

Till is obviously a movie that's difficult to watch, and the advance trailer for it made that very clear. Few people saw the movie, reflected in the box office for it, which so far has been about $10 million. Compare that, for instance, to the $22 million so far for Spielberg's box office disappointment The Fabelmans. Anyway, even though members of the Academy get free screenings, my guess is that few of them saw Till, and if that guess is correct that might have influenced how things played out.

Anyway, as with every year there are lots of wonderful movies, and really too many good ones to recognize them all. Overall, I feel good about how the nominations look for this year.

One thing the nominations usually get me to do is to watch one or more of the movies that I've missed. For me this year that movie was All Quiet on the Western Front, which is another one that's quite difficult to watch, but which is very impressive.

 

[Joe Wong]

I do think (and would like to believe that it is the case) that nominating groups in this current day and age do not have an agenda when putting in their nomination selections. I'm sure Davis and Deadwyler had many admirers amongst the acting branch, but someone like Riseborough just happened to be liked by more.

Of course these awards are all subjective anyway, so it's difficult to say whether some of the nominations are "wrong". Or that someone should have made the list. Similar to those "Best Film" lists, there are always going to be differences in our opinions versus someone else's. For example, I think Saving Private Ryan should have won Best Picture, but there were more voters in the Academy that year for Shakespeare in Love. And that's the way it goes.

 

[benbess]

....For example, I think Saving Private Ryan should have won Best Picture, but there were more voters in the Academy that year for Shakespeare in Love. And that's the way it goes.

Agree on that one.

 

[Wayne_j]

I saw Women Talking today and it was incredibly well attended for a Thursday Matinee that isn't a preview showing for a major blockbuster. About 80% of the theater was filled.

After I see Triangle of Sadness on Sunday I will have seen all the Best Picture nominees.

Everything Everywhere All At Once is going wide again this weekend with 1,400 screens.

 

[Matt Hough]

If the movie didn't receive a single nomination, "snubbed" doesn't feel like the right word. "Not nominated" seems more fitting. To be snubbed (in my view, anyway) is when a movie gets nominated in every major category, including Best Picture, but one player is conspicuously left out, and that omission feels like a slap in that person's face.

A few examples of what I would consider to be legit snubbing:

The Godfather: 11 nominations, no Best Director for Francis Ford Coppola; Al Pacino nominated for Supporting Actor when his was the lead role

I believe you've made a mistake here: Coppola was definitely nominated for directing The Godfather. He lost to Bob Fosse for Cabaret, but he was nominated.

 

[SD_Brian]

I believe you've made a mistake here: Coppola was definitely nominated for directing The Godfather. He lost to Bob Fosse for Cabaret, but he was nominated.

I stand corrected. I've been living a lie!

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

No, but it they're coming across like they think they "deserved" one.

I'm sure plenty of favorites over the years who got "snubbed" felt like they deserved one. Most them were just wise enough not share those feelings with the media. And especially not to cast aspersions on the motives of Academy voters.

I do think (and would like to believe that it is the case) that nominating groups in this current day and age do not have an agenda when putting in their nomination selections.

To the extent that those putting forth nominations do have agendas, I would bet that it's usually for something rather than against something.

And I'd likewise bet that when nominators and/or Academy voters are acting against something, it's usually personal rather than political. If Chinonye Chukwu is up for an Oscar nomination on a future project, there will be plenty in the Academy that won't support her. But she will be spurned because they remember when she called them racist and sexist, not because she's black or because of the film's sociopolitical message.

 

[Robert Crawford]

When did progress in areas of diversity become entitlement?

Perhaps, she's not seeing the same level of progress in diversity as you think there is. I have no issues with Chinonye Chukwu speaking her mind as to how she views this world of ours. Reading up a little about her own life experiences, I can understand her outlook whether I totally agree with it or not.

 

[Robert Crawford]

On a lighter note, this is what Matt Damon thinks of this year's Oscars host: