Sunday, March 10, 2024

Oppy on toppy: Christopher Nolan’s epic dominates 96th Academy Awards


As the fates foretold, Christopher Nolan’s historical epic Oppenheimer was the bigger winner Sunday night, taking home Best Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actor, and a trio of below-the-line awards. It is now the third-highest grossing Best Picture winner of all time, behind just Titanic and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. It also ties last year’s Everything Everywhere All at Once as the third-winningest Best Picture winner of the 21st century, behind just The Return of the King and Slumdog Millionaire.


After Oppenheimer, the other big winner of the night was Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things, which tallied four awards, including Best Actress for Emma Stone. The race between Stone and Killers of the Flower Moon star Lily Gladstone came down to the wire, but it was clear voters simply loved the Stone film more. We’ll get to Killers in a minute. Poor Things also won for Costume Design, Production Design, and Makeup and Hairstyling.


Cillian Murphy earned a well-deserved Best Actor trophy, while Robert Downey Jr. took home Best Supporting Actor, kicking off his post-marvel career with a bang. As was widely predicted, Da’Vine Joy Randolph won Best Supporting Actress, the first award handed out at the show. Randolph’s speech was genuine, emotional, and moving, starting the night off on the right foot.


Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest joined Oppenheimer and Poor Things as the only films to win multiple awards on the night, taking home Best International Feature and Best Sound in a truly inspired victory.


Justine Triet and Arthur Harari’s original screenplay for Anatomy of a Fall bested The Holdovers in that category, while Cord Jefferson’s script for American Fiction triumphed in the adapted category. 


Ludwig Göransson picked up his second career Academy Award for his Oppenheimer score, while Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell made history with their Original Song win for “What Was I Made For?” from Barbie. Eilish (22) and O’Connell (26) are now the youngest and second-youngest, respectively, two-time winners in Oscars history, having previously won two years ago for their James Bond theme “No Time to Die.”


In addition to Göransson, cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema and editor Jennifer Lame picked up Oscars in their respective categories for their work on Oppenheimer.


Martin Scorsese now has the ignominious distinction of having directed three of the seven films in history to earn double-digit nominations and go home empty-handed after Killers of the Flower Moon was blanked. Wildly, this is his second such film in a row, following The Irishman pulling the same feat in 2019. Bradley Cooper’s Maestro (0-for-7) and Celine Song’s Past Lives (0-for-2) were the only other Best Picture nominees not to win an award.


For my money, the speech of the night award goes to Msytslav Chernov, director of Documentary Feature winner 20 Days in Mariupol. Chernov’s film, which documents the Russian siege of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, is one of the most powerful and important pictures of the year. The filmmaker met the moment with an impassioned plea for the world to recognize and remember the ongoing atrocities in Ukraine. He specifically called on the Hollywood elites in the room to use their power and influence to ensure that these atrocities are never forgotten.


Elsewhere, Hayao Miyazaki, who could not attend the ceremony, won his second award for Animated Feature for his beautiful The Boy and the Heron. While not my preferred choice, it’s hard to begrudge the Japanese master an award for what most likely will be his final film.


Another winner from Japan came in the form of Godzilla Minus One, which won the Visual Effects Oscar for director Takashi Yamazaki and his team. Delightfully, Yamazaki and his fellow winners brought to the stage with them the Godzilla models that helped win them the award. Yamazaki had to hand his Godzilla off to one of his compatriots in order to hold both his Oscar and his speech.


I went 3-for-3 in the shorts categories for only the second time in my predicting career, as Wes Anderson won his first Oscar for Live Action Short contender The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, The Last Repair Shop triumphed in Documentary Short, and WAR IS OVER! took the Animated Short category. WAR IS OVER! executive producer Sean Ono Lennon joined the team onstage and wished his mother a happy Mother’s Day – as we learned repeatedly throughout the evening, Sunday was Mother’s Day in the UK.


As for my predictions overall, this was the fewest misses I’ve ever had, as I went 18-for-23. Three of my misses came from underestimating the Academy’s love for Poor Things. One of those was in Production Design, where I changed my prediction at the last minute from Poor Things to Barbie. I won’t do that again. I thought Maestro would have to win something, so I went there for Makeup and Hairstyling. A mistake. And, the Stone vs. Gladstone race probably deserves a longer separate piece, so I’ll save that discussion for another time.


I thought the show, in general, was excellent. Jimmy Kimmel feels like a safe pair of hands as host at this point. You know what you’re getting, and it’s a perfect fit for the show the Academy wants to put on. The opening monologue was fleet-footed and funny and ended with an inspired tribute to the IATSE members who are in the midst of contract negotiations. Kimmel brought out the union members working on the broadcast to a standing ovation and pledged that the talent in the room would stand with IATSE should the time for collective action come.


There was no fat on the broadcast, with the lone clip package reserved for a tribute to Hollywood stunt performers. One wishes that montage had ended with the announcement of a new award for stunts, but it did not. However, with a casting Oscar on the way in 2025, I would say it’s only a matter of time before this pivotal role in the moviemaking machine gets its Academy due.


I enjoyed that the Academy brought back the practice of having five previous winners in the acting categories deliver personalized tributes to this year’s nominees. The Supporting Actress tributes were particularly emotional, as a number of the folks involved had personal connections. Frankly, the rest of the tributes throughout the night couldn’t quite live up to that standard, but it’s a lovely idea that I hope the Academy continues with.


The comedy bits were quick, inspired, and on point, with John Cena’s “nude” presentation of Best Costume Design a particular standout.


For the second year in a row, one perfectly timed Original Song performance brought the house down and gave the show the energy boost necessary to carry on into the final awards of the night. Last year, it was “Naatu Naatu” from RRR, while this time around, Ryan Gosling absolutely nailed his performance of “I’m Just Ken.” 


Gosling started in the crowd, then walked up onstage to join a chorus line of dancers. He did some crowd work, getting folks like Margot Robbie, Greta Gerwig, and Stone involved in singing the song. Finally, Guns ‘n’ Roses guitarist Slash made a surprise appearance to shred a solo over the climax of the song. It was exactly the kind of joyous, energetic, buzzworthy moment the Oscars need to get people talking, and Gosling and Co. delivered.


Off the top of my head, my first-blush reactions are: 1) I’m pleased with a stripped-down show that was allowed to foreground the nominees; 2) Oppenheimer is a great film that will hold up well with the title of Best Picture attached to it; and 3) I’ll be reflecting on the Stone vs. Gladstone race for quite a while and will probably need to publish a separate piece on it once the dust has settled.


For now, that’s all from here. Congrats to Nolan and his team on their remarkable triumph, as well as to all the winners. And, thank you to everyone who has followed along on the site. I do this out of love, and nights like tonight are a wonderful reminder of what I love so much about the movies.

Totally Accurate, 100 Percent Guaranteed 2023 Academy Awards Predictions*


Are we back in the era of “the big winner?” Last year, Everything Everywhere All at Once won seven Academy Awards, the most since Gravity won seven in 2013 and the most for a Best Picture winner since Slumdog Millionaire in 2008. I’m currently projecting Oppenheimer for seven wins, but it could easily tack on one or two more if a couple things break differently than we’re thinking. Look out for Sound and Adapted Screenplay, in particular.


It used to be relatively common for the Best Picture winner to dominate the proceedings and take home a big awards haul, but for a 10-year run from 2012-2021, no Best Picture winner won more than four awards and only four of the 10 even won the most Oscars in their respective years. We’ve discussed before the split between the big, technical achievement that wins all the below-the-line awards (Mad Max: Fury Road, La La Land, Dune, etc.) and the smaller, more intimate movie that wins the top prize (Spotlight, Moonlight, CODA, etc.). Don’t expect a split this year, though. Oppenheimer is both the big, technical achievement and the hard-hitting drama. It’s just a question of how big the win will be.


One last interesting thing to note: The top two winners of this century so far have been The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, which won 11 awards in 2003, and the aforementioned Slumdog Millionaire, with eight wins in 2008. Neither of those films won any acting awards, whereas Everything Everywhere won three acting trophies and Oppenheimer is projected for two.


Okay, on with the show. Check out my full predictions below, and click on any of the category names to go to a full breakdown of the nominees. Then, come back after the show for a full breakdown and analysis of all the winners. Have fun!


*I feel pretty good about these predictions, which means I’ll probably be way off. Last year, I went 17 for 23. Elvis and Babylon really killed me, and I should have predicted more for All Quiet on the Western Front. That’s what’s fun about this. No matter how much you think you know, there are always surprises.


**I’m going to do something I’ve never done before, so bear with me. I have changed one of my predictions. Since I wrote my piece on the award for Best Production Design, I rewatched Barbie with Greta Gerwig’s director’s commentary, and I simply don’t see how any Academy member can watch that film and not reward the amazing sets and art direction. So, apologies. If you click the link there, the prediction will not match, but what’s below is my official final word on the subject.


Picture

Will win: Oppenheimer

Should win: Killers of the Flower Moon


Director

Will win: Christopher Nolan for Oppenheimer

Should win: Martin Scorsese for Killers of the Flower Moon


Actress

Will win: Lily Gladstone in Killers of the Flower Moon

Should win: Sandra Huller in Anatomy of a Fall


Actor

Will win: Cillian Murphy in Oppenheimer

Should win: Cillian Murphy in Oppenheimer


Supporting Actress

Will win: Da’Vine Joy Randolph in The Holdovers

Should win: Danielle Brooks in The Color Purple


Supporting Actor

Will win: Robert Downey Jr. in Oppenheimer

Should win: Mark Ruffalo in Poor Things


Original Screenplay

Will win: The Holdovers

Should win: Anatomy of a Fall


Adapted Screenplay

Will win: American Fiction

Should win: The Zone of Interest


Editing

Will win: Oppenheimer

Should win: Anatomy of a Fall


Cinematography

Will win: Oppenheimer

Should win: El Conde


Production Design

Will win: Barbie

Should win: Barbie


Costume Design

Will win: Poor Things

Should win: Barbie


Makeup and Hairstyling

Will win: Maestro

Should win: Society of the Snow


Visual Effects

Will win: Godzilla Minus One

Should win: Godzilla Minus One


Sound

Will win: The Zone of Interest

Should win: The Zone of Interest


Original Score

Will win: Oppenheimer

Should win: Killers of the Flower Moon


Original Song

Will win: “What Was I Made For?” from Barbie

Should win: “I’m Just Ken” from Barbie


International Feature

Will win: The Zone of Interest

Should win: The Zone of Interest


Documentary Feature

Will win: 20 Days in Mariupol

Should win: 20 Days in Mariupol


Animated Feature

Will win: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Should win: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse


Live Action Short

Will win: The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

Should win: Red, White, and Blue


Documentary Short

Will win: The Last Repair Shop

Should win: The ABCs of Book Burning


Animated Short

Will win: WAR IS OVER!

Should win: Pachyderme


Predicted big winners:

Oppenheimer - 7

The Holdovers, Barbie, The Zone of Interest - 2

From the Reign of Terror to the End of War: All 53 Oscar nominees ranked


I was at the Alamo Drafthouse on June 17, 2023, to see a screening of Past Lives, and so began my journey of seeing all 53 films that would go on to be nominated for Academy Awards in 2023. The last of the nominees I saw was Napoleon on March 3 this year. I watched it from the comfort of my couch on AppleTV+. I had missed it in theaters, which is unfortunate because I can only imagine how impressive Ridley Scott’s imagery would have been on the big screen. Hopefully, I’ll catch it at a repertory screening one of these days.


A few of the films at the top of my list are destined to be all-time classics that stand the test of time, and only a couple films at the bottom are not worth your time. Just about everything here is worth checking out, and the nominees this year represent a wonderful sampling of the year in film.


So, here they are, all 53 nominees at the 2023 Academy Awards, ranked for your amusement:


1. Killers of the Flower Moon

2. Anatomy of a Fall

3. The Zone of Interest

4. Oppenheimer

5. May December

6. Barbie

7. Poor Things

8. 20 Days in Mariupol

9. Society of the Snow

10. Perfect Days

11. The Teachers’ Lounge

12. El Conde

13. The ABCs of Book Banning

14. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

15. Red, White, and Blue

16. Four Daughters

17. Pachyderme

18. Io Capitano

19. Robot Dreams

20. The Last Repair Shop

21. To Kill a Tiger

22. Godzilla Minus One

23. The Barber of Little Rock

24. Knight of Fortune

25. The Holdovers

26. Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1

27. Bobi Wine: The People’s President

28. Ninety-Five Senses

29. Napoleon

30. American Symphony

31. The Eternal Memory

32. The Color Purple

33. American Fiction

34. The Boy and the Heron

35. Our Uniform

36. Invincible

37. Rustin

38. The Creator

39. Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó

40. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

41. Letter to a Pig

42. Past Lives

43. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

44. Maestro

45. Elemental

46. Nyad

47. Island in Between

48. Golda

49. Flamin’ Hot

50. The After

51. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

52. Nimona

53. WAR IS OVER!