Tuesday, February 11, 2020

Oscar Results 2020 Thoughts and Winners

First of all, thank you to everyone who played this year's Oscar game!

If you were keeping score at home and scored my sheet that I posted, you would see that I earned a 10.8, but it was not enough to win.

This time, however, we had much lower scores.  For example, no one chose nor predicted the best picture winner.

In 3rd place is a tie between my wife, CatholicLoisLane, and a newcomer to the game who we will name "The Dancer." who earned a respectable 7.8.

I came in second place with my 10.8

And in 1st place this year is repeat champion Nicole Koubek with an 18.8.  Congratulations, Nicole!

I hope everyone had fun this year playing the game.


Anyway, back to the Oscars themselves and my assorted musings.

1. LOWEST RATED OSCARS

Last year, I predicted that there would be a ratings bump if they nominated the biggest hit of the year: Black Panther.

They would have had another ratings boost if they had nominated Avengers: Endgame, the highest grossing film of all time!

But instead, Hollywood went another way.  Only one movie in the top 10 was nominated (Joker) and only one other one in the top 20 (Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood).  Parasite is number 98.  To give you an idea how low that is... More people saw Birds of Prey in its first two days than in Parasite's entire run.

Again, I haven't seen the movie and box office is not always a measure of quality.  But there were limited options for what you could root for.

The fact that it did not have a host once again did not hurt the show in the slightest.  What hurt it was the its biggest problem...

2.  BORING

The show is already painfully long.  I couldn't believe that half way through the show they had Utkarsh Ambudkar do a rap recapping the first half of the show THAT WE WERE CURRENTLY WATCHING!!!!

If most things between the awards feel like filler, then then nothing really stand out.

3.  PARASITE SURPRISES

I was pleasantly surprised when The Green Book won last year.  It wasn't the best movie I had seen, but it was nice and uplifting with a decent message. 

This year, the only movie nominated for Best Picture I had not seen was Parasite.  It has now become the first foreign language film to win Best Picture.

I cannot comment on the quality of the film.  There are critics who swear by and some people I know who are avid film goers also think it was very well-made.  My problem is simply this: NOBODY SAW IT.

The people who participated in the Oscar game tend be people who love going to the movies.  Not a single person put it on their choice or prediction. 

To give you an idea how few people saw Parasite... More people saw currently flopping Birds of Prey this past Friday and Saturday than in the entire run of the Best Picture. 

Again, the movie may be awesome, but so few people saw it and were rooting for it, that it's win feels like a disappointment, especially to people loved Joker, Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood, and 1917.

And I have always agreed with John Nolte that the Best Picture that is chosen should be one that people will still watch 30 years from now.

30 years ago Dances with Wolves won.

20 years ago Gladiator won.

What about the winners from the last 10 years?
Green Book
The Shape of Water
Moonlight
Spotlight
Birdman
12 Years a Slave
Argo
The Artist
The King's Speech
The Hurt Locker

How many of those are still considered the Best Movies by the general movie-going public?  Does anyone still care about The Artist?  Did they ever care in the first place?


4.  The Other Results.
- I was shocked that 1917 won Special Effects against Avengers and Star Wars
-There were no surprises this year in the acting categories. 
-Boon Joon Ho is tied with Walt Disney for the most Oscars won by a person in a single night.
-most of the Best Song presentations were boring.
-Why was Eminem there?
-The Joker doesn't want us to drink milk...I guess?
-Politics at awards are bbooooorrrriiiiinnnngggg.
-Did the winner of Best Documentary really quote The Communist Manifesto?
-Black Panther is still the super hero film with the most Oscars.




Thoughts?

No comments:

Post a Comment