2025 Wrap Up: Why are the Oscars so flawed?

The only people talking about the Oscars are the people who are mad at the Oscars. They are mad because they get the nominations wrong! They are mad because they get the winners wrong! They are mad because they give awards for too many things (the show should be shorter!) or too few things (Bring back Sound Design and Sound Mixing!) or the wrong things (where are the stunt men?). They are mad because the voters don't even watch the movies! (It has been admitted that some voters didn't even watch Dune Part II. I honestly assumed they didn't watch most of them. I figured it was just me and a handful of other non-voters who do this. But it does certainly seem like a flaw in the system.)

So what is this event that is so wrong about everything? It's an awards ceremony where a set of human beings vote for what they like best.

Let's break that down. First, have you ever been to an award ceremony? Or high school? Who wins all the awards? The popular kids! If my friend was nominated would I vote for them? Yes! Yes, I would unless it was painfully obvious that their work was shit. But I would know the hardships my friend had faced making it and their point of view would be clear to me, so I probably wouldn't even know their work was shit. Some people just vote for who they think will win rather than what they personally love because they like to be right or in step with the crowd. We all know how Awards work!

Secondly, human beings are voting. Humans are flawed and stupid and tribal. You can't trust them! Enough said.

Finally, people are voting for what they liked best (or what they think represents the best.) Either way, it's an opinion! There is no RIGHT answer. Each person has their own set of priorities for enjoyable, moving or influential entertainment. I do not care if visual effects are present or if it is pioneering some new direction in cinema but it BETTER be paced well. Some people can't even appreciate a good performance from an actor if the music is bad - it ruins everything for them! It's completely subjective and not ever being scored on the same rubric.

So it's messy! Let it be messy, let it be wrong. I'm still curious at the end of the day, with this incredibly messy and unreliable data set as the input to the problem, what will come out as the output? We'll find out tonight!

(I didn't even get into the financial burden of getting your film considered or buying votes for it! Let's leave that for another day.)

The movie selection is confounding this year! I've tried and tried to understand what in particular the mood of the voters is this year. What are they looking for? These films feel all over the place. Escapism is huge with Wicked and Emilia Perez and Dune Part 2 and The Substance - going to places that are not at all like our own world. There are two real life heroes to look up to in A Complete Unknown and I'm Still Here and the rest are dramas about the abiding unfairness of the world. So I guess that's where we are right now; Wishing we could escape the overwhelming unfairness of the world and feeling like we don't have that many heroes at the moment. Yep, that seems like an accurate snapshot!

Let me quickly make my usually very inaccurate guesses about the winners:

I think they are going to scatter these awards in all directions rather than being focused on one or two films.

The Brutalist will take Best Picture, but director will go to but Coralie Fargeat for The Substance.

Acting awards will go to Timothee Chalamet, Kieran Culkin, Demi Moore and Zoe Saldana. Unless the Oscars has decided to completely distance itself from Emilia Perez, in which case it will be Isabella Rossellini.

Animation will be Flow and International will be Emilia Perez and Documentary will be No Other Land. While short film awards will go to Death By Numbers, Yuck! and A Lien.

Cinematography will go to The Brutalist, Editing to Wicked, Costumes to Wicked, Make Up to Wicked and Production Design to Wicked.

Original Score will go to Wicked and Original Song to Emilia Perez.

Sound and Visual Effects will go to Dune: Part II. Original Screenplay to The Brutalist and Adapted Screenplay to A Complete Unknown.

That's it. That's my guesses! Go watch The Oscars if it's your cup of tea! Or maybe get outside and enjoy some nature if you can!

With my Oscar Glutton duties concluded I lose my biggest distraction from the realities of having no time frame for when I can return to my home or my belongings or when my town can come back to life. I sit in (beautiful) temporary housing that will expire soon, wearing (comfortable) donated clothes and drinking tea from a borrowed mug. Everything feels uncertain so I'm glad that I can at least be sure that whatever happens at the Oscars tonight, people will be mad!

I'm Still Here

Fernanda Torres was great.

Movie: I'm Still Here

Running Time: 2:15

Nominated for: Best Picture, Actress, International Feature

How I watched: AMC

When it had me: Fleeing a country with a dictator

When it lost me: Act 3

What systems does it challenge: Autocracy

This family does not leave the country with a new autocratic regime when they should and they become trapped. My worst fear! The tension of living in a police state and enduring forced disappearances was vey effective! That kept the movie going for me for a long time. 

As things start to resolve (sort of) the tension falls away and the plot felt very bogged down. There were multiple false endings and it really felt like it was dragging so badly by the end. This family reminded me of the family in Roma, except they have more urgent drama taking place. Even the house was similar. All of the acting was really good, except why was the dad so goofy? Oh, well, I guess that's real too.

This is nominated for Best Picture and I just really can't figure out how movies were picked this year. Sing Sing and The Girl With the Needle felt like better overall movies to me but maybe I'm focusing on the script too much?

Also, people are just so absolutely bonkers! Every screening of this movie was sold out or nearly so. My front row seat was taken when I got to the theatre. A whole family was there. Three generations, including one 10 year old and two toddlers in a double stroller. This was at a 9pm screening of a long historical film! We didn't get out until midnight. There's probably some good explanation but I couldn't figure it out.

Since they were somehow in my seat, I sat on the other side of the front row and I think I might have taken someone else's seat because rando guy walked in looking confused and then sat down next to me. So now I'm sharing the loveseat recliner with rando guy and I can't recline my seat because he has reclined his seat and I just can't be comfortable lying down on a couch next to a stranger. By the end of the movie my legs were cramping because my feet were dangling in the seat and I didn't use the footrest. I just feel like you all should appreciate the unique and petty hardships I undergo for the sake of this mostly ignored blog!

Whew. Almost done. Stay the course.

Shorts People Got No Reason...

SHORTS!

Here we go...

I saw the Animated and Live Action Shorts in one evening. I had to pay for both movies and $15 for parking and since I have been an AMC member I have been accustomed to not paying at the theater so I felt pretty grumpy. Also, I stopped for a coffee before so that I wouldn't sleep through all these short films and I drank too fast and burned my mouth severely. I'm saying it started out rough. But even so there were a lot of really strong shorts so let's get to them.

ANIMATED

Magic Candies - This was so very cute! A little boy who doesn't have friends buys some magic candies that allow him to hear things he normally can't. First he hears from the sofa who wants him to get the remote out of his cushions and tell his dad to stop farting, then he hears his dog's messages, his deceased grandma's voice, his dad's thoughts and then I guess hid own inner voice. Really enjoyable short!

In the Shadow of the Cypress - very metaphorical piece about trauma and how it keeps hurting you and everyone around you. A very austere style of animation. Great message but felt a little heady.

Yuck! - This French film focuses on kissing; how predictable. A gaggle of kids all vacationing at the same campgrounds become obsessed with all the adults kissing around them and how gross it is. In this world lips turn glittery pink when someone wants to kiss and eventually two of the kids catch the bug too. I kept worrying about the color and light cues we would get for further arousal. Thanks, French people.

***At this point they warned us about nudity! Hide your kids.***

Wander to Wonder - Unhinged. A human hosts a kids' show about a magical land of little creatures that look like bears with wild eyes and gaping mouths. We watch as the little people, who seem to be real, try to continue to film episodes of their show despite the human dying in his home/studio. There's a lot of flies and starvation and a fire (too soon for me! No thanks.) I don't quite know WHAT was going on but I was intrigued for sure.

Beautiful Men - Men check into a hotel to get hair transplant surgery and they bond, they fight, they get lost in an unexplained fog and eventually set the hotel on fire in order to clear the appointments they need. This one struggled to keep my attention. 

LIVE ACTION

The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent - A train is stopped and an unidentified armed force begins rounding up muslims. One guy says he'll stop it but then another one actually stands against the injustice. This felt really incomplete.

Anuja - An Indian girl must choose between an entrance exam to boarding school or starting a new job that helps her older sister maintain stability. The dilemma is set up really well and in the end they sort of overdo the cross cutting and elongating of the moment of choice only to not give you the outcome. It felt like a cheat.

I'm Not A Robot - This was my favorite! A woman at work tries to pass the CAPTHCA test only to fail and receive disturbing news. I love that it starts with a simple daily task that any of us can relate to and then it sort of spirals out of control. The ending wasn't perfect but it was still a really great piece.

A Lien - A family shows up to the dad's green card appointment only to have ICE come in and abduct him before he can get his legal paperwork. Apparently this really happens which is so wrong and very sad. The editing of this short was top notch and overall it was high quality.

The Last Ranger - This is about a ranger who protects rhinos on a reserve in South Africa and the child that she inspires. This one is also very well done with good pacing and editing! This one tips over into sentimentality a bit but it's hard not to with the subject matter. Beautiful cinematography in the wilds of Africa.

DOCUMENTARY

These were the last screening I went out for two days before the Oscars. Three hours of mostly dire shorts! Ugh. And when I was the only one in the theatre a guy comes in and sits with one seat in between us. You can spread out a bit more, my guy! What gives?

Death by Numbers - This was my favorite. One of the Parkland school shooting survivors faces the shooter at his trial. It felt at least somewhat empowering for her and I appreciated that energy.

I'm Ready Warden - As the title suggests it follows the journey of an inmate on death row. There are some compelling moments in this like watching the son of the victim realize that the death of his father's murderer does not help him in any way. There were moments that felt too sensitive - like a 16 year old son saying goodbye to his dad for the last time - that made me question the film makers.

Incident - A real time opportunity to witness how cops create a narrative after killing a citizen. It feels terrible to see it happen and know you cannot change how this system operates and gets the same result over and over again. Infuriating.

Instruments of a Beating Heart - A Japanese first grader on a journey of learning to do hard things. I appreciate how it is presented without comment or framing. It's a sweet and positive watch.

The Only Girl in the Orchestra - A look at the retirement of the first woman to play with the New York Philharmonic. She is cute and quirky and insanely talented, amazingly focused and so humble that it actually gets quite annoying. It's lovely to get a peek into her world and passion.

Flow

This screenshot doesn't do it justice. It's stunning.

Movie: Flow

Running Time: 1:30

Nominated for: Animated Feature, International Feature

How I watched: Prime

When it had me: Kitty!

When it lost me: confusion about the world

What systems does it challenge: Individualism

A movie with no dialog and I felt compelled to talk through the entire thing. Good thing I got to watch at home. I think I would have slept if I had to stay silent.

A kitty, a capybara, a lemur and a labrador team up to survive a flood. Super cute buddies that you immediately are pulling for with everything you have. The animated reflections on water are quite the flex and are likely to earn the Oscar.

I got confused because it seemed so realistic but then the animals know how to steer a boat (?) and the whales look different than in our reality. And I got really curious about the symbolism of the bird and other story points but then I just tried not to overthink it because I had to be worried about how a capybara would climb onto a boat. (He does it off screen.)  It's a cute and enjoyable movie with gorgeous animation that shows the strength of community in times of upheaval.

September 5

Movie: September 5

Running Time: 1:35

Nominated for: Original Screenplay

How I watched: Paramount

When it had me: A flatbed editing machine!

When it lost me: it didn't

What systems does it challenge: Journalism without ethics

I love a tight thriller and this one cooks! I was fascinated watching how live TV was produced in the 1970s. From rapid turnaround on filmed 16mm footage to creation of chyrons, the whole thing had me paying close attention.

A solid ensemble cast does a great job portraying the moral gray areas that need to be addressed under immense pressure. If you don't know, this movie is about the sports division of ABC news being tasked with live coverage of the hostage situation during the 1972 Olympics.

Howard Cosell and Peter Jennings are even there! And normalized racism and misogyny! Welcome back to the 70s!

Black Box Diaries

Hero.

Movie: Black Box Diaries

Running Time: 1:43

Nominated for: Documentary Feature

How I watched: Prime

When it had me: Right Away

When it lost me: a little around meetings with lawyers

What systems does it challenge: Patriarchy, Rape Culture

This is a super brave film made by a journalist and victim of sexual assault in Japan. I wonder who will watch it? Most men I know are not comfortable watching a woman work through her sexual assault aftermath on film and half of the women I know would be too triggered by this film to get through it. (Loads of triggers! She even acknowledges it in the opening of the film.)

Shiori Ito is SO HUMAN in this piece. That's my biggest takeaway. And she shares all of it with us. The disassociating, the trauma naps, the fear and uncertainty. The break downs that happen when someone is kind to you - oh, that one is so familiar! The laughter about how absurd everything has become. The desire to doggedly pursue justice and the hesitance to reveal something damaging to others.

Her rapist happened to be the biographer for the Prime Minister of Japan so he had so much protection and she didn't have a chance. However, I've looked it up and since the film came out, Japan is now changing its laws surrounding sexual assault, raising the age of consent and establishing wider parameters for establishing consent. So, what a warrior! She had to bare her soul and leave her home country while enduring eight years of battle but she has brought change that will help everyone in Japan (except the rapists). 

Thank you, Shiori.

Nickel Boys

Movie: Nickel Boys 

Running Time: 2:20

Nominated for: Best Picture, Adapted Screenplay

How I watched: AMC

When it had me: Introduction of characters

When it lost me: around 11:24pm

What systems does it challenge: Racism, Incarceration

I had to see this one late at night so unfortunately I was fighting to stay awake. This is based on a book and filmed in the first person; like a video game where you shoot people but this time you more likely to be shot at.

First person filming took some time to get used to (not much, but it was an adjustment) and then you do spend a lot of time asking yourself why this was chosen. That didn't bother me. I still thought it was a worthy story telling device.

The two main actors are completely compelling and you are rooting for them and knowing that things aren't going to go well the whole time, which is automatic tension in a good way.

The editing is so carefully chosen and story driven, feeding you little clues and glimpses along the way, like bread morsels thrown out for ducks. It felt really special and it's too bad the editor didn't get recognized for this effort instead of Wicked.

I'm not sure how long I fell asleep for. Did I miss only a moment or two? Or was there a really key scene that I slept on that might have deepened the whole experience for me? Only a repeat viewing will tell. I still saw the twist at the end coming (was it supposed to be a twist?) Based on my sleep, I'd say it felt a bit too long.

It's definitely worth your time and feels like it will be completely ignored on Oscar night.