The Oscars Were Everything, Everywhere, And All At Once

Luis A. Mendez

Boricua. Floridian. Theist. Writer. Critic. Oscar Predictor. Godzilla Fanboy. Member Of The Critics Association Of Central Florida And The Puerto Rico Critics Association.

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8 Responses

  1. It was a great night. This was the first time since LOTR I had a vested rooting interest in which movie won. And all four actor winners were great stories and good people.Report

  2. Jaybird says:

    I’m sure you’ve seen no end to the takes out there but the one hot take that struck me as *MAYBE* having grounding is the one that said “this won a huge amount but this is one of those movies that nobody will watch in 5 years”.

    I look back at the last X years and the winners:

    2021: Coda (I didn’t even *REMEMBER* this film.)
    2020: Nomadland
    2019: Parasite
    2018: Green Book
    2017: The Shape of Water
    2016: Moonlight
    2015: Spotlight
    2014: Birdman
    2013: 12 Years a Slave
    2012: Argo
    2011: The Artist
    2010: The King’s Speech

    How many of those hold up? Like, people will say “Oooh, you gotta watch this!” as they press it into someone else’s hands?

    Will EEAAO be another “The Artist”?Report

    • Luis A. Mendez in reply to Jaybird says:

      Ultimately a movie’s legacy is very hard to predict. No one thought a movie like say the then badly reviewed and box office bomb HOCUS POCUS would matter when it came out, and decades later its a must-watch during Halloween season for many and has a major footprint in pop culture.

      Of the years you listed, I would label THE KING’S SPEECH, THE ARTIST, ARGO, SPOTLIGHT, GREEN BOOK, and CODA under movies I think will be mostly forgotten in time other than being known as Best Picture winners that Oscar historians will want to study. Movies that the Academy gets caught up in the moment with, but don’t leave any real impact.

      Then you have what I like to call niche classics, movies that matter to super film fans and aspiring filmmakers but aren’t necessarily well known by the mainstream. Of the years you listed I think NOMADLAND, PARASITE, THE SHAPE OF WATER, MOONLIGHT, BIRDMAN, and 12 YEARS A SLAVE will be a part of that group to differing degrees.

      I think EEAAO is going to be more special though. Its a genre film, its become a hit with the youth, and it borrows from a lot of the elements of the mainstream movies of today. Its going to be shown on TV a lot, its going to (already has) inspire cosplays at conventions, its going to be well respected by film critics and could even show up in the prestigious Sight & Sound poll in a decade or two. At worst it’ll be a cult classic. I think it’ll have a bigger footprint in the culture than any winner has since LOTR.Report

    • Pinky in reply to Jaybird says:

      I’ve seen one of those movies, The King’s Speech, and I want to see Parasite. I’d watch EEAAO if I get around to it, which puts it head and shoulders over most of that list. I don’t even think that the Academy has been missing things, either. It’s just been a weak stretch for the medium.Report

    • John Puccio in reply to Jaybird says:

      EEAAO feels a lot like Slumdog Millionaire.

      A cinematic sensation that no one thought twice about after award season.Report

      • InMD in reply to John Puccio says:

        Part of me wonders how much run time contributes to cultural longevity, especially in the world of streaming. I know I get antsy about committing to anything I see much longer than 90 minutes, especially if I’m scrolling through streaming services. Slum Dog Millionaire was fun once in the theater but who is committing 2 hours to watch it again on the couch?

        I also feel like a lot of movies, regardless of quality, got their cult followings from endless play on basic cable. LOTR is of course the big exception but even that was 20 years ago and had a built in audience (so much so they could advertise LOTR all werkend long an event). The relevant comparison is probably something like The Fifth Element, which despite being a box office flop and critical failure, still seems to be on all the time and for that reason to have had an impact on sci fi geeks too young to remember its release.Report

        • John Puccio in reply to InMD says:

          I made the Slumdog comparison because I view it similarly to EEAAO – a gimmicky, slickly made movie, that allowed voters to feel a certain way about themselves in voting for it. I didn’t care for SM or EEAAO and never understood/don’t understand the hype.

          I don’t think run-time is the issue as much as the rise of prestige TV. You could name any number of shows from the past 15-20 years that have a much greater cultural impact than any movie made during that time.

          Agree about movies being run on basic and premium cable contributing to cultural longevity before streaming became a thing. If Goodfellas was made today, would every male over the age 40 have every line in the script memorized? I’d guess not.Report