the ocean

The Oscars are tonight, which has many people asking, "Wait, the Oscars are tonight? Didn't we just do that? Or maybe that was the Grammys. Is Taylor Swift nominated for anything?" I can't claim to have the answers to all of these questions, but I have seen eight of the ten best picture nominees, which was as good as I could do this year, given that The Brutalist is only in theaters and three and a half hours long and A Complete Unknown only moved to streaming like three days ago. (We talked about watching it today, but decided our lifestyles are too active to spend a Sunday afternoon like that.) Anyway, here are some Oscar Thoughts (TM):

Apparently best picture is down to Anora or Conclave since Emilia Perez dramatically committed marketing suicide. I don't have big issues with either, but Conclave kind of strikes me as a pretty basic thriller dressed up with Very Serious Actors and Anora as hooker with a heart of gold tale made Gritty and Realistic through cinematography. Neither would be my pick, since we finally saw Nickel Boys this week and thought it was really interesting and impactful. After 30+ years of caring at least mildly about the Oscars, though, I've kind of stopped investing too much in what wins. Isn't it all really a matter of taste? Except for Sandra Bullock winning for The Blind Side; that was a crime against humanity.

For best actor, I guess Adrien Brody is probably going to win but I'd kind of prefer that he not? As a general matter, I don't think people who are not Meryl Streep should have more than one Oscar. But I also don't really think Timothee Chalamet needs any more encouragement, and I despise the spelling of his name. So I don't know, whatever.

Meanwhile, I have no issue with Demi Moore, even though I found The Substance way too disgusting for no reason. She's been around and while and could probably use the positive reinforcement. I'd say the same thing if, like, Brooke Shields were nommed. (Prayers.)

Supporting actor it seems like Kieran Culkin is a lock, and that's fine. I feel a little bad for Macaulay, but he made his choices. 

I'm probably most interested in seeing a Zoe Saldana win for supporting actress. I did think she was good in the movie, but mostly I see this as long-delayed recognition for her work in Center Stage. I'm conveniently excising from my memory the fact that she once tried to play Nina Simone. 

There are a bunch of other categories, obviously, but I've run out of interest. As I will likely do this evening! Looking forward to watching with fitful interest at whatever time the broadcast starts wherever they're showing it. Maybe Quibi?