Owen: With this year's Oscars, the blockbusters strike back
For the past few years, awards prognosticators have spelled doom for the Oscars. The nominees and subsequent winners are movies no one has ever heard of, we were told.
People tune out because popular movies are not seen as worthy of accolades, the pundits bemoaned. This pearl-clutching predated the pandemic and generally fed into the conventional narrative that Hollywood is out of touch with its audience.
It also seemed to hit a high note when “Parasite” – a foreign film – dominated the ceremony in February of 2020. No doubt a little xenophobia could be found in these concerns.
Not to mention the fact that the whole proceeding last year was overshadowed by “The Slap.” I mean…you remember. Some wondered if the award ceremony had the ability to dazzle a more cynical and distracted audience.
With the announcement of the 2023 nominees this past Tuesday, lots of box office winners also found themselves collecting a lot of initial Academy Awards accolades. The sequels to “Top Gun” and “Avatar” as well as Baz Luhrman’s studio spectacle “Elvis” all racked up nominations for Best Picture. “Elvis” received eight in all and I would venture to predict lead Austin Butler will win Best Actor. (I will do a predictions column in March.) “Maverick” picked up five others including Best Adapted Screenplays.
Fun fact: scripts to sequels are considered adaptations even if the story is original.
“Avatar: The Way of Water” also received three other technical awards. Which, given that the new James Cameron flick is the most technically impressive film you’ll see until the next James Cameron film, seems underwhelming and a bad omen for the film winning any awards for what was the most dazzling experience I had in a theater all year.
All the same, these three films alone account for over three and a half billion dollars in worldwide box office grosses. Many argue they helped save the film industry this year. Yet I would venture to say the Academy voters didn’t intentionally pander to the public by nominating popular movies. There may be some legitimate appreciation being offered by voters in their inclusion. But these films also happen to be exceptional. “Elvis” made my Top Ten and “Avatar 2” would have as well had it seen it sooner.
These films had to adjust their schedules to due to Covid; either the initial release date was pushed or production was delayed. All of them landed in the same year by happenstance when they should have come out over a three-year period. But now, it gives the appearance that popular movies are also artistically lauded.
Even “Everything Everywhere All At Once” is considered a blockbuster by art house terms. Its eleven nominations match a gross slightly north of $100 million worldwide. Its lead Michelle Yeoh is the first Best Actress nominee EVER to identify as Asian and the other main roles were nominated. It’s an incredible feat even if Yeoh ends up ceding Best Actress to Cate Blanchette.
While Stephanie Hsu’s much-deserved Supporting Actress nod will get dinged by Jamie Lee Curtis’ lesser effort in “EEAAO”, Ke Huy Quan is the film’s only sure lock for a win.
Making a big splash as a child actor in “The Temple of Doom” and “The Goonies,” he was forgotten about much of his adult career. Now, he’s back having abandoned acting altogether and winning Best Supporting Actor in just about every other award-season contest. It’s the most inspiring Oscar story since Matt and Ben won for writing “Good Will Hunting.” His speech will surely be the emotional highlight of the night and voters will not deprive him of that.
Some will argue Brendan Fraser’s return to the big screen in the very grim drama “The Whale” is also a feel-good story for awards season. But I would suspect they’ve not seen the film or were more forgiving of its limitations. (I would note “The Whale” seems like a Ragtag movie but has quietly played at the Forum 8 for weeks now.)
There are always some dark horses and I was surprised by the inclusion of “The Triangle of Sadness” in the Best Picture and Best Director categories. The big winner at the Cannes Film Festival, its take on classism and human nature struck me as shallow and sophomoric. Its inclusion seems to be at the detriment of the fabulous Indian epic “RRR.” I also found myself flat-footed by the nine nominations received by Netflix’s “All Quiet on the Western Front.” I’ve not even seen it so that’s my homework assignment for the weekend.
For local interest, the producer nominated for “Western Front” – Daniel Dreifuss – is a Hickman High School grad. Maybe that will be enough to get Columbia folks interested in the ceremony on March 12th.
Or maybe getting to see Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks on the red carpet will catch some attention. Either way, I am hopeful that seeing some big Hollywood productions will remind people that the Oscars are ridiculous and overproduced and so much fun to watch as a result.
James Owen is the Tribune’s film columnist. In real life, he is a lawyer and executive director of energy policy group Renew Missouri. A graduate of Drury University and the University of Kansas, he created Filmsnobs.com, where he co-hosts a podcast. He enjoyed an extended stint as an on-air film critic for KY3, the NBC affiliate in Springfield, and now regularly guests on Columbia radio station KFRU.