Oscar nominations

[iris lilies]

This is not a crowd that cares about film nominations much, but I will prattle on anyway.

Imagine my surprise this morning to see a film called “St. Louis Superhero” nominated in the best Documentary short category. I know nothing about this film. Looked it up and lo, it is about our former Missouri house representative, my district guy. Ferguson protestor extraordinaire. Who I had to vote for in a 2nd election when he ran against the corrupt local Democratic machine which illegally stuffed the ballot box. He won the 2nd time.

He is a former “battle rapper” whatever the hell that is.

While it was painful for me to have to vote for him, it was necessary to oust the lying liars who lied.

[iris lilies]

The Oscar nominated films I have seen:

A Marriage Story

Parasite

The Irishman

Little Women

I want to see JoJo Rabbit.

If/when Ford vs. Ferrari swings back around, DH and I should see it. It is about cars and DH will like that.

[catherine]

Hey, Oscar-loving family here, so prattle on...

That is really cool that a documentary was made on your district representative! I'll definitely root for it!

As for the other nominations, no big surprises, right?

My son has been pushing us and pushing us to see Joker, so now I'll have to see it. I've resisted because it seems like such a dark movie and these days I'm not into dark movies at all. Maybe it's an age thing, although I've never really liked dark movies in general. Tim Burton crosses the line for me with some of his movies.

I want to see the Mr. Rogers movie, 1917, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Wouldn't want to see The Irishman win. I feel that the whole thing was a) too long and b) cut from the same cloth as other Scorcese movies. It's Goodfellas with a new feature player: Jimmy Hoffa. Big deal.

[iris lilies]

About Oscar nominated performances:

There are several films I want to see. At the top of my list is Uncut Gems which did not get any nominations but should have, or at least received a nomination for Adam Sandler’s performance. This is according to buzz, I have not seen it. Sandler is a Jewish white man who is known as a political conservative, who also has bulldogs. His home base is New
Hampshire, not LaLa land. So in the world of identity politics I can point to these attributes as causal for the snub.

I want to see these performances: Kathy Bates in Richard Jewel, The actresses in Bombshell, the two men in Two Popes.

The Academy Awards ceremony will focus on “huge entertainment value, big musical numbers, big comedy and star power “according to ABC. These are all the elements that I hate about that TV production so I will not be watching, as usual.

[Teacher Terry]

Once upon a time went on for too long.

[catherine]

Once upon a time went on for too long.

I also have lost patience with long movies, and for me, anything over 2 hours is a long movie. People don't know how to tell a story these days. You get to the "end" and then, surprise! Another whole plot unfolds. I have better things to do with my life than sit for 3 hours indulging an undisciplined director.

[iris lilies]

Catherine I agree with you about The Irishman. It was a nice film, long, competent, but nothing new.

If you want “new” see Parasite.

[iris lilies]

Once upon a time went on for too long.

One of the reasons I won’t go to a theater to see it.

The Academy Awards show will go on too long as well.

[Teacher Terry]

Lately I find myself looking at the length of a movie before I choose.

[iris lilies]

I also have lost patience with long movies, and for me, anything over 2 hours is a long movie. People don't know how to tell a story these days. You get to the "end" and then, surprise! Another whole plot unfolds. I have better things to do with my life than sit for 3 hours indulging an undisciplined director.

Well, see – this is what I love about television. It is a much better venue *now* for auteur productions. If a creative team wants to make a production that is 4 hours and 26 minutes long, they need to go to television. Limited series is the place to be for those who are good story makers.

Who is to say that every story can be told, and told well, in 90 minutes?