96th Oscars Reaction
15 for 23. Amazingly, my pessimistic strategy accounts for most of my misses. Perhaps it’s time to give the Academy more credit.
Before I defend myself, some thoughts on the ceremony itself:
96th Oscars Will Win/Should Win
This year’s Oscar race hasn’t been quite as monotonous as last year’s. Even then, All Quiet on the Western Front managed some surprises on the night where we expected Everything Everywhere All at Once dominance. Which goes to show that this is all pointless and those of us that try to predict the results have no idea what we’re doing.
But hey, that’s why it’s fun.
If you need some last-minute advice for your Oscar pool, here’s my logic for what I’m expecting to win, as well as what I’m hoping against hope to hear actually happen.
Star Trek: TOS Season 1
I’ve never watched Star Trek.
Sorry, that’s already a lie. I had never watched a Star Trek television show. My entire experience with Star Trek is limited to the Chris Pine movies and the first six Shatner films.
I’ve always had a tickling feeling that I should be into Star Trek, that I’m somehow supposed to be. When I was younger I always fell deep into sci-fi franchises: Star Wars essentially since birth, Stargate and Hitchhiker’s Guide starting in middle school, and Doctor Who in high school and college. Star Trek never made its way into my life. That’s most likely because Star Trek was in its post-Enterprise hangover during the ages I was most susceptible.
That changes now. 2024 is the year of Trek in this house! I figured it would be fun to check in with my thoughts and expectations after each season. I started this year knocking out the first season…
96th Oscars Nominations Reaction
This year’s Academy Award nominees were just announced on Tuesday and I’m not used to watching them sneakily at work instead of setting an alarm to get up early. Rather than run down all the categories, I’m just going to call out the storylines I’m watching for as the show approaches.
I’ve decided from now on I’m going to avoid using the word “snub.” As writers smarter than me have pointed out, claiming someone was snubbed assumes any nomination is taken for granted and diminishes the achievement for those who were nominated. This year had plenty of surprising misses, but no snubs.
Charlot #10: The Star Boarder
Release Date:
April 4, 1914
Studio:
Keystone
Director:
George Nichols
Also Starring:
Minta Durfee
Edgar Kennedy
Gordon Griffith
Tramp:
Yes
Worth Watching?
Maybe not
Whenever we went to new rooms, Charlie would ask the landlady, “Have you got a dark room, ma?”
Edith Scales, theatre costume mistress and Chaplin’s touring guardian in youth, quoted in Empire News, 1903
My Top 10 Films of 2023 of 2023
No more schlock.
That’s the promise I made myself. I had a lot of growing up to do this year, and one way I had to get that done was going to the movies less. So I made the decision that franchise schlock was not worth going to the theaters. Guardians of the Galaxy 3? It’ll come to Disney+. Fast X? Nah, that one’s getting pirated. Barbie?
Okay, well, I had to see Barbie.
But that was my strategy. Fewer movies overall, more focus on movies I’m actually interested in. I’m not obligated to see anything. That sounds basic, but after 7 years of doing these lists, I’d started to lose sight of why I enjoy it.
And then I got over it. By the end of the year it wound up being smarter to reactivate my Regal Unlimited pass.
Overall, I feel this has been a promising year for the state of movies after a few scares. Distributors have finally realized that releasing direct to streaming is as effective as burning money. Superhero movies are finally beginning to look like a passing fad. One of the biggest box office sensations was a historical biopic mostly consisting of government workers holding meetings. As long as no more of the big producers buy up any of the others we should be good to- oh no.
Charlot #9: Cruel, Cruel Love
Release Date:
March 26, 1914
Studio:
Keystone
Director:
George Nichols
Also Starring:
Minta Durfee
Chester Conklin
Eva Nelson
Tramp:
No
Worth Watching?
Not really
I showed [A Woman of the Sea] exactly once at one theater … and that was the end of that. The film was promptly returned to Mr Chaplin’s vaults and no one has ever seen it again.
Josef von Sternberg, Fun in a Chinese Laundry
Charlot #8: His Favorite Pastime
Release Date:
March 16, 1914
Studio:
Keystone
Director:
George Nichols
Also Starring:
Roscoe Arbuckle
Peggy Pearce
Tramp:
Yes
Worth Watching?
No
The moment we met we ignited; it was mutual, and my heart sang. How romantic were those morning’s turning up fro work with the anticipation of seeing her each day.
Chaplin, My Autobiography
Charlot #7: Tango Tangles
Release Date:
March 9, 1914
Studio:
Keystone
Director:
Mack Sennett
Also Starring:
Roscoe Arbuckle
Ford Sterling
Minta Durfee
Tramp:
I don’t think so
Worth Watching?
Nope
Keystone comedies directed by Sennett are perhaps the best examples of the studio’s true vision. Tango Tangles is particularly boorish and violent, while the characters are merely one-dimensional caricatures. Oddly enough, this is precisely the brilliance behind many of the best Keystone comedies.
James Neibaur, Early Charlie Chaplin: The Artist as Apprentice at Keystone Studios
95th Oscars Will Win/Should Win
This is very last-minute, but I'm watching the clock count down to the start of the ceremony and feel compelled to just throw this out there. I haven't been keeping up very closely with the races because I've been too focused on other things the last couple of months. These…