Academy Awards 2022

[Dave Gray]

Aside from the slap, there were some movies honored.

I watched all 53 of them this year.

For best picture, CODA won, but I found that movie to be manipulative and cheesy.  I didn't hate it or anything, but it's kinda like a made for TV movie that I'm surprised got critical acclaim. 

I think that The Power of the Dog was a movie that was more fitting to be Best Picture.  It was about 20% too "figure it out for yourself" than I'd prefer.  The movie is almost all subtext and nearly nothing is specifically stated.  I did like it, but didn't love.

The movie that I liked most of the Best Pictures was Dune, but I recognize that it's kinda like part of a story, so it's hard to award.  Also, Nightmare Alley was much more engaging than I was expecting it to be.  Best Picture didn't have a movie that I was agog in love with this year.

Some standouts for me, personally was the documentary Attica, about a prison riot in New York in the 70s.  That's available on Showtime and really connected with me.
There was a short film called "Please Hold" that's a sci-fi (almost like black mirror) about getting arrested, but the entire justice system is like being in an automated on-hold style corporate system.  I liked that quite a bit, as well.  Neither won.

The best actor for me was Andrew Garfield in Tick, Tick, ...Boom!   But he was also really great in the Eyes of Tammy Faye, for which he wasn't even nominated.

I also really like West Side Story, but if you're not into that, you're not into that.

[ArtieChokePhin]

The crazy thing is that I wouldn't have even known about the Oscars had it not been for the bitch slap.

[CF DolFan]

Aside from the slap, there were some movies honored.

I watched all 53 of them this year.

For best picture, CODA won, but I found that movie to be manipulative and cheesy.  I didn't hate it or anything, but it's kinda like a made for TV movie that I'm surprised got critical acclaim. 

I think that The Power of the Dog was a movie that was more fitting to be Best Picture.  It was about 20% too "figure it out for yourself" than I'd prefer.  The movie is almost all subtext and nearly nothing is specifically stated.  I did like it, but didn't love.

The movie that I liked most of the Best Pictures was Dune, but I recognize that it's kinda like part of a story, so it's hard to award.  Also, Nightmare Alley was much more engaging than I was expecting it to be.  Best Picture didn't have a movie that I was agog in love with this year.

Some standouts for me, personally was the documentary Attica, about a prison riot in New York in the 70s.  That's available on Showtime and really connected with me.
There was a short film called "Please Hold" that's a sci-fi (almost like black mirror) about getting arrested, but the entire justice system is like being in an automated on-hold style corporate system.  I liked that quite a bit, as well.  Neither won.

The best actor for me was Andrew Garfield in Tick, Tick, ...Boom!   But he was also really great in the Eyes of Tammy Faye, for which he wasn't even nominated.

I also really like West Side Story, but if you're not into that, you're not into that.

2 questions ... how in the heck do you watch 53 movies in one year and how do you have that kind of free time?

[ArtieChokePhin]

2 questions ... how in the heck do you watch 53 movies in one year and how do you have that kind of free time?

I wanna hear the answer to this too.  Especially because he's got kids that are younger than mine.

[Dave Gray]

I care about movies.  And I make a point to try to watch all the Oscar movies.

Calling it 53 movies is a bit of a stretch because 15 of those are short films, that range between 10-50 minutes.  ....still, it's a lot of movies.

But I don't re-watch things, like most people do.  I make it a point to watch about a movie each day.  During the lead up to the Oscars, I'll usually have watched about 10 of the movies before things even start, just because popular movies are often nominated for visual effects and stuff.

Then, leading up to the Oscars, there's a short-list, where you can tell which movies are gonna be nominated...so I'll watch those.  And by the time the films are actually announced, I think it's like 45 days until the ceremony, so you have plenty of time.



I work from home, so I drop my kids off at school at 8 -- sometimes I'll watch part of something in the morning (not always) before work.  Then since I don't have to fight traffic, I have a couple of hours after work, plus time after my kids go to bed.  I also plan ahead.  I have a schedule of things I'm watching, and I know where to find them -- or I already have the DVDs from the library ready to go -- so I don't spend time browsing.  It seems like a lot, but most people watch 2+ hours of TV or tablet in a day.  I do, too....it's just focused.  I also pretty much have entirely cut out sports and cable news, which frees up a ton of "garbage time".  I will watch Dolphins, but I don't watch day to day sporting events or talking heads ESPN shows like I used to after work.

This will probably shock you even more than the Oscar thing, but I've already seen 102 feature length films (not counting shorts or re-watches) so far in 2022.  

[Spider-Dan]

2 questions ... how in the heck do you watch 53 movies in one year and how do you have that kind of free time?

I don't think ~one 2-hour movie a week is a particularly notable amount of free time.

In fact, I'd say that if one doesn't have 2 hours of free time in an entire week, I would question as to how one would have time for this forum, or even watching any sports at all.

[Sunstroke]

Dune was, by far, the best movie I watched this year. I am a Frank Herbert junkie though and have read all the books in the Dune series, decades ago, so it was like a trip down memory lane. I just wish I didn't have to wait so long for the next installment...