Two days ago I caught The Son (Sony Pictures Classics, 1.20), which I found well-written, well-acted and somewhat arduous to watch. Which doesn’t mean it’s a bad film — it’s just a bit of a thing to get through. Not a slog, which has negative connotations, but somewhat burdensome.

Directed by Florian Zeller (The Father) and cowritten by Zeller and Christopher Hampton, it’s about five characters — a 50ish, high-powered Manhattan businessman (Hugh Jackman), his anguished and estranged teenage son (Zen McGrath), the son’s divorced, worry-fraught mother and Jackman’s ex (Laura Dern), Jackman’s second, 20-years-younger wife (Vanessa Kirby) and Jackman’s crusty, tough-as-nails father (Anthony Hopkins) who’s in his late 70s or early 80s.

My mp3 review lasta around 12 minutes.

Hollywood Elsewhere is extremely bummed that Everything Everywhere All at Once nabbed 11 Oscar nominations this morning. Congrats, however, to Martin McDonagh‘s The Banshees of Inisherin and Edward Berger‘s All Quiet on the Western Front, which took nine noms each.

Given that All Quiet landed so many noms without much promotional help from Netflix, it seems to be the Best Picture frontrunner. Will Netflix finally start promoting it? Or will they continue to sit on their hands?

Especially given the negative responses to EEAAO from the over-45 crowd, and given the bloody finger stump residue from Banshees.

All Quiet is not an easy sit, but it’s obviously a compassionate, humanistic film at the end of the day.

9:17 am tally: Best Picture — All Quiet on the Western Front, Avatar: The Way of Water, The Banshees of Inisherin, Elvis, Everything Everywhere All at Once, The Fabelmans, Tar, Top Gun: Maverick, Triangle of Sadness, Women Talking.

8:32 am: Wait…Best Supporting Actress nominees include Jamie Lee Curtis and Stephanie Hsu, both from Everything Everywhere All At Once? Bad sign. Very bad sign.

8:47 am: To Leslie‘s Andrea Riseborough got nominated for Best Actress! Her seat-of-the-pants campaign worked! And Ana de Armas overcame the Blonde negativity to land a nomination also. Till‘s Danielle Deadwyler snubbed though…sorry, raw deal, tough darts.

Against all odds, Women Talking managed to get nominated for Best Picture. Not a prayer of winning, of course. But at least saved from being snubbed.

Decision to Leave snubbed in Best Int’l Feature category…admired the chops, didn’t like the film, fine with me.

Allison Williams speaks with one of those mincing Millennial beep-beep “sexy baby” voices. Lauren Bacall she’s not.

Director friendo: Netflix totally blew it with All Quiet on the Western Front. No campaign. I know many directors who were unaware that the film even existed.
HE: But it was nominated for Best Picture and five or six other Oscars….right?
Director friendo: Yes. Nine. But no Best Director nomination for Edward Berger. It can still win Best Picture if only Netflix would mount a campaign.
HE: Netflix was strangely reticent with this film. Odd.
Director friendo: More than reticent. Neglectful. It scored 9 noms with no Netflix suppoprt. What does that tell you?

The 95th Oscars will happen at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday, March 12. Jimmy Kimmel will host.

In a 1.23 World of Reel post that riffs on a 1.13.22 Daily Mail interview, Empire of Light director-writer Sam Mendes laments the bombing or under-performing of not only his own film** but other auteur-stamped features that opened during 2022’s award season.

The comment thread that follows is fascinating, but I was particularly stirred by a post from “Andrew”, who compares the Miramax-dominated realm of 1998 (when well-educated boomers and GenXers were avid followers of critically-approved award-season flicks) to the coarse downmarket reality of today.

Mendes:

Andrew:

** Empire of Light is HE’s choice for the best film of 2022. And I’m far from alone in my admiration.

Earlier today TasteofCinema tweeted a question that many of us have contemplated: “What’s the best movie you’ve ever seen that takes place in a single location?”

HE reply: Obviously and incontestably there are two films at the top of the list — Alfred Hitchcock‘s Lifeboat (’44) and Sidney Lumet‘s 12 Angry Men (’57). No other single-location films are anywhere near as good, and that includes Louis Malle‘s My Dinner with Andre (’81) and Hitchcock’s Rope (’48).

None of these veteran know-it-alls — Gold Derby‘s Tom O’Neil, Deadline‘s Pete Hammond, IndieWire‘s Anne Thompson, Blackfilm‘s Wilson Morales — address the woke mind-virus factor, or the fact that the award-season mindset has become fatally myopic. Industry types living and thinking and spitballing on their own tight little island with no awareness of or interest in what. Joe and Jane Popcorn might think about all this. O’Neil: “Joe and Jane who?”

Plus the inescapable fact that none of the supposed Best Picture contenders are home runs. Except, that is, for Top Gun: Maverick. Give credit to Hammond, at least, for stating that Top Gun: Maverick was probably a big #2 favorite when Academy members were filling out their ballots.

Hammond also notes that he’s heard stories about Academy members turning off Everything Everywhere All At Once as they try to watch it at home. Quote: “Some people are really trying [to get it], like it’s homework. [But] it’s so easy to turn off.” Translation: The over-45 crowd hates it.

Thompson on EEAAO: “I tried to tell somebody about what the EEAAO plot is, and I failed.” Also: “A lot people find The Fablemans flat and not exciting.”

It was announced earlier today that Ben Affleck and Matt Damon‘s Air, a fact-based sports marketing drama about Nike salesman Sonny Vaccaro, will receive a wide theatrical release from Amazon on Wednesday, April 5.

This will be Amazon’s first major theatrical effort since Mindy Kaling’s Late Night, a Sundance acquisition, opened and underperformed in the summer of 2019.

Question: Was I crazy for thinking that Air, in which Damon will play Vaccaro, would be an Oscar season thing?

Two possible answers: One, Air might not be as good as it needs to be to compete against other ’23 award-seekers. Or two, things are changing and the Oscar-chasing game ain’t what it used to be.

Air follows in the wake of Ari Aster‘s Beau Is Afraid, another seemingly high-pedigree feature film by a name-brand auteur that has forsaken an award-season strategy in favor of an April opening.

Things are changing and an April opening doesn’t necessarily mean what it used to mean — i.e., an interesting film that doesn’t quite make it, and therefore doesn’t have sufficient award-season mojo. Again, that’s a cachet that used to apply but not necessarily in a January 2023 context.

Explained by friendo: “As we learned in 2022, there is much less value in the Oscar race today…contaminated by woke critics and their anti-populist priorities, the Oscar brand is so bad that smart producers aren’t necessarily aiming for an Oscar association…it used to be that Oscar-buzz movies made money or at least enjoyed a certain elevated status…now it’s almost the opposite.

“Oscar movies have become about eating your vegetables and raising your social consciousness….fewer people are interested in them, because of the woke thing or whatever. Or because Millennials and Zoomers have become totally alienated from the brand.”

Let’s presume that Air is a highly-engaging, first-rate film. (It certainly feels like a humdinger.) It’s the first behind-the-camera collaboration between co-screenwriters Damon and Affleck (along with Alex Convery) since their Oscar-winning Good Will Hunting, on top of which Affleck, a proven helmer, is the director. Plus the story is about audacity and pathfinding (somewhat reminiscent of Bennett Miller‘s Moneyball) in the sports business, and…well, it sounds classy and cool and proletariat.

Plus it’s fortified by a cool-sounding cast (Jason Bateman, Viola Davis, Chris Tucker, Marlon Wayans, Chris Messina). Plus it’s the first film produced by Affleck and Damon’s Artists Equity.

12 years ago Moneyball bought into the whole Toronto-premiere, critically-supported, award-season route. But today it was announced that Amazon will open Air on Wednesday, April 5th, or roughly two and a half months hence.

Deadline‘s Anthony D’Alessandrio: “I hear Air will have a longer theatrical window than Amazon Studios’ recent limited theatrical releases, before hitting Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories. It truly is a first-of-its-kind arrangement for the studio as Amazon will distribute the film globally, with Warner Bros. Pictures handling international as part of its distribution pact with Amazon’s MGM. Amazon Studios only had U.S. on Late Night, not global rights.”