“So maybe [the current Best Picture contenders] is the field we were always meant to have. Maybe this is the field we’re always going to have from now on, more or less. Let that one sink in, why don’t you?” — from 3.16 edition of Richard Rushfield‘s The Ankler — “Emergency Edition: Nom Com.”

Three years on, what are your honest, deep-down, no-bullshit feelings about the nine Best Picture Oscar nominees of 2017? Which, if any, would you gladly see again and perhaps would be down with re-watching repeatedly as the years pass on? Here are my current feelings…three are keepers, the rest you can put in the freezer.

The Shape of Water — I liked Shape well enough to give it a pass when I first saw it in Telluride ’17, but because of Michael Shannon‘s detestable Colonel Strickland character I’ll never, ever see it again.
Call Me by Your Name — I could easily catch it again tonight. Great love story, blissful laid-back Italian countryside vibe….it all falls into place.
Darkest Hour — Never again.
Dunkirk — Sure…would watch it again any time. A Nolan knockout.
Get Out — Truly sorry that I saw this fucking thing even once. I’ll watch The Stepford Wives again any time, but this? Never.
Lady Bird — Excellent “heart” film, made by a real filmmaker…I’d watch it again tonight.
Phantom Thread — A small, well-made, mostly infuriating film. Never again.
The Post – I’ll re-watch All The President’s Men any time, but this? Saw it twice in ’17. Meryl Streep is quite good as Katharine Graham, but I’m not that interested in a third viewing. Okay, maybe.
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri — Never again, ever.

If I had cast the smallish Gael Garcia Bernal as a husband and family man, I would cast an actress who was either his height (officially 5’7″ but rumored to actually be 5’6″) or perhaps a tiny bit shorter. Because 98% or 99% of the time the guy is usually a bit taller or the same height as his significant female other. I certainly wouldn’t cast an actress who’s a good two or three inches taller.

I don’t regard myself as a size-ist (I dealt with a certain amount of pushback from classmates when I was young for being a “giant”) but it’s quite rare to see a husband or boyfriend who can obviously be beaten in a wrestling match by his wife or girlfriend. C’mon, be honest.

And yet that’s exactly what director M. Night Shyamalan has done in Old (Universal, 7.23) — he’s cast the 5’9″ Vicky Krieps (Bergman Island, Phantom Thread) as Bernal’s wife and mother of their three kids.

There are so many actresses of the right age (late 30s, early 40s) and the right height who could’ve played Bernal’s wife without half the audience saying “jeez, she’s obviously too big for him.” Or Shyamalan could’ve stayed with Krieps and cast a taller actor as her husband…easy. Why create credibility problems?

Did anyone ever cast a tall, leggy actress opposite Alan Ladd or Dustin Hoffman? It’s not a male-ego thing — it’s a reality thing. Yes, runty guys occasionally hook up with tallish women…5’11” Nicole Kidman was four inches taller than Tom Cruise, and Katie Holmes was two inches taller. But generally this doesn’t happen. Not in 7-11 land, they don’t.

The Bernal-Krieps casting is actually part of a pattern. In Bergman Island, Krieps is paired with the 5’7″ Tim Roth. And in her private life she’s reportedly married to actor Jonas Laux, who’s also 5’7″.

This is easily the most emotionally affecting scene from Martin Brest‘s Midnight Run (’88), and generally speaking action road comedies don’t do this kind of thing at all. But Midnight Run, written by George Gallo, was different.

A violent chase-caper flick with a quippy attitude, fine. But a film of this calibre delivering this kind of emotion would be all but inconceivable today…be honest.

Robert DeNiro (as bounty hunter Jack Walsh) and Danielle DuClos (as DeNiro’s 12 year-old daughter Denise) handle the heavy lifting, making the most of non-verbal currents. But the silent-witness vibes from Charles Grodin (as white-collar criminal Jonathan Mardukas) and Wendy Phillips (as Walsh’s ex-wife) are poignant in themselves.

When Midnight Run opened 32 and 2/3 years ago somebody wrote that it was a hamburger movie that occasionally tasted like steak, but if you re-watch it (as I did a year or two ago) you’ll recall that it wasn’t that great, not really — that it was formulaic and goofy and rarely subtle.

But it was good enough to temporarily “lift all boats,” as the expression goes. Brest peaked four years later with Scent of a Woman (’92), and then he hit the rocks with Meet Joe Black (’98) and then Gigli (pronounced “Jeelie”).

Imagine how this scene might’ve played if Brest hadn’t cast DuClos or someone else on her level. Born in ’74, she was 13 when this scene was filmed. DuClos is now 46 — a crisp salute for excellent work.

The great and often very cool Yaphet Kotto has left the planet. He was 81, and I’m sorry. Condolences to family, friends, colleagues, fans.

FBI agent Alonzo Mosley, a slow-burning straight man in Martin Brest‘s Midnight Run (’88), is my first and fondest Kotto recollection. Next is Lieutenant Pope in Across 110th Street (’72). Third is his performance as Parker, chief Nostromo engineer in Ridley Scott‘s Alien (’79). Fourth is Kotto’s Dr. Kananga / Mr. Big in Live and Let Die (’73), but that was a flagrantly racist film and I didn’t care for the way he died — being inflated like a balloon until he burst.

I should have watched NBC’s Homicide: Life on the Street (’93 to ’99), in which he played Lieutenant Al Giardello, but I didn’t watch it much.

Kotto always felt genuine to me — authentic, steady, nothing but truth.

Under heavy fire for a lack of diversity in the ranks, the 87-member Hollywood Foreign Press Association today pledged to admit at least 13 Black members, which would obviously bring the total to 100. The resulting 13% representation is close enough to the 14.2% of the U.S. population that identifies as Black. Presumably the new Black members would need to have an established relationship with a semi-reputable foreign outlet of some kind. Given the 13 new openings and the considerable cushy benefits of being an HFPA member, I would imagine that a lot of applications and arrangements are being explored as we speak.

Because they really don’t like Hillbilly Elegy — period. It’s that simple. They’d rather see Yuh-jung Youn, the spirited, fire-starting Minari grandma, take the Best Supporting Actress Oscar. Or Borat Subsequent Moviefilm‘s Maria Bakalova, which every critic on the North American continent has been secretly instructed to support. Or The Father‘s Olivia Colman, who is excellent as Anthony Hopkins‘ trying-to-cope daughter. Or HE’s personal fave, Mank‘s Amanda Seyfried.

In short, “anyone but Close” is the critics’ mantra. Do rank-and file Academy members feel differently? That is the question.

Yes, I know that Close’s Hillbilly performance was also nominated for a Razzie, but that was, I feel, an unfair judgment. Given the concept and history of the real-life Mamaw character, Close came to grips and brought it home.

Posted on 11.10.20:

Everyone knows that “glass ceiling” signifies a barrier to advancement within a corporate heirarchy, and especially one affecting women. No one has ever objected to the term as the word “glass” has no ethnic connotations.

But the term “bamboo ceiling,” an allusion to people of Asian descent facing the same kind of advancement barriers as well as a term coined 15 years ago by self-help book author Jane Hyun (“Breaking The Bamoo Ceiling”), is very bad — antiquated, odious and racist.

Let it be understood that anyone who utters the “b” word in almost any context will be harshly disciplined, and that includes writers of Asian descent, as The Hollywood Reporter‘s Rebecca Sun discovered this morning.

Not to worry as “bamboo ceiling” was removed from the headline of Sun’s story, which is now titled “Oscars: Diverse Field Sees Asian Actors Finally Break Through.” If a non-Asian THR employee had written that headline they would have been immediately cancelled and forced to seek a career in either retail sales or fast food. Sun was saved by her bloodline, thank God.

On 2.4.21 the SAG noms were announced. It’s now apparent that SAG/AFTRA members were more driven by identity politics than Academy members seemed to be in lieu of this morning’s Oscar noms. For one thing the SAGsters blew off Mank‘s Amanda Seyfried, who has triumphantly landed a Best Supporting Actress nom. And they ignored Sound of Metal‘s Paul Raci, who prevailed this morning with a Best Supporting Actor nom. And they handed SAG Best Ensemble noms (the equivalent of their Best Picture noms) to Spike Lee‘s Da 5 Bloods, Regina King‘s One Night in Miami and George C. Wolfe‘s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom — all of which failed to land Best Picture noms this morning.

The SAG awards will air on the evening of Sunday, April 4, at 6 pm Pacific (TNT/TBS).

Southern friendo has suggested that on the basis of a few similarities between Ben Affleck‘s Argo and Aaron Sorkin‘s The Trial of the Chicago 7, the latter might surge into two or three unexpected Oscar wins. I mostly disagree in light of the fact that 2021 is, of course, a woke year in which films by and about women and POCs are receiving special consideration. There was no wokester current, of course, during the 2012 and early ’13 Oscar campaign season, when Affleck was working the room with skill and finesse.

Southern friendo: “The Trial of the Chicago 7 has been nominated for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Sacha Baron Cohen), Best Cinematography (Phedon Papamichael), Best Film Editing (Alan Baumgarten) and Best Original Song — six noms in all. Nine years ago Argo was nominated for seven Oscars (Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Alan Arkin), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Original Score). It won three — Best Picture, Best Editing, Best Adapted Screenplay — although like Sorkin, Affleck was not nominated for director.  

“Chicago 7 has a great chance at winning Best Editing and Best Original Screenplay.  And both films are/were boosted by a Supporting Actor nominee — Chicago 7 has Sacha Baron Cohen in this category while Argo had Alan Arkin. It doesn’t matter if said actor wins but he/she needs to be nominated.  Since Sorkin was ‘snubbed’, this may be a narrative to [a win].

By the way an Academy friend comments that the last Best Actor slot was between Oldman and Mads Mikkelson. Oldman got in but just barely, this guy believes.

“Minari is still the Green Book of this year, being a fact-based true story that has ‘heart’.  Based on the filmmaker’s parents’ story, just like GB was based on the writer’s father’s story.”

HE response: “Minari has heart, yes. Doesn’t deliver anything close to the emotional impact of Green Book, but yes, it has heart.”

Southern friendo: “The multi-nominated Mank is not going to win Best Picture because of the lack of a Best Original Screenplay nom, which has to really upset Fincher since his father’s script was the reason he wanted to make it in the first place

“What does that leave?  Nomadland, of course — nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (McDormand), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography (Joshua James Richards) and Best Film Editing., Will it win Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture?   Does it win cinematography?  If so, that’s four.  Won’t win editing.  But if the Academy gives a Best Cinematography win to Mank or News of the World, then Nomadland wins three and all for Chloe Zhao, which would be historic.”

He also suspects that The Mauritanian‘s Tahar Rahim will win an Emmy for his upcoming performance in The Serpent (from Netflix on April 2nd).  He plays real-life serial killer Charles Sobhraj, who preyed on traveling tourists and hippies in Southweast Asia.”

Update: Deadline‘s Pete Hammond is reporting that Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President David Rubin has confirmed that the upcoming 93rd annual Academy Awards show will indeed come primarily from downtown L.A.’s Union Station while Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre will be utilized for musical numbers.

Earlier today I referred to a line from Variety‘s Clayton Davis about Academy producers having decided to utilize Union Station “as a venue”. To me (and presumably to others) that implied that other venues would factor in. Hammond has made it clear that Union Station will in fact be “the” primary venue with the Dolby used for secondary diversions.

As we all expected, it’s also been announced that the Academy “will not hold any in-person events, including nominations screenings, the annual nominees luncheon or other programming,” Davis is reporting. “In addition, the only people who will be allowed to attend the Oscars will be the nominees themselves, their guests and the ceremony’s presenters.”

In other words, it’s going to be another dead pandemic ceremony struggling to seem alive and snappy. That crackling atmosphere of keen expectation and emotional anxiety that has animated every Oscar ceremony for the last 92 or 93 years will have to wait. Not this year, not this time.