Awards Season 2024: The 96th Academy Awards

 

And there we have it, ladies and gents. The curtain comes down on the 2024 awards season with one of the strongest Oscar ceremonies of recent years. 

Jimmy Kimmel's opening monologue was funny enough, but a couple of jokes- at the expense of Robert Downey Jr's past- didn't really land. However, he won a lot of good will by giving behind-the-scenes crew members a shout out as the people who kept Hollywood going during the actors' and writers' strikes. He's on his fourth time at the Oscars, and I personally think this was his best attempt yet. There was little in the way of superfluous gimmicks; the ceremony ticked along at a nice pace, and came in at around 3hrs 30m (including copious ad breaks). 

Some of my personal highlights of the evening: a very game John Cena, appearing nude(ish?) to announce Best Costume Design;  Jonathan Glazer's powerful acceptance speech on winning Best International Feature for Holocaust drama The Zone Of Interest; the winning crew of Godzilla Minus One bringing a golden Godzilla onto stage; and the truly stunning performance of "I'm Just Ken" replete with 65 Kens, Slash on guitar, and a pink-clad Ryan Gosling!

I was very happy that The Boy And The Heron won Best Animated Feature Film, and that American Fiction won Best Adapted Screenplay. Along with The Holdovers, American Fiction was one of my favourite films of this awards season. Cord Jefferson's enthusiastic acceptance speech contained a plea that I've long hoped Hollywood would listen to: take a chance on making smaller budget movies. Who knows, maybe they'll listen?

20 Days In Mariupol becomes the first Ukrainian Oscar winner; its director Mstyslav Chernov gave a stirring and emotional speech, saying he wished he'd never had to make the film. The inclusion of a clip from last year's Best Documentary Feature- Navalny- about the (recently-deceased) Russian political prisoner before the "In Memoriam" section was an interesting choice and will no doubt provoke a couple of column inches. 

Hosting pairs were the usual mix of passable and get-these-two-to-host-this-next-year; Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling were funny, riffing on the Barbenheimer "rivalry", and rightly introduced a tribute to stunt performers - which does beg the question: why the fuck aren't stunt performers getting an Oscar? Yes, casting is important, but stunt work is an intrinsic part of most films and has been from cinema's inception. Get on it, Academy. 

John Mulaney riffing on Field Of Dreams, and Ramy Youssef and Issa Rae cutting right to the chase were particular highlights, and there was an enjoyable reunion between Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito. They also did something interesting with the acting awards: each of the four categories had five former winners (including last year's winners) to give a short testimonial about one of the nominees. (They'd done something similar a few years ago, but refined it somewhat for this time around) 

Onto my predictions: 5 out of 6, as I expected. Emma Stone looked genuinely shocked to have her name announced, and her tearful, torn-dress acceptance speech was touching. Robert Downey Jr's speech was superb, full of what's become a familiar kind of snark disguising genuine feelings. Da'Vine Joy Randolph's win was the first award announced of the evening, and her acceptance speech was pretty lovely, and Cillian Murphy's was thoughtful and considered, giving a shout out to the "peacemakers" in the current-day. 

Unsurprisingly, Oppenheimer was the big winner of the evening, with seven Oscars. Poor Things came second with four, whilst The Zone Of Interest was the only other multiple Oscar winner, taking two. 

Despite multiple nominations, Killers Of The Flower Moon, Maestro, Napoleon, Nyad, and Society Of The Snow came home emptyhanded. 

Below is the full list of winners at the 96th Academy Awards:

Best Motion Picture of the Year: Oppenheimer

Best Actor: Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer)

Best Actress: Emma Stone (Poor Things)

Best Supporting Actor: Robert Downey Jr. (Oppenheimer)

Best Supporting Actress: Da'Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers)

Best Director: Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer)

Best Original Screenplay: Justine Triet and Arthur Harari (Anatomy Of A Fall)

Best Adapted Screenplay: Cord Jefferson (American Fiction)

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year: The Boy And The Heron

Best International Feature Film of the Year: The Zone Of Interest

Best Cinematography: Oppenheimer

Best Film Editing: Oppenheimer

Best Production Design: Poor Things

Best Costume Design: Poor Things

Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Poor Things

Best Original Score: Oppenheimer

Best Original Song: "What Was I Made For?" (Barbie)

Best Sound: The Zone Of Interest

Best Visual Effects: Godzilla Minus One

Best Documentary (Feature): 20 Days In Mariupol

Best Documentary (Short Subject): The Last Repair Shop

Best Animated Short Film: WAR IS OVER! Inspired By The Music Of John & Yoko

Best Live Action Short Film: The Wonderful Story Of Henry Sugar

Congratulations to all winners!

Awards Season 2024: Tez's Official Oscar Predictions

It's Oscar night! 

Jimmy Kimmel will be in charge of events for the fourth time, so expect jokes about the Barbenheimer phenomenon, a jab or two at Matt Damon, a pointed barb at the Academy's overlooking of Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie, maybe some stuff about the writers' and actors' strikes of the last year, and probably a saucy reference or two to Saltburn. 

It has become a tradition for me to predict the nominations and the winners in the main six categories (the four acting categories, Best Director and Best Picture). I've done this since 2003 with varying degrees of success. Last year, I got 5 out of 6, plumping for Angela Bassett for Best Supporting Actress instead of Jamie Lee Curtis. I'm expecting it to be the same this evening. 

So, without further ado, here are my predictions for who will win.

Best Supporting Actress: Da'Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers)

The Holdovers was, to the surprise of nobody, one of my favourite films of this awards season. The surprisingly sweet comedy-drama directed by Alexander Payne is definitely "my kind of film". Randolph has been the runaway winner of the Supporting Actress races this year, and I think it'll be a major surprise if anyone else's name comes out for this category. Randolph's performance as Mary, the grieving cook staying at the school over the holidays, is superb, full of warmth, candour, and emotion.

Best Supporting Actor: Robert Downey Jr. (Oppenheimer)

I'll be talking more about Oppenheimer in a bit, but I genuinely do think that Robert Downey Jr's performance as Lewis Strauss is the strongest performance I've ever seen him give. He commands every moment he's on the screen, giving a strange almost reptilian warmth to this complex character. As layers of duplicity peel away to reveal a very dangerous, petty and wounded man, you can't help but admire how truly detestable he is - and how Downey never shies away from that. Other actors may have tried to soften or "redeem" Strauss; Downey revels in these contradictions. 

Best Actress: Lily Gladstone (Killers Of The Flower Moon)

Now here's where I think I may get unstuck. With no disrespect intended to Annette Bening, Sandra Hüller, or Carey Mulligan, this year's Best Actress race has been between Emma Stone (for her fearless performance in Poor Things) and Lily Gladstone for her turn as Mollie Burkhart in Scorsese's epic Killers Of The Flower Moon. It's my belief that Gladstone's win at the Screen Actors' Guild Awards puts her ahead in the Oscar race, and so that's who my pick for Best Actress is. Both performances have much to recommend them, but Gladstone's performance has more shade and nuance, it's less showy but not less impactful; Mollie's stoicism in the face of the epidemic of killings which blight her kin belies a power beneath. But, if it does happen, I won't be at all surprised if Stone gets her second Oscar tonight.

Best Actor: Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer)

I'd dearly love Paul Giamatti to win in this category, but it's not going to happen. Murphy's strong central performance as the titular physicist, J. Robert Oppenheimer, has swept the boards throughout this awards season. It's truly deserved. In the latter stages of the film, Murphy's already solid performance kicks up a gear as he wrestles with Oppenheimer's moral crisis over the real-life application of what had originally just been theoretical. 

Best Director: Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer)

Best Picture: Oppenheimer

Plainly put, Oppenheimer is a film which is easy to admire but difficult to like. But I don't think you're meant to "like" it. I genuinely can't imagine anyone suggesting a get-together of friends and sticking Oppenheimer on for entertainment, for instance. Like a lot of big weighty films which deal with big weighty subjects (and which often win Best Picture at the Oscars), it's a well-made piece of cinema, chockful of impressive performances, detailed costumes, a moving score, immaculate production design, and beautiful cinematography. All of which comes under the aegis of director Christopher Nolan, who will almost certainly get Best Director (and deserves it, if only for recreating the Trinity test with practical effects). As a film, it's a little cool and a little sterile in places, especially at the beginning. The dual timelines can occasionally be confusing but not detrimentally so; this is definitely not a film to be passively watched. You need your brain engaged. But, it's an impressive piece of filmmaking about a fascinating event in modern history, and- as such- I think it's going to take the big prize this evening. 

So there are my predictions. What do you think? Some dead certs there, surely? Or am I right off the money? Let me know what you think.  

In the UK, the Oscars telecast is being broadcast via ITV and ITVX this evening, as they now have the rights (with Sky having had them for the past 20ish years). Will be interesting to see who and how they manage it; given how often they go to ads during the Oscar broadcast, ITV could well just do the same. Anything that spares us from inane talking heads nonsense might be welcome. 

I'll let you know my thoughts on the ceremony as soon as I can once it finishes. 

Awards Season 2024: Razzies Winners

Ah, Oscars Eve. A day for last-minute preparations, looking over acceptance speeches, sorting out outfits, and generally hoping your name follows the famous declaration "And the Oscar goes to..."

As is traditional, the Golden Raspberry Awards are also handed out on this day, to dishonour the worst in cinema of the previous year. And this year, as well as the undeniable stink of cinematic effluence, there's a definite whiff of both blood and honey as well... 

Here are this year's "winners"

Worst Picture: Winnie-The-Pooh: Blood And Honey 

Worst Director: Rhys Frake-Waterfield (Winnie-The-Pooh: Blood And Honey)

Worst Actor: Jon Voight (Mercy)

Worst Actress: Megan Fox (Johnny & Clyde)

Worst Supporting Actor: Sylvester Stallone (Expend4bles)

Worst Supporting Actress: Megan Fox (Expend4bles)

Worst Remake, Sequel Or Rip-Off: Winnie-The-Pooh: Blood And Honey

Worst Screen Combo: Pooh and Piglet as Blood-Thirsty Slasher/Killers (Winnie-The-Pooh: Blood And Honey)

Worst Screenplay: Winnie-The-Pooh: Blood And Honey

Razzie Redeemer: Fran Drescher

This year's Razzie Redeemer, Fran Drescher, was previously nominated for Worst Actress at the Razzies for the as-bad-as-it-sounds romantic comedy The Beautician And The Beast (1997). However, as the current president of SAG/AFTRA (the American actors' union), she has been rightly praised for her strong leadership throughout the 2023 actors' strike. 

Winnie-The-Pooh: Blood And Honey was the big winner, taking home five awards (and "winning" each category it was nominated in). Expend4bles takes home two Razzies, including another win for Sylvester Stallone. As the French say, "plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose".

Congratulations (commiserations?) to the "winners". 

So, that just leaves the big one: the 96th Academy Awards. I'll be posting my predictions for who will win in six major categories tomorrow afternoon. And, much like today, there'll be one particular movie that's going to come up a lot...