Another year, another awards season. The one happened recently, so here’s some quick thoughts on the champions.
– Best Motion Picture – Drama (Oppenheimer)
Correct. Hands down. The deserved winner, the best. Masterful cinematography, fantastic acting plus a genius soundtrack. ‘Nuff said.
– Best Motion Picture – Musical/Comedy (Poor Things)
A deserved win, even though Barbie would’ve got my vote. Eccentric, abstract and utterly insane, which is only what you’d expect from a maverick like Yorgos. Definitely one of Stone’s finest performances. Stone’s Bella Baxter could’ve been very hollow and cringey is less talented hands, but she imbues the role with a delicate mix of heart and pathos. Mark Ruffalo is also suitably whacky and off the wall considering his tendency to go for more strait-laced projects. Impressive stuff. Willem Defoe also has sufficient time to channel his Lighthouse eccentricity, which is a very welcome addition to the chaos too. Impressive stuff.
– Best Director- Motion Picture (Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer)
YAAAASSSS. YAAAASSS. Heck yeah. I’m happier than Spongebob was in The Spongebob Squarepants Movie when he thought he got the managerial job at the Krusty Krab 2. And with that niche reference, let’s move on. This is Nolan’s sixth nomination, and it’s his…first win. Madness. Utter madness, I tell you. He should’ve one years ago. Oppenheimer is probably his most awards-y film yet though, considering how much biopics are generally favoured by those big cheese awards dudes. But yep, go Nolan go, in Nolan we trust etc. WOOOOO.
– Best Performance by a Female Actor – Motion Picture, Drama (Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon)
Gladstone was far and away my favourite part of Scorsese’s latest, so it’s great to see her get some deserved recognition. Greta Lee was pretty stellar too though, but there were some all-round strong performers in this category, so it was always going to be a tough choice.
– Best Performance by a Male Actor – Motion Picture, Drama (Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer)
GO CILLIAN GO. Murphy’s played many smaller roles in Nolan’s oeuvre, and it’s great to see him get the gong for his greatest performance yet. If they gave out awards for one scene alone, then it would also have to be given to Murphy. The moment in the auditorium where we watch Oppenheimer slowly crumble behind the scenes as he faces an eager, stomping crowd is absolutely masterful with its subtle, emotive sound design, and stands out as one of Nolan’s finest scenes, which is no small achievement. The whole scene is particularly impressive considering Oppenheimer’s apparent emotional absence here in the American Prometheus biography on which much of the movie is based, and how Nolan has instead used this moment to portray Oppenheimer’s angst with minimal dialogue and terrifying imagery. Here’s hoping the actor and director will continue to collaborate in the future.
– Best Performance by a Female Actor – Motion Picture, Musical/Comedy (Emma Stone, Poor Things)
Stone had already exhibited plenty of talent in Yorgos’ previous work The Favourite, and has been let loose in his latest bizarre entry. Rolling around through a steampunk worldscape, Stone delivers a mesmerising performance full of tragedy, anger and deadpan wit.
– Best Performance by a Male Actor – Motion Picture, Musical/Comedy (Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers)
Haven’t seen The Holdovers yet, but apparently it’s pretty good. I haven’t seen a whole lot of these, so I need to fix that. William Defoe definitely should’ve got a nomination here for his performance in Poor Things, though; he’s great in everything, but he put in a particularly powerful performance here as Bella Baxter’s eccentric inventor.
– Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role – Motion Picture (Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers)
As above. My Oppenheimer bias makes me lean towards Emily Blunt here, but again, I need to watch more of the film nominated in this category
Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role – Motion Picture (Robert Downey Jr, Oppenheimer)
Super hyped to see RDJ get this one, and it’s nice to see him switch to a pantomime villain role after all his good guy performances in the MCU. Strauss is mesmerising throughout, even when he gets taken down by the brilliant Rami Malek in the final scenes.
– Best Picture – Animated (The Boy and the Heron)
I’ve heard the latest Studio Ghibli film is great, so I need to see it. I feel like Spider-Man deserved this one, but, once more, I need to see more of these. I’m glad The Super Mario Bros Movie didn’t win, anyway. Not that I hated it, it’s just nowhere near award-worthy. And apparently Wish was horrifically bad. But haven’t seen that yet.
– Best Picture – Non-English Language (Anatomy of a Fall)
Really disappointed that Past Lives didn’t get the gong here, as that was easily one of my favourites from last year, but hopefully it gets more love at the Oscars.
– Best Score – Motion Picture (Ludwig Göransson, Oppenheimer)
GO Göransson GO. The composer is quickly building his reputation as a musical maestro, which has certainly been boosted by taking over Hans Zimmer’s role as Christopher Nolan’s regular muse. There are some absolute classic tracks on display throughout the director’s latest, with ‘Can You Hear the Music’ standing out as one of the big bangers (no bomb puns intended). But don’t forget about other genius compositions like the harrowing concluding piece ‘Destroy of Worlds’, as well as the tension-ridden ‘Colonel Pash’. Yikes, that last one was tense (in a good way, of course).
Best Song – Motion Picture (‘What Was I Made For?’, Barbie)
Barbie had to take this award home with its stellar zingers, and it seems appropriate that ‘I’m Just Ken’ didn’t get the win. After all, he’s just Ken. Anywhere else he’d be a ten (etc.). But Billie Eilish’s soulful tune definitely deserved the prize, with the song poignantly embodying Barbie’s emotional heart.
– Best Cinematic and Box Office Achievement (Barbie)
This is a new category this year, and Barbie was a deserving winner for its box office success, although it’s a shame that it couldn’t have got a joint award with Oppenheimer for the Barbenheimer phenomenon, a double hit of financial success that boosted the film industry and then some. Still, I’ll take it.
TV (Round-up)
I’m mostly here to look at the film awards, but I’ll take a quick looks at the TV gongs. The Best Drama Series award should’ve gone to The Last of Us in my humble opinion, but then I haven’t seen any of Succession yet (*gasp* horror, I know), but the final season of that show was apparently great, so I’ll let that go. Likewise, I haven’t seen The Bear, which got the award for Best Musical/Comedy Series, but apparently that’s good too (this is fun, isn’t it?). I was really happy to see Beef get the Best Limited Series prize, though. That show felt like a breath of fresh air, and I’ve never witnessed tension and chaos quite like it. Woop. Likewise with Ali Wong deservedly getting the award for Best Female Actor in a limited series. She was a brilliant performer, defying the already worn ‘strong female character’ schtick by portraying a complicated, flawed individual striving for petty revenge. And once again for Steven Yeun bagging Best Male Actor in a Limited series. It’s really great to see Beef get all the recognition it has justly earnt. I feel like Bella Ramsay and Pedro Pascal should’ve won the Best Performances on Television awards, but, like I said, I haven’t seen Succession yet, so I could be wrong. My TV viewing generally isn’t wide enough to give an opinion on the other awards, so I’ll be giving those a hard skip. Very professional, yep.