2020 Oscars are a sham...

[CTTT]

I used to love the Oscars. I thought it was a great night to celebrate good film making and acting. There have been winners who have won in the past and some that didn't. I didn't watch the show last night but here are my thoughts on some of the winners:

1. Best Actor- So now this award is going to go to future actors who play the Joker now? It might as well be renamed the Best Joker. I think Joaquin Phoenix is a great actor but Adam Driver deserved it this year for Marriage Story. Joker is a good movie but overpraised.

2. Best Supporting Actor- I thought choosing an actor for the acting awards was based on the best performance for the year not a career award or a makeup award. All along I've been reading that Brad Pitt was a shoe in for the award because "it's his time now." The AFI has an award for career and Brad should have been awarded and recognized there not at these awards. OUATIH is a good movie and Brad is great in it and charming, but can you really say he was better than Joe Pesci and Al Pacino in The Irishman or Anthony Hopkins in Two Popes?

3. Best Picture/Best Director/Best Original Screenplay/Best Foreign Language Film- Give the Foreign Language film to Parasite. I'm fine with it. The other awards...again there was backlash over the nominees being white and to make up for it they had to give out this award for representation. 1917 should have taken directing and Picture.

4. Best Actress- They love giving awards to actors playing historical figures which is why Renee Zellweger won. Scarlett Johansson deserved it for Marriage Story.

5. Best Documentary- American Factory got it because Barack and Michelle Obama were the producers and they wanted a chance to give him a standing ovation, make a political speech pandering to the left.

Just a few observations. This is why I can't watch the show anymore. It used to be fun and exciting, not anymore. I'll always still be curious and follow who gets nominated every year and it's still a good chance during the year to see some good performances and movies.

[thwhtGuardian]

None of your gripes seem very objective, or different than how the awards have gone in the past.

[kidfresh512]

None of your gripes seem very objective, or different than how the awards have gone in the past.

That is what I was going to say. Especially number 2. That happens ALL the time with Oscars. Where the actor/director get it because it's "their time" or voters feel like they should have gotten it long before then but somehow didn't. The one they eventually win for may not have been their best movie or best role, but it was good enough where voters say ok his turn (unofficial lifetime achievement).

Period pieces always have a leg up over "modern/contemporary" stories as well. That's not new. Not saying its right or how it should be but that's not a new occurrence.

[Killerbee911]

5. Best Documentary- American Factory got it because Barack and Michelle Obama were the producers and they wanted a chance to give him a standing ovation, make a political speech pandering to the left.
.

This type of opinion on topic is the worst type of opinion on the internet. Did you watch all of the movies which one is better? Why? What merit it over this one?

If you think the awards can be rigged why do you even care about the show or complaining who wins? Why wouldn't they rig other awards? How do you know which one is real and fake? What is the point in complaining about or watching a fake award show?

[Username taken]

This type of opinion on topic is the worst type of opinion on the internet. Did you watch all of the movies which one is better? Why? What merit it over this one?

If you think the awards can be rigged why do you even care about the show or complaining who wins? Why wouldn't they rig other awards? How do you know which one is real and fake? What is the point in complaining about or watching a fake award show?

Exactly.

That's why I posted earlier especially about the Parasite part because that movie was the MOST critically acclaimed movie of the past year. Months before the Oscars.

At least one should watch the movies and critique them instead of attributing everything to politics. Arguments like these are the worst because they are extremely reductive and completely ignore everything about the movies i.e the writing, script e.t.c

[ComicJunkie21]

Why are you ranting because the people you wanted to win didn't? I wanted Joker to win but I'm not upset about it,in fact I'm happy Parasite won. It was a critically acclaimed film that acknowledged a foreign country's art. This is one of the few times I would say there was no gain by Parasite winning. It really seems as though the film's creativity and writing is the reason it won.

[babyblob]

The Oscars, Golden Globes, all of these Hollywood hand me a trophy awards are a sham. And it doesnt matter who wins or loses there are always people there to yell about who was screwed over. If you think they are that bad why bother watching them at all?

Just watch the movies and enjoy them on their own. Dont worry about who wins what award. I have never been swayed by a movies buzz or awards. If I see the preview and it looks good I will watch it. If not I wont.

[Username taken]

3. Best Picture/Best Director/Best Original Screenplay/Best Foreign Language Film- Give the Foreign Language film to Parasite. I'm fine with it. The other awards...again there was backlash over the nominees being white and to make up for it they had to give out this award for representation. 1917 should have taken directing and Picture.

Huh?

Months before the Oscars, a lot of critics and "ordinary people" (even geek outlets) said Parasite was the best movie they had seen last year.

So, I'm not at all surprised the movie swept up the awards. Just because the movie doesn't feature white people doesn't mean it wasn't the best movie of the year.

[Kirby101]

I'll say this again, "Hollywood" does not say anything with the Oscars. More of the 7000 voters thought that was the best than the other nominees, that is it. We don't know if an award was won by one vote or 1,000. We don't even know who voted, since some people let their wife or children or agent vote for them. No one has a big meeting and decides what message to send. For the most part, all the nominees deserve it. No matter your opinion, more Academy voters might have liked something else.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Don't take this the wrong way, but not a goddamn thing you said make a lick of sense. You don't like awards shows? Fine, I have no use for them either. You think films you like got the shaft? Too bad! Dry your tears and get over it, that sort of thing happens EVERY year. Just enjoy the movies you like and not get worked up over awards it won, or didn't win.

[Jim Kelly]

I long ago gave up on the Oscars and I don't watch them. I only care about them if they can help a movie I like make back its budget.

I really didn't see what the big woof was about Adam Driver in MARRIAGE STORY. He puts in a perfectly acceptable performance, but his acting isn't especially note-worthy. I think for acting you have to give it to Anthony Hopkins--he's so good at it by now that he can do so much with just a twist of his hand or a tilt of his head. Anyway, acting awards are given for the body of work usually so that's why Phoenix and Pitt won--it was about time they got one. Driver will get one eventually, probably, but he has to wait his turn.

This Oscar season was a text book example of how they work. You can see how movies become frontrunners to be replaced by others and then a narrative overtakes the awards and an unlikely movie now becomes the darling--a chance for the voters to make themselves look good because they're bestowing favour on the outsider rather than the big budget Hollywood spectacular.

It's not about rewarding the best movies--it's about rewarding the best campaigns for votes.

[Kieran_Frost]

I really didn't see what the big woof was about Adam Driver in MARRIAGE STORY. He puts in a perfectly acceptable performance, but his acting isn't especially note-worthy.

Ohhhhhhh I would massively disagree, he was brilliant in that film. Truly exceptional (and I personally think he should have won over Phoenix)

I think for acting you have to give it to Anthony Hopkins--he's so good at it by now that he can do so much with just a twist of his hand or a tilt of his head.

I would disagree. I think Hopkins was fantastic in the film BUT... why did Pryce have a Brazilian accent but Hopkins... had an English one? Either they should have both had English accents, or Hopkins should have done a German accent. It was very odd he didn't change his voice. But it's easily his best performance in over a decade, and he captured the mannerisms of the Pope beautifully.

2019 was a great year for movies, any one of those best picture nominees could have won. We were all told from the start that Parasite could pull an upset and it did.

SO, SO TRUE! Such a great year for movies, so many contenders could have won in different years. I remember when Brokeback Mountain (2005) was up for the Oscars, the Best Actor category was SO, STACKED! Every guy, in a different year, would have been the front-runner. It is luck who else is bringing movies out the same time. Both 1917 and Marriage Story could have truly swept the awards in a different year (such as the year of Green Book or Spotlight (2014))

When Halle Berry won an Oscar for best actress in 2001, I at first asked myself, "was her performance in Monster's Ball worthy of an Oscar?" I thought Nicole Kidman's performance in Moulin Rouge! was more deserving.

Sissy Spacek should have won for In the Bedroom (2001), MY GOD she was incredible. The fact she had won before played against her. And yes, the fact no black actress had ever won Best Actress was maybe a factor (but Berry was still giving her career best work, it's not like it was unworthy of an Oscar, just not -- personally -- what I felt was the best performance). It was a good year for actresses. My personal ranking was:
1st. Sissy Spackek for In the Bedroom
2nd. Renee Zellweger for Bridget Jones' Diary
3rd. Halle Berry for Monster's Ball
4th. Nicole Kidman for Moulin Rouge!
5th. Dame Judi Dench for Iris
I mean WHAT A YEAR! When Judi Dench is the "5th best" performance, you know it was epic competition.

[Frobisher]

I would disagree. I think Hopkins was fantastic in the film BUT... why did Pryce have a Brazilian accent but Hopkins... had an English one? Either they should have both had English accents, or Hopkins should have done a German accent. It was very odd he didn't change his voice. But it's easily his best performance in over a decade, and he captured the mannerisms of the Pope beautifully.

Man, if this is true, Anthony Hopkins deserves an Oscar just for pulling off an accent other than Welsh for the first time in his long career.

[Steel Inquisitor]

I'll say this again, "Hollywood" does not say anything with the Oscars. More of the 7000 voters thought that was the best than the other nominees, that is it. We don't know if an award was won by one vote or 1,000. We don't even know who voted, since some people let their wife or children or agent vote for them. No one has a big meeting and decides what message to send. For the most part, all the nominees deserve it. No matter your opinion, more Academy voters might have liked something else.

There are massive Oscar campaigns by movie studios who do exactly this. Award shows like the Academy Awards are only about people who live and work in Hollywood.

[Fergus]

There are massive Oscar campaigns by movie studios who do exactly this. Award shows like the Academy Awards are only about people who live and work in Hollywood.

So the award goes to the campaign that works best? Well I guess the movies that didn't win their studio's should hire better campaign managers.

Also if the awards now go to whoever plays the Joker Leto's still waiting. He was the Joker in an Oscar wining film afterall