Welcome to the Weekly Movie Thread, your space on the Avocado for chatting about movies. What have you seen? What are you excited for?
This weekend we sing “Hooray for Hollywood” as The Academy crowns yet another film for best motion picture. The ceremony is being held earlier this year than last year for reasons.
The awards are not always without controversy. This is where I remind you that last year’s winner was The Green Book. Such cynicism between that many several other high profile Academy choices often makes one wonder, “Why keep paying attention to this awards ceremony that, ten years ago, gave the Best Picture award to The King’s Speech in the year that The Social Network, Inception, Toy Story 3, True Grit, and Black Swan were all in contention?”
The answer, my fellow readers, is that it’s fun to talk about.
This year’s nominees for Best Picture include the following:
- Ford v Ferrari
- The Irishman
- Jojo Rabbit
- Joker
- Little Women
- Marriage Story
- 1917
- Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
- Parasite
It’s an eclectic collection of cars, mobsters, Nazis, killer clowns, young adults, estranged couples, soldiers, serial killers, and grifters.
This year’s winner will join the pantheon of classics such as Wings, All Quiet on the Western Front, Casablanca, Lawrence of Arabia, My Fair Lady, The Godfather, and The Silence of the Lambs. While one could argue that these aren’t the best movies of all time, one would be suitably enriched by adding them to one’s viewing experience.
In a way, that’s really the value of the Oscars. Pull up a list of nominees throughout history. Look up what was being nominated any given year. Then see if it’s somewhere on streaming and sit back and enjoy it on some level. It could be the story, the score, the acting, the lighting, the special effects… there’s probably something there you’ll catch that caught the Academy’s eye.
Today’s prompt: Which is your favorite Best Picture winner of all time?
And what’s this?
Merle Oberon is on stage about to announce the winner for Best Actor. It’s Frank …
* Frankie Fane starts to stand up *
… Stallone.
* Frankie Fane freezes while everyone around him claps, joins in and claps a little too enthusiastically *
Public Domain Theater: Angel and the Badman (& “The Arctic Giant”)
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