Oscar Nominations: ‘Oppenheimer’ Tops With 13, With ‘Poor Things’, ‘Killers Of The Flower Moon’ And ‘Barbie’ Close Behind – Full List

Deadline ^ | January 23, 2024 | Mike Fleming Jr, Patrick Hipes

[sphinx]

Best Picture

American Fiction Ben LeClair, Nikos Karamigios, Cord Jefferson and Jermaine Johnson, Producers

Anatomy of a Fall Marie-Ange Luciani and David Thion, Producers

Barbie David Heyman, Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley and Robbie Brenner, Producers

The Holdovers Mark Johnson, Producer

Killers of the Flower Moon Dan Friedkin, Bradley Thomas, Martin Scorsese and Daniel Lupi, Producers

Maestro Bradley Cooper, Steven Spielberg, Fred Berner, Amy Durning and Kristie Macosko Krieger, Producers

Oppenheimer Emma Thomas, Charles Roven and Christopher Nolan, Producers

Past Lives David Hinojosa, Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler, Producers

Poor Things Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone, Producers

The Zone of Interest James Wilson, Producer

[sphinx]

I checked search. No one seems to have posted the Oscars nominations yet, so here it is. Have at it.

I have seen five of the ten Best Picture nominees: American Fiction; The Holdovers; Oppenheimer; Past Lives; and The Zone of Interest, which has just hit theaters.

I can't speak to the five I've not watched, but of the five I HAVE seen, none of them are woke. And I would argue that at least three of them are culturally conservative, with the other two being non-objectionable on the left-right purity meter (which is not the only test for films, but it's a factor in discussions here). So to all of those who insist that Hollywood the film industry doesn't make good movies anymore, nonsense. Don't say that if you refuse to watch the good ones when they do come out. These may not be your favorite genres or styles, but they ain't woke agitprop agenda films.

Gratuitous nudity and sex? Of the five I've seen, only Oppenheimer has a nude scene (or maybe two?), very brief. I thought it was entirely gratuitous, but of the five I've seen, Oppenheimer was the only big budget, big studio tentpole, and that's probably part of the reason. The others are small, independent, character driven movies, and the actors keep their clothes on. Of the five I've not seen, only Poor Things is being hyped on the sex and nudity track. How much may sneak into the others, I don't know, but at this point Poor Things is probably the transgressive favorite, just as was Power of the Dog a couple of years ago (and it didn't win, being beat out by CODA).

I speculated two years ago that CODA coming from behind to beat Power of the Dog, the apparent heavy favorite going in, may have reflected same people in the industry starting to push back against the cultural rot. Maybe. Last year's nominations didn't dissuade me from that. Nor do this year's. At least sone people in the industry -- some of whom may have been keeping their heads down and biting their tongues in recent years -- seem clearly to understand that wokeness and DEI are killing the industry. This has been rumbling through many discussions in the last few years, and on my optimistic days, I think the pendulum may be beginning to swing back. Not everyone in the industry is a lunatic, and many of them understand that systematically insulting their audience is not a good business strategy. Except at Disney; the groomer network may be beyond salvaging.

Hate Hollywood? Fine. Look to the indies and foreign films. The industry is so internationalized that this gets tricky, but Zone of Interest is a joint U.S., U.K., and Polish production. Past Lives is an immigrant story; the writer-director, Celine Song, was born in Seoul, immigrated to Canada with her parents as a child, and came later to the U.S. How much of the story is autobiographical is a good question, but clearly a lot of it is. That said, the film is an excellent Korean-American hybrid. And it's an independent production distributed by A24, so it's not from the Borg.

Thoughts? Get your votes in now, just in case some sane members of the Academy are lurking here in search of our guidance.

[sphinx]

movie ping

[bray]

If it is nominated for an Oscar it is not worth watching.

[Jeff Chandler]

Thanks. I’ll check out the five you’ve watched.

[Drew68]

LMAO that Ken gets nominated while Barbie doesn’t! It is shocking that Greta Gerwig was snubbed. She’s the first female director with a billion dollar movie.

I’ve been seeing a lot of conservative praise for “American Fiction” so I might have to put this one in my list once it hits the streaming services.

[sphinx]

My pick for Best Picture? Probably American Fiction. I really liked the savage mockery of woke white liberals. This movie says about the lefties exactly what we have been saying for years, and it is unrelenting and hilarious. The movie is complex and nuanced in other ways, but every white character in the movie is a smug, patronizing, condescending, virtue signaling liberal. And having seen and read several of the interviews with the cast and writer-director, I have the sneaking suspicion that they do not yet realize that they have produced a parody that is about as subtle as Ladyballers, the latest Daily Wire movie that sadly requires a subscription to view.

One of my hobbyhorse interests is movies whose subtext may go far beyond the conscious intention of the filmmakers. As I argue very repetitively -- so I won't repeat it here -- this happens because reality is conservative, so honest storytellers who want to be serious about serious issues may end up writing truth, whatever their own personal politics. My go-to examples are The Florida Project, which is a very conservative film even if Sean Baker doesn't realize it, and Never Let Me Go, which is probably the best anti-abortion movie you've never seen -- and I would bet a donut and a cup of coffee that nobody associated with the movie realizes this.

[Rummyfan]

Barbie for Best Picture. Really?!

[butlerweave]

They should take it back to a private restaurant like it was when they created it

[Magnum44]

I’ve only seen about three movies on the big screen since COVID. Its got to be one I really want to see for me to bother with a theatre anymore (i.e. Top Gun: Maverick, No Time to Die, and the Hunger Games prequel). If you wait a few months they all come out on DVD through the library or on one of the streaming channels.

[Theo]

“Ken” was great. So much of the rest of the film ... not so much.

[Reily]

I’ve seen the movie and read the book Oppenheimer is based on. I found the long drawn out dramatic displays of Oppenheimer’s moral angst very annoying. I thought the portrayals of Groves and Strauss were excellent. I think Sam Waterson did a better job as Oppenheimer in the 1990s UK TV series on Oppenheimer.

The one thing in my opinion the movie didn’t do is bring out Oppenheimer’s moral arrogance.

I’ve only read the book on the Flower Moon story. Excellent book!

[sphinx]

If it is nominated for an Oscar it is not worth watching.

If it is recommended by sphinx, it is worth seeing.:) You and I may not like the same kind of movies, but I don't recommend woke trash. And not everyone in the film industry is crazy.

[Theo]

We always check out Plugged In reviews before spending money on a film.

That’s why we haven’t seen, and won’t see, Oppenheimer:

https://www.pluggedin.com/movie-reviews/oppenheimer-2023/

Just too much sexual content. :-/

[Crusher138]

Poor Things is pretty much porn.

Children of the Flower Moon is “White Man Bad.” In this instance, there were bad white men, but making white men the villains over and over again is getting old.

Oppenheimer was okay. I live in New Mexico. I was friends with his nephew. Been to the museums. Seen the documentaries. Except for the gratuitous sex, it was pretty much “been there, seen that, bought the t-shirt.”

Really, I am probably just going to stay away from the Oscars on general principals. About 1/3 of the movies are okay. That really isn’t anything to be celebrated. They can do better.

[BigFreakinToad]

I’ve not watched any of them. Buddy said Oppenheimer was weird, to long and said there was no reason for all the nudity. I would suggest the movie Fat Man and Little boy if you have to get your nuke on.

About the only thing of interest to me would be the beekeeper.

[mewzilla]

Another year where I haven’t seen anything nominated.

Go me!

[silent majority rising]

I guess some still care. I sure don’t.

[Reno89519]

Has anyone watched Astroid City? I did last night. It was quirky, artistic, and rather good. I liked it.

[sphinx]

I've not seen Barbie, so I dunno. I'd be glad to hear your review. I'm aware of the feminist chatter around it, but up to this point, I'm not interested enough to check it out. That said, it sold a LOT of tickets. The theaters have been taking it on the chin since the advent of streaming, and covid was a killer. On top of that, with Marvel and Star Wars and Indiana Jones and Disney animation all crashing, the superhero tentpole strategy is going bust. Barbenheimer was a lifesaver for an industry -- the theaters, not the studios -- that desperately needed one.

As you know, I think we need to keep theatrical distribution alive to have a healthy ecosystem that gives smaller films room to find an audience. If the theaters go down, the Borg will control everything. And the Borg is headed towards consolidation, with Apple, Amazon, and Netflix owning the whole industry. So -- I don't care if there's a comic book movie selling out theaters at the other end of the hall if they help keep the doors open for screens showing smaller films.

Nominate Barbie? I can't speak to the cinematic quality of the movie, but the industry recognizing its biggest box office success -- and one that doesn't feature flying spandex -- is ok with me. I don't mind Barbie as one of the ten. I do hope it doesn't win.

[sphinx]

I’ve not. It keeps bubbling up in the discussion as a movie that appeals strongly to a certain audience but will miss with others. I always keep track of freeper recommendations, so I will add it to my watchlist. Thanks.