EveryOscar Everywhere All At Once

[YouOverThere]

Since I'm not a huge fan of movies, I usually don't get involved in threads about the Oscars. But I did find this year's Oscar selections to be interesting, since Everything Everywhere All At Once seemed to come out of nowhere in the last few months leading up to the Oscars.

I ordinarily only go to movies when my ballet viewing accomplice needs company, and that person isn't into scifi so we didn't take in Everything Everywhere All At Once. After it cleaned up at the Oscars, I decided that I needed to watch it, primarily because I thought that Cate Blanchett had turned in an extraordinary performance in Tar and I wanted to see whether she was really out-done by Michelle Yeoh (and Showtime was offering a 7-day free trial).

I found Everything Everywhere All At Once to be quite boring and a long way from my conception of a Best Picture winner. Implausible pseudo-martial arts fights that took place just because and stupid people with hot dogs for fingers got tiresome really quickly, especially in the abscense of any meaningful plot. The jumping around from universe to universe seemed to be too handy of a way for the writers to avoid coming up with conclusions to plot sequences. But this is far from a universal opinion. Which leads to my question: have we reached the point at which we have two polarized audiences, one, consisting of mostly older people, that enjoys complex plots, developed characters, and aesthetically pleasing scenes, and another, consisting mostly of younger people, that prefers quirkiness, helter skelter and not necessarily connected action, and cartoonish (or video game-ish) characters?

Edited March 15, 2023 by YouOverThere

[dirac]

I couldn't sit through it, myself. You could argue that it was an ideal Academy Award winner for a new era - Marvel Action meets Art House and makes $100 million. But yes, others whose opinion I respect really liked or loved it.

Quote

The jumping around from universe to universe seemed to be too handy of a way for the writers to avoid coming up with conclusions to plot sequences.

And they still managed to go on for over two hours.

[vipa]

I love reading everyone's opinions because I respect so many posters here. In respect to Everything Everywhere All at Once, as an older person, I enjoyed it very much. I felt it was too long in some places and a bit messy in others, but I found it entertaining, creative and funny. Mostly I loved that a big movie that included fantasy, martial arts, swing for the fences effects (some worked some not) took on complex human relationships, emotions and values. Yes, there were moments when I teared up! 

[dirac]

Thank you for posting, vipa. Maybe I should try again. Has anyone else seen it, or have opinions on YouOverThere's question about generational divides?

[abatt]

Mr. Abatt is a big sci fi fan and loved the film.  In contrast, I was bewildered for most of the movie.  It certainly had intergenerational themes regarding the relationship between the young daughter, her parents, and the elderly man who played Michelle Yeoh's father (who is 94 years old in real life).  However, I found the lack of a comprehensible narrative a problem.  It did not strike me as best picture caliber work.   But to each his own... You shouldn't have to watch something multiple times just to figure out what's going on.  

Angela Basset was robbed.

If I were voting, I would have selected All Quiet on the Western Front for best picture.

 

Edited March 16, 2023 by abatt

[California]

22 minutes ago, abatt said:

If I were voting, I would have selected All Quiet on the Western Front for best picture.

I don't see many major motion pictures and have only seen one on the list of nominees-- All Quiet on the Western Front, which I've watched several times on Netflix. Extraordinary work. I'm glad it at least won for best foreign feature film. In showing the horrible reality of war, it reminded me of Platoon.  There's an American-made version from 1979 free on Amazon Prime (with ads), starring Richard Thomas and Ernest Borgnine. Nowhere near the impact for me.

[dirac]

1 hour ago, abatt said:

Angela Basset was robbed.

She agreed with you. That was some serious pouting.

[YouOverThere]

6 hours ago, dirac said:

Has anyone else seen it, or have opinions on YouOverThere's question about generational divides?

A related question is did anyone really like Everything Everywhere All At Once and also really like at least one of the "classical" movies, like All Quiet On The Western Front  or Tar.

Tar is the movie that really stuck with me, because it doesn't tell the audience what to believe but leaves it up to everyone to make their own judgements. My assessment of whether justice was served changed over time. I also thought that the characters were among the most realistic of any movie that I've seen (which admittedly isn't a lot).

[On Pointe]

For me, EEAAO was what's known in the film business as a "tough sit".  In my opinion it was messy,  depressing,  absurdist and ultimately more trivial than profound.   But it wasn't a sequel,  a prequel or based on a comic book.  And it dared to have as action lead a sixty year old woman.  There has been nothing like it for years.  The "Daniels" swung for the fences and found their audience.  That's why it won Best Picture.

As for Angela Bassett's "pout",  check out Kerry Condon's reaction on not winning.  Bassett gets criticized for not faking joy over losing to Jamie Lee Curtis,  who didn't even give the best supporting performance in her own film.  There were other " losers" whose disappointment was evident,  but critics single out Bassett because they know she was robbed.

I enjoyed Tár more than I had anticipated,  but I felt that every big scene went on too long.  The film tries the viewer's patience right at the start with an interminable credit sequence,  so at least there is a forewarning for what's ahead.  The film was very Kubrickian,  which one might expect since the writer-director Tod Field was an actor in Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut.  The scene that has been praised so much,  where Lydia puts a "woke" student in his place,  really annoyed me.  Nothing about it rang true to me.

As a member of SAG-AFTRA,  I vote for the SAG Awards and I take it seriously,  which means I watch a lot of films and television shows that don't necessarily appeal to me,  which is a good thing.  It allows me to discover some absolute gems and expand my artistic horizons.  But a lot of it is a tough slog.

[YouOverThere]

On 3/16/2023 at 12:50 PM, dirac said:

Maybe I should try again.

I gave it a second try. It didn't improve my assessment.

[YouOverThere]

Though I thought that Cate Blanchett deserved the Best Actress award, as a 60-something person who was "quiet fired" for being too old (in the eyes of the management at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Environmental Modeling Center) I find it fascinating that both the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress awards went to 60-something actors.

[lmspear]

On 3/20/2023 at 2:29 PM, YouOverThere said:

I find it fascinating that both the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress awards went to 60-something actors.

It's even more fascinating if you consider the fact that the award went to someone in that age range not named Judi Dench!😃

[abatt]

It certainly is admirable that older women won awards, but I still think there is serious age discrimination in Hollywood and in society in general.   Normal 60 plus people generally don't look as good as Jamie Lee Curtis and Michelle Yeoh.  I would bet that a lot of work and money goes into keeping them looking so good.

[California]

44 minutes ago, abatt said:

I would bet that a lot of work and money goes into keeping them looking so good.

I'm reminded of something Dolly Parton said: "It's take a lot of money to look this cheap!"

 

[On Pointe]

My favorite Dolly Parton line,  when asked how long it takes to do her hair - "I don't know,  'cause I'm never there when they do it!"

I think Michelle Yeoh and Jamie Lee Curtis look their age,  although they were both drabbed up a bit for EEAAO. Hard to believe that Angela Bassett is older than Michelle Yeoh and the same age as Jamie Lee.  Eight of the ten  female nominees in the acting categories this year were over forty years old,  which is unprecedented.  Hollywood has always treated "aging" women very differently from men.  One of my favorite films is Hitchcock's North by Northwest,  where Cary Grant's mother is played by Jessie Royce Landis,  who was only seven years older than Grant.  Angelina Jolie was one year older than Colin Farrell when she played his mother in Alexander.

[dirac]

Quote

It certainly is admirable that older women won awards, but I still think there is serious age discrimination in Hollywood and in society in general.   Normal 60 plus people generally don't look as good as Jamie Lee Curtis and Michelle Yeoh.  I would bet that a lot of work and money goes into keeping them looking so good.

Even ordinary 60-year-olds look better today, although of course not like movie stars. I would say it's a combination of factors - better nutrition, vigorous physical exercise becoming acceptable for girls and women, the decline of smoking, and of course access to better plastic surgery combined with the stigma on obtaining plastic surgery diminishing.

[pherank]

Well, I did manage to watch The Fablemans. But being a Steven Spielberg film, I had various issues with how it was directed, and would not have voted it "Best Picture" myself. But I guess no one else did either.  😉
I'm just starting Tár...

EDIT: Oh that's right - I actually did see Top Gun: Maverick. Funny that I would forget that one. I'm curious if the military finds such films a useful recruitment tool. Including such a film in the Best Picture nominations at least demonstrates some degree of transparency from Hollywood - it's not about inspiration, or originality, it's about money and propaganda that works on junior high school students.

Edited April 17, 2023 by pherank

[dirac]

I rather liked The Fabelmans, flawed as it is, certainly more than I have other Spielberg-Kushner collaborations.

Only thing: People need to stop treating Seth Rogen as if he were a real actor. Casting him as Woz was bad enough, but he was totally lacking in the menschy ordinary-guy attractiveness Bennie should have. He’s not awful, he’s just not adequate.

[pherank]

10 hours ago, dirac said:

Only thing: People need to stop treating Seth Rogen as if he were a real actor.

It's not me, I promise!