By HOWARD MCQUITTER II
The 97th Oscars is –uh– some met my expectations by winning the golden statues. I vote every year. I went 15 right, 7 wrong, not my best year, but not bad when I had to guess on categories such as best Live Action Shorts, Best Cinematography, and Best Song Score.
When I vote for the winner of each category, I vote who will win. It’s not uncommon for me to sweat on getting the right answers often up to the day of the Oscars. Sometimes when I get the right answers I jump for joy.
The movie Anora won Best Picture. Best Actress went to Anora’s Mikey Madison. Best Director went to Sean Baker for Anora. I didn’t get to see Anora until two days after the Oscars. After viewing Anora, I said to myself… “Anora the best picture and Mikey Madison the best actress for the 97th Oscars? Nah.” What a slap in the face to Demi Moore for The Substance or Fernanda Torres for I’m Still Here who were both much more deserving for Best Actress.
Back to Anora as Best Picture; it doesn’t hold a candle to The Brutalist, A Complete Unknown, Conclave, Nickel Boys, Dune: Part Two, The Substance, I’m Still Here, and even Wicked. It’s not like Anora is a bad movie per se. It is kind of a good film as it moves beyond the hackneyed sex scenes, but it has no business winning Best Picture.
As for Best Director, Sean Corbet should have been eclipsed by Brady Corbet for The Brutalist or James Mangold for A Complete Unknown or Coralie Fargeat for The Substance. Who should have been nominated is RaMell Ross for Nickel Boys.
It’s no question the Oscar committee blew it at the 97th Oscars in at least three categories. Although I’m disappointed to a significant degree this year, it is the 1998 Oscars that had the unmitigated audacity to select Shakespeare in Love over Elizabeth, Life is Beautiful, Saving Private Ryan and The Thin Red Line for Best Picture.
Another infamous year for Best Picture was in 2005 when Crash won over neo- noir Brokeback Mountain. Yikes! From 2005 onward, it’s the latter that has been viewed many times on TCM, on TV or through streaming; the former, by its own title, Crashed. I hope next year gives all the most deserving thespians and motion pictures their due.
Howard McQuitter II is a longtime movie critic. He has been reviewing movies for the alley since 2002.
