And Why No One Watches Anymore…

Here we are again. I feel like we just did this! This year I have made it my personal goal to watch as many awards shows as I can, to be up to date on all of the predictions. I failed miserably of course. I watched the Golden Globes and missed the Critic’s Choice. I missed the Bafta’s, but I snagged the SAG’s. I also missed the Director’s, the Producer’s and the Writer’s Guild Awards, the NAACP’s and the Spirit Awards. I’m terrible at this.

I don’t mind awards shows. I enjoy them for the most part. Red carpets and actor interviews, bad speeches, flubs and the occasional great joke are all reasons to tune in. But the movies? Well, it is getting harder and harder each year to care.

There are a few reasons for the apathy, but here is my analysis, and it is one that I NEVER hear the critics discuss. There is the argument that the Academy is out of touch, that the type of movies that get voted on each year aren’t popular with the public. That’s true of course. But I don’t think extending the field to accommodate ten films helped the issue. No, the number one reason, in my opinion, that the general public could care less about the Oscar’s anymore is the fact that most of these films are not even available for us to see before the ceremony!

Think about it: Out of the 10 nominated films, only Dune part 2 opened in theaters before November of 2024. And in all honesty, THAT film is the best one I saw. It is epic in scale, the cinematography is phenomenal, the acting on display is topnotch and it does not even end on a happy note!

But it will not win. Despite the undeniable hugeness of the film overall, something the Academy used to prefer. Dune Part 2 actually premiered in theaters earlier than any other film in the past 6 years!

A look back at all of the best picture nominations since 2020 revealed that of the 57 films nominated, 37 of them got a wide release in the U.S. between October and December. Another 6 did not even release until the following year! Only 3 films in the past six years were released in the first half of their respective year: Top Gun Maverick, Everything Everywhere Al At Once, and Dune Part Two.

The over-whelming majority of these movies will not be available to stream until well after the Oscar ceremony has concluded. Unless you want to pay an exorbitant price to stream them, you and I, the average movie go-er, will not get to watch these films in time for the Oscar Ceremony.

I myself am actually an avid movie watcher. In fact, I probably go to the movie theater more often than most. I do also make it a point to catch as many Oscar-nominated movies as possible. Many of these movies actually premiere at film festivals a full year in advance! Much to the delight and criticism of podcasters, journalists and producers alike. But that doesn’t help us! And it certainly does nothing for the viewership of the Acadamy Awards. If you want more of the public to watch your ceremony, don’t just inflate your best picture noms or throw us a bone every couple of years by nominating the latest Marvel film. Instead, make all the movies available for us to see!

Or else, maybe make a new rule…if you want to be nominated, your movie MUST be in wide release in the U.S., no later than Thanksgiving! Otherwise, don’t expect the movie going public to care who wins or loses.

^{See below for my thoughts and predictions on the best picture of the year}.

• Anora: Finally gave in and paid for it on Fandango Home for $9.99. It wasn’t worth it. While fun, I truly don’t understand why this is a best picture nod and on so many critics list of best film of the year.
• A Complete Unknown: Again, caved and paid $24.99. My mom wanted to see this one real bad! And it’s good. Definitely worth what we paid (would have been $40 if we went to the theatres) Acting is stellar and it is very entertaining.
• Conclave: My favorite of the year. Saw it with mom IN THE THEATER! It dropped in October, plenty of time to catch it.
• Emilia Perez: Still trying to slog my way through it. It has subtitles so I have to pay close attention. Which is fine! But I am disappointed that it is a musical and half the time I am reading subtitles in Spanish, and I don’t know how the words fit to the music. Also, said music is really bad. I don’t get why this movie has 13 nominations.
• I’m Still Here: Haven’t seen it.
• Nickel Boys: Paid $5.99 to see it two nights ago. Excellent, but terrible. Admired the way it was shot. But I don’t want to see it again. It deserves to be on the list of Noms for sure.
• The Substance: Saw it in the Theaters! Whoo-hoo! Minus the last fifteen minutes, it is a great movie and Demi Moore is mesmerizing and deserves every award she gets!
• Wicked: Obviously I loved it. I think it is far better than many have given it credit for and it deserves to win a couple of awards. Its director also should have been nominated just for handling the amount of people he did. And the lack of a nom for adapted screenplay is asinine. Yes, it’s too long. But I don’t care.
• The Brutalist: Also haven’t seen. I tried. But I needed $20 bucks for this one and I’ve spent all of my money on the other 2 movies I had to pay for this week. This one is probably going to win, and I won’t be seeing it any time soon.