‘They Don’t Deserve It!’ The Nihilist’s Perspective On This Year’s Best Film Race
Ryan Coleman takes a look around this year’s Oscar nominees and concludes that no good movies were made in 2018
I’m going to be straight-forward here: none of the nominations for Best Picture deserve to win. It’s not that they’re necessarily all bad movies — there’s a reason that these films were nominated, and I acknowledge that.
But the options this year generally lack the qualities of previous nominations. Below I have listed my reasons for why the Oscars Best Picture category should be a wash this year. To be clear, I enjoyed all of these movies. Yet if a movie is going to win the biggest award in the industry, it has to be impressive.
A Star is Born
The film where we learned that Lady Gaga could act. The film that featured a Hollywood darling in Bradley Cooper. A Star is Born examined the life of alcoholic songwriter Jackson Maine and Ally, a young talented singer who’s given the opportunity to make it big.
While Cooper did a phenomenal job as Jackson Maine, expressing the difficulties that fame causes when it comes to depression, alcoholism/drug abuse, and loneliness, the relationship his character has with Ally is just…uncomfortable. The only time it seemed genuine was outside the grocery store early on in the movie. Their entire relationship was motivated by how Jackson was already famous. I mean, imagine meeting someone at a bar and then the next day their own personal driver stalked you around until you went with him. His actions were simply made acceptable because he was a famous singer.
Furthermore, the entire movie was given away in the first six minutes of the film. And it’s not like the foreshadowing was subtle — it was blatantly expressed. Showing nooses behind Cooper while he is alone, drunk, and isolated in the back of his car makes it obvious how he tragically takes his life. But when an audience can figure out and/or already knows the ending, the experience can still be engaging and surprising. Hamilton still has a powerful ending even though you know Alexander is going to die. And while it’s hard to compare A Star is Born to one of the most successful musicals ever, the movie simply did not have the same effect.
Black Panther
While Black Panther did come out over a year ago, the film has still already made history as the first from the superhero genre to be nominated for Best Picture. And to be fair, it is a powerful movie. The score is moving and the writing for Killmonger — as well as Michael B. Jordan’s performance — were all incredibly well done. Also, the cinematography and editing was a spectacle to behold.
Yet Hollywood does have its reasons for denying superhero films from the Oscars for as long as they have. As a movie genre, superhero films have traditionally lacked the strong acting, compelling emotional connection, jittery story lines, and forceful character development that the best picture committee searches for. Black Panther may have cracked the glass regarding superhero movies getting nominated, but the genre as a whole still has a long way to go before it becomes a regular at awards shows.
BlacKkKlansman
This Spike Lee joint set in 1970s gave a chilling look on today’s political climate. Currently, howeverm the movie nominated for six little gold men sits at +3000 to win Best Picture, the sixth best odds out of the eight nominees. And while the ending was powerful, many believed that the ending simply carried the entire movie, and if it weren’t for that then the movie would be mediocre (Editor’s Note: This).
John David Washington and Adam Driver moved this movie forward, and their chemistry was fun to watch. I personally loved this movie, but it seems like the rest of moviegoers did not. It kept me engaged throughout and I was entirely convinced that Penelope was going to die. The up and coming John David Washington hit the ground running with his performance. Still, though, it seems like quite a long shot for this film to take home the most prestigious award in film.
Bohemian Rhapsody
Rami Malek was absolutely incredible as Freddie Mercury. Not only did he sink into his role but he had to play FREDDIE MERCURY! It was an incredible performance within an entertaining film that reminded me of the wonders of Queen. Obviously, you know that this is a nihilist’s view on the Best Picture nominations, so you’re probably expecting a big ‘ol “but.” And you’re right!
While Rotten Tomatoes isn’t the best metric to go by, it’s still is a solid way to gauge a movie’s quality. Since 2010, Bohemian Rhapsody is the second-lowest-rated movie nominated for Best Picture. Yes, there was a pretty big difference between the critics’ and the public’s reaction to this movie; nevertheless, it very well may be the worst Best Picture nomination of all time.
As a movie, it gave brief summary of the entire history of Queen that flew by. The movie simply left me with more questions than anything else. It went too fast to go into detail about any one bit of the greatest rock band in history from their origins to the battle with different managers to the actual making of their music to Freddie’s familial relationship. If there is going to be a movie done about Queen, it better be spectacular, and this simply wasn’t.
The Favourite
This movie was just…weird. I’m not exactly sure how else to explain it really, but if you have seen it, I’m pretty sure you understand. The banter between Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz was entertaining to watch; the struggle for power and acceptance from Olivia Colman was intriguing; but the film style was odd and off-putting.
The usage of a fisheye camera and distorted views confused me and took me out of the movie, too. There were many distracting elements to this cinema from the extravagant costumes to the experimental film styles to the struggle that Olivia Colman’s character had in her own mind. It was a lot to throw at the audience, and the ending simply left me disappointed.
I was a big fan of the bunnies though. I think they should deserve an award.
Green Book
Green Book left me with many questions and concerns when leaving the movie theater. These included (but were not limited to) questions like:
- How accurate was the story?
- Why was this story around Viggo Mortensen’s character and not Mahershala Ali’s?
- Did Dr. Shirley have that interview style with all the candidates?
- Why is Mahershala Ali SOOO good at acting?
Also, this movie made me squirm a bit in my seat when considering it as another white savior film that helped propogate the “magical negro” stereotype. Not only this, but the film is under controversy, as Shirley’s family has come out and said that this film is a “symphony of lies” which simply calls into question the entire credibility of Peter Farrelly and the movie as a whole.
Furthermore, while Ali and Mortenson are strong actors, they aren’t strong enough to hold the audience’s attention with just them on the screen for a majority of the movie. I enjoyed this film, but the controversy and questions surrounding it simply take away from the quality that would make it a best picture winning level option.
Roma
The current favorite for best picture implemented such remarkable cinematography that the film made an otherwise stale plot interest me. While the imagery was beautiful, the narrative structure was a bit slow and left me dozing off at times, especially in the beginning, where I had to even backtrack at certain points. It was hard to engage with the characters when their lives seemed so simple and uninteresting with so little dialogue throughout. It was almost as if I was watching real life of a family going through their everyday schedule and was too confused to tell where the story was going for the first twenty minutes or so.
When the story finally reached its climax — the heart-wrenching stillborn scene — I was engaged for sure, as that long shot was incredible. But it came too early in the movie. There was still a significant portion of the movie left to play, and I wondered what the reason for that was. Yalitza Aparacio saving the children in the ocean was again, incredibly well-shot.
This movie is basically a lock for best cinematography, but the narrative story structure left me uninterested at times and wanting to simply pause the movie and go watch something else.
Vice
Vice, Rotten Tomatoes’ third-worst ranked movie to be nominated for Best Picture since 2010, was similar to The Favourite in that its style took me away from the content presented. The ethos and credibility established throughout the movie was given up for comedic scenes such as the fake credits or Shakespearean dialect implemented. And while those parts were entertaining, it led me to question the accuracy behind the entire production.
I understand that “they did their fucking best”… but what does that mean, exactly? Plenty of people fail miserably after trying their best. The casting of Steve Carell was a bit off, too, considering he is historically a comedic actor. For me, it made it more difficult to take such serious visuals and themes to heart. Christian Bale as Cheney — and his soliloquy at the end — was awe-inspiring, no questions asked. But McKay’s style of film disengaged me from what should have been an incredibly impactful film.
Seriously, though, BlacKkKlansman was amazing. I loved it. Please let it win Best Picture.
You can follow Ryan Coleman on Twitter here and make sure to follow along @unplugg_d as we watch the 2019 Academy Awards!
