Unofficial Academy Awards Discussion Board

Reza wrote:

ITALIANO wrote:Either it's been a terrible year for American cinema, or these people of the AFI don't understand anything about movies. (A Star is Born? A Quiet Place? And I haven't seen Green Book or Mary Poppins yet, but, I mean, come on...).

And yes, the Roma mention is a sign of such a cultural and intellectual weakness...

At least they should be commended for not including Widows on their list. It's such a formulaic film and I don't understand why critics are raving about it.

Yes, but they know that Widows doesn't have a chance now at the Oscars. They know that A Star is Born and Roma WILL be nominated (and will win) though.

I cannot for the life of me get the acclaim for Eighth Grade, an extremely annoying film about YouTube worship that begins with one of the most excruciating monologues in film history and meanders from scene to scene with nothing to say that hasn't been said a thousand times before in much better films about young girls. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn it ain't.

ITALIANO wrote:Either it's been a terrible year for American cinema, or these people of the AFI don't understand anything about movies. (A Star is Born? A Quiet Place? And I haven't seen Green Book or Mary Poppins yet, but, I mean, come on...).

And yes, the Roma mention is a sign of such a cultural and intellectual weakness...

At least they should be commended for not including Widows on their list. It's such a formulaic film and I don't understand why critics are raving about it.

I think they need to refine their criteria for selection: https://www.afi.com/afiawards/criteria.aspx

MaxWilder wrote:

Mister Tee wrote:AFI movies of the year
Special Award (because inelligible)
Roma

Jeez. "Lest we get bad press and an outcry on social media for 'snubbing' Roma, here's a special award." The race is over, I guess.

At least ROMA is an "American" film in the sense it takes place on one of the American continents! What the fuck is American about THE FAVOURITE or MARY POPPINS RETURNS? A single actor from the U.S. starring in the film makes it more "American" than ROMA? At least with BLACK PANTHER the main villain was motivated by his distinctly African-American viewpoint. How that viewpoint clashed with those of the continental African heroes was what made the movie so compelling.

I know the AFI always selects a few distinctly foreign movies (DUNKIRK last year, SILENCE the year before), but it pisses me off that they care more about influencing the Oscars than honoring worthy, actual American films like THE RIDER, FIRST MAN, or CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME? (to name a few).

Italiano wrote
Either it's been a terrible year for American cinema, or these people of the AFI don't understand anything about movies.

It is widely believed to be an unimpressive year for film.

Either it's been a terrible year for American cinema, or these people of the AFI don't understand anything about movies. (A Star is Born? A Quiet Place? And I haven't seen Green Book or Mary Poppins yet, but, I mean, come on...).

And yes, the Roma mention is a sign of such a cultural and intellectual weakness...

I was running out and didn't have time for comment on these.

It seems to me this group had one eye on the Oscars, with special emphasis on the Board of Governors' notion that they need Popular Films. I mean, A Star is Born, sure, and Black Panther, I guess, but both Mary Poppins Returns AND A Quiet Place? (Also Green Book, which doesn't even need audiences to be deemed Popular.) On the other side, you'd have thought First Man and maybe Widows would be up their alley, but they've absorbed the "they were flops, so the Academy won't bite" rationale and left them off. And their special award to Roma more or less screams "We know it's an Oscar hopeful, but we weren't allowed to include it".

In this limited context, BlackkKlansman was probably the biggest winner (something it needed, after being ignored to date), The Favourite and Beale Street seem down-the-middle choices, and Eighth Grade/First Reformed are officially the Little Movies that voters will push as far as possible. And Vice is either too late or too divisive for inclusion.

Mister Tee wrote:AFI movies of the year
Special Award (because inelligible)
Roma

Jeez. "Lest we get bad press and an outcry on social media for 'snubbing' Roma, here's a special award." The race is over, I guess.

The Academy usually goes with two that they don’t, which I’m guessing would be Vice and I would say First Man but it’s starting to feel like that film might never be able to recover from its box office failure.

Good for Eighth Grade.

AFI movies of the year

Blackkklansman
Black Panther
Eighth Grade
If Beale Street Could Talk
The Favourite
First Reformed
Green Book
Mary Poppins Returns
A Quiet Place
A Star is Born

Special Award (because inelligible)
Roma