92nd Annual Academy Awards

Haven't seen Uncut Gems yet, but Sandler has always been a rather good actor. He just prefered playing the immature screaming child because that's what he found funny. But at his best he can be incredibly charming like in The Wedding Singer or 50 First Dates, or complex and sympathetic like in Anger Management and Reign Over Me.

2018 and 19 was Sandler doing a lot of projects to show he was more than the Jack and Jills of the world. His Netflix stand up was hilarious, and then he made a film that should be a legitimate Oscar contender. I mean, the field is stacked for Best Actor this year but he deserves a nomination.

Especially since this is his first actually GOOD movie in...what, years? Decades?

Anyway considering Black Panther winning last year, I wonder if Endgame will be up for any nominations?

I mean, of course it will, but what will it be up for?

Edited by theLibrarian on Jan 3rd 2020 at 9:17:41 AM

To be fair Sandler was also great in The Meyerowitz Stories. I also like the Hotel Transylvania series.

Honestly, I'm just picturing people being in disbelief like "wait, is this seriously Adam Sandler? Like the same one who did that animated Hanukkah movie no one liked much? Because man, this is a far cry from that. Like...wow."

Have you seen Punch-Drunk Love? Because this isn't the first time Sandler has gone outside his normal wheelhouse and done a great movie.

Yeah, but it’s been a good long while. People forget that he can do good work if he tries rather than just going through the motions.

I just pointed out a great movie he was in The Meyerowitz Stories. That came in in 2017.

Adam Sandler gets a bad rap because he's done a lot of good in a lot of movies, so it's very very obvious when he's lazily half-assing things for a paycheck.

Yeah the main problem with Sandler is that when he's given good material and actually tries he can be a compelling actor (his performance in Punch-Drunk Love is excellent), but he seemed to have settled with making lowbrow, half-assed trashy comedies where he plays a maladjusted manchild character.

Edited by Draghinazzo on Jan 3rd 2020 at 4:14:37 PM

I saw Uncut Gems. Incredibly good movie, the praise for Sander is justified. I can see why audiences may not appreciate it, though, it's a lot more arthouse than the trailers implied. Sound design is very experimental, the opening credits has background music playing at equal volume as the characters talking, and the characters themselves have a lot of overlapping dialogue. There is one really cool scene at a nightclub with blacklights, everyone is in dull blue and white with another character glowing in a red hoodie.

Overall, I see it as a contender for Picture, Director, Actor, Cinematography and maybe sound design.

The other reason a lot of audiences might not like it is that it's an actively stressful film to watch.

Edited by BigMadDraco on Jan 5th 2020 at 7:30:42 AM

Anyone else going to watch the Golden Globes tonight? I don't remember if they usually help predict the Oscars or not.

My very uneducated predictions for the Golden Globes

Drama: The Irishman

Comedy / Musical: Once Upon A Time In Hollywood

Director: Martin Scorsese, The Irishman

Actor, Drama: Joaquin Phoenix, Joker

Actress, Drama: Renee Zellweger, Judy

Actor, Comedy / Musical: Taron Egerton, Rocketman

Actress, Comedy / Musical: Awkawafina, The Farewell

Supporting Actor: Tom Hanks, Wonderful Day In The Neighborhood

Supporting Actress: Laura Dern, Marriage Story

Screenplay: Noah Baumbach, Marriage Story

Score: Alexander Desplat, Little Women

Song: Into The Unknown from the Frozen II soundtrack

Foreign Language Film: Parasite

Animated Feature: Toy Story 4

Edited by amadeussyracuse on Jan 5th 2020 at 10:44:26 AM

I always forget that the Golden Globes have seperate categories for "drama" and "comedy".

Edited by Brandon on Jan 5th 2020 at 12:48:56 PM

To be fair, so do they, like Best Comedy The Martian.

I know. I mean that was just one of worse cases of Award Category Fraud ever. Right up there with Anthony Hopkins winning lead for The Silence of the Lambs.

Honestly after last year's Oscars I've lost a lot of faith in awards shows. Just enjoy what you enjoy.

How's Uncut Gems stressful to watch?

But yeah, last year's Oscars seemed rather...odd.

Seriously, there was no better film to come out in 2018 than The Shape of Water? I mean, I'm sure it was good, but unless a lot of the Academy judges really wanted to fuck fish-men...

That was the year before. Last year's winner, to enormous backlash, was Green Book.

That's one of their more sensible picks IMO. Sure the premise comes off as a bit weird but it was genuinely a great film and IIRC there wasn't much competition.

Edited by Draghinazzo on Jan 5th 2020 at 5:27:54 AM

Also wrong - it was up against Get Out, Lady Bird, and several other excellent movies.

Oh right, I forgot Get Out came out that year (haven't seen Lady Bird but I'm sure it was great).

Oh yeah, Get Out was part of the best picture nominees, wasn't it? Welp, I bet Shape of Water only won so that Del Toro would get a Best Picture Oscar at some point.

I'm rooting for Knives Out, Rocketman, and Little Women this year myself. Also interested in seeing how Judy will do - it's legitimately great, but... let's just say it doesn't exactly portray Hollywood sympathetically.

Edited by HamburgerTime on Jan 5th 2020 at 3:38:45 AM