And the Oscar goes to...

JENN McKINLAY: It’s that season, folks. Award Show Season! From January through March, we have so many award shows. It’s crazy! We have the Golden Globes, the Critics Choice, the BAFTA, the SAG, and then the mother of them all–the Oscars. 

Here's the full list: https://deadline.com/feature/awards-season-calendar-oscars-emmys-golden-globes-list-1234814076/

Honestly, I have very mixed feelings about these award shows. First, how many awards do y’all need to give yourselves? Just sayin’. Second, if I’m not nominated (LOL) why should I care? And third, oooh, look at all the sparkly people–okay, bring me the popcorn!

See? I’m conflicted. Mostly, I think film award shows are a big snooze, especially if I didn’t get a chance to see every film that was nominated. But back when I was a librarian, my friend Joe Cajero and I would open up the Vanity Fair website while we worked the reference desk the morning after an awards show and we would dish about all of the outfits – boys and girls – and we’d laugh ourselves stupid doing terrible Joan Rivers-esque commentary. Good times!

Refreshingly, the Golden Globes this year were wonderful. A perfect antidote to last year’s Oscar debacle. Heartfelt and hilarious speeches from actresses and actors who have done their time in the industry and were FINALLY recognized. I loved it! (Probably, because I saw both Everything Everywhere All At Once and White Lotus). Although, full disclosure, I didn't watch the show but caught the highlights the next day, as you do.

How about it, Reds? Do you watch award shows? 

HALLIE EPHRON: The one award program I always watch is the TONY AWARDS. I’m a huge Broadway fan and you get to see scenes and musical numbers performed by the original Broadway casts. Priceless. And in the event that I DO get to NY and sometimes it seems like need to win the lottery (SO expensive!) I know which plays are at the top of my list when I get to the front of theTKTS discount ticket line.

Otherwise I do skip the other awards. Completely. Except for looking up what Tom and Lorenzo have to say about the outfits the next day.

Jenn: Love the fashion critiques! But in my eyes, Michelle Yeoh can do no wrong.

RHYS BOWEN: I’m with Hallie about the Tony’s. I love musical theater. But the others? The hideous dresses on the red carpet? All those speeches thanking the little people? No thanks. Having said that I do watch the Oscars sometimes.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I rather guiltily confess that I love the awards shows. My daughter and I like to message gossip as we watch. Of course I've seldom seen more than one or two films, but it gives me a chance to sample what I might like to watch. After the Golden Globes (which I really enjoyed) we watched The Fablemans and Everything Everywhere All At Once and loved both. I just saw the nominations for the Baftas and they have SNUBBED Spielberg and The Fablemans! I am shocked! Although it is a very Amercian-experience film, but still!

LUCY BURDETTE: Before Covid, we liked watching the Oscars and made a big effort to see most of the best pictures, and also the shorts. (The Tropic Cinema in Key West brought these to town, and we always felt a bit like insiders.) These days we’ve only been to the movies once, so I doubt we’ll be watching anything!

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I always used to watch the Tony awards and the Oscars with Youngest, and Debs talking about “message gossiping” makes me realize I should make a date with her to enjoy the shows together. They’re always so much more fun when you’re with other people, virtually or not. 

One of the things I love to do when award shows are on? Follow the Twitter stream. Pick a hashtag and stick with it - there is always so much delightful wit and snark on display. 

OMG, We need to do our own Jungle Reds Oscar group-watch livestream. 

Jenn: YES!!! That would be a hoot!

HANK PHILLIPI RYAN: Julia! We DO! I will confess that I love any kind of competition about anything. It is SO sad, and so un-self-actuallzed, and I feel very guilty about it. 

You have to remember, if you will, that I was maybe 10 when I watched my first Miss America, and back then, to a little girl  in the fifties, it was a really fun thing to watch with my mother. And actually aspirational.  I still think it’s complicated. And that’s  probably another blog. 

But awards shows for productions–again, I love competitions, as unenlightened as it seems.  I love the clothes! I really do. And I love the speeches, and I love hating when they play music to stop them. And I love watching the fake approval on the faces of the audiences (and losers.)

 I don’t believe that “winning” actually means that the thing was the best of the things,  but as someone who has won (and lost) it’s much more fun to win, and it’s actually gratifying.  I really enjoy seeing the winners be happy.. And fun to see something that you love win. Like-yeah, I knew that.

And yes,the Tonys, that’s a different deal. You get to see scenes, and that’s great. That’s totally value added.

And the Grammys are a great way of finding out what music you’re supposed to know about but don’t. And  again, like all of them, SO much fun to yell at the clothing choices!

How about you, Readers? Any award show watchers out there? Yea or nay?

Your 'Best Picture" Award

INGRID THOFT

Last night, "The Shape of Water" was awarded the “Best Picture” Oscar at the 90th annual Academy Awards show in Hollywood.  This film was a feast for the eyes and a grown up fairy tale about love, acceptance, and the meaning of "humanity."  I really enjoyed it, but that's not always the case when it comes to the "Best Picture" winner.

It seems that the “Best Picture” often goes to the movie deemed “most important” by the Academy.  Movies definitely play a role in moving forward cultural conversations and societal norms—isn’t that, in fact, one of the main benefits of any art form—but movies are also forms of entertainment.  Sometimes, we just want to escape the woes of the real world and lose ourselves in an alternate reality. 

We’ve discussed our favorite bad movies on Jungle Red, but I’m wondering to which movie you would award your personal “Best Picture” award?  My vote goes to "Raiders of the Lost Ark."  It has everything that a best picture should have:  adventure, action, a social conscience, romance, exotic locations, Harrison Ford, and it stands the test of time.  The official Best Picture winner in 1982?  “Chariots of Fire," which was a terrific movie, but not one I’ve watched multiple times.

Which film gets a shiny gold statue from you, Reds?

RHYS BOWEN:  One I thought had everything was "Out Of Africa."  Incredible romance and those gorgeous African scenes. Of the current crop I was impressed with "The Darkest Hour" and my daughter loved "The Shape of Water."

JENN McKINLAY: I'm not a huge fan of award shows because I feel like these people give themselves an awful lot of accolades and they're not exactly curing cancer, but I digress. If I had to pick my best movie, it would be "Field of Dreams." It had so many layers. I just loved it. Side note: I would absolutely follow James Earl Jones anywhere, even into the cornfield. I adored "Out of Africa" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark," too, but Shoeless Joe's story wins out for me.

Ray Liotta and Kevin Costner in "Field of Dreams"

HALLIE EPHRON: I know I'm going WAY back to a movie that came out before I was old enough to even go to the movies, but I still love: "Born Yesterday." It stars Judy Holliday who was the most divine comedienne. A sort of precursor to "Pretty Woman" except the guy is a gangster and she outs him. Then, of course, "Some Like It Hot." And "Singin' in the Rain." Another much darker oldie: "Diabolique" with Simone Signoret: a man's wife and his mistress conspire to kill him and the corpse disappears. The scariest bathtub scene in moviedom.

IPT: "Singin' in the Rain" is one of my favorites, too!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  Oh, I love "Born Yesterday," too! ("It's car-TEL!")  But that is the world's toughest question.  For big movies, "The Godfather" is incomparable--I could watch that a million times, and see something fabulous and different every time.  But I also love "The Philadelphia Story," (and "High Society.")

I will watch "Working Girl" any time it's on--I think Melanie Griffith's character is  touching and empowering, and every time the Let The River Run theme comes up at the end, and you see her pure happiness soar compared to the vastness of New York City..ah.  I guess I love ugly duckling stories, because I am also fond of "The Devil Wears Prada." And! "Desk Set." And "Adam's Rib." But best movie of all time?  I need to keep thinking.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Ingrid, I love "Raiders of the Lost Ark!" I also love the first Star Wars, clunky dialogue and all, but such fun. "Out of Africa" was one of my picks, too, Rhys. And "Field of Dreams," Jenn! "Field of Dreams" is my daughter's favorite movie ever, but for me, "Bull Durham" is right up there with it. But, at least for the moment, my final Best Movie comes down to two that I can't choose between. "The Holiday," written and directed by Nancy Meyers, staring Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, and Jack Black, with fabulous supporting actors including Eli Wallach, great music by Hans Zimmer, funny, sweet, smart, and romantic.

And--"The Big Easy" starring Dennis Quaid and Ellen Barkin. Mystery, suspense, romance (sexy!!!), humor, great dialogue, great New Orleans atmosphere, and GREAT music. Anyone who has never seen it should do it now.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I'm so glad we're discussing picks from all movies, because the only things I've seen of this year's nominees has been "The Post" and half of "Dunkirk." (Ross and I went to see it, but the sound was SO LOUD he called it quits after forty minutes, poor guy.) I tend to spend my money on flicks that need a big screen: superhero movies or splashy thrillers. I wait for others until they come out in DVD or streaming.

That being said, my award-winner would be the original "Die Hard." It's an almost perfect example of storytelling. Every little beat from the early part of the film turns out to be relevant later. No dangling threads, nothing not in service to the plot or characters. And despite being the very definition of an action movie, it's still completely focused on the people at the center of the story: the scared, vulnerable hero; his steel-spined business executive wife; the ordinary schlub cop; and of course, Alan Rickman playing his villain just shy of over the top. Love it, and we watch it every year on Christmas Eve.

Your turn, Readers.  What is your "Best Picture?"

I Wish I Could UN-See That Movie!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Well, the Oscars were last night, and (fill in the blank) was awesome, and what a surprise about (fill in the blank) and didn't(fill in the blank) look incredible? (Fill in the blank) was such a disappointment, and (fill in the blank) was so inarticulate. And could you believe the...well, you get the point. You don't need US to talk about the Academy Awards, and all the  movies and stars that were honored.

(We're happy to discuss it, of course!)

But let's do the opposite. Let's talk about movies we hate. Not so-bad-they're good movies, like Plan Nine from Outer Space and Point Break, but ones that were disappointments, or ridiculous, or absurd, or over-hyped, or just--unbearably awful.

My most un-favorite? THE VANISHING.   SPOORLOOS in Dutch, but it had subtitles. That was the creepiest movie I've ever seen, and actually, I wish I could UNsee it. (There's a  American verison, but I'm talking about the original.)  A young couple stops at a highway rest stop. The girl goes inside to the bathroom,and never comes out. And the guy spends the rest of the movie looking for her. Completely and totally obsessed.

(This isn't a spoiler.) So eventually, he gets asked--"You can find out what happened to her, but the same thing will happen to you. Do you wanna know?"  

I can't even write about it. It was SO disturbing. How about you? Any movies you wish you could UNsee?

LUCY BURDETTE: I am getting better at not going to movies I'd like to unsee later. But I did see the live-action shorts. And I wish I could unsee the first one, called DEATH of a SHADOW. A man had to kill 1000 people and then he could be released from his own death. Isn't that a creepy premise? At least we didn't have to slump through all 1000 deaths.

The funny thing is, the film that won this category last year was funny and quirky and upbeat, and yet all the offerings for 2012 were downers, with harsh settings (Somalia and Afghanistan, for example) and grim characters. I guess it's a sign of the times?

RHYS BOWEN: I don't do disturbing movies any more. When I was young I'd go to dark and violent foreign films and sit drinking wine dissecting them afterward. Now I can't handle too much darkness. I like my movies to be well-written and great human dramas (or comedies). My major beef recently with movie theaters is the sound level. Saw the Hobbit in Imax and the sound during the previews was so loud it actually hurt my ears. I haven't seen any movies I hate recently because I only go now on recommendations from friends and good reviewers. Movies like Quartet and Marigold Hotel--that's my speed. The one movie remember absolutely hating after it received so much praise was Raging Bull, every second word was a four letter one. We walked out.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I agree with you, Rhys. I'm fine with the f-bomb once in a while, as necessary, but I've never had much tolerance for being carpet-bombed. You can't convince me that the original 1962 CAPE FEAR with Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum was less scary than the more graphically violent and obscenity-laden remake with Robert DeNiro and Nick Nolte.

Graphic violence usually turns it into a can't-see flick for me. The only film I can remember walking out of is SAVAGES. I like Don Winslow's books, but I can stomach a lot more on the printed page than I can onscreen. I lasted until the "heroes" are forced to help torture a guy before I couldn't take it anymore. Caught the last half hour of THE AVENGERS instead.

A movie that I just hated? In theaters now. A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD stunk like a fish left out in the sun for three days. And I LOVE the DIE HARD series. Plot holes so gaping, Ross, the Boy and I were turning to each other in the theater and asking each other, "But wouldn't he..?" Afterwards, Ross said, "I wish we had seen that in a foreign language. Without subtitles. It would have hung together better."

HALLIE EPHRON: Like Rhys, I stick to movies I've read about and won't make me feel like I stepped in it. So I've got to go back... to A Clockwork Orange. Gleefully torture and maim, tra la. Ick and double ick. Masterpiece schmassterpiece.

The good thing about watching movies at home is FAST FORWARD and the ever handy MUTE button.

ROSEMARY HARRIS: This is a hard one.  I've been disappointed in a lot of movies but UNSEE really raises - or is it lowers - the bar.  There's only one I REALLY wish I'd never seen, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. Don't ask me to explain.

For the record I love Plan 9 From Outer Space, 2000 Maniacs, Eeegah!, Valley of Gwangi and a lot of movies many people think are dreadful. I just bought a copy of Frogs! This is a film I've never seen but have mentioned many times in my talk Mischief and Mayhem in the Garden. It stars Oscar winner Ray Milland and carries the memorable taglines "They're not the ones who croak!" and "First the pond - then the world!" I can't wait to watch it.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Because at our house, Friday night is At Home Movie Date Night, and Rick often chooses, I watch all sorts of things. He does make an effort to find things I'll like, so the stinkers are more often my choices. Like Syriana. Hated that movie. And very recently, Flight. I won't say I hated it--good performance by Denzel Washington--but it was pretty much a case of suffering through it. Nice ending, but SO depressing getting there. And SO long.
Movies I wish I could unsee? I think I'm with Hallie on Clockwork Orange. I did my best to erase it from my memory files.

But my current "wish I could unsee" is a TV show, the new series called The Following with James Purefoy and Kevin Bacon, two fine actors. I watched ten minutes of the pilot, thought it was awful, turned it off. Then last week, in a hotel room, the second episode came on and I watched the whole thing in a sort of numb state of shock.  It's not only vile, but BAD. As in bad acting, bad dialogue, unbelievable characters... Just dreadful. Do not be tempted to watch this or you'll want to take a memory-erase pill!

HANK: See? And this is why the world goes round. I loved Clockwork Orange. And I LOVED Raging Bull.  And Ro, I am still laughing over "They're not the onlly ones who croak!" Classic. But you'd never want to unsee it. As for The Following, I have to say, I kind of like it. But it is incredibly violent.  And I just don't like to take up room in my head with that. Which reminds me of a scene in the otherwise-fabulous Game of Thrones I wish I hadn't seen.  Eeessh.

So ,Reds--whats the movie that makes your brain crawl? That you wish you could unsee? And to celebrate Debs wonderful new THE SOUND OF BROKEN GLASS--the oppoite of unsee!--we're giving away a copy to one lucky commenter!

Name that award!

ROSEMARY: Okay the movies have the Oscars, the Golden Globes, the Independent Spirit Awards, and the lesser known Razzies (awarded to titanically bad films.) We've got Grammys, Tonys, Emmys and probably more female-sounding awards I've never heard of. And the mystery community has no shortage of honors it bestows. Bouchercon has the Anthony, MWA has the Edgar and Malice Domestic has the Agatha. There are Barrys, Davids, Macavitys, Loveys, Leftys, Watsons, Dilys Winns, Nero Wolfes and for all I know the Moes, the Larrys and the Curlys. Time to put your thinking caps on - if you were coming up with an award for an accomplishment in the mystery community - or not - what would it be called and what would it be for? Best answer wins a copy of Slugfest which comes out next Tuesday!!

Handicapping the Oscars

ROBERTA: The Academy Awards are coming this weekend! I don't pretend to be a movie expert--I haven't even seen all the nominees. But I won't let that stop me from having opinions... Here they are:

Best actor: I did like George Clooney in UP IN THE AIR, but in the end he couldn't hold a candle to the dissipated country music star played by Jeff Bridges in CRAZY HEART. I'll be disappointed if Bridges doesn't get it.

Best actress: As with Clooney, I admired Sandra Bullock in THE BLIND SIDE--and I haven't liked much of what she's done lately. But she was overshadowed by Meryl Streep in JULIE AND JULIA and Gabourey Sidibe in PRECIOUS (astonishing movie!) I have to go with Streep for her chameleon-like performance as Julia Child.

Best supporting actress: this has to go to Mo'Nique in PRECIOUS. Was she not one of the most terrifying mothers ever played on film?

Best picture: PRECIOUS

I had the chance to see both the animated and the live action shorts. The word this year is DARK. My goodness, is anything wrong with a nice romance? Anyway, I'd vote for THE NEW TENANTS in the live action division--dark as all get-out, but a measure of black humor thrown in.

JAN: Live action division??? There's a live action division?? That shows you how long its been since I've sat down and watched the Oscars. You can't trust any nomination from me because I just nominate the actors from the movies I've happened to have seen. But given, that, I'll vote for Meryl Streep as Julia Child.

HANK: Um, well, um. I'm usually the big movie person, but this year I'm pitifully out of the loop. (Can we talk about, maybe, Lawrence of Arabia? Okay, not that bad. But..) Anyway, we did see Up in the Air, I think it was the movie we saw last year--and I loved it. I think the actress who played the young trainee was terrific (she's nominated, right?), and Vera Farmiga was wonderfull too. And whoever wrote the screenplay. And the director.

And I can't imagine how Geroge Clooney must feel--I mean, wasn't he a shoo-in until Jeff Bridges?

HALLIE: I've been hanging out under the same rock as Hank. Did see Julie and Julia and thought La Streep was amazing. Saw AVATAR (just this past weekend) which I thoroughly enjoyed but would so NOT award it best picture. Its "Transformers go to war" ending was predictable and loud and endless. I also saw SERIOUS MAN which I hated. Hated. HATED. Sigh. I'm still catching up on last year's (loved The Wrestler - Mickey Rourke was astonishing; also Sean Penn's Milk).

RHYS: I've just realized how out of the loop I am. I saw Julie and Julia, and adored it. Meryl Streep is the person I most want as my friend. She seems funny and witty and brilliant and I know I'd never be bored with her. Whats' more she's my age and she looks fantastic! I thought I was going to have to suffer through Avatar, but avoided it. And why do movies always have to be so loud. I have super sensitive hearing and can't endure most action movies.
Apart from those the only movies I saw this year were feel-good, or kids, or foreign with my friends movie-group. I liked Coco before Chanel.
This year I promise to be a better movie-goer. And one exciting side bar. My son gets to sing at an Oscar Party in LA. He's hoping it will lead to wonderful things.

RO: I like to watch. No...I'm not channeling Peter Sellers in Being There. I'm talking Oscars! I always watch. And I stay up until the bitter end, because after all if you've slogged through the boring bits you want to stick around for the payoff, right?

This year I haven't seen many of the nominated movies..as of this writing..An Education, Hurt Locker and Crazy Heart. I just don't get out much anymore (!) That won't stop me from plunking down my twenty bucks and entering the Oscar pool at a party I've been going to for the last fifteen years. (I never would have guessed it's been that long but remarkably I still have the $25 Gift Book from City Cinemas Theatres that I won at the party in 1997. I haven't won since. I guess it's like most awards...there are the people you think should win and the people you think WILL win.

Here are my picks for the majors...
Avatar
James Cameron
Coraline
Jeff Bridges
Sandra Bullock
Mo'nique
and this is my longshot..Stanley Tucci. This is borne out of pure fan geekdom. I adore Stanley Tucci.

ROBERTA: Okay so for JRW, Meryl Streep is a shoo-in. How about you JRreaders? Do you like to watch? Have a favorite?

And the Oscar goes to...

I've always loved the Oscar awards. I can remember hiding behind a big upholstered chair in my living room (I was supposed to be asleep) and watching them until the wee hours of the morning. Okay maybe it wasn't that late, but when you're seven or eight, 11pm qualifies as the wee hours.

Back then I suppose the attraction was seing movie stars in real life - out of the costumes and no longer portraying the characters in the films we loved. But now that we are barraged with photos every time some , even minor, celebrity comes out of the gym, or out of rehab, or has a baby, why should we still care what they look like outside of the medium of film? But we do. At least I do. No matter how boring the show is, and how cheesy the song and dance routines are, I watch 'til the bitter end. I even watched the notoriously bad Liza Minnelli routine from 20 years ago "How Lucky Can You Get!"

This year Slumdog Millionaire and The Wrestler are two of the underdog films that may take home lots of gold. They're the only two Best Film contenders that I've seen so far and I liked them both, even if I was conscious of when my buttons were being pushed. Strange but true, in a previous lifetime I met a number of professional wrestlers and they were all pretty nice (except for the women who were truly scary.) I even met Andre the Giant once. Sweet guy.

Anyway, I'm rooting for Mickey Rourke. If any of you don't remember how hot he used to be , rent Nine and a Half Weeks or Pope of Greenwich Village. And Kate Winslet because she's amazing.... and Penelope Cruz...because she should have won for Volver....even though I found the movie Vicky Christina Barcelona excruciating.

Who are you rooting for?