The 2022 Best Picture Oscar

The Oscars are tonight and I will be watching, as I have done every year since 1972. That year I was ten years old and I was supposed to be in bed by 9 p.m. but most nights, after my parents went down to the basement level to watch TV, I snuck into the kitchen and watched TV on the small set in there, with the sound very low.

I remember seeing Charlie Chaplin win a lifetime achievement Oscar in 1972 and I was very happy because I knew who he was from watching silent movies at Shakey's Pizza.

I have always loved movies. My parents loved movies. My mother went into labor with me at a John Wayne movie in 1962. My parents used to load me and my brother into the station wagon and take us to the drive in movie and we would play in the back and then fall asleep. Paying our way in was no problem because I think kids under 6 got in free. It was cheaper than paying a babysitter.

Movies offered an escape. I would sit there in the dark and feel like I was actually part of the action of the movie. Movies consumed me. They were like a two hour vacation from every day reality. I was the fat kid who got bullied a lot in school. I was a tomboy and my mother was constantly trying to make me ladylike. I was constantly craving Dad's attention and he worked all the time, and spent a lot of free time taking my brother hunting. I outgrew my clothes every five minutes and so my clothes usually didn't fit properly. I didn't learn to read until second grade and before that I was convinced that I was an idiot and my parents were too nice to be honest with me about it.

In short, childhood was not a happy time for me. I spent much of it being miserable and wishing I were somewhere else.

Movies offered escape. Once I learned to read, at age 7, books did too.

I was watching a story on CBS Sunday Morning a few minutes ago about this being the 50th anniversary of the release of The Godfather. We went to see that as a family. I don't remember much about seeing the movie that first time except the wedding scenes. My parents loved it. It offered a glimpse into a world that was entirely alien to me. I didn't know anyone who was Italian. All I knew was the white middle class suburban Southern world.

This year I have only seen a few of the movies nominated for Best Picture, but I am dismayed by the choices. Here are a few thoughts about the films I have seen.

Last night I watched Belfast, which I thought looked charming. I am part Irish and I usually enjoy seeing movies filmed in Ireland. Kenneth Branagh usually does excellent films and he wrote and directed it. Caitriona Balfe and Jamie Dornan star and I like them both. Unfortunately, I hated it. It was in black and white, which was very frustrating. The plot meandered all over the place. The accents were so thick I couldn't understand some of the dialogue. The grandparents were played by Judy Dench and Ciaran Hinds and he is 20 years younger than her so that was bizarre and creepy. I was just disappointed by the whole thing.

 

I moderately disliked Belfast but I hated Don't Look Up. I wanted to slap every character. The movie is just a long sermon about climate change from Leo DiCaprio -- an overgrown child who only dates supermodels and who flies all over the world in a private jet lecturing everyone about climate change. The day after I saw the movie I went back and re-watched Armageddon -- a much better movie with a sense of humor.

 

BTW, in 1998 these were the Best Picture nominees: Titanic, The Full Monty, LA Confidential, Good Will Hunting, and As Good As It Gets. All terrific pictures. Titanic won, which was insane, but at least all the films were excellent. This year instead of 5 films we have 10 and several of them are awful.

 

I have always liked and admired director Jane Campion. I really liked The Piano and Portrait of a Lady. Unfortunately, I hated Power of the Dog, which is another 2022 Best Picture nominee. Power of the Dog is basically about intolerance and people being cruel and/or abusive. I don't mind seeing conflict onscreen but I hate seeing abuse. It was really hard for me to watch.

 

Nightmare Alley is the only other movie I have seen that's nominated for Best Picture. It tries to be an old-fashioned film noir and it almost succeeds but there are too many bizarre elements to make it authentic noir, in my opinion.  David Strathairn, one of my fave character actors, is awesome. Bradley Cooper and Cate Blanchett are great, as always.

 

I want to see all the other nominees except Drive My Car and Dune, and I may watch one or two this afternoon.