Welcome to the 97th Academy Awards

[Big Magilla]

California Suite, for which Maggie Smith won her second Oscar, is one I forgot about, but you're right, there's no reason an anthology film can't win a Best Picture Oscar at some point just because it's never happened before.

I have no doubt that Lanthimos and Emma Stone will have many more awards opportunities in their futures. I'm just not sure, the awards business, being what it is, will want to recognize them back-to-back at this point. They know this themselves and for that reason may wish to hold back release of their follow-up film. On the other hand, they may want to strike while the iron is hot and release it ASAP. It's definitely one to keep an eye on.

[danfrank]

Some of these may get pushed to 2025.

Kinds of Kindness could be one. Emma Stone under Lanthimos' direction two years in a row might feed into the narrative of they never do the same thing twice in a row. Besides which it's an anthology piece in which the three leads (Stone, Margaret Qualley, Jesse Plemons) play different characters in three different short stories. The only time one of those won an Oscar was when Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow won Best Foreign Film of 1964 when one of its stars, Sopia Loren, was nominated for her performance in another film (Marriage Italian Style).

You’re completely right that an anthology film isn’t likely to be in the Oscar wheelhouse. I’m more interested in exciting cinema than just cinema that easily fits the Oscar palette, and Lanthimos is one of our current era’s more creative forces. I’m hopeful, too, that the Oscar palette will continue to expand in a more artful direction.

[Big Magilla]

Some of these may get pushed to 2025.

Kinds of Kindness could be one. Emma Stone under Lanthimos' direction two years in a row might feed into the narrative of they never do the same thing twice in a row. Besides which it's an anthology piece in which the three leads (Stone, Margaret Qualley, Jesse Plemons) play different characters in three different short stories. The only time one of those won an Oscar was when Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow won Best Foreign Film of 1964 when one of its stars, Sopia Loren, was nominated for her performance in another film (Marriage Italian Style).

[danfrank]

Plus…

Anora (Sean Baker)
Bird (Andrea Arnold)
Gladiator 2 (Ridley Scott). You never know
Kinds of Kindness (Lanthimos)
Love Lies Bleeding (Rose Glass) already out with very solid reviews
Mickey 17 (Bong Joon Ho)
Nosferatu (Robert Eggers)
Polaris (Lynne Ramsay)
Queer (Luca Guadagnino)
The Shrouds (Cronenberg)

Of course it’s unlikely that we’ll have a slate of 10 nominees as good as this year’s, and sight unseen many of these movies (including the ones mentioned by others) will eventually disappoint, but all it takes is one incredible movie and some other artful ones to make it a pretty good year. Is it possible that there will be a 2024 film that is better than Oppenheimer? You betcha.

[Okri]

Hmmm....

From previously nominated directors
Blitz - Steve McQueen
Civil War - Alex Garland
Hard Truths - Mike Leigh
High and Low - Spike Lee
Juror No. 2 - Clint Eastwood
The Phoenician Scheme - Wes Anderson
Untitled - Paul Thomas Anderson (probably 2025)

From others I admire
Janet Planet (Annie Baker, Pulitzer winning playwright)
Maria (Pablo Larrain)
Materialists (Celine Song)
Mother Mary (David Lowery)
The Nickel Boys (Ramel Ross, but really, Colson Whitehead)
The Order (Justin Kurzel)
Voyagers (Sebastian Leilo)

[Mister Tee]

Main prediction: it's going to be a fall-off year; by the time nominations are ready to go, people will be lamenting that some of this year's entrants hadn't held off for 2024's less competitive field.

This is partly based on what Bill James calls the plexiglass principle -- in his (baseball) world, teams that make a big gain one year tend to slip back a bit the next. 2023 was such a bountiful/varied slate, the year following is bound to be a disappointment. This is especially so because we fired so many of our best bullets this year past: major efforts from Scorsese, Nolan, Haynes, Lanthimos, Gerwig, Payne -- even skipped-over entries from Fennell, Fincher, Wes Anderson, Andrew Haigh; plus a big crossover year from Sundance and Cannes. The schedule for 2023 just isn't remotely as promising.

We always hope for (and rely on) surprises, but what baseline excitement is there? The strike has once again depleted the pipeline, not unlike what happened during that execrable '21-'23 stretch, When your big hope comes from a director whose heyday ended in 1979 (and who last had a hit in 1997), pickings are slim indeed. And, good god: touting Part Two of Dune is borderline acceptable, but expecting award performances from fantasy franchises like Joker and Mad Max is throwing in the towel before the game begins.

But, to play not-doomer for a moment -- yeah, Colman Domingo, though he'll apparently have competition from Kieran Culkin, who got raves (and a high Metascore) for A Real Pain. Also Blitz. But please point me to...I don't know...half a dozen fresh titles about which I should have enthusiasm.

[danfrank]

The big question mark, for both box office and awards in 2024, appears to be Megalopolis.

I’m really hoping Coppola pulls it off.

[Greg]

The big question mark, for both box office and awards in 2024, appears to be Megalopolis.

[Big Magilla]

Hanover Street was written and directed by Razzie Award winner Peter Hyams. Blitz was written and directed by a master filmmaker.

[Reza]

Best Picture may be something we haven't heard of, but it could also be something we've already heard the title of but haven't given much thought to, like Blitz perhaps?

Blitz sounds like Hanover Street from way back in 1979 with Harrison Ford and Lesley Anne Down.

[Big Magilla]

Good start.

I don't know if Colman Domingo will win, but he seems to be almost certain to be nominated again for Sing Sing, which if it had been released in 2023 might have given him a better shot than Rustin did.

We've already had winning female directors, but we've never had a winning Black director. Maybe it's time for Steve McQueen whose Blitz will be released this year. He won Best Picture for 12 Years a Slave but lost Best Director to Alfonso Guaron for Gravity. If Blitz wins Best Picture and he's passed over again for Best Director there will be hell to pay.

Saoirse Ronan is my early favorite sight unseen for Best Actress for Blitz.

Best Picture may be something we haven't heard of, but it could also be something we've already heard the title of but haven't given much thought to, like Blitz perhaps?

[anonymous1980]

I do this at another message board. I do 10 random predictions as to what will happen at next awards season and see if I'm correct. I have done this twice and I boast a whopping 10% accuracy rate ( ). But who knows? I will post my predictions here too and come back to it next year to see how accurate I was.

1. Colman Domingo will WIN the Best Actor Oscar for Sing Sing.

2. Dune Part II will do about as well as the first Dune except Denis Villenueve will get a Best Director nomination.

3. It will be duking it out in the technical awards with Furiosa which I think will give Anya Taylor-Joy her first Oscar nomination for Best Actress.

4. A documentary will be in strong contention for Best Picture this year.

5. The winner for Best Animated Feature will be something either indie or adult or both.

6. A supporting actor from an international feature will finally get nominated, breaking that last glass ceiling for international features. Supporting Actor currently still remains the only Oscar category that hasn't nominated anyone from an non-English international feature.

7. Lady Gaga will once again be in contention for acting awards for Joker: Folie a Deux but like House of Gucci, it will be divisive.

8. Two films nominated for International Feature will also be nominated for Best Picture.

9. A woman will not only be nominated for Best Director again but will also be in strong contention for the win.

10. The eventual Best Picture winner will be a film that we, as of this writing, hasn't yet heard about.

[Big Magilla]

Let the discussion begin.