Welcome to the 97th Academy Awards

[Big Magilla]

Will OJ Simpson get a mention in next year's In Memoriam? He made a few films.

I doubt it. The prevailing view within the industry, as headlined in Hollywood Elsewhere, is that "O.J. Simpson Has Gone to Hell."

[Eenusch]

Will OJ Simpson get a mention in next year's In Memoriam? He made a few films.

[Bog]

Mangold is mostly useless..........but

As was Robert Benton, so was Tony Richardson

I'm having a hard time imagining wanting to see anything else this year more:

This

[Greg]

Megalopolis finished production at the end of March in 2023; so, it should already have finished post-production. Apparently, it will be shown at this year's Cannes festival, which will be from May 14 to 25.

[Big Magilla]

Megalopolis is in post-production so barring another attack on NYC or something equally horrific which put it on hold after 9/11, it should be ready by the end of the year, but it still doesn't have a release date.

A Complete Unknown is more problematic. Mangold does have other projects on his plate so he may have it ready for limited release through Searchlight which slow rolled Poor Things through this year's awards. On the other hand, they may want to hold onto it until 2025.

[Eenusch]

Is Coppola’s Megalopolis definitely coming out in 2024 and should we be excited about it?

[Sabin]

Bog wrote
A Complete Unknown (Dylan "stan" since I could walk & a Chalamet film even making ME eager!!! (will it be this year though??)

I was going to say "Let's be honest... will it be ANY year" but it looks like they have started filming this year. Will it be ready? Ford v Ferrari premiered at festivals about a year after they started filming (probably strategic). Logan finished production in August of 2016, started post at the end of the month, and premiered at Berlin February of 2017. I'm looking at 3:10 to Yuma and it followed a similar trajectory. So... it's possible but wrapping production in May makes premiering before the end of the year look like a coin flip. But who knows? Mangold seems to run a very professional ship so my hunch (especially given the scale of it) is yes unless it needs massive reshoots.

I'm pretty indifferent to James Mangold. Put aside the near impossible task of his Indiana Jones film last year. There's a sort of boring level of competency to most of his work. As I look back over his films, I think Logan is my favorite (I haven't seen Kate & Leopold). I always like what he's going for but there's always something missing from them and I think I know what it is. His films never feel immersive. I always feel on the outside of them. I remember watching Ford v Ferrari and just... looking at it.

Given Mangold's track record, it's probably going to be perfectly fine. That said, I read this plot description and I'm having a hard time imagining wanting to see anything else this year more:

"A COMPLETE UNKNOWN follows 19 year old Bob Dylan’s arrival to New York City in 1961 seeking to find his hero, an ailing Woody Guthrie. He is embraced by the New York folk scene (Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez and others) who recognize his talent. He finds gigs in downtown clubs and soon becomes a sensation, under contract at Columbia Records. The film follows Dylan’s ascendance into a cultural phenomenon, his strong relationships in the folk music world and his ultimate transition away from folk music, forming a band, confusing his fans and disappointing the music community who first took him in."

[Bog]

I don't know...half a dozen fresh titles about which I should have enthusiasm.

By no means am I touting an ability to parse your specific tastes and/or what might "excite" you on paper...NOR say what enthuses ME should at all do the same for you ...BUT...
while many of the films mentioned do intrigue me...here's my, likely offbeat but not sans potential, 2024 felicity:

MaXXXine (X/Pearl trilogy finale)

Conclave (Rae Fiennes....AND Rosselini/Lithgow...thank you sir may I have another?)

Pedro Paramo (total sucker for great DPs turned director)

The End (they had me at apocalyptic Michael Shannon musical...then I find it's principal is Act of Killing director)

Parthenope (Sorrentino, nuff said)

Sentimental Value (Trier, nuff said)

A Complete Unknown (Dylan "stan" since I could walk & a Chalamet film even making ME eager!!! (will it be this year though??)

Emmanuelle (Diwan follow up to Happening....and I guess....cause I'm "not a prick" )

[Sabin]

Mister Tee wrote
For me, Alex Garland is one decent film a decade ago -- not much to hang hopes on.

Film just premiered at SXSW. Early reactions are very positive. I'm going to wait for more proper film reviews (y'know, it's the SXSW crowd). I'm not the biggest Garland fan but 28 Days Later... was a good time and he knows how to find a good hook for a movie.

A24 spent $50m on it, their biggest budget.

Also what better movie just in time for the 2024 election?

[Okri]

I'm always optimistic to be honest. But I also think I liked 2023's crop slightly less than you.

Only time will tell.

[Mister Tee]

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)

For the record: I doubt either Anderson movie will be ready this year (starting to shoot this week was Wes' miss-the-Oscars excuse, so I especially question him), and they're by far the most enticing part of your list. For me, Alex Garland is one decent film a decade ago -- not much to hang hopes on. The Leigh/Lee's miss far more often than they hit, these days. Eastwood is always a wild card, far more often disappointing this past decade. I obviously liked Celine Song's maiden effort, but don't know if she has more than one (possibly autobiographical) film in her. I've sometimes admired Larain, but he's very inconsistent. Lowery and Kurzel have yet to make a film I love, and Lelio's work I close to actively dislike.

To danfrank's additions: Lanthimos, Guadagnino and Bong Joon-ho are the only names on your list who've made movies that have made me enthused. My interest in Gladiator 2 is sub-zero. The rest are people who I know have critical followings, but haven't yet hit the mark for me.

Now, no one is saying any or all of these folk can't outdo themselves and come up with something special. The history of cinema is filled with such unexpected triumphs. (Going into 1972, the idea that the directors of The Rain People and Sweet Charity would make the most celebrated films of the year was laughable.) Of course, we all hope for happy surprises, and the year can turn on a few triumphs. I'm just saying, it helps to have a baseline of promising projects. This was Jeff Wells' top 20 list of hopefuls last year:

1) Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon”
2) Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer”
3) Wes Anderson’s “Asteroid City”
4) Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest”
5) David Fincher’s “The Killer”
6) Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things”
7) Ridley Scott’s “Napoleon”
8 ) Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis”
9) Steve McQueen’s “Blitz”
10) Hayao Miyazaki’s “How Do You Live?” (was this the starter title for Boy and the Heron?)
11) Ari Aster’s “Beau is Afraid”
12) Michael Mann’s “Ferrari”
13) Todd Haynes’ “May/December”
14) Woody Allen’s “WASP22”
15) Jeff Nichols’ “The Bikeriders”
16) Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers”
17) Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie”
18) Lynne Ramsay’s “Stone and Mattress”
19) Robert Eggers’ “Nosferatu”
20) Ethan Coen’s Untitled Road Movie

A few misses, a few postponed, but, in general, the bedrock of why 2023 was so exciting.

Back in the days of five best picture nominees, my rough theory was, it'd consist of 2 blue chip items, 2 second-tier movies that outdid expectations, and 2 complete surprises. (Yes, that adds up to 6; it's why i say "rough".) My problem with this year is, I see barely any blue chips from which to choose, which puts a lot more pressure on the few films that qualify.

[danfrank]

The term “hyperlink” is relatively new to the lexicon, e.g., Robert Altman wasn’t using that term when he made Nashville or Short Cuts. Bottom line there are various ways to edit and package films telling multiple and distinct stories. Sometimes they’re tied together thematically, tonally, stylistically, geographically, and/or with actors playing different parts in different segments. Sometimes there seem to be none of these connections. I recently rewatched Todd Haynes’s Poison, where there were three stories that seemed to have nothing to do with each other. Haynes made the artistic choice to not show them sequentially, but these distinct films are not really “linked,” at least in any way I can detect. Sometimes films are released as separate short films and then repackaged as an anthology, including the 5 Wes Anderson shorts recently released.

In other words, I don’t think there is that much of a distinction between the “anthology” and “hyperlink” categories, just artistic choices by filmmakers. Edit: and sometimes by marketers

[Sabin]

This just in. Kinds of Kindness is coming out this summer. Probably debuting at Cannes.

Eastwood in 2004 vibes?

[Big Magilla]

I think you're confusing anthology films with hyperlink films.

Here's the difference as explained in Wikipedia:

An anthology film (also known as an omnibus film, package film, or portmanteau film) is a single film consisting of several shorter films, each complete in itself and distinguished from the other, though frequently tied together by a single theme, premise, or author. Sometimes each one is directed by a different director or written by a different author, or may even have been made at different times or in different countries. Anthology films are distinguished from "revue films" such as Paramount on Parade (1930)—which were common in Hollywood in the early decades of sound film, composite films, and compilation films.

Anthology films are often mistaken with hyperlink cinema. Hyperlink cinema shows parts of many stories throughout a film, whereas anthology films show story segments of one at a time. Some mistaken examples include Pulp Fiction (1994) and Amores Perros (2000), distributing their storylines non-chronologically, separated by segments.

[danfrank]

One can argue whether a film is considered an anthology film depending on whether the stories are told consecutively or edited such that the film switches back and forth among the stories. Other films that could be considered as anthology films and have been nominated for Oscars include Amores Perros, Traffic, Magnolia, 21 Grams, Wild Tales, Nashville,Short Cuts, and Grand Canyon,