The Banshees Of Inisherin, TÁR, Elvis, and The Fabelmans were all shut out of this year’s Oscars
Several of last year's standout features lost over and over again to Everything Everywhere All At Once
Aux News Elvis
While Everything Everywhere All At Once took home nearly every major award at last night’s Academy Awards, early award season frontrunners, including The Banshees Of Inisherin, TÁR, and The Fabelmans went home empty-handed.
Hollywood heavyweight Steven Spielberg’s ode to his family and cinema failed to capture the hearts of Academy voters, with The Fabelmans losing out on all 7 of its nominations. Although, as Kimmel said last night, Spielberg is the first director to be nominated across six decades, which is quite the feat itself.
For the Best Actress category, the competition really came down to Michelle (EEAAO) Yeoh or Cate Blanchett (TÁR), with Yeoh taking home the historic win. This was Yeoh’s first nomination and Blanchett’s eighth, and although the latter put in a spectacular performance, Blanchett’s career will continue just fine. We suffered an Oscars loss with Carol in 2016, and we will soldier on post-TÁR. TÁR did feel like a shoo-in for Best Writing (and it’s the one EEAAO win that doesn’t sit right with this writer), but hopefully, Todd Field won’t make us wait another 15 years for his next film.
Even Austin Butler, who over recent weeks had become the Best Actor frontrunner for his performance in Elvis, lost to Brendan Fraser for The Whale, solidifying his Hollywood comeback. After Butler’s BAFTA win in February, the race for Best Actor tightened, with Butler, Fraser, and Farrell all very much in the running. In light of Fraser’s win, Farrell is always a good sport and just seemed happy to see a Jenny impersonator on stage last night. However, Butler’s now tasked with finding another role he can obsess for years about and form his personality around. Good luck, friend.
Ultimately Elvis, The Banshees Of Inisherin, TÁR, and The Fabelmans had 30 nominations between them—with each receiving Best Picture nods—and went home with an impressive zero statues.
Overall, last night’s history-making awards shifted the status quo for the Oscars in many ways, as many long-time actors became first-time winners after years of being shut out by the industry. With A24 adding another (re: 2016's Moonlight) Best Picture winner to its trophy case, the independent production company is taking its place as a titan in the modern filmmaking industry as its diverse and unafraid approach to storytelling continues to pay off.
Ultimately, this all kind of goes to show how silly the months of analysis and number-crunching ahead of the Oscars really is, as there’s really no telling who the Academy will end up favoring when all is said and done (but, lately, betting on A24 isn’t a bad idea). Nonetheless, it’s already time to clear the slate and get the Oscar predictions rolling for next year!
35 Comments
I’m kinda glad about it.TÁR was good, but it was a bit of a snorefest and a box office bomb. With a budget of $35 million, it made only $22 million worldwide. It’s a very niche movie that not a lot of people will click with.The Banshees Of Inisherin is also good, but it’s a slow hearty slog with a plot that’s basically about two friends that grow sick of each other. It’s like an allegory for the Irish Civil War, but other than that, there’s not much more to unpack.The Fabelmans is basically just movie about movies… Always seemed like Oscar-bait to me, and while I can say that it has some stellar performances, there’s not much in it that stands out to meet the hype of other films.IMO, the films and awards that I hoped would win big did actually win, so I’m happy with the way the Oscars turned out (for once).
The Fablemens is about generational trauma and a family falling apart. Really recommend actually watching it, it’s far from a feel good story about the movies.
I do know that, but the way the film presents it is primarily through high school bullying. Everything Everywhere All At Once also tackles generational trauma but more so on the intergenerational aspect of family life—which I think works out better, IMO.The main separating thing you’ll take away from The Fablemans compared to EEAAO is the astounding love for film that Paul Dano’s character fulfills and how his aspirations led him to Hollywood. The constant break ups of relationships and unsupportive character arcs are pretty much done by-the-books in the realms of big screen drama.
“The astounding love for film that Paul Dano’s character fulfills and how his aspirations led him to Hollywood”That’s… not right.
Do stay away from The Fabelmans if you’re looking for a feel good movie. Maybe it would have won an award if it had been called The Spielbergs.
“It’s like an allegory for the Irish Civil War, but other than that, there’s not much more to unpack.”Baffling take for a movie so rich with themes about legacy and relationships
I did say it was “about two friends that grow sick of each other” aka a failing relationship, kinda like the one the UK had with Ireland.
Yes, England and Ireland were famously good friends until the day Ireland inexplicably decided it didn’t want to hang out anymore.It’s a terrible allegory, but a great contemplation on nature, family, and “niceness.”
were the UK and Ireland ever been friends?
Yeah, like…there’s more to it than a glib one-liner.
If you want a book, good to a library.
I tried to watch Banshees… I mean really tried. And I love movies. But me, and this film, had a complete lack of connection. I haven’t connected this little with a movie in YEARS. It was so terrible to me, so boring and so agonizing… that I can only conclude I lack the part of the brain for it. I’m lacking the piece of the brain that this movie’s fans have. The whole thing was baffling.
That’s fair! McDonagh’s movies seem to have that effect. My example of that is Three Billboards.
It’s got to be good stuff. I just can’t pick up the frequency.
I haven’t seen TÁR so I don’t know how good or boring it was, but the fact that it was a box office bomb IMO shouldn’t make a difference at all. I know you’re trying to make a point about how niche it is and how it failed to click with audiences, but it could have just as easily bombed for so many other reasons, and I really dislike the idea that Oscars winners should have been seen by a wide audience.
More so, I think a Best Picture film needs to resonate with audiences. It’s kinda hard to do that if people don’t show up for it… And like I said, TÁR is good (not bad), but there are a lot of parts where it’s just silently watching Cate Blanchett go about her life, with the few really exciting parts being the music scenes or conversations and interviews. It’s like that Drive My Car (2021) film, which is close to 3 hours, but like half of the movie’s runtime is watching the main character silently driving his car while listening to audio recordings. One could easily fall asleep to such a thing… hence my criticism of “snorefest”.There’s an audience for that kind of dramatic film, for sure, and while they can be overall well done and classified as good, I think it’s still nicer to see an Academy Award winning Best Picture be something that’s so far out there and exciting in such a unique wat that it garnered a lot of buzz.
I saw Nomadland a few days before it won Best Picture Oscar, but I can’t possibly recommend it to anyone since watching it wasn’t an enjoyable experience.
I would have ranked all of those above EEAAO, but then I know I’m in the minority there.
I thought EEAAO was fine, but I thought Turning Red executed the themes of generation conflict better. If it wasn’t for the fact that EEAAO had so much buzz going into awards seasons, I would have expected TR to be nominated for Best Picture.
Turning Red didn’t win Best Animated Feature, and even the film that did wasn’t nominated for Best Picture.
Okay… I still liked it more than EEAAO, and would have nominated it for Best Picture, as a handful of animated features have been in the past. But then, I know I’m in the minority there.
EEOAO was just fine, but seemed to be universally loved, so I was happy for that bunch. I was rooting for TÁR (obviously don’t agree with you that it’s a snorefest) and for Women Talking. Both of those stuck with me several days after first viewing. The Fabelmans also seemed to be have been universally loved, but I thought it was really hokey, and I’d place it definitely in the lower quartile of Spielberg’s movies. Overall, nothing too surprising or appalling.
I love Cate Blanchett, but didn’t have that much interest in Tar, but thought I should give it a shot since it was most likely gonna win a few awards. I gave it an hour. I never turn movies off, but I just picked up a book instead. What a bore. Does it get better after an hour? I just couldn’t take another 90 minutes of it. As a person who has more than a passing familiarity with classical music AND a constant fantasy of threatening any child who bullies my kid, I’m a little surprise I didn’t stick with this. but man… what a snoozefest.
In a weaker year, any of these might have won handily, but it’s been a pretty good year for movies, so there’s really no shame in losing to such stellar competition.TÁR was probably always going to be unlikely to win—no matter how much crictics fell over themselves praising it—because it’s a hard movie to pin down, with no easy answers or clear moral message.
I’m not terribly surprised at this outcome. Between Everything Everywhere All at Once and the four movies mentioned for getting shut out—Elvis, The Banshees of Inisherin, TAR, and The Fablemans—only two strike me as the kind of films that will still be in conversations for “best of” lists in 10 or 20 years. Those films are EEAAO and Banshees. Outside of Butler’s performance, not much is notable about Elvis. And it’s a rare misstep for Tom Hanks, imo. TAR was a bit of a critical darling but fizzled out come awards time. I suspect many viewers felt as I did about it: It wanted to be more edgy and groundbreaking than the story actually was. The Fablemans was…fine but forgettable. None of those movies had the artistry of EEAAO or Banshees. These two movies used the medium of film to say something. When I was watching both of those movies, I felt like I was watching something I hadn’t seen before. That wasn’t my experience with Elvis, TAR, or Fablemans, each of which at times felt familiar. I was deeply affected by Banshees. I’m a bit surprised it didn’t win anything, but given the categories it was in and the other nominees in those categories, I’m not shocked. I thought maybe there was a chance the Academy would split the vote for Best Picture and Best Director, giving Best Picture to EEAAO and Best Director to McDonagh, but I thought it was a slim chance. The other categories I thought Banshees had less of a chance in. But in the end, Elvis, TAR, and Fablemans getting shut out doesn’t seem like the wrong choice to me. What category should they clearly have won instead of the eventual winners? None that I can see. They were fine movies, and a “win” for fine movies is getting a nomination. I think the recognition they ended up getting was appropriate.
“But in the end, Elvis, TAR, and Fablemans getting shut out doesn’t seem like the wrong choice to me. What category should they clearly have won instead of the eventual winners?”I wouldn’t have minded Butler winning best actor or McDonagh winning best original screenplay, but I wasn’t surprised or mad they didn’t.
Same here, more with regards to McDonagh than Butler. But yeah, I could have seen wins for either, but I’m not terribly up in arms that they didn’t.
Banshees was the best movie I saw in 2022 (Still need to seee EEAAO) and would have liked it to get an award but it’s fine. I was glad to see how happy Colin seemed that Frasier won best actor!
Bring the aspirin and/or Tylenol for EEAAO.
I saw both Banshees and EEAAO and Banshees was the best movie I saw in 2022.
I figured Banshess maybe the best movie alot of people saw in 2022. I was somehow laughing, sad and trying to catch my breath while watching it.
TÁR deserved to be rejected. It was a cynical attempt to grab awards, and it come off like some Washington Post op-ed against ‘wokeness.’ Imagine a film about an abuser, told from the perspective of the abuser. And then to cap it, imagine a not-so-subtle racist ending in which our main character can only get a conducting gig in “southeast Asia.” Forget Kansas. Our abuser hero has to deal with the stench of Manila/Bangkok alleyways (and I’m not making that up, the setting appears to be a blend of Thailand and the Philippines). I gave Todd Field 20 years to prove himself as a student of Kubrick. He has failed. Todd Failed (am I right?).
“Ultimately, this all kind of goes to show how silly the months of analysis and number-crunching ahead of the Oscars really is, as there’s really no telling who the Academy will end up favoring when all is said and done.”This may have been the most generally predictable Oscars show in decades. Specifically, pretending that Brendan Fraser winning was some kind of upset is just weird.
Jamie Lee Curtis winning is nice, but I think Kerry Condon should’ve won (sorry, The Root). Curtis is a “she’s due” win which I think is bullshit but hey, the Oscars are pretty much bullshit anyway so what are you gonna do?
“We suffered an Oscars loss with Carol in 2016, and we will soldier on post-TÁR.”Does Cate Blanchett use we pronouns?