Francis Ford Coppola liked the Oscars ceremony before it became a “big razzle-dazzle production”

Last week, Francis Ford Coppola—who, let’s be fair, has earned the right to yell at a few clouds—declared that all major Hollywood movies are basically the same, even films like Dune and No Time To Die made by “extremely gifted, talented, beautiful artists,” because they all have “the same sequence where the cars all crash into each other” in order to justify their ballooning budgets. It’s not so much the argument that every movie is the same now because superhero movies dominate everything, but that every movie is the same now because money dominates everything, which… yeah. Fair.

But it’s not just the movies themselves that the future Megalopolis director thinks are too preoccupied with meaningless flash and pizazz, it’s also the awards shows that give trophies to people who make movies. Speaking with Variety ahead of a 50th anniversary celebration of The Godfather, Coppola shrugged off the news that the Academy is dropping eight categories from the live telecast (he says they’re all “important” but, “I guess they have their reasons”), but admitted that he doesn’t care much about the Oscars these days anyway.

“I don’t like it so much as a big razzle-dazzle production,” he said, adding that he preferred it when it was “more intimate” and had a “gentle quality.” On top of that, he says awards shows in general have gotten out of hand, noting that there are “too many awards shows now” and that he “liked it when it was just the Oscars.”

It should be even harder to argue with him on that topic, because there are absolutely too many awards shows, and even the one that nobody likes found a way to go ahead despite the complete implosion of its governing body. Then there are the shows like the various MTV awards, or even the Grammys (not that they talk about movies), that are more about the show than the awards anyway. Then again, last year’s Oscars seemed closer to the kind of low-key affair that Coppola wants, and nobody gave a shit. So maybe he’s in the minority here, unfortunately.