Closer to the Big O – Moviesapple

The oscars feel like the annual exams, don't they? We mean for audiences, especially Desis, with a listed syllabus — nominated films start hitting theatres, one by one. The race

to wrap up at least all the Best Picture nominees (there are 10) is real. We burned the midnight oil last night in the theatre, hence, just to remeasure the incredible fuss over

Everything Everywhere All at Once — having watched it earlier on a preview screener (meaning, cell-phone!). You risk social isolation to say anything that isn't, but, everything

is fine with the sci-fi family dramedy, Everything Everywhere! The critics, to begin with, have rendered the American-Chinese production critic-proof. Everything Everywhere All at

Once Enough that it's apparently set to sweep the Academy Awards, on March 12, 2023, as we speak. If that happens, it might be the first for an altogether absurdist pic — and

that might be a good reason for the Oscars to go that direction. Besides the obvious. That is: It's been eight years since the #OscarsSoWhite, inward-looking movement — minutely

observing the color of its annual slate, even in terms of its voting members. Everything Everywhere, we suspect, would've been nowhere on the scene, even until a decade ago. In

terms of greenlighting + funding; Critical reception of this scale can't be planned anyway. Also Read: Jr NTR on walking the Oscars red carpet: We are going to carry the whole

nation in our hearts All Quiet on the Western Front Besides diversity, the big issue the Oscars face is audiences — its ratings have been on a sequential decline. Not even the

tight slap on host Chris Rock straight from a desi soap opera, could save the show last year. They'd have to work on the noms to ensure the Oscars aren't an OTT awards, after all!

While cruising on aircraft simulation, along with Tom Cruise, did you think that Top Gun: Maverick would be up for Best Picture? Avatar: The Way of Water, too? The latter, of

course. The former, no. The two films together account for 84 percent of box-office collections from among Best Pic nominees. But the Oscars aren't a box-office award. They're

foremost the creative compass for American cinematic output every year. Looked through that prism, it wasn't a particularly great year for Hollywood. Let's face it — I know

everyone went gaga over the gently provocative, thoroughly pertinent conflict in The Banshees of Inisherin — 'could you get bored with a friend?' It's equally possible to find

the film over-rated, if not get bored with it, once the point has been delivered. And you might wonder why, of the two movies, emanating directly from the post-pandemic depression