Resolved: That the criteria for Oscar be RE-watchability - whether best movie or performance
My lifetime total of movies watched is probably 50-75-100 - iow, a low count. Most years I haven't seen any of the nominees *yet* seldom miss the Oscars and have preferences based on the buzz that filters down to my level via reviews and talk show interviews.
This year is different since I've seen a whopping *four* (4) of the nominees and posted my judgmental reviews: Favourite; Star/Born; Bohemian Rhapsody; and Roma. The short version: Roma, incredibly complicated moving parts for the director; Star, pure cardboard acting, re-make not needing to be re-made; B/R, well done, moving without being maudlin; Fav, stylish/classy/funny, in your face.
So, in my lifetime total, there are movies that I *have* seen more than once, some a few times, a few several. These would be such as: Lawrence of Arabia; Chinatown; A Fish/Wanda; Apocalypto; Topsy Turvy; Cuckoo's Nest; Sunset Boulevard; Casablanca; Some Like It Hot; The Shining; Rocky Horror; Gladiator, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum; almost all Mel BROOKS things ---------- etc. No real pattern. I like wit, fun. Drama can NOT be overly sentimental; maudlin; self-pitying.
Same with performers. There are some I see in multiple things, others never. NICHOLSON probably the most without particularly liking him. O'TOOLE. Some performers I liked during a certain period of their (and my?) lives, Al PACINO in Dog Day Afternoon and a couple of other early ones, not the gangster or later ones.
So in the four current nominees, of the four I've seen I would only see The Favourite again and quite a few times. Bohemian, I really liked but once the story and angst are done, not to be re-lived for me. The other two, never again.
I can appreciate some well done things without wanting to see them again. So by my ad hoc criterion, I go for The Favorite as best pic; Rami, best actor; the three Favs - Olivia best; either Rachel or Emma for supporting. I guess Roma will get director but this is one of those movies that get awards for some special reason that doesn't draw over years.
Roma's buzz is based on anthropological/sociological justifications - that the indigenous character and actress is a landmark for depicting the racist and class ugliness in Mexico. Fine. There is real life conflict about the actress going on in the Mexican acting world, with the "upper" (White Spanish) actors complaining that the indigenous nominee in a role as a maid "saying yes ma'am, no ma'am" to her upper class boss doesn't deserve even to be nominated. So what to do with Glenn CLOSE or the actress in The Favourite by comparison?
********OH, here's something even more unpopular: Mel GIBSON, whom I regard as despicable personally, is one whose movies I've seen multiply. And speaking about Roma, his Apocalypto deals with all indigenous characters speaking their languages (not Spanish), something difficult to do and with an universal story. It does something in a way that Roma doesn't. As for Mel's dispicableness - so was Richard WAGNER the proto-Nazi, but his music can't be trashed.
So *there*!1