recently saturday night live Bowen Yang hosts a cheesy game show called “The Big Hollywood Quiz.” Tonight’s contestants are a film professor (Pedro Pascal), an entertainment writer (Ego Nuwodim) and a Hollywood history podcaster (Chloe Feynman).Contestant got off to a good start answering questions about his 1950s all about eve And the final episode of 1983 mash, the most-watched television finale ever aired. And enter the 2020s.
“This film, written and directed by Sarah Polley, has been nominated for Best Picture of the Year,” Yang announces. He is greeted by the visible confusion of the contestants. “Let me give you a hint,” he continues. “There’s an all-female cast, featuring Oscar winner Frances McDormand.”
After a few mistakes, the contestant asks for hints. “this is women’s story‘ Yang replies.
“Be more specific,” said Pascal with puzzled eyes.
The crew does a poor job of answering questions about Andrea Riseborough’s controversial Best Actress nomination. to Leslie, Yang tells them they should really watch “because so far, it’s at $27,300.” “It’s been out for four months,” Yang coolly remarks when Fineman points out that it’s not a big deal for an opening weekend.
At this point, everyone gets annoyed. “Where have all the blockbuster movies gone?” Pascal asks sadly.
“Oh, they’re still here,” Yang replies. “They’re just on your phone and you can watch them in the bathroom!”
Thanks to its impeccable comic timing, it’s a very funny sketch, but it’s a bit disingenuous in 2023 if it’s meant to skewer the Oscars. abnormally Populist. And while populist and popular are not synonymous, these nominations include plenty of films of both. It surpassed $1.5 billion in 2015, the highest sales in over a decade. Top Gun: Maverick It mostly came out in May 2022 and stayed in theaters until the end of the year, so that alone makes up nearly half of that.
But Tom Cruise wasn’t pulling all the weight here. Avatar: Path of Water Baz Luhrmann made a whopping $400 million domestically Elvis Despite staying in theaters for only a few months, he made $150 million at home. and, All at once, anywherea small indie that could do that, made a staggering $68 million domestically on a shoestring budget, thanks in large part to the incredible power of word of mouth.
It’s true that six other films were nominated in this category — Inishelin’s Banshee, women’s story, The Triangle of Sorrow, Tar, Favermans, and All Quiet on the Western Front — fit better into the “acclaimed arthouse film” category, with much lower box office returns (even in the age of streaming, we still have the only reliable metric we need to measure popularity).
But still, their popularity cred is impressive. One is a personal project directed by arguably Hollywood’s most famous director and populist blockbuster Steven his Spielberg father. He also stars three of the industry’s biggest actors, including Colin Farrell, Frances McDormand and Cate Blanchett. sorrow triangle Winner of the coveted Palme d’Or at Cannes and a mid-sized role for Woody Harrelson.and All Quiet on the Western Front is an adaptation of the classic novel that was previously adopted by one of the earliest Oscar winners — the first to win both Best Director and “Outstanding Production” (equivalent to Best Picture in 1930). is a person. These movies may not make a lot of money, they aren’t exactly “popular”, but they aren’t obscure either.
So why the big joke that no one knows the Oscar movies? There are many ways to explain it. Lord of the rings: Two towers, The Hours, Gangs of New York, The Pianistand Chicagohad the lowest profit among them 8 times what women’s story So far, the trend for Oscar nominees has been toward smaller, more obscure films. (Did you hear about last year’s winner? coda, before the nominations came out? If your answer is yes, you are probably a movie critic. ), but the tendency toward ambiguity may be more temporary than a rule.
I’ve also had conversations where people affirm that none of the Oscar nominees have been seen in their major metropolitan hometowns. Indeed, if you’ve never heard of that movie, have Be ambiguous.
This is an interesting question for me as a film critic. He sees more movies in a year than I do in a person’s lifetime. Things are different for most normal people.in the SNL Jan asks Pascal, “Name three films from the last five years.” Stunned by the challenge, Pascal says: three? have understood. ” He ponders and conceives top gunThen he tries another.the hangover?”
“That was 20 years ago,” Yang says.
“Night… man,” says Pascal.
“It sounds like you’re just saying words. Now you only need one,” Yang convinces. “Could you name just one more movie?”
“No,” Pascal said and resigned.
“That’s right!” Yang cries gleefully. “no! You won the speed round!
I looked at the sketch and laughed, then thought. It’s an exaggeration, but it’s not off base.everyone knows Jurassic Park and independence day and dark Knight, but I have to go to Google to remember which movies came out last year. You can explain it by waving about the pandemic. thing than before. It becomes difficult to track. But that doesn’t fully explain the feeling of spatio-temporal compression. Mamma Mia! again wendy and lucy It came out 15 years ago, so I feel like the chronology itself is distorted.
I think the answer lies in Yang’s quip that the movie is “on your phone.” It’s not so much smallness or toilet viewing, it’s the context collapse that happens when it feels like every movie and TV show is delivered everywhere, in the exact same format, at the exact same time. The abundance of options and possibilities tends to remove context and intentionality from the viewing experience. No need to talk to your friends about the movies you want to see, buy tickets, and create an experience out of it. Now it’s all flowing towards you, a never-ending stream of content.
But it can be difficult to focus on one thing in that deluge, which creates another problem. Back in my days (I smoke), I had to look for that information to find out what movies were out. Not long before social media took the world by storm, you had to call a phone number, look up movie times with a rudimentary search engine, and before that, look up your local newspaper. To know which newly released movies you want to see, you can rely on his six trailers before the feature presentation, TV commercials during Thursday night’s must-watch TV hours, or actually read the newspaper. I picked it up and read it. some reviews. The closest experience I have to a streaming release today is that night after I decide I want to see a movie, I drive up to Blockbuster and browse the shelves, or walk into the mall and buy tickets for an upcoming movie. was to buy start. In other words, there was a degree of positivity involved.
But today we If you haven’t heard of something, it doesn’t exist. “No one is talking about this!” We declare on Twitter that our feed is built on what the creators of the algorithm want us to see. I forgot
The same thing happens with movies. Sometimes it seems like Netflix is trying to hide new releases. But what I suspect is that we’re all too used to passively knowing what’s going on. and Our algorithms are flooded with memes, news headlines, rants, thoughtful critiques, spam, and a never-ending fire hose with no context for movie ads. (It doesn’t help that the trailer is mostly bad.)
If you haven’t seen or heard of most of the Oscar nominees, no problem. In 2023, that probably means you’re living a normal, balanced life.Go outside and throw a softball, read a book, do whatever a normal person does. But if you’re wondering why I can’t name three movies released in the last five years, remember. It’s not just the movie’s fault, it’s a problem that can be solved with a little effort.
