Petaluma film critics talk Oscars

The Oscars, in many ways, are a spectator sport.

During the run-up to the Academy Awards, there are competitors, cheerleaders and fans, high spirits, high stakes and high blood pressures. And eventually, of course, there will be winners and the losers.

And many of us will be watching.

Millions tune into the Oscars every year (even if those numbers have been gradually declining), cheering on their favorites, booing the wins by those considered undeserving, and thrilling at the occasional last minute upset. One could argue, though, that the best part of the whole thing is the week or two leading up to the big broadcast itself. It is a time when we engage in lively conversation with friends and colleagues about those nominated films we’ve seen, the relative accuracy or inaccuracy of some of those nominations, and the movies we most fervently hope will end up taking home a heavy gold statue of a naked, sword-wielding man with no genitalia.

Film critics, young and old, are no exception to this.

Since last October, the Argus-Courier has been running a new film column under the name “So, I Just Saw This Movie,” succinctly and directly subtitled “Millennials Talk Cinema.” Simply put, we have assembled a small pool of young Petaluma-based film fans (they either work or live in town), and each week we present some of their thoughts on recently released films. The response from readers has been uniformly positive, so last week, we brought together three of our four “Millennials” - and no, they don’t mind the term at all - to talk about the upcoming Academy Awards ceremony, airing this Sunday, Feb. 24, at 5 p.m., on ABC. Gathered together were Katie Wigglesworth, Anderson Templeton and Alexa Chipman (who also writes regular theater reviews for the Argus-Courier). Unable to attend the meeting - but fully present through a series of pointed texts - was the fourth member of our pool, Amber-Rose Reed.

Here is what they said, what they think about this year’s nominees and the one film they unanimously believe is most deserving of the Best Film prize.

“It was a really good year for movies,” says Katie Wigglesworth, reviewing her official Academy Awards ballot, along with Anderson Templeton and Alexa Chipman. All are seated in the Argus-Courier’s conference room, preparing to talk about this year’s nominees, especially the eight films nominated for Best Picture: “A Star is Born,” “BlacKKKlansman,” “Black Panther,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “The Favourite,” “Green Book,” “Roma” and “ Vice.” An impressive list. Adds Wigglesworth, “Considering how many great movies came out in 2018, it’s just too bad that more of the good ones didn’t get nominated for Oscars.”

“I know, right?” says Templeton. “What’s with ‘The Quiet Place’ not getting any nominations? Or ‘Eighth Grade’ or ‘Mid-90s’?”

The list rapidly builds, each person present tossing out the names of other deserving films or performances from 2018 that failed to pick up a nomination.

The science fiction thriller “Annihilation.” India’s groundbreaking “Pad Man.” The horror film “Hereditary.”

Before the group gets too far into the discussion, a series of texts from Amber-Rose Reed are read aloud. In answer to the question of which film will win the Best Picture award, she guesses that Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma” or Peter Farrelly’s “Green Book” will win. As for which film she thinks deserves to win, Reed writes, “I really want ‘Black Panther’ to win. It’s thematically relevant, has complex characters, carries real story-telling weight - and not even JUST for a superhero movie.”

In an additional text, she says, “Also, I love Christian Bale. That’s beside any point, but I hope he wins.”

Bale is nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role for playing Dick Cheney in “Vice.”

The talk turns to how many of the Best Picture nominees everyone has seen. Wigglesworth still has to see “Roma” and “Green Book.” Templeton has yet to catch “Vice,” “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “The Favourite.” Chipman has seen half of the nominees, leaving “”Green Book,” “A Star is Born,” “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “Vice.”

“I don’t necessarily try to see all of the Best Picture nominees,” allows Chipman. “Instead, I tend to go toward trying to see all of the Best Visual Effects nominees, which I know is kind of embarrassing. I really like special effects.”

“No it’s not embarrassing, it’s awesome,” encourages Wigglesworth.

For the record, this year’s Best Visual Effects nominees are: “Avengers: Infinity War,” “Christopher Robbin,” “First Man,” “Ready Player One” and “Solo.”

“I thought “Annihilation” and “Aquaman” should have been in there,” Chipman says. “But with what’s nominated, I think “Solo” should win. “Avengers: Infinity War” had a lot of special effects, but they weren’t integrated as well as they are in “Solo.” “Christopher Robbin” did a lovely job, but there were issues. “First Man,” I admit, I haven’t seen yet, so who knows? And “Ready Player One” was just so overwhelming. “Solo” was subtle, stylistic and beautiful. You felt like you were actually in that world, and not just looking at actors pretending to react to special effects.”

One other film that was not nominated for visual effects is “A Quiet Place,” about horrific carnivorous aliens tracking people by the sounds they make.

“The FX were amazing,” says Templeton. “And I love that they cast a real deaf actress to play the daughter, and John Krasinsky, the director, made the whole cast learn American Sign Language to communicate with her on and off the set. That was a big step toward diversity in films.”

Now that the topic of diversity has emerged, the conversation goes there for a while.

“Aside from the big ticket items, I think this is still one of the whitest years at the Oscars in a long time,” Wigglesworth says. “And one of the most male-dominated years.”

“Exactly. The directors are all men, once again,” says Chipman. “Where are the women? If the Oscars are actually trying to be more diverse, they need to look at their own habit of excluding female directors whose work is every bit as good as the men who are nominated.”

The topics continue to leap-frog about for a while, before returning to the primary matter at hand: which film do our pool of critics think will end up winning for Best Picture. Wigglesworth admits she can’t choose between “BlacKKKlansman,” “The Favourite” and “Black Panther.”

“It’s a kill-your-darlings situation for me,” she says. “I really loved “Blackklansman.” I’d love it to win for Best Picture, and “The Favoruite was weird, but it worked. Even so, I’d be happy if “Black Panther” won it. I’d be really happy if that one won.”

“I personally really want “Black Panther” to win it,” says Chipman. “I think it has an amazing ensemble of actors. The writing is excellent, and everything - all the elements that make up a movie - come together so well. And culturally, it’s a very important movie. But I don’t think it will win. I think “Roma” will win because superhero movies are stigmatized by the academy.”

“With me, it hurts to be forced to pick something other than ‘A Quiet Place,’ says Templeton. “For me, it really was the best film of the year, and I don’t normally like horror movies. But it hit every single mark. I’m angry it was not nominated, and I’m sad. My soul is crushed. But it wasn’t nominated, so I want “Black Panther” to win, without a doubt. And that’s not just a millennial thing.”

“It’s just a good movie,” agrees Wigglesworth. “It’s an incredible story, well told.”

So, factoring in Reed’s texts, and Wigglesworth’s tie between “BlacKKKlansman,” “The Favoruite” and “Black Panther,” all four of our reviewers have chosen “Black Panther” as their nominee most deserving of the prize.

“If it doesn’t win, which it probably won’t, it was still a good year at the movies,” says Wigglesworth. “And who knows? I’m not counting “Black Panther” out till the end of the show. The Oscars are nothing if not undpredictable.”