It's time to admit that Barbie is a Best Picture prospect for the 2023 Academy Awards.

I was originally expecting myself to be watching Dune 2 about this time in the year. This is the sequel to the 2021 Denis Villeneuve adaptation which I liked. It dropped during the pandemic, so I ended up watching it on HBO Max at the time (like a lot of folks). Despite this setback, it still made a "decent" amount of money to warrant a sequel.

But it continually gets pushed back. At first it was November, and now it is set to come out in the spring (March). A lot of this has to do with striking actors and writers and other such things that complicate the world in which we live. At the end of the day, entertainment is just "fun" but the people who make all that entertainment need to get paid for what they do. So...I get it. But in thinking of how the Dune sequel might actually benefit from being pushed back until next year, I have to realize that this may be a good thing because the Barbie movie is actually a contender for the Best Picture Oscar.

I never thought I'd be saying that. Barbie didn't conjure up the images that I would think of when it comes to the coveted "Best Picture." That it is today may just indicate how badly the sheen has rubbed off the Academy Awards: a slow decline of "keeping it real" that just unraveled year after year with people becoming more and more aware of how white the industry is, how exploitative some directors and producers have been (Weinstein), the ageism within the industry, and the infamous Oscar slap that sent Will Smith into exile. And now our country is so divided that woke messaging within films and television is being called out by MAGA groups as "You go woke! You go broke!" exercising their financial muscle and ability to corral their own to "teach libtards a lesson!"

So yeah...it's weird. I don't much enjoy watching the Academy Awards anymore. The glamour feels like it has vanished, and everyone is just a monkey throwing poo. Just these particular monkeys all look nice and wear nice clothes, but their lives don't actually feel envy worthy because I just know too much of what's going on, whether it's painful plastic surgeries, sexual assault, toxic patriarchy, discrimination, or racism (take your pick). Never meet your heroes, and the 24/7 news cycle along with Twitter and other social media (unfortunately) makes this almost impossible. We practically know how a fart smells that comes from a celebrity...and this isn't a good thing. There's no illusion there, and they are no different than us. And when we start thinking that, then you just realize that (at the end of the day) there's little justification as to why they make so much money and all of us make so little. Ugh...talk about losing "suspension of disbelief."

All that being said, we come to Barbie. This film by Greta Gerwig was remarkable, and that's what I'm having an issue with (in my brain) because maybe...I never thought that Barbie was supposed to be taken this seriously. But it should. The message of the film (which is a critique on patriarchy and toxic masculinity) made it into something that was incredibly deep and meaningful instead of this weird light-hearted comedy that I was expecting Barbie to be. And maybe my expectations were built on patriarchy, because (as a man) how could I think that Barbie was important to anyone until I realized that this strange doll from Mattel was (in fact) important to many people? And therein (I suppose) lies the rub of all this. The movie that I would have thought was a shoe-in for not having critical acclaim (and easily dismissible) is in fact the opposite of that. It's a great movie, and its "woke" messaging may in fact make it the juggernaut at the Academy Awards that all other movies should just avoid if they can by pushing release dates out into the next year. I think that's what I'd do if I were calling the shots around a film, especially if I was counting on some Oscar buzz to lift the overall box office and aftermarket sales of my movie.

The Oscars this year are a perfect reflection of the dystopian landscape of 2022.

With regard to the Academy Awards, I feel like I'm experiencing what Dorothy experienced in The Wizard of Oz when she got a peek behind the curtain and saw the old man running everything with buttons and levers. There used to be a kind of glamour to the show. It was an illusion that had me wishing that I could be among those who got invited to this kind of event. But after watching the show that aired on Sunday evening (it was not fun or entertaining), I'm wondering if I'll ever watch another one again.

My love of film goes way back. I took a course in college where I studied film seriously for a whole semester, and I saw the kind of work that went into it. There was an art and a magic to it that invoked a kind of awe. And you got all of these wonderful and talented people together to use their skills and create something beautiful and timeless: a story that was entertaining and managed to sweep you away from the doldrum of your life. But I haven't felt that kind of awe for movies in some time, and I wonder if it is just because I've gotten older, and I now see how "human" all of these supposedly glamorous people are (if I can even say that). They all appear so normal to me now that I wonder where all the class went?

By any stretch, this year's Academy Awards ceremony was an unentertaining shit show that seems to be a sign of the times. Everything these days is riddled with incompetency, anger, and incivility. The "In Memoriam" segment this year was a musical number with a dancing choir that really distracted from seeing the names on the screen. Like...what? They also made a decision to cut "boring" awards like sound editing. Then they did this "Most Cheer-Worthy Moment" thing that had clips from comic book movies like Avengers and Zack Snyder's Justice League and then right after a moving acceptance speech from a deaf actor, Chris Evans popped up on the screen to congratulate him and air an advertisement for his new film Buzz Lightyear. Look...I get that ABC is owned by Disney and wants some marketing, but this just seemed so flagrantly in your face that it felt awkward. However, I already decided some time ago that I was going to see Buzz Lightyear. So...in retrospect...I may have been more pissed that there wasn't additional footage or that it was an old trailer.

There was a ton of crypto ads and people talking about NFT's and crypto. Look...I think this stuff about crypto, the blockchain, and NFT's is scammy as hell. It feels fake. But I also saw on CBS that the $140,000 swag bags that 23 of the people got were filled with things that feel fake. Half the supposed value of the swag bag was in plastic surgery treatments. Like...really? I know someone that got a facelift, and it was one of the expensive ones with a very reputable surgeon. Their face looked like they'd been in a car accident for nearly three weeks, all bandaged up with drainage tubes, etc., to drain all the blood and fluid off from the swollen tissues. However, they got the results they wanted eventually when everything healed but not without a cost. I guess one small nerve got knicked by accident, which can happen when even the most practiced surgeons start cutting up your face. This resulted in a kind of lifelong diminishment of hearing in one ear. And I'm like...what the hell? Imagine getting that as a gift in your swag bag...it's an invitation to get all cut up and bloody and possibly lose your hearing or something else. I think that would be the worst gift in the world, and it just shows how much of a dystopia our world actually is.

Let's also not forget about Ukraine. How could you? It was literally splashed over anything from acceptance speeches to advertisements, as if we don't hear enough about the horrible things going on over there. It's literally been on the front page of The New York Times for a month. Everyone wants people to do more, but everyone is also afraid of nuclear war. It's just another sign that we are living in a dystopia, because violence cannot solve an issue because world-ending violence is right there to ensure that you just sit on your palms and shut your mouth. So...I guess that the Oscars just became a platform for people to scream (helplessly) "That's not right..." and you know...they're correct. All of them. It's not right...but there's nothing you can do about it...and here is your swag bag. Privilege is never more glaring than when horrible things are happening and you cannot do anything about them accept be thankful that it isn't happening to you. And also, you've just been given coupons for excellent plastic surgery options in Beverly Hills.

And then of course there was the F-Bomb laced tirade from Will Smith against Chris Rock for telling a joke about Will's wife. I'm so over Jada and Will Smith. The slap/punch just shows that the death of comedy is real. Comedians cannot tell jokes anymore, because everyone is offended. I like comedy, and I like Chris Rock. I feel sorry for comedians who now have to wonder if (after a joke is told) someone from the audience will assault them for "crossing a line."

Everything is just too real these days. It's like you have "smell-o-vision" and you smell how rotten things are across the spectrum. The Oscars are just a reflecting pool for the dystopian landscape of 2022. Someone really needs to weed this garden.

Call Me By Your Name is a lovely movie and you should go and see it as soon as possible.

I saw "Call Me By Your Name" last night with my buddy Brad, and I've got to say that it's a beautiful film...one of the best I've seen in a long time. It's a love story...a very slow burning love story...of a boy that's blossoming and obviously confused about his sexuality (but ultimately knows that he is gay), and of a kind, warm, and loving man that recognizes these signs because he too is gay and tries to deal with them in the best way possible. It's cute and poignant and beautiful. How could it not be set to a summer in Italy with sun-drenched orchards, fine food, and lots of sweaty skin on the most beautiful people imaginable? So many almost naked swims...soo many...and I'm not complaining...the sultriness of it really swept me away.

But the thing that really reduced me to tears came near the end of the movie. Timothee Chalamet who plays Elio is nursing a heartbreak because Oliver needed to go home. Their time was over. Nothing bad happened, but as we all know, summers end. That's just the way of things, and it was no different in 1983, which is the setting for this movie. But Elio's father finishes this movie with a very moving monologue. In fact, it's incredible. His father, without making assumptions and without making Elio uncomfortable and without overstepping bounds, tells Elio that he noticed the beautiful connection that Oliver and Elio had. He makes it clear that he accepts it, and that he's a little jealous that he never experienced anything like it in his own life. "There were always barriers," he admits to his son. And then he says this:

"You had a beautiful friendship. Maybe more than a friendship. And I envy you. In my place, most parents would hope the whole thing goes away, or pray that their sons land on their feet soon enough. But I am not such a parent. In your place, if there is pain, nurse it, and if there is a flame, don't snuff it out, don't be brutal with it. Withdrawal can be a terrible thing when it keeps us awake at night, and watching others forget us sooner than we'd want to be forgotten is no better. We rip out so much of ourselves to be cured of things faster than we should that we go bankrupt by the age of 30 and have less to offer each time we start with someone new. But to feel nothing so as not to feel anything--what a waste! Forgive me if I have spoken out of turn. I will have been a terrible father if, one day, you'd want to speak to me and felt the door was shut, or not sufficiently open."

I was deeply moved by this movie. I needed it in fact. And this poses a problem for me because there are still five movies that I haven't seen that have received the Best Picture nomination at the Academy Awards. But I want this one to win. I want Timothee Chalemet to win Best Actor because he portrays an awkward teenage boy so well. I may never have lived the kind of fire that is portrayed in this story, but I certainly empathized with it. That there are such beautiful things in this world is the reason why we have poetry and art. For without those disciplines how could we possibly put into expression the poignancy of two hearts that can never be, yet still they dance around and with each other because the present is the only time that matters.