Three Hour Runtimes: An Ode to Award Season
My awards season viewing habits are weird this year.
It’s that time of year, where I feverishly attempt to catch up with a year’s worth of important films so that I can inevitably answer the question, “What movie should I vote for for Best Picture on my workplace Oscar ballot?” There were a lot of things I thought about writing on this for this latest newsletter—which had a high bar to cross after that big Rear Window deep dive—including just straight-up giving you my thoughts on some new movies I’ve seen. But after watching Avatar: The Way of Water, Babylon, She Said, and The Banshees of Inisherin in rather rapid succession I just figured, let’s talk about Oscar movies.
Or, more specifically, let’s talk about why I feel completely adrift from this year’s Oscar movies. Part of that could be work related, as I focus on TV year-round these days and prioritize movie viewing based off what I like. But that being said, I just haven’t felt the pull to see a lot of stuff and what I have been drawn to feels very unexpected. If you asked me what my favorite movies of this year are I’d tell you Elvis, Turning Red, Bullet Train, X, and the new Puss in Boots movie. Yep, that’s my year in a nutshell. This makes sense if you know me. Baz Luhrmann musicals, action films (with a personal bias thrown in there), animated movies, and nostalgic horror films are my jam.
But in watching Avatar and Babylon this week I wondered, “What does Elvis have that these two don’t?” I mean, if you watch all three together you’re looking at six hours of cinema. But thanks to Luhrmann’s frenetic editing, the addition of music, and a compelling story, the runtime of Elvis feels swift. And, because Luhrmann films already are such highly exaggerated affairs, I have to think that helped me not get too frustrated with how it plays with history. (Compared to other Elvis biopics I’ve seen, this is one of the best.)
Babylon, to its credit, has a fantastic score and some good performances. But much like Blonde, it translates salaciousness for storytelling. Damien Chazelle can say all he wants he loves the silent era, but it’s hard to see that in a 3-hour movie following characters he sees as just unpleasant and who’s only supposed talents were being able to hide their shitty personal lives. For three hours! At least Elvis balances the harsh realities with genuine love and appreciation for its title character, aided by Austin Butler giving a performance I’m still utterly dazzled by!
I still have a lot of awards season movies to catch up with, thankfully I’m hoping to go off the grid next week and watch. That being said, anything over 3-hours at this point is getting an automatic skip from me. I just can’t handle it anymore. That being said, what movies did you love this year that I should make time for? I promise I’ll pick a cooler topic next time!
**A reminder that pre-orders matter and I’m doing that author hustle! Please consider pre-ordering my first book, But Have You Read the Book: 52 Literary Gems That Inspired Our Favorite Films. If you love movies, books, and adaptations of books INTO movies this is right up your alley. I’ll be start the inaugural But Have You Read the Book Club in January! **