I’m still pretty far behind on recent Oscar winning films. I barely watched anything during the various lockdowns as I much preferred something lighter and sillier during that period. Thankfully they’re all becoming widely available now, which makes catching up really easy. The other day I remembered that this was on Disney+ and decided it finally was time to watch it. Yes, I’m extremely late to the party but let’s not worry about that too much. What matters is that I’m watching it at all.
Wes Anderson isn’t everybody’s cup of tea. I know this. He can be a little too quirky and whimsical for many people. I have friends who can’t stand him. I do think he sort of shot himself in the foot a little by making The Grand Budapest Hotel so funny and accessible. It gave more people the Anderson bug but they don’t get the same feeling from his other films. Personally, I enjoy his work. It’s like a little aesthetic escape from reality. His films are an antidote to the doom and gloom that we regularly see around us. I get excited every time a new film is announced. If it hadn’t been for the pandemic, I would have raced to see The French Dispatch at the cinema as soon as it came out. As it stands, I’m still avoiding public spaces as much as possible without totally ruining my life. Meaning I had to wait for this to come to Disney+. Better late than never.
Sunday night was the annual BAFTA film awards and it was the usual mixture of glitz, glamour, and massively unnecessary shade. Now, obviously, as a sane young woman I am a massive fan of the whole Times Up and #metoo movement. However, there was a lot of over-the-top bitchiness that appears to have come out of the ceremony. The first, regarding the Kate Middleton’s dress is insane. Surely, as a royal, she wouldn’t have been allowed to make any outright statement by wearing a black dress. She did, however, get pretty damn close to the colour women were wearing in solidarity to the movement, so I think we know where she stands. Number 2, Salma Hayek. I’ve been thinking about this a lot since I read about her introduction to the Best Actor category and I’m still dumbfounded by it. I don’t really see what her point was. She went in knowing she was going to present an award to a man yet decided to make a pointless and ineffective protest about men whilst doing it. It wasn’t a powerful message and, if anything, damaged the movement by making it seem like women are standing up against men in general. It adds to all the talk of “witch hunts” and, quite frankly, was a dick move in relation to the winner. Gary Oldman deserved his moment to win an award that was and always has been gender specific. Natalie Portman had a great point at the Golden Globes when she bitched about the all male Best Director category; Salma Hayek looked like a fucking idiot to be protesting a man winning a male only award.
Yipee ki-yay, motherbooker 