Cutting the Cable Chord: Part 6

Acquiring Hulu Live TV got us Disney Plus as part of the package. In addition to all the Star Wars series, the streaming service includes content from National Geographic which produced the Oscar nominated documentary Fire of Love about a French couple who were volcano experts. Up until the day they were killed by a lava explosion they were filming in Japan in the early 1990s, they documented their many expeditions with thousands of photographs, film and video. We watched it with commercial interruptions, which weren't too bad and I was able to add to the list of 2023 Oscar nominated films I've seen.

I also caught the Oscar-nominated short film La Pupille, about a group of Italian orphans during World War II who receive a luscious cake for Christmas, but the reverend mother plans to give it the bishop in return for much needed money. It was charming.

Updated List of 2022 Oscar/Other Award Nominated Pictures Seen:
All Quiet on the Western Front (Netflix)
The Banshees of Inisherin (Amazon)
Elvis (HBO Max)

Everything Everywhere All at Once (Amazon)
The Fablemans (Amazon)

Tar (an actual movie theater--Kaufman Astoria Studios)

Triangle of Sadness (Hulu)
Women Talking (Amazon)

Till (Amazon)
To Leslie (Amazon)--surprisingly moving little indie film with a great lead performance by Andrea Riseborough as an alcoholic ex-Lottery winner (also loved Allison Janney as usual)

Aftersun (Amazon)

Living (Amazon)
The Whale (Amazon)

Causeway (Apple TV+)

EO (Lufthansa Flight 0404--Frankfurt to JFK)
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (Netflix)
All the Beauty and Bloodshed (Amazon)
Navalny (HBO Max)

Fire of Love (Disney +)

Pinocchio (Netflix)

Puss in Boots 2 (watched half of it on Amazon)

Nominated Short Films:
The Flying Sailor (YouTube)
The Ice Merchants (YouTube)
My Year of D**ks (Hulu)
An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It (Vimeo)--I liked this one best. Very funny satire on stop-motion animation.
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse (Apple TV+)
The Elephant Whisperers (Netflix)
Haulout (YouTube)
The Martha Mitchell Effect (Netflix)
Stranger at the Gate (YouTube)--Very moving story about a former Marine who plans to bomb a mosque, but ends up converting to Islam after meeting the people there.
Nightride (YouTube)
La Pupille (Disney +)

Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts

Last Sunday instead of watching any of that Super Bowl crap, I took in the Oscar Nominated Animated and Live Action Shorts at Time and Space Limited in Hudson, NY. As I have previously stated, the sure way to win the Oscar pool at your office or viewing party is to see all the nominated short films. Quiet often, people outside the film world don't even know about these categories. At last year's party, some people actually complained when I revealed I had taken the time to do so, whining about "unfair advantage." To which I responded, "Hey, these films are open to the public. They were just shown just a few blocks away at IFC. It's not like I'm an Academy member and I have secret access to these things. You knew what you were getting into, now fork over your dollar, you big babies."

Oscar Animated Shorts 2013

The sure way to win the Oscar pool at work, a party, or your local bar is to familiarize yourself with the obscure categories. Even seasoned oddsmakers who've seen every Best Picture nominee can trip up on Documentary Short Subject (Maggie Smith's favorite category in California Suite!) When that slot plus Animated and Live-Action Short are announced, most people go to the bathroom. So if you can get the winners for these "minor awards," the big prize of that chocolate statuette or cookie or $50 can be yours. Usually Oscar pool participants simply go by titles. In some pools, they actually drop these categories. When I ran the Oscar pool at a previous job, a few cowards actually complained I included them or insisted they be worth fewer points. That's the mark of a wuss.