Hot Takes with Jo(seph)!

Hey, divas! It’s me, Jo(seph), one of your favorite co-hosts of your favorite podcasts! I’m excited to be the first to tell you that I’m not only going to subject you to the torture of listening to my opinions; I also get to make you read them, too! How cool is that?!

If you haven’t picked up on it yet, I am chaotic as hell. So, it shouldn’t come as a shock to you when I tell you what my recurring blog series will cover: my hot takes in film and pop culture. I have a lot to say in this realm, obviously. Every so often, I am going to come on here and grace you with my thoughts. Let’s get right into it. Today’s hot take is…

Movie Critics and Award Committees SUCK at Their Job!

Now, sometimes they do get it right, but more often than not, they’re dead wrong. I genuinely wish they let normal people send in submissions for the major awards instead of committees. While these committees are made up of supposedly super-qualified officials, they do terrible work almost every award season. There have been very few times that my friends or I actually agreed with the results. 

Let’s take a look at the winners of the Best Picture Award from the Oscars over the last decade.

Of these winners, I agreed with two of them. I strongly believe that Moonlight and Everything Everywhere All at Once absolutely deserved to win the award. They were the superior choices of 2016 and 2022. Everything else…sound the alarms. Like in 2023, while I thought Oppenheimer was good for the purpose it was intended to serve, I did not see it as award worthy. I was beyond devastated when Barbie lost. The 2023 Oscars proved that the point Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig were trying to make was lost. Why did Ryan Gosling win but none of the leading women or the overall film win? It is so mind-boggling, considering how insanely important that movie is. Remember that awful “joke” from Jo Koy about the Barbenheimer duo? Yeah, I’m still pissed about that. In case you forgot, here it is. It’s so disappointing that the same group voting on these movies also have a say in who hosts their events and determine that someone like this is the best we can do.

Clear the house, I want them all gone NOW!

I’m also still insanely mad about The Shape of Water winning in 2017. They nominated Call Me by Your Name, Dunkirk, Get Out, AND Lady Bird for Best Picture and determined that none of them were better? Did I watch the same movie as the committee? If not, I want to see the version they did. 

Film critics love to see their vision and their opinions as an equivalent to law. What they say goes, and everything else is wrong. The average moviegoer is the exact opposite. They do not care about the deep, underlying art that exists within the movie. They care about whether or not the film is entertaining, produced to supreme quality, and worth their time and money. Truthfully, I align more with that. While I will absolutely break down the hidden meanings with another cinema guru, I really just want the movie to make me feel something and bring a sense of satisfaction. 

The movie critics and award committees would absolutely hate to see my Letterboxd account. My Top 4 Movies that are shown at the top of my profile are Before Sunrise, Jurassic Park, Roman Holiday, and Sorority Row. If they saw a negatively reviewed 2000s slasher film that did a mediocre job at the box office in such a high spot, they’d almost instantly deem me unqualified to discuss movies. But guess what? I have paid to watch that movie a million times over because I truly find Sorority Row to be one of the most iconic movies of the 2000s. In fact, I’m going to show you my list of what I deemed to be five-star movies.

(My credentials for this list include, but are not limited to, having almost 1,400 films logged on Letterboxd and having taken film classes in the past (aka I am not qualified; these are my opinions).)

Based on the list above, would you absolutely love to discuss movies with me, or would you think I have the worst taste ever?

Some of you will adore my taste, while others would probably agree with the committee. But do you want to hear a sentiment that solidifies my argument?

Every single movie I have on this list has made a lasting impact on me since I saw each for the first time.

These are the movies I quote in conversation, watch when I need comfort, and think of randomly throughout the day. 

Is that not what the film industry’s purpose is? I was under the impression that the industry exists to give people just that. Maybe the critics and committees have forgotten that in their mission to be “different and outspoken.” You could never make me a fan of the critics and committees. And that’s my hot take.

What do you think?