Movie Monday: The Best, The Worst, The Redeemers, The Maybe-Not-So-Oscar-Worthy

Joker: Folie à Deux, (the sequel to 2019’s Joker which earned Joaquin Phoenix the Best Actor Oscar), won 2 Razzies over the weekend. Those included Razzies for Worst Screen Combo for Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga and also Worst Sequel.

That’s actually letting the movie off the hook a bit considering the audience reaction. It seems that it was a real let down from the original. Madame Web may have saved the Joker sequel from taking home more Razzie Awards since Madame Web appeared to clean house as the worst.

Madame Web won for Worst Picture, Worst Actress Dakota Johnson, and Worst Screenplay.

In her defense, Dakota Johnson said the script had changed a lot from what she initially read to what made it onto the big screen. She said she was unlikely to do anything like it again.

But never fear, Dakota. Sometimes you win a Razzie and you go on later to score the Razzie Redeemer Award later on in your career.

That’s what happened for my girl, Pamela Anderson. I’ve mentioned on a previous Movie Monday how much I like her. So did the Razzie voters because she picked up the Razzie Redeemer Award for 2025. Pamela Anderson was previously named Worst New Star for Barb Wire in 1996, but she received critical acclaim and award recognition for her work in The Last Showgirl, thus redeeming her!

Let’s turn to last night’s Academy Awards:

The big winners were as follows:
Best Picture:  “Anora”
Best Actor:  Adrien Brody, “The Brutalist”
Best Actress:  Mikey Madison, “Anora”
Best Supporting Actor:  Kieran Culkin, “A Real Pain”
Best Supporting Actress:  Zoe Saldana, “Emilia Perez”
Best Director:  Sean Baker, “Anora”
Best Original Screenplay:  Sean Baker, “Anora”
Best Adapted Screenplay:  Peter Straughan, “Conclave”

Some surprises:
Wicked only picked up one Oscar for Best Costume Design. I really thought it would win more.
The Substance did not win Demi Moore her first Best Actress Oscar but it did win for Best Makeup and Hairstyling.

My take-aways from last night’s Oscars:
1. Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo should pretty open every awards show with a duet performance. They were great.

2. I still don’t think we need hosts for these awards shows. The Oscars broadcast (especially) is long enough and could be just as good if the booming voice guy just announced the presenters and then let them come out and do more natural introductions. The deadpan host jokes just seem…well, so dead.

3. I’m gonna get some flack for this one…. I don’t know that I agree with the Best Supporting Actor win for Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain).
In fairness, I didn’t see any other Oscar nominated movie in that category yet except for his movie so maybe none of the others stood out any more than his would have. Kieran’s performance was by no means bad. But was it an Oscar-winning performance? Uh, not in my book. He gave an adorable acceptance speech last night but that even further solidified my thoughts because he seemed to resemble his character from the movie. So was his acting really that much of a stretch? Maybe Jesse Eisenberg wrote the script with him specifically in mind?
I was just a little let down by the movie as a whole so maybe I was a tad jaded coming into that category last night. The movie was ok. It was. I wouldn’t say I hated it. It just seemed like when the credits rolled I found myself thinking, “That’s it? Well that was not as great as I had hoped.”
And then that was the best supporting acting job of the year? I just find that hard to believe.

Want to contact Laura McKenna? Email anytime, she’d love to hear from you: Laura.McKenna@civicmedia.us
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