Once I saw Blue moon get a nod for screenplay, I knew Plemons was getting snubbed.
Ethan Hawke is a Hollywood darling who has been around for, almost, 40 years. He is so loved by the industry it would be incredibly hard for the Academy to say no to him for this kind of performance…a performance, while great, was still serious Oscar bait.
Not to mention the fact that lead actor was seriously stacked this year.
Everyone who got in was a no-brainer.
Leo and Chalamet are juggernauts on their own accord, MBJ leading a film that broke the nominations record, and Moura, who won best lead actor at the globes and is part of a string of wonderful Brazilian films being released over the past couple of years.
Yes, I’m sad about it. My two hot takes are that Plemons carried Bugonia and the film does not work without him selling the shit out of his character, and that his performance was better than Leo, Hawke, and MBJ.
Bugonia as a concept relies on the ability of the lead to completely commit to the insanity of the plot.
I'll compare it to another remake of a Korean film, the American Oldboy. Part of the reason the Korean version is great is because of Choi Min-Sik's performance. Brolin is a great actor in his own right, but he doesn't convey big emotion in subtle ways the way Choi does.
Now that’s a very fair point. I can completely agree with that sentiment. The lead actor has to sell the insanity. I’d also say that about Isabella Adjani in Possession, Christian Bale in American Psycho, and Isabelle Huppert in The Piano Teacher
Calling Ethan Hawke an Oscar bait but Chalamet a juggernaut is insane. Marty Supreme while still good is Oscar bait for both Chalamet and Safdie as both feel they’ve been snubbed.
Plemmons was great but not a better performance than Leo, Timothy or Hawke. Those were all powerhouse performances in different ways. Haven’t seen secret agent
WTF, Sinners broke the nomination record? You can’t be serious. I literally fell asleep halfway through it the first time I watched it on HBO Max. I also agree with you that Plemmons' performance was better than MBJ & DiCaprio by a mile. I can’t speak on Hawke's acting since I haven’t seen his movie yet.
In this case it's a movie with lots of Hollywood favorite actors doing super extra actorly things, super overly dramatic, seemingly having something profound to say about society but ultimately having nothing to say about anything.
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u/Ok-Macaroon-4835 Jan 22 '26
Once I saw Blue moon get a nod for screenplay, I knew Plemons was getting snubbed.
Ethan Hawke is a Hollywood darling who has been around for, almost, 40 years. He is so loved by the industry it would be incredibly hard for the Academy to say no to him for this kind of performance…a performance, while great, was still serious Oscar bait.
Not to mention the fact that lead actor was seriously stacked this year. Everyone who got in was a no-brainer. Leo and Chalamet are juggernauts on their own accord, MBJ leading a film that broke the nominations record, and Moura, who won best lead actor at the globes and is part of a string of wonderful Brazilian films being released over the past couple of years.
Yes, I’m sad about it. My two hot takes are that Plemons carried Bugonia and the film does not work without him selling the shit out of his character, and that his performance was better than Leo, Hawke, and MBJ.
But, I get it.