Fischer: Every award everywhere all at once

The 95th Academy Awards came and went last week, as it has so many times before, but something happened at this particular ceremony that rarely happens. Something far more shocking than somebody getting slapped across the face.

For the first time in 20 years, the movie named “Best Picture” was one that I’d actually seen ahead of time.

“Everything Everywhere All at Once,” a movie that took home seven out of the 11 Oscars it was nominated for, is one of the most critically acclaimed films ever made.

I also liked it too.

I mean, don’t get me wrong. I’m sure that “CODA” and “Nomadland” and the slew of other Best Picture winners in recent years that I’d never heard of before they became Best Picture winners are all perfectly good films. If I sat down to watch any of them I’m confident that I would find them plenty compelling. (In fact, going through the list of recent winners I’ve been reminded of several movies that I’ve been “meaning to watch” for quite some time.)

But the fact of the matter is that the tastes of the nebulous academy very rarely align with the tastes of somebody more interested in learning about the ancient history of Mandalore than watching a comedy-drama about a teenager helping her deaf parents run a fishing business.

The last time I watched a movie that won an Oscar for Best Picture it was “Lord of the Rings: Return of the King” and while I will always go out to see Viggo Mortensen decapitating orcs, I am considerably less inclined to dedicate my entertainment time to watching him drive Mahershala Ali around the Deep South.

Which brings us to “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”

You could frame the movie as an introspective look at the meaning of life, overcoming nihilism and learning to not become weighed down by regrets from the past. It is absolutely that movie.

It’s also a movie where Michelle Yeoh gets into a special effects laden knockdown fight with Jamie Lee Curtis while saving the multiverse from a literal existential crisis. Also, there’s a universe where everybody has hotdogs for fingers.

Is it weird how multiverses have become such a big thing so quickly?

As a comic book reader, the concept isn’t anything new. Superheroes have been jumping around different universes for decades, but you don’t really see it used outside of the occasional niche sci-fi TV show. “Sliders,” and “Fringe,” stand out, along with the occasional appearance of evil goateed counterparts in “Star Trek.”

Beyond that though, I don’t know that multiverses were really a mainstream concept until the CW’s various superhero offerings made big crossover events, building up to a television adaptation of “Crisis on Infinite Earths.”

Of course, now Marvel Studios is setting up the multiverse as the linchpin for the next big MCU arc. No escaping it now.

It’s a weird coincidence that this year’s Oscar winner also utilizes the premise of infinite alternate realities.

Which in no way detracts from the movie’s merit and brings me back to my original point. It’s nice when genre films get the recognition they deserve. So often it seems that sci-fi and fantasy have to work harder to be taken seriously, as though a deep examination of the human condition becomes impossible the moment you introduce a dragon or a laser sword into the scenario.

Sure, sometimes, maybe even most of the time, it’s just silly entertainment. But sometimes it can be both.

And hey, if the academy keeps nominating movies I’ve seen for awards, maybe I’ll keep paying attention to what wins.

– Travis Fischer is a news writer for the Press and really needs to sit down and watch “Birdman” and “Spotlight.”