Why It Would Be Really Dumb for the Oscars Not to Nominate ‘Challengers’ for Best Picture

variety.com:

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic Will “Challengers” nab a best picture nomination at this year’s Academy Awards? The question might seem trivial to anyone who’s not a “Challengers” superfan — and, full disclosure, I am one, having chosen it as my number one movie of the year.

But I assure you I’m not merely asking this out of some defensive personal passion for Luca Guadagnino’s supremely tricky and immersive tennis love-triangle movie.

I’m asking it because the kind of movie that “Challengers” is makes this a larger question. Remember the shrewdly crafted, seductively entertaining, unabashedly accessible mid-budget drama for adults? (The thing we used to call…a movie?) It’s become a fading form.

But it was once the meat and potatoes, the bread and butter, the hallowed centerpiece of the Oscars. Movies. For adults (and maybe teenagers too).