Helping to popularize bodybuilding and Arnold Schwarzenegger, Pumping Iron also introduced the world to everyone’s favorite Hulk, Lou Ferrigno. Unsurprisingly, during the half of the film concentrating on their rivalry during the 1975 Mr. Olympia competition, Arnold is the villain while the Hulk is our hero. I wonder if audiences in the 70s felt as […]
Stop Making Sense is perhaps the best concert film ever. When I discovered that American Utopia was available and that it was directed by Spike Lee, I had to watch. This isn’t as great as that first film, but it is still an incredible experience. Upon finishing, it made me want to immediately rewatch it over again, rewatch Stop Making Sense again, and also check out everything David Byrne has ever made. 
So often short films want to highlight an important issue but tend to do so in such a heavy handed way that they lose a lot of their emotional impact. That is the case with Debris. It is sad and relevant, but maybe another five minutes spent actually developing the characters of the workers and they would feel like actual people instead of pawns to get the story told.
I’ve been intrigued by this since it won its Oscar. I’m glad I was able to catch it when I briefly had HBO access. Following the experiences of workers at the Veterans Crisis Line, it can be a depressing and intense watch, but these people are heroes every day they answer those phones. If the United States is going to be sending its people to fight all over the world, we need to be better to our soldiers when they come back and offer more support to those trying to help them.
Oscar Win: Best Documentary, Short Subject
It is incredibly hard to know what to do with someone who is tormented simply from living in this world. Support for them and for their loved ones is the best we can do but sadly sometimes that’s not enough. This film is about a boy who found life so insufferable that he was contemplating suicide from a very young age, eventually falling prey as a teen. Drugs sometimes help, but with all medication there are compromises that are made. Unfortunately it is the ones left who are then forced to deal with the pain and emptiness that is now an unavoidable part in their life.
War films are generally not my thing, often overly long and filled with misguided notions. This film, about US naval patrols on the Yangtse River, was both of those things, but still held my interest through most of its three hour runtime. Steve McQueen and Candace Bergen brought their typical flair to their roles, though their romance felt forced. Richard Attenborough was incredibly sympathetic though a bit simple-minded as Frenchy, have a hard time getting used to him looking much younger than Dr. Hammond. I had a hard time figuring out the actual attitudes the film was conveying with regards to the Asian cast. Maybe it was trying to be accurate of the time frame of the setting, but at times, the film portrayed them as hard-working, moral, and quick learning while the white cast treated them and interacted with them in appallingly racist ways. 
Oscar Nominations: Best Picture; Best Actor in a Leading Role; Best Actor in a Supporting Role; Best Cinematography, Color; Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color; Best Sound; Best Film Editing; Best Music, Original Music Score
I really dug this one. I do have a soft spot for older films with all Black casts partially because there are so few of them. I also enjoy Faustian tales, though I really feel for the long-suffering spouses in such tales, played with particular dedication by Ethel Waters in this iteration. My favorite part may be the depictions of Lucifer and his minions. They seem to take special joy in their roles here. 
Oscar Nomination: Best Music, Original Song
In this Pre-Code film, Dorothy Mackaill accidentally murders the man who turned her toward prostitution, so her current love smuggles her away to the safety of a Caribbean island with no extradition. Unfortunately this island is anything but safe and there are wolves leering from every corner all while Mackaill’s character desperately waits for the day her boyfriend comes back to her. The tension here is palpable and all I could do was pray that somehow she could find sanctuary in a place that offered none.
Neil Diamond’s The Jazz Singer isn’t a great movie, but Neil does give it his all and the soundtrack is great. This version of The Jazz Singer has neither of those bonuses. Ostensibly considered the first sound picture, it doesn’t even have much actual synchronized sound other than a couple of songs and lines of dialogue. What it does have is black face, over emoting, and Al Jolson’s ‘singing’. I find the general story appealing, the internal conflict between following tradition or following your heart. I’ll just have to search for a better version.
Oscar Nomination: Best Writing, Adaptation
Clowns are creepy. A scientist who faces the ultimate betrayal from his wife and his patron, then chooses to become a clown so he can reenact that betrayal night after night is incredibly sad. Lon Chaney plays the role of this man, who as a clown is known only as HE, to perfection. The humiliation is willingly subjects himself to is heartbreaking. If all that isn’t enough, there’s some wonderful visual transitions in the film that are worth the watch on their own.