Ship’s manicurist Jean Arthur can’t wait to get back to the United States, but her Greek citizenship prevents her from leaving ship. She coerces a newspaperman on board into a quickie marriage in exchange for a story for which she claims to have exclusive details. The details are a bit ridiculous with gangsters thrown in for good measure. Arthur is spunky and adorable as usual but she’s doing all the work here.
Beginning a Die Hard marathon, I had to start with a rewatch of the original. During Christmastime, NYPD cop Bruce Willis has recently arrived in Los Angeles in an attempt to reconcile with his estranged wife Bonnie Bedelia. He shows up at his wife’s office holiday party only to have his plans waylaid by a group of hostage-taking German terrorists, led by Alan Rickman. It’s not a surprise that this inspires yearly arguments over whether it counts as a Christmas film or not; people are just looking for an excuse to watch this classic again. It’s filled with plenty of action and humor. Unlike his recent roles, Willis does more than just squint at the camera and seems to actually be enjoying himself. Though I find his German accent a bit suspect, Rickman otherwise completely kills it as an absolutely iconic bad guy. 
Oscar Nominations: Best Sound; Best Film Editing; Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing; Best Effects, Visual Effects
During a cross-country family road trip to transport quirky teenager Katie Mitchell to film school, the family encounters an obstacle in the form of a newly launched series of home robots determined to capture all humans and launch them into space. There are so many dysfunctional family road trip and technology taking over films ( The Addams Family and Ron’s Gone Wrong both from this year) that simply mashing the two together doesn’t make this film magically fresh. It doesn’t bring anything new to either of those genres. Visually, though the humans look like all other generic computer animated humans these days, the textures of the film are softer and the scenes in the robot headquarters are a highlight, brilliantly colored and designed.
Oscar Nomination: Best Animated Feature Film
Middle-aged, translator and college professor Olivia Colman’s Greek vacation is interrupted by the arrival of a large extended family’s arrival to her previously secluded beach. The family, especially a mother and her young daughter, awakens complicated feelings about her own experiences raising her two daughters. The film rests on Olivia’s performance and she carries it incredibly well. While her decisions don’t always make sense, the emotions she conveys are real and raw. She’s a complicated woman with complex experiences regarding career and family that are portrayed in a unique manner. While they don’t necessarily have similar mannerisms, the casting of Jessie Buckley as the younger version of the character gives a fairly seamless connection between the present and flashbacks.
Oscar Nominations: Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role; Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role; Best Adapted Screenplay
In a war-torn city, a theatre troupe’s performance of the life and adventures of Baron Munchausen is interrupted by the man himself. The disruption causes the actors’ contract to be cancelled and the Baron insists on saving the city. This film was a notorious flop, which is a shame because it offers a fun adventure flick. I really enjoyed John Neville’s portrayal of the baron. It cannot live up to the wonder of Zeman’s The Fabulous Baron Munchausen and has some surprising adult tones mixed in an otherwise family friendly story, but it’s visually fanciful with twists and turns through the various adventures that conveys a great message in its circular telling. 
Oscar Nominations: Best Art Direction-Set Decoration; Best Costume Design; Best Effects, Visual Effects; Best Makeup
Based on a comic book character, Keanu Reeves is the title character, an exorcist who previously damned himself with an attempted suicide and is now caught up in the battle between Heaven and Hell. The film is best when it leans heavily into its comic roots, which unfortunately it does not do nearly enough. Reeves is the perfect actor for a character such as this, someone who is barely human and somewhat ethereal. Tilda Swinton also plays to her strong suits as an impish androgynous angel. I don’t recall his presence in other movies, but Gavin Rossdale has a surprisingly strong presence here as the demon counterpart to Swinton. Both the plotting around and the acting in Rachel Weisz’s twin roles is a bit wooden which as the main guiding force of the film really drags all its positive points downward. 
With a cast including Kevin Kline, Mary McDonnell, Steve Martin, Alfre Woodard, and Danny Glover, my interest was piqued regarding this film. Set in Los Angeles, the film follows a somewhat interconnected cast of characters living and working in a city that is apparently under siege. There are almost car jackings, abandoned babies, and characters getting shot over a wristwatch. In between all the violence is heavy-handed dialogue philosophizing about all these experiences. The connection between the characters is so tenuous that I wasn’t even sure why Alfre and her friend Mary-Louise Parker were even in the movie until over halfway through. The one bright spot was the relationship developing between Woodard and Glover. There was a natural, sweetness as the two got to know each other.
Oscar Nominee: Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
This Ken Burns documentary two-part miniseries chronicles the life of the barrier-breaking baseball player from his early life through his baseball career and his continued activism and political involvement. It’s a typically strong Burns documentary that provides many details the casual baseball fan may be unaware of that doesn’t rest on simply discussing Jackie’s sports career. Including narration by Keith David and voice work by Jamie Foxx, it includes insight from many of Robinson’s family members and other people who knew him. 
This film follows the first year of Lyndon B. Johnson’s presidency from the assassination of Kennedy to his own election almost a year later. Much focus is spent on the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the pressure that MLK and other Black leaders placed in getting it passed. It’s a fairly standard biopic made much stronger by an embodying performance by Bryan Cranston. The film covers many of LBJ’s well-known quirks and also goes far in connecting the passage of the Act with the Democrats’ loss of their former Southern stronghold.
After suffering a personal tragedy, married couple Nicole Kidman and Sam Neill take an extended vacation on their yacht where they encounter Billy Zane coming from a nearby ship where he claims the entire crew has died of food poisoning. For many reasons, they don’t believe Zane and their suspicions are justified. There is so much that is exceptionally silly in this film starting with that first tragedy that really didn’t need to be shown but is laugh out loud funny when it is. While typical for thrillers, Kidman’s character makes so many ludicrous decisions that it borders on unbelievable when she is shown to be actually competent in other areas. The writing separates Kidman and Neill through most of the film and that is its one strength. The two have to battle equally harrowing situations alone. 