Category: 2020s

Posted on 2021-08-15 | No Comments |

Minari (2020)

I have little patience or sympathy for father characters who are willing to lead their families on a path of destruction all because of their own hubris, leaving the mothers to sacrifice all they can just to keep the family together. Steven Yeun and Han Ye-ri play this tropes to perfection. Thankfully that’s not the entire story here and we have the wonderful Youn Yuh-jung as grandma, coming in to provide support and humor while also helping her grandson to find his strength. Middle America has never looked so good visually. I viscerally felt like as I was in the setting, one that is similar to others I have known intimately. Alan Kim is adorable as young David and manages the rarity of a cute child character who feels real instead of stilted.

Oscar Win: Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

Oscar Nominations: Best Motion Picture of the Year; Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role; Best Achievement in Directing; Best Original Screenplay; Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score)

Posted on 2021-08-10 | No Comments |

Raya and the Last Dragon (2021)

Since Disney Animation Studios has given up on traditional animation, I’ve had a hard time really feeling the magic in their feature films. Maybe it’s just a matter of me being old and unreceptive to change, but visually many of these films don’t have much spark. Raya and the Last Dragon tries (there are some beautiful individual settings), but somehow it simultaneously doesn’t spend enough time world building and takes too much time getting to the actual adventure. There is little that makes Raya as a character unique or interesting and no real reason to care about her plight. Every character other than her is more interesting, including everyone stuck in stone through the entire film.

Oscar Nomination: Best Animated Feature Film

Posted on 2021-08-10 | No Comments |

The Mauritanian (2021)

As a window into the atrocities that have been occurring at Guantanamo, this movie does its job well and it’s an important job. Other than that, it’s a tad boring and takes too long getting through the details it wants to convey. Jodie Foster is as good as expected; I particularly enjoy watching her in her older roles. Sadly I have a hard time not seeing Shailene Woodley as a teenager and her role here just feels like a bit of filler. Tahar Rahim does an incredible job and is believable through all the emotions from being kidnapped and tortured to small moments of hope and understandable cynicism.

Posted on 2021-08-10 | No Comments |

Nomadland (2020)

I only have one Best Picture nominee left to watch from this year (Minari is sitting next to my TV, waiting to be watched) so I can’t give a definitive answer whether this deserves to be Best Picture. Thus far I’m not mad at the pick. It doesn’t scream that it is entirely a new story, but it does feel like a now story: people driven from their homes and finding an alternative way to being when capitalism fails them. It is also provides beautiful views of Middle America. I don’t know what kind of life Frances McDormand would have had if she weren’t an award winning actress, but she is truly believable as a rugged, hard-working woman able to do whatever she needs to to get by. On the other hand, as much as I love David Strathairn, in a ‘normal’ Hollywood movie he could pass off as a fade into the background everyman, but in this one, he looked too clean and pretty.

Oscar Wins: Best Motion Picture of the Year; Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role; Best Achievement in Directing

Oscar Nominations: Best Adapted Screenplay; Best Achievement in Film Editing; Best Achievement in Cinematography

Posted on 2021-08-09 | No Comments |

The Nest (2020)

Looking up the title of this movie, I’ve seen it categorized as romance and psychological thriller. Do not trust the categorizing of movies on popular websites: lesson learned. Jude Law is pretty much the same as he always is; Carrie Coons is unrecognizable at first, which means she is also pretty much the same as she always is. The acting is actually pretty good, but the movie takes an hour to even reach the point that the audience had seen coming from the beginning: a man determined that he deserves great things, lives beyond his means to the detriment of his family. A story that has been done many times before and here it isn’t done in any new ways.

Posted on 2021-08-07 | No Comments |

Tom and Jerry (2021)

This is not a movie I would have chosen to watch on my own. Unfortunately I have been sharing the joys of classic Tom and Jerry cartoons with my housemate and thus we watched this together. It is…. not good. The human scenes, involving a wedding no one should care about, are all a waste of anyone’s time and they make up the vast majority of the movie’s runtime. The scenes with Tom and Jerry themselves are mostly fine though could have gone much farther in their Tom and Jerry zaniness. The animation of Butch, Topsy, and the other classic cats were off and the voicing of Spike was wrong. The one thing I did appreciate is that all animals were animated, which is a nice bit of commitment to world-building. I still could have done without singing pigeons.

Posted on 2021-08-03 | No Comments |

Judas and the Black Messiah (2021)

I first started read about Fred Hampton while watching The Trial of the Chicago 7 and looked forward to see what more this film could add to his story. I think this film did a pretty good job showing the last few years of his life. Daniel Kaluuya managed to convey his power and charisma along with the humility of being part of a movement bigger than himself. I found the Last Supper scene particularly effective in presenting the tension in the room that I’ve never seen in Biblical films. I didn’t understand it earlier in the year and understand even less after watching the film how two title characters results in two supporting actor nominations.

Oscar Wins: Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role; Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song)

Oscar Nominations: Best Motion Picture of the Year ; Best Original Screenplay; Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role; Best Achievement in Cinematography

Posted on 2021-07-31 | No Comments |

The Father (2020)

As someone who is middle aged, I spend more time than I wish to admit assessing my own physical decline and fearing any level of dementia that the future may hold for me. I thought Still Alice was tough enough to experience. Told from the point of view of the person suffering the disease, this film is my nightmare. Though I would have given the Oscar to Chadwick Boseman, I could not fault Anthony Hopkins’s performance and how he deftly portrays the various emotions such a person would experience every day.

Oscar Wins: Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role; Best Adapted Screenplay

Oscar Nominations: Best Motion Picture of the Year; Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role; Best Achievement in Film Editing; Best Achievement in Production Design

Posted on 2021-07-29 | No Comments |

The Palindromists (2020)

I do enjoy a good geeky themed documentary, see The King of Kong or Spellbound. Even though I feel palindromes are a slicker cousin of anagrams, I thought this would be more fun than it is. I most enjoyed the interview bits with Danica McKellar and Weird Al and the various palindromists discussing how they come up with their reactions. The actual competition is kind of boring. Most of the actual palindroming is done in private and is a mental exercise. It’s still all quirky enough that I don’t totally regret the watch. If nothing else, I can no weigh in on the pa LIN dromists versus palin DRO mists pronunciation controversy.

Posted on 2021-07-21 | No Comments |

David Byrne’s American Utopia (2020)

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.