Category: Best Music

Posted on 2022-03-17 | No Comments |

The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964)

This musical follows the life of Molly Brown, a Colorado socialite best known for her assistance during the evacuation of the Titanic. Debbie Reynolds plays the spunky title character. In the first scenes, she comes across as an over-the-top, goofy, backwoods yokel, similar to Betty Hutton’s hammy portrayal in Annie Get Gun. Luckily the story quickly moves on for the character and presents her steely, determination to getting what she wants out of life. The gorgeous costumes and Reynolds’s energetic portrayal are the best parts of the films. The writing and the music on the other hand leave a bit to be desired. The big event is only given a few minutes toward the end, with Molly’s bravery presented as a quick montage of her rallying her lifeboat-mates. There are more scenes of the character on the ship in 1997’s Titanic than in this one.

Oscar Nominations: Best Actress in a Leading Role; Best Cinematography, Color; Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color; Best Costume Design, Color; Best Sound; Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment

Posted on 2022-03-17 | No Comments |

Carefree (1938)

Frustrated with his fiancée Ginger Rogers’s ambivalence toward marriage, Ralph Bellamy asks his friend, psychiatrist Fred Astaire, to help out. The plan backfires as Rogers becomes convinced that Astaire is the one she loves. It’s a weak entry for the Rogers-Astaire pairings. There’s an overreliance on hypnotism as a plot point resulting in blatantly ignoring any agency for Rogers’s character. That does result in her going after most of the male characters with a shotgun, but that’s not enough to carry the film.

Oscar Nominations: Best Art Direction; Best Music, Original Song; Best Music, Scoring

Posted on 2022-03-08 | No Comments |

The Tender Trap (1955)

Womanizing theatrical agent Frank Sinatra’s idyllic life is disrupted when he falls for young actress Debbie Reynolds who has her entire life mapped out, starting with getting married by her next birthday. Sinatra’s role here reminds me a lot of his character in Come Blow Your Horn and a lot of the same criticisms hold true, though he’s not quite as old in this film. Reynolds is adorable, but her character is at best exceptionally naïve and there’s little reason for the two of them to get together. Celeste Holm, as one of Sinatra’s many girlfriends, is a highlight as the most sensible and put together character in the entire film.

Oscar Nomination: Best Music, Original Song

Posted on 2022-03-07 | No Comments |

King Richard (2021)

Will Smith is Richard Williams, the father and coach of tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams. The film conveys the eldest Williams as a thoroughly complex character: a determined, obsessive, arrogant, loving, helicopter parent with one singular goal. It’s an interesting look into how to raise a champion, or two, especially when the odds are against you. While he doesn’t disappear completely into the character, Smith does offer a fairly good portrayal of the man.

Oscar Win: Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

Oscar Nominations: Best Motion Picture of the Year; Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role; Best Achievement in Film Editing; Best Original Screenplay; Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song)

Posted on 2022-03-06 | No Comments |

Here Comes the Groom (1951)

Recently returned to Boston, reporter Bing Crosby must get married in five days or lose custody of the two orphans he has adopted. Unfortunately Jane Wyman, the woman he’s hoping to marry, has become engaged to Franchot Tone in his absence. Crosby’s character isn’t easy to root for and the songs are mostly unnecessary, but mixed into that is some good, often slapsticky, humor. I wish it had taken a different turn in the end, but otherwise it’s a fun, lighthearted diversion.

Oscar Win: Best Music, Original Song

Oscar Nomination: Best Writing, Motion Picture Story

Posted on 2022-03-05 | No Comments |

Funny Lady (1975)

In this sequel to Funny Girl, Barbra Streisand’s Fanny Brice’s career continues to thrive while she has moved on, somewhat, from con artist Omar Sharif and finds new love in theatrical producer James Caan. I know Funny Girl is an iconic Streisand work, but it had failed to impress me and this does so even less. It’s like a rehash of the earlier work, but everything’s worse. The theatrical scenes are much weaker here as is the relationship and (lack of) chemistry with Caan. The film is both too long and drawn out while quickly jumping through the events in the relationship. It seems like Fanny Brice deserves better than to have her life told mainly from the view of her relationships.

Oscar Nominations: Best Cinematography; Best Costume Design; Best Sound; Best Music, Original Song; Best Music, Scoring Original Song Score and/or Adaptation

Posted on 2022-03-03 | No Comments |

The Omen (1976)

When American diplomat Gregory Peck is told that his son died during childbirth, he agrees to pass off an orphaned boy as his own, unbeknownst to his wife Lee Remnick. Five years later, Peck has been appointed ambassador to the UK where mysterious events spawn around the family, seemingly centered on the child who has been named Damien. This is some great 1970s suspense horror, similar to The Exorcist or The Amityville Horror . It does slog a bit in the middle during a fact-finding trip and doesn’t make nearly enough use of Remnick, but it does make good use of the creepy old English atmosphere and has some rather creative murder scenes. A later career Peck does a fine job carrying the film, gradually changing from a hard nosed non-believer to a knife wielding demon killer.

Oscar Win: Best Music, Original Score

Oscar Nomination: Best Music, Original Song

Posted on 2022-02-20 | No Comments |

Nine (2009)

8 1/2 isn’t my favorite Fellini and this musical version does nothing to improve that rating. Haunted by the ghosts of women from his past and present, director Daniel Day-Lewis is suffering from writers block over the filming of his latest movie. This touches on the general notes of the original film, but doesn’t develop the themes much at all. Day-Lewis isn’t bad in the role, but he lacks the Italian charm of Mastroianni. Instead of expanding on the ideas of the film, the musical numbers just distract. Compared to the narrative scenes, they are all overly produced and feel interchangeable over the course of the film.

Oscar Nominations: Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role; Best Achievement in Costume Design; Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song; Best Achievement in Art Direction

Posted on 2022-02-19 | No Comments |

Dune (2021)

In this adaptation of the Frank Herbert novel, Duke Oscar Issac and Lady Rebecca Ferguson travel with their special son Timothée Chalamet to a far away desert planet to learn about spice production. There’s quite a bit of political intrigue going on behind the scenes and Timothée has a bunch of dreams about Zendaya. Even with its bleak desert setting, it’s an incredibly gorgeous film with extremely high production values and some good world building, but it’s obvious that it was made as a set up for a sequel or two as the story is almost all setup with no conclusion.

Oscar Wins: Best Sound; Best Achievement in Visual Effects; Best Achievement in Production Design; Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score); Best Achievement in Film Editing; Best Achievement in Cinematography

Oscar Nominations: Best Achievement in Production Design; Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score); Best Motion Picture of the Year; Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling; Best Achievement in Costume Design; Best Adapted Screenplay

Posted on 2022-02-10 | No Comments |

The Accidental Tourist (1988)

Seeing the movie poster for this for many years, I’ve always assumed this was mostly about a quirky Geena Davis whom William Hurt meets on a vacation, maybe whose hijinks cause flights to be lost or hotels to be cancelled. Instead it’s about business travel writer William Hurt who is still coming to terms with the death of his son and whose wife, Kathleen Turner, has recently left him. It’s presented that he has become more distant since his child’s death and that manic pixie dog trainer Davis helps him to feel again, but there’s no indication that he wasn’t that way before the tragedy and there’s not really a change afterward. It’s quite the dull affair though even more quirkiness is added in a trio of siblings for Hurt, played by David Ogden Stiers, Ed Begley Jr., and Amy Wright.

Oscar Win: Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Oscar Nominations: Best Picture; Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium; Best Music, Original Score