Category: Best Picture

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 2021-08-13 | No Comments |

Dead End (1937)

I do enjoy seeing actors who have long careers in their early works, in this case Sylvia Sidney who reminds me a lot of Marion Cotillard or that should be vice versa. I also enjoy seeing earlier works with Humphrey Bogart where he was part of a composite instead of a superstar headling the movie. Watching the beginnings of gentrification as the rich try to figure out ways to put pressure on their neighbors who were there first is what makes this film most interesting. The moralizing of the rich man on how to fix the rough hooligans is particular icing on the cake. I haven’t been fond of the Dead End Kids in other films I’ve seen; it seems their presence isn’t any more appreciated in this, their first appearance.

Oscar Nominations: Best Picture; Best Actress in a Supporting Role; Best Cinematography; Best Art Direction

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 |

Citizen Kane (1941) – Rewatch

After watching Mank, I decided I needed to revisit this. I honestly didn’t get a whole lot out of it the first time I had watched it many years ago. With more film knowledge under my belt, I sadly still don’t connect much with the story and really can’t find reason to care about a fictionalization of William Randolph Hearst and others like him. I appreciate that the story more or less circles back on itself in a creative, though not really surprising, way. Visually it is striking and this subsequent watch gave me an opportunity to appreciate the framing, which is innovative for its time even when it feels overused. I don’t know what the Best Movie Ever actually is, but this still wouldn’t get my vote.

Oscar Win: Best Writing, Original Screenplay

Oscar Nominations: Best Picture; Best Actor in a Leading Role; Best Cinematography, Black-and-White; Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White; Best Sound, Recording; Best Film Editing; Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic Picture

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 |

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

Stylistically I just can’t get into later career Kubrick. I had tried watching this years ago, at that time ending during the home invasion scene, but my current commitment to watching Oscar films is relentless. I’m not turned off by the excessive violence, though I find no interest in Alex as a character, since it feels very cartoon-ish. Instead, it’s the mod-y but futuristic British vibe that runs through the film. I think I need to keep a list of films that give off that vibe; Tommy is another.

Oscar Nominations: Best Picture; Best Director; Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium; Best Film Editing

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 2021-07-25 | No Comments |

The Sundowners (1960)

Perhaps confusing this with the 1950 film of the same name, I really expected this to be an American Western. Instead this is a flick about a family of Australian sheep drovers in the 1920s. I’m not so sure what to think about the unevenness in the accents of Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr, but they do have a lot of chemistry as the married couple. The story itself is an inoffensive romp where the couple tries to come to a compromise when one partner wants to settle down while the other experiences wanderlust. Amongst the new friends they meet along the way are characters played wonderfully by Peter Ustinov and Glynis Johns.

Oscar Nominations: Best Picture; Best Actress in a Leading Role; Best Actress in a Supporting Role; Best Director; Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium

Posted on 2021-07-21 | No Comments |

The Sand Pebbles (1966)

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

Posted on 2021-07-11 | No Comments |

Libeled Lady (1936)

I want to like Jean Harlow in films, but I have yet to find her in a role I’ve liked. William Powell, on the other hand, is generally a delight and he is particularly in this film as the friend who is enticed by a newspaper editor to both marry the editor’s fiancée and woo a socialite in order to prevent the socialite from suing the editor’s newspaper for libel. Myrna Loy is charming and beautiful as the socialite; she and Powell have great chemistry as usual. The plot is a convoluted screwball comedy, but that’s secondary to seeing those two stars together.

Oscar Nomination: Best Picture