Category: Best Writing

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 2021-08-05 | No Comments |

The Trip to Bountiful (1985)

I’ve already seen the 2014 version with Cicely Tyson, which I still prefer. Perhaps because of the 20 minute difference in runtime, this one felt a bit slower to get started. It also took me quite a bit of time to warm up to Geraldine Page’s take on the Mrs. Watts character. She seemed like a petulant child at the beginning, but halfway through her travels, I had warmed to her pilgrimage to return to her beloved Bountiful.

Oscar Win: Best Actress in a Leading Role

Oscar Nomination: Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium

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 2021-07-12 | No Comments |

The Jazz Singer (1927)

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

Posted on 2021-07-11 | No Comments |

Broken Arrow (1950)

The number of Westerns I subject myself to as an Oscar completionist and a James Stewart fan is numerous. Luckily this one is covered by both of those umbrellas. Despite the grievances of many a child of the 1950s who would prefer a simplistic good guys-bad guys narrative, I have a soft spot for those Westerns that make some attempts toward nuance in their portrayals of Native Americans. Aside from that, this film following Stewart’s attempts at brokering a peace deal between Cochise and the Army, after saving an Apache boy and finding sympathy for the ways of the Apache, is mostly forgettable.

Oscar Nominations: Best Actor in a Supporting Role; Best Writing, Screenplay; Best Cinematography, Color

Posted on 2021-07-08 | No Comments |

The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)

Everyone hates film producer Kirk Douglas, but they also all want to make movies with him. Creatively told almost completely in flashbacks, Lana Turner, Dick Powell, and Barry Sullivan are gathered together by Walter Pidgeon to explain the very good reasons why they all hate Douglas. The story is an intriguing examination of how movies are made and the people who make them.

Oscar Wins: Best Actress in a Supporting Role; Best Writing, Screenplay; Best Cinematography, Black-and-White; Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White; Best Costume Design, Black-and-White

Oscar Nomination: Best Actor in a Leading Role

Posted on 2021-07-03 | No Comments |

Alexander’s Ragtime Band (1938)

With a love triangle as its backdrop, Alexander’s Ragtime Band attempts to tell the early history of jazz during the early parts of the 20th century, all through the music of Irving Berlin. The story is shallow, but the cast is fine, filled with the likes of Tyrone Power, Alice Faye, Ethel Merman, Don Ameche and Jack Haley. The music is the best part and the songs are catchy as all get out. Just reading the name of the film gets the title song stuck in my head.

Oscar Win: Best Music, Scoring

Oscar Nominations: Best Picture; Best Writing, Original Story; Best Art Direction; Best Film Editing; Best Music, Original Song