Category: Oscar Nominee

Posted on 2022-04-19 | No Comments |

Poseidon (2006)

A rogue wave capsizes a luxury ocean liner on its New Years transatlantic journey. On board is a whole mess of famous passengers who must traverse many dangers to escape the sinking ship. It’s nowhere near as entertaining as the original Poseidon Adventure, but I appreciate that the films don’t shy from killing off well-known characters. Sadly that leaves the film with a lot of humdrum characters toward the end, though I do like the buddy leadership of Kurt Russell and Josh Lucas carrying the group from peril to peril.

Oscar Nomination: Best Achievement in Visual Effects

Posted on 2022-04-18 | No Comments |

Last Tango in Paris (1972)

For some reason, young and engaged Maria Schneider agrees to an anonymous affair with middle-aged Marlon Brando, whose wife has recently died by suicide. The escapism that these two characters find in their clandestine relationship is overwhelmed by two of the film’s explicit sex scenes: one that made me laugh in its silly ridiculousness and the other exploitive to the point of being an assault on the actress involved.

Oscar Nominations: Best Actor in a Leading Role; Best Director

Posted on 2022-04-18 | No Comments |

Being Julia (2004)

As successful London theatre actress Annette Bening approaches middle age, she finds herself disillusioned personally and professionally. Bening shines in the role, but that’s all there really is to recommend. It’s rather tropeful and I was bored until the climax. It was at that high point that it becomes memorable enough that it made me realize I almost certainly have seen the film before.

Oscar Nomination: Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

Posted on 2022-04-18 | No Comments |

Midnight Express (1978)

Brad Davis is sent to a Turkish prison after attempting to smuggle 2kg of hashish out of the country. He’s initially given a sentence of four years for possession and he must decide whether or not to join fellow English-speaking prisoners John Hurt and Randy Quaid in taking the Midnight Express, slang in the prison for an escape attempt. Differentiating from the non-fiction book it was adapted from, it strangely includes a girlfriend character which adds some explicit sex scenes, while purposefully suppressing the homosexual sexual activity that actually happened. The depiction of the prison is a surprising oddity as the prisoners are allowed a bit of freedom of movement within its walls but are also subjected to a great amount of violence from guards and other prisoners. It’s a bleak reminder to not screw around when visiting other countries.

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

Oscar Nominations: Best Picture; Best Actor in a Supporting Role; Best Director; Best Film Editing

Posted on 2022-04-17 | No Comments |

Cries and Whispers (1972)

While Harriet Andersson painfully dies of uterine cancer, her sisters Liv Ullmann and Ingrid Thulin and servant Kari Sylwan keep watch, struggling to care for her while dealing with their own issues. I’m sure much of the film went over my head as it is quite stylized and the perspective quickly changes between the four women, but the performances reflect lives of pain and loneliness. Unforgettably the rooms these women embody are dramatically and oppressively covered in red while they themselves drift around in white dresses.

Oscar Win: Best Cinematography

Oscar Nominations: Best Picture; Best Director; Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Based on Factual Material or Material Not Previously Published or Produced; Best Costume Design

Posted on 2022-04-16 | No Comments |

Easter Parade (1948)

When his dancing partner Ann Miller quits to go solo, Fred Astaire believes he can find anyone to take her place and chooses Judy Garland. Wet blanket Peter Lawford is along for the ride in a best friend role, but there’s really little purpose to his character. I admire the talent of Astaire and love to see him work, but in so many of these musicals, he looks like he could be the father of his love interest, which is the case here again. He and Garland perform well together, but they have little romantic chemistry. Miller is also undeniably talented, but in every film I’ve ever seen her in, she performs unnaturally toward the camera. The film has very little to do with Easter, though begins and ends on the holiday and there’s very little by way of a story. Even after watching the film, I don’t understand what exactly happens at an Easter parade.

Oscar Win: Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture

Posted on 2022-04-16 | No Comments |

Agatha (1979)

In 1926, writer Agatha Christie disappeared for 11 days and it remains a mystery what actually happened during that time. This film imagines a history where she has followed her husband’s lover to a spa in Harrogate. Vanessa Redgrave portrays Christie appealingly, but the film turns out somewhat as a lackluster mystery. This isn’t helped by the inclusion of American reporter Dustin Hoffman who is offered as an uninteresting love interest.

Oscar Nomination: Best Costume Design

Posted on 2022-04-16 | No Comments |

Border (2018)

Possessing an unusually heightened sense of smell, Eva Melander works for Swedish customs, sniffing out smuggled contraband. When she encounters someone else with similar features, it sends her on a voyage of personal discovery to her origins and unexpected revelations about the world at large. This is a very weird film and there were many places it went that were hard to get behind. Melander’s performance is striking. With the makeup for her character, she is completely unrecognizable, but her inner humanity still shines through.

Oscar Nomination: Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling

Posted on 2022-04-14 | No Comments |

The Battle of Gettysburg (1955)

I really like the concept of this short film. Leslie Nielsen narrates the events of the battle of Gettysburg across images of the fields and statuary as they look today, or at least how they looked in 1955 and more or less in 2000 when I visited the town. Unfortunately with no action on screen and only battle sounds added to Nielsen’s voice, the film quickly becomes tedious. I still commend it for its simplicity. It was interestingly filmed in Cinemascope, which might explain why it was included as an extra on the DVD for Kismet.

Oscar Nominations: Best Short Subject, Two-reel; Best Documentary, Short Subjects

Posted on 2022-04-12 | No Comments |

Here Comes the Navy (1934)

James Cagney and his best friend Frank McHugh join the Navy to annoy Chief Petty Officer Pat O’Brien. Also annoying O’Brien is Cagney’s romance with his sister Gloria Stuart. The film is the first of nine that Cagney and O’Brien acted in together and the scenes between the three men can be amusing at times. The film itself is unfortunately a mostly dull affair. Made with the cooperation of the U.S. Navy, it feels like the type of propaganda film that would be made ten years later. I’m a sucker for films with zeppelins and blimps, but sadly the scenes including one here don’t come until near the end of a drawn out eight-seven minutes.

Oscar Nomination: Best Picture