Category: Oscar Nominee

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Diamonds Are Forever (1971)

Sean Connery returned to the James Bond role one last time. Bond finds himself in Las Vegas pursuing a diamond smuggling ring with connections to Ernst Blofeld, portrayed by Charles Gray in this installment. While I enjoy the classic Las Vegas strip setting and there are a couple of neat stunts, this is the laziest Bond film I’ve seen thus far. The constant changes in objective gave me whiplash and the humor is of the most juvenile variety. Most egregiously, where I had appreciated the competence of the women in earlier films, this one has little of that. The woman with the best name is quickly disposed of. A pair of female bodyguards are really tougher than Bond, but somehow he gets the upper hand on them at the last minute. Worst of all, Jill St. John as the main sex interest is a ditz of the worst type; even when she is working with him, she actively sabotages Bond’s plans because of stupidity.   Action

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The Magic Flute (1975)

In this beloved work by Mozart, the Queen of the Night enlists prince Tamino to rescue her daughter Pamino from Sarastro. He’s helped on his quest by the peculiar bird catcher Papageno who is searching for a wife of his own. Not being familiar with the work, I was unaware that it is essentially a simplistic fairy tale set to opera music, which I’m sure is totally someone’s bag, but it’s not mine. Filmed to come across as a live production, the entire intro and a number of shots thereafter are of a random crowd of people indifferently staring straight ahead as an audience to the performance. But even for showing the performance, there are also a lot of closeups of the actors’ faces which detracts from being able to relish the delightful stage pieces and costumes (though looking at pictures online they could have gone much further on Papageno’s). It’s certainly an oddity in director Ingmar Bergman’s oeuvre, but really about what I’d expect from a filmed opera.   Musical  Fantasy

Oscar Nomination: Best Costume Design

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Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision (1994)

In 1981, 21 year old college student Maya Lin’s design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was chosen over almost 1500 other submissions. Though Maya continues to design and create to this day, this structure remains the one for which she is most well known. The structure of this documentary is somewhat unique in that it spends a good part of its time concentrating on the Wall: the history of its creation, Maya’s design philosophy and the controversies over her visionary ideas. Since the film was made fairly early in her career, it then only briefly touches on her later work and an equally small part on her background and personal life. Regardless, Maya proves to be an appealing subject, candid and more than willing to discuss and show her artistic process.

Oscar Win: Best Documentary, Features

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The Tin Star (1957)

Inexperienced sheriff Anthony Perkins seeks help from bounty hunter Henry Fonda in keeping the peace in his small town. Anthony Mann directs some of very solid, nuanced Westerns and this is no exception. I always have a hard time adjusting to Perkins as any character that’s not Norman Bates adjacent, but he serves well as the over-his-head newcomer. Fonda is not out of his element here, contending well as the grizzled, wise veteran who would rather have Perkins quit than glean any of the knowledge he has to offer.  Western

Oscar Nomination: Best Writing, Story and Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen

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She (1935)

Randolph Scott is summoned to his dying uncle’s home where he learns that his look-alike ancestor supposedly discovered an immortal flame 500 years ago with only his wife returning from the expedition. Scott and companion Nigel Bruce attempt to re-find the discovery, meeting Helen Mack and her father along the way, before the group is eventually brought to the lair of the titular character, portrayed by a fantastically regal Helen Gahagan. A very weird story that I wouldn’t have guessed is based on a popular novel from 1887, the film is limited by the often simplistic story telling of the 1930s. I don’t generally prefer colorized versions of films, but it does allow the grand Art Deco-influenced sets and overall quality production design stand out.   Fantasy  Adventure

Oscar Nomination: Best Dance Direction

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Thunderball (1965)

Sean Connery returns as James Bond, travelling to the Bahamas to recover two atomic bombs stolen by SPECTRE agent Emilio Largo (portrayed by Adolfo Celi). Stealing all the best notes from Goldfinger (entertaining title sequences, fantastic theme songs, female characters bent on revenge), it doesn’t do much new with them. There’s a fantastic early scene in the SPECTRE headquarters that again have obvious comparisons to Dr. Evil’s lair in the Austin Powers series. The Bahamas provides an obviously gorgeous setting and its underwater scenes are creative especially an epic battle between the forces of good and evil, but they impart a couple of problems. First is an inability to tell characters apart under all their gear and second, it slows down the action in an action film to a crawl making for an unnecessarily bloated runtime.   Action

Oscar Win: Best Effects, Special Visual Effects

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Mighty Aphrodite (1995)

After learning his adopted son is a genius, Woody Allen becomes obsessed with finding the child’s birth mother, who turns out to be simple-minded, sex worker Mira Sorvino. His obsession then changes to turning her away from her current career. It’s a Woody Allen movie so both his mistress and his wife, played by Helena Bonham-Carter, are much younger, much more attractive, and have better personalities than him. I generally like Sorvino as an actress and she does what she can with a strange role, but it makes for an unusual Oscar win . The Greek chorus that chimes in through the story gives the likes of F. Murray Abraham and Olympia Dukakis an opportunity to shine, but it’s also an odd choice that didn’t really work for me any more than the rest of the film did.

Oscar Win: Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Oscar Nomination: Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen

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Scottsboro: An American Tragedy (2000)

In 1931 on a train from Chattanooga, a fight broke out between young Black and white passengers. When the train later stopped in Alabama, two white women accused the Black teenagers of raping them on the train. Despite a lack of evidence, it would take three separate trials, a recanting by one of the women, and many years spent on death row before all nine of the men were no longer in prison. It’s an incredible tale of injustice carried out by the American justice system and the documentary does a good job detailing the process these young men were forced to go through. The details are a little sparse regarding the actual event that led to the arrests, but it’s a minor nitpick on what is likely a common story that is only different in the fact that the accused lived to tell their tale.

Oscar Nomination: Best Documentary, Features

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In the Line of Fire (1993)

Haunted by his inability to protect JFK, secret service agent Clint Eastwood is determined not to fail again when John Malkovich begins a cat and mouse game with the current President’s life at stake. So terribly repetitive and predictable, Malkovich’s clever, ruthless villain almost saves the film. Unfortunately a love affair between Clint and fellow agent Rene Russo is so far-fetched and diluting to both agents’ competency that I can’t imagine wanting to watch this again.  Crime  Thriller

Oscar Nominations: Best Actor in a Supporting Role; Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen; Best Film Editing

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Goldfinger (1964)

In his third outing as James Bond, Sean Connery encounters Gert Fröbe’s titular character, a bullion dealer whose obsession with gold eventually leads him to the U.S. Bullion Depository at Fort Knox. I’ve never watched a James Bond film before but decided recently to try to catch at least the ones which have received Oscar nominations. Seeing that Prime was going to remove them at the beginning of September sped my watching up to a mini-marathon. I was really surprised at how entertaining this outing was. The villain is great, the theme song and intro are incredible, and the locations are scenic. Even with names like Honor Blackman’s infamous Pussy Galore, the women are extremely capable outside the bedroom though they are disposable, as are a number of the male characters. I have seen all of the Austin Powers films, but I was not ready for how little those films felt like parody in comparison with direct interpretations, such as Harold Sakata’s Oddjob. I fear that this may be a highlight of the series but I’ll continue on with much more anticipation now.   Action

Oscar Win: Best Effects, Sound Effects

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