Category: Oscar Nominee

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One Potato, Two Potato (1964)

Abandoned by her adventure-seeking, ex-husband Richard Mulligan, the mother of a young child, Barbara Barrie, meets single man Bernie Hamilton at her new job. They begin a relationship and soon marry despite the obstacles presented to an interracial couple. At some point, her ex-husband hunts her down and sues for custody of their daughter because of his disapproval of their relationship. Reminiscent of Two Mothers for Zachary , it’s another story of a parent at risk of losing their child because someone else simply has objections to the couple being together. Like that other film, this one is based on actual court cases that happened. This film is more infuriating as the home Barrie and Hamilton have established with Hamilton’s parents is obviously loving and wholesome and even Mulligan admits his feelings could be wrong, but he can’t stop himself from objecting regardless.

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

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Small Wonders (1995)

Based on the same story as Music of the Heart, this film follows the work of Roberta Guaspari, a music teacher who teaches violin to elementary school students in Harlem. As a documentary, it doesn’t really work for me. It has the aesthetic of a personal interest story from the evening news and has only about as much story to share as one of those pieces. There’s not much flow to the narrative nor even a clear sense of the timeline it encompasses. It is cool to the kids hard at work and for some of them, the culmination of that work giving them the chance to play with world-class violinists.  Music

Oscar Nomination: Best Documentary, Features

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Kong: Skull Island (2017)

This is my third King Kong film and thus far my least favorite. Set during the 1970s, it offers a Heart of Darkness theme with members of a secret government organization joined by Vietnam War soldiers and a war photographer to hunt down Kong. It lays heavily on the era setting with a constant jukebox of songs. Kong isn’t even the main antagonist on the island. Instead skull crawlers that remind me of the monkey creatures in Temple Run are the real enemy. The group never actually leaves the island with Kong and Brie Larson, as the main female character, isn’t Kong’s love interest but also doesn’t have much else to do than take pictures she supposedly isn’t going to share with anyone. In fact there are so many extra characters that there were some I didn’t even notice were part of the expedition until halfway through the movie. What the film does have going for it is that’s very beautiful. Kong is impressive from every angle, but even those visuals are more about style than substance.

Oscar Nominee: Best Achievement in Visual Effects

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Too Many Husbands (1940)

When the presumed dead Fred MacMurray returns home after being missing for a year, he is surprised to discover his best friend and business partner Melvyn Douglas and his wife Jean Arthur have married each other in his absence. Someone accidentally finding themselves with two spouses is hardly a unique story at this point and there are some weirdly questionable points in this particular iteration. It is delightful to see Jean reap the benefits of the situation as both of her husbands have neglected her for either adventure or work during her history with them. It’s unfortunate that everyone, including her own father, are pushy and insistent that she has to make a life-determining decision as soon as possible.  Comedy

Oscar Nomination: Best Sound, Recording

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The Hunt (2012)

Teacher Mads Mikkelsen has been having a tough time recently: the school he worked at closed and the best job he found was as a kindergarten assistant, his ex-wife does not want to share custody of their son, he’s lonely and alone. Things begin to look up for him on all of those fronts until his best friend’s young daughter develops a crush on him and makes a statement that is heavily misconstrued. The adults around him infuriatingly act without thought or deliberation in reaction to what they think of this information. I know some people who can’t watch cringe comedy. For me, a film like this is just as difficult. It’s literally suffocating for me as things collapse all around Mads and he is powerless to stop it.

Oscar Nomination: Best Foreign Language Film of the Year

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2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984)

I am admittedly not a fan of 2001: A Space Odyssey nor Stanley Kubrick, so my expectations here weren’t very high. As a sequel to that film, this takes place nine years later with a joint Soviet-US mission to investigate HAL’s malfunction despite tensions being extremely high between the two countries back on earth. It’s not as visually impressive nor grand in scope as 2001. In fact, it’s pretty standard science fiction fare with a more explicit narrative that makes clear some of the events from the earlier film. For all that, I found it much more entertaining than the Kubrick’s alleged masterpiece. .  SciFi

Oscar Nominations: Best Art Direction-Set Decoration; Best Costume Design; Best Sound; Best Effects, Visual Effects; Best Makeup

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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.  Musical

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

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The Last Detail (1973)

Two Navy lifers Jack Nicholson and Otis Young are tasked with escorting Randy Quaid from Norfolk to a military prison in Maine. Along the way they entertain the naïve eighteen year old any which way they can before he starts serving his eight years in jail. There’s a great bit of interplay between the three men as they get to know each other and society over the course of several days.

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

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The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)

This movie made me realize I might not dislike Woody Allen movies if Woody Allen wasn’t in so many of them. During the Depression, Mia Farrow is a New Jersey waitress in a loveless marriage to Danny Aiello who escapes her dreary life by frequently going to the movies. After many repeated viewings of the same film, one of the characters in the movie notices her and walks out of the screen so they can be together. It’s a cute homage to the Golden Age of Hollywood with Jeff Daniels playing a fun double role as an actor and the character he has created.

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

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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.   Best Picture Nomination  SciFi

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

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