Category: Oscar Nominee

Posted on | No Comments |

The Age of Innocence (1993)

In upper-class 1870s New York, Daniel Day-Lewis is engaged to marry Winona Ryder when her attractive cousin, played by Michelle Pfeiffer, comes to town after her own marriage falls apart. Daniel sees in the newcomer an appealing break from the constrains of society. He believes he’s cleverer and smarter than those around him, but he is no match for high society and their prescribed ways. It’s an appealing period piece with lavish sets and costuming. The story and the acting within is compelling. Though I found the romantic chemistry a bit lacking, it held my interest to mild twist of an ending.

Oscar Win: Best Costume Design

Oscar Nominations: Best Actress in a Supporting Role; Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published; Best Art Direction-Set Decoration; Best Music, Original Score

Posted on | No Comments |

Tender is the Night (1962)

Jason Robards is a psychiatrist who falls in love with and marries Jennifer Jones, his wealthy but emotionally unstable patient. He quits his job and gets caught up in her whirlwind, hedonistic lifestyle. It’s only when it’s too late to go back to his old career that he realizes how unfulfilling he finds his current situation. The plot comes across as another version of A Star is Born; as Robards falls into alcoholism and uncertainty, his wife finds her own inner strength. Overall, despite the strong cast, it’s unmemorable. The supposed 1920s setting is lost in the bright colors and stylings for the 1960s.

Oscar Nomination: Best Music, Original Song

Posted on | No Comments |

Robin Robin (2021)

For some reason this year I wanted to break away from my usual holiday watching, so checked out this new short on Netflix about a bird raised by mice who is trying to come to terms with her birdy differences. The animation and story telling reminds me a lot of the shorts based on Julia Donaldson’s works and it’s a sweet way to spend thirty minutes. I particularly loved Robin’s fluffed up mouse ears and her way of showing the magpie how to be a mouse.   Animal  Holiday

Oscar Nomination: Best Animated Short Film

Posted on | No Comments |

What Price Hollywood? (1932)

This is essentially an early version of A Star is Born where Constance Bennett is an aspiring actress and waitress who finagles a meeting with Lowell Sherman’s famous director. While her star quickly rises, his falls. I enjoyed there not being a romance between the protégé and the mentor, keeping their relationship one of friendship and support. Unfortunately that means there is a dislikable separate romance added to the actress’s story. Constance Bennett is enjoyable in portraying the course of the character’s career from the naivety and ambition of her early career to the world weary ending.

Oscar Nomination: Best Writing, Original Story

Posted on | No Comments |

The Brink’s Job (1978)

Inspired by the true story of the Brink’s Robbery of 1950, Peter Falk is a small-time Boston crook who, after successfully robbing a Brink’s armor car with his gang, sets his sights on bigger prey, the Brink’s headquarters. As a heist film, this mostly doesn’t work for me. There’s not a lot of tension in the actual heist, almost everything goes smoothly and as planned. The tension arises more as the noose tightens around the gang, which includes Peter Boyle, Paul Sorvino, and Warren Oates, as Brink’s tries to save its reputation and the gang squabbles amongst themselves. Visually there is a lot done to evoke post-War Boston, but I wish the pacing of the film had been kept throughout to hold my interest.

Oscar Nomination: Best Art Direction-Set Decoration

Posted on | No Comments |

5 Fingers (1952)

During World War II, James Mason is valet to the British ambassador in neutral Turkey. Mason uses his connections to offer information on Allied activities to the Nazis. Based on the true story of an Albanian-born German secret agent, Mason makes an excellent spy for the Axis; he’s a perfect mix of gentleman and self-interested conniver. There are moments of great tension, particularly as the noose begins to tighten, but there’s not enough of that for the spy film. Somewhat shot on location in Ankara, it unfortunately doesn’t make great use of its unusual location.

Oscar Nominations: Best Director; Best Writing, Screenplay

Posted on | No Comments |

My Favorite Year (1982)

Mark-Linn Baker is a comedy writer on a variety show who is tasked with making sure the next guest, Peter O’Toole, gets to the rehearsals and the show airing sober and on time. It’s very loosely based on Mel Brooks’s experience working on Your Show of Shows with Peter O’Toole’s character being inspired by Errol Flynn. It’s tone is a bit all over, never deciding if it’s completely heart felt, slapstick, dramedy, or somewhere in between all of those. While most of the cast stick with the comedy, O’Toole manages to act through all the tones and makes for a great Flynn facsimile while also being his own character.

Oscar Nomination: Best Actor in a Leading Role

Posted on | No Comments |

Canyon Passage (1946)

Traveling businessman Dana Andrews is asked to escort his best friend’s fiancé Susan Hayward from Portland to Jacksonville, Oregon. Along the way, they visit his own girlfriend Patricia Roc who lives on the frontier with her adopted family. The best friend, played by Brian Donlevy, is a compulsive gambler, stealing from the miners who leave their gold in his safekeeping, and regularly propositioning the wife of a fellow gambler. There’s a lot going on in this film. Along with the love triangles that form, there’s an assailant stalking Andrews, a local love interest for Roc, Indian attacks, multiple killings, no canyon to be seen, and Hoagy Carmichael incessantly singing every time he appears on screen. It somehow manages to wrap it all up in a fairly short runtime through convenient coincidences. It offers pretty Technicolor vistas of Oregon forests, but I’m not sure I’ll remember much about this months from now.   Western

Oscar Nomination: Best Music, Original Song

Posted on | No Comments |

The Texas Rangers (1936)

As a tale of three friends and the dilemma that occurs when two of them change paths, this film offers interesting questions on morality and duty. Unfortunately what drives these three apart is that the two decide to join the Texas Rangers, casually killing Natives and robbers alike, while the third decides to continue his life as an outlaw. Fred MacMurray has the strongest performance of the three as the one most torn between his loyalty toward his friend and the duty he has taken to bring him in. Jack Oakie acts as if he were cast in a comedy with a huge grin on his face during the first robbery and every action after. I enjoyed the early scenes of camaraderie when the three of them were working together better than the aggregate of the film.  Western

Oscar Nomination: Best Sound, Recording

Posted on | No Comments |

Sweethearts (1938)

After Naughty Marietta, I was apprehensive about watching additional Jeannette MacDonald-Nelson Eddy pairings. This was many times better than that film. The story is a relatively familiar one, a married couple has been starring in the musical Sweethearts for the last six years. To their producer’s (played by the talented Frank Morgan) chagrin, they become exhausted from the constant professional demands of being in a successful play and hear the siren’s song of Hollywood calling. You get the typical operatic songs from the duo, but also the years of developed chemistry. Additionally, there’s a delightful wooden shoe tap routine by Ray Bolger in the play within the movie. As MGM’s first feature-length color film, it’s cute and offers enough to be entertained by. Musical  Romance

Oscar Win: Cinematography (Honorary)

Oscar Nominations: Best Sound, Recording; Best Music, Scoring

Scroll to Top