Category: Oscar Nominee

Posted on 2021-10-22 | No Comments |

Naughty Marietta (1935)

Jeannette MacDonald is certainly a talented singer, but her voice isn’t of a type that appeals to me. In this film, she’s a European princess who, in order to avoid an arranged marriage, flees on a ship of casquette girls to America. There she meets pirates, gypsies, and a mercenary played by Nelson Eddy whom she falls in love with. The majority of the story is rather yawn-worthy and the songs just feel thrown in to show off MacDonald and Eddy’s voices, offering little flow with the story itself.

Oscar Winner: Best Sound, Recording

Oscar Nomination: Best Picture

Posted on 2021-10-21 | No Comments |

Fearless (1993)

Jeff Bridges survives a horrifying airplane crash and the film follows his personality change in the aftermath. His family finds him difficult to relate to and he feels compelled to reach out to his fellow survivors. The story is a bit uneven in its impact, but the cast is incredible, including Isabella Rossellini, John Turturro, Tom Hulce, and Benicio del Toro. Most incredible is Rosie Perez’s performance as a mother who lost her child in the crash. She transcends her typical role to fully portray the grief and powerlessness required in the role.

Oscar Nomination: Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Posted on 2021-10-21 | No Comments |

The Crime of Padre Amaro (2002)

Gael García Bernal is a young priest sent to provide back-up in a small Mexican town’s parish. He’s egotistical and self-righteous in his condemnation of the sins of the nearby priests all while committing similar acts himself, leading a devout young woman hard and fast into a downward spiral. Their ‘love’ story is certain to be considered blasphemous to anyone who holds Catholic doctrine dear and not just because of the disintegration of his celibacy vow. Any narrative not involving these two characters falls away as the film builds to its ugly and disastrous ending.

Oscar Nomination: Best Foreign Language Film

Posted on 2021-10-21 | No Comments |

Evolution (1971)/The Door (2008)

A little blogging economy here, covering two different shorts from disparate categories. The animation on Evolution, a short film portraying evolution from primordial soup to space travel days, is cute. The creature that first finds its way onto land looks a bit like Sonny the Cuckoo Bird. It’s at that point in the short that the creatures get a bit more fantastic and the females are all strangely depicted with large breasts. It’s also at that point where it loses me and my interest.

The Door is set in the days following the Chernobyl disaster. It’s a powerful tale that tells one story of residents living in the exclusion zone who were directly affected by the meltdown. It makes economical use of its under 20 minute runtime to portray a complete and complex story.

Oscar Nominations: Best Short Subject, Animated Films (Evolution); Best Short Film, Live Action (The Door)

Posted on 2021-10-20 | No Comments |

I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977)

A young woman who suffers from delusions winds up in a mental institution after a suicide attempt. The film feels realistic, though I’m not sure how accurate it is toward her particular illness or mental hospitals. I found the depictions of her fantasy world particularly effective. Kathleen Quinlan as the woman gives an impressive performance, conveying so many of the emotions from hopelessness to anger to despair. Now that I’ve seen many of her earlier films, I enjoy seeing Sylvia Sidney’s gravelly voiced old broad roles which are a stark comparison to her big eyed, soft faced love interest of the 1930s.

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

Posted on 2021-10-20 | No Comments |

Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty (2008)

Granny tries to keep it real by infusing the story of Sleeping Beauty with tales of ageism and unrealistic beauty standards. Unfortunately, such a tale frightens the young listener and the message is lost. The utilization of two different animation styles between the storyteller and the actual store was neat.

Oscar Nomination: Best Short Film, Animated

Posted on 2021-10-20 | No Comments |

Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt (1989)

Telling the story of the NAMES Project Memorial Quilt, this film focuses on the stories of 5 individuals featured on the quilt, told through recollections by family and loved ones. I’ve seen exhibits of the Quilt and witnessed people seeing their loved one’s panel for the first time. It’s a powerful and emotional experience, as is watching this documentary. It doesn’t hide from its duty to provide the history, the negligence, and the awfulness that occurred during the early days of the epidemic, but it remains dedicated to showing the real humans living and dying with this horrible disease.

Oscar Win: Best Documentary, Features

Posted on 2021-10-20 | No Comments |

Maverick (1994)

Ah, the 1990s when Mel Gibson charmed us all. Gibson is Maverick, a gambler trying to get to a winner-takes-all poker tournament. For good reason, I kept imagining James Garner doing a much better job in the role, though it’s still nice to see him in the movie. Jodie Foster is decent in her role, though there’s a continued unfunny gag regarding her being a klutz. It’s a cute film, but too long and meandering for what it is. The ending doesn’t make any logical sense with regards to the rest of the film, which is sad because it would have been a fun ending to a better written film.

Oscar Nomination: Best Costume Design

Posted on 2021-10-19 | No Comments |

…And Justice for All (1979)

A horrifyingly cynical view of the criminal justice system, Al Pacino is a criminal defense lawyer fighting to hold on to his personal ethics and sanity while entrenched in a corrupt system. He has to deal with incompetent lawyers, unstable lawyers, unstable judges, and corrupt judges. The film is somewhat episodic in portraying this bevy of characters, but Pacino brings it all together and delivers, particularly with the infamous line: “You’re out of order! You’re out of order! The whole trial is out of order! They’re out of order!”

Oscar Nomination: Best Actor in a Leading Role; Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen

Posted on 2021-10-16 | No Comments |

Dragonslayer (1981)

Peter MacNichol is a sorcerer’s apprentice on a mission to murder a dragon that otherwise feasts on young virgins. It’s not quite as engrossing as other 1980s fantasy films, such as Willow or Ladyhawke, but it still provides a level of entertainment. Some of the special effects are a bit dated, but there are also some highlights especially when they hint at the dragon’s size instead of showing it directly. I did have to spend quite a bit of time trying to figure out what the rules are with regards to virgin sacrifice: do the males of the village refrain from having sex with any female of a certain age? do the test whether or not a girl is a virgin before they sacrifice her? do the virgins for some reason taste better to the dragon and can it actually tell the difference?

Oscar Nominations: Best Effects, Visual Effects; Best Music, Original Score