Category: Oscar Nominee

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The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

I started this thinking that I really don’t get much out of the legend of Robin Hood and its many iterations. Watching this version, I finally understood why the story has been adapted so many times, though people should probably just watch this one. This has adventure, romance, humor, and even some dark bits. It doesn’t even overstay its welcome. The scenery and costumes are absolutely gorgeous. I imagine the budget in tights for the men was a tidy sum just in itself. Errol Flynn is excellent as Robin of Locksley: attractive, athletic, and light spirited. Olivia de Havilland captures Maid Marian wonderfully. Claude Rains, Basil Rathbone, and the rest of the supporting cast elevate the already great production.   Best Picture Nomination

Oscar Wins: Best Art Direction; Best Film Editing; Best Music, Original Score

Oscar Nomination: Best Picture

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Bullhead (2011)

I felt a bit out of my element with this one, being completely ignorant of Limburgish farmers and the Mafia’s involvement with cattle growth hormones in Belgium. The film didn’t really do much in trying to pull the viewer into understanding this world either. Matthias Schoenaerts on the other hand does a great job portraying the angry young farmer who experienced an incredible demeaning and life altering event as a child. The crime story is quite confusing from the start and is difficult to follow until the third act.

Oscar Nomination: Best Foreign Language Film of the Year

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Reap the Wild Wind (1942)

Perhaps not surprisingly, I haven’t seen many films set amongst marine salvagers in 1840s Key West. Cecil B. DeMille directs an absolutely stacked cast including John Wayne, Ray Milland, Louise Beavers, Robert Preston, Susan Hayward, and a bawdy sea shanty singing Paulette Goddard. It’s a bit long and drawn out for the story, but it culminates with an amazing underwater battle scene that might make it all worthwhile. There is also an incredibly creepy ongoing bit where Ray Milland speaks for his dog Romulus. Cutting out that alone would have done wonders for the length.

Oscar Win: Best Effects, Special Effects

Oscar Nominations: Best Cinematography, Color; Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Color

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Resurrection (1980)

After surviving a car wreck that killed her husband, Ellen Burstyn discovers she has the power to heal. Unfortunately the Bible thumpers in her hometown, including potential love interest Sam Shepard and her own father, can’t just let her do her thing and require that she dedicate her powers to their god. There is also a bit of additional religiosity in the portrayal of an afterlife, but the incredibly talented Burstyn commands the entire film with a serene agnosticism which carries the whole power of the film.

Oscar Nominations: Best Actress in a Leading Role; Best Actress in a Supporting Role

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One Eyed Jacks (1961)

I truly don’t understand Marlon Brando’s acting. He certainly has a presence on screen, but his weird, mumbly elocution pulls me away from his characters almost every time. His direction is similarly uneven. There are scenes where it seems he’s going for ultra-realism, but then it’d veer into the convenient coincidences of any light-weight film. Here he’s Rio, a bank robber who was deserted by his partner, played by Karl Malden, when they are tailed by the Mexican police after one of their big scores. Later escaping from prison, he’s dead-set on revenge. Malden, now a sheriff, won’t let that happen, though his motivations, along with those of deputy Slim Pickens, are questionable beyond that. Katy Jurado plays his new wife and the beautiful Pilar Pellicer is his stepdaughter. The love story between Pellicer and Brando comes out of nowhere and there is no chemistry whatsoever, but the beach setting is both gorgeous and unusual in a Western.

Oscar Nomination: Best Cinematography, Color

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The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935)

Ugh, this film took me forever and more than one watching to get through. My lack of interest in the subject was not helped by a poor quality print and the fact that Franchot Tone and Richard Cromwell look a lot alike. Those two men are newcomers to a regiment of British soldiers during the days of the British Raj. One is a cocky, seasoned soldier and the other is a newly commissioned officer and son of the Colonel. Gary Cooper’s job is to guide these new recruits. The story of the three soldiers is familiar and was done much better in other films of the era, Gunga Din, The Four Feathers, and Beau Geste to name a few.   Best Picture Nomination

Oscar Win: Best Assistant Director

Oscar Nominations: Best Picture; Best Director; Best Writing, Screenplay; Best Art Direction; Best Sound, Recording; Best Film Editing

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You’re a Big Boy Now (1966)

One of Francis Ford Coppola’s earlier works, You’re a Big Boy Now is ostensibly a comedy. While it is certainly light hearted, the comedy is completely absurd rather than bringing forth any actual laughs. Peter Kastner’s Bernard is a 19 year old virgin who still lives with his parents. When his father decides it’s time to leave the nest, he moves from Great Neck to Manhattan and tries to hook up with a former classmate and a sexy misandrist. The characters are one dimensional and the plot doesn’t go much further than that. There is a very cute Old English sheepdog named either Dog or Rover.

Oscar Nomination: Best Actress in a Supporting Role

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Harry and Tonto (1974)

When they are evicted from their NYC apartment, Harry and his cat Tonto are given opportunities to live with various friends and relatives. Instead, what they end up doing is journeying across the US that the circumstances of life had discouraged them from undertaking earlier in life. Turning away from the cranky old man trope, Art Carney’s Harry takes the various events and obstacles that come his way in a good-natured, straight-forward way, only displaying any anger when someone tries to separate him from his cat. Tonto on the other hand looks displeased at his lot in life during almost all moments save when he’s eating.

Oscar Win: Best Actor in a Leading Role

Oscar Nomination: Best Writing, Original Screenplay

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Murmur of the Heart (1971)

After watching Au Revoir les Enfants, I wanted to check this one out as another Louis Malle film based somewhat on his life. Compared to that other film, this one was much less compelling. The main character Laurent is an almost wholly unsympathetic character. A young immature teenager, he throws his privilege around without any empathy for others or thoughts to the consequences of his actions. The older males around him all do the same. The big taboo at the end of the film narratively came out of nowhere and was handled in a confusing superficial way.

Oscar Nomination: Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Based on Factual Material or Material Not Previously Published or Produced

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Marie Antoinette (1938)

There are some actors that I wish I liked more than I do. Norma Shearer is one of those. There are a couple of roles that I have enjoyed her in, but they are few and far between. Marie Antoinette is not one of them. A lavish, excessively long costume drama that surely takes liberties with Marie Antoinette’s actual life history, Shearer leads the cast with histrionics and overacting every other scene. Robert Morley’s Louix XVI is the opposite, dull and mostly forgettable. John Barrymore is underutilized, Joseph Schildkraut is over the top malicious, Tyrone Power’s entire role could be cut from the film. The costumes and sets are beautiful. I imagine they took up the majority of the movie’s expense. I’m sure they would have been ravishing if the film had been in Technicolor.

Oscar Nominations: Best Actress in a Leading Role; Best Actor in a Supporting Role; Best Art Direction; Best Music, Original Score

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