“If you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it. Anything you want to, do it; want to change the world… there’s nothing to it.”
– Gene Wilder in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Last year I mentioned a little bit of history for the Oscars. So this year lets dive right into the night of glamor, which started with a great performance by Justin Timberlake.
They had many great presenters including a few from Star Wars including Felicity Jones (Jyn Erso) and Diego Luna (Cassian Andor). Some of the Avengers even “assembled” to present awards such as Chris Evans (Captain America), Scarlet Johnson (Black Widow), and Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury/ Mace Windu). Amy Adams (Lois Lane), Ben Affleck (Batman), and Matt Damon (Jason Bourne) also made an appearance.
The show had some great performances through out the night. Sting performed “The Empty Chair” from Jim: The James Foley Story. Auli’I Carvalno preformed “How Far Will I Go” from Moana. And Sara Bareilles performed Johi Mitchell’s “Both Sides” for the In Memoriam.
Emma Watson won for Best Actress for “La La Land”
Of course let’s not forget Jimmy Kimmel’s presence as host for the evening. He certainly had his own style for the night even though you could see a little of the Kimmel/ Damon feud throughout the event. However, I did find it funny when Damon tried to trip Kimmel and when Kimmel tried to play Damon off the stage with the orchestra.
The In Memoriam is always a nice touch for the evening and included Prince, Mary Tyler More, Gary Marshal, Gene Wilder, Kenny Baker, Debbie Reynolds, and Carrie Fisher. They even mentioned Bill Paxton who unfortunately passed away over the weekend.
Let’s talk the mishaps. There was Carvalno performance where she was hit in the head with a flag and she continued graciously. And of course, the biggest mishap of the Oscars was the mix up of the envelopes that were given to Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway. No one could believe what happened. The audience in attendance and I would dare say that everyone watching were stunned. You could see their faces drop while watching, however; I thought the cast of La La Land held their own and accepted the mix up with dignity.
And just like that another year has come and gone for the Oscars. And just in case you are wondering where to watch some of these great films, which are still in theaters, you can find them at the following cinemas: AMC Grand Rapids 18 (formerly Star Theater), which has both “La La Land” and “Moonlight.” Many of the Celebration! theaters including North, South and RiverTown are still showing “La La Land;” and Celebration! Woodland has a number of the Academy Award-winning and nominated films including “Fences,” “Moonlight,” “Manchester by the Sea,” “Moana,” and “The Salesman.”
Once again, the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts, 2 W. Fulton St., will be featuring the Oscar Nominated Shorts series. There are two sets of documentaries, with Documentary A running through March 26 and Documentary B, which includes the 2017 Oscar winner “The White Helmets,” running through March 28. The animation series, which includes the 2017 winner “Piper,” and the live action series, which includes the 2017 winner “Sing,” will run through April 1. Check for showtimes at www.uica.org.
In Honor of Carrie Fisher (one of my favorites) “May the Force Be With You.”
The full list and the winners of the 89th Academy Award are as follows:
Best Picture: Moonlight
Best Actor: Casey Affleck for Manchester by the Sea
Best Actress: Emma Stone for La La Land
Best Foreign Language Film: The Salesman by Asghar Farhadi
Best Animated Feature Film: Zootopia by Bryon Howard, Rich Moore, and Clark Spencer
Best Supporting Actor: Mahershala Ali for Moonlight
Best Supporting Actress: Viola Davis for Fences
Best Documentary Feature: O.J.:Made in America by Ezra Edelman, Caroline Waterlow
Best Director: Damien Chazelle for La La Land
Best Original Music Score: La La Land by Justin Hurwitz
Best Original Screenplay: Manchester by the Sea by Kenneth Lonergan
Best Original Song: City of Stars for La La Land by Justin Hurwitz, Benj Pasek, Justin Paul
Best Writing Adapted Screenplay: Moonlight by Barry Jenkins, Tarell Alvin McCraney
Best Cinematography: Linus Sandgren for La La Land
Best Costume Design: Colleen Atwood for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Fin Them
Best Animated Short Film: Piper by Alan Barillo, Marc Sondhimer
Best Visual Effects: The Jungle Book by Robert Legato, Dan Lemmon
Best Live Action Short Film: Sing by Kristof Deak, Anna Udvardy
“Quellek, by Grabthar’s hammer, by the Suns of Worvan, you shall be avenged.” – Alan Rickman in Galaxy Quest.
The Academy hosted the 88th award ceremony at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles this past Sunday. Before we dive into this year’s ceremony, let’s go back to the first ever presentation.
The very first year the Awards were held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel right across the street from the Award’s present location. That first night, a ticket to the Awards cost $5 a piece, had only 270 people in attendance, and ended its ceremony in only 15 minutes.
Today, tickets are acquired by the movie studios and can cost up to $750, the Dolby Theater seats 3,400 people, and the ceremony lasts a whopping three hours. The Academy Awards has become a huge event not only in America, but around the world. The Oscar itself stands 13.5 inches tall and weighs 8.5 pounds.
I love watching the Academy Awards, but host Chris Rock was a little too outspoken about the lack of nominations for black actors and actresses. We all knew the commentary was coming, but it was mentioned too many times throughout the ceremony and felt like the beating of a dead horse.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I do love Chris Rock as an actor and a comedian. I loved him in the movie Grown Ups.
The attendance of the Girls Scouts came across as odd to me. It’s nice that many of the celebrities supported the Girl Scouts, but strange that they were at this caliber of an event. It had the same out-of-place feeling as the selfies and pizza from last year. Personally, I feel they should bring The Academy Awards back to its original grace with a more dignified evening.
The Awards had a few great performances from the category of Best Original Song. Sam Smith preformed his piece “Writing’s on the Wall” from James Bond Spectre. The Weeknd performed second and Lady Gaga put a final cap on the performances from Best Original Song.
Every year, the In Memorium segment is a nice touch on the evening. Many great people were lost in the past year including Christopher Lee, Alan Rickman, Gene Alan, and Leonard Nimoy.
While some presenters can leave you wanting more, I loved the inclusion of R2-D2. C-3PO, and BB-8 from Star Wars. The Minions, Buzz and Woody, Kevin Hart, and Whoopi Goldberg made for a good show as well. One I personally found funny was the presentation from Margot Robbie and Jared Leto because of their upcoming roles as Harley Quinn and the Joker in Suicide Squad.
It’s impossible to talk about the awards without congratulating Leonardo DiCaprio on finally getting his Oscar! Personally, I thought he should have had one long ago because of all of his great films. I had thought he would have received one last year either for The Great Gatsby or the Wolf of Wall Street, but he finally got one this year for The Revenant.
Upon receiving his award he was very proud, and I thought his speech was exceptional. He made mention to climate change, which was encouraging to hear him speak about because he has been working to support that cause.
Another year has come and gone for the Academy Awards. I can’t wait to see what this new year has in store for in regards to films, performances, and preparations for the 89th Academy Awards.
In Honor of Leonard Nimoy; “Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Her ongoing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life forms and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.”
Congratulations to all the Oscar winners!
In case you missed it, the full list of categories and winners of the 88th Academy Awards are as follows:
Best Picture: Spotlight
Actor in a Leading Role: Leonardo DiCaprio for The Revenant
Actress in a Leading Role: Brie for Room
Actor in a Supporting Role: Mark Rylance for Bridge of Spies
Actress in a Supporting Role: Alicia Vikander for The Danish Girl
Animated Feature Film: Inside Out
Cinematography: The Revenant
Costume Design: Mad Max: Fury Road
Directing: The Revenant
Documentary (Feature): Amy
Documentary (Short Film): A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness
Film Editing: Mad Max: Fury Road
Foreign Language Film: Son of Saul
Makeup and Hairstyling: Mad Max: Fury Road
Music (Original Score): The Hateful Eight
Music (Original Song): “Writing’s On The Wall” from Spectre
Production Design: Mad Max: Fury Road
Short Film (Animated): Bear Story
Short Film (live Action): Stutterer
Sound Editing: Mad Max: Fury Road
Sound Mixing: Mad Max: Fury Road
Visual Effects: Ex Machina
Writing (Adapted Screenplay): The Big Short
Writing (Original Screenplay): Spotlight
Katie works in the film industry as a camera operator and has worked on films like ‘All You Can Dream’, ‘Set Up’ and a TV show called ‘American Fallen Soldier.’ She loves helping WKTV with the Citizen Journalism team and working as a tech at Amway Grand Plaza Hotel. Katie loves working in the film industry and loves watching movies just as much!
Well, Oscar season has come and gone. This year was a ridiculous year, good and bad, for films of all ranges of quality. The final showcase of such occurred on February 28th and landed with a few surprise aces up its pre-packaged sleeves.
Chris Rock made his monologue count with a takedown of the accusations of institutional racism by outside critics earlier when the nominations were announced. The only issue I had with his hosting was I could have done with less of the easy race jokes he made every time he was on-screen. Apparently everyone else thought he went far enough with his prodding of the stodgy Academy demographic, but I remain dubious in my belief that he could have been a bit more cutting in his commentary. That being said, I loved the payoff of the Girl Scout cookies gag with Michael Keaton scarfing them down after Spotlight stuck the landing, winning Best Picture. Long Live Betelgeuse!
Aside from Rock, I won’t be commenting on the presenters and various cameos spurred by his hosting (*cough* Stacey Dash), but I will say that there was still fat that could have been trimmed from the telecast. I noticed certain advertisements were repeated throughout the commercial breaks, showing there is an overlong amount of advertising time, which needs depleting, or the red carpet ceremony needs to start way earlier. I like my beauty sleep, thank you very much.
As for my personal ballot, I nailed 16 of the 24 categories, surprisingly getting the non-animated shorts and documentaries correct, though I was least sure of their chances. I missed both the Supporting categories, due to the surprise upset of sneaky spy Mark Rylance stealing the thunder from Sylvester Stallone’s gracefully aged perfromance in Creed. Alicia Vikander ended up impressing audiences and Academy voters who still rewarded her for the least of her work released last year, over Kate Winslet’s solid performance in Steve Jobs.
In addition, I lost faith in Mad Max: Fury Road over Costuming and VFX at the last minute, voting for The Martian in the latter category through my mLive ballot on Saturday night. Turns out Ex Machina had an effect on people after all, which is more than acceptable. I am more than happy to lose to a film I willingly support even though I made the mistake to count it out of my personal nominations.
Of all the surprises, the most pleasant was George Miller’s own wife, Margaret Sixel, winning Best Film Editing. In hindsight this makes sense, as Fury Road‘s breathless pace and structure deserved recognition. I still feel it was wrong that while the majority of the crew under Georgie was recognized, the Academy didn’t have the guts to give it to the director for organizing those people. Meh, I know in my heart who the real hero of the night was.
Regarding Best Song, I admit I was shocked to see the Spectre song “Writing’s on the Wall” win over the likes of Lady Gaga’s sexual assault survivor ballad “‘Til it Happens to You”. I was sure Gaga was on her way to finalizing her EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony), but apparently that was not to be. D’oh! I’m pretty sure Gaga and Weeknd split the vote, leading the way for Sam Smith to sneak his way onstage and snatch it away.
With Best Animated Short, I’ll admit it was neat to see someone besides the soulless company that is PIXAR win the Oscar. I still wish Cosmos or World of Tomorrow had won, but a loss for PIXAR is a win for those of us who want more diversity in Academy Awards nominees.
It was an okay ceremony. I am sure that everyone else and their dog has written up better summaries of the ceremony than I could at the moment, as I am content that The Revenant didn’t win Best Picture. That being said, I am still upset that it won Best (Hamhanded) Director, considering how much of a sore loser Iñárritu is.
This year is probably more straightforward in the big categories, but quite the troublesome hedgemaze in terms of technicals and short films and such. Here be my picks, complete witommentary, a confidence-inspired ranking system*, and binary Who Will Win/Who Should Win tags:
*The ranking system is based on confidence in each category. A score of 24 – since there are 24 categories – carries the most confidence, and therefore the highest point value. As the score lowers, start loading up on grains of salt. A perfect score will only make me look all the Wieser…
Documentary Short (2)
This is tough, as the offerings really run the gamut in terms of content. We have a Holocaust eulogy, an Ebola crisis piece, a piece on domestic violence in Pakistan, a Vietnam vet think piece, and a short on a Vietnamese teenage artist affected by Agent Orange. My gut tells me to go with Body Team 12, the Ebola one, though I feel A Girl in the River, the Pakistani film, deserves a look for the cultural horrors it produces on viewing.
Will Win: A Girl in the River // Should Win: A Girl in the River
Documentary Feature (20)
Amy is the one that will win. It’s inevitable, like other awards later on. Cartel Land and the Nina Simone piece were intriguing, but they lack the controlled manipulation that director Asif Kapadia holds in the tragic overview of the short starburst of a career that belonged to Amy Winehouse.
*The Hunting Ground was nominated for Song, and while I acknowledge some of its content is dubious and controversial, I feel the content and filmmaking should be acknowledged for its headway in dealing with collegiate sexual assault cases.
Will+Should Win:Amy
Should’ve Been Nominated: The Hunting Ground
Live Action Short (1)
I really have no opinion, having not seen any yet. But research is edging me towards Stutterer. Eh, might as well.
Will Win: Stutterer (??)
Animated Short (12)
History has taught me that if it has Disney plastered on the product (Sanjay’s Super Team), bet on it stealing the Oscar over usually much more interesting and rewarding things like Don Hertzfeldt’s jaw-dropping World of Tomorrow and the equally inspired Russian entry We Can’t Live Without Cosmos. They’ll listen to me eventually.
Will Win: Sanjay’s Super Team
Should Win: World of Tomorrow/ We Can’t Live Without Cosmos
Animated Feature (22)
Pixar has had this one in the bag since the film made a splash back in June when it was released. It is sad, because it was a really extraordinary year for feature animation, between the Ghibli coming of age drama When Marnie was There, the mimed hijinks of Shaun the Sheep, and the intriguing headpiece Anomalisa. Still mad that Peanuts wasn’t nominated, by the by.
Will Win: Inside Out
Should’ve Been Nominated: The Peanuts Movie
Sound Editing (19) +Mixing (8)
Source: variety.com
Fury Road really should have this in the bag, but research tells me assorted experts expect The Revenant to steal one or both for some reason that is unfathomable by me. Thing is, I remember the hellish soundscapes of the furious roadway, but aside from the bear attack, I remember nothing remarkable from The Revenant. Ugh, you people are all crazy, Academy.
In one corner, we have Best Picture front-runners The Big Short, The Revenant, and Spotlight. In the other, we have wild-card options Fury Road and the latest in the legendary Star Wars series. What to choose, what to choose…?
Twist my arm and I’d say The Big Short. If not, I blame John Serba.
Another one that I am proud to say Fury Road has in the proverbial bag. Just look at the level of creativity and imagination given to ol’ Immortan here.
Long Live Mad Max! Long Live The Wasteland! Sing, Brothers! Sing, SING!!
Will+Should Win: Mad Max: Fury Road
Best Original Song (4)
Please don’t let Fifty Shades of Grey get past Oscar-nominee status. Just give it to Gaga and spare us the pain of remembering. My heart can’t take the strain.
Will+Should Win: “Til It Happens to You”, from The Hunting Ground
Best Original Score (21)
Tarantino’s little outburst at the Globes, spouting that Morricone has never won an Oscar, (technically untrue, he won an Honorary Oscar at the 2007 ceremony) basically ensured that H8ful Eight will garner one, and only one, award over the course of the evening.
That being said, Carter Burwell’s score for Carol was an exquisite treat that deserves to be recognized above Maestro Morricone, sorry to say.
Carol was a truly gross oversight by the Academy on two of the big categories (Director and Picture) and deserves every nomination and more. But I really want Fury Road to walk away with the night.
George Miller and his crew of lunatics crafted one of the craziest worlds ever in Fury Road. Frankly, nothing else comes close to its achievement in sheer world-building, even with its non-existent exposition.
Ex Machina and the under-seen Crimson Peak could also have benefited from some love here, but the Academy can’t help but shovel nominations out to lackluster things like The Danish Girl and Bridge of Spies. Heaven forbid we don’t give credit to the movies that will be remembered down the years as the best alternatives for sleep aids.
Ugh. Look, I like pretty pictures as much as anybody, but ‘Chivo’ has already won 2 consecutive Oscars, and his work on The Revenant proved more distracting than masterful. I much preferred the laid-back grain of Ed Lachman’s photography in Carol. Plus, lots of soft focus to increase the romantic tension.
Will Win: Emmanual Lubezki, The Revenant
Should Win: Ed Lachman, Carol
Foreign Language Film (18)
Son of Saul has been picking up a ridiculous amount of hype and awards buzz since mutterings of its power escaped the festival circuit early last year. Plus, it’s a Holocaust tale, and y’all should know how much the Academy loves that subject matter.
*Note that I haven’t seen any of the nominees yet, as foreign releases are negligible outside of the big, big cities (LA and NY), and Saul won’t see the silver screen in MI until March 4th. This is all gut instinct based on patterns in other award circuits. This is why there is no “should win” below. I feel I haven’t seen enough to make a confident choice.
Will Win: Son of Saul
Original (14) +Adapted Screenplay (15)
Another tough call. Typically, the Best Picture winner will pick up its assigned screenplay award, as with the case of the last few ceremonies. However, this is not always the case, as neither Million Dollar Baby nor The Artist picked up a screenplay award the night they won big.
In terms of original work, the Straight Outta Compton script could pick up the win as a peace-offering from the Academy for the #OscarsSoWhite debacle. But, Spotlight is the clear-cut victor of the bunch, seeing as it is neck and neck with The Revenant for the big prize. And Ex Machina gets a sympathy nomination knowing it won’t win anything. Cursed anti-science fiction Academy voters.
In the realm of Adapted work, critics and audiences have shown a lot of love for Brooklyn, the little movie that could, which could manifest into it’s only award of the evening. On the other hand, The Big Short had one of those scripts that was equally nutty and rage-inducing in all the right ways. Plus, Drew Goddard’s clever writing made The Martian the box office smash of the third quarter of 2015. This is a literal crapshoot, but with unbelievably high-quality pigeons.
Original, Will Win: Spotlight // Should Win: Ex Machina
In addition, Kate Winslet has been picking up mucho praise for her work in Steve Jobs; she even picked up the Golden Globe and was honestly shocked. This category, along with Best Picture, could go either way.
Will Win: Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs
Should’ve Been Nominated: Alicia Vikander, Ex Machina
Best Supporting Actor (23)
For the longest time, it seemed like Mark Rylance’s quiet spy from Bridge of Spies was the easy choice, but Sly Stallone is another one of those inevitable picks that only became apparent to me once the Golden Globes hit. When Sly picked up the Globe, there was a standing ovation. If that’s not a guaranteed in for Sly, I don’t know if such a thing exists.
Add in the fact that his performance is one of his personal best up there with his work in the seminal Rocky as well as his turn in James Mangold’s Cop Land. His Rocky Balboa is aged, but not down and out quite yet. Stallone’s journey through Hollywood has been a fascinating one, and it’s time he was rewarded for sticking the landing in such a graceful way.
Will+Should Win: Sylvester Stallone, Creed
Should’ve Been Nominated: Jacob Tremblay, Room
^+Steve Carell, The Big Short
Best Actress (16)
Brie Larson is, along with Leo and Sly, a shoo-in for her award.
She brings a true gravitas that speaks of her patience in the Hollywood landscape so far, and her role as ‘Ma’ was a star-making performance like nothing else offered to the Academy this year.
Now, that is not to say I wouldn’t be disappointed to see Saorise Ronan grab something for her delightful turn in Brooklyn. Both are equally deserving.
Will Win: Brie Larson, Room
Should Win: Brie Larson or Saorise Ronan, Brooklyn
Should’ve Been Nominated: Charlize Theron, Mad Max: Fury Road
Best Actor (24, Guaranteed)
Leo has finally got his Oscar, all for scowling over 2-½ hours.
11 years too late, as well.
–
sigh-
Will Win: Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
Should Win: I dunno. . .Fassbender?
Should Have Been Nominated: Michael Keaton, Spotlight
Best Director (9)
My dubious research into the depths of Oscar predictions gave me one significant bright spot/potential upset: George Miller will win Best Director.
At first I was in shocked denial, but then I thought on it more. The Academy loves to hand out career awards, and for once, this could work in ol’ Georgie’s favor. He’s been pulling his weight for nearly 40 years in the business after coming to it from being an emergency surgeon. And this career achievement award would coincide with his greatest, most impressive directorial work since Mad Max 2/The Road Warrior. Plus, AMPAS could see his effort as pulling off what Linklater did with Boyhood last year, with all his struggles, genius choices, and smart editing shining through his action-packed opus. Thank the Academy for that small relief.
Will+SHOULD Win: George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road
Should’ve Been Nominated: Sir Ridley Scott, The Martian
+Alex Garland, Ex Machina
and finally:
~BEST PICTURE~ (6)
All right, let’s get this outta the way at the start:
My two favorites, Brooklyn and Fury Road, don’t have a chance at the top prize, unless the Big Three Choices split the vote, like what happened with Crash back in 2006. Frankly, that would delight me, but I’m gonna be safe and narrow it down from the Big Three: Spotlight, The Revenant, and The Big Short.
Of the three, The Big Short has been picking up the most momentum since it was a surprise Golden Globe nominee. It also won the Producer’s Guild Award, but that is it so far. It could be the surprise winner that takes the audience off-guard, having built up speed over the holiday and corresponding awards season.
The heavy hitter out of the gate is The Revenant, having won the BAFTA (British equivalent of the Oscar), the Director’s Guild Award, the Golden Globe for Best Drama, and numerous others. But, it has no script nomination, and no film has won Best Picture without a screenplay nomination since Titanic in 1998.
Spotlight is the tried-and-true pick of the trio, having won the SAG Award for Best Ensemble, the Gotham Award for Best Film, the Critic’s Choice Award, and the Satellite Award for Best Motion Picture. Its cast is legendary, its script has been lauded all over, and the direction was exceptional, considering the director previously made the universally-hated Adam Sandler vehicle, The Cobbler.
Taking all of this into account, here’s how I narrowed it down. Bridge of Spies leaves no noticeable impression upon viewing, it’s outta here! Room is out due to story structure problems I mentioned in my review. The Martian proved to be a crowd-pleasing box-office smash, but the Academy is still notoriously and inexplicably anti-science fiction. My beloved Fury Road is just too weird for the old fogies of the Academy, so I’m resting on it picking up six other awards. Brooklyn is the quiet innocent among the cutthroat Oscar race, so it’s doomed from the start. On top of all that hype, I’m knocking out The Revenant due to superstition over that phantom screenplay, and plus Alejandro already won big last year.
Between Spotlight and The Big Short, my gut tells me to go with Spotlight, seeing as the Academy could give it to make up for snubbing All the President’s Men way back in ’76 (which lost to Rocky, humorously enough). Though, my subconscious instinct tells me that The Big Short could be the troublemaker that flips the night on its head.
Who knows anyway? We shall see, Sunday evening. Until then, Witness Me!!
Will Win: Spotlight, I guess.
What I Want to Win: Brooklyn // Mad Max: Fury Road
Of all the Oscar nominees, Bridge of Spies is the one I’ve been dreading writing about the most. My feelings on the latest Spielberg drama are complicated, due to my internal struggles to classify it by that terrible, outdated binary distinction of it being a “good movie” or a “bad movie”. It’s almost as if my inner film snob is trying to strangle itself, Dr. Strangelove-style.
In terms of technical craft, it is fine.
But I don’t talk technicals in my reviews. I talk about emotions, characters, stories, images, concepts, and interesting and memorable events. And when the first thing that comes to mind after a STEVEN SPIELBERG MOVIE of all things is the technical craft, the alarms start to go off. This is a director whose whole of his image is based in his innate ability to play the audience like the orchestra, swelling emotions like string sections under the hand of maestro John Williams. And yet, here is a film that left me feeling… nothing.
I walked out of the movie acutely aware that a craftsman, whom I have respected as an artist for years, had tried to manipulate my feelings for the characters and story before me, and he failed hard. Like the far, far worse The Danish Girl, I find that the more I think about it, the less I appreciate it. And I just loathed TheDanish Girl from frame one save for Alicia Vikander, while initially I did try to defend some of the more troubling aspects of Bridge of Spies as soon as I viewed it before Christmas.
The acting is just unimpressive on the whole. Tom Hanks played his role as you’d expect Tom Hanks to play any role outside of the realm of the Wachowski siblings, and I didn’t care. Amy Ryan as his wife makes no significant impression, whatsoever. Alan Alda makes his rounds as still relevant older actor, yawn. The kid playing Francis Gary Powers, of the U-2 Spy incident, doesn’t make any sort of impact that he’s supposed to. Character actors come and go portraying various degrees of hostility, strong-arming, and intolerance that you’d expect from any message movie.
Of the whole cast of characters, the only one who makes a substantial impression is Academy Award-nominee Mark Rylance as the incriminated spy Rudolf Abel. In a movie filled with stuffy and stale archetypes, he brings a quiet precision to his character, sighing at the complexities of American justice systems prejudiced against any semblance of equality for his petty actions. The direction is where this movie falls short in terms of audience sympathy for the American characters, or any characters actually.
Granted, a good portion of the screenplay was at one point in the hands of the Joel and Ethan, the Coen Brothers. They bring a fast-paced banter to the story that certainly lifts it above uninvolving period drama and upgrades it to a level of ambition that is still mildly entertaining, just not successful in winning me over. That being said, classy banter does not a good movie make. Take for example the 1992 remake of the classic, low-budget noir Detour; that movie had an excellent hard-boiled script, but the actors just couldn’t handle it and the movie completely fails as thriller and drama. The difference between Bridge of Spies and Hail, Caesar is there were characters and situations that intrigued me in the latter, while I was nearly bored to tears in Spies.
The direction is where I realized just how unhappy I was with the movie. Spielberg tries on multiple occasions to grab on to emotions that were nonexistent on my end throughout. At the big trial, Tom Hanks makes a grand old speech for liberty and justice for all, and it lands with a hollow thud. I wasn’t swayed to his side as I should have been because I was already there. I believe in liberty and justice for all, this isn’t that ethically dubious, spy or no spy. Later on, we view youths in East Germany being gunned down as they attempt to cross the Berlin Wall. And again, it felt hollow. I felt like I was getting reheated outtakes from Schindler’s List, in a lesser package. I felt Spielberg simply going through the motions rather than making an honest effort.
The reason I mentioned technicals above is that, on paper, this film works fine. The editing, camera work, sound, music all do their jobs, but they overshadowed the lacking sense of story and investment/stakes. That is the sign of a truly flawed script and directorial duties. Trying to get involved in the storytelling and coming up empty save for “it looked nice, and sounded nice” is not the reaction this movie needed.
~Now let’s change gears and talk about a truly excellent movie that was snubbed in categories Bridge of Spies picked up.~
Carol is a much smaller scale movie than the latest Spielberg project, being the tale of a unique relationship ignited between an amateur photographer/full-time department store clerk and a married housewife. The film stars Rooney Mara of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Social Network fame, alongside screen demigoddess Cate Blanchett, two-time Oscar-winner and patron saint of screen actors, whom audiences may recognize from the Lord of the Rings saga and The Monuments Men.
The story does concern itself with certain subjects that are still in contention throughout much of the United States. The unique relationship of mention is a close friendship that does evolve into lesbianism. The first hour is foreplay and character buildup for the ingénue Therese (pronounced Teh-rezz) and the lovely titular Carol Aird. The film doesn’t jump headlong into the intimacies of the bedroom, rather it explores the intimacies of female relationships in the early 1960s.
The acting is utterly top-notch. Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara are radiant whenever they get a chance to steal the focus from Ed Lachman’s gorgeous photography. Also along for the narrative are Kyle Chandler as Harge, Carol’s estranged husband and Sarah Paulson as Carol’s best friend and confidante, Abby. The characters transcend their performers and take on actual existence on the screen, which is the goal of all great film performances. Under careful, consolidated direction from Todd Haynes, the cast work alongside one another, moving the story along at a good pace, keeping the performances front and center in tandem with the imagery and Carter Burwell’s ingenious scoring.
Seriously, the music is incredible. As much as I loved the thrilling tones of Ennio Morricone’s soundtrack to The H8ful Eight, I feel the score to Carol is so much more moving and deserving of recognition. The score is most certainly Mr. Burwell’s most Burwellian score, since Fargo at the least. The best way to describe it is an Adagio for Love as influenced by Phillip Glass. The strings and piano combine to form a perfect ode of nostalgia and melodrama, like one’s memory of a first love.
Topping off my list of exquisite elements of Carol is the imagery, delivered through the lens of Oscar-nominated Ed Lachman. The film was shot on Super 16 millimeter film, exuding a sense of being shown a private stash of home movies. The generous amount of soft lighting and truly lush color adds to the dream-like quality of the pictures. I mentioned H8ful Eight previously, and I have to say, even with all of Tarantino’s grandstanding about his use of 70-mm film in that project, methinks this little film about love makes a better case for preservation of physical film elements than that film did in all of its bloated three hours.
Unlike Bridge of Spies, I was fully invested in the love story on-screen from the minute we are introduced to Carol and Therese. There wasn’t a single moment where I lost interest in what was unfolding between the lovers and struggled to reattach my attention to anything, be it a filmmaking or storytelling element. Through the emotional journey audiences are transported on, the romantic tension and surprising amount of dramatic involvement will catch audiences off guard.
See, Carol is going through a divorce over the course of the film, and her husband Harge does not approve of the relationship she initiates with young Therese. There is a single moment shortly past the halfway point where a betrayal takes place that truly puts the stakes of Carol’s marriage into focus. With such stakes present, the hardest of hearts will be hard-pressed to honestly say they can’t relate to Carol’s decisions, regardless of her lifestyle choices.
The Academy most ungraciously passed Carol over for Best Picture and Best Director. Initially, I felt
shocked and disturbed by the omissions. But then I thought about the Academy’s history with LGBTQ projects and then it hit me. The previous projects of queer intrigue recognized by AMPAS all contained a significant arc of tragedy. Brokeback Mountain, The Imitation Game, Midnight Cowboy, Dallas Buyers Club, and Milk were nominated for Best Picture, but only Midnight Cowboy took home the statuette, and all ended poorly for their characters. The sole exception to this pattern being 2010’s The Kids are All Right, but since that was a comedy, which the Academy has a terrible history of overlooking, it received nothing for its efforts.
Carol is not by any means a tragedy; it is a tad harrowing at times, but the tone of the film is not one of “woe is me, for I am queer”. And actually, the focus is not on the genders, but on the romance, something more queer movies should take note of. It’s an update on the Romeo and Juliet story with the tragic bits replaced with that of 1950s and 60s high melodrama, which director Todd Haynes mastered previously in the Best Director-nominated Far from Heaven.
The point of it all is that instead of gracing a daring and matter-of-fact presentation of queer romance with well-earned recognition, the Academy went with the lazy, easy choice of nominating the old-hat, typical choice that only points to how outdated and out-of-sync the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences are with increasingly progressive movie audiences. For an organization that previously gave big awards and recognition to the likes of 12 Years a Slave and Philadelphia, the Oscars seem to act more like they are filling thematic quotas rather than actively recognizing quality film efforts that just so happen to push boundaries.
Two decades ago, millions of readers worldwide thrilled to the story told in the international bestseller Not Without My Daughter—subsequently made into a film starring Sally Field—that told of an American mother and her six-year-old child’s daring escape from an abusive and tyrannical Iranian husband and father. Now the daughter returns to tell the whole story, not only of that imprisonment and escape but of life after fleeing Tehran: living in fear of re-abduction, enduring recurring nightmares and panic attacks, attending school under a false name, battling life-threatening illness—all under the menacing shadow of her father.
This is the story of an extraordinary young woman’s triumph over life-crushing trauma to build a life of peace and forgiveness. Taking readers from Michigan to Iran and from Ankara, Turkey, to Paris, France, My Name Is Mahtob depicts the profound resilience of a wounded soul healed by faith in God’s goodness and in his care and love. And Mahmoody reveals the secret of how she liberated herself from a life of fear, learning to forgive the father who had shattered her life and discovering joy and peace that comes from doing so.
All right, it’s your favorite time, it’s my favorite time: It’s Unpopular Opinion Time! -wow- ~awesome~
Today’s first topic is that infernal Oscars controversy and then I’ll get on with my thoughts on the latest Iñárritu. Sound good? Alright.
–ahem–
Y’all should know by now that the Oscars are run by a group of middle-aged white men who tend to hand off awards to a specific type of movie [vanilla, slightly trendy period drama or ham-handed message movie about the environment/war/poverty/racism/mental illness/cultural malaise] and are as willing to change their ways as the modern Republican party. Is it any surprise these people are nominating prominently Caucasians instead of more than worthy people of color?
In the previous 25 Oscar ceremonies, Best Picture has gone to a movie prominently featuring non-whites only 3.5 times*. I count Dances with Wolves as half, since it is still primarily this guy’s movie:
‘Murica
by Kevin Costner
In defense of the current nominations, I will say this. I’ve seen a fair majority of the nominees and can’t fault the choices for the most part. That is not to say there is not room for improvement. On the contrary, I spotted a few spaces where the Academy stooped to the lazy nomination choice, for example Eddie Redmayne for that abomination The Danish Girl took a place that could, And Should, have been occupied by Michael B. Jordan for CREED. In addition, Ryan Coogler should have gotten a director nod for said film in place of Iñárritu, who already won last year for a slightly better film, plus Benicio del Toro should have easily secured a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his devastating turn in SICARIO.
Other than that, a lot of the people of color performances just couldn’t top what was chosen. I love Idris Elba as much as the next person, and I appreciated his role in Netflix’s flagship title Beasts of No Nation, but I can’t say he’d have been a better choice than Benicio or Mark Ruffalo’s turn in Spotlight, or Tom Hardy. The only one Elba had a chance to overcome was Christian Bale, who I feel was put on a pedestal above Steve Carell’s equally, if not more, compelling performance in The Big Short. Other than that, Straight Outta Compton was exceptional, and had a surprisingly good cast, but it would not have been on my personal list for Best Picture, and no one from the cast truly stood out. That is not to say the acting was lacking, far from it. But the strength in the performances was in the sense of ensemble that came about whenever they were together on screen. At least I would have considered the movie, unlike what AMPAS did.
I am now stepping down from my soapbox; we now return to your regularly scheduled movie criticism.
Getting this here joke outta the way now.
The Revenant is a good movie. I will not dispute its worth as a piece of entertainment to be viewed au cinema. It is a frustrating, self-importance-touting, frontier art-house flick that, at the end of the day, I feel deserves to be nominated as one of the 10 (8 *cough*) Best Pictures of the Year. But, it does not deserve to win anything.
What’s it all about, you ask?
Hugh Glass and his half-breed son are tagging along with a crew of frontiersman transporting furs, when suddenly a troupe of renegade Arikawa tribesman attack the men and send them fleeing down the river with massive casualties. Fitzgerald, one of the brigands whose sole livelihood was the abandoned furs, takes out his frustrations on Glass, causing tension to fill the group. While hunting further in the wilderness, Glass is viciously set upon by a mother grizzly, in one of the most anxiety-inducing action scenes of 2015. Afterwards, Glass is laid up and left in Fitzgerald’s care until he either regains his strength or dies and is buried.
But the treacherous brigand tries smothering Glass, is caught by Glass’ half-breed son, and dispatches the boy so as to wipe all evidence of his wrongdoing away, escaping to a fort to claim his rewards for “doing what had to be done”. But Glass is still quite alive, and now thirsts for revenge. He limps his way through the wilds of frontier-era territories to find retribution as well as civilization, dodging the renegade tribe after his fellow crew, and struggling to heal his wounds and survive long enough to confront his nemesis before nature claims him as well.
Let’s talk the look of the film as a whole: People get messed up, a lot. Arrows fly, men’s faces are bloodied in the worst of ways, people on horseback fly off cliff sides, Glass has to treat a horse like that poor Tauntaun from The Empire Strikes Back, he eats raw buffalo liver, it all gets pretty intense. The film looks great, in all its brutal glory. This is to be expected; it’s shot by now 8-time Academy Award-nominee and 2-time winner Emmanuel ‘Chivo’ Lubezki, who shot both G R A V I T Y and last year’s Best Picture BiRDMAN. Here’s the thing though, the entire movie reminded me of another very flawed, visually epic film adaptation: Justin Kurzel’s Macbeth.
Now, those of you who read my things will know that I mentioned that film as one to look out for come its release sometime in December. Welp, I saw it, and here’s one of the problems with both movies: Both films are filled to the brim with “trailer fuel”, shots that look amazing and will look great in the trailer for the film. But the whole film just screams “Look at me, I’m so interesting and pretty” and the audience tiredly nods like parents with over-excited children.
I feel most film should be like a good meal. The meat should be hearty and excellent, that is here. Every single shot is the photographic equivalent of a blue-ribbon slice of filet mignon. But, everything in the movie is a perfect shot, and I love filet mignon, but I can’t make a whole meal out of piece after piece of filet mignon. I need a side dish, one that’s not filet mignon. My champagne glass should not be filled to the brim with steak juice is what I am saying.
Wow: That’s a great shot! The MOVIE
Onto the little director that could: Alejandro Gonzales Iñárritu. He proved last year he was a visionary, with wit, charm, and a limit to his pretense that made The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance a neat treat of narrative and visual flair that was certainly worthy of a nomination for Best Picture.
Here’s the rub: He thinks too much. Seriously, there could be a good 20-25 minutes cut out of this movie for the sake of making it less pretentious and slightly more palatable. I hold no issue with the brutal nature of the violence or things that happen to Glass and his fellow frontiersman. I hold issue with the fact that there can be small cuts made here and there to keep the flow going, narratively. The Pirates of the Caribbean series also has this issue. The director refuses to sacrifice a frame of their vision and it can be aggravatingly slow-paced.
This does not mean Alejandro doesn’t know what he is doing. I can see what Alejandro is going for, after all one of my all-time favorite flicks is Lawrence of Arabia. That film was later described by one of its stars as “four hours long…no women, and no love story, and not much action either, and he wants to spend a huge amount of money to go film it in the desert”. I can appreciate his efforts, but he ends just short of the mark. Please don’t give him another Oscar simply because he made something that looks nice.
^Long story short: The Man Won His Oscar Last Year. Give it to Georgie.
Oh, Leo. You under-appreciated over-achiever, you. I appreciate all you’ve done over the years to entertain us. Catch Me if You Can is still a delightful romp of fun and intrigue, The Aviator showed your acting chops just right, Inception gave you a little something different that still had strengths for you to flex, and Django Unchained was psychotic fun from the moment you arrived onscreen. I truly appreciate your breadth of work.
I think you could’ve done better here.
My problem is not what Leo does in this movie. It’s what he doesn’t do. The character is two-note: Cautious Experienced Hunter & Revenge-seeking Revenant. He screams occasionally, like when he’s attacked by the bear, or when he finally confronts his adversary at the tail end of his journey. But in between those bursts, he is stuck with this comical scowl on his face that is supposed to stand in for emotion as he treks through the wilds of the American frontier for the sake of REVENGE.
At times, he will dream of his dead wife and his recently-deceased son, then he looks sad for a moment’s time. Then he wakes and he keeps on trekking, scowl plastered back on his face. There is no defined range that we saw in the likes of The Wolf of Wall Street or the under-appreciated grindhouse throwback Shutter Island. We’ve come to expect a range of things from this actor, and the film hobbles him by limiting him. That is wasting your talent. Not as in Leo is wasting it, but the film is wasting the talents of a gifted performer.
Now I expect a fair amount of backlash over my feelings on Leo along the lines of, “But you loved Tom Hardy’s rugged mug in FURY ROAD, and he spends most of that movie looking desperate and grunting every few minutes. You hypocrite!”
But, with Mad Max FURY ROAD, we have a franchise backlog of 3 other movies that contain Max’s backstory and experience to reference, and even with that the movie does a good job of catching us up without clunky exposition. Mel Gibson wasn’t exactly the most expressive Rockatansky after the first Mad Max. Tom Hardy did well carrying the torch as previous.
Speaking of Tom Hardy’s rugged mug, much like the similarly troubled H8ful Eight, this movie does have its share of excellent attributes. The cinematography, as noted, is par for the celebrated course. The cast is really good, with Tom Hardy providing a great character in Glass’ nemesis Fitzgerald, with a hefty swagger and true grit in acting that shows him as worthy of a Supporting Actor nomination, having been snubbed for previously excellent work in the likes of The Drop and Nicholas Winding Refn’s Bronson. Also of note is Actor of the Year, Domhnall Gleeson, as the expedition leader who pulls a few bad-ass moments out of his brief screen time. Keep your eyes peeled for Grand Rapids native Joshua Burge as an expedition member. The music is properly ethereal and never takes audiences out of the moments onscreen.
People and critics keep heaping praise on this work, citing how “it was such a difficult film to shoot”, “Leo had to eat bison liver raw, and he’s vegan”. Well, this is what happens when the director and ‘Chivo’ decide the film needs to be shot using only natural light, limiting their locations and schedule as per. I don’t know what to say about Leo’s life choices, but he signed on to make the movie. He knew what the hardships would be. He’s a big boy. He’ll survive.
In terms of difficult films to make, George Miller started pre-production on FURY ROAD in 2000. He spent nearly a dozen years location scouting, raising money for the production by making the Happy Feet films for the big studios, recasting when delays set in due to lack of funds, and designing props, vehicles, costumes with his crew. FURY ROAD was finally shot in 2012 and released to cinemas just last year.
Alejandro and His Films Do Not Need Defending. He Has Already Won Big. Long Live George Miller!
Overall, The Revenant is a good one. I think it is definitely worth seeing in the theater and ruminating over afterwards with friends by a fireplace, over a glass of Jack Daniels, neat. I will insist however that it is not the Best Picture of the Year. It is flawed, it is portentous, it is twenty-five-odd minutes of frontier action inflated with over two hours of artsy imagery. And I do hope Leo is finally rewarded, so he can relax for a few years before he decides he needs another Oscar. I wish they’d give it to Michael Fassbender or Bryan Cranston who had better performances overall, but I will be satisfied if they give it to Leo just so he can stop scowling at us.
