Better Than Folly: oscars

Showing posts with label oscars. Show all posts

01 March 2025

Oscars 2025 Nominations

It's that time again! Films marked in blue are ones I watched prior to the nominations and green are those I watched afterwards. For the few I decided not to watch, you'll find them ~~struck through~~. As per usual, I've arranged them in the order of my preference.

Best Picture

Anora
Dune: Part Two
Nickel Boys
The Brutalist
I'm Still Here
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Wicked
Emilia Perez

And the one I chose not to watch, since horror isn't my bag:

~~The Substance~~

Oscars 2024 Nominations

Oscars time! And man oh man, I honestly owe the number of nominated films I've watched beforehand largely to my Cinemark Movie Club membership, because I have often watched one, if not two, movies per weekend. I've also become a devoted listener of The Big Picture podcast, which has nudged me towards films that weren't showing in theatres in my area yet. (I live SO CLOSE to Seattle, and yet am I willing to drive out there to see films that haven't gone into wide release yet? NOPE.)

As per usual, I have colored the names of films I watched before the nomination announcements on January 24 in green, and films I watched after the nominations in blue. Films I opted not to watch are ~~struck through~~. (Sorry, Society of Snow, but I'mma skip the trauma and cannibalism.)

Also as per usual, I've re-ordered the films according to how I would rank them, and included clips that I felt were relevant. I opted to just not rank films that I didn't watch for whatever reason. And some of these categories were REALLY HARD, y'all. Just gorgeous stuff all around, I must say.

2023 Oscar Nominees

2023 Oscar Nominees Oscars season! I actually made a good dent on most of the films this year, though (as detailed below), I did not catch all of them. But still!

Movies I saw before the Oscar nominations announcement on January 24 are marked in green, and ones I saw after the announcements are marked in blue.

Movies of which I consider myself a conscientious objector are ~~struck through~~. (No shade, Brendan Fraser and Hong Chau, I'm sure you were great, but nothing I've heard about The Whale makes it sound like anything I want to see. And while I'm sure Women Talking is good, not to mention Ana de Armas's work in Blonde, I try to avoid films that specifically focus on sexual assault.)

I've re-ordered the films according to how I would rank them, and included clips and pics where I felt they were relevant. I opted to just not rank films that I didn't watch for whatever reason.

Miscellaneous Movie Moments LXXXIX (February + Partial March 2023)

I didn't quite watch all of the Oscar films, but I made a decent dent! Plus the latest in MCU, of course.

Miscellaneous Movie Moments LXXXVIII (January 2023)

The time has come, y'all! OSCAR WATCHING SEASON. I do like January as a movie-watching month--it's a good mix of genre stuff and awards bait stuff, and sometimes those two things even overlap.

Oscar Watch 2022

THE TIME HAS COME. I've been pretty pleased with the crop this year. (Alas, re: the short films remain out of reach!) In the listings below, the ones in green are those I watched before the nominations were released, and blue are the ones I watched afterwards. (I wrote all of this before the awards show, but I went ahead and indicated who won, since I'm posting it afterwards.)

Also: OH MY GOD, that ceremony took a turn from amusingly uneven to HOLY CRAP really quickly. I did some livetweeting through the ceremony, if you're curious.

Miscellaneous (Oscar) Movie Moments LXXXIV (March 2022)

Miscellaneous Movie Moments LXXXII (February 2022)

It's Oscar season, folks!

King Richard, 08 February 2022, Blu-ray via Redbox
It's, like, three minutes into the film when some white tennis coach tells the eponymous Richard to have his girls learn basketball instead and HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL no.

Miscellaneous Movie Moments LXXXI (January 2022)

It's Oscars season, y'all!

Miscellaneous Movie Moments LXII (April 2021)

I know there’s still a few days left in the month, but I’m pretty confident I won’t be watching any random movies for the next few days.

One Night in Miami, 02 April 2021, streamed via Prime Video
Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, and Jim Brown walk into a hotel in Miami. Apparently that actually happened. And here we have a movie that includes Aldis Hodge as Jim Brown and Leslie Odom Jr as Sam Cooke PLUS Regina King directed!

Oscars 2021 Nominations

It's Oscars time again! I did pretty well this time around--given that COVID disrupted all the in-theatre stuff, almost all of the nominees can be found online. I am actually a little sheepish I didn't get closer to a complete watch--even the international films could be streamed! I just lagged a little bit, alas.

Anyway. I've got listings for all the categories below. Movies I watched before the nominations came out are in blue. Movies I watched after the nominations came out are in purple. Movies I decided not to see got the ~~strikethrough~~. I put my favorites in bold.

Miscellaneous Movie Moments LIX (March 2021)

Raya and the Last Dragon, 10 March 2021, streamed via Disney+
SOUTHEAST ASIA REPRESENT. Y’all, it’s really hard to describe what it feels like to see a Disney protag that looks like me. (We got close with Moana, as well as Lilo & Stitch, but not quite.) I mean, not just one, but a BUNCH of them. Like, Raya’s hair is what my hair has been for most of my life.

Movie Moments XXII: February 2020

Eighteen for February.

Jojo Rabbit, 02 February 2020, Cinemark Colonel Glenn 18
It’s the feel-good Nazi movie of the year? I really wish #JojoRabbit hadn’t plugged in actual Nazi footage set to wacky music in the intro, because I couldn’t quite settle into enjoying everything else for the rest of the time. But it’s cleverly written, gorgeously dressed, and perfectly acted. In the end, a really sharp satire that I wanted to get lost in more. (If it worked for you, great! It was just never going to work for me.)

The Two Popes, 04 February 2020, streamed via Netflix
I imagine this movie would be incredibly uninteresting to anybody who doesn’t dig thinking about theology and doctrine for a while. But it is so fun if you’re into that! And Pryce and Hopkins are pretty great in their face-offs, and the entire shebang is so multilingual. For me, a delight.

I Lost My Body, 05 February 2020, streamed via Netflix
So this Oscar-nominated animated movie starts with flies and dismembered body parts, so. I don’t know, man. Like, it’s about a severed hand trying to get back to its owner, having flashbacks to its owner’s wistfully traumatic life, but also, it’s a dismembered hand strangling a pigeon in a storm gutter in Paris. It was good, I guess? I just cared nothing about it.

Klaus, 06 February 2020, streamed via Netflix
The animation for this movie reminds me of nothing so much as a cross between The Emperor’s New Groove and a space-age Captain Crunch commercial. It’s a pretty standard Doc Hollywood narrative, though: snooty dude gets sent out to a rural area, tries to churn through work so he can escape, and then ends up healing all the rifts in the community. BUT it’s also a Santa origin story? It’s pretty fun.

For Sama, 07 February 2020, streamed via Amazon Prime
So this movie is about a mother making a film for her newborn daughter as the uprising goes on, largely framed by their work in the last hospital standing in Aleppo. It is...oof. Going straight from playing with a baby to seeing the walls of the hospital collapse from a bomb is just...oof. Dead kids and friends getting bombed; this documentary is 100% of the “the least we can do is bear witness” kind.

Honeyland, 07 February 2020, streamed via Hulu
Well, this movie is gorgeous. I really like that there’s no voiceover--we’re just...watching. I have no idea how the filmmakers made this movie, because seriously, a close-up shot of an elderly woman in a hut by candlelight? How? Anyway, by the end of the film, I was so invested I ended up yelling at the neighbors through my TV.

The Edge of Democracy, 07 February 2020, streamed via Netflix
“I feel our democracy was nothing but a short-lived dream.” Nope, no parallels to what’s going on in America AT ALL, like say the impeachment of a president of a corrupt government, thanks, Brazil for the warning. This was pretty interesting as a history, but the voiceover from the filmmaker sort of robbed it of something, though I’m not sure what.

Oscar Shorts: : Live Action, 08 February 2020, Cinemark Colonel Glenn 18

Four well-crafted films featuring kidnapping, terrorist families, child murder, and drug-running. One well-crafted and heart-warming comedic film about the ups and downs of life. Yup, this seems like a legit set of Oscar shorts.

Oscar Shorts: Animation, 08 February 2020, Cinemark Colonel Glenn 18

They also included a few “Highly Commended,” which they usually do to fill in some time, for some reason.

Henrietta Bulkowski
The Bird and the Whale
Hors Piste
Maestro No offense to this one--the animation looked quite good--but I left when this started because I had been in the theatre for four hours and I was done being there.

BUT ALSO. Why are so many animated Oscar shorts about dementia? There are TONS, constantly. There was some fun weird ones, as well--Hair Love is as lovely as everyone says it is, though there’s a weird stutter in the animation midway through--and at least none of these was a leisurely exploration of a narco massacre.

American Factory, 08 February 2020, streamed via Netflix
Car factory student exchange! This was a pretty sweet story if you think about it as making friends from other cultures. It’s a pretty sad story when you think about it as a stark portrayal of decaying American industries. But also, a great watch.

The Cave, 09 February 2020, streamed via Hulu
Not that either of them are unworthy of a nomination, but between this movie, For Sama, and various documentaries, long and short, in the past few years, I feel like we’ve gotten a LOT of films about the Syrian war. They’re always well-done and thought-provoking, but one starts to wonder if those nominating have a bit of an obsession. (There are other humanitarian crises, guys.) It’s also worth noting that both The Cave and For Sama focus on civilian hospitals. The most notable difference in this film, though, is its number of women doctors--I don’t recall seeing any in For Sama. This movie, however, lacks framing, which I think poses a problem for the audience. There’s a lack of specificity that prevents folks from fully grasping the situation.

Before the Flood, 12 February 2020, streamed via Disney+
I showed part of this to one of my classes, as we’re researching climate change. I remain puzzled, however, about the DiCaprio-ness of it.

Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey AKA Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), 14 February 2020, Riverdale 10 VIP Cinema

How feminist is #HarleyQuinnBirdsofPrey? Mid-fight, Harley gives Canary a frickin' HAIR TIE. This movie is everything a Harley Quinn movie should be: gorgeously choreographed, gratuitously violent, shamelessly cheeky, AND ALSO, not exploitative at all. Like, some of Our Protagonists wear some extremely flattering clothing, but there was not one shot framing anybody’s ass AT ALL. Also, so many brown folks! Montoya, Canary, AND Cassandra! And Helena was delightfully surprisingly awkward, and Chris Messina is blond for some reason, and all the dudes in this movie are TRASH and it’s great.

Last Christmas, 22 February 2020, Blu-ray via Redbox
I am so glad Emilia Clarke has this on her reel now, because it’s a pretty perfect anti-Daenerys. BUT ALSO, Michelle Yeoh has a romantic comedy subplot and I love it. ALSO, Henry Golding can stop being charming and tap-dancey ANY SECOND NOW, okay? Anyway, I am somewhat irritated at how charming this movie is. STOP BEING LOVELY, y'goshdarn romantic comedy. I also dig that the story is about a refugee Croatian family, except...most of these actors aren’t Croatian, are they? (A good slice of my extended family is from the former Yugoslavia, so that aspect felt kind of weird.) But Emilia Clarke and Michelle Yeoh and Henry Golding are really wonderful, so good work, #LastChristmas, you did the thing you meant to do.

The Good Liar, 22 February 2020, DVD via Redbox
There is a certain charm to watching McKellen and Mirren out-act a bit of a potboiler that is somewhat beneath their talents. Also, the plot twists do not hold up at all. Best to ignore them.

Playing with Fire, 23 February 2020, DVD via Redbox
Sometimes you just need something silly. Sometimes that means you’re watching a Nickelodeon nonsense movie about attractive people doing pratfalls to pop music a lot. (And not for nothing, but I watched this entire thing and didn’t get distracted once; I wandered away from The Good Liar several times.)

21 Bridges, 23 February 2020, Blu-ray via Redbox
I remain, and perhaps will always remain, uncomfortable with narratives that glorify he-had-it-coming policing (and I watch a LOT of them, let’s be clear). So this is kind of intriguing, as Boseman’s character is first painted as one of those vigilante cops, but then the circumstances of a robbery, with revelations of police corruption, means that he is ALSO the only cop not trying to kill the perps. There are a few too many complications, but it mostly works.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, 29 February 2020, Blu-ray via Redbox
Out of everything else, I was happily rattled that they ensured the show-within-the-movie had the same slightly fuzzled image that I remember from watching when I was a kid. Between Hanks being Hanks, Hanks playing Rogers, and the plot of a cynical journalist slowly understanding how to connect with humans, this movie is a hug filled with sunshine. Also, Matthew Rhys in bunny ears, people.

01 February 2020

Movie Moments XXI: January 2020

So much Adam Driver this month, y’all.

Frozen II, 01 January 2020, Regal Riverside 16
I have serious concerns about the line of succession in Arendelle.

The Report, 02 January 2020, streamed via Amazon Prime
Okay, guys, like, I think I might like Adam Driver now. How did he make Google searches look intense?

Paddington 2, 03 January 2020, streamed via HBO Now
A movie this perfect should not exist. Also, possibly the best acting Hugh Grant has ever done?

Elektra, 04 January 2020, streamed via HBO Now
I had no idea Will Yun Lee was in this! Egads! Anyway, this movie isn’t great, but Jennifer Garner sure throws herself into it.

Marriage Story, 09 January 2020, streamed via Netflix
Laura Dern always looks like she's twenty-seven feet of legs. Anyway, this is 100% one of those scripts that reads like the writer(s) wrote it for theatre first: all expository monologues punctuated with flashes of absurd reality. (I know it was written as a movie, but the feel is pretty distinct.) It is so theatre-y it makes me want to take up stage managing again.

Abominable, 10 January 2020, Blu-ray via Redbox
This is just such a lovely movie--and kind of a nice break from the usual, “Girl feels isolated, girl finds monster, girl helps monster accept itself.” There’s friendship! There’s silliness! There’s gorgeous magical things, and also a critique of capitalism! <3

Away We Go, 10 January 2020, DVD via Netflix
This movie kind of resisted engagement at the beginning, but by the time they got to Montreal, I was pretty into it. Also, Maya Rudolph and John Krasinski, y’all.

Missing Link, 11 January 2020, DVD via Redbox
Holy crap, this was a STOP-MOTION movie? That’s kind of staggering--it’s bright and goofy enough that I totally assumed it was the usual CGI.

Gemini Man, 15 January 2020, Blu-ray via Redbox
I prefer Will Smith to pretty much every marquee dude out there, but didn’t Bruce Willis already do this story? I mean, essentially.

The Lion King (2019), 15 January 2020, Blu-ray via Redbox
I mean, this is gorgeous, but why does it exist?

The Lighthouse (2019), 16 January 2020, DVD via Redbox
Real talk: Though I have no beef with the actors, I was 0% interested in #TheLighthouse. It got an Oscar nom for cinematography, though, so I legit watched it with the volume turned WAY down. And it IS well shot, but so much of the imagery is claustrophobic and gross (purposefully), I kind of wish it wasn’t so clear? Anyway, Willem Dafoe is perhaps his Willem Dafoe-iest when filmed in black and white, isn’t he? Sparkly Cedric (I forgot this dude’s name and decided not to look it up) seems to be doing a passable job, but his movie mustache makes him look like he’s an old-timey villain that ties ladies to train tracks.

Knives Out, 17 January 2020, UA Breckenridge 12
I feel like #KnivesOut was specifically constructed to satisfy my inner Chekhov. Seriously, like, every single supposedly offhand remark paid off, as far as I could see.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, 18 January 2020, Hot Springs 8 VIP Cinema
#StarWars IX is some beautiful, beautiful trash that I've decided I will not closely consider for a very long time.

1917, 18 January 2020, Hot Springs 8 VIP Cinema
#1917 is pure, delicious camera flex, and also the most stressful two hours any moviegoer could endure.

Little Women, 19 January 2020, AMC Central City Classic 10
Congratulations to Greta Gerwig for somehow getting Chalamet to mostly sound like he doesn't his spend free time tossing off in an opium haze. ALSO, dang, this was so well done. #LittleWomen 2019 is the closest I've ever been to believing that Friedrich is a legit match for Jo.

The Irishman, 20 January 2020, Streamed via Netflix
Why is this movie 3½ hours long? And seriously, though obviously the movie is remarkably well done, it’s not like the world needed another deep dive into the relationship between the mafia and American labor unions a few decades ago. THAT SAID, yeah, the interplay between Frank and Hoffa is fascinating, and the last hour is pretty great. It just takes forever to get there.

Pain and Glory (Dolor y Gloria), 21 January 2020, DVD via Redbox
Man, maybe my memory is faulty, but grizzled Antonio Banderas is waaaay more interesting than polished young Antonio Banderas. And in an awesome rabbit hole, parts of the film are an actor monologuing from the protag’s memoirs, and the protag is actually a stand-in for the Almodovar, the writer/director, HOW DEEP COULD THIS GO. Spoilers: The flashbacks are a movie the protag wrote! Y’ALL.

Star Trek VIII: First Contact, 24 January 2020, streamed via CBS All Access
So I decided to go on a Borg backstory binge to prep for the new Picard series, and here we are. And lemme tell you, after the Locutus of Borg thing was only two darn episodes, I was THRILLED to see it come up again.

Star Trek: Nemesis, 25 January 2020, streamed via Crackle
Holy crap, the Picard clone is TOM HARDY?!

Parasite, 28 January 2020, streamed via Amazon
About an hour and a half into the movie, I paused to spoil myself so that I could avoid the gory stuff. But up until that point, it’s pretty amazing. I legit want all the fanfic about Ki-jung because I may love her. And kind of SPOILERy thing about #Parasite for horror lightweights like me: The real gore happens the day after the basement flood.

On to February and the Oscar scramble!

02 April 2019

Movie Moments XVI: February & March 2019

Twenty-nine movies in two months! Including a good chunk of Oscar-watching.

The Wife, 01 February 2019, DVD via Redbox
You have to throw the whole husband out and start all over again, girl.

If Beale Street Could Talk, 02 February 2019, Riverdale 10 VIP Cinema
God, this movie was gorgeous. Regina King was spectacular, but damn, that soliloquy by Brian Tyree Henry in the middle should be the stuff of legends.

The Front Runner, 13 February 2019, DVD via Redbox
On one hand, it’s tough to feel sympathy for a politician who dared reporters to follow him to spot misconduct, and led them directly to his mistress. On the other hand, yeah, it is wholly awful that this marked the turning point when politicians became tabloid fodder.

At Eternity’s Gate, 13 February 2019, DVD via Redbox
Watching #AtEternitysGate and experiencing all the feelings that exist. Like, oh, #TheGoodFight has turned you into a sobbing mess, better take a break to watch this movie about VINCENT GODDAMN VAN GOGH.

The Hate U Give, 15 February 2019, DVD via Redbox
Starr’s little blond friend can go straight to hell. Anyway, I should have been emotionally prepared to watch this, but I wasn’t. This one is shaking.

Bad Times at the El Royale, 15 February 2019, DVD via Redbox
What. Was that. I mean, who wouldn’t want to listen to Cynthia Erivo sing as many, many actors you like simulate getting murdered, yeah, but what. What.

Green Book, 16 February 2019, Riverdale 10 VIP Cinema
#GreenBook is a perfectly enjoyable movie that hasn't anything revelatory to share, but happens to star two Oscar-caliber actors.

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, 17 February 2019, streamed via Netflix
What if #Deadwood was a vaudeville tragedy?

Sorry to Bother You, 17 February 2019, DVD via Redbox
That...did not go where I expected it would go.

Minding the Gap, 18 February 2019, streamed via Hulu
This is an excellent exploration of how toxic masculinity is perpetuated through economic circumstances. And, broken families. And, violence. And, skateboarding, by the way.

Of Fathers and Sons, 18 February 2019, streamed via Amazon
This documentary was a journalist who embedded himself into Al Qaeda, and it is 100% as disturbing as you would expect. Like, we’re all, look at at those cute kids and the great relationship they have with their dads! And then it’s all indoctrination. *shiver*

Nobody’s Fool, 18 February 2019, Blu-ray via Redbox
Just let Tiffany Haddish do whatever she wants, okay? We’ll all be the better for it.

Shoplifters, 19 February 2019, streamed via Amazon
Holy crap, this Japanese movie is the most heart-rending and sweet story about a found family of criminals that I could ever have wanted. Seriously, I loved this movie. I wanted it to win the Oscar.

Can You Ever Forgive Me?, 21 February 2019, streamed via Amazon
Apparently I am not as impressed with Grumpy Melissa McCarthy as most critics? Because she was great, but...Oscar great? Hm.

Hale County This Morning, This Evening, 22 February 2019, streamed via PBS
This is a gorgeous documentary about the everyday life of a somewhat impoverished neighborhood that is largely populated by Black folks. It doesn’t so much have a narrative as it has a melody. (Also, there is a long sequence where they just put the camera tripod in front of a rambunctious toddler, and it was amazing.)

Robin Hood (2018), 26 February 2019, Blu-ray via Redbox
W-who wanted this?

Fighting with My Family, 02 March 2019, Rave Colonel Glenn 18
So I have always had a non-resentment towards the WWE, and after watching a couple of classic matches with an ex a few years ago, I have honestly developed a serious respect for it as a performative lifestyle. ALSO, this movie was really sweet and a pretty classic sports movie that delightfully follows a young woman as she strives to conquer the wrestling scene.

What Men Want, 10 March 2019, Riverdale 10 VIP Cinema
This could have been way worse, honestly, but Taraji P Henson is fully wonderful and committed, so it was just a blast to watch her ramp up the ridiculous. Also, Aldis Hodge played the love interest. ALDIS HODGE, people.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, 18 March 2019, Blu-ray via Redbox Not as bad as everyone said, but certainly not good. Also, this series is dark as shit, and it angers me that it’s marketed to children.

Mortal Engines, 19 March 2019, Blu-ray via Redbox
I honestly could never quite get past the idea of predator cities, but I’d sacrifice much more than disbelief for the pleasure of Anna Fang.

Operation Finale, 20 March 2019, DVD via Redbox
I feel like this was a good movie that I nonetheless did not really engage with or care about.

A Private War, 21 March 2019, DVD via Redbox
Rosamund Pike, trying something different and wow, it does not work. I can’t tell if it’s her or it’s the movie, but this thing is a black hole when it should be provocative. (It had almost uniformly positive reviews, so it’s likely this is just Not My Kind of Movie.)

Instant Family, 22 March 2019, Blu-ray via Redbox
As someone who has never felt the urge to have biological children, this was kind of fascinating.

Free Solo, 22 March 2019, DVD via Redbox
As an agoraphobic, I am so thankful that I didn’t watch this in the theatre. Ooof.

Spider-man: Into the Spider-Verse (Alternate Universe Mode), 22 March 2019, Blu-ray
Holy crap, they had an entirely different storyline sketched out in the commentary. That is a pretty impressive DVD extra.

The Mercy, 23 March 2019, DVD via Redbox
So I didn’t know anything about this movie except it starred Rachel Weisz, Colin Firth, and a boat, and it did NOT go where I expected it to go. Geez. That was hella dark.

The Runaways, 23 March 2019, DVD via Netflix
Look, I got into this because Kristen Stewart as Joan Jett just works for me, okay? I have nothing to say about pretty much anything else in this movie, except of COURSE the soundtrack is great.

Second Act, 26 March 2019, Blu-ray via Redbox
So, this movie is exactly what all the previews promised, but also NOT AT ALL what the previews suggested. Also, it must have had, like, nine different revisions, because it has so many tonal shifts that you can actually see the seams.

Gloria Bell, 28 March 2019, Rave Colonel Glenn 18
#GloriaBell feels a lot like #TheWife, except its last ten minutes are possibly the most satisfying a movie in this genre can get.

13 May 2018

Movie Moments XII: March & April 2018

Twenty-one for two months!

Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope, 01 March 2018, DVD
We finished watching A New Hope in my lit class today. (Alderaan's destruction to the end.) Excerpts from the notes I took:

All of Chewbacca's closed captions read, "Argh. ARGHHHH."
Leia sleeps like she's ready to kick a dude in the face as she wakes up.
It's possible Luke cares nothing about the Rebellion except he has a couple of friends there.
I would 100% watch a cooking show hosted by Chewbacca and Han.
We could have 20 more minutes of Obi-Wan tiptoeing around the Death Star and it would still be hilarious every time.
Why does Luke have a Batman utility belt? Why does he have a grappling hook?
Are droids accorded status as sentient beings?
Luke is the best at compartmentalization.
Why doesn't R2 get a medal? WTF, Rebellion?

Oscar Winners 2018

Okay, following up on my notes on the Oscar nominations, now that the race is over.

Best Picture
I wanted Get Out, but The Shape Of Water won. I am surprised, but pleased.

Best Actress
I wanted Sally Hawkins to win, but Frances McDormand won. I am not surprised, and feel neutral.

Best Actor
I thought Oldman would win, and he did win. I have mixed feelings--I didn't know about his history of domestic violence until the night of the Oscars.

Best Supporting Actress
I wanted Laurie Metcalf to win, but Allison Janney won. I am not surprised, but pleased.

Best Supporting Actor
I wanted Willem Dafoe to win, but Sam Rockwell won. I am unsurprised, and feel neutral.

Best Director
I wanted Peele to win, but expected Del Toro to win. Del Toro won, and I am pleased.

Best Adapted Screenplay
I wanted Logan to win, but Call Me By Your Name won. I am unsurprised, and pleased.

Best Original Screenplay
I wanted Get Out to win, and it won.

Best Foreign Language Film
I had no opinions, and thus am neutral about A Fantastic Woman winning.

Best Production Design
I wanted The Shape of Water to win, and it won.

Best Visual Effects
I wanted Planet of Apes to win, but Blade Runner 2049 won. I am unsurprised, but displeased.

Best Editing
Ha, somehow I put this category in my original post twice. And had different notes for both! At one point, I thought Baby Driver would win, but in the second iteration, I thought I, Tonya should win. Dunkirk won. I am not surprised, and pleased.

Best Cinematography
I wanted Deakins to win for Blade Runner, and he did.

Best Animated Feature
I wanted Coco to win, and it did.

Best Documentary Feature
I wanted Strong Island to win, but Icarus won. I am confused.

Best Costume Design
I wanted Phantom Thread to win, and it did.

Best Makeup and Hairstyling
I wanted Wonder to win, but Darkest Hour won. I am unsurprised, and neutral. (The work for both was, essentially, the same sort of work.)

Best Original Score
I wanted Hans Zimmer to win for Dunkirk, but The Shape of Water won. I am unsurprised, and pleased.

Best Original Song
I wanted "This is Me" to win, but "Remember Me" won. I am unsurprised, but pleased.

Best Sound Editing
Best Sound Mixing
I thought Star Wars would win both of these, but Dunkirk did. I am unsurprised, but not displeased.

Best Animated Short Film
I wanted Revolting Rhymes to win, but Dear Basketball won. I am not pleased.

Best Documentary Short Subject
I wanted Heroin(e) to win, I think, but Heaven Is A Traffic Jam On The 405 won. I am not displeased, but a little confused.

Best Live Action Short Film
I wanted My Nephew Emmett to win, but The Silent Child won. I am pleased.

So that's the Oscars 2018! I'm largely happy with the things that won, though certainly I am shaky at doing any sort of predictions. I suppose I'll develop a knack over time.

Oscar Nominations 2018

Made it with a couple of hours to spare! I'm slowly getting to a place where I'm able to see most of the movies. Based on summaries, I decided I had no interest in watching Three Billboards, which made an impact. A handful of movies, I wasn't able to see, either because they weren't showing in my, well, entire state, but a couple I just wasn't interested in paying full price for them, and they weren't yet out for rental. So, here we are.

A little fun color-coding:
Seen Prior to Nominations
Seen After Nominations
~~Will Not See~~
Was Not Able to See

Best Picture
Call Me By Your Name
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
Get Out
Lady Bird
Phantom Thread
The Post
The Shape Of Water
~~Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri~~

Hm. Even having seen most of them, I honestly can't guess which one will probably win--they're all different flavors of what we'd consider Oscar-worthy...except for Get Out. And honestly, I think I'd award it to Get Out--along with Call Me By Your Name, it's the one that stuck with me the most.

Best Actress
Sally Hawkins, The Shape Of Water
~~Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri~~
Margot Robbie, I, Tonya
Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird
Meryl Streep, The Post

I'd love for this to go to Sally Hawkins. I think she did the most--particularly because so much of her acting relied on non-linguistic gestures and posture.

Best Actor
Timothée Chalamet, Call Me By Your Name
Daniel Day-Lewis, Phantom Thread
Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out
Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour
Denzel Washington, Roman J. Israel, Esq.

Chalamet is the performer that most impressed me, but Kaluuya was the most natural. Both Denzel and DDL were very Look At Me Acting, which is a turn-off for me. Oldman was excellent, because he always disappears into his characters.

Best Supporting Actress
Mary J. Blige, Mudbound
Allison Janney, I, Tonya
Lesley Manville, Phantom Thread
Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird
Octavia Spencer, The Shape Of Water

I'm with Laurie Metcalf on this one, 100%. She and Janney did similar types of characters, but Metcalf had the tougher role.

Best Supporting Actor
Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project
~~Woody Harrelson, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri~~
Richard Jenkins, The Shape Of Water
Christopher Plummer, All The Money In The World
~~Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri~~

Willem Dafoe! Though he has the advantage, given the only other movie I saw in this category was The Shape of Water. Jenkins was awesome, but his role wasn't quite as solid as Dafoe's.

Best Director
Christopher Nolan, Dunkirk
Jordan Peele, Get Out
Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird
Paul Thomas Anderson, Phantom Thread
Guillermo del Toro, The Shape Of Water

I'd love for Peele to get this, but del Toro had the flashier job of the pair.

Best Adapted Screenplay
James Ivory, Call Me By Your Name
Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, The Disaster Artist
Scott Frank, James Mangold, and Michael Green, Logan
Aaron Sorkin, Molly’s Game
Virgil Williams and Dee Rees, Mudbound

I would pay cash money for Logan to win this--it's just a fantastic story.

Best Original Screenplay
Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani, The Big Sick
Jordan Peele, Get Out
Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird
Guillermo Del Toro and Vanessa Taylor, The Shape Of Water
~~Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri~~

Get Out. Please, please, please.

Best Foreign Language Film
A Fantastic Woman (Chile)
The Insult (Lebanon)
Loveless (Russia)
On Body And Soul (Hungary)
The Square (Sweden)

Someday I'mma once again live in a city where foreign films are screened. I don't see this changing in the near future, though.

Best Production Design
Beauty And The Beast
Blade Runner 2049
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
The Shape Of Water

Oooh, this one's a tough one. I think I'd go with The Shape of Water, though--del Toro's movie is striking in the way it uses space to convey all sorts of things.

Best Visual Effects
Blade Runner 2049
Guardians Of The Galaxy, Vol. 2
Kong: Skull Island
Star Wars: Episode VIII—The Last Jedi
War For The Planet Of the Apes

I'd give this one to Planet of the Apes. I mean, I just can't argue with motion-capture via Andy Serkis, particularly because his Caesar was more human that any of the characters in any of the non-Star Wars movies in this category.

Best Editing
Baby Driver
Dunkirk
I, Tonya
The Shape Of Water
~~Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri~~

Hmmmmm. I'd throw this one to Baby Driver, even though I wasn't a big fan of the movie overall.

Best Cinematography
Roger Deakins, Blade Runner 2049
Bruno Delbonnel, Darkest Hour
Hoyte van Hoytema, Dunkirk
Rachel Morrison, Mudbound
Dan Laustsen, The Shape Of Water

This category is SO HARD, because every single one of these movies was striking. Absolutely gorgeous. I'd give this one to Deakins, though--I didn't necessarily like Blade Runner 2049 all that much, but I want to wallpaper my apartment with some of those shots.

Best Animated Feature
The Boss Baby
The Breadwinner
Coco
Ferdinand
Loving Vincent

Coco, all the way. (I liked Boss Baby waaaay more than I anticipated, but why is it here?) I wouldn't be mad if The Breadwinner won, though. It's very lovely in a different, achey way.

Best Documentary Feature
Abacus: Small Enough To Jail
Faces Places
Icarus
Last Man In Aleppo
Strong Island

I'd roll with Strong Island for this one--the close-ups in some of the interviews were gut-punchers, as was the final sequence.

Best Costume Design
Beauty And The Beast
Darkest Hour
Phantom Thread
The Shape Of Water
Victoria & Abdul

...Phantom Thread, I think. The costumes did so much of the work for the movie.

Best Makeup And Hairstyling
Darkest Hour
Victoria & Abdul
Wonder

I'd hand this one to Wonder, largely because that kid was able to effectively emote through all that make-up. It's impressive work.

Best Original Score
Hans Zimmer, Dunkirk
Jonny Greenwood, Phantom Thread
Alexandre Desplat, The Shape Of Water
John Williams, Star Wars: Episode VIII—The Last Jedi
~~Carter Burwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri~~

Hans Zimmer's score felt sooooo overdone, but it also was the thing that actually made the movie work.

Best Original Song
“Mighty River,” Mudbound
“Mystery Of Love,” Call Me By Your Name
“Remember Me,” Coco
“Stand Up For Something,” Marshall
“This Is Me,” The Greatest Showman

I'm not saying it's the best song in the group, but "This is Me" is the one that got stuck in my head for days and days, and for a category like this, that ain't nothing.

Best Sound Editing
Baby Driver
Blade Runner 2049
Dunkirk
The Shape Of Water
Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Best Sound Mixing
Baby Driver
Blade Runner 2049
Dunkirk
The Shape Of Water
Star Wars: The Last Jedi

I've long held the opinion that these two categories just get automatically handed to whichever film was the most popular. So, Star Wars it is!

Best Film Editing
Baby Driver
Dunkirk
I, Tonya
The Shape Of Water
~~Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri~~

I'd give this one to I, Tonya, I think. The shifts from memory to faux-memory to the interviews were actually quite clever, I felt. And occasionally, extremely disturbing.

Best Animated Short Film
Dear Basketball
Garden Party
Lou
Negative Space!
Revolting Rhymes

These are so weird, because the shortest is, like, four minutes, while the longest is a full half-hour. I thought the longest, Revolting Rhymes, was the most interesting, largely because it had the most stuff going on. Garden Party was the most impressive, animation-wise, but the corpse at the end was so much overkill that I can't really commend them whole-heartedly.

Best Documentary Short Subject
Edith And Eddie
Heaven Is A Traffic Jam On The 405
Heroin(e)
Knife Skills
Traffic Stop

Oof. Traffic Stop was the most visceral. Edith and Eddie was the most heart-breaking. Heroin(e) was the best documentary. (The other two were fine, but lightweight in comparison.)

Best Live Action Short Film
Dekalb Elementary
The 11 O’Clock
My Nephew Emmett
The Silent Child
Watu Wote
These were all fantastic. I'd watch every single one of them in a longer form. My Nephew Emmett is the one that haunts me, though.

And that's it for my Oscar-watching for the 2018 ceremony. I think I did extremely well this year, but I also feel like we have way more "mainstream" kinds of movies on the slate, too.

01 March 2018

Movie Moments XI: February 2018

Twenty for the month!

Victoria and Abdul, 01 February 2018, DVD via Redbox
I have complicated feelings about the Commonwealth, being I was born into it. (My Canadian passport bears a note saying I can take refuge in a British embassy should the need arise.) But colonialism is straight-up oppression, and Pax Britannia was built on the backs of black and brown folk, so I was wary of any traces of “the exotic Orient.” I was glad the movie leaned more towards “white folk, AMIRITE,” and “Victoria is cantankerous.” And Abdul’s open-hearted, naive joy was helpfully countered by Mohammed’s snarky resignation. (Mohammed is given the best and most searing scene in the entire film, in fact.) But, my dudes, “look how nonsense these racists are” doesn’t actually alleviate having to listen to people being racist.

Marshall, 02 February 2018, DVD via Redbox
A jaunty period soundtrack is hella dissonant when underscoring the life and times of Thurgood Marshall. (With cameo appearances by Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, y’all!) However: Chadwick Boseman, damn. And Josh Gad is at his Josh Gaddiest, which is fine. Kate Hudson continues her run on playing soulless characters.

I, Tonya, 03 February 2018, UA Breckenridge Stadium 12
This movie wants to make sure we know how clever everything is, which sort of made me feel less stoked about it. But Margot Robbie and Allison Janney are spectacular, and Sebastian Stan is doing something interesting. Oh, for folks who need a trigger warning, there is a ton of domestic violence in this. (I didn’t know much of Harding’s biography, so I wasn’t aware that would be a part of the story.)

Mudbound, 03 February 2018, streamed via Netflix
“My hand did these things, but I was never easy in my mind.” This is a stunning and quiet movie.

Abacus: Small Enough to Jail, 07 February 2018, streamed via Amazon Prime
It’s no coincidence that the only bank facing criminal charges after the “too big to fail” economic crisis was a small Chinese-owned institution. It is not mere happenstance these folks were subjected to humiliation as a sop to public outcry.

Icarus, 08 February 2018, streamed via Netflix
This is a wild ride. What began, as many reviews noted, as the Tour de France version of Super-size Me, quickly transmutes into a tale of an ex-con trying to evade Putin-hired assassins while testifying to Olympic authorities. Like, dude. Duuuuuuude.

Loving Vincent, 08 February 2018, streamed via Amazon Video
Given how outstanding the animation is--hand-painted with oils largely in the style of Van Gogh--it’s easy enough to be gracious about the lightweight story. The son of Van Gogh’s postman embarks on a quest to deliver the artist’s final letter to someone close to him, and ends up interviewing a ton of village folks, as if trying to prove Van Gogh’s suicide was really a murder. But it’s of a piece with Doctor Who’s Van Gogh: Folks unable, incapable of understanding how someone who seemed happy could in fact be so desperately, brokenly sad.

Darkest Hour, 11 February 2018, AMC Classic Central City 10
The shot composition in #DarkestHour is OUTSTANDING. (Though some of the narrative tension in the movie deflates, given that about 93% of the audience saw #Dunkirk this summer.) The lighting during the first meeting with the king, especially, was memorable, but pretty much every scene was pristine.

And Oldman is, as expected, great. He’s sort of the inverse of Daniel Day-Lewis for me--I can’t watch him in a movie without being aware Daniel Day-Lewis Is Acting, whereas with Oldman, I often stutter out of a scene because I keep realizing Gary Oldman has disappeared and been replaced with his character. It’s remarkable.

The Florida Project, 12 February 2018, streamed via Amazon Video
Rather than the magical realism of Beasts of the Southern Wild, we’ve got some heartbreaking cinéma vérité in Orlando, but still largely through the eyes of youngsters living in precarity. It’s a great showcase of Willem Dafoe being entirely upstaged by a trio of six-year-olds.

I MEAN, SERIOUSLY.
Last Men in Aleppo, 13 February 2018, streamed via Netflix
Last year’s winning Oscar documentary short, White Helmets, was about the war in Syria, so the style and focus of this movie weren’t surprising. That said, it’s still striking, and disheartening, to watch the White Helmets as they stare up into the sky, trying to ascertain where the next missile is going to land. And the end is shaking.

Wasted!, 14 February 2018, streamed via Amazon Video
Watched in my FYW class over three days. Still funny. Still educational.

Roman J. Israel, Esq., 14 February 2018, DVD via Redbox
So, like...who is this movie for? Because for folks who are already aware of the procedural injustices baked into the justice system, this is all unsurprising. For folks looking for a solid Denzel Washington vehicle, he’s good. I mean, he’s just the Sheldon Cooper of the criminal justice system, but it’s a change of pace, I suppose. (We had this talk about Meryl Streep last year, y’all--just because they’re in a movie doesn’t mean they should be granted an Oscar nomination.) And I guess this movie will hook upper-middle-class white folks who like telling POCs how much they love Denzel?

Clearly Get Out is still murmuring in the back of my mind.

Anyway, we should have a conversation sometime about the projects Colin Farrell is taking on, because something fascinating is going on there.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, 15 February 2018, streamed via Amazon Video
Hogwarts, as an educational institution, is nonsense.

Wonder, 15 February 2018, Blu-ray via Redbox
Adolescence is brutal, y’all. Anyway, spoiler alert: Heart-warming, in ways I honestly didn’t expect. With bonus Daveed Diggs!

Geostorm, 15 February 2018, Blu-ray via Redbox
I’ve been watching Oscar movies for a MONTH, people. I needed a palate cleanser. This movie is aggressively not good, but I do kind of have to applaud their commitment to “Have you tried turning it off and on again?” None of that reverse polarities hokum here, no sirree.

Black Panther, 17 February 2018, UA Breckenridge Stadium 12
Y’ALL. This movie is 1000% as amazing as anticipated. The theatre was packed, and we were all SO HAPPY.

Captain America: Civil War, 17 February 2018, streaming via Netflix
I couldn’t watch Black Panther in my living room, so I settled for the next best thing.

The Greatest Showman, 24 February 2018, Cinemark Colonel Glenn 18
Oscar time is closing in! I, obviously, have not been dying to see this movie, despite my love for Hugh Jackman and Michelle Williams. #GreatestShowman, in the end, is pretty shallow, but the set-pieces are dazzling. The Jackman/ZEfron and the Zendaya/ZEfron trapeze numbers, particularly, plus the sweep of "This Is Me."

The Breadwinner, 24 February 2018, streamed via Netflix
“Raise your words, not your voice. It is rain that makes the flowers grow, not thunder.” This is so lovely. Melancholy.

Interstellar, 24 February 2018, DVD via public library
I’m of the belief that every Nolan movie is a Batman AU, and given that NASA turns out to be housed in an underground cavern here, I find my faith rewarded. Also, I really want to rewatch Contact now.

04 December 2017

Movie Moments IX: November

Twenty-two for November!

War for the Planet of the Apes, 03 November 2017, Blu-ray via RedBox
"I save myself."
"Is there anything left of you to save?"

These movies are stupendously good, y’all. I do wonder, though, how folks in the Deaf community experience the movie. Most of the dialogue is in sign language, but the CGI scenes are dark enough that I suspect it would be difficult to follow. Plus, what little I’ve seen indicates that some words are legible, but the overall use doesn't quite correlate to ASL. Hm!

I'm still impressed with how expressive Caesar-as-CGI is. There's an intensity of soul that I find more affecting than in most non-CGI lead actors. Kudos to Serkis and the team of wizards.

Thor: Ragnarok (3D), 04 November 2017, AMC Classic Central City 10
I wish there were more women, and apparently Asgard only contains, like, 350 people. I literally groaned aloud when Strange appeared, and I'm sad Thor’s old team was dispatched without ceremony.

All that aside: THIS MOVIE IS SO FUN. So, so, so fun. Also, Loki is a genuinely awful antihero who's been woobified way too much, but Tom Hiddleston's saunter, man. I am weak. Like, they could have had an additional 20 minutes of Loki and the Last Valkyrie power striding on the bifrost, if I had my way.

Monuments Men, 04 November 2017, DVD via university library
A movie about Cate Blanchett’s character would have been awesome. Like, a psychological thriller of Matt Damon, art curator, trying to get possible-quisling, possible-Resistance agent Cate Blanchett to reveal Nazi art smuggling routes? I want THAT movie.

The Imitation Game, 04 November 2017, DVD via public library
Someone call me when Benedict Cumberbatch finally plays against type.

Gasland, 06 November 2017, streamed via Amazon
For one of my writing classes I’m using Fracture: Essays, Poems, and Stories on Fracking in America as our reader, so we watched this in three parts. It’s actually excellent text if you want to talk about research, because Josh Fox, the filmmaker, details pretty clearly how he went about doing investigation. There are a number of sequences of him just trying to get corporation representatives to sit down in the same room with him and a camera. (In one really fun scene, one executive rapidly backs out of the conference room as they see the camera and realize what the meeting is actually about.) And a lot of it is Fox being rejected, over and over, via voicemail, in contrast to the interviews he conducts with the folks who are being directly affected by fracking. (Even if you don’t know anything else about the film, you’ve probably seen the snippet of him lighting someone’s tap water on fire, which was the main feature of the documentary trailers.) As a narrative device, this works great: we, as an audience, are learning about fracking at the same time he is (or so it seems). The one major issue I have--and it’s possibly a silly one--is the mumblecore monotone Fox uses to narrate. It’s like he really, really wanted to sound like Werner Herzog, but couldn’t quite infuse his voice with the same conviction that Herzog manages. It’s...off-putting.

The Queen, 11 November 2017, DVD via public library
I remember seeing the news about Princess Diana's death and crying, really crying in my bedroom. My mom found me and gave me a hug, murmuring about how it was very sad, and how Diana had tried to do good in the world. (I'm actually crying now, thinking about it, which is odd.) I was too young to be cognizant of the context, so I can barely contrast the movie with the events proper. I am fascinated by the juxtaposition of personal turmoil and state-appropriate grief.

Jupiter Ascending, 11 November 2017, DVD via Netflix
The Wachowskis don't do anything half-measure do they? This movie is lush and imaginative, and Channing Tatum is somehow talking in an entirely different cadence, and I'm not surprised folks were completely weirded out by this movie, because what is happening in this movie? What is going on? (Still more satisfying than the Divergent trilogy. Actually, Mila Kunis would be perfect for a YA sci-fi romp. Someone make that happen immediately.) What glorious and incoherent nonsense.

THESE COSTUMES, THOUGH.

The Big Short, 12 November 2017, DVD via university library
This is the most expensive educational film made to show college sophomore economics classes ever made.

The Incredible Hulk, 13 November 2017, streaming via HBO Now
Weirdly, I had never watched this before (nor the Bana version), even though I am pretty sure I own it on DVD. I appreciate that the movie just dives right in without running us through yet another origin story. And it could just be I’ve accustomed myself to Ruffalo’s interpretation, but Norton's Banner is a bit too squirrelly for my tastes. This is sort of dissatisfying as all the individual MCU movies are, in that the titular hero is just fighting an evil version of themselves. Ah, well. I will imagine Betty, Jane, and Pepper get together for wine night once a month, because OF COURSE THEY DO. (Do I have to write this? I’ll write it if I must.)

Justice League (3D), 18 November 2017, Cinemark Colonel Glenn 18
I mean, it didn't suck? Though, as much as I appreciate Gal Gadot’s ass, I didn't really see a need for so many shots of it. Anyway, can confirm I did, in fact, cry through all the Amazon battle scenes.

American Hustle, 18 November 2017, DVD via university library
The real winner of this movie is whoever had the lightbulb moment about everyone's hair, because that's really all the audience can really focus on for the first half of the movie. By about two-thirds through the movie, I started to suspect the movie wouldn't end with JLaw's and Amy Adams's characters making out, and I was QUITE MIFFED. And then THEY DID.

I LEGIT THOUGHT THEY WERE JUST GOING TO TEASE US HERE.

Murder on the Orient Express, 19 November 2017, AMC Classic Central City 10
I am leery about any movie involving Johnny Depp nowadays, but Leslie Odom Jr is in this, too, so. In any case, it's a gorgeous movie with some fascinating camerawork (the overhead shots, zow), and I actually had never read this particular book, so the denouement was pretty fun.

This Means War, 21 November 2017, DVD via public library
What I’m learning from this movie is I’d really be interested in watching a Reese Witherspoon action movie. Also, Tom Hardy doing comedy is pretty disconcerting, while Chris Pine seems right at home. ALSO also, the movie clearly and immediately establishes Hardy/Pine is the REAL OTP. But nice try at making massive violations of a woman's privacy a romantic comedy, I guess? (It is entertaining, but I chalk that up to the undeniable charisma of the actors.)

Capote, 22 November 2017, DVD via public library
This is such a quiet movie, but it's difficult to look away from it. Most striking are the brief scenes of Capote holding court at parties, all jagged stories and sparkling wit. And we never see the beginnings or ends of tales, making those moments unsettling, in contrast with Capote as interviewer, as observer, as writer, as friend. (Early-ish in the movie, one of the murderers calls the other “mendacious,” but the word only resonates once we get a clearer glimpse of Capote's skillful and somewhat horrifying ability to manipulate.) And Keener as Harper Lee is wonderful--I would love to see a flipped version of this movie, focused on her experience in this handful of years.

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, 23 November 2017, Blu-ray via RedBox
I wasn't sure what to expect, but the opening montage set to Bowie and the act of ceremonial greetings over centuries is really lovely. And then a longish CGI sequence of an alien civilization under sudden attack, which was entrancing. And then directly to a shot of Cara Delevingne’s bikini-clad ass and our two protagonists “bantering” about their “sexual tension” that ends with Laureline telling Valerian her heart would be won by a dude who would, I kid you not, “erase his playlist for me.”

I just. I can't. And to be entirely fair, the world-building is spectacular. They just could have introduced their leads (who read more as precocious teenagers than the uber-competent agents they're supposed to be, and it is entirely because of their hair-styling) in a hundred different ways that would have been interesting and not gross.

Also, there's an interlude with Rihanna doing burlesque, and then reciting Verlaine's poetry, and I have no idea how to parse it. I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT THIS MOVIE IS BUT IT IS SO PRETTY. (So, pretty much every Luc Besson movie, it turns out.)

Talk to Me, 23 November 2017, DVD via public library
I wasn't sure what this movie was about, but I can't really argue with this cast.

I MEAN, SERIOUSLY.

I actually felt like it could have used a longer runtime--we see Petey’s success escalate almost exponentially, but the conflict between him and Dewey, and him and Vernell, needed development. The fight after the Tonight Show should’ve landed more sharply than the blunt actuality. What we get, though, is great--plus Taraji P Henson's playing proto-Cookie as Vernell.

Get On Up: The James Brown Story, 24 November 2017, DVD via public library
What with Black Panther coming up, I figured it would behoove me to get familiar with Chadwick Boseman. And he's pretty amazing here, along with Viola Davis, Nelsan Ellis (RIP), and Octavia Spencer. And I really loved the way scenes ricocheted from era to era. The breaking of the fourth wall was uncomfortable but interesting from a narrative standpoint--to what extent is the film itself influenced by our titular character, and to what extent is the movie constructed by him in the role of an unreliable narrator? (That scene of the boys fighting each other blindfolded for the amusement of rich people, set to that jaunty band, is possibly the most horrifying thing I’ve watched all year.) Side note: since I watched Talk to Me the day previous, with Petey Green opening a concert after the assassination of MLK Jr, it was kind of neat to see the James Brown side of the concert.

Step, 25 November 2017, DVD via RedBox
This is so lovely. It follows the arc of a Baltimore high school step team as they go on competition, but it focuses on three young women applying to college, and their struggle as they try to raise their GPA, or find enough funding, or get into a school where they can still help their families. The most heartbreaking scene was one young woman worrying, close to the end of the month, about whether they had enough food to sustain her six-year-old nephew. (Oof.) Largely, though, this is affirming, plus showcases some pretty damn excellent step routines.

Focus, 26 November 2017, DVD via Netflix
Can you imagine seeing Will Smith and Margot Robbie in this movie and then being excited to see Suicide Squad? That isn't to say they have chemistry, actually, but just borderline reality that if either one of these two came at you with intent, you'd run with it.

In any case, if you like Will Smith or heist movies, you’ll probably enjoy this.

La Vie en Rose, 26 November 2017, DVD via public library
I honestly know nothing about Edith Piaf, but the movie adhered to the rags-to-riches musician formula, and Marion Cotillard was wonderful, as everyone knew already. I will say, though, that the non-linear storytelling got old after a while, even though I do think it could have been an effective device, as I've previously noted in my Get On Up review. But by the time we reached the end of the Marcel sequence--which, to be fair, was a superb scene--I found myself wondering when this would end already.

SO PRETTY, THOUGH.

Bridge of Spies, 26 November 2017, DVD via public library
This is a pretty terrifying cautionary tale that is so far going unheeded.

War of the Worlds, 30 November 2017, DVD via public library
This might not have been the intent, but I would absolutely watch a movie about the mostly-amicable dissolution of the marriage of Tom Cruise’s and Miranda Otto’s characters. Seriously, this movie is hella good. Terrifying, but.

Better Than Folly

01 March 2025

Oscars 2025 Nominations

09 March 2024

Oscars 2024 Nominations

12 March 2023

2023 Oscar Nominees

11 March 2023

Miscellaneous Movie Moments LXXXIX (February + Partial March 2023)

31 January 2023