That's A Wrap!

Thank you to everyone who reads Oscar Glutton, comments, likes, shares, chats with me about the movies or just thinks about them. This is such a fun ride for me every year and I'm tickled that so many are willing to take it with me.

I DID achieve Oscar greatness this year by watching 53 of the 54 films nominated. I did NOT achieve Oscar perfection. ONE movie eluded me; Corpus Christi will not be available until the end of the month. It's not my fault, reader, I did the best I could!

There are movies I never would have watched that I am so glad I did; Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Honeyland, For Sama. There are movies that I was right about not wanting to see: Breakthrough, Maleficant, Richard Jewel. There are movies that didn't get nominated that I still need to go watch; The Farewell, Hustlers, Dolemite is My Name, Portrait of a Lady on Fire.

My personal top twelve (why's it gotta be ten?) of the year looks something like this:
Parasite
Jojo Rabbit
Harriet
Booksmart
Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Marriage Story
Knives Out
Frozen II
Captain Marvel
Little Women
Ready or Not
Doctor Sleep

I'll list my Oscar picks and my favorites, in that order.

Best Picture: 1917, Parasite
Director: Sam Mendes, Bong Joon Ho
Actor: Joaquin and Joaquin
Actress: Renee Zellweger, Cynthia Erivo
Supporting 1: Brad Pitt, Joe Pesci
Supporting 2: Laura Dern, Scarlett Johansson
Original Screenplay: Parasite, Parasite
Adapted Screenplay: Joker, Jojo Rabbit
International Feature: Parasite, Parasite
Animated Feature: Missing Link, Missing Link?
Documentary Feature: Honeyland, Honeyland
Score: Joker, 1917
Song: Rocketman, Harriet
Cinematography: 1917, 1917
Costume: Joker, Jojo Rabbit
Editing: Ford V Ferrari, Parasite
Make Up: Joker, Bombshell
Production Design: OUATH, Parasite
Sound Editing: Ford V Ferrari, OUATH
Sound Mixing: Ford V Ferrari, OUATH
Visual Effects: 1917, 1917
Animated Short: Hair Love, Hair Love
Live Action Short: Saria, Nefta Football Club
Documentary Short: Learning to Skateboard in a War Zone (if you're a girl) X 2 

Everyone is getting ready for the show! Celebrities have started starving themselves and getting expensive beauty treatments. Also, a lot of celebrities are passing away this week; is it weird that I keep feeling worried for the person trying to finalize the memorial package for the Oscar broadcast? And sad for their families, too, sure. 

I've got my Prosecco chilling and my couch warming (the cat is on that task)! I hope you all enjoy a totally gratuitous evening of Hollywood celebrating itself! Thanks again! See you next year!

Shorts Weather!

ANIMATED SHORTS

I went with friends and between the three of us, someone slept through each of these. Somehow four of the shorts seemed to have the same sad, slow, piano soundtrack. How is that possible?

Dcera - This one was almost my favorite. It had an interesting perspective on making bids for a loved one's attention and how getting turned down causes damage and distance while meeting that bid creates connection and warmth. Even so, the story telling didn't completely make sense and resolve in a satisfactory way for me.

Hair Love - This is a lovely piece that feels good, is great story-telling and pleasing animation. Without traditional dialog, this tells of a father/daughter bonding and the ways we push out of our comfort zone in order to be there for those we love.

Kitbull - This one was completely adorable! A little kitty and a neglected Pitbull become friends. It's Pixar and cute! Yay!

Memorable -This one dealt with alzheimers and had a cool animation style. It also had a very sad piano soundtrack that lulled me right to sleep. Ooops.

Sister - This was a moving piece about the enforcement of single child families in China. The animation style was beautiful; the whole thing was motion stop animation done in wool in tones of gray. The narration was difficult for me. I'm not sure how much was lost in translation but it felt clunky and overstated.

LIVE ACTION SHORTS

I asked for one ticket and the guy said, "One adult?" I said, "Did you just ask if I'm an adult?" We laughed and moved on. Moments later I realized he wasn't asking If I'm a child, because clearly not. He was trying to determine if I am a SENIOR!!!! Ugh. Whatever, fine. Just give me the discount. 

Brotherhood - This was about snap judgments and not giving people time and space to share their difficult stories. I liked the director's shot choices. The ending felt weak.

Nefta Football Club - This was a great story of paths crossing in unexpected ways. This had humor, which is sorely missing from most of the short films. Also, I'm a big fan of movies where a drug mule is, in fact, a mule!

A Neighbor's Window - A poignant example of the-grass-is-always-greener and a reminder to stay present to your own reality, warts and all, rather than let moments slip due to envy. Good acting and production value.

Saria - Apparently, Guatamalan orphanages are their own circle of hell! This was based on true events and acted by actual children from an orphanage, so that's pretty impressive. This is an important story to share and yet I cannot get myself to call it my favorite.

A Sister - A 911 dispatch operator is a hero when she realizes a caller cannot speak openly and manages to shepherd her to safety. This was very moving to me. I think society tends to think it should be very easy for female victims of violence to speak up and get help. I appreciate a story that can demonstrate the precarious position some victims find themselves in and the nuanced approach that may need to be taken in order to extract them from a terrifying situation.



DOCUMENTARY SHORTS 

I was a little bit late for the screening because the Engineer dude drawing up plans for our remodel was late for his appointment. Also, someone took my hat during the show, I guess? I had it when I went in but not after, so that's a little creepy.

In the Absence - Devastating account of a ferry that sank in Korea, claiming the lives of over a hundred students, among others. Incompetence, apathy and faulty equipment combine in a tragic way. The timeline style for the first half is very effective.

Learning to Skateboard in a war Zone (if you're a girl) - A really joyous look at girls in Afghanistan going to school for reading, writing, math, life skills and skateboarding. It imparts a very fragile hope that things can change for the better. It is shot well and edited dynamically.

Life Overtakes Me - This one unveils a brand new medical problem for refugee children called Resignation Syndrome where they basically lose hope and slip into a coma. What the hell, humans? We need to do better. Stylistically, it was dry.

St. Louis Superman - A battle rapper and state legislator fights against gun violence after losing his brother. A beautiful story of caring for your community and being a force for change. The story telling was a bit looser and less cohesive.

Walk Run Cha Cha - A couple experiences their love through dance. The style was different; I'm not sure if I thought it worked well or not, but I appreciated the effort. It ends with a beautiful dance sequence.

Connecting Success With Abuse...my takeaway from this year's movies

I've been gorging myself on all of these Oscar nominations and as I watch them so quickly and in such rapid succession that connections begin to form in my mind. I've seen movies such as Rocketman, Judy, Bombshell, Two Popes, Parasite, Ford V. Ferrari, and Harriet and I'm starting to see no distance between success and abuse.

This all started as I watched the Golden Globes. I was happy to see Elton John and Bernie Taupin win a Golden Globe for their song-writing efforts on Rocketman and listen to them talk about their collaboration of over 50 years. I said to my good friend, M, “How lucky for them to have sustained a friendship and work collaboration of such a long time! How do you suppose that was even possible?” And she replied to me, “I think Bernie Taupin just didn't like himself enough to say no to the abuse.”

My brain blew up. Not at all the answer I expected! (Don't you love a friend who can shake up your whole thought process like that? Thanks, M!) Of course, I have no idea if there is any truth to that answer and I don't even care to research it to find out. For all I know, after rehab Elton John did a remarkable job of making amends with Bernie and everything is truly peachy between them. I mean, that's definitely what my admittedly romantic brain wants to be the case.

But her incisive comment got me thinking. What happens to the people who like themselves too much to put up with the abuse? Because let's be honest, Hollywood, is a system pretty much based on abuse. Ricky Gervais hinted at as much in one of his controversial jokes that same evening. He said something about Harvey Weinstein that made the whole room groan with disapproval and then he said, “What? You all worked with him! I didn't.” And he's right! Anyone who has been in Oscar contention over the past 20 years or so has probably worked with or tried to work with Weinstein. Not every single one of them knew what he was up to, but we now know that many of them did, either by direct experience or rumor. I'm not suggesting, like the joke may have implied, that everyone at the Golden Globes is at fault or complicit. Many have gotten lucky along the way and skirted the very worst that the system has to offer. But the system of abuse in Hollywood is widespread and long established and it requires a lot of people to play their part. Many are willing to do just that because of the desire for and promise of SUCCESS.

Harvey Weinstein thrived as an abuser by being successful enough that people were willing to stay silent for him, or look the other way, or simply assume that he was in the right and then not bother themselves about it any further. There are only so many roads to success in Hollywood and for a while a major highway went through Weinstein. If you wanted to stay in that game, you might find yourself needing to accept the abuse.

The movie about Judy Garland proved that it's nothing new. Judy couldn't have been a starker example of a studio using abusive language, practices and pharmaceutical addiction to control the life of a child that they saw as an asset. She could not enjoy her “successful”career, nor could the studio enjoy the success of her pictures without entering into that contract of systemic abuse. Sadly, she was never able to recover from those beginnings and establish solid control over her own life.

It's not just a Hollywood problem. Bombshell showed me the same truth about Roger Ailes at Fox News. The road to conservative news ran straight through Roger Ailes and it took a lot of silence by a lot of people to keep his system in place. What would have happened to Meghan Kelly if she had spoken up about Roger Ailes immediately? She would have never moved up the news ladder and been able to claim success as her reward for both her talent and her silence. She felt comfortable being silenced because she assumed the best about Roger Ailes for as long as she was able to do so. Other women were trampled under his system of blackmailing and humiliating women who wanted to work for the most successful conservative news outlet on the planet.

Two Popes demonstrated that the Catholic Church valued its own “success” in terms of how many followers they had. That number was more important than honestly helping victimized children and led to a tragic system of forgiving and enabling countless abusers in order to not compromise the success of the church.

In the movie Parasite, we see a couple blinded by their own success. Because they assume that their status makes them inherently better than everyone else, they are unable to see what is going on, quite literally, right beneath them. Anyone who wants to work for them is forced to lie about their own success and status to be seen as worthy. The servants must engage in a hidden cut throat world of abuse, lying, grifting and stealing just to try and survive. They need the good opinions of the successful, clean and beautiful family, even as that family judges them as lesser, expendable and even at times, downright disgusting.

Early in Ford V. Ferrari, there is a scene where Henry Ford, Jr. bellows at all of his employees, even on the factory line, that anyone who doesn't come up with an idea to make the company more successful will be fired. He is grumpy and bombastic and my only thought was that I would walk out and never come back. I'm not wasting my time working for some egomaniac that thinks he can yell at me because of his problems! Of course, many of those people needed those jobs, and so you learn to stay silent and be yelled at form time to time. Or, if you really want to rise to the top in the corporate environment, you find a way to pass along the abuse to others, like one character does in the movie.

Harriet tells the story of the brave and amazing Harriet Tubman who fought hard to free people from the original example of a perfect success-by-means-of-abuse system. Slavery requires a group in power to dehumanize another group in order to degrade them, abuse them and profit from their pain. Our nation couldn't let go of it based on the argument that success would be impossible without it; that our country would crumble. It makes me wonder if the problem is that our nation was founded on this system. We built our whole understanding of society on that premise and never truly took the time to heal ourselves from that mindset. Maybe that explains why this system of achieving success through abuse is still prevalent in entertainment, news, churches, corporations, etc.

I have worked as an assistant editor in Hollywood. I remember being told by the entire crew at a mix stage that Michael Bay required that no one look him in the eye. My thought was, “Forget that guy! I won't work with people like that!” As it turns out, I didn't. I never rose to success. I started a family and worked on tiny independent projects from time to time. However, even at my level, when I lose a collaboration with someone, it stings. There are just not that many opportunities for moms juggling career and family. It's hard not to convince yourself to hold on to every possible collaboration, even when it makes you uncomfortable. It's hard not to keep yourself quiet in order to keep a job, to keep hustling.

The whole culture of success sort of seems to demand your discomfort, your buy in, your "pay your dues" grit to crawl through the muck for the carrot on the other side. Because for every Roger Ailes, there is also a Kayla who accepts the system and permits the abuse. Let me be clear, I don't mean to victim blame Kayla. I don't know what I would have done faced with the choice to gain entrance into a studio editing job if I only showed my panties to one old perv. It's a terrible position to be put in and there's no right answer in that moment. But the efficiency of this system that equates success with abuse is that if you buy in, even a little, you begin to like yourself a little less. And once that happens, you no longer have the strength left in you to demand better.

So here I am, film lover, movie blogger, Academy Awards enthusiast. I can't wait to watch every film and then tune in every year to see the best of the best gather for their accolades. The Oscar winner, in some ways, is the very pinnacle for success in the industry. But when I tune in this year, it's going to look a little different to me. Instead of only seeing who IS in that room, I'm now also going to be seeing who is NOT in the room. I'm going to be raising a toast to all the people who were talented and fierce and visionary and motivated but who somewhere along the way had to face a difficult choice and liked themselves too much to accept the abuse.

Richard Jewel, To Watch or Not to Watch?

Movie: Richard Jewel
Nominated for: Actress in a Supporting Role
How I watched: Under Protest, at gunpoint, with an attitude
When I fell asleep: Early and often!
When it had me: For the brief moment I pictured Richard Jewel as a Chris Farley character
When it lost me: in development, in the writing, in pre-production and during the trailer
What I have to say: Ugh! I have this huge feud with Clint Eastwood and he doesn't even know about it. We've been fighting since Unforgiven, which I hated and everyone else loved. He made one amazing movie in Mystic River and then screwed it up with a weird tacked on scene at the end. He's cranky and old and should stop making movies about him having threesomes with younger women (see The Mule, or do what I'm doing and AVOID that one too!)
When I saw the trailer for Richard Jewel, I got a queasy feeling in my stomach. The line about how the FBI and the media are the two most powerful entities in America and they conspire to destroy people with fake news felt way too on the nose for me. I did not want to watch a Trump propaganda film. Then I read about how he made up the part about the female reporter sleeping with dudes in order to get a story and how she is dead now so she can't refute his unfounded plot point but every one of her former colleagues has said that it is patently untrue and I felt even less like I wanted to see it. I actually decided to boycott it and then accidentally found someone with a screener so I could watch it for free. In the end, my rampant completionism won out and I decided to watch it.
So we turned it on and I promptly fell asleep. My body kept my original agreement and set me free from an onerous task. 
Before and in between my napping, I got the feeling that it wasn't really shoving an agenda in my face as much as it felt like in the trailer. It wasn't awful, it also didn't look any better than average. Kathy Bates, who is nominated, is good because she is always good. I've also seen her in much better roles.
As always, I'd like to apologize to any Clint Eastwood fans who may read this. I'm glad there is someone making movies you like even though I don't personally find joy in them. Please, go in peace!

Miscellaneous Films

Movie: Maleficent 2
Nominated for: Make Up & Hairstyling
How I watched: At the second run theatre
When I fell asleep: Nope
When it had me: Did it?
When it lost me: Maleficent 1
What I have to say: While I'm all for telling the story from the villain's perspective, these movies just haven't worked for me. My kids love the character of the raven, Diaval, and I agree he is the best. For a movie that started as animated and then became live action, it fails to evolve as you might hope. The characters retain a cartoon-ish hold on stubbornness and naivete. The story introduces new characters and whole societies without much thought for logic or believability. I wish these movies were better.


Movie: The Lion King
Nominated for: Visual Effects
How I watched: Disney+
When I fell asleep: I drank two cups of tea! So, no.
When it had me: Donald Glover!
When it lost me:Re-animated rather than live action?
What I have to say: They are making all of these "Live Action" Disney remakes but this one is really just animated differently, which I never understood the need for. The Lion King, OG, was a fantastic film and we did not really need a new version where the characters show less expression. But, whateves. I still like this movie, because it's the same movie. Can You Feel the Love Tonight with Donald Glover and Beyonce was awesome, actually. In fact, I think I prefer the Donald Glover casting overall (Sorry, Matthew).  And the animation didn't annoy me which is a big deal, because "talking animals" is one of my least favorite genres. Anyway, have you seen the Mulan trailer? That one looks gooooood.




Movie: Breakthrough
Nominated for: Original Song, "I'm Standing With You"
How I watched: DVR
When I fell asleep: I wish!
When it had me: Dr. Kent!
When it lost me: In the development phase
What I have to say: This film is about a kid who fell through the ice and died but then came back and was fine because of prayers. Since I'm not Christian, there is really no way for me to connect to the story. My favorite part was when the doctor spoke to himself out loud in the ER, "Think, Kent, think!" He was trying to remember how to save a life, it was hilarious. I just couldn't find my way into this film. This is why I keep threatening to stop watching the category for Original Song.

Two Docs and A Foreign FIlm

Movie: The Edge of Democracy
Nominated for: Documentary Feature 
How I watched: Netflix 
When I fell asleep: Definitely dosing
When it had me: Never
When it lost me: Narrator's Voice
What I have to say: The narration was so difficult for me. It was a soft, female monotone. Her even, contemplative voice was meant to convey the solemn seriousness of the crumbling of democracy in Brazil. I just found it kind of hypnotic. Even as I tried to follow the story, I would just start zoning out. I had to stop and restart the movie three times, which didn't help me keep track of the large cast of characters and their political allegiances. I should have been fascinated and attentive as it seems the story of Brazil is very similar to the political wrestling happening here in America and in other parts of the world. Right wing resurgence, a return to a culture of exclusion rather inclusion, corruption of government financing, and power increasingly decided by oil companies. It was a timely piece and the film maker had extraordinary access but overall it could not hold my interest.





Movie: For Sama 
Nominated for: Documentary Feature
How I watched: Prime 
When I fell asleep: No, too traumatized
When it had me: Right away
When it lost me: It didn't 
What I have to say: This movie was essentially the same as The Cave. It also dealt with a hospital trying to stay open and help people during the siege on Aleppo. However, this one was a little more expansive and personal which helped me to understand the bigger picture even better. We follow a woman through her college days in Aleppo through the beginning of the revolution as she evolves into a wife and mother in the midst of brutal war. Following a family that just wants all the same things that my family wants made everything more relatable and more tragic at the same time. I have great respect for this film maker and the way they told their story.




Movie: Les Miserables 
Nominated for: International Feature
How I watched: Laemmle Theatre 
When I fell asleep: Nah
When it had me: Gypsy Circus Gang Fight
When it lost me: The ending 
What I have to say: Well, I totally thought this was a remake of the musical and it is not! I never read up on the films because I like to be surprised and that was a surprise! It's actually about police violence and how it's a very complicated issue that's not easy to solve. The film was thoughtful and attempted to cover all sides of the issue with roughly equal compassion and depth. Everyone is trying to do their best to survive in a system that isn't allowing for much human dignity or reflection. I could identify with the plight of the main character, a new addition to the police force who was trying to navigate these issues thoughtfully even as they exploded around him in violent fashion. Unfortunately, the film makers didn't figure out how to fix all of these problems (ha!) and so the end of the movie was very abrupt and unsatisfying.

Three Documentaries

Movie: Honeyland
Nominated for: Documentary Feature, International Feature
How I watched: Prime
When I fell asleep: No, I folded laundry
When it had me: Bee Stealing
When it lost me: I was in and out 
What I have to say: This movie is a perspective widener. Before it I did not know that people lived in Turkey in bombed out villages with no services whatsoever, surviving on the old ways, or living a nomadic existence just trying to survive off of a desert landscape. Early on in the film, I was worried that I would get bored just observing this lifestyle. However, conflicts arose that got me invested and anxious and the main characters won me over and got me really interested in where their lives would take them. It was interesting to see that the female beekeeper was all about sustainability, nurturing bees and generally believing that there would be enough for everyone. By contrast, the male bee keeper, urged on by the pressures to be a provider, prove his worth and meet unreasonable expectations, is focused only on a quick process leading to maximum profits. He ends up lying, stealing, over-harvesting and threatening the ability of anyone in the area to collect honey in the future. The film is shot beautifully and ultimately very engaging. This film got nominated both as a doc and as an International Feature. I haven't seen that before.






Movie: The Cave
Nominated for: Documentary Feature
How I watched: Laemmle Theatre
When I fell asleep: Not a bit
When it had me: Right from the start
When it lost me: Only for a tiny bit at the end
What I have to say: The most depressing film so far this year, The Cave follows an underground hospital trying to save lives in a neighborhood of Syria where the people are unable to get out and the Russians are bombing relentlessly. Should I feel hopeful that people are there exhibiting care and bravery? Should I feel desperate that in the face of war, so many lives are sacrificed, so many people tortured and lost? I felt both. I wept openly about three times during this movie and got really fidgety and uncomfortable for a while too. I mean, it's not fun to watch at all, but I think there is value in those of us who are living safe and privileged lives to open our eyes and see the painful truth of human existence.





Movie: American Factory
Nominated for: Documentary Feature
How I watched: Netflix
When I fell asleep: I didn't
When it had me: Chinese workers complaining about the Americans' fat fingers
When it lost me: A few times  
What I have to say: I thought this film raised interesting issues about the ever evolving nature of labor and jobs in America. Should we be doing things more like the Chinese? Would we ever want that? What happens when everything gets automated? It asks the hard questions and gets you thinking and of course, there are no easy answers. While I did appreciate how it makes you think, it didn't offer anything special in terms of film making choices.

More Great Performances!

Movie: Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Nominated for: Actor in a Supporting Role
How I watched: Caught it before it left the theatre, the whole family went
When I fell asleep: Not at all
When it had me: From the Mr. Rogers-style opening
When it lost me: It did not
What I have to say: I really loved the storytelling style in this film, framing the whole movie as an episode of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood was brilliant and fun. Early on I felt like Tom Hanks was really just Tom Hanks rather than disappearing into the role. As time went on he embodied the feeling of the character well enough that it did not bother me that he didn't actually look like or sound like the real person. I'm trying to process the fact that Mr. Rogers really makes me feel uncomfortable. It's so odd to see someone be so present and so vulnerable and so open to connection It feels too intense, too intimate, too intimidating. I really hope I can continue to evolve and gain a greater capacity for kindness and authenticity at a full Fred Rogers level. Matthew Rhys turned in a beautiful performance as the everyman character trying as hard as I would to avoid the Rogers' soul-stare. My whole family really liked this film!





Movie: Bombshell
Nominated for: Actress in a Leading Role, Actress in a Supporting Role, Make Up & Hairstyling
How I watched: In Theatres
When I fell asleep: I didn't
When it had me: The term "Anger Menstruating"
When it lost me: I don't think it did 
What I have to say: So this was fascinating and disgusting and overall a well told whistle blower story. I'm shocked every time I see a detailed account of how these predatory dirt bags work. I don't know why I'm still shocked but I am. It's not just shocking what they get away with, it's shocking how they create a culture around them where everyone assists, complies, coerces, protects and looks the other way in the face of behavior almost no one would condone out loud. It was so fascinating to watch these hyper conservative women struggle with the fact that they want to be treated with respect and a certain degree of equality in the work place and they want to (sometimes) be treated like humans instead of objects but they have to walk the line like expert gymnasts because they are terrified of being labeled feminists! Or terrified of finding out that when they really do have to fight for themselves, in their heart of hearts, they actually are feminists. Sometimes I felt sorry for them, and sometimes I felt like they deserved their inner squirming for not having thought through their own place in the world very carefully. At least this was a true story where the fat, white predator in charge of everything actually got fired! So that made for a happy ending.





Movie: Judy
Nominated for: Actress in a Leading Role
How I watched: Prime
When I fell asleep: I didn't but I did have to turn it off for a while and come back later because that's what happens when you watch at home
When it had me: The first song of Judy's London tour
When it lost me: I'm not sure
What I have to say: This movie starts with Judy taking the stage at some tiny show with her kids. I swear she says, "Hello, Altadena!" which I found so distracting because I live in Altadena and I could not imagine where there was a venue that Judy Garland might have performed and then I started googling whether there was a record of her ever playing here and couldn't find anything and then I thought maybe one of the Writers or Producers lives in Altadena so they put it in for them and then I realized I wasn't focused on the movie. But I got back in and remembered that everything about Judy's life was pretty heart breaking. Renee Zellweger pretty well disappears into this role. I saw everything I needed to in the scene of her first performance in London. She did so much with that song. She put pretty much everything she had into that performance; it was stunning. She plays Judy like a performance machine; she plays her vulnerable and raw, she plays her both present and far away, she plays her on the knife edge of unraveling, she plays her drugged out of her mind, she plays her innocent and hungry for love, she plays her desperate and in control of her instrument and out of control of her life. And she does it all in one song. I can't even judge if she actually looks like her or acts like her but she captured something very real and electric and layered and I was more impressed than I imagined I would be.

Animation, Part 2

Movie: How to Train Your Dragon, The Hidden World
Nominated for: Animated Feature
How I watched: In Theatres
When I fell asleep: No way!
When it had me: Ever since I learned Dragons were cats
When it lost me: I stayed in it
What I have to say: This was a well done, if heart breaking conclusion. I always feared they would go The Fox and the Hound route, which they essentially did. I hate a movie when best friends are super happy and then it gets revealed that they somehow don't belong together and must say their good byes. Like, forever good byes. It sucks. Angelina was devastated; this whole franchise has been her favorite world for a really long time. Also, we have a cat that look s exactly like Toothless. Sad though it was, we enjoyed it a bunch.





Movie: Toy Story 4
Nominated for: Animated Feature
How I watched: In Theatres
When I fell asleep: Nah
When it had me: Key and Peele's characters
When it lost me: I had trouble getting into this one
What I have to say: As much as I have loved the Toy Story movies, I just did not see the need for another one so I was reluctant going in. It was weird that they took Woody's steadfast loyalty and turned it into unhealthy codependency in this film. I might have preferred if they didn't cast that pall over all of the other films. It made me feel like all of our possessions are stuck in abusive relationships with us. Like my toaster maybe would really like to travel but it couldn't break its habit of people-pleasing me. Overall the movie was enjoyable but I'm still not sure they convinced me it was needed. I'm surprised that this one got a nod over Frozen 2, which I thought was a stronger overall installment.



Movie: Frozen II
Nominated for: Original Song
How I watched: Arclight
When I fell asleep: No way
When it had me: The characters
When it lost me: Nah
What I have to say: I wasn't sure about a second Frozen. The first one was a revelation as far as reframing the notion of true love. I was afraid another one would just fall short. However, this movie stayed sharp and refreshing! There is a 1980s Peter Cetera-style music video that made me howl with laughter. That gem was enough to justify the whole installment! 
****SPOILERS****
Kristoff and Anna are in love but there are some bumps in the road as she tries to juggle her desire to take care of her sister and him and Olaf and herself. There is a point when Kristoff says, "My love is not fragile." I gasped out loud in the theatre and felt a deep burning in my stomach or my soul. I mean either the popcorn was giving me indigestion or I just realized that Kristoff had expressed something that my heart has always desperately longed to believe. The notion that you can be in love and still have your own life and follow your heart and sometimes not make your love your first priority and that will be ok and he won't just get pissed and leave? Well, it's another revelation for people pleasing Autumn and certainly not the way "successful love" is most often portrayed on screen. Later he swoops in almost as if he is there to save her but all he says is "What do you need?" And then proceeds to help her. Why am I now in love with an animated character??? I'm still utterly shocked that a sequal can make me feel these deep feels.

Animation, Part 1

Movie: Missing Link
Nominated for: Animated Feature
How I watched: Prime
When I fell asleep: Didn't
When it had me:  Beautiful shots of vistas
When it lost me: My attention strayed to my phone a couple times
What I have to say: Zack Galifianakis was very enjoyable as Mr. Link. The style of animation was cool and impressive but some of the facial features of the main characters were unnervingly pointy. There wasn't anything too surprising about it but it was a satisfying watch.




Movie: Klaus
Nominated for: Animated Feature
How I watched: Netflix
When I fell asleep: Nope
When it had me: When we met Klaus
When it lost me: A few times along the way, including one rather disturbing revelation at the end
What I have to say: Angelina and I did not care for the main character very much. I'm not sure why we needed another alternate origin story for Santa Claus, especially not after watching this one. I had never heard of this movie before it was nominated; I guess it had one of those minimal theatrical releases. The second act of the film was pretty enjoyable with a few surprising twists to the traditional telling of Christmas lore. Overall it was fine but I didn't see why it needed a nomination.





Movie: I Lost My Body
Nominated for: Best Animated Feature
How I watched: Netflix
When I fell asleep: No, I was warned to watch it early! (Thanks, Jason)
When it had me: I was curious. Is that enough?
When it lost me: I was lost a lot
What I have to say: This one was rated mature, so I had to watch alone. This movie deals with the issue of injury and trying to find your way through the world when you are lacking wholeness. It's about trying to find connection, after becoming severely disconnected. It had some suspenseful sequences. Two story lines slowly work their way toward each other in an interesting way. It mostly kept my interest but at the end there were still pieces that felt unresolved and questions still remained for me. It was fine.

Rocketman, Ad Astra and The Lighthouse

Movie: Rocketman
Nominated for: Best Original Song
How I watched: On Demand
When I fell asleep: I didn't
When it had me: First jump into the past
When it lost me: I'm Still Standing
What I have to say: This was one of my favorite biopics! I usually find them quite clunky and unsatisfying, but this one worked for me. I loved the way in which they integrated Elton John's music into this film. They picked songs that fit the moment in his life rather than playing them strictly in chronological order. I also appreciated that other characters in his life are sometimes the one who voice the songs. Using rehab as a device to jump forward and back in time was really smart and the first time we jump back in time for a big song number was really enchanting! I had thought the Academy might acknowledge this one more, but I guess their plate was full.





Movie: Ad Astra
Nominated for: Sound Mixing
How I watched: In theatres, ages ago
When I fell asleep: Nope
When it had me: The Pysch evals
When it lost me: I'm not sure 
What I have to say: It's been a long time since I saw it but I remember feeling like this brought up a lot of feelings about masculinity and the need to have absolute control of your emotions. The older generation (repped by Tommy Lee Jones) became fanatical about that need for control over all their feelings and suffered by becoming detached from life and from their purpose in many ways. Through the film we watch, Brad Pitt, the next generation trying to navigate the problems caused by that detachment and trying to find another way to approach life, in spite of everything he had been taught. It was a quiet and really thoughtful film with left me a lot to mull over. I appreciated that.





Movie: The Lighthouse
Nominated for: Cinematography
How I watched: Prime
When I fell asleep: Nope, it was an early screening. I had to fit it in before the day's Senate proceedings began!
When it had me: From the trailer
When it lost me: Somewhere in the 3rd act
What I have to say: I was so excited to see this movie! Two "Light Keepers" tend a remote island light house in the 1800s. The movie almost looks like it was shot in the 1800s. It is black and white, faded and blurry. It is shot in a square frame, creating even more tension and exacerbating the feelings of being trapped; by an island, by small living quarters, by a tiny circle of light created by an oil lamp every time the sun goes down. Everything in this movie was confining. Early on I thought, "Man! Not an iPhone in sight! How will they survive?" Then the two men face bad weather and start to go mad. There's such a great sense of dread and doom. My favorite scene is the best argument about cooking ever. Unfortunately right after that the movie gets a bit repetitive. It stays weird, it stays doomed and like the men on the island, the story has nowhere to go. With the exception of some questions about what is real or not, there is no real mystery unfolding, or any particular outcome to root for or against. It's just weird until it ends with no significant sense of resolution.

Stuff My Kids Like, Too! (It's so great when they get old enough to really see movies with you!)

Movie: Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker
Nominated for: Original Score, Sound Editing, Visual Effects
How I watched: Opening Night Fan Event, Arclight
When I fell asleep: Hahaha!
When it had me: Since I was 7
When it lost me: I feel like it did briefly, but I'll have to see it again
What I have to say: First of all, what this movie had to do was completely impossible. It had to wrap up a nine film franchise that began in the 70s and has been a roller coaster ride of mixed methods, visions, techniques and philosophies that has alternately had books, comics, cartoons and the like that have over the course of time been varying degrees of "canon" or not. It had to satisfy nerds and geeks like me who have been loving this world way too hard for way too long while also trying to capture and inspire new audiences along the way. And it had to do this all without our beloved Carrie Fisher to bring us all home as the greatest tough, wise-cracking Princess turned General to ever grace the screen. That meant scrapping large parts of the script that had already been envisioned. It's a completely impossible task, so I wish everyone would just calm down about this movie.
***(There are spoilers, but we've all seen this by now, right?)***
For me, I was engaged the whole time. I appreciated the return to Palpatine because creating a brand new Sith in movie 9 would just feel like bad film making. I appreciated that we saw that the Force exists in kids with brooms in the last movie, but also THIS movie was about Skywalkers because ALL of the damn movies have been about Skywalkers so why change it in the final installment? Disney owns this and you can bet that going forward we will see more characters on other planets who can wield the force.
I loved that this movie started to deal with the question of WHY people end up on the dark side. Rei can see that people (and snake monsters) who have wounds that never heal turn away from the hope and beauty in themselves and become engulfed by darkness. That's some big and lovely crap right there! And finally we begin to see the Force used for healing. Do I wish that had been introduced somewhere else along the way? Sure. But I'm glad it's finally here now because it's a better actual balance to fighting than we have ever seen before. 
The BEST thing about the film was watching Adam Driver's transition from Kylo back to Ben. First, it comes from Rei healing Kylo, and those two have been the most electric thing about this whole trilogy by far! But in the sequence where Ben goes to help Rei, Adam Driver and JJ Abrams do the most wonderful thing. They show us that Ben is Han Solo's son. He becomes a Harrison Ford style hero by following a heroic looking jump with a very human reaction, "Ow." He does the Han Solo shoot-accurately-without-looking trick. And then he rushes in without a plan and gets the crap beat out of him! When Rei Force-passes him a light saber, his shrug is so Han Solo I could barely contain myself. In three short moves he does what Alden Ehrenreich could not muster once in an entire movie, he convinces me I'm watching a Solo. That's just good film making.
There was confusing stuff. Finn now is force-sensitive, which for some reason I feel like I have always known. It didn't surprise me a bit but literally no one else felt that way so that was apparently me just misinterpreting something in the past. Rose was under-used, as was the new Kerri Russell character. And Rei's stand off with Palpatine felt like it just kept moving the goal posts on her. It wasn't perfect, but none of it was as bad as Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen trying to have a human conversation. Not even close! I feel like everyone forgot how low the bar had already been set. 
For my money, and I have invested a LOT of it over the years, Abrams brought us home. We were limping and a bit bedraggled at times, but we made it. If you felt like you didn't make it home at the end, I'm sorry. That's a tough journey to go on and feel like you were let down. Please take care of yourself and heal; don't let it fester. May I suggest The Mandolorian?

And My Kids: My kids were thrilled to watch an LGTBQ moment of celebration at the end! (Representation Matters.) They had a good time and felt like it wrapped up a lot of things well.






Movie: Knives Out
Nominated for: Original Story
How I watched: In the theatre, with the whole family
When I fell asleep: Never
When it had me: From the start
When it lost me: It didn't
What I have to say: This was the epitome of a fun film! A great ensemble cast playing wild characters, a smart script, editing that deftly moves us along through zigs and zags, past and present and even alternating theories, and a whodunit that pulls off its surprise ending. We all enjoyed this very much.


And My Kids: My kids have an annoying habit of watching about 15 minutes of a movie and then predicting everything that will happen. Accurately. When this movie presented a full telling of the event in question early on, I swear they looked like they wanted to walk out. They were literally whispering to me about it and I was like, "Let the film maker tell you the story for once!" So they enjoyed the fact that there were twists and surprises to discover.  They also had great appreciation for the planting and pay off involving the similarity between a real knife and a prop knife.



Movie: Avengers: Endgame
Nominated for: Visual Effects
How I watched: Opening Night Fan Event, Arclight
When I fell asleep: Early on. Just Kidding! No!
When it had me:  Watching my kids watch all of those female superheroes fighting side by side was incredibly moving
When it lost me: Confused multiple endings
What I have to say: Oh, man! This was SO LONG ago. I hate writing these reviews. I mean, I could re-watch it but there are other things I need to get around to, and...
Anyway, I remember that when it ended I was awestruck that in something like 22 films, I had basically always been watching one long story. And it worked! On so many levels this was successful. Along the way, I have complained about the fact that everyone in the MCU is a smartass, and sometimes that really undercuts the drama and importance that might come into play in a hero movie genre. I felt like just because we all liked RDJ's witty Ironman, everything molded itself into this one kind of persona. But once I viewed this as one mega-film, it makes more sense. They all had to live in roughly the same world for Avengers: Endgame to ever be a thing that makes sense. 
The movie felt like it had a couple of Cap endings and I wish they would have streamlined that story-telling a bit. But overall, I'm impressed by the monster that Disney has created and how well this thing held together. It feels like whatever comes next is going to either over reach, or try to be too similar and suck by comparison! Good luck, MCU!

And My Kids: My kids love the fact that these movies combine drama and humor so well, especially in this installment which they feared would be a real bummer. They were thrilled that the multiple timelines give Loki a chance to live on! And saddened by the fact that Black Widow only gets one more film. Also, they were sad to see Ironman go (especially if you're going to let that super cute Spiderman get all emotional about it! Stop it, Tom Holland!)

Acting! Brilliant! Thank you!

Movie: Pain and Glory
Nominated for: Actor in a Leading Role, International Feature Film
How I watched: The Laemmle
When I fell asleep: Did not
When it had me: Casually trying heroin?
When it lost me: I struggled a bit
What I have to say: This film had a feeling that stood out from most of what I have seen this year. Visually, it was stunning and bright; the whole thing felt warm and inviting and perfectly designed. However, the story felt very thin and stretched at times, meandering around the edges of an aging film maker's world. I appreciated the aesthetic but found myself sometimes bored, struggling to connect with the film. I do think Antonio Banderas was very good but I don't know if his performance would have stood out for me if everyone wasn't already talking about him.





Movie: The Two Popes
Nominated for: Actor in a Leading Role, Actor in a Supporting Role, Adapted Screenplay
How I watched: Netflix
When I fell asleep: I might have, but I was folding laundry
When it had me: It took a while but it got there
When it lost me: The first act was rough
What I have to say: I did NOT want to watch this movie, not one bit. I sighed and rolled my eyes a lot during the first act, as it slowly wound it's way through the life of the current Pope. I did not care as the Cardinals convened to navigate the tricky process of naming a new Pope. But slowly, as the plot honed itself in to two guys talking through their visions of the world and their differences, it actually built some interest for me. I found myself wanting to see what understanding they could reach and how they would resolve their Papal stalemate. I consider that a big win for this movie.





Movie: Harriet
Nominated for: Actress in Leading Role, Original Song
How I watched: We caught it at the cheap theatre! Phew!
When I fell asleep: Not a bit
When it had me: Right from the start
When it lost me: Never
What I have to say: I knew just the broad strokes about Harriet Tubman going into this film and I was fully transfixed by every second of her story. The acting was wonderful, the story gripping and the costumes were so very cool. Angelina and I both adored this movie. It's too bad it didn't garner a few more nominations. I've been wondering why it didn't. I found this movie just as emotionally affecting as 1917; Harriet only lacked the exhilaration of the film making trickery at work in that film. Is the problem that history films are a difficult sell? Because I was NOT excited to see 1917 until I knew about the trick, so that makes sense. Or is the problem that Kasi Lemmons had a $17 million budget instead of a $100 million budget? If so, Hollywood, please give her more money. Thank you.

Polk Salad Annie: The Movie (Ford V. Ferrari)

It gives me great pleasure to present you with this film review for Ford V. Ferrari. I would like to start by awarding the Music Supervisor of this film with a special make believe Oscar (the Autumnal Award) for being so awesome and including one of my favorite songs in two scenes of the film.

In the film, an instrumental version is used for a couple of racing montages. If you saw the movie, you heard the song's funky flavor but were robbed of the beauty of its lyrics.

The song is Polk Salad Annie. My mom played it for me when I was little and I loved it! I will treat you now to the lyrics of this amazing song, interspersed artfully with my thoughts on the film.

The opening of the song starts with a gravelly, soulful southern accent just talking to you over music. Real dramatic like.:

If some of y'all never been down south too much

I'm gonna tell you a little bit about this 

so that you'll understand what I'm talkin' about.

It gets very informational:

Down there we have a plant that grows out in the woods

And in the fields looks something like a turnip green

And everybody calls it polk salad.

Polk. (blues guitar) Salad. (trumpets!)

This seems like a slow start to the song. Ain't no real singin' goin' on yet. But they are just getting you up to speed. Much like Ford V. Ferrari. It started a little slow for me while they got me up to speed on the Ford Corporation and all the huge white male egos that all want to destroy one another for various reasons. Cool, cool. I thought the story telling was a little rote and dry in this early part of the film.

Down in Louisiana where the alligators grow so mean, 

There lived a girl that I swear to the world 

Made the alligators look tame.

Polk Salad Annie, Polk Salad Annie

Everybody said it was a shame

Cuz her momma was working on a chain gang.
(A mean, vicious woman.)

I mean what's not to love about this song??? And I warmed up to the movie via good to great acting, great editing and sound. I found myself routing for the rule-breaking, quintessentially American scoundrels as they tried to stick it to the fatter, less macho rule-breaking, quintessentially American scoundrels.

Everyday for supper time, she'd go down by the truck patch

And pick her a mess of polk salad

And carry it home in a tow sack.

Polk Salad Annie, the gators got your granny (chomp, chomp chomp)

Everybody says it was a shame

Cuz her momma was working on a chain gang.
(A wretched, spiteful, striaght-razor totin' woman)

Oh, no! Granny! I mean, what????? Chomp, chomp????????? It's the best song ever. Seriously. And they use this masterful song to move us through some very exciting racing scenes! Quick cuts, sound, pacing, all bringing you along for the ride. The editor of The Two Popes tried a similar style to depict the Papal voting process, but to lesser affect. The movie manages that thing where you know what is going to happen and you get wrapped up and tense about it anyway. That's a win for the editor, for sure. And the movie as a whole is solid if not monumental film making.

Her daddy was lazy and no count, claims he had a bad back,

All her brothers was fit for, was stealing watermelons 

out of my truck patch.

Polk Salad Annie, Gator got your Granny

Everybody said it was a shame

Cuz her momma was workin' on a chain gang.

(Sock a little polk salad to me. You know I need a real mess of it!)

Now please go check out the song because you'd never fully believe it otherwise. Polk Salad Annie by Tony Joe White

The Least of the Best? Best Picture Nominees I liked a little less

Movie: Joker
Nominated for: Best Picture, Directing, Actor in a Leading Role, Cinematography, Costume Design, Film Editing, Original Score, Make Up & Hairstyling, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Adapted Screenplay
How I watched: In Theatres
When I fell asleep: I nodded off briefly
When it had me: Off and on
When it lost me: The Joker appearing on the TV talk show
What I have to say: If you remember from my first set of reviews, I really like movies that can change tones deftly. This movie was not able to do that for me. I felt confused by these tone shifts and jarred right out of the movie.
First off, let's talk about Joaquin Phoenix who is amazing and probably a lock for the Oscar. His performance was mesmerizing and heart breaking. The portion of the film that dealt with him trying to express the disconnect between who he believed he was and who the world saw was amazing. As a study of a deeply damaged person who cannot overcome the pain and humiliation of being invisible it is top notch. But then there were scenes that played for me like over the top comedy. (A hospital clown dropping a gun in the children's wing and making an exaggerated shushing gesture, among others.) I can't figure out why, but for me these played as all out comedy more often than dread inducing discomfort laughs. Between the slapstick and the incredibly realistic and disturbing performance, I started getting whiplash. 
Once we get to the moment where the evolution to "The Joker" has come full circle, I was disappointed that this was the very least interesting material from Phoenix. He had built such a deep character, I guess I hoped that once we crossed over to villain it would stay super interesting. Instead, I thought that was the weakest bit in the film.
I think this film would have been better if it were not a part of the DC franchise. Just tell the story of an Arthur Fleck and see where it goes. The need for him to become the flamboyant showman at the end who might someday fight Batman, undercut the really good character study that they started off by telling.
But then again, I am the only one who thought any of that. Everyone else just thinks it is genius.






Movie: Ford V. Ferrari
Nominated for: Best Picture, Film Editing, Sound Editing
How I watched: In Theatres
When I fell asleep: Not this time
When it had me: When they made Henry Ford Jr. cry
When it lost me: It held a very light hold on me throughout
What I have to say: see my special edition review post tomorrow: Polk Salad Annie: The Movie






Movie: Once Upon A Time in Hollywood
Nominated for: Best Picture, Directing, Actor in a Leading Role, Actor in a Supporting Role, Cinematography, Costume Design, Production Design, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Original Screenplay
How I watched: With my mom and husband, in theatres
When I fell asleep: No, we went early
When it had me: Leo DiCaprio's hilarious ravings
When it lost me: The last half hour of the film 
What I have to say: This movie was too long. Let's just get that out of the way. 
Leonardo DiCaprio as an aging narcissistic Hollywood star offered us scene after scene of cutting humor, hilarious bits, and detailed and accurate remembrances of a time gone by in our entertainment history. This was truly enjoyable! 
Brad Pitt was also great and his brush with the Manson Family at the Spahn Ranch was taught, inspired film making. My skin was crawling for so long and I just didn't know when violence might break out. That sequence is among my favorite all year.
Where this all falls apart for me is when I ask the question, what is this movie about? 
SPOILER ALERT
And I had a lot of time to reflect on that question during the long drawn out incredibly brutal murder-fest that went on for at least thirty minutes at the end of the film.
When I go to movies, I kind of like the moment where the message of a film hits home for me. When I realize Parasite has made me think about class and status in new ways, or when Jojo Rabbit makes me see that some Nazis were more misguided than evil and that raising a kid in that environment would be impossible. While I watched all of the brutal beatings that Brad Pitt was dealing out, I kept trying to wrap my head around what the message of this film was and I couldn't do it. "Quentin Tarantino has a cool imagination" was the best I could muster. So even though I had just watched so many scenes and sequences that I thought were well made and effective and entertaining, I still ended up leaving the film feeling a bit disgruntled. We'll see what Hollywood thinks.

Three More Great Best Picture Nominees

Movie: 1917
Nominated for: Best Picture, Directing, Cinematography, Make Up and Hairstyling, Original Score, Production Design, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Visual Effects, Original Screenplay
How I watched: IMAX
When I fell asleep: Not possible
When it had me: From the "One Shot" Trick
When it lost me: It didn't
What I have to say: I think this one is the winner. It has "a thing", appearing to be all captured in one long shot, and we all know Oscar loves a gimmick. This "gimmick" serves an undeniable purpose of letting you live an uninterrupted and immersive experience alongside two young soldiers in WWI. But this movie is also much, much more than its gimmick. It's a personal story, in the midst of a war setting. It's alternately beautiful and sweeping or unbelievably disgusting or terribly heart breaking. It's well-acted and it really makes you feel something, emotionally and viscerally. It's also happens to be a cinematic achievement! Roger Deakins has to be a lock for Cinematography given the crazy task he had in order to shoot this beautiful journey. It's hard to argue against this film. Seeing it on IMAX was the right choice for me to really be able to feel what this film is all about.








Movie: Little Women
Nominated for: Best Picture, Actress in A Leading Role, Actress in a Supporting Role, Costume Design, Original Score, Adapted Screenplay
How I watched: With my mom and my kids! How nice!
When I fell asleep: No
When it had me: Immediately
When it lost me: After the movie
What I have to say: What a cast! The ensemble strength of this piece just made you love the family and feel so invested. What I think Greta Gerwig did so well was to show us a period drama where the characters were so fully accessible to now. (Angelina liked, in particular, when Jo and Laurie are dancing crazily outside the stuffy ball. It looked like how we would behave today.) Their struggles did not feel that remote from mine. We really enjoyed this!
(SPOILER ALERT) Interestingly, my mother caught the fact that Jo writes a "marriage" ending in order to sell her book and guessed correctly that Louisa May Alcott's own life probably went differently. We looked it up and found that, sure enough Louisa, the writer, never gave up on her hard earned independence and lived the spinster life to which Jo so fervently aspired. Only then did I feel cheated. I wish we weren't still being fed the white male publisher's version of an acceptable ending.








Movie: The Irishman
Nominated for: Best Picture, Directing, Two Actors in Supporting Roles, Cinematography, Costume Design, Film Editing, Production Design, Visual Effects, Adapted Screenplay
How I watched: In the theatre
When I fell asleep: I believe I became very drowsy, but never drifted off
When it had me: When the Irishman claims not to know why his truck is empty
When it lost me: De Niro's CGI face was really off putting, the end lingered through about three or four false endings 
What I have to say: Firstly, this was such a different look at the mafia from Scorcese. We've seen the mob as frenetic, charming, brutal, glamorous, thrilling and frightening. This one felt like more of a study in loyalty, for better or worse. The Irishman took an honest, measured and contemplative approach. I was alternately moved and terrified by the depths of unquestioning, sociopathic, loyalty demonstrated by Frank Sheeran.
Secondly, who doesn't have a soft spot for these actors doing this work with this director? Set aside the fact that it was very hard to look at De Niro's face for large parts of the movie, or that Pacino seemed like really weird casting for a German-Irish, Italian-hating Hoffa. You cannot deny the amazing talent and performances gathered in these three hours.
Thirdly, three hours? I hate that when these directors get to a certain place in their careers, no one is powerful enough to tell them to CUT DOWN the running time.
Fourthly, my (far-removed) cousin's famous murder in front of Umberto's was included. That's always fun for me!

Movies that can tone shift: Three of my favorites

These are some of my favorites from the year and they all have the ability to shift tones, pretty drastically at times.


Movie: Marriage Story
Nominated for: Best Picture, Actor in a Leading Role, Actress in a Leading Role, Actress in a Supporting Role, Original Score, Original Screenplay
How I watched: Netflix
When I fell asleep: I did not
When it had me: Right from the start
When it lost me:  It didn't 
What I have to say: This movie was filled with such honesty and care, both for the story and for the characters. The depiction of this slowly unraveling marriage is so real and relatable. It's not filled with bad guys and injustice; it's filled with miscommunication and long held pain. Your allegiance might shift from one character to another or you might feel like you are sitting outside of it, watching both of them with equal empathy. But no one is painted a villain, and I love that. The plot is fairly mundane, filled with everyday life struggles and small moments. But between the writing and the incredible acting, I did not get bored living through this with them.
Tone Shifting: Look for the scene starring Martha Kelly. Pure comedy in the midst of so much painful drama!



Movie: Parasite
Nominated for: Best Picture, Directing, Film Editing International Feature Film, Production Design, Original Screenplay
How I watched: Arclight Theatre
When I fell asleep: Didn't
When it had me: As soon as the grifting started
When it lost me: Never
What I have to say: How I love a movie that takes hard right turns and totally mystifies you! In general, American film making is far more likely to follow predictable story lines and structures. It's with the Foreign Film (or newly named International Feature) category that you really get to check your expectations at the door. This reminded me of Shoplifters, one of the nominees from last year. I am struck by these Korean films that paint a picture of life that I have not truly delved into before and that makes me align myself squarely with some really dubious characters. This film had me captivated, shocked, second-guessing and thinking deeply all in the same two hours. That's a good time!
Tone Shifting: Someone called this a comedy-drama-horror mash up and that's so accurate! The social commentary is biting and hilarious, the struggles of the characters are real and relatable, and the building tension between groups rises to horrific proportions. Bong Joon Ho has the ability to morph his movie from genre to genre as he goes without leaving you feeling confused, distracted or just fed up.



Movie: Jojo Rabbit
Nominated for: Best Picture, Actress in a Supporting Role, Costume Design, Production Design, Adapted Screenplay
How I watched: In theatres, with my husband and kids
When I fell asleep: not once
When it had me: goofy Hitler
When it lost me: It didn't, really
What I have to say: One of my favorite things is to imagine the conversations that led to certain events occurring, like the conception of Jojo Rabbit. Taika Waititi telling his friends he wants to play Hitler one day. His friends protesting that would be a very bad idea, Taika explaining HIS version of Hitler would be more fun and playful. Everyone taking a nervous step away from him. Ah, what fun!
So anyway, how DO you teach a child not to be a Nazi when not being a Nazi means certain death? Not an easy task, and it creates the right amount of tension in this film. As does the interplay between very serious themes, high stakes and a whimsical comedy overtone. The choice to take a comic look at Nazis actually gets you to look at everyone involved in the film with fresh eyes. My kids thought their heads would explode from feeling resonance and sympathy with Nazi characters! I think it is worth being reminded that most Germans and Nazi party members were not monsters, just humans trying their best in a messed up situation. Just like us.
Tone Shifting:  Waititi takes us from moments of absurdity to gut wrenching sadness. This kind of dance between humor and tragedy is not often done well but I found the balance utterly delightful, and at times heart-breaking in this film.

THE DAY OF THE NOMINATIONS!

I woke up without my alarm this morning at the precise moment that the nominations were set to be announced! THAT'S how in tune I have become with all that is Oscar. So I jumped out of bed and ran to my TV...

Just kidding. I went back to sleep. You can check the list whenever you wake up, after all, and it was still dark out for Oscar's sake! (The complete list is here.)

If anybody is new here, this is the time of year when I challenge myself to see every nominee in every category before the Awards air on February 9th. I do this, not because the Academy is always right and they will correctly define what is the best, but because I love films, I love a challenge and this gives me a place to start so I can catch the films each year that get people talking, thinking or feeling.

My plan for Oscar-nominated-movie-viewing domination is well under way. I have used my pre-nomination time wisely and guessed well. I have already seen all of the nominees in the following categories:

Best Picture
Directing
Actor in a Leading Role
Adapted Screenplay
Original Screenplay 
Costume Design
Film Editing 
Original Score 
Production Design
Sound Editing
Sound Mixing

I think there's some things to celebrate, apart from my viewing list being so manageable. Parasite is being celebrated with six nominations, including a Directing nod for the South Korean film maker, Bong Joon Ho. That's impressive, and it's so great to see a very different type of film in the mix this year.

Many are claiming that women got snubbed this year, with Greta Gerwig (Little Women), Kasi Lemmons (Harriet), Lulu Wang (The Farewell), Melina Matsoukas (Queen & Slim), Marielle Heller (Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood) and Lorene Scafaria (Hustlers), to name a few, not acknowledged for their directorial work. But I look at this as a positive! When has Oscar ever had so many amazing women to snub all at once? That's real progress!

I do feel sad for the poor Mexican director triumverate. Cuaron, Innaritu and Del Toro have won five of the last six Directing Awards. And not even one nomination for them this year. I'd like to think it's because they have been vacationing together someplace really interesting, like Muncie, or Nova Scotia.

The real mess that I'd like the Academy to clean up is the "International Film Award", formerly called the Foreign Language Film category. A couple of films from Nigeria and Austria were notably disqualified this year because of the rule stating that a Foreign Language film must be at least 50% in a language other than English. The problem with that is that the official language of Nigeria is English. So is the Academy really willing to disqualify that country from ever competing (along with many others)? Perhaps in response to this problem, perhaps not, this year the award name was changed to the International Film Award. The rules, however, were not changed a bit. That makes complete sense, Academy! This is so dumb to me. Fix the language rules so that any country can submit their films for consideration. The more, the better.

So we are off to the races! It's time to overindulge on movies! It's time for me to review so many movies that I start to get really weird about it. It's time to inundate your FB feed with Oscar posts until you want to unfollow me. It's Oscar Glutton time!!!!!!




 

Oscars 2020: The Game Has Changed!

The Academy has decided to hold their Oscar Awards ceremony a full month earlier this year, on February 9th. Let's set aside for a moment that putting "The Big Movie Event" one week after "The Big Sporting Event" is messy and inconvenient for me personally. What this means for all of us here at the Oscar Glutton Blog (just me) is that we (again, just me) have a much shorter span of time in which to achieve total Oscar-nominated-movie-viewing domination. 

This makes the game a bit different, if just as deliciously challenging. My focus this year is to GUESS as many of the nominations before hand so I can frontload my viewings before the actual nominations are announced on January 13th.

Movies I have gorged myself on over the past couple of months are as follows:

Parasite 
Jojo Rabbit
The Irishman
Dark Waters
Queen & Slim
Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker
Uncut Gems
Bombshell
Marriage Story
Little Women
Rocketman 

I will leave the nominees for Original Song to be my last viewed films, as I have been considering eliminating them from the game for a few years now. I often watch a whole film just to hear the nominated song play over the closing credits. If the song is not even part of the story telling, then I'm not really sure why it should matter to me. So I'm prepared to deprioritize those as needed.

Five days left until nominations! What do you think will be nominated? Give me your best guesses as I try to get ahead. Your help would be greatly appreciated by all of us (me)!