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.
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