Sharing my love of all things Oscar. I see all the movies with nominations so you don't have to - and I do my best to research and help pick the winners. Subscribe, share your comments, and feel free to share with others. Follow me on Twitter @JodiBee.
Sunday, April 25, 2021
Who Should Win? Who Will Win?
Saturday, April 24, 2021
The Midnight Sky - 1 nomination
Matt Kasmir (as Matthew Kasmir)
Chris Lawrence (as Christopher Lawrence)
Max Solomon
David Watkins
The Midnight Sky follows Augustine, one of the few survivors of a global apocalypse and a scientist who has devoted his career to finding other inhabitable planets. He refuses to evacuate his station with the rest of the population, and in so doing, he discovers a young girl who was inadvertently left behind. He realizes that there is an astronaut crew in space (also looking for inhabitable planets) and that they are in the process of heading home. His signal is too weak to reach them so he and the girl must set out to another station to desperately warn the astronauts of the futility of coming home.
And, there is plenty of drama in space. Both technically (having to venture out of the ship to do some critical but dangerous repairs), and interpersonally once they realize that their loved ones are likely not alive back home and they are humanity's last chance for survival. Plus, spoiler alert, mission specialist Sully turns out to have a much closer relationship with Augustine than he first suspected.
While I like the film well enough, it is a pretty slow story and definitely not what I would call an action packed sci fi film. In fact, the science fiction is much more backdrop than genre. It is, to borrow a phrase, set decoration but hardly the crux of the film. While it probably should be viewed on a big screen because of the visual effects, it's good enough for a streaming service and maybe not good enough for the price of a ticket.
Watch the trailer here.
Friday, April 23, 2021
Greyhound - 1 nomination
Tom Hanks plays Captain Krause, a new US Navy commander in World War 2 attempting to cross an unprotected piece of the ocean, the "Black Pit," bringing much-needed supplies to allied troops in Europe. The ship is part of a caravan of allied ships and they are of course attacked by German submarines. Captain Krause has incredible instincts for battle and is the perfect commander - tough, kind, appreciative, knows the names of his crew, and maybe a little too perfect for a character. (When the crew successfully defends the ship and blows up a German submarine, Captain Krause refuses to celebrate because the Germans who died were also souls in the world... what a beautiful and probably unrealistic portrayal - a little too goody goody for my taste.). The film has the requisite super kind kitchen crewman with the super special relationship with the Captain killed in battle, and with some exceptions, is basically a series of naval battles with submarines. I mean A. LOT. OF. BATTLES. which are no doubt based on the true story but making the film less than engaging.
On the other hand, the sound is noticeably magnificent, even for an amateur like me who probably normally couldn't tell the difference. As I have noted in prior years, war films do very well in the sound category because of the many layers of sound required in every scene. Now that Sound Mixing and Sound Editing have merged into one category, you can easily imagine the layers of dialogue, booming sound effects, music, and ambient sound all layered into the major moments of the film. But, the movie isn't good enough to be labeled "Academy Award nominee," and I don't really recommend it.
Watch the trailer here.
We're just two days away from the Oscars, so you still have time to download and listed to our 2 Movie Jews bonus episode on the nominees! Here's the link or you can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and more.
Thursday, April 22, 2021
Tenet - 2 nominations
Best Achievement in Visual Effects Andrew Jackson David Lee Andrew Lockley Scott R. Fisher |
Best Achievement in Production Design Nathan Crowley (production design) Kathy Lucas (set decoration) |
How I would love to be able to summarize this movie for you. There's something with international espionage and trying to save the world. Tenet is the organization trying to save the world, and the recruited agent literally named, "The Protagonist" learns about time manipulation and needs to identify who is trying to destroy the world and how... I think. Frankly, I watched the whole film intently and I still don't really know what to say about it. It's not that the film is unfollowable, but being able to describe it in the aftermath is almost impossible without some sort of degree in some advanced science subject. The film is a journey and while you watch it, there are many moments that you feel like you missed a leg of the trip.
If you're a big fans of big visual effects films, I think you'll like this one. It's exciting and action packed, but good luck explaining the film to others after you see it. I think this is the first time in the history of the blog that I literally have no idea how to describe a film to you. Will you be able to follow it while watching? Maybe. My favorite thing is to talk about movies with other people, and I just couldn't even start with this one. Best of luck.
Watch the trailer here.
Wednesday, April 21, 2021
The Life Ahead - 1 nomination
Diane Warren (music by/lyric by)
Laura Pausini (lyric by)
Mama Rosa is a Holocaust survivor running a sort of day care for local children of working women (generally, prostitutes). She meets Momo, a Senegalese 12 old boy who is living with Rosa's doctor as a foster child when Momo robs her. The doctor implores her to take in Momo and he pays her to do it. Momo has a tough life working for drug dealers, with the wrong kind of influence in his world. Over time, Rosa and Momo develop a strong bond and they both become better people thanks to this important relationship. Rosa makes Momo promise that she will not die in a hospital, and when she is taken there for a health incident, he sneaks her out and hides her in the basement, where he dotes on her and cares for her as though she was a member of his own family.
The Life Ahead is a very sweet film and Sophia Loren still has her chops. The song, which you can hear here, is beautiful and represents Diane Warren's 12th Oscars nomination with no wins. I don't think this year will break her losing streak (and frankly, she should have won for Til It Happens to You, which she wrote for a documentary called The Hunting Ground), but you can see why Warren continues to earn accolades for her compositions.
Watch the trailer here.
Tuesday, April 20, 2021
Quo Vadis, Aida? - 1 nomination
Aida is an English translator working for the UN when the Serbian army invades her small town. All of the Bosnians in town flee to the UN camp, which has very limited capacity to protect people from those who are attempting genocide. Aida manages to get her husband and sons inside the camp, and then the rest of the movie is a very tense standoff with the Serbians. The Serbians agree to evacuate some of the people (though it's unclear that those people on the buses are actually going to be safe and survive), and meanwhile they separate the men from their families. Aida tries desperately to get her family to safety with the UN employees, none of whom are willing to take the risk of sneaking out men who are not actual employees of the organization.
The desperation of this film is palpable. Watching Aida run back and forth throughout the camp, doing her best to keep her family safe, and wrapping your head around the utter impotence of UN troops... the film is painful to watch. Aida is frantic for most of the movie, and we are frantic with her. An utterly effective portrayal of the horrors of genocide and the frustrations of being powerless to fight back, this sums up Quo Vadis, Aida? It is absolutely worthy of its nomination.
Watch the trailer here.
Monday, April 19, 2021
The Man Who Sold His Skin - 1 nomination
Sam Ali is a Syrian who crashes art openings with his friend to scam the food. At one of these events, he meets the most successful artist in the world who tenders a proposition - in exchange for resettlement to Turkey (where Ali's former girlfriend now lives), the artist can produce a piece of artwork in tattoo on Sam's back. Sam agrees to travel the world and sit in museums for people to come and see the art, and even agrees that the art can be sold to owners, which obligates him several times a year to visit the purchasers and to sit for them, as well. The art is political - it is a travel visa which he could never get were he to try in regular life. The artist is making a point that when a person becomes a commodity, he has travel rights he could never get when he was just a mere person. The film is commentary on freedom, dignity, and ownership - if the person enters into the contract freely, is living in 5 star hotels and eating caviar for room service, is he free or is he a slave?
I can't say why but I didn't expect to like this film. To the contrary, I suspect it will make my top 10 in 2021 list. The lead actor delivers a performance that is spellbinding. The story is activism. Movies like this (and it's cliche to say it) hold up a mirror to the world and ask if we are living in humane times that we can be proud of. It's a must see.
Watch the trailer here.
Sunday, April 18, 2021
Better Days - 1 nomination
Chen Nian, a young, timid, high achieving girl does her best to deal with unyielding and relentless bullying from fellow high school students. Her mother lives in another city doing her best to earn a meager living for them. She is utterly alone. When a child at the school commits suicide, the police get involved and work to uncover the culture of intimidation and reveal the total ineptitude of teachers and administrators. One night as she walks home, Chen Nian rescues a young criminal, Bei, who offers to become her protector. These two develop an unyielding bond and together they focus on getting her through her national exam (a bit like the SATs) because if they can lift her from poverty, she promises to take him with her out of this difficult life.
For those of us who remember what being bullied feels like, this film is particularly painful. But this kind of bullying is beyond what most of us have experienced, and it is enraging. The added powerlessness this poor girl experiences because the lead bully is rich and her parents couldn't care less what she does to others, is also infuriating. Chen Nian, on a clear path to a better life, is confronted by so many obstacles beyond her incredible grit that the film's horror feels like destiny, even with an ally at her side willing to do anything to help her succeed.
This film hurts. And the pain is inescapable. But it is absolutely worthy of its Oscar nomination. I hope you'll watch it. If it inspires you to look at your past behavior as a child, or it gives you motivation to wonder how you can actually help as an adult, it will have done its job.
Watch the trailer here.
Saturday, April 17, 2021
Another Round - 2 nominations
Best International Feature Film Denmark |
Best Achievement in Directing Thomas Vinterberg |
Another Round opens with the most drunken debauchery by graduating high school students since Animal House. If this film is correct, drinking in Denmark is not something to be taken casually, it's an activity for professionals, and everybody is certified. The film follows four friends, all teachers at a school, all of whom have lost their lust for life. With varying degrees of relationship problems, apathy in the classroom, and a general malaise, they decide to embark on an experiment. What would like be like if they were just slightly drunk all the time? They establish ground rules and at first blush, their tipsy lives do improve. They get more creative in the classroom. They give more and better attention to their families. They experience joy for the first time in what appears to be a long time.
But to be honest, even in the good times, I was holding my breath knowing that the bad times were around the corner. Alcoholism, poor decision making, and even an added experiment in the other direction - how would life be if they all got the most drunk they could possibly get (hopefully) without dying? And as the alcohol begins to erode their lives, for at least one of the four friends, the experiment has gone almost irretrievably awry. In the most admirable decision by the filmmakers, the ending doesn't leave us with a clear commentary on whether the experiment has been successful, and whether the friends are now in a better or worse place.
As with all Danish productions that rise to the top, this film was absolutely outstanding (though, if I had my druthers, Regina King would have taken Vinterberg's spot in the Directing category.). In fact, I hope you see this film and use it as an inspiration to further explore tv and film out of Denmark. With all the attention that goes to Hollywood, I have yet to discover a Danish production I haven't liked... with the caveat that likely only the best of their lot gets exported to the US.
Watch the trailer here.
Friday, April 16, 2021
Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga
Savan Kotecha (music and lyric by)
Max Grahn (music and lyric by)
Rickard Göransson
Two Icelandic musicians with a dream compose a song they hope to send to the iconic Eurovision Song Contest. For you Americans reading this blog, it's very likely that you've never even heard of this competition, but it is huge abroad. And for those of you for whom this film is a bit inside baseball, let me tell you that Iceland has never actually won the contest but has come in second twice. Will Farrell's comedic ability to set a film in an obscure setting and still make it relatable and hilarious stands firm, not to mention the fact that the songs written for the movie are utterly authentic to the contest. Not only that, but cameos by actual Eurovision past winners (go Netta from Israel! I'm NOT your toy!) make this film even funnier by the moment.
Will Farrell and Rachel McAdams play Lars and Sigrit, and their relationship is put to the test when they get onto the world stage with their song, "Husavik" (meaning, "My Hometown"). With attention and "fame" and experts giving them advice, they struggle to maintain their musical vision and their strong connection. But in truly the funniest way possible. I enjoyed the film utterly, and I am certain that nobody on the Eurovision film team ever predicted an Oscars nomination.
You can hear the nominated song here.
Thursday, April 15, 2021
Da 5 Bloods - 1 nomination
4 Vietnam veterans reunite in country after more than 40 years to honor their fallen leader's death and to dig up millions of dollars worth of gold they buried while in service. One of the soldiers brings his semi-estranged son on the trip and they have varying degrees of PTSD, and this trip is bringing difficult conversations to the surface. As the trip continues, the group encounters local NGO workers who become their burden, and attracts the attention of local gangsters who want the gold. Now they are in all out war, and this is the second one they've fought while in Vietnam. Surviving Vietnam turns out to be a twice in a lifetime challenge for each of these men, and not everyone will make it out of the country alive.
This film is Spike Lee at his best. Yes, the score is excellent (which is nothing new for a Spike Lee Joint), but the screenplay was even better. The performances were authentic, the discussions difficult, the cinematography was beautiful (and I think snubbed in that category), and the ensemble somehow was greater than the sum of its parts. In some ways, I'd even say this film is authentically Lee's voice, and yet stands apart from Spike Lee canon. There is a love among men in this film that I found breathtaking.
Watch the trailer here.
Wednesday, April 14, 2021
The White Tiger - 1 nomination
Balram, a young ambitious kid from a remote and dirt poor village finds his way to serving a wealthy family as their driver. He has vision, he has dreams, and he looks to find a way to make himself indispensable to his employers. He is cunning and not always pure, something I liked a lot about this character - he isn't getting ahead simply by being good, sometimes he has to use his wits and make difficult choices, just like in real life. The employer has a son and daughter in law (she is from the United States) who are seemingly more progressive - they are superficially uncomfortable with the class divide and want to treat him more like a member of the family.
One night, while driving the couple to and from their date of drunken fun, the son insists on driving and accidentally hits a child with the car. The family presses Balram to take the fall and say that he was driving when the tragic accident occurs, and for this they promise to compensate him. This is only the beginning of Balram's troubles, and of his path to success. But it's not an easy film to watch. Certainly, there are pieces that are overly simplistic, nonetheless, it's a film I quite enjoyed which I think should get more attention.
Balram's journey is not only from poverty to success, but also from naive to savvy, from innocent to complicated. The character's journey is so engaging and is at the heart of what makes this a truly successful film.
Watch the trailer here.
Tuesday, April 13, 2021
The One and Only Ivan - 1 nomination
Nick Davis
Greg Fisher
Ben Jones
Santiago Colomo (as Santiago Colomo Martinez)