House of Gucci - 1 nomination

 

Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling
Göran Lundström
AnnaCarin Lock
Frederic Aspiras

House of Gucci was one of my most anticipated films of the year.  I love Lady Gaga as an actress, even when I saw the previews, I thought "here's Gaga's acting Oscar" all served up and ready to go.  This film had all the apparent bones of a multi-category Academy Awards nominee - a power cast, an intriguing plot including murder, and amazing vistas for the likes of some of the technical awards like production design and costuming.

House of Gucci follows Patrizia Reggiani who makes it her mission to marry into the Gucci family.  She does marry Maurizio Gucci, and then begins her ambitious campaign to put herself and her husband deep into the company's affairs.  She endears herself to the rest of the family but over time, these relationships crack as she maneuvers and betrays anyone she needs to for the sake of power and controlling the company.  Eventually, her marriage completely disintegrates, as well, and Maurizio pushes her out without a thought.

Sadly, it wasn't a great film.  The performances were mediocre and no two people had the same Italian accent.  Sometimes the same person didn't have the same Italian accent throughout the movie.  Of course, the fashion in the film is magnificent and that is the most fun part.  The story dragged, the characters weren't compelling (Adam Driver always is a bit dead eyed to me, and Jared Leto was just a clown but his makeup completely transformed him beyond recognition, and is likely responsible for the nomination).  You can give this one a pass.

A Star Is Born - 8 nominations

Best Picture - Bill Gerber, Bradley Cooper and Lynette Howell Taylor

Actor in a Leading Role, Bradley Cooper

Actress in a Leading Role, Lady Gaga

Actor in a Supporting Role, Sam Elliott

Cinematography, Matthew Libatique

Music (Original Song), “Shallow” Music and Lyric by Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando and Andrew Wyatt

Sound Mixing, Tom Ozanich, Dean Zupancic, Jason Ruder and Steve Morrow

Writing (Adapted Screenplay), Written by Eric Roth, Bradley Cooper and Will Fetters

It's a tale as old as... 1937.  There have now been four versions of A Star is Born, and I have to admit that when I saw the preview for this film I was skeptical that we needed yet another retelling of "aging, bitter, alcoholic singer meets and launches talented ingenue, they fall in love, he is jealous of her success, story ensues."  But when I saw this version, I concluded that we did need another version, we just needed a slightly better version.

Here's what I mean.  First, Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga were astonishingly good in the film.  Cooper changes everything about himself to become this character including his voice and mannerisms, and is a surprisingly terrific country/rock singer.  I heard in an interview with Cooper that he fashioned his voice after actor Sam Elliot, and when he needed to cast the lead's brother, it was clear who was the right choice (lucky Sam Elliot, who earned his first Oscar nomination with this film!)  This is the role that Gaga was born to play.  Though she is not a "rising" singer, she is an actress on the rise (having already won acting awards for her role in American Horror Story and this film), and in her totally stripped down performance (no Gaga monsters here), she introduces herself to us in a whole different way.  The energy between the two is electric.

I was entertained the entire movie, and the song Shallow which is nominated this year, is the song that this movie deserves.  It is powerful and takes advantage of the full range of Gaga's voice, and creates a duet that I want to listen to all the time.  Bradley Cooper performs songs that are entertaining and really feel like songs that would be hits outside of the film.  The same cannot be said for the rest of songs performed by Lady Gaga.  Even the "eleven o'clock number" - the big finale song she sings at the end of the film after tragedy strikes is just a little too nine o'clock.  This song should have been her "And I'm telling you" that won Jennifer Hudson the Oscar in Dreamgirls or the "I dreamed a dream" that won Anne Hathaway her Oscar in Les Miserables.  The songs just come up a little too short in what should be Gaga's gut punch in the film.  Don't get me wrong, Gaga performs the heck out of what she had, but what she had was just not enough.

I know a lot of people who were just crazy about this film, and I really wanted to be one of them.  If there is a choice between seeing it and not seeing, it is worth it just for the performances.  (Speaking of which, major props to Andrew Dice Clay who played the most charming version of Gaga's dad.)  But Best Picture?  I don't think so.

Hear the nominated song:

Jodi's Oscars Blog - Year 5!

Welcome back to Year 5 of Jodi's Oscars Blog!

Today is always the first day, and yes, I have woken up at 5 a.m. to watch the announcements live at 5:20.  To quote Kumail Nanjiani, "I asked why we don't start at 5:15 and they say, no, that would be way too early."  (Way to go Kumail and Tracee Ellis Ross for a great job hosting this morning.) Thank you to all of you who have reached out to express excitement for another year of reviews.  It truly makes me so happy when someone says, "I wait all year for your reviews," or "I went to see this film on your recommendation, and I loved it."  Who knew that my lifelong obsession with the Oscars would bring so many friends together. 

Big news! This year, I'll be adding a Facebook Live component in which I will talk about one category at a time.  I hope you'll watch (and be kind, I'm no "on camera talent!")

Some quick thoughts about the nominees in general.

For those of you shouting, "Gaga, go get your Oscar," I hasten to remind you that Glenn Close is now the most nominated actor ever without having actually won an Oscar.  Seriously, Glenn Close has never won an Oscar.  Never mind that The Wife was a badass performance, the Academy doesn't like to let aging pros go into that good night without a win (not that Close is even close to dying nor would it be a pity Oscar!).  I know most people haven't seen that film, but you should if you want a Master Class in acting.  Having said all that, A Star is Born is now 4 for 4 on getting Oscars nominations for the actress playing the ingenue.  (and yes, I'll never get the time back on the rabbit hole that took me down - so I'll share my question with you... how many actors have been nominated for the same role for the same basic film/remake?  Off you go, fellow nerds.)

It's exciting to see Spike Lee nominated for what I think is his best film (yes, I liked most of his others).  I would like to see him take this category, though I suspect stopping the Roma train would be a lot like trying to stop a, well, train.  I'm a little shocked that Bradley Cooper wasn't nominated for Director, but when you look at the films in the category, he got shut out by some pretty impressive candidates.

This is the year of the Foreign Films!  Roma, Cold War, Never Look Away, and Border all busted through other categories usually restricted to North American films.  (Though Sweden has been on a tear with Makeup and Hairstyling, this year is no exception.) 

The final interesting thing about the nominees this year is that there is a lot of love spread throughout a number of films.  There are only 52 films nominated (sometimes goes as high as 60ish), and 8 of these films have 5 or more nominations.  That should make whittling down your list much easier this year, with The Favourite and Roma leading the pack at 10 each.  No spoilers, but there were an awful lot of terrific movies to see this year, so look for me to be a very positive reviewer in the next few weeks.

Welcome back to the blog, and thank you again for tuning in and let's get to it, movie lovers!

OSCARS WRAP UP

Wow!  What a spectacular night.  So much to dissect and debrief, so let's get started!

Chris Rock:
I thought Chris Rock was amazing in a very tough year to be the host and every joke in the monologue worked, which is a major feat.  I lurked around social media last night, and I was disappointed to see so many people up in arms that he continued to talk about racism in Hollywood. First, almost every single joke was funny and that's the only measure that matters.  Second, my spidey senses always buzz a little when people are upset at too many racism jokes as though somehow a limited number is enough on race, and let's all please just move on.  You know what?  I suggest we better not move on quite yet until this business in handled.  And again, funny wins - I don't care the topic.

But on the flip side, I'm also somewhat uncomfortable that with all the jokes Rock made, the ones that make the public discussion of Hollywood's institutional racism into a big "jeez, isn't everyone just too sensitive" gag,  are the ones that so many of my friends are posting today.  (If I have to see the Jada/Rihanna joke on Facebook one more time...)  I think if we tried to see this issue through our own lenses as though it was affecting us personally, perhaps we wouldn't be so quick to ask people of color to just get over it.  What if the night had been all about black people? (Oh no!) What if the night had been all about white people like, as Rock mentioned it WAS for decades without comment? (See where I'm going with this one?)  Ok, end of rant - I'm sure many of you will disagree with me, all I ask is that you stop to consider that there is a view to this that you might not have considered because you also haven't experienced.

Having said all of that, the Girl Scouts was just a remodel of Ellen's pizza delivery, and while I found the movie theatre gag funny, it mostly didn't work great.  Stacy Dash was a total, ridiculous flop. The edited scenes from films was very funny.  Still, I tip my hat to Chris Rock for a great night as a host. Toughest gig in Hollywood.

Scrolling Thank You's:
Did anyone remember to try to read those things as they flew across the screen?  It was just absurd and by the time the person got to the stage, the thank you's were done.  While I'm at it, I have to continue to take to task the multiple nominees in single categories who don't prepare and use up all of the allotted speech time and gift their fellow winners the shaft.  Uh uh.  Not ok.  You know you have a one in five chance of winning, you can take 10 seconds to work it out between you.  (I have an Oscars speech prepared, and I wasn't even nominated!)

The Necrology Report (aka In Memoriam):
How sad to see Abe Vagoda not featured in the slide show, with the beautiful rendition of Blackbird by Dave Grohl.  (Whose mother might want to advise him to dress up a bit for the Oscars in the future?)  I mean, Moe Green gets featured but not Tessio, even though they both sleep with the fishes????

Now on to the awards!

Best Picture: Spotlight
Well thank goodness, what a relief.  I've never been so happy to be wrong, though I may remind you that I chose Spotlight as the one that should be the winner.  Spotlight was an important film - a modern day All the Presidents Men, and it deserved the Oscar.

Actor in a Leading Role: Leonard DiCaprio
I know that a lot of people felt strongly about DiCaprio winning, and I'm glad that his curse is broken. But, he is hardly the Susan Lucci of the Oscars race - Peter O'Toole was nominated 8 times without ever winning, until he was awarded an honorary Oscar a couple of years ago.  

Actress in a Leading Role: Brie Larson
Was Brie Larson not adorable with her cutest relationship with Jacob Tremblay?  I thought she should win and I'm glad she did win.

Actor in a Supporting Role: Mark Rylance
I was genuinely sad for Sylvester Stallone, and frankly, I still think Mark Ruffalo should have won.  But Rylance gave a nice speech and he was very good in a pretty good film.

Actress in a Supporting Role: Alicia Vikander
Alicia Vikander was so lovely and wonderful in this film that deserved much more attention.  Good on ya, Academy.

Directing: Alejandro Innaritu
Look, I get it, Inarritu is a great Director.  But is this really the new normal in which the Director of the Best Picture of the year continues to not win?  In the old days, it was rare for Picture and Director not to come from the same film.  Still, you have to give it Innaritu who is only the third Director in history to win back to back years, so I guess when he decided to talk longer than allotted, the orchestra director was right to just go with it.

Animated Feature Film: Inside Out
Joy has taken over the control room of my brain.  I loved it.  And a great acceptance speech to boot.

Cinematography: The Revenant
No surprises here, and in this case, I do think The Revenant was the right choice.

Costume Design: Mad Max: Fury Road (Grrrr.)
Movie critic idol Steve Pond recommends sticking with Best Picture nominees when it's a close race and there is doubt.  Costume happens to be the one rare exception to this rule, and the most beautiful costumes usually win.  But NOT THIS YEAR.  As my son pointed out, "what were the costumes? They were all mostly naked."  Yes, son, you are quite correct.  Go back and look at those Cinderella costumes and you tell me that they weren't ROBBED.

Documentary Feature: Amy
Could I please make a pitch that you try to see all of the nominated documentaries this year? (Ok, you can skip Cartel Land and instead see The Hunting Ground.  In fact, please please please see The Hunting Ground.)  I still can't get over Amy, and I'm still very happy that it won.

Documentary Short Subject: A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness
The short films this year reminded me that I have better instincts than I believe.  I went with critics research this year even though I left the theatre thinking that A Girl in the River would and should win.  We must start to care about women around the world.  Excusing murderers and attackers of women must end.

Film Editing: Mad Max: Fury Road
No surprises here.  Mad Max dominated the technical awards.

Foreign Language Film: Son of Saul
YES.  So much yes.  This young Director has so many important stories in him, he will be one to watch.  This was his first feature film - expect great things.

Makeup and Hairstyling: Mad Max: Fury Road
Compared to the other two nominees, this had to be the runaway winner.  The creativity in this category made Mad Max the very clear choice.  It was a good night to be an Aussie!

Original Score: The Hateful Eight
This was another one of those career achievement Oscars, this being Morricone's 6th Oscar nomination.  (Also had been awarded an honorary Oscar in 2003.)  Those Italians know what they are doing!  (Still, you can't argue with John Williams' 50TH nomination this year.)

Original Song: Writing's On The Wall (Spectre)
NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO.
Do I HAVE TO make the world go back in time in order to make this injustice right?  Never mind that Diane Warren is long overdue for an Oscar.  Never mind that this film is so much more important than a Bond film will ever be.  Look at the reaction of everyone in the audience last night... I have a feeling that after Lady Gaga's (Queen Gaga's!) rendition last night, everybody in that room is kicking themselves over their incorrect voting choice.  I'm still in denial.  GAGA FOREVER.

Also, I'm happy to let Sam Smith know that other out gays and lesbians have accepted Oscars, not the least of which is Dustin Lance Black, the writer of Milk, who talked about being a young gay child who dreamed of a better life.  Here's Dustin's beautiful acceptance speech.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfPXcCroPJc  
Having said that, you go Sam Smith for being out and loud, and I'm quite sure an inspiration to many young people who need role models willing to own their pride and their identities.

Production Design: Mad Max:Fury Road 
Yes, it won, and even those tiny snippets that you got to see in the show last night didn't do justice to the world created by the amazing designers of this film.

Animated Short Film: Bear Story
As I predicted, I got this category wrong, but got it right for what should win.  I understand that Bear Story can be seen on the internet today, and I highly recommend watching it.  It is sweet and sad and lovely.  Next year, I go with my instincts.  For real this time.

Live Action Short Film: Stutterer
See aforementioned go with my gut from now on.  Right after I saw these films I immediately called it for Stutterer.  It's funny and adorable and wonderful.

Sound Editing: Mad Max: Fury Road
Yeah, I got it right, but I'm still mad for Star Wars.  Nerd girl, out.

Sound Mixing: Mad Max: Fury Road
Well, as Shakira's hips don't lie, Oscar statistics don't either.  Sound editing and mixing are more often than not from the same category.  

Visual Effects: Ex Machina
WHAAAAAAAAT?  This movie was so so interesting and great.  I still think Star Wars should have won.

Adapted Screenplay: The Big Short
Such a good screenplay.  So so good.

Original Screenplay: Spotlight
Started and ended the night with a bang.

See you next year Oscars lovers!  I hope you loved the show as much as I did!

The Hunting Ground - 1 nomination

Original Song - "Till It Happens to You" - Music and Lyric by Diane Warren and Lady Gaga

The Hunting Ground is another powerful documentary from Kirby Dick (the Director who made "The Invisible War" about rape in the military).  This time, he explores rape on college campuses and how administrators respond (or don't) to it.

Candidly, I struggled with this film - as important and powerful as it is - because I used to work in Student Affairs and all of the professionals I know care deeply about their students and are champions for survivors and men and women alike who report rape.  I know a handful of Deans and Vice Presidents on campus, and I simply can't see them counseling women not to report, to cover it up, or to make their lives miserable.  Having said that, there is no question that it is in a university's interest to have low crime statistics, and when it comes to the greek system and athletics, there is a vested interest in preserving the veneer of perfection given how alumni contributions impact schools.

It's important to note that only a small percentage of those who are assaulted even report rape, and some of the reason is the way that they are publicly shamed.  This film also tracks how young college students are taking power and using the legal system to hold universities accountable to their "duty of care" and "duty to protect" the students on their campuses.  Seeing these women use their personal power is especially inspiring, and seeing them both create networks and education for each other is exciting.

I recently posted a comment on a friend's Facebook post about rape in America, and another commenter immediately attacked me and reported that "most men" have been falsely accused of rape, which is a patently false accusation without basis in fact or statistics.  And fresh off that comment, I had the opportunity to view this film, making it even harder to swallow.  Knowing that there is an underbelly of defensiveness from certain audiences makes me wonder how they would respond to this question: "if the movie is wrong by half, isn't it STILL imperative that we protect people from violence on our college campuses?  And if we dismiss allegations simply because we are uncomfortable, aren't we part of the problem?"

At any rate, I think the song nominated for this film is the most powerful and haunting of all of the nominees.  Diane Warren is no stranger to the Oscars (this is her 7th nomination) and this collaboration with Lady Gaga may be her best yet.  I hope you'll listen to the song and see the film.