Being the Ricardos - 3 nominations

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role Nicole Kidman

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role Javier Bardem

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role J.K. Simmons

Being the Ricardos imagines a week in the life of Lucy and Desi Arnaz while producing their top-rated hit show, "I Love Lucy."  We see how a Cuban and a woman owned and operated their show, exercised their incredible power, and navigated the racism and sexism of the time.  Alongside this plot, we see a marriage in trouble over cheating rumors, and an embattled Lucy with a past affiliation with the Communist party.  All the while, fretting over every minor comedic detail, we also see how Lucy Arnaz crafted the Lucy Ricardo persona down to the tiniest detail.  In fact, I most believed Kidman as Lucy Ricardo and less as Lucy Arnaz, and I'm wondering if that's because I watched her shows as a child and so thorough fused the two in my mind.  Kidman's reproduction of the Lucy Ricardo voice is impressive. Honestly, I'm a little shocked that Nina Arianda was never in the mix for an Oscar nomination, so beautifully and convincingly playing Vivian Vance in the film.  I found her performance more believable and on point than even Javier Bardem's, whose nomination is my least favorite of the Leading Actor category.

I'm an ardent Sorkenite and his writing style gets me every time.  I thought Being the Ricardos was a truly entertaining film.  Do I consider it Oscars great?  Meh, maybe not.  Do I consider it a fun film for a Saturday night great?  You bet I do.  And that's all the "'splainin'" I got to do.

 

Lion - 6 nominations

Best Picture - Emile Sherman, Iain Canning and Angie Fielder
Actor in a Supporting Role - Dev Patel
Actress in a Supporting Role - Nicole Kidman
Cinematography - Greig Fraser
Original Score - Dustin O'Halloran and Hauschka
Adapted Screenplay - Luke Davies

Welcome to the last of my top three favorite films this year, Lion.  This impossible story turns out to be based on a real life, in which a 5 year old child accidentally falls asleep on what he doesn't know to be a moving train in a remote part of India, travels 1500 miles to Calcutta, and when discovered, realizes that he doesn't know the name of his town, doesn't know the name of his mother (other than "mom"), and has no way to figure out how to get back to his home and his family.  Eventually adopted by an Australian couple and to a life of privilege, he is haunted by the family who never knows that he is still alive and thriving.  As a young adult, he decides to use the combination of his memory of the landscapes and google earth to see if he can find any details that would lead him back to the land of his birth.

When I saw Lion, I didn't know anything about it beyond that it was starting to pick up some Oscar buzz.  This film overwhelmed me, the story is beyond the imagination and gives a new meaning to the phrase "global connection" when it comes to the internet.  Now, I don't know how many of the details in the film are accurate and what was manufactured for the screen.  Every year I warn that we must not take biopics to be perfect representations of fact.  But for this movie, I simply don't care - it is beautiful, it is touching, and it is haunting.  And, pay some attention to the incredible Original Score, which happens to be pretty gorgeous, as well.  If you have time for only one movie this year, I recommend it be Lion.