Florence Foster Jenkins - 2 nominations

Lead Actress - Meryl Streep (her 20th nomination)

Costume Design - Consolata Boyle

I have to start by acknowledging that Meryl Streep holds the record for the most acting nominations by a woman, with Florence Foster Jenkins marking her 20th Academy Award nomination (she has won three times).  As it happens, Jack Nicholson holds the record for the most acting nominations by a man, which is 12 nominations.  So I think it's fair to say that Meryl Streep has the most acting nominations ever by any person.  If only President Trump thought she was talented, imagine what she could accomplish.  (Sorry, I couldn't resist that joke, even if it is a little bit political, which has nothing to do with this film.)

Having gotten that out of the way, let me tell you a little bit about the adorable Florence Foster Jenkins, a film based on a real life person who was a leading patron of the arts of her time, and who so ardently loved the opera that she herself couldn't resist being a part of it.  And, like we sometimes do with very wealthy people, we let them believe that they have equal ability and expertise, just because they are wealthy.  So here comes Florence, with her riches, her philanthropic heart, and her abysmal singing voice.  To be fair she does hit a lot of high notes, they just aren't necessarily the ones she is meant to be singing.

Supported by a husband her loves her and who is her true companion (even if they are not in a traditional marriage) and who helps her believe she can do anything.  He makes sure that everyone gives her the adulation she desires, even if the applause is not authentic.  This film is so endearing that you want to laud her effort and her enthusiasm, despite the lack of talent.  I would have dearly loved to see Hugh Grant get a nomination for his incredibly sensitive portrayal of Jenkins' husband. It was a role Grant was meant to play, using his charm and his tenderness to perfection.

The costumes in this film are something to behold, honoring the history of splendid costuming in the opera.  Though I doubt this nominee is the frontrunner for the win, it most definitely deserves to win over all of the other nominees.  The costumes are exquisite and ornate and very worthy of recognition.

Florence Foster Jenkins, while not a film of usual Oscar caliber, is most worthy of your attention.

Jackie - 3 nominations

Lead Actress - Natalie Portman
Costume Design - Madeline Fontaine
Original Score - Mica Levi

Jackie follows first lady Jackie Kennedy in the immediate days following her husband's assassination, and her subsequent quest to make sure that his legacy is immortalized in the public mind.  The film is slow, mostly miscast (Peter Sarsgaard as Bobby Kennedy, um, no, just no - brilliant actor in many other worthy projects, but still no), and has some unforgivable omissions.  Even Natalie Portman, who has been lauded for her performance doesn't seem right for the part.  Her accent goes in and out. She does have one redeeming part of the movie where she is giving a tour of the White House for the tv cameras, and she does embody what we all remember about Jackie Kennedy.  Other than that, much of her performance seems like someone trying to be Jackie Kennedy rather than being Jackie Kennedy.  The famous scene (in real life) when the family is preparing to walk to the funeral where Jon-Jon famously and adorably salutes in his little pea coat?  Totally omitted from the film, which was terribly disappointing.  All of the images that we think of when we think of this moment in history are notably absent.

The costumes were, of course, spot on an perfect.  There is a scene where Jackie is drinking, alone, in the depths of despair, and furiously trying on all of her different outfits.  It was during this moment that I thought, "this scene was written to get the costumer an Oscar nomination," because it simply had little relevance to the story.  But ok, the costumes were spot on, so why not give Madeline Fontaine a little featured part of the film.

The Original Score is indeed haunting, and does complement the film perfectly, but that was the only part of the movie that felt authentic.  I'm sure the story was well researched or, it was an interesting exercise for the imagination about what Kennedy might have done in the immediate days after the shooting.  Unfortunately, it just didn't ring true to me.  

Loving - 1 nomination

Actress in a Leading Role - Ruth Negga

Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton play Mildred and Richard Loving, an interracial married couple in Virginia who are arrested and prosecuted for violating anti-miscegenation laws (the laws preventing interracial couples from marrying before 1967).  This story follows their relationship, the births of their children, their treatment by their respective communities, and the family and friends who supported them during this difficult ordeal.  But it also follows the group of lawyers who decided to fight this unjust and unfair law, and much like modern times, it's hard to discern how anyone marrying each other affects the lives of anyone else in the world enough that justifies the government to regulate it.  If you can't see the connection between the Loving story and current conversations about gay marriage, you're not learning the lessons of history about which this film teaches and reminds us.

Ruth Negga plays this part to perfection.  She is not angry, she is not yelling at anybody; but she is graceful, she is ardent, she is full of conviction, and she simply wants to raise her family and love her husband.  She doesn't want attention, but she uses attention wisely and effectively.  Negga fully embodies Mildred Loving, who, if this film is to be believed, was a remarkable woman.  Frankly, Joel Edgerton's performance is so understated, steady, and powerful, I'm surprised he didn't receive a nomination himself.  

This film is methodical and quiet - not what one would expect from a movie about fighting injustice. The story is exceedingly normal, the couple isn't delivering fiery speeches, they are living too normal a life.  I know some found this to be too slow to capture their attention - what's exciting or engaging about watching people sit on a porch and hold hands, or even sit silently in jail?  Why is that cinematic?  But if you can get past expectations that anyone other than the lawyers (Nick Kroll - who knew you could do that so well?) will deliver monologues about injustice, then you will see what made Loving such a brilliant film.  It is in the normality of the Loving's lives that we understand the real message - people are not asking for nor expecting special rights in an equal America, but America must be equal for IT to be special.  That's all there is to it.

Elle - 1 nomination

Actress in a Leading Role - Isabelle Huppert

Hang on to your hats, this is one wild ride.  Michele (Isabel Huppert) is violently attacked and raped, to which she reacts as much as one might to a minor inconvenience.  She is  tough woman who runs her video game company by day and engages with her friends and disappointing family by night. Her son has a pregnant girlfriend and needs his mother to help finance his disaster of a life.  In addition, Michele discovers that she has new neighbors who seem nice, but with whom she becomes eerily fascinated.  The film is dark, and Michele is hard to decipher.  There are so many twists and turns in the film that it's hard to describe without giving away key elements.  There are so many moments in the plot where you are sitting on the edge of your seat like one would in a psychological thriller like The Sixth Sense.

Michele is unsettlingly calm about her attack, about a strange cyberbullying scene that depicts her as being raped and attacked in a video game, and about all of the odd things happening in her life. When she figures out that she knows her attacker, the movie becomes even more creepy (in a good way), as both the attacker and Michele find that they fill a need in each other that is unexpected, to say the least.

Elle is violent and graphic, so I wouldn't necessarily recommend it for everyone.  But if you can endure the violence, the psychological manipulations are enough to make it worth watching.  Isabelle Huppert is utterly brilliant as the woman who is craving something seemingly abnormal but who appears as a person to be totally mainstream.

Captain Fantastic - 1 nomination

Actor - Viggo Mortensen

I have been waiting to write this review since the day I saw Captain Fantastic.  This film is like no other you've ever seen before.  Viggo Mortensen (Ben) plays the father of 6 kids who he is raising in the forest of the Pacific Northwest.  "Off the grid" to say the least.  He is raising them to be physically and intellectually superior and ready for anything that comes their way.  He teaches them to be critical thinkers, and one is more knowledgeable than the next.  Instead of Christmas, they celebrate Noam Chomsky's birthday, and one of the gifts to one of the children is a hunting knife.  These are only examples of what was once called an "alternative lifestyle," and when Ben tells his kids that it's ok to shoplift, we know that he is creating his own rules for life.

When their mom dies, Ben takes them on a road trip where they learn more about people than they could gather from books, and they see the world through the lens of how people not living off the grid see them.  When they go to bury their wife and mom, the nuclear family spends time with the mom's sister, brother in law, their kids, and her parents.  These people do not approve of the lifestyle Ben and his late wife established.  Though I don't often use quotes from a movie to describe it, this revealing quip from the oldest son who wants to go to college despite his father's objections sums up some of the movie nicely: "I know nothing! I know nothing!  I am a freak because of you!  You made us freaks!  And mom knew that!  She understood!  Unless it comes out of a fucking book, I don't know anything about anything!"  So that is the paradox - if you raise erudite critical thinking children who know nothing of the world, have you done your job as a parent? 

This movie is quirky and Viggo Mortensen is every bit the highly intellectual hippie.  But his emotional side is also vital, and his relationships with his kids make you start to wonder if you should give this kind of parenting a try.  I was captivated by the film.  The young actors who play the kids are incredible - listening to a little girl recite the first amendment from memory and then discussing the political ramifications of the Bill of Rights is one you won't soon forget.

There is nothing quite like Captain Fantastic, but that's what makes it so worth watching.

Moonlight - 8 nominations

Best Picture - Adele Romanski, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner

Actor in a Supporting Role - Mahershala Ali

Actress in a Supporting Role - Naomie Harris

Cinematography - James Laxton

Directing - Barry Jenkins

Film Editing - Nat Sanders and Joi McMillon

Original Score - Nicholas Britell

Adapted Screenplay - Screenplay by Barry Jenkins; Story by Tarell Alvin McCraney

Moonlight is a beautiful film told in three acts.  Act I follows the first part of a life, in which a child with a crackhead mother must fend for himself until he meets someone who teaches him about life and cares for him... despite the fact that this role model is a drug dealer.  But he's a drug dealer with a heart of gold who takes the boy into his life and makes sure he is safe and has a strong male stabilizing influence in contrast to what the child's mother is ill-equipped to provide.  In Act II, the child has grown up a bit and is now a teenager who is picked on while he tries to navigate the world with a mother who is increasingly desperate and more and more addicted to drugs and bad choices. He finds one single friend who is his lighthouse in the darkness, who cares about him and treats him with respect.  Only an act of the deepest kind of betrayal can shatter the life our protagonist is living. In Act III, the young man is grown up, and is a product of the difficult life he has led.  He is now the one responsible for his choices, and longs for the authentic and giving love he so rarely had in his life.

Everything about Moonlight is beautiful and heartbreaking.  Each phase of life ends with the haunting transition of a black screen and police lights, as if to say that this constant barrage of disappointments and loneliness can only have one inevitable conclusion.  Every actor who plays a third of this person's life is incredible - and I think everyone who sees the film will be especially touched by Mahershala Ali's quiet portrayal of the drug dealer father figure - his kindness could be felt through the screen.  I'm shocked that Trevante Rhodes (Act III) was not also nominated for his incredible performance as Black.  I just watched the film a second time, and again, I was overwhelmed.  There is not a sour note throughout the film.  In fact, when I saw Moonlight for the first time, I was shocked by what happened in the theater.  Most of the time when you go to a movie, as the credits begin to roll, people begin shuffling and collecting their belongings, some people stay seated to watch the credits and others leave.  Not so with Moonlight.  EVERYONE in the theater just stayed still.  Nobody moved.  It was as if we were all too stunned with what we just witnessed and needed a moment to take it in as a community.  That is the mark of a truly outstanding film.  And that's just what Moonlight deserved, as are all of its 8 nominations.

Manchester By the Sea - 6 nominations

Best Picture - Matt Damon, Kimberly Steward, Chris Moore, Lauren Beck and Kevin J. Walsh

Actor in a Leading Role - Casey Affleck

Actor in a Supporting Role - Lucas Hedges

Actress in a Supporting Role - Michelle Williams

Directing - Kenneth Lonergan

Original Screenplay - Kenneth Lonergan

Manchester By the Sea appears to be the most controversial film among the people I know. There are those who hated it, I mean hated it so much they stalked me until I saw the movie to make sure that I would hate it too.  And then there were those who loved it, loved it as in, "my favorite movie of the year" loved it.  Now, that's a very wide spectrum to take into the theater!  So, in effort to really give an honest view, I actually watched this 2 hour 17 minute movie twice.  For those of you who have seen this film, you know that's a commitment, because it's not exactly a toe tapper.

Casey Affleck plays Lee Chandler, a lonely building maintenance man with a sad demeanor and a short fuse.  He is called back to his hometown when his older brother dies, only to discover that he has been appointed guardian to his teenage nephew Patrick in his brother's will.  But there is something haunting Chandler that is a lingering mystery, and his social ineptitude is troubling.  More complicated is the fact that Patrick's biological mother is a recovering alcoholic and ill-equipped to take care of her son.  Michelle Williams plays his ex-wife, and we are clearly meant to draw the conclusion that whatever tragedy befell Lee Chandler, his wife was deeply affected too.

My conclusion?  Manchester By the Sea is an incredibly powerful, sad, slow paced film.  The performances are haunting and the plot is deep.  The characters are drawn in complicated ways, which means that they don't always act the way we expect them to; like young Patrick whose father has just died focusing more on band practice and getting laid than on grappling with his sadness. Lonergan's classic style of people talking over each other, how we do in real life, makes the film messy, and messy it should be.  Manchester is not an easy watch and it's definitely not for everyone. 

Though not nominated for Original Score (because the music is not original to the movie), I can't finish this review without preparing you for the magnificent score which serves as the backdrop to the story.  Lesley Barber crafted a soundtrack that was perfect for this film, and she deserves recognition for it.

Bottom line, I fell into the "loved it" camp, and I hope my friends won't unfriend me for it!  (You know who you are...)