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.
Costume Design - Alexandra Byrne Makeup and Hairstyling - Jenny Shircore, Marc Pilcher and Jessica Brooks Mary Queen of Scots follows Queen Mary, the queen of Scotland whose birthright entitles her heirs to the throne of England, and Queen Elizabeth who sits atop that throne. Though they never actually met (despite the liberties taken in this film), they seem through their letters to have been close supporters of one another, and bitter rivals. Mary is a Catholic, Elizabeth is a Protestant, and with the majority of England Protestant, Mary is seen as a particular threat with concerns that she will impose her religion upon the masses. But this is not the only problem with the queen - she attract men and marriages easily, and she produces an heir thereby threatening Elizabeth's legacy on the throne. The constant back stabbing and treachery sends both women into hardening their hearts against each other. At the end of her life, the relationship is so eroded that Mary spends her final days without her son who has been taken by Queen Elizabeth, and ultimately as Elizabeth's prisoner. She is finally taken to her execution at Elizabeth's order. This movie is terrific. From the opening scene in the first moment, it was clear that this film would have a makeup and hairstyling nomination. The makeup work is well done for Elizabeth as she suffered from small pox and its aftermath, but the hairstyling is beyond remarkable. The creative designs are impressive, abundant, and produced on multiple characters per scene. Of course when period films are done well, the costume design nomination is almost inevitable, but the work here is just superb. Look to Mary Queen of Scots as the winner of both of these categories. It is important to also make mention of Saoirse Ronen and Margot Robbie, who were both excellent in this picture. Robbie in particular stood out to me, with her pained portrayal of Queen Elizabeth, her measured responses, her despair, her loneliness, her largesse - the part is well written and Robbie was an epic success.
Costume Design - Sandy Powell Original Score - Marc Shaiman Original Song - "The Place Where Lost Things Go" - Music by Marc Shaiman; Lyric by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman Production Design - John Myhre (Production Design); Gordon Sim (Set Decoration) Mary Poppins has indeed returned to help her former charges, Jane and Michael Banks - siblings who she nannied in their childhood, and has arrived to care for Michael's three children as the now adult siblings brace to lose their home. Aided by her friend and chimney sweep, Jack, Mary makes everything spit-spot during a time of turmoil in their lives as only the magical Mary Poppins can do. I understand those who cling to their childhood rendition of Mary Poppins brought to life by Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke (who has a wonderful cameo in this film). I understand the defensiveness and the reluctance to sully a film that means so much to people. I understand, but I cannot join in this sentiment. I loved every minute of this film, and actually, it's because I love the original so much that I feel so strongly about this version. Every minute was a tribute to the original. Every song could be matched to a song from the original. Every feeling could be matched to a feeling from the original. And every lesson matched a lesson learned from the original. This film is a stand alone success, but it's greatness is magnified when compared with the first. The costumes and the production design updated but captured the serious and the whimsical, and I was magically immersed through their excellence. I do not expect any Oscars to be awarded to this film. But you'll do yourself a favor if you decide to see it.
Black Sheep is the story of Cornelius whose family lived in London until a young boy in their neighborhood was brutally murdered. His parents get very scared and they move to Essex, a smaller, very white town outside of London. The locals are not happy to have a black family living among them, and young Cornelius experiences virulent racism including both epithets being hurled at him on a regular basis, and a violent beating for no other reason than he is black. Over time though, he figures out that all he has to do is fit in with the racists, and finding acceptance overrides his turmoil about their views. It makes him feel important to know that while this group still hates black people, they have brought him in as an insider. Most of this film is done through first person storytelling and reenactments. It is the weakest of the film contenders.
Documentary Short - Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman
End Game is a beautiful telling of how medical professionals and their teams help patients and their families through the last stages of life, both through palliative care and hospice. It is a very hard film to watch because the patients featured in the film know they are going to die, and they are wrestling with how much life extension they should go through via medical treatment that may lengthen the quantity of their days but probably not the quality. The extraordinary doctors, nurses, social workers, and volunteers in the film are heroes beyond measure. This is the second of two end of life care documentaries nominated - in 2017 a wonderful documentary short called Extremis also followed patients and their care givers. While this is not an entirely new subject for the Oscars to deal with, it is an extraordinarily touching film.
Documentary Short - Skye Fitzgerald and Bryn Mooser
Lifeboat is the third Oscar nominated film to focus on the heroic works of boat rescue organizations who literally pull drowning migrants from the Mediterranean sea (the other two are 4.1 miles, a former documentary short nominee, and Fire at Sea, a former full length documentary nominee). In this film, we see almost 1000 people escaping Syria, Camaroon, Libya and others where the stories of the migrants are heartbreaking. Primarily people escaping war, human trafficking, indentured servitude, and violent rape, it is hard to think about the politics, the logistics, or any of the noise surrounding people who just want to escape the horrid violence in their lives to any land that will give them opportunity and peace.
Documentary Short - Marshall Curry
If A Night at the Garden doesn't give you chills, I don't know what will. Actual footage from 1939 in New York when Madison Square Garden held an enormous, sold out, one night only Nazi rally proclaiming the desire to establish a Gentile government, to expel Jews from the evil media, and to align the United States of America with the ideals of Nazi German. This happening right when Hitler was completing work on his 6th concentration camp. If you are in the camp of people who grow frenzied in the shouts of "USA, USA," or engage in debates about where there is enough iconography on your stages, or laugh and cheer when a protestor is punched in the face by people attending a rally, this film is meant explicitly for you. Marshall Curry, the filmmaker, says explicitly that these images are so haunting for what is happening today among certain people in politics in America. It is particularly haunting to think that people don't know that Nazism was indeed embraced in America, despite what you may think. It is not a history lesson. It is a lesson for today.
Documentary Short - Rayka Zehtabchi and Melissa Berton
"A period should be the end of a sentence. Not the end of a girl's education." This is the motto of an incredible group of teenagers from Oakwood School in Los Angeles who discovered that in India (and probably other areas of the world), menstruation is such a source of shame that most people won't talk about it, or possibly don't know about it. They discovered that many girls were dropping out of school when they started having their periods merely because they couldn't or wouldn't manage their periods while at school. So came The Pad Project. What's more, these girls and their families raised money and worked with an inventor who found a way to create high quality, low cost pads (the kind women use when they have their periods), provided the machinery, and helped create small businesses in smaller Indian towns where the women produce and sell these pads. Girls stay in school, women in business financially lift their households, and shame about menstruation (something every woman goes through) is diminished. Sounds like a winner to me.
Costume Design - Mary Zophres Original Song "When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings" - Music and Lyric by David Rawlings and Gillian Welch Adapted Screenplay - Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen The Ballad of Buster Scrubbs is a compilation of six vignettes with stories from the old West. The first was my favorite about a very lucky and amiable singing cowboy (lucky... until he wasn't), a bank robber who doesn't quite make it out of the situation, a traveling entertainment salesman with an odd companion, a prospector for gold who forgets that others also want the gold he seeks, a sweet tale about pioneers heading west and a young woman looking for love, and a stagecoach with bounty hunters on board traveling to the same destination as other passengers in the car. The film was a bit uneven - some of the stories that were great (especially the singing cowboy and the young woman on the caravan), and then others that didn't have a point to make. Death is the link between the stories, reminding us that the old West was not an easy place to survive. It's wonderful to see a cowboy film receive a costume design nomination. It's not that the costumes stand out in the ways that Victorian or Elizabethan costumes do, but in their perfection for the time, they are as deserving as any period piece would be. Truly the standout nominee for this film is the Original Song. It was sweet, funny, and perfect for the first vignette. It actually gave me hope that the whole movie was a musical, because of how exactly the song worked for piece. (Sadly, not a musical. Boo.) I enjoyed the film right up until the last short story. Five of the six were so entertaining, but that last one (despite having great actors like Tyne Daly in it) made absolutely no sense to me. I still can't quite figure out the point, and I watched it twice. My recommendation is to enjoy the first five stories and move on. View the trailer:
Animated Feature - Brad Bird, John Walker and Nicole Paradis Grindle
Incredibles 2 brings our superhero family back on screen even though superhero-ing has been made illegal. Not to worry, Winston Deavor, PR tycoon, wants to win the world back to the side of heroics and invites literal super mom Elastigirl to become the focus of a campaign of do-gooding. That means former superhero Mr. Incredible must become stay at home superdad. But all is not as it seems and an evil plot by super villain Screenslaver turns the lives of the Incredibles family upside down. Thankfully the incredible kids have a plan to rescue their parents, and the world. Delightful film.
Animated Feature - Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steven Rales and Jeremy Dawson
Original Score - Alexandre Desplat
Dog flu has hit the town of Megasaki, Japan and the mayor has banished all dogs to Trash Island. Dogs who have lived in the lap of luxury with doting owners must now find a way to make it in this less than ideal place, and the only way to survive is with friends by your side. But the mayor's nephew refuses to give up his beloved dog, and he embarks on a journey to save the canine. When he arrives on Trash Island, the nephew is joined by a small gang of dogs who help him look for his friend.
I'm not usually a big fan of Wes Anderson films, but as for his animated choices, I'm now two for two (see Fantastic Mr. Fox). This was an extremely quirky little movie with a big time voice cast including many of Anderson's go to actors (Ed Norton, Bill Murray, Bob Balaban, Frances McDormand), with a fun little cameo by none other than Yoko Ono. It's an odd duck, but a beautiful one.
Animated Feature - Mamoru Hosoda and Yuichiro Saito
Every year there is one of these Studio Gibli anime rip off films that never fails to disappoint for being a disappointment, and this year the winner of that category is Mirai. I watched this entire film yesterday and I still don't really know what it was supposed to be. It started off ok with big brother, Kun, and the arrival of his baby sister, Mirai. He's less than thrilled about a sister who has come to steal his thunder and the attention of his parents, and he retreats to the backyard which opens some sort of magical garden in which he meets his dog personified, his baby sister from the future, some of his relatives in the past, and a completely bonkers timeline come alive. Mirai is best saved for your next hallucinogenic night.
Animated Feature - Rich Moore, Phil Johnston and Clark Spencer
Ralph Breaks the Internet is the second of our nominated animated sequels. Best friends Ralph and Vanellope discover the world of the internet when a part from her game Sugar Rush breaks. They must venture into the vast world of the web to retrieve a part to fix the game and return her to her very known and repetitive universe. But the internet is a big place (cue a million product placements) and soon Vanellope discovers that she craves variety and excitement. Ralph worries that his best friend might be moving to a place that he can't join her. There is a particularly hysterical scene in which Vanellope discovers the assorted Disney princesses, and that alone makes the whole movie worth it. Having said that, I loved the film, and I was even disappointed when the signature "I wish" song didn't get nominated for Original Song. This was a terrific film, though I highly recommend seeing the Wreck It Ralph first. And, please heed my warning to stay until the very end of the film. It's worth it.
Animated Feature - Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller
Miles Morales gets bitten by a radioactive spider only to become... well, you know the drill. But spidermen... uh, spiderpeople... uh, spiderbeings abound in the multi-verse, and together they must defeat a host of Marvel bad guys whose thirst for world domination and wealth beyond measure must be thwarted, lest the world implode. The film itself is radioactive, in a good way. It is exciting, the animation is incredible, and the story is beyond clever. But this film is best suited to Marvel fans who will get the jokes, the references, the Stan Lee cameo. As a member of the Marvel fan club, I thought this one was an absolute winner - and very well could be come Oscar night.
Actress in a Supporting Role - Regina King Original Score - Nicholas Britell Adapted Screenplay - Written for the screen by Barry Jenkins If Beale Street Could Talk follows young lovers Tish and Fonny, two young people growing up in the 60's. When she announces to her family that she is pregnant, they take a moment to embrace the idea but they get behind her. Fonny's family is not so receptive and Tish's fierce protective mama, Sharon "tiger moms" the heck out of the situation. Meanwhile, Fonny has been falsely accused of rape and is in prison for the act he clearly didn't commit. Sharon takes it upon herself to track down Fonny's accuser by flying to her hometown and tries to get her to return to the United States to admit that she has accused an innocent man. The film is captured back and forth from current day to flashback. Beale Street is a film that should work. The actors are mostly strong, the story could be a beautiful telling of blossoming love juxtaposed against the devastation of racist America. One could be moved, righteously angry, and inspired all at once. But Beale street just misses the mark. It's too slow, it falls in love with mediocre scenes and drags them out longer than necessary, and the attempt at stylized is only very moderately successful. I expected Beale Street to be both one of my favorite films of the year and a strong contender for the BIG prize. No such luck on either count. Regina King is by far the best thing about the film and I think she has an higher than average shot at winning. But beyond her performance and the musical score, there is no reason to see this film.
Actress in a Leading Role - Melissa McCarthy Actor in a Supporting Role - Richard E. Grant Adapted Screenplay - Screenplay by Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty Based on a true story, Can You Ever Forgive Me? tells the story of Lee Israel, a former biographer who had successfully published life stories of the greats - Katherine Hepburn, Tallulah Bankhead, Estee Lauder, you name it. As time has progressed, her publisher informs her that the public has moved on from Israel's kind of writing, and that she should move into novels, and find her own voice. A raging alcoholic and severely down on her luck, Israel decides to sell some of her prized possessions so she'll have something to live on, and more importantly, money for drinking. What she discovers is that there is a market for personal letters written by famous writers, particularly if they are juicy, revealing, or share a moment in their histories not previous known. Israel's natural talent is finding a way to embody the voices of the people for whom she has written biographies. Combined with her talent for forgery, this opens a whole new world as she begins to write forged letters from writers like Noel Coward and Dorothy Parker and then sells them for cash. In capturing their voices, book sellers buy up her product with glee. She befriends fellow down on his luck alcoholic, Jack Hock, who helps add a very British legitimacy to her "sales department." Hock helps get her life slightly more in order, while his trials and tribulations as a gay, homeless man in New York also add to her burden. Both McCarthy and Grant are brilliant in this film, and I think he has a shot at winning. Her character never really becomes likable but is totally compelling, and he is just so charming and sad. Both nominations are examples of performances in a film that never really got the attention it deserved but gives the actors in it the adulation they both so richly earned. Can You Ever Forgive Me? was a truly wonderful film. I loved it. I loved that it stayed dark but human. The story is outrageous and does manage to eke out a tiny bit of light onto the question of what is collectable - if it is wonderful, does it matter if it is true? Authenticity itself is up for discussion with this film, and it is wildly successful in that right. The movie is funny, sad, sweet, cranky, and just plain old fun. See it. If you don't like it, I'll have to ask, "Can you ever for..." never mind. Just see it.
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