Judas and the Black Messiah - 6 nominations

 

Best Motion Picture of the Year Shaka King (producer)  Charles D. King (producer)  Ryan Coogler (producer)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role - Daniel Kaluuya

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song) H.E.R. (music by/lyric by)  D'Mile (as Dernst Emile II) (music by)  Tiara Thomas (lyric by)  For song "Fight for You"

Best Original Screenplay Will Berson (screenplay by/story by)  Shaka King (screenplay by/story by)  Kenneth Lucas (story by) (as Kenny Lucas)  Keith Lucas (story by)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role - LaKeith Stanfield

Best Achievement in Cinematography - Sean Bobbitt

Thank you to IMDB for assembling this list.

Judas and the Black Messiah is a heartbreaking film following the infiltration of the Black Panthers by the CIA.  It follows two protagonists, Fred Hampton, the head of the Illinois chapter, and Bill O'Neal, a small time criminal forced into the role of informant in exchange for escape from prosecution.  The film decidedly shows how the Panthers were more than activists for societal change, but also revolutionaries who proposed the notion that a civil society takes care of its most vulnerable, and they were doing just that with food pantries, support for single mothers, and other charitable work.  And the film reminds us that after all the work that Bill O'Neal did to undermine the Panthers and to infiltrate them, he ultimately appeared to agree with their message and regretted what he had done for the rest of his life.

The cast of this film is volcanic - the two nominated actors, LaKeith Stanfield (Bill O'Neal) and Daniel Kaluuya (Fred Hampton, and formerly nominated for Get Out) are both powerful leads delivering career-making performances, and the supporting actor category is perplexing. It is not without precedent though for films to campaign for supporting role categorizations when they think there is a better chance for a win in the supporting category.  While the film is unlikely to win Best Picture, the performances by this group of actors is worth every moment of your time (including a very underused Martin Sheen as J. Edgar Hoover).

If you don't get chills listening to Fred Hampton leading a crowd chanting, "I am a revolutionary," you should have your heart checked.

I'm happy that the first movie about which I am posting is also a film "based on a true story."  It gives me the opportunity to remind my loyal readers of my yearly caution.  Narrative films are not documentaries.  Narrative filmmakers have no obligation to the facts nor the truth.  A couple of years ago, a Republican politician quoted Churchill as support for a position he was taking... a quote that turned out to be from the movie, "The Darkest Hour" and one that had been made up for the story - something that Churchill never said and in fact, reflected a position he never held.  If you are fired up by this film, I beg you to follow up with biographies, documentaries, and other accounts from those who were there, rather than taking the film narrative as gospel.  I won't continue to harp on this in other posts, but once a year I remind you of this dear readers, and I have now done so for 2021.  End of TED talk.  I have placed some superficially researched resources at the bottom of this post (meaning I haven't necessarily read the books or watched the films) for you to pursue if you loved the film.

The nominated song, "Fight For You" is not only brilliant but has a haunting drumbeat that reminds you of a heartbeat while it proclaims, "Freedom ain't free at all."  You can listen to the song here: https://youtu.be/exJq2NrAwdc

Watch the trailer: https://youtu.be/sSjtGqRXQ9Y

Want to know more?

Watch this! 

Amazon Prime has a documentary short called, "Death of a Black Panther: Fred Hampton"

Read this!

The Assassination of Fred Hampton: How the FBI and the Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther by Jeffrey Haas

Read this!

Power to the People: The World of the Black Panthers by Bobby Seale and Stephen Shames

50 Shades of Grey - 1 nomination

"Earned It" - Music and Lyric by The Weeknd, Ahmad Balshe, Jason Daheala Quenneville and Stephan Moccio

50 Shades of Grey, more than any other film this year, exemplifies my motto for this blog, "I see all the movies so you don't have to see the bad ones."  I'd love to find even one good thing to say about this film - the acting was incredibly wooden, the premise was fundamentally misogynistic, and the screenplay was so boring.  If you haven't heard of the film, whose book was categorized as "mommy porn," a young virginal college student meets a rich and powerful man who will lavish her with gifts and lifestyle in exchange for engaging in a non-committal relationship centered around mild S&M.  I could talk for hours about the absurdity of this film, but that would give it far more attention and detail than it deserves.  You get the picture.

The nominated song starts well - with a strong tango-like beat and a beautiful opening.  I thought the song fizzled once it hit the chorus as it faded into a pop song with interesting strings in the background.  The lyrics are unimpressive, and I don't see this song as strong enough to win an Oscar.

It is rare when I can't find a single thing I like about a film, so in that regard, 50 Shades of Grey has achieved one notable accomplishment - even the likes of the ever-wonderful Marcia Gay Harden couldn't save a single scene.

SELMA - 2 nominations

Best Picture - Christian Colson, Oprah Winfrey, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner
Best Song - "Glory"  Music and Lyric by John Stephens and Lonnie Lynn

Selma is the story of the civil rights movement and Martin Luther King's vision to march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama to protest the laws keeping African Americans from voting.  Inherent in that struggle is the demand for equal rights across the board - working for the demise of segregation altogether.  The key challenge was not only to have institutionalized racism overturned, but also to ensure that the laws that had already passed protecting African American citizens were actively enforced.  It may have been legal for African Americans to vote, but that doesn't mean that the person working in city government was actually allowing people to register.

It's a very powerful, very moving film, with phenomenal performances, especially by David Oyelowo who embodied the spirit of MLK.  The best part of the film is that although we do follow Martin Luther King and his actions to make change, it equally lauds the people of Selma who endured humiliations, beatings, and other forms of degradation.  The victories do not rest solely on the charismatic leader, they sit in the hands of the people who made these tremendous sacrifices every day, in every possible way.  The choice to make MLK a very real person and show all sides of him (including that he was cheating on his wife), was a brave one. Ava DuVernay, as the Director of the film, did an outstanding job of personalizing the struggle and showing the realities of that time - not everyone believed that the chosen way was the correct way.  In some ways, MLK was seen in the film as a carpet bagger, picking the best towns to drop in on and do his work, which was not appreciated by everyone already working in that town.  I must admit that of all of the categories in which Selma was overlooked, Ava DuVernay not being nominated for Best Director is the most upsetting to me.  She did a brilliant job with this film.

The bottom line of what makes this film so well done is how real the portrayals are.  Now, this is a film so it would be foolish to assume that everything portrayed is accurate to the actual history of struggle.  There are those who are furious that President Johnson is portrayed as working against MLK, but we have to remember that this is a film in need of conflict.  I suspect the truth is somewhere in the middle.  There are those who are unhappy that other communities who were active and supportive of the efforts were not highlighted - I do not agree with those voices.  This film is one lens of the story, and what I sincerely hope is that people are inspired by the film to learn the true history of the struggle.  That would be a real victory.

Finally, I have to mention the song that is nominated for an Oscar, "Glory."  I believe this song to be absolutely the most powerful of the category.  John Legend and Common knocked it out of the park, and I'm sharing a video here that includes the lyrics so you can really be moved by its power.

BEYOND THE LIGHTS - 1 nomination

Original Song - "Grateful" Music and Lyric by Diane Warren

Beyond the Lights is the story of Noni (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), a remarkable award-winning singer and her Svengali mother (Minnie Driver) who controls every move that Noni makes.  Noni attempts suicide and is rescued by police officer/aspiring politician Kaz (Nate Parker), who also has his path being dictated by his father (Danny Glover).  They get together and he doesn't care about the fame, he loves her for who she is and he loves him for who he is, cue music.  And that's it - you can just as easily watch any other generic romantic film, and you'd get the same storyline.  This one is by the same filmmakers as Love and Basketball, so if you want romantic film with love story complications that the characters eventually overcome, you simply have to choose if you would prefer the harsh realities of the sports world or the harsh realities of the music business, and then watch the same movie with different settings and costumes.  I do love me some Minnie Driver, so ok, pick this one.

The song that is nominated, Grateful, is a nice song, but it's basically another pop song.  I happen to love the songwriter, Diane Warren, who has been nominated for Oscars for Best Song for decades (Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now, Mannequin; I Don't Want to Miss A Thing, Armageddon). Unfortunately for this song, it could just as easily be a Beyonce song or a Rhianna song - there is nothing distinctive about it that makes it a prime nominee for an Oscar... much like the movie.

So, I'm putting this squarely in the Oscar nomination miss category.  And, I'd wait for Netflix to see the film.  Hear the nominated song here:

THE LEGO MOVIE - 1 nomination

Best Song - Everything is Awesome, Music and Lyric by Shawn Patterson

In The Lego Movie, Chris Pratt voices Emmett, an ordinary construction worker who plays by the rules of society.  Elizabeth Banks voices Wild Style, a rebel who is convinced that Emmet fulfills a prophecy of being "the special," or the person who holds the key to saving the Lego universe by stopping Lord Business (Will Farrell) from freezing everyone into place.  As Emmett and Wild Style pursue a way to foil Lord Business' evil plans, they pick up assorted Lego characters as they travel the many neighborhoods of the Lego galaxy.

The Lego Movie was one of my favorite movies of the year, and for sure one of my favorite animated movies of the year.  (Color me a little bitter that it wasn't nominated for Animated Feature.)  It was funny and did an amazing job of pulling from all of our favorite Lego sets - there is an amazing scene where all of the Lego representatives come together and it seems like everyone who is anyone in the Lego world appears.  The cast of actors include everyone from Morgan Freeman to Alison Brie, Jonah Hill to Will Forte, and half the fun is figuring out who is playing whom.  

Everything Is Awesome is the nominated song that is meant to represent the nature of the Lego society - that is, group above individualism and rigorous adherence to the "way it's meant to be done" over exploring new ideas.  However, it is simply impossible to get the song out of your head once you've gotten it in.  (Watch the youtube clip at your own earworm peril!)  While I don't think it will win this year, I do love the song, because, well, everything about it IS awesome!

One more note about The Lego Movie - this film had every chance of feeling like a big product placement commercial for Legos.  The fact that it was a great film with an authentic story and a genuine lesson only speaks to how well it was done.  I recommend it most highly.

BEGIN AGAIN - 1 nomination

Original Song - Music and Lyric by Gregg Alexander and Danielle Brisebois

Begin Again is the sweet, yet predictable, story of Greta (Keira Knightly), a young songwriter who has followed her boyfriend Dave (Adam Levine) to New York as his music career is taking off.  Dave is on the precipice of becoming a huge rock star, and she is seeing her songs (sometimes co-authored with him) taking center stage.  When he returns from his tour, she intuits that he has cheated on her and their relationship falls apart.  Meanwhile, music executive Dan's (Mark Ruffalo) career is on a falling trajectory, and his relationships with his ex-wife and daughter aren't exactly stable.  It is at the intersection of these two talents - producer and songwriter - where Begin Again heats up.  Dan and Greta agree to record a unique album together, and their fires are rekindled - bringing her out of her post break up funk, bringing him out of his creative lull.  The great surprise of the film is how beautiful Keira Knightley's singing voice is and I left the film absolutely certain that I would buy her album.  CeeLo Green has an adorable cameo that captures his persona and his sweet side, and he was a fun addition to the film.

Lost Stars, the nominated song, is at the heart of the conflict between staying with one's old life or pursuing a new road ahead; between losing oneself to live another person's dream and letting go to find one's own voice.  It's a great song, and there are multiple versions of it as a sweet ballad, as a pop song, and as a hybrid of the two.  Check it out, performed here by Adam Levine.

Haven't seen the film?  Watch the trailer here: