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.
Best Sound: Amanda Villavieja, Laia Casanovas, Yasmina Praderas
A man and his young son are searching raves taking place in the desert looking for their daughter/sister who they haven’t seen in many months. She is an adult but still, they haven’t even heard from here and they are worried, walking around asking everyone they can if they remember seeing her. When the rave is raided by soldiers, they follow some “professional ravers” to another potential venue. The ravers warn them that they don’t have the right kind of vehicle to transverse the treacherous terrain, but they go nonetheless, determined to find their family member. There is something very suspicious about these ravers though, and we are always just a bit on edge while the three vehicles do what they can to stay together.
And then there is THAT moment. The moment when the movie you think you have been watching becomes a different movie entirely. A moment so dramatic and unexpected that the gasp I let out took a few minutes to subside. Those moments continue all the way to the very end of the picture, and it is for these twists and turns that I award Sirat my “hidden gem award.” Longtime readers of the blog know that the award is given every year to a film that I hadn’t even heard of before it was nominated for an Oscar, and then once seen it became one of my favorite and unforgettable movies of the year. For the reason, I highly suggest seeing Sirat. While it is not an easy film, it will not easily be forgotten.
Best Sound: Gareth John, Al Nelson, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Gary A. Rizzo, Juan Peralta Best Achievement in Visual Effects: Ryan Tudhope, Nicolas Chevallier, Robert Harrington, Keith Dawson Best Motion Picture of the Year: Chad Oman, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Joseph Kosinski, Jerry Bruckheimer Best Achievement in Film Editing: Stephen Mirrione
Put your hand up if you remember my favorite film genre: that’s right, musicals! But tied for first with musicals is without a doubt sports movies. Sports movies have heart - someone (or a team) work hard to overcome obstacles and they win! or they lose! but they learn something about grit and cliches like “the love of the game” and “it ain’t over til it’s over.” And when that last second arrives, “it all comes down to this.” If you’re not on the edge of your seat, or crying a little bit, then either you are made of stone or the movie wasn’t very good.
F1 was every cliche in the sports book. The seasoned athlete who has wisdom, experience, and calm is engaged to work with the young hotshot who knows everything and has it all ahead of him. The seasoned pro thinks all of the technology for training is ridiculous, the young gun thinks the old pro is past his prime and too old school to teach him anything. Then the wizened teammate begins to make big scores for the team moving them closer and closer to their goal, and their relationship blossoms while they chase the dream. Yep - that’s all in there, including the forbidden and unprofessional courting of the woman on their team; this time she is an expert on aerodynamics and building cars that go really fast.
But I just told you that I love a sports movie and F1 is no exception. Every single nomination for the technical achievements is well deserved - the sound, the editing, the visual effects combine to make one hell of an exciting, edge of your seat experience. A best picture? No. Nothing has me more surprised than the inclusion of F1 in that prestigious list, and I wonder if that isn’t just Jerry Bruckheimer and Brad Pitt working the circuit to make the top 10. I could easily replace F1 with two or three of the other films that have nominations this year. Having said that, a super fun romp with a lot of heart makes F1 a fantastic watch for a light evening with a great bowl of popcorn.
"Oh, what a celebration we'll have today! Thank goodness!"
What if we could go back in time and learn how the Wicked Witch of the West became so reviled and renowned? That's the story of Wicked Part 1 when Elphaba and Glinda are paired together at Shiz University and shenanigans unfold. Glinda is popular and beautiful, Elphaba is studious and different, that is to say, green. And while normal maneuverings at school and normal love triangles abound, there is also a populist movement against talking animals; maligning them and making people fear them as the enemy. (hmmm, totally unrealistic, of course). Elphaba doesn't want to be different, much like most people, but also doesn't want to admit that she is troubled by her difference. When the head mistress takes a special in her interest as a practitioner of magic, Elphaba is invited to meet the Wonderful Wizard of Oz who lives in the Emerald City. Having now developed a friendship with Glinda, she invites her friend to come along and off the two go to meet the wizard.
I'm a huge fan of the musical (and for the love of God, would somebody please give Marc Platt his do over Oscar? Haven't you bothered this guy enough???) Back to the musical - if you know it, if you love it, if you have trouble sitting quietly in the theater and not singing along with the songs, you're going to absolutely love this film! But more than that, seeing it on screen brought to life two concepts from the stage that I had overlooked.
First, there's the trip to the Emerald City where everything is green. it hit me watching the magnificent costumes and production design that Elphaba's visit to the city is the first time in her life that she fits in more than the popular girl. She has come to the land of green, where green is keen (sorry, I couldn't resist) and it is everywhere. I know the movie sprinkled in tiny bits of pink into the Emerald City, but that choice showed even more how Glinda and her pink personality didn't quite fit in the hallowed city as much as Elphaba does. I can imagine both overwhelmed by the new feelings - fitting in for one, sticking out for the other.
The other revelation is how many plays on good, goodness, bad disguised as good, good disguised as bad - the themes are literally spread throughout the entire movie. If you've seen it already, go back and watch or go back and listen to the soundtrack. Almost every use of the word good has multiple meanings, "I have been changed for good." Does that mean I have been changed in a good way, or does that mean I have been changed permanently? Or both? Even the line I opened this post with - Thank Goodness! Is that, "thank the one who is representing good (Glinda)," is it "thank the state of being good," or just the plain old "phew!" This show is riddled with these suckers, and watching the movie again was a pleasure for all of the new discoveries that await even the longest time fan of the show. (or, good God, maybe just me... oh! There's another one!)
See this film for goodness sake! (That's another one... is it, "for the sake of goodness" or is it "gosh darn it!" OK I'LL STOP NOW.)
Remember when I said that being nominated 4 times for a single movie was pretty impressive? Well Jacques Audiard is nominated 5 times for this single movie, where he seems to have done everything except craft services. Guess what else? The film is nominated for Adapted Screenplay, because Audiard had already produced an opera libretto which was based on a book.
The story follows Rita, a discontented defense attorney who is engaged by a cartel kingpin to give him the cover he needs to transition to being a woman, including helping him fake his own death and relocating his wife and children to Switzerland. Once she has transitioned, she begins to live a new life as a philanthropist and do-gooder (with a hint of corruption on the side), and she decides that she misses her family terribly and asks Rita to bring them back to Mexico to live with her. Her ex-wife rekindles an affair she was having while still married, and adds another layer of complication to this already complicated life. The film reflects on criminality, corruption, family, and the question of whether life truly changes when the core personality does not.
Before I saw the film, I had no idea it was a musical. Selena Gomez turns out to be a non-fluent Spanish speaker who pulls off acting and emoting while speaking the language. Zoe Saldana turns out to be a trained dancer who can also really sing. And those were just the smallest of surprises. Everything about this film is not what you expect it to be, in all of the best ways. I loved it, the music and the songs are excellent and beautifully choreographed. The cinematography was exceptional. I imagine that Selena Gomez was a breath away from a Supporting Actress nomination (which would have tied EP with the three other films in history to garner 14 nominations, the record.) The whole of this film is even greater than the sum of its parts, and its parts are pretty magnificent.
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