I remember first taking an interest in the Oscars in 1998. That may be because it was the year Titanic set the record for most nominations, and that probably drummed up a lot of noise. But I don’t remember that. What I remember is thinking L.A. Confidential, a best picture nominee, looked really cool (old-timey cops, a mystery, a beautiful lady mysteriously in the center of it all). But I was 12 in 1998 and I didn’t end up seeing L.A. Confidential until a couple years ago (which was for the best, since I don’t think I would have appreciated it, much less even followed the complicated plot, back then and I really enjoyed it when I saw it).
I have always ended up seeing most of the best picture nominees, but it wasn’t until a few years ago that I started making a point to see all of them every year (and as many of the best actor/actress movies as I can). This year it came down to the wire. The Oscars are tonight and I saw the last nominee last night.
I wrote about the nominees last year and wanted to do it again this year. But I also promised an update to my best of 2016 power rankings (below). So I combined them. The best picture nominees are in bold. I wrote about the ones I haven't already written about in posts below.
1. Moonlight
We watched this last night and I guess I saved the best for last. Moonlight is about three stages of one guy’s life. It’s slow and quiet and yet somehow managed to keep me on the edge of my seat like a well-crafted thriller. I think the secret is in the empathy it builds. The story feels so true and the characters so real and rich and complicated, the way real life and real people are, that the struggles and suffering, and ultimately the hope, sinks in with richness and color and genuine feeling. It all feels so true that it puts real life into perspective. Chiron isn’t a real person, but there are so many real people just like him with problems and struggles just like his, and worse. In that way Moonlight transcends its form through empathy, and by connecting with real life, does one of the best things movies can do.
It is also beautifully filmed and full of great performances. It feels like more than a movie, but it’s also, to me, the best movie of the year.
2. Manchester by the Sea
When movies sit and soak for a little while, sometimes their status changes in my mind. I still love La La Land, even though it dropped two spots since last time, but the other two left me with a little more to chew on. La La Land is going to win a lot tonight.
4. The Witch
5. Hunt for the Wilderpeople
I still have a lot of love for these two and I would have loved to see some Oscar recognition - maybe in the screenplay categories.
6. Moana
My favorite animated movie this year, but I think Zootopia is going to take the prize (and I’m not mad about it. I liked that one too).
7. Rams
Hell or High Water is a modern day western. It trades out the mindless gun play of the worst westerns and keeps the pointed, intense action of the best ones, while simmering with a quiet rage and leaving itself with something to say. That rage simmers in real life and has led to surprising results recently in both American and British politics. It’s the rage of the little guy in the face of the greedy and powerful. Whether that rage is warranted in real life is another question, but it works here as the two brothers wage war against the banks and the invisible hands they feel are oppressing them and the towns and way of life dying around them.
9. Arrival
I thought Sully might steal a best picture nomination and maybe take the Hacksaw Ridge spot. I think it should have. Tom Hanks could have snuck into the best actor category as well, but I think both he and that performance are too steady to stand out.
11. Fences
I understand why this one didn’t work for some people. It’s very clearly adapted from a stage play - though ‘adapted’ might be generous as I can’t imagine much was changed. It’s full of long dramatic monologues and the kind of poetic language that sounds much better than it is realistic. The characters still speak like a blue collar black family in the 50s, but they go on and on in a way nobody does. And Denzel Washington’s Troy can be such a horrible jerk, almost too much of one. But if you can get past that, there’s a lot to enjoy. It’s a portrait of a hard man, hardened by a hard life. Life is not black and white. When you look closer, there are so many different shades and different colors. When someone is awful, there is always a reason for it. The reasons don’t excuse the awfulness and knowing them still may not create any sympathy for the awful person. But it puts their behaviour in context. So if Fences’ presentation isn’t realistic, the way it portrays a difficult person and the people around him feels very true to life. It shows how life can contradict itself and how people can love and hate someone at the same time.
12. Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping
Popstar is a satire of modern celebrity culture and the speed at which fame comes and goes. It’s also a parody of no stars in particular - though there is some Justin Bieber to it, some boy band elements, and a little Macklemore (especially when Connor4Real releases his tone deaf single in support of gay marriage with frequent references to his own heterosexuality) - while parodying stardom itself. And it’s hilarious. There are songs about how the Mona Lisa is overrated and about making love “with the clinical efficiency of the assassination of Bin Laden,” Will Arnett’s perfect spoof of the TMZ guy, and the funniest gross-out scene I’ve ever seen (if you’ve seen it, you know the one). It’s definitely not a movie you’d watch with your grandma (unless your grandma is hilarious), but it made me laugh more than any movie has in a while.
13. Everybody Wants Some!!
It’s not the most memorable Star Wars movie - except for that one scene at the end. And it’s probably the least fun (I think some of the prequels are too fun, which is no fun at all), though I did appreciate some of the darker and more serious elements - good guys that kill to get what they want, spies and traitors, and morally compromising situations. But its action really stands out. It combines some of the best elements of modern-day war movies, with their Middle Eastern set pieces, with World War II epic battles in a very exciting way. There are some really interesting characters, though they get lost in the mix and Felicity Jones’s Jyn isn’t one of them. But it made me appreciate The Force Awakens that much more, as it combined the fun, action, adventure, characters, locations, and big ideas of the best of Star Wars so much better than Rogue One did. Rogue One had elements of each of those, but the balance was off. But that last scene - it may have put the movie on this list by itself.
18. Hidden Figures
Hidden Figures tells a great story that deserves to be told, includes some great performances, and is generally well put together. There were a few times when people acted in ways I can’t imagine anyone in the 60s acting - Kevin Costner really didn’t know there were separate bathrooms for black people until that speech? And I can’t imagine a black woman making such a speech. But overall it was excellent, though that’s about all there is to say about it. It didn’t leave me with a whole lot to think about or even relate to. Though it is good to recognize the contributions of, not just the historically underappreciated or underrepresented minority groups, but the many people behind the momentous achievements throughout history who don’t get their names in the headlines.
19. Lion
I enjoyed the first third of the movie. I can’t get into what didn’t work for me about the rest of it without getting into spoiler territory. So you’ve been warned. Here it comes:
The second two thirds are just Dev Patel moping around. And it comes out of nowhere. He sees those pepper things at the party and then instantly decides he’s not going to talk to anyone ever again (did it not occur to him to wonder about it until he saw those peppers?). His girlfriend is very supportive. His adoptive parents seem to be the kindest people on Earth and definitely the sort of people who would understand his desire to find where he came from. But he shuts them both out for no reason. And the whole problem turned out to be very easy to solve. His recollection of his town’s name wasn’t THAT far off from the actual name. He could have googled a list of Indian town names that start with K, and the right town likely would have stuck out. He could have at least narrowed it down to a few, looked those ones up and followed the train lines out of each of them. Maybe if he would have spoken to another human being they could have told him about that strategy. The movie is based on a true story, so maybe that’s exactly how it all happened.
Also, the movie didn’t highlight his birth mother enough for me to feel much for her when they finally reunite. I mean, of course that experience would be very powerful and emotional and in my mind I feel for her. But the movie didn’t really set up the emotional payoff that it seems to be going for. Mopey dude finds a lady who was only in a scene or two an hour and a half ago - it didn’t work for me.
But the little guy at the beginning was great and that whole setup was powerful. It made me want to keep my kids on a leash.
20. Justin Timberlake + The Tennessee Kids
Even though he is one of the biggest stars in the world, it seems Justin Timberlake is still somehow underrated. People don’t call themselves “entertainers” anymore, and there probably isn’t a lot of people that would qualify. But JT would be the last of a dying breed. I only like a few of his songs and I put this on out of curiosity, but I couldn’t turn it off. The whole thing could probably get by on Timberlake’s charisma alone, but the filmmaker deserves a lot of credit for making it much more interesting than any other music documentary or live performance I’ve ever seen on screen. JT is at the center of it all, but the camera spends a lot of time on all the other people that make such an elaborate show possible - the backup singers, the dancers, each member of the band. Add that to the interesting camera angles and movements and high production value and it ends up being more of a movie than just a recording of a concert.
No comments:
Post a Comment