97th Oscar Nominations (2025)

 So far, this month has been a shitshow and I have been struuuugglinnnnnng.  Similarly, the Oscars were supposed to be announced on Monday but got pushed back to today because of fires.  Like the dumpster fire that is my life.  Anyway, here's some nominees.

Best Picture

Anora
The Brutalist
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Dune: Part 2
Emilia Perez
I'm Still Here
Nickel Boys
The Substance
Wicked

Best Supporting Actor

Yuriy Borisov - Anora
Kieran Culkin  - A Real Pain
Edward Norton - A Complete Unknown
Guy Pearce - The Brutalist
Jeremy Strong - The Apprentice

Best Costume Design

A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Gladiator II
Nosferatu
Wicked

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

A Different Man
Emilia Perez 
Nosferatu
The Substance
Wicked

Best Original Score

The Brutalist
Conclave
Emilia Perez
Wicked
The Wild Robot

Best Live-Action Short

A Lien
Anuja
I'm Not a Robot
The Last Ranger
The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent

Best Animated Short

Beautiful Men
In the Shadow of the Cypress
Magic Candies
Wander to Wonder
Yuck!

Best Adapted Screenplay

A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Emilia Perez
Nickel Boys
Sing Sing

Best Original Screenplay

Anora
The Brutalist
A Real Pain
September 5
The Substance

Best Supporting Actress

Monica Barbaro - A Complete Unknown
Ariana Grande - Wicked
Felicity Jones - The Brutalist
Isabella Rossellini - Conclave
Zoe Saldaña - Emilia Perez

Best Original Song

"Never Too Late" - Elton John: Never Too Late
"El Mal" - Emilia Perez
"Mi Camino" - Emilia Perez
"Like a Bird" - Sing Sing
"The Journey" - The Six Triple Eight

Best Documentary Feature

Black Box Diaries
No Other Land
Porcelain War
Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat
Sugarcane

Best Documentary Short

Death by Numbers
I Am Ready, Warden
Incident
Instruments of a Beating Heart
The Only Girl in the Orchestra

Best International Feature

I'm Still Here - Brazil
The Girl with the Needle - Denmark
Emilia Perez - France
The Seed of the Sacred Fig - Germany
Flow - Latvia

Best Animated Feature

Flow
Inside Out 2
Memoir of a Snail
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
The Wild Robot

Best Production Design

The Brutalist
Conclave
Dune: Part 2
Nosferatu
Wicked

Best Sound

A Complete Unknown
Dune: Part 2
Emilia Perez
Wicked
The Wild Robot

Best Visual Effects

Alien: Romulus
Better Man
Dune: Part 2
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Wicked

Best Actor

Adrien Brody - The Brutalist
Timothée Chalamet - A Complete Unknown
Coman Domingo - Sing Sing
Ralph Fiennes - Conclave
Sebastian Stan - The Apprentice

Best Actress

Cynthia Erivo - Wicked
Karla Sofia Gascon - Emilia Perez
Mikey Madison - Anora
Demi Moore - The Substance
Fernanda Torres - I'm Still Here

Best Directing

Jacques Audiard - Emilia Perez
Sean Baker - Anora
Brady Corbet - The Brutalist
Coralie Fargeat - The Substance
James Mangold - A Complete Unknown

A lot of overlap here from the Critics Choice and Golden Globes, as to be expected.  Feeling pretty good about myself for having seen 3 Best Picture nominees already.  That's way more than usual.  

You guys know the drill by now.  This blog is now Oscar central until March 2.  Check back here for... I was going to say updates but that's kind of dumb since you'll be able to see all the posts from the side menu there.  I guess check here to see how many I get done?  All in one convenient list?  

96th Academy Awards

They moved the start time of the Oscar telecast up and I was not prepared.  I typically like to do a predictions post because it helps me cement my thoughts about the nominees and then update it with the winners but that did not happen on Sunday.  

Best Supporting Actress went to Da'Vine Joy Randolph for The Holdovers.  I didn't love that movie and she was not my pick to win but she gave a beautiful heartfelt speech and it clearly meant a great deal to her so I'm happy for her.

Best Animated Feature went to The Boy and the Heron, one the two films I didn't get to see.  It's a Miyazaki, so I'm sure it's excellent but it's always disappointing when I can't get to the frontrunners.

Best Animated Short went to the Beatles-inspired War is Over! Side note:  I had no idea Yoko Ono was 91.  That's insane to me.

When American Fiction got announced as the winner for Best Adapted Screenplay, I knew it wasn't going to win anything else.  They did the same thing with Straight Outta Compton.

Best Original Screenplay went to Anatomy of a Fall and they played that goddamn song.  But they did have the dog there and that made it worth it.  At one point, I thought I hallucinated that they had fake paws clapping in a reaction shot but I found a picture online and it was real.  

Best Makeup, Production Design, and Costume Design all went to Poor Things.  Can't be mad about that.

Best International Feature went to The Zone of Interest which was justly deserved but also immediately removed it from consideration for Best Picture.  No fucking way was it getting both.

Robert Downey, Jr. won his first Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, but it kind of felt like a "hey, you got clean and turned your life around, good job" kind of prize instead.  He was fine in Oppenheimer but there were better performances.  (#JusticeForSterlingKBrown)

Best Visual Effects went to Godzilla Minus One and if they could give an award for Best Group Acceptance, it would also go to them.  They had matching shoes and each of them brought their own Godzilla action figure.  A++.

Best Film Editing went to Oppenheimer.

Jimmy Kimmel did a sponsored bit with Don Julio tequila where his long-time night show sidekick declared he was married to Charlize Theron, which came as a surprise to the actress.  Clearly, because she knows that she's actually married to me.

Best Documentary Feature went to 20 Days in Mariupol, which also represented the first national win for Ukraine.  That should give it even more gravitas when it gets shown at the Hague.

Best Documentary Short went to The Last Repair Shop and they brought up one of the kids from the movie (presumably.  I didn't get to any of the shorts this year) who looked completely entranced and that was very sweet and lovely.

Best Cinematography went to Oppenheimer.  Acceptable.

Best Live Action Short went to The Wonderful World of Henry Sugar.

Best Sound went to The Zone of Interest in one of those deeply satisfying wins.

Best Original Song went to "What Was I Made For" from Barbie, it's only win of the night.  Best live performance of the nominees however, was Ryan Gosling doing a take on Gentlemen Prefer Blondes singing "I'm Just Ken" with all the Kens and actual fucking Slash on guitar.  Would have loved it if Slash had worn pink, but I understand the aesthetic.  

Best Original Score went to Oppenheimer.  The safe choice.

Best Actor went to Cillian Murphy.  Again, safe.

Best Director went to Christopher Nolan.

Best Actress went to Emma Stone.  I know that was a hard win for some people, myself included, who would have loved to see Lily Gladstone take it, but Emma Stone acted her tits off in Poor Things.  I can't fault that.  Also, her panic over her zipper breaking was so real.  I cannot imagine trying to stand in front of a huge room of people trying to give a speech while also worrying that my strapless dress is going to fall off.

In a related note, Emily Blunt's rigid strap dress has been polarizing the online community but I thought it was very Metropolis-inspired so I was willing to go with it.  For me, the worst dressed of the night was a tie between upcoming Wicked co-stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo.  Grande looked mildly concussed (but she always kind of does) in a failed Wonka bubblegum monstrosity and Erivo's green leather/pleather sheath was unflattering and did not look like it fit her.  She is a beautiful woman and they made her look like an overripe avocado.  A crime.  Honorable mentions go to Dwayne Johnson for head-to-toe no-no satin and whatever the scabby fuck was going on with Matthew McConaughey's facial hair.

And Best Picture went to Oppenheimer, announced by a clearly over-it Al Pacino.  

The best presenter of the night was John Cena walking out naked save for a pair of Birkenstocks to deliver the award for Best Costume and then being draped in a curtain a la The Carol Burnett Show's Gone with the Wind episode.  Excellent homage.  Utter commitment to the bit.  You love to see it.

And that's it for this year's award season.  I managed to see 29 of the 53 nominees, a little over half, in just under a month and now I would like to watch something fluffy and inconsequential for the next month.

2024 Oscar Nominations

Best Picture

American Fiction
Anatomy of a Fall
Barbie
The Holdovers
Killers of the Flower Moon
Maestro
Oppenheimer
Past Lives
Poor Things
The Zone of Interest

No real surprises here.  There's the obligatory Holocaust-But-Centered-on-Germans film, the Weird One, the Blockbuster/Here's-One-for-the-Plebs, a couple of biopics, a Black-led and an Asian film so they can pretend they're not racist.

Best Director

Justine Triet - Anatomy of a Fall

Martin Scorsese - Killers of the Flower Moon

Christopher Nolan - Oppenheimer

Yorgos Lanthimos - Poor Things

Jonathan Glazer - The Zone of Interest

Looks like Triet got the Woman in Directing slot so no room for Greta Gerwig.  Everyone else is white and male, so expected.

Best Actor

Bradley Cooper - Maestro

Colman Domingo - Rustin

Paul Giamatti - The Holdovers

Cillian Murphy - Oppenheimer

Jeffrey Wright - American Fiction

No big upsets here unless you're Leonardo DiCaprio.

Best Actress

Annette Benning - Nyad

Lily Gladstone - Killers of the Flower Moon

Sandra Hüller - Anatomy of a Fall

Carey Mulligan - Maestro

Emma Stone - Poor Things

No Margot Robbie.  No Julianne Moore.

Best Supporting Actor

Sterling K. Brown - American Fiction

Robert De Niro - Killers of the Flower Moon

Robert Downey, Jr. - Oppenheimer

Ryan Gosling - Barbie

Mark Ruffalo - Poor Things

Best Supporting Actress

Emily Blunt - Oppenheimer

Danielle Brooks - The Color Purple 

America Ferrara - Barbie

Jodie Foster - Nyad

Da'Vine Joy Randolph - The Holdovers

The Academy is going all-in for Nyad.  No Natalie Portman.

Best Adapted Screenplay

American Fiction

Barbie

Oppenheimer

Poor Things

The Zone of Interest

The Barbenheimer showdown for real.

Best Original Screenplay

Anatomy of a Fall

The Holdovers

Maestro

May December

Past Lives

Best Animated Feature

The Boy and the Heron

Elemental

Nimona

Robot Dreams

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Best Documentary Feature

Bobi Wine: The People's President

The Eternal Memory

Four Daughters

To Kill a Tiger

20 Days in Mariupol

Best International Feature

Io Capitano - Italy

Perfect Days - Japan

Society of the Snow - Spain

The Teacher's Lounge - Germany

The Zone of Interest - United Kingdom

Interesting that Past Lives didn't get nominated here.

Best Animated Short

Letter to a Pig

Ninety-Five Senses

Our Uniform

Pachyderme

War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko

Best Live-Action Short

The After

Invincible

Knight of Fortune

Red, White and Blue

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

Best Documentary Short

The ABCs of Book Banning

The Barber of Little Rock

Island in Between

The Last Repair Shop

Nai Nai & Wài Pó

Best Cinematography

El Conde

Killers of the Flower Moon

Maestro

Oppenheimer

Poor Things

Best Costume Design

Barbie

Killers of the Flower Moon

Napoleon

Oppenheimer

Poor Things

Best Hair and Makeup

Golda

Maestro

Oppenheimer

Poor Things

Society of the Snow

Best Original Song

"The Fire Inside" - Flamin' Hot

"I'm Just Ken" - Barbie

"It Never Went Away" - American Symphony

"Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)" - Killers of the Flower Moon

"What Was I Made For?" - Barbie

What a world.  Ridley Scott just got as many nominations as the origin story of Flamin' Hot Cheetos.  Amazing.

Best Original Score

American Fiction

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

Killers of the Flower Moon

Oppenheimer

Poor Things

Best Production Design

Barbie

Killers of the Flower Moon

Napoleon

Oppenheimer

Poor Things

Best Film Editing

Anatomy of a Fall

The Holdovers

Killers of the Flower Moon

Oppenheimer

Poor Things

Best Sound

The Creator

Maestro

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One

Oppenheimer

The Zone of Interest

Fun fact:  the sound editors had to create a whole ambient overlay to cover the sound of Tom Cruise's joints creaking.

Best Visual Effects

The Creator

Godzilla: Minus One

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One

Napoleon

Okay, so Scott ended up with three nominations.  That's respectable.  Probably still going to feel like a snub, though.

Oppenheimer is leading the board but I expected more for Barbie, if I'm honest.  Cutting Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig is a slight.  The May December camp is probably feeling the sting too.  Hilarious that two major films about women were overshadowed by their supporting male leads.  But it means we're getting a live performance from Gosling which makes all the misogyny worth it.

As always, the clock starts now on me watching as many of these things as I can until the ceremony on March 10.  Stay tuned.

95th Annual Academy Awards (2023)

 Oscars were last night.  Here's your recap.  

Jimmy Kimmel hosted for a third time but couldn't seem to get out of his own way, telling repetitive jokes about the Slap, the length of the telecast, and movies versus TV.  

Best Animated Feature went to Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio.

Best Supporting Actor went to Ke Huy Quan in one of the most emotional wins of the night.

Best Supporting Actress went to Jamie Lee Curtis.  I was really rooting for Stephanie Hsu or Hong Chau but if you consider this Oscar a lifetime achievement award for the number of times Curtis has been passed over in genre films, it stings a little less.  

Sofia Carson and Diane Warren performed "Applause", one of the nominated songs and frankly the second best musical number of the night, which isn't saying much.  All the performances except "Naatu Naatu" were low-energy.  Gaga looked like she was on MTV Unplugged, Rihanna seemed sleep-deprived, and David Byrne warbled off-key all over Stephanie Hsu.

Best Documentary Feature went to Navalny, which is the only one I saw in that category so that was lucky.

Best Live Action Short went to An Irish Goodbye, which I think was the only Irish thing that won all night.

Best Cinematography went to All Quiet on the Western Front.

Best Hair and Makeup went to The Whale because of course it did.

Best Costume Design went to Ruth Carter for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever making her the only African American with two Oscars.

Academy President Janet Yang came out in bedazzled choir robes looking like she was going to sentence people to the Phantom Zone.

Best International Feature went to All Quiet on the Western Front.

Best Documentary Short went to The Elephant Whisperers.

Best Animated Short went to The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse

Best Production Design went to All Quiet on the Western Front and so did Best Original Score.  At that point in the ceremony I started to get very nervous about Best Picture because All Quiet was winning too many things.

Best Visual Effects went to Avatar: The Way of Water because it used The Most Visual Effects Without Being Classified as Animated.

Best Original Screenplay went to Everything Everywhere All at Once

Best Adapted Screenplay went to Women Talking, as is right and proper.

Best Sound went to Top Gun: Maverick.

Best Original Song went to "Naatu Naatu" from RRR.  Also the correct choice.

John Travolta came out looking like Wooly Willy to present the In Memorium, which left out Kevin Conroy and Charlbi Dean while also looking like a high schooler's attempt to be fancy with PowerPoint.

Best Film Editing went to Everything Everywhere All at Once.

Best Director went to The Daniels for EEAAO.

Best Actor went to Brendan Fraser, as expected.

Best Actress went to Michelle Yeoh just before they dropped the bombshell that this woman has no formal training in martial arts and in fact, trained as a ballerina.  So she's just a world-class athlete, then.  Even more badass.  

And Best Picture went to Everything Everywhere, the populist choice for once.

So there you have it.  I agreed with the majority of the choices for winner and I was pleased as punch that Banshees went home empty-handed.

95th Academy Award Nominations

You know what goes great with coffee on a Tuesday morning?  Outrage.   *ahem*  Why in THEE FUCK is Top Gun 2 nominated for Best Picture?!  And Glass Onion gets the pity Adapted Screenplay nod??  Excuse me??  And where exactly is Nope?  Nowhere to be seen!  SIX!  SIX nominations for Top Gun!  *sips coffee* Oh, the whole main cast of EEAO got nominated, that's nice.  And Brendan Fraser.  That makes me happy.  No disrespect to Cate Blanchett but if Michelle Yeoh doesn't win, I will riot.  Haven't seen either movie yet, but I've loved Michelle Yeoh since Wing Chun.  What the fuck is Triangle of Sadness?  And why didn't RRR get on the International Feature list?  I thought that was a shoe-in.

Best Picture

All Quiet on the Western Front
Avatar: The Way of Water
The Banshees of Inisherin
Elvis
Everything Everywhere All at Once
The Fabelmans
Tár
Top Gun: Maverick
Triangle of Sadness
Women Talking

Best Director

Martin McDonagh - The Banshees of Inisherin
Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert - Everything Everywhere All at Once
Steven Spielberg - The Fabelmans
Todd Field - Tár
Ruben Östlund - Triangle of Sadness

Best Actor

Austin Butler - Elvis
Colin Farrell - The Banshees of Inisherin
Brendan Fraser - The Whale
Paul Mescal - Aftersun
Bill Nighy - Living

Best Actress

Cate Blanchett - Tár
Ana de Armas - Blonde
Andrea Riseborough - To Leslie
Michelle Williams - The Fabelmans
Michelle Yeoh - Everything Everywhere All at Once

Best Supporting Actor

Brendan Gleeson - The Banshees of Inisherin
Brian Tyree Henry - Causeway
Judd Hirsch - The Fabelmans
Barry Keoghan - The Banshees of Inisherin
Ke Huy Quan - Everything Everywhere All at Once

Best Supporting Actress

Angela Bassett - Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Hong Chau - The Whale
Kerry Condon - The Banshees of Inisherin
Jamie Lee Curtis - Everything Everywhere All at Once
Stephanie Hsu - Everything Everywhere All at Once

Best Adapted Screenplay

All Quiet on the Western Front
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Living
Top Gun: Maverick
Women Talking

Best Original Screenplay

The Banshees of Inisherin
Everything Everywhere All at Once
The Fabelmans
Tár
Triangle of Sadness

Best Animated Feature

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
The Sea Beast
Turning Red

Best International Feature 

All Quiet on the Western Front
Argentina, 1985
Close
Eo
The Quiet Girl

Best Documentary Feature

All That Breathes
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
Fire of Love
A House Made of Splinters
Navalny

Best Film Editing

The Banshees of Inisherin
Elvis
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Tár
Top Gun: Maverick

Best Cinematography

All Quiet on the Western Front
Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths
Elvis
Empire of Light
Tár

Best Costume Design

Babylon
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Elvis
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris

Best Hair and Makeup

All Quiet on the Western Front
The Batman
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Elvis
The Whale

Best Production Design

All Quiet on the Western Front
Avatar: The Way of Water
Babylon
Elvis
The Fabelmans

Best Original Song

"Applause" - Tell It Like a Woman
"Hold My Hand" - Top Gun: Maverick
"Lift Me Up" - Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
"Naatu Naatu" - RRR
"This is a Life" - Everything Everywhere All at Once

Best Original Score

All Quiet on the Western Front
Babylon
The Banshees of Inisherin
Everything Everywhere All at Once
The Fabelmans

Best Sound

All Quiet on the Western Front
Avatar: The Way of Water
The Batman
Elvis
Top Gun: Maverick

Best Visual Effects

All Quiet on the Western Front
Avatar: The Way of Water
The Batman
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Top Gun: Maverick

Best Animated Short

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse
The Flying Sailor
Ice Merchants
My Year of Dicks
An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake, and I Think I Believe It

Best Live Action Short 

An Irish Goodbye
Ivalu
Le Pupille
Night Ride
The Red Suitcase

Best Documentary Short

The Elephant Whisperers
Haulout
How Do You Measure a Year?
The Martha Mitchell Effect
Stranger at the Gate

A lot of work cut out for me, as you can see.  Oscar ceremony is March 12.  Best to get cracking.

Anna Karenina (2012)

(This was supposed to go up on Saturday while I'm out of town but apparently you can't schedule a post for the future if you've already posted it, so do me a favor and don't read it until then, k?)

I know I said I wasn't going to watch it again, but there it was on my server.  I had forgotten how incredible the production design was.  I was less invested this time and was able to appreciate it much more as an art piece than an adaptation of a novel.  I still think the blond hair on ATJ is awful but the costumes and jewelry are a nice distraction from it.  

If you are a fan of Pining and Forbidden Love, this is probably right up there for you.  If you are a fan of shiny things and gilded trappings, congratulations on also being a magpie.  Originally posted 18 Feb 2013.

Nominated for:  Best Cinematography, Best Costumes, Best Original Score, and Best Production Design    This was an incredibly beautiful-looking film.  From opening credits to close, there was not a single frame that was not gorgeous.  It probably deserves every Oscar it's nominated for.  

I read the book a long time ago, back when I was going through my Russian novelist phase, and did not care for it.  This is actually what broke the phase if you want honesty.  Mild spoilers ahead.

Anna (Keira Knightley) is a Russian noblewoman who lives a life of luxury.  She gets called from St. Petersburg to Moscow by her brother (Matthew MacFadyen) after his affair with a governess.  He wants Anna to get his wife (Kelly Macdonald) to forgive him.  She is also happy to see her childhood friend Kitty (Alicia Vikander) who is about to be engaged to a young cavalry officer named Count Vronsky (Aaron Taylor-Johnson).  Unfortunately, the moment Vronsky sees Anna, all thoughts of Kitty are gone.  They have a torrid affair, bringing shame to Anna's straitlaced husband Karenin (Jude Law) and causing the lovers to be ostracized by polite society.

Drama, drama, drama.  This was like the trashiest soap opera of the 19th century.  It doesn't read as well today with the change in social mores on divorce, and Anna comes across more bi-polar than torn apart by love.  I felt like it was weird to see Aaron Taylor-Johnson as a love interest after Kick Ass and that blond hair was awful on him.  This was probably Jude Law's most unattractive movie as well, with the glasses and receding hairline, but he carried it better than his younger rival.  Christy said she found the movie hard to process as "Russian" since the entire cast was British, but that didn't bother me so much.  How many Russian actors can you name after all? 

Almost the entire production is set as though it was on a stage, which was a bold choice but an elegant one.  It really carries the feel of a Moulin Rouge! type of spectacle, minus the singing.  I don't think I could watch it again because it's depressing as hell, but Christy said she'd most likely end up buying it because it's so beautifully shot.

Oscar Recap

 Well, wasn't that exciting?

We'll get to it, don't you worry.  But first, can we just acknowledge the utter irony of ABC trying desperately to raise ratings by adding stupid audience participation categories and taking out long-established ones when they could have just hired a couple of Real Housewives to mud wrestle?

So Ariana DuBose won Best Supporting Actress, which was nice, and she gave a lovely speech.

Dune won Best Sound, Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, Best Original Score, Best Film Editing, and Best Production Design.  Not bad for a plucky little... mainstream box office smash that made over $400 million.  But the Academy doesn't reward popular films!

Encanto won Best Animated Feature.  

The Windshield Wiper won Best Animated Short.  

The Queen of Basketball won Best Documentary Short.

Troy Kotsur won Best Supporting Actor with another stellar speech.

Zach Snyder's Justice League won Most Cheer Worthy and probably Most Likely to Sign Your Yearbook "See You Next Year" Even Though You've Never Spoken to Him.  (They're adding that category next year.)

Drive My Car won Best International Feature.

The Long Goodbye won Best Live Action Short.

Cruella won Best Costume Design.

Kenneth Branagh won Best Original Screenplay for Belfast.

Sîan Heder won Best Adapted Screenplay for Coda.

And here's where it all went off the rails.  To present the award for Best Documentary Feature, Chris Rock came out and told a couple of off-the-cuff jokes.  One was about Jada Pinkett-Smith auditioning for G.I. Jane 2.  Pinkett-Smith had shaved her head (and looked great, btw) because she has alopecia as a result of an autoimmune disorder.  Her husband, Will Smith, walked on stage and open-handed slapped Chris Rock in the face.

Chaos ensued.

(Mostly on Twitter.  The actual audience did not really react.)  Hell, Chris Rock barely reacted.  

I thought it was faked but the lightning reporters of international Twitter posted the uncensored clip where Smith can clearly be heard telling Rock to "keep my wife's name out of your fucking mouth" and film Twitter was just as quick to post stills showing The Slap.  

Summer of Soul won, by the way.  

The broadcast cut to commercial and everything resumed as normal.

Billie Eilish and Finneas won Best Original Song.

Jane Campion won a historic second Best Director Oscar as a female director.  

Probably could have been smoothed over if Will Smith had not subsequently won Best Actor.  He gave a highly emotional speech where he apologized to everyone except Chris Rock, launching a second flurry of tweets.

So, to recap, a 53-year-old multimillionaire actor slapped a 57-year-old multimillionaire comedian on live television, over a lame, ableist joke, then defended himself in a speech awarded by a multibillion dollar industry invoking the chivalric practice of defending his woman with violence.  And they said no one watched The Last Duel!

The Eyes of Tammy Faye won Best Hair and Makeup, Jessica Chastain won Best Actress, and Coda won Best Picture.  All of which were overshadowed by the elephant in the room.

But I would like to also point out that Chris Rock was not the only comedian there playing whack-a-mole with low-hanging fruit.  Host Regina Hall had a gag where she, as a desperate horny lady, "frisked" presenters Josh Brolin and Jason Momoa.  That was probably scripted and I would hope that both actors agreed ahead of time, but I could not help thinking that A) that was a tired, overused joke and B) if it had been a male host feeling up two female presenters, they would have tied him to the bumper of a limo and dragged him down Hollywood Boulevard (but still invited him to the Vanity Fair party after, because you don't want to be rude.)

Anyway, what a total fucking trainwreck.  Can't wait for next year!

Oscar Nominations for 2022

Okay.  It's year three of the pandemic and the Oscar nominations can't be stopped.  Here we go.

Best Picture

Belfast

CODA

Don't Look Up

Drive My Car

Dune

King Richard

Licorice Pizza

Nightmare Alley

The Power of the Dog

West Side Story

No surprises here.  Pretty much the same list from the Critics' Choice and the Golden Globes.

Best Director

Paul Thomas Anderson - Licorice Pizza

Kenneth Branagh - Belfast

Jane Campion - The Power of the Dog

Ryûsuke Hamaguchi - Drive My Car

Steven Spielberg - West Side Story

Best Actress

Jessica Chastain - The Eyes of Tammy Faye

Olivia Colman - The Lost Daughter

Penélope Cruz - Parallel Mothers

Nicole Kidman - Being the Ricardos

Kristen Stewart - Spencer

So Lady Gaga got snubbed in favor of Kristen Stewart.  Interesting.  In fact, House of Gucci got shut out except for Makeup and Hairstyling.  That's gotta hurt.

Best Actor

Javier Bardem - Being the Ricardos

Benedict Cumberbatch - The Power of the Dog

Andrew Garfield - Tick, Tick...Boom!

Will Smith - King Richard

Denzel Washington - The Tragedy of Macbeth

Best Supporting Actress

Jessie Buckley - The Lost Daughter

Ariana DeBose - West Side Story

Judi Dench - Belfast

Kirsten Dunst - The Power of the Dog

Aunjanue Ellis - King Richard

Best Supporting Actor

Ciarán Hinds - Belfast

Troy Kotsur - CODA

Jesse Plemons - The Power of the Dog

J.K. Simmons - Being the Ricardos

Kodi Smit-McPhee - The Power of the Dog

Best Costume Design

Cruella

Cyrano

Dune

Nightmare Alley

West Side Story

Best Sound

Belfast

Dune

No Time to Die

The Power of the Dog

West Side Story

Best Original Score

Don't Look Up

Dune

Encanto

Parallel Mothers

The Power of the Dog

Best Adapted Screenplay

CODA

Drive My Car

Dune

The Lost Daughter

The Power of the Dog

Best Original Screenplay

Belfast

Don't Look Up

King Richard

Licorice Pizza

The Worst Person in the World

Best Animated Short

Affairs of the Art

Bestia

Boxballet

Robin Robin

The Windshield Wiper

Best Live Action Short

Ala Kachuu - Take and Run

The Dress

The Long Goodbye

On My Mind

Please Hold

Best Film Editing

Don't Look Up

Dune

King Richard

The Power of the Dog

Tick, Tick...Boom!

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

Coming 2 America

Cruella

Dune

The Eyes of Tammy Faye

House of Gucci

Who saw Coming 2 America get a nomination?  Who remembered Coming 2 America came out last year?

Best Animated Feature

Encanto

Flee

Luca

The Mitchells vs the Machines

Raya and the Last Dragon

Best Documentary Feature

Ascension

Attica

Flee

Summer of Soul

Writing with Fire

Best Documentary Short

Audible

Lead Me Home

The Queen of Basketball

Three Songs for Benazir

When We Were Bullies

Best Original Song

"Be Alive" - King Richard

"Dos Oruguitas" - Encanto

"Down to Joy" - Belfast

"No Time to Die" - No Time to Die

"Somehow You Do" - Four Good Days

For some reason, the Academy likes to stick a random film in Best Original Song that is nominated nowhere else.  Never even heard of this one.

Best Cinematography

Dune

Nightmare Alley

The Power of the Dog

The Tragedy of Macbeth

West Side Story

Best International Feature

Drive My Car - Japan

Flee - Denmark

The Hand of God - Italy

Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom - Bhutan

The Worst Person in the World - Norway

Look at Bhutan getting in the Oscar spirit!  

Best Production Design

Dune

Nightmare Alley

The Power of the Dog

The Tragedy of Macbeth

West Side Story

Best Visual Effects

Dune

Free Guy

No Time to Die

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Spider-Man: No Way Home

All right, ceremony is March 27.  You know the deal:  I try and watch as many of these as I can get my grubby paws on.  Clock starts now.

Prometheus (2012)

I know I've seen this more recently than 2012.  There's no way it could have felt so old hat if I hadn't seen it in damn near ten years.  I put it on because I needed two hours to clean my living room and wanted something that I didn't really have to pay attention to.  It's still very good but softer now.  I don't feel any of the same rawness.  That could be because the Alien franchise is a little too careworn for me.  I've seen all of them God knows how many times.  They're comfort movies for me.  I guess I should swap them out for the Conjuring-verse for a while.  Originally posted 10 Jun 12.    Nominated for:  Best Visual Effects    I have got to find some way to talk about this without going the spoiler route.  It's really hard!  I want to tell you guys about all the cool stuff in it but I don't want to ruin it for you.

Suffice to say, this is definitely a keeper.  Visually, it's stunning, the pacing is tight, the actors are on point, and the monsters are...well, I don't want to spoil it.  Ridley Scott has previously revealed that he had always intended Alien to be an allegory for rape, in a form that would make it as abhorrent to men as it is to women.  He succeeds on such a grand scale but, given that I'm a possessor of a fucked up sense of humor, knowing that it's an allegory makes it slightly hilarious to see every dude in the audience squirm.  I couldn't stop laughing during a highly inappropriate scene.  Rob said it was like The Deathly Hallows part 2 all over again.

Dr. Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and her colleague/lover Dr. Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) discover a series of pictographs from various ancient cultures that show the same star grouping. They theorize that the map comes from the creators of humanity, whom they have dubbed Engineers.  They secure funding from the aged Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce) and board the Prometheus, along with her crew of various geologists, biologists, and medical personnel.  Helmed by Captain Janek (Idris Elba) and commanded by Weyland employee Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron), the crew travel to the planet depicted.  There they find caverns full of strange canisters weeping a sinister black fluid, giant monoliths, and the piled corpses of Engineers clustered around doors...as if they were fleeing something.

I seriously wish, after having seen this movie, that Charlize Theron would have switched character portrayals here with Snow White and the Huntsman's Queen.  Meredith Vickers is an ice-cold bitch and it greatly added to the tense atmosphere of this film.  Snow White could have used a heaping helping of that.  I did love the android, David, played by Michael Fassbender.  There is absolutely no argument that he is anything but malicious and hateful, despite not technically being capable of emotion.  I wasn't so much into the philosophical argument underpinning the film but I felt like it was a great addition to the previous movies.

Oscar Predictions (Updated with Winners!)

4/26/21 Let's see how I did.

So I've never done a predictions post, mostly because I completely suck at making predictions.  But I thought I'd give it a shot this year and then update tomorrow with the winners.  So you guys can see how much I suck at making predictions.

Best Picture - I mean, Nomadland is kind of the shoe-in but I think Minari might pull off a surprise upset.

Actual winner:  Nomadland.  I have to tell you, when this was announced before Best Actor and Best Actress, I almost flipped my shit.  I was googling, trying to find out if I had fast forwarded over them or something, but no.  Just a dumbass idea by the show producers that completely backfired.

Best Director - Chloe Zhao, for sure.

Actual winner:  Chloe Zhao.  Yay, me.

Best Cinematography - I only got 3/5.  Of those three, probably Nomadland.

Actual winner:  Mank.  Understandable.  It also won the Cinematographer's Guild Award, so.

Best International Feature - 3/5.  Another Round, for sure.

Actual winner:  Another Round.  Too easy.

Best Actor - Chadwick Boseman.  Slam dunk.

Actual winner:  Anthony Hopkins.  What a fucking twist.  Everybody thought it was going to be Boseman.  

Best Actress - Could go to Frances McDormand but for my money, Andra Day.

Actual winner: Frances McDormand.

Best Supporting Actor - 3/5 and it's probably going to be Daniel Kaluuya whose performance I haven't seen yet, but he won the Golden Globe so it seems like a safe bet.  Of the three I saw, Sacha Baron Cohen.

Actual winner: Daniel Kaluuya.  One of the funniest speeches of the entire night, even though I'm pretty sure his mom is going to beat his ass for bringing up her sex life on live TV.

Best Supporting Actress - 4/5 but Yuh-Jung Youn, 100%.

Actual winner:  Yuh-Jung Youn.  With the other funniest speech.  And the Brad Pitt thirst.

Best Animated Feature - Should be Wolfwalkers, but it'll probably be Soul.

Actual winner:  Soul.  Pixar remains the juggernaut.

Best Animated Short - 2/5, not a great sample size this year.  Probably go with If Anything Happens I Love You just for the topical nature.

Actual winner:  If Anything Happens I Love You.

Best Live Action Short - 4/5 Two Distant Strangers

Actual Winner: Two Distant Strangers.  And best dressed duo for their coordinating gold and black tuxedos!

Best Documentary Short - Hunger Ward though it could also go to Colette.

Actual winner:  Colette.  I should have known the Academy would never pass up a WWII film.

Best Documentary Feature - Collective

Actual winner:  My Octopus Teacher.  Literally the most inoffensive of the nominees.

Best Costume Design - Emma.

Actual winner: Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Best Makeup and Hairstyling - If Hillbilly Elegy wins anything, it'll probably be this.  But Pinocchio had surprisingly great practical effects, so that's my vote.

Actual winner: Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Best Production Design - 3/5 I think Mank.

Actual winner: Mank

Best Film Editing - 4/5 The Trial of the Chicago 7 but in a perfect world, Da 5 Bloods.

Actual winner: Sound of Metal

Best Sound - Sound of Metal

Actual winner: Sound of Metal

Best Original Score - Soul but I'm really hoping for Da 5 Bloods.

Actual winner: Soul.  And whoever did Jon Batiste's makeup should be commended.  His looked fresher than most of the female presenters.

Best Original Song - 4/5 God help me, Eurovision Song Contest

Actual winner: "Fight for You" from Judas and the Black Messiah.  Apparently, the song performances were aired before the broadcast, so I missed all of them.  But this was definitely the best dressed table.  That white suit with the ostrich trim?  Gorgeous.  That blue caped jumpsuit?  To die for.

Best Visual Effects - 4/5 I'm going to say The Midnight Sky because the Academy fucking loves outer space.

Actual winner: Tenet.  A surprise.  I thought for sure it would get shut out.

Best Adapted Screenplay - 4/5 One Night in Miami

Actual winner: The Father.  The one I didn't see, of course.

Best Original Screenplay - 4/5 Minari

Actual winner: Promising Young Woman.  Also kind of a surprise.

And they gave out two Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Awards, one to Tyler Perry (wholly deserved) and one to the Motion Picture Television Fund, accepted by its CEO, Bob Bietcher.  That one felt a little more gross.  I don't love the idea of giving an Oscar to a company, because it seems like a slippery slope to awarding corporations and that's a terrible idea.

Okay, so there's only a about an hour and a half left until the ceremony, so I'm going to go ahead and push this now.  I'll see you guys tomorrow with all the winners.

So I got 11 out of 22.  I'd have had probably the same luck picking them at random out of a hat.

The ceremony itself was kind of a bust, as well.  A lot of "telling" and very little "showing," no jokes, no host, no musical numbers, a DJ instead of an orchestra, and almost no real glamour.  They might as well have just let people present from their houses.  

2021 Oscar Nominations

 The Oscar nominations came out yesterday.  I was so busy updating all my lists that I forgot to post who's up for what.  So, a day late, here are the nominees. 

Best Picture
The Father
Judas and the Black Messiah
Mank
Minari
Nomadland
Promising Young Woman
Sound of Metal
The Trial of the Chicago 7

Best Director

Thomas Vinterberg - Another Round

David Fincher - Mank

Lee Isaac Chung - Minari

Chloé Zhao - Nomadland

Emerald Fennell - Promising Young Woman

Best Cinematography

Judas and the Black Messiah - Sean Bobbitt

Mank - Erik Messerschimidt

News of the World - Dariusz Wolski

Nomadland - Joshua James Richards

The Trial of the Chicago 7 - Phedon Papamichael

Best International Feature

Another Round - Denmark

Better Days - Hong Kong

Collective - Romania

The Man Who Sold His Skin - Tunisia

Quo Vadis, Aida? - Bosnia and Herzegovina

Best Actor in a Leading Role

Riz Ahmed - Sound of Metal

Chadwick Boseman - Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Anthony Hopkins - The Father

Gary Oldman - Mank

Steven Yeun - Minari

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

Sacha Baron Cohen - The Trial of the Chicago 7

Daniel Kaluuya - Judas and the Black Messiah

Leslie Odom, Jr. - One Night in Miami...

Paul Raci - Sound of Metal

Lakeith Stanfield - Judas and the Black Messiah

Best Actress in a Leading Role

Viola Davis - Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Andra Day - The United States vs. Billie Holiday

Vanessa Kirby - Pieces of a Woman

Frances McDormand - Nomadland

Carey Mulligan - Promising Young Woman

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Maria Bakalova - Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

Glenn Close - Hillbilly Elegy

Olivia Colman - The Father

Amanda Seyfried - Mank

Yuh-Jung Youn - Minari

Best Animated Feature

Onward

Over the Moon

A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon

Soul

Wolfwalkers

Best Animated Short

Burrow

Genius Loci

If Anything Happens I Love You

Opera

Yes-People

Best Live Action Short

Feeling Through

The Letter Room

The Present

Two Distant Strangers

White Eye

Best Documentary Short

Colette

A Concerto is a Conversation

Do Not Split

Hunger Ward

A Love Song for Latasha

Best Documentary Feature

Collective

Crip Camp

The Mole Agent

My Octopus Teacher

Time

Best Costume Design

Emma

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Mank

Mulan

Pinocchio

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

Emma

Hillbilly Elegy

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Mank

Pinocchio

Best Production Design

The Father

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Mank

News of the World

Tenet

Best Film Editing

The Father

Nomadland

Promising Young Woman

Sound of Metal

The Trial of the Chicago 7

Best Sound

Greyhound

Mank

News of the World

Soul

Sound of Metal

Best Music (Original Score)

Da 5 Bloods - Terence Blanchard

Mank - Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Minari - Emile Mosseri

News of the World - James Newton Howard

Soul - Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste

Best Music (Original Song)

"Fight for You" - Judas and the Black Messiah

"Hear My Voice" - The Trial of the Chicago 7

"Husavik" - Eurovision Song Contest

"Io Sí (Seen)" - The Life Ahead

"Speak Now" - One Night in Miami...

Best Visual Effects

Love and Monsters

The Midnight Sky

Mulan

The One and Only Ivan

Tenet

Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

The Father

Nomadland

One Night in Miami...

The White Tiger

Best Writing (Original Screenplay)

Judas and the Black Messiah

Minari

Promising Young Woman

Sound of Metal

The Trial of the Chicago 7

There's not a lot different from the Golden Globes.  Spike Lee still got snubbed but at least Minari is better represented.  I read somewhere that Steven Yeun is the first Asian-American ever nominated for Best Actor.  Ever.  Like in 90-something years.  When people like James Shigeta and Toshiro Mifune existed.  Anyway, more movies than ever are streaming so I have a good feeling about being able to see most of these before April 25.  Even if I have to buy Apple+ for a month to get Greyhound and Wolfwalkers.  As always, keep checking back here to see my progress.

92nd Acadamy Awards Ceremony

Well that was nuts, wasn't it?  I have to say, the ceremony was better than I expected even if some of the speeches dragged out past the point of good manners.  I thought the musical numbers were great and there was a good amount of energy.  It looked like choices were made for the ceremony regarding diversity and ensuring everyone got a seat at the table that probably should have been carried over into the voting but you can't turn back time.  Anyway, here's the winners.

Best Supporting Actor - Brad Pitt
Best Animated Feature - Toy Story 4
Best Animated Short - Hair Love
Best Original Screenplay - Parasite
Best Adapted Screenplay - Jojo Rabbit
Best Live Action Short - The Neighbor's Window
Best Production Design - Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Best Costume Design - Little Women
Best Documentary Feature - American Factory
Best Documentary Short - Learning to Skateboard in a War Zone (if You're a Girl)
Best Supporting Actress - Laura Dern
Best Sound Editing - Ford vs Ferrari
Best Sound Mixing - 1917
Best Cinematography - 1917
Best Film Editing - Ford vs Ferrari
Best Visual Effects - 1917
Best Hair and Makeup - Bombshell
Best International Feature - Parasite
Best Original Score - Joker
Best Original Song - "I'm Gonna Love Me Again" from Rocketman
Best Director - Bong Joon Ho
Best Actor - Joaquin Phoenix
Best Actress - Renee Zellweger
Best Picture - Parasite

92nd Academy Awards Nominations (2020)

It's time for the only thing that makes January bearable!  (Also happy birthday month to my brother, whatever.)  Oscar nominations are here!  And they are... so very white and male.  /sigh

Best Picture

Ford v. Ferrari
The Irishman
Jojo Rabbit
Joker
Little Women
Marriage Story
1917
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Parasite

No real shocks here.  Pretty much the same line up as the Golden Globes.

Best Director

Martin Scorsese, The Irishman
Todd Phillips, Joker
Sam Mendes, 1917
Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Bong Joon-Ho, Parasite

Not a single female director.  Again.

Best Actor

Antonio Banderas, Pain and Glory
Leonardo DiCaprio, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Adam Driver, Marriage Story
Joaquin Phoenix, Joker
Jonathan Pryce, The Two Popes

First-time nomination for Antonio Banderas, so that's nice.

Best Actress

Cynthia Erivo, Harriet
Scarlett Johansson, Marriage Story
Saorise Ronan, Little Women
Charlize Theron, Bombshell
Renee Zellweger, Judy

Apparently the Academy really hated The Farewell.

Best Supporting Actor

Tom Hanks, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Anthony Hopkins, The Two Popes
Al Pacino, The Irishman
Joe Pesci, The Irishman
Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Again, the exact same line-up as the Golden Globes.  Yikes.

Best Supporting Actress

Kathy Bates, Richard Jewell
Laura Dern, Marriage Story
Scarlett Johansson, Jojo Rabbit
Florence Pugh, Little Women
Margot Robbie, Bombshell

Scarlett's doubled her chances of walking away with a trophy.  People were saying J.Lo got robbed for her slot, though, so maybe ScarJo should hire extra security.

Best Original Screenplay

Knives Out - Rian Johnson
Marriage Story - Noah Baumbach
1917 - Sam Mendes and Krysty Wilson-Cairns
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood - Quentin Tarantino
Parasite - Bong Joon-Ho and Han Jin-Wan

I can't believe this is the only nomination Knives Out got.  Like, they could have had 10 nominees for Best Picture and just ... didn't.

Best Adapted Screenplay

The Irishman - Steve Zaillian
Jojo Rabbit - Taika Watiti
Joker - Todd Phillips and Scott Silver
Little Women - Greta Gerwig
The Two Popes - Anthony McCarten

Best Animated Feature

How to Train Your Dragon:  The Hidden World
I Lost My Body
Klaus
Missing Link
Toy Story 4

Holy shit.  I thought Frozen 2 was a lock for this category but no.  Netflix dropped two in there.

Best International Feature

Corpus Christi
Honeyland
Les Miserables
Pain and Glory
Parasite

Parasite and Honeyland are both double dipping here.  It might have been nice to see a little more diversity but I haven't seen any of these so what do I know?

Best Documentary Feature

American Factory
The Cave
The Edge of Democracy
For Sama
Honeyland

Best Documentary Short

In the Absence
Learning to Skateboard in a War Zone (If You're a Girl)
Life Overtakes Me
St. Louis Superman
Walk Run Cha-Cha

Best Live Action Short

Brotherhood
Nefta Football Club
The Neighbor's Window
Saria
A Sister

It's going to be really hard to keep from mixing up A Sister with Sister in the animated short category.

Best Animated Short

Daughter
Hair Love
Kitbull
Memorable
Sister

I've actually seen Hair Love and Kitbull.  I'll try and find links to them in lieu of actual reviews.

Best Original Score

Joker
Little Women
Marriage Story
1917
Star Wars:  The Rise of Skywalker

Best Original Song

"I Can't Let You Throw Yourself Away" - Toy Story 4
"I'm Gonna Love Me Again" - Rocketman
"I'm Standing With You" - Breakthrough
"Into the Unknown" - Frozen 2
"Stand Up" - Harriet

Yeesh.  Frozen 2 got one nom that puts it in the same category as some super-Christian film about a kid falling though a frozen river.

Best Sound Editing

Ford v. Ferrari
Joker
1917
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Star Wars:  The Rise of Skywalker

Best Sound Mixing

Ad Astra
Ford v. Ferrari
Joker
1917
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Best Production Design

The Irishman
Jojo Rabbit
1917
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Parasite

Best Cinematography

The Irishman
Joker
The Lighthouse
1917
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Apparently, The Lighthouse is completely bonkers.  I fucking hated The Witch (same director), though, so I'm not holding my breath.

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

Bombshell
Joker
Judy
Maleficent:  Mistress of Evil
1917

Best Costume Design

The Irishman
Jojo Rabbit
Joker
Little Women
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Really surprised 1917 didn't get nominated over Joker here.  The Academy loves period films and it's pretty rare for them to choose modern wardrobes.

Best Film Editing

Ford v. Ferrari
The Irishman
Jojo Rabbit
Joker
Parasite

I am fucking shocked, however, that 1917 isn't in this category.  The whole point/schtick of the film is that it's supposed to look like it was shot in one continuous take.  Wild.

Best Visual Effects

Avengers:  Endgame
The Irishman
The Lion King
1917
Star Wars:  The Rise of Skywalker

Ah, yes.  And finally, the category for films that actually made money.  Disney is 3/5 here so they're obviously the favorites but I wouldn't be surprised if Netflix pulls off an upset.  Depends on how the night goes.

Capernaum (2018)

  Jesus, between this and Shoplifters I'm feeling really, really good about my decision to never have children.

Zain (Zain Al Rafeea) is approximately twelve-years-old and has never had any form of identification or education.  He spends his days scamming prescription drugs for his mother (Kawsar Al Haddad) to wash clothes with and smuggle into prison, or running errands for Assaad (Nour El Husseini), the local merchant who lets his family squat in a tenement.  When his parents make the decision to sell their 11-year-old daughter, Sahar (Haita Izzam), to Assaad, Zain runs away.  He is taken in by Rahil (Yordanos Shiferaw), an Ethiopian woman in the country illegally, and takes over caring for her infant son during the day so she can work.  But when Rahil is arrested for lack of a work visa, Zain must find ways for himself and the baby to survive.

Honest to God, this is an incredibly well-done movie.  It's engaging, the pacing is good, the flash forward scenes are filled with tension (the framing scenes are a courtroom drama), and the performances are top-notch.  But GODDAMN if this film isn't painful AF.  It's currently streaming on Starz right now if you feel like you need to see the effects of abject poverty on people and the way that they're preyed upon by people in power.  Then watch some cartoons.  Classic Powerpuff Girls is on Hulu.

If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)

  I put off seeing this one as long as I could because I just knew it was going to be depressing.  I was right, but it's also beautiful, lyrical, and features a heart-shattering performance from Regina King.

Nineteen-year-old Tish (KiKi Layne) is initially afraid to tell her family that she is pregnant, especially since her boyfriend, Fonny (Stephan James), is in jail awaiting trial on a fraudulent rape charge.  They are overjoyed to hear the news, however, especially Tish's mother (Regina King), and the whole family doubles down on their efforts to get Fonny released before the baby is born.

There are so many amazing performances in this film.  Layne and James are so starry-eyed towards each other that you can't help but feel for them.  Teyonah Parris is a scene stealer as Tish's older, fiercer sister Ernestine.  Ed Skrein channels his inner Francis as a racist cop while Emily Rios gives a compelling vision of trauma as Fonny's accuser.

The ending is more realistic than happy which sucks, but that's the world we live in.  It's streaming on Hulu currently.

Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018)

  I was late to the Melissa McCarthy lovefest.  I didn't like Bridesmaids and movies like Identity Thief, The Heat, and Tammy just looked too stupid for me to enjoy.  Ghostbusters:  Answer the Call was the first time I actually found her watchable and that was mainly superseded by how much I hated Kristen Wiig.  However, if she does more movies like Can You Ever Forgive Me?, I might have to revise my opinion.


Lee Israel (Melissa McCarthy) has fallen on hard times after publishing a couple of well-received biographies.  The market taste has shifted, writers like Tom Clancy (Kevin Carolan) are making millions by churning out the same formula, and Lee is too set in her ways to be anything but embittered.  Desperate for money to pay for her sick cat's treatment, Lee accidentally discovers the lucrative world of personal correspondence memorabilia.  She begins forging letters from renowned literary celebrities like Dorothy Parker, Fanny Brice, and Noel Coward, selling them to collectors, and drinking the profits with her friend, Jack Hock (Richard E. Grant). 


McCarthy seems like she was born to play this role, imbuing the crass and socially awkward Israel with enough sympathy to keep viewers rooting for her to succeed in her criminal endeavors.


This is very much Oscar bait and will most likely be unfortunately consigned to the scrap heap of other prestige dramas but it is very much worth your eyeballs.

Mary Queen of Scots (2018)

  This, friends, is the Christy pick for April. 

Mary Stuart (Saoirse Ronan) returns to Scotland after being widowed to take the mantle of Queen.  Like her famous cousin, Elizabeth (Margot Robbie), Mary struggles with keeping her power from grasping hands who would seek to usurp her and put a man on her throne.  This is further complicated by politics that would pit the two female monarchs against one another.

This is not a new story or even a new take on the story and that cannot help but drag the film down.  It's bolstered by excellent performances by Ronan and Robbie, gorgeous scenery, and sumptuous costumes.  It's also the first English historical epic I've seen to feature a truly diverse cast, LGBT acceptance, and a real exploration of the precariousness of these royal women.  Unfortunately, none of that is enough to save it from being overly long, punctuated with boredom, and still reliant on overused tropes.

Mary herself is not a very likeable character and it's hard to sympathize with her when she constantly puts her foot in her mouth.  In fact, pretty much everyone in this film is kind of an asshole.  Dudley (Joe Alwyn) and Darnley (Jack Lowden) are petulant, cowardly whiners as the love interests to Elizabeth and Mary, respectively.  Guy Pearce is manipulative, James McArdle is entitled, and the only one who seems like he's having any fun at all is David Tennant.  And not just because he gets to wear a giant beard and use his real accent.

Out of all the amazing women in history, why do we keep returning to the same dry wells?  There are thousands of untold stories from every culture in the world of warrior queens, savvy diplomats, and puppet masters.  Where's my Dolly Madison biopic?  Boudicca?  Hatshepsut?  My non-Disneyfied Mulan?

Skin (2018)

  This won Best Live Action short at this year's Oscars.  It has a great twist that in any other timeline would be comedic but here is definitely being played as serious.

Jaydee (Ashley Thomas) smiles across a supermarket aisle at a little white boy (Jackson Robert Scott), sparking a confrontation from the boy's white supremacist father (Jonathan Tucker), who calls his friends and attack Jaydee in the parking lot in front of his wife (Shelley Francisco) and son (Lonny Chavis).  Later, a group of Jaydee's friends abduct his attacker in front of his son, drug him, and tattoo every inch of his skin black.

I was really trying to prepare myself for this film to end violently.  The setup is there and there's been too many real news stories that start exactly like this for me to hope for a happy ending.  As it was, the ending felt like a surprise and yet inevitable, which is good.  My only real complaint is that the majority of characters aren't referred to by name and one of those names is wrong on IMDb.  I just find that irritating.