Oscars 2021: “Tonight, you are all forgiven”

For over 90 minutes of the Steven Soderbergh-produced 93rd Academy Awards broadcast last night, I was crushing every category. Then, I believe when it came to Documentary Short Subject, I got one wrong, and my winning streak was over. In the end, I still did pretty good with a score of 18 out of 23 (last year I had 19 out of 24 - they combined two categories this time). It’s not my best score, but far from my worst.

So here’s what I got wrong from the very different feeling event that mostly took place at Union Station with a much smaller audience (largely just the nominees and the one guest they were allowed to bring).

DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT: My prediction: Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers’ A CONCERTO IS A CONVERSATION / What won: Anthony Giacchino’s COLLETTE

CINEMATOGRAPHY: My prediction: Joshua James Richards for NOMADLAND / Who won: Erik Messerschmidt for MANK - I really didn't think this film would win more than one Oscar.

ORIGINAL SONG: My prediction: “Speak Now” from ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI / What won: “Fight for You” from JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH

BEST ACTRESS: My prediction: Carey Mulligan for PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN / Who won: Frances McDormand for NOMADLAND – In my post where I made these predictions, I said that Mulligan was a wild card as I figured she might have the edge since McDormand had already won twice before. I should’ve known better because this won wasn’t really a surprise.

BEST ACTOR: My prediction: Chadwick Boseman for MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM / Who won: Anthony Hopkins for THE FATHER – Now this one really was a surprise because seemingly every critic or showbiz writer out there was predicting that Academy voters would pay tribute to the late Boseman, and not give a second Oscar to Hopkins. Especially since fewer people have not seen THE FATHER (it’s in a very limited theatrical release, and only available streaming as a pricey rental). Even Hopkins didn’t expect to win.

As for the show itself, I’m seeing a lot of folks bash the ceremony online, but while it wasn’t the best Oscars (doubt I could pick which is) it was one of the better recent ones. I liked the intimacy and lighting of the smaller venue, and enjoyed such moments as Yuh-Jung Youn’s speech for her MINARI (the headline quote at the top of this post is her’s). Youn, the first Korean woman in Oscar history to win Best Supporting Actress, was gracious and funny, and provided relief from some of the political pretentiousness of the evening.

Jon Baptiste (SOUL) also gave a genuinely touching acceptance speech, as did Daniel Kaluuya (JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH), although his embarrassed his mother, who was in attendance: “You got to celebrate life, man! We’re breathing, walking, it’s incredible. It’s incredible. Like, it’s incredible. My mom met dad, they had sex. It’s amazing.”

Glenn Close’s dance to “Da Butt” was also a bit embarrassing, but it was funny enough to make up for that. The fact that Close has been nominated eight times now with no wins is disgraceful, but her go for broke demeanor last night made it look like she really doesn’t care.

Another iconic actress, McDormand also seemed like she didn’t care, but for a very different reason as she howled like a wolf, as her husband, filmmaker Joel Coen, didn’t look amused sitting at their table in the audience. I learned later that this wasn’t the case as McDormand was paying tribute to Michael Wolf Snyder, NOMADLAND’s sound designer, and production sound mixer, who took his life back in early March.

The things I didn’t care for were the lack of clips and musical performances, the way the In Memorium montage went so fast it was hard to keep up (and of course, had many omissions), and the choice of not ending with the Best Picture announcement, but with the categories of Best Actress and Best Actor instead. There was speculation that this was because the producers thought Chadwick would win at the end and they could go out on that. This makes sense, especially since Hopkins wasn’t even in attendance, but who knows?

So that’s Oscars 2021. Obviously it’s going to be interesting to see what the next movie year looks like because as Regina King said in her opening monologue about the pandemic, “we are still smack dab in the middle of it.” But we’ll make it through, and one day be able to casually walk into a theater again. Right?

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Hey Kids! Funtime 2021 Oscar® Predictions!

On Sunday night, April 25, the 93rd Academy Awards will be held at the Dolby Theatre and Union Station in Los Angeles, but, you know, mostly on Zoom. Obviously this ceremony was delayed until much later in the year than usual because of the pandemic, and that same factor is what may mean even a smaller audience. The ratings for last year’s Oscars, which took place on February 9, 2020, hit an all-time low, and it seems like fewer people are even aware of the upcoming event.

There’s also the factor that a lot of folks haven’t seen or even know about many of the nominees. Sometimes the quarantine binge-watching of some show on Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Hulu, to name but a few streaming platforms is more appealing than watching some possibly depressing indie film. Still, there were some fine films that were released in the last year, and some of them got nominations.

Here are my predictions for the winners, a few of which I feel confident with, but most are definitive examples of “Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.”

1. BEST PICTURE: NOMADLAND

2. BEST DIRECTOR: Chloé Zhao for NOMADLAND

3. BEST ACTOR: Chadwick Boseman (MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM) Looks like everyone is in agreement on this one.

4. BEST ACTRESS: Carey Mulligan (PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN) There’s buzz aplenty that Frances McDormand is going to win for NOMADLAND, but she’s won twice before, and I have a feeling that Mulligan’s stunning performance in PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN will get more votes. Consider it this year’s wild card.

5. BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Daniel Kaluuya (JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH

6. BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Yuh-Jung Youn (MINARI)

7. PRODUCTION DESIGN: Donald Graham Burt, Jan Pascale for MANK

8. CINEMATOGRAPHY: Joshua James Richards for NOMADLAND

9. COSTUME DESIGN: Ann Roth for MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM

10. DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: MY OCTOPUS TEACHER

11. DOCUMENTARY SHORT:   A CONCERTO IS A CONVERSATION (Kris Bowers, Ben Proudfoot)

12. FILM EDITING:  SOUND OF METAL

13. MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING: MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM (Mia Neal, Sergio Lopez-Rivera, Jamika Wilson)

14. VISUAL EFFECTS: TENET (Andrew Jackson, David Lee, Andrew Lockley, Santiago Colomo Martinez)

15. ORIGINAL SCORE: SOUL (Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste)

16. ORIGINAL SONG: “Speak Now” from ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI (Leslie Odom Jr.)

17. ANIMATED SHORT:  IF ANYTHING HAPPENS I LOVE YOU

18. LIVE ACTION SHORT: TWO DISTANT STRANGERS

19. SOUND: SOUND OF METAL – I’m so happy that they combined the BEST SOUND EDITING and SOUND MIXES categories into this one, as I hated trying to figure what deserved what, and also the same film would often win both awards.

20. ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Emerald Fennell for PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN

21. ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller for THE FATHER

22. ANIMATED FEATURE FILM: SOUL

23. BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM: ANOTHER ROUND

As I always say, tune in Monday to see how many I got wrong.

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Oscars® 2018 Recap: My Best Score Since 2015

“For those who say we're all out-of-touch Hollywood elites - I’ll have you know that each of the 45 million Swarovski crystals on this stage tonight represents humility.” 

I spent last night at the Rialto Theatre in Raleigh watching the 90th Academy Awards broadcast and enjoyed the show a lot more than the last several years. 

It felt like there was more of a purpose to the proceedings this time largely via moments like Frances McDormand’s impassioned speech, Emma Stone saying that “four males and Greta Gerwig” were up for Best Director, Daniela Vega being the first openly trans actress, Tiffany Haddish and Maya Rudolph joking about #oscarsowhite controversy from a few years back, and rapper Common calling out President Trump: “A president that chose with hate/He don’t control our fate/Because god is great/ When they go low we stay in the heights/I stand for peace, love and women’s rights.”

Jimmy Kimmel did a good job as host touching on some of the same topics, and I liked his bit about giving away a jet ski to the Osacr winner who makes the shortest speech (see Helen Mirren showing it off above). 

Anyway, I had my best score in years as I bested the last two Oscars (at least by one) with a tally of 17 out of 24. Here's the ones I got wrong:

BEST PICTURE: My prediction: GET OUT / What won: THE SHAPE OF WATER

While I got wrong that Jordan Peel’s excellent film would win the big one, I was right that he’d win for Best Screenplay - another great moment as he’s the first African American to do so.

BEST DOCUMENTARY: My prediction: FACES PLACES / What won: ICARUS

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT: My prediction: EDDIE+EDITH / What won: HEAVEN IS A TRAFFIC JAM ON THE 405

FILM EDITING: My prediction: BABY DRIVER / What won: DUNKIRK

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS:  My prediction: WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES / What won: BLADE RUNNER 2049

I really didn’t expect BLADE RUNNER 2049 to win more than one Oscar (it won for Best Visual Effects, and Best Cinematography). I predicted Roger Deakins would win for his masterful work on BR 2049, and was happy that after over a dozen nominations over the years that it finally happened.

ORIGINAL SONG: My prediction: “This Is Me” from THE GREATEST SHOWMAN (Justin Paul & Benj Pasek) / What won: “Remember Me” from COCO

LIVE ACTION SHORT: My prediction: DEKALB ELEMENTARY / What won: THE SILENT CHILD

Lastly I was disappointed that the In Memorium segment left out John Mahoney, Robert Guillaume, Tobe Hooper, Powers Boothe, Adam West, and Tom Petty (sure Eddie Vedder covering Petty’s “A Room at the Top” worked as a tribute, but I would’ve loved seeing a clip of Petty in THE POSTMAN in the montage).

Okay! That’s it for this year. As I’ve said before, now back to watching movies for fun and not for sport.

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THREE BILLBOARDS Starts Strong But Loses Its Way

Now playing at an indie art house near me:

THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI
(Dir. Martin McDonagh, 2017)

Such a juicy premise: a hard as nails Missouri woman rents three billboards alongside a country road to shame her town’s sheriff who has made no arrests in the wake of her daughter’s rape and murder.

And such a great cast: Frances McDormand as Mildred Hayes, the mother whose grief has solidified into anger over this injustice, Woody Harrelson as Chief Willoughby, who doesn’t take kindly to billboards that read “Raped while dying,” “And still no arrests,” and “How come, Chief Willoughby?,” Samuel Rockwell as Officer Jason Dixon, who has a reputation of torturing black suspects; John Hawkes as Mildred’s ex-husband, and Peter Dinklage as a local car salesman who has a crush on Mildred.

Add to that the lush mountain scenery surrounding these characters which has locations shot in my home state of North Carolina standing in for the fictional town of Ebbing, Missouri, and you’ve got the elements to make up a tensely funny thriller, but roughly half way through its nearly two hour running time, the movie runs out of steam and doesn’t know where to go.

This happens right after the exit of one major player and the entrance of a suspect that initially appears to serve as misdirection, but ends up being the direction the film mistakenly decides to go with.

McDormand’s dour divorcée Mildred owns the movie’s best moments, but, like with everyone she interacts with, she never lets us get close to what she’s dealing with enough to really be on her side. Harrelson’s Willoughby draws more empathy as he’s dying of cancer and seems to have a good sincere head on his shoulders, but his character’s fate does the film no favors.

When the film shifts to the underwritten perspective of Rockwell's Officer Dixon, who we never learn whether he is guilty of racist activity or not, the narrative gets muddled, and a restlessness sets in.

Also, the presence of McDormand and composer Carter Burwell (who provides a solid yet instinctive score here) made me wish for the more purposeful (and wittier) approach of the actress and musical director’s long-time collaborators, the Coen brothers.

Writer/Director McDonagh has had better luck with this sort of black comedy in his previous films, IN BRUGE and SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS, which also features Rockwell and Abbie Cornish who appears here as Harrelson’s wife. Here his screenplay strands its protagonists and possible antagonists in a pointless parable.

It’s not that every movie has to have a pat pay-off – many great films end ambiguously – but this particular story of these broken people who fight for justice that they likely will never get deserves a better thematic resolution than we get here.

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Wes Anderson's MOONRISE KINGDOM Is Twee-rific

MOONRISE KINGDOM (Dir. Wes Anderson, 2012)

There are times during this film, Wes Anderson’s seventh as director, that I felt like I was paging through an old slightly faded and yellowed picture book of Rhode Island landscapes and settings.

The world that Anderson creates here will be familiar in its tone and eccentricity to those who’ve seen his previous movies, but his usual hallmarks - actors positioned in dead center frame, extreme shots of handwriting on notebook paper, a bold primary color scheme, kids who are too smart for their own good, and very formal dialogue - all come together much more naturally than before.

As whimsically titled as it is executed, MOONRISE KINGDOM concerns Jared Gillman and Kara Hayward, as a couple of kids in the summer of 1965 who don’t fit in their respective lives - he in his “Khaki” Scout troup; she in her dysfunctional family. They run off together across the fictitious island of New Penzance, off the coast of New England, in the days before a storm of “historic proportions” hits (as Bob Balaban, our onscreen narrator tells us).

This triggers the Scout Master Ward (Edward Norton), the local police Captain (Bruce Willis), and the girl’s lawyer parents (Bill Murray and Frances McDormand), to form a search party to find the missing children.

Although he was the most unpopular scout in his troup, Gillman has mad camping skills so the kids are able to survive just fine in the woods. Hayward helps pass the time reading aloud from a stack of unreturned library books (all fictitious children’s titles with authentic period aesthetics).

The pair reach a secluded cove protected by steep cliffs where they dance on the beach to Françoise Hardy’s “Le Temps de l’Amour” on a battery-powered record player. They kiss and fall in love, but the search party soon swoops in to separate them.

Meanwhile there is a palpable chill in the air around Murray and McDormand as she is having an affair with Willis. There’s no real time to flesh this out so it’s on a back burner as Tilda Swinton as Social Services (that’s actually how she’s credited) shows up to take away Gillman and place him in a “juvenile refuge.” 

Gillman’s scout troup decides to help the love-smitten kids escape again, and with the help of Anderson regular Jason Scwartzman, as a Khaki scout leader, a makeshift marriage ceremony goes down. Then there’s that pesky violent storm to deal with.

Sure there’s a preciousness to the precision that some may find pretentious, and maybe it is a bit. But it’s touching how faithful Anderson is to that little inner kid of his.

We don’t learn much about these people as the characterizations don’t go very deep, and some details seem a bit too quirky (McDormand using a megaphone to order around her family - and I know that comes from co-screenwriter Roman Coppola’s real life), but the overriding sweetness and colorful aura casts too big a spell for that to matter.

Despite that it's set in the mid '60s, there surprisingly isn't any British invasion pop present. Apart from the Françoise Hardy tune and some Hank Williams, classical music dominates the soundtrack by way of a 7 part suite by noted composerAlexandre Desplat, some apt Leonard Bernsteinselections, and Benjamin Britten's “The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra.”

Of Anderson’s films, I was most reminded of THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS in such elements as the yellow tent aesthetics, Murray’s wife having an affair, a dog getting accidentally killed, and the ancient turntable, among some other more subtle similarities. Maybe it’s true that every film maker is essentially making the same movie over and over until they get it right.

Well, Anderson’s MOONRISE KINGDOM is a twee-rific try.

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BURN AFTER READING: Not As Disposable As Its Title Suggests

BURN AFTER READING (Dirs. Ethan Coen & Joel Coen, 2008)



You can’t get any more A-list than the cast of this movie. George Clooney, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton are Oscar winners, John Malkovich has been nominated more than once, and Brad Pitt is, well, Brad Pitt (yes he’s been nominated too). 

Mix in a couple of the most acclaimed character actors working today - Richard Jenkins (Six Feet Under, THE VISITOR) and J.K. Simmons (J. Jonah Jameson in the SPIDERMAN series, JUNO) and you've got as rich and tasty an cinematic ensemble soufflé that could be served today. 

Coming off the ginormous success of NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (yes, more Oscars) it seems the Coen Brothers needed to blow off some steam just as RAISING ARIZONA was the silly satirical followup to their dark debut BLOOD SIMPLE and THE BIG LEBOWSKI came right after FARGO, this is the ice cream to NO COUNTRY's full steak dinner. Okay, I’ll get off the food analogies. Seems somewhat pointless to try to recount the plot but I’ll still have a go at it. Malkovich is a boozing low level CIA agent whose files and memoirs are copied onto a disc by his wife (Swinton) after he is fired and she plans to divorce him. 

The disc is found at the gym Hardbodies where McDormand and Pitt work who, the money-grubbing schemers that they are, plan to blackmail Malkovich with. Meanwhile Clooney (also an idiot) who is having an affair with Swinton meets McDormand on one of his many misadventures with online dating. Misadventures is the right word for all of this as we see these pathetic people go through a series of sloppily handled escapades. 

The disc is, of course, a MacGuffin as its contents are unimportant and, as anyone in the film who studies it confirms, worthless. The conviction of McDormand, who wants the money to have extesive cosmetic surgery (“I’ve gone just about as far as I can go with this body”) coupled with Pitt's badly bleached blundering makes for a lot of laughs while Clooney’s wide eyed doltish womanizing brings his fair share of funny too. Malkovich's jaded jerk of a foul mouthed (his most repeated phrase throughout is “what the fuck?!!?” I think) failed spy won’t win him any awards but it’s among the finest comic acting of his career or at least since BEING JOHN MALKOVICH. 

Swinton seems to be the only one that is ill at ease with the material though that's probably because her character is so ill at ease with these situations. “We don’t really know what anyone is after” J.K. Simmons as Malkovich’s former superior says in an indifferent ‘whatever’ manner at one point and I bet many critics will say the same about BURN AFTER READING. After the powerfully astute NO COUNTRY... this may seem merely a funny throw-away.

A high class but trivial piece that treads water between more ambitious efforts, I’m sure some will remark, but I believe there is a lot more going for it than that. 

Sure, it would be easy to conclude that this is a silly statement on our current technology driven paranoia and that everybody is stupid, glib, and completely out for themselves but I think that would be dumbing it down considerably. With their patented low angles, wide interior shots, and the overall free for all spirit that they appear to instill in all the films participants, the offbeat world we are presented could only be Coen created - this is a view of their private sector, to use some Washington D.C. jargon. 

Like many Coen Brothers movies this will take repeat viewings to fully appreciate and to formulate more of a take on where it stands in their canon. Right now I can only say that BURN AFTER READING is consistently hilarious with a host of A-listers at the top of their game and I’m looking forward to seeing it again. It’s an enjoyable and extremely silly sector that I’m glad they don't keep so private.

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