Unsolicited Movie Reviews - 2019 Oscar Edition

Here we go again. Oscar time is upon us. The tickets have been bought and the ballots have been cast. Every year I take a few minutes to reflect on the Oscar nominees and humbly offer my opinions on said list. A few years ago, the Academy expanded the number of movies that could be nominated for Best Picture to 10. This year the voters presumably only found 8 movies worthy of the top honor. Just between you and me I think they were overly optimistic by about 6. 

Honestly, this is the thinnest year for nominees that I can remember.  There is some fine filmmaking to be sure but for me some of the candidates did not rise to the level of Best Picture.  For the purposes of this ranking I try my best not to factor in the current political climate. This is not my best guess of who is going to win. If you don’t like Bryan Singer, and apparently you probably shouldn’t, because he’s accused of some bad behavior or you think Spike Lee is a lunatic, great. That isn’t what this list is about. This is strictly which films I liked best and how I would vote given the opportunity. Anyway, I love to hear your thoughts on the films and your thoughts on my opinions. I especially like it when you decide to shower me with praise. 

BlacKKKlansman 

Sharp, funny, poignant, blunt and unambiguous. This could have been a kooky, dark comedy. It could have been a gritty, biting drama. With Lee at the helm it is both. The movie is at times a reverent homage to the civil rights struggle and at other times a viscously, funny parody punking the Klan. The movie is at its best when it is saluting the righteous while emasculating the bigoted and ignorant. It is an impressive balance struck between solemn and silly. John David Washington leads a great cast that includes Adam Driver in a supporting role worthy of a nomination.  Ashlie Atkinson sweetly playing the overly, eager and willing wife of a member of the Klan is just downright disturbing.   Like him or love him it is almost impossible not to respect Spike Lee simply as a film maker. When you think back over his career it is more than mind boggling that he has never won a directing Oscar.  He isn’t the only one this have ever happened to. He won’t be the last. It took Spielberg 21 years with arguably the most impressive directing career in history. Well it has been 30 years since Do The Right Thing and I hope the Academy sees fit to....you know.....are you gonna make me say it....really.......ok.....Do the right thing.  

The Black Panther 

Thank goodness they nominated The Black Panther for an academy award. How else would it find an audience?  Seriously, on the off chance there is anyone out there who hasn’t seen this film, like my wife who doesn’t “do” super hero movies, I beg you one last time to see this film. All too often we exalt films much higher than is reasonably necessary. We make them “triumphs of the human condition” or “masterpieces of the cinema” or “The next Dumb and Dumber”.  99.9% of the time it is ridiculously pretentious.  Occasionally though, something happens with a film and it does take on a more significant role culturally and socially. I have been watching movies for over 40 years in the theater. It is amazingly rare to see a film with the same combination of entertainment and social value. It works on an entertainment level because it is a freaking Marvel Super Hero movie and for right or wrong, they have figured out an amazingly lucrative formula. The stories, the special effects, the jokes the whole flipping universe seems to work and, in this case, it works exceptionally well. Socially, it put black faces and female faces in roles and scenarios where they have not been traditionally seen. And it didn’t do it as a gimmick or as a “one off’ event. It did it like it was supposed to be that way and that it wasn’t anything extraordinary. In doing so the normalcy made it extraordinary.  But the effect of those faces in those roles was further reaching and more consequential than we could really know.  I don’t mean to make the movie out as a miracle or a salve for the world’s ails. I’ll just say that has much as it meant to me, I easily understood how much more it meant to so many others.  

A Star Is Born Simply put, I loved it. It is textured and nuanced. It is an excellent retelling of a tale that has already been told 3 other times.  That is no easy task. The music is superb throughout. The music, all new, is so good because it enhances the story but doesn’t become the story. When Jackson plays songs that are supposed to be classic hits, they are so good you start wondering if you have heard the song before. It adds a level of believability to the film that is hard to describe but it is special. Sam Elliot is superb as usual.  I really hope he gets the statue for Best Supporting and GaGa more than held her own. But make no mistake about it this is Bradley Cooper’s film. Not just because he directed it. It is a more that admirable offering for any first-time director but I do think his performance has gotten overshadowed and a little overlooked. His desperation and loneliness are heartbreaking. He really did disappear at times. Still, if Star suffers from no awards, I think it will have to do more with the producers “overselling” to the Academy. My Lord they have been everywhere and saturated the viewers. Either way it is still a very moving film even if it isn’t transcendent.  

Roma 

A very good chance this film wins Best Picture. It clicks a lot of boxes. First of all, it is absolutely gorgeous. Shot in a stunning black and white. Movies like this are why it is sinful to suggest that Best Cinematography not be televised. Secondly, it is an extremely, personal film from a well-respected director. Alfonso Cuarón made this movie as a testament to the nanny who helped raise him. She was a loved member of his family and his dedication to the project has been well documented. Third, the acting is quite stellar.  Yalitza Aparicio is marvelous in her role as the nanny as was Marina de Tavira as the beleaguered mother. Both were unassuming to their core. There are also some headscratcher aspects of the film that just leave you bewildered. The “naked martial arts exhibition” and the “rebel training camp” scenes follow a small arc in the story that is hard to reconcile with the rest of the film. But the ending is more than satisfying on a visual and emotional level. There is a lot here to like and just enough to leave you a little confused. 

Green Book So, what happens is that Jessica Tandy is a black piano virtuoso and Morgan Freeman is a punchy but lovable Italian tough guy who needs a job......wait......what?  Honestly the only thing really wrong with this film is that we have seen it so many times before. Two very different people placed into uncomfortable circumstances become great friends because in the end all that matters is the person inside, their humanity and how we treat each other. It is a formula for a reason. It works. But it can get tired from time to time. That doesn’t take away from how well it is acted or how compelling the story is. The fact that it came from the horse’s mouth and based on the recollections of the actual participants makes it interesting as well. Viggo Mortenson and Mahershala Ali are two of the better actors on the planet.  It is well worth your time to see just not the best picture of the year.  

Bohemian Rhapsody

In spite of one phenomenal performance and a ton of great music from an iconic band this movie is an absolute mess. The story is convoluted and the series of events are not only ridiculously convenient but obviously embellished. Major plot points are contrived to build suspense when none was actually there. And the script was so insulting and overtly manipulative that it would have the viewer accept Freddie Mercury tracked down the love of his life, came out of the closet to his father, revealed he had Aids (which we wouldn’t be diagnosed with for several more years) and did this all on a 45 minute care ride to Wembley Stadium before giving the single most important performance in the history of the human race. Give me a break.  

As a rule, I try to mostly judge movies on how they made me feel. Was I happy, sad, irritated etc.? When I walked out of Bohemian Rhapsody, I have to admit my toe was tapping. I enjoyed myself and the nostalgia stirred by the music was great. As a two-hour long retrospective of the band and their music it was fun. The last 15 minutes recreating the infamous Live Aid Concert was nothing short of awesome. Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury is almost certainly going to be this year’s Best Actor winner and more than deservingly so. But as a film telling a story it has huge elements that are laughably bad and the worst part is that they didn’t need to be.  

Vice  
Man, I was excited about this film......then I saw it. Expectations are a funny thing.  After “The Big Short” a few years ago I thought Adam McKay doing a film about Dick Cheney was a slam dunk. He had proven he could take convoluted material that was also sensitive and explain it in a creative way while finding some dark humor at the same time. Here’s the thing. VICE isn’t The Big Short. Somebody should have told the director. He tries to use many of the same story telling devices that worked brilliantly for him before but they come off as tired and even bitter.   The saving grace of the VICE is Christian Bale as Cheney. Rami Malek will most likely win the Best Acting award but don’t let that take away from how ridiculously great Bale was in this film.  McKay has plenty to say about Cheney and his effect on world politics, domestic politics, civil rights, the rule of law and the role of the executive, and that’s fine. Hell, that is awesome. At its best film can do that like no other medium. And a filmmaker should have a point view. But the movie comes off as petulant and wholly void of nuance. Two hours of banging the viewer over the head of how dumb and evil a character leaves you wondering.....”Ok, got it, where is the rest?” 

The Devil may be most effective when he’s boring. Maybe that’s the point. But as a matter of film making it leaves you with a two-hour long film full of one-dimensional characters and no counterbalance to root for or compare to. 

The Devil isn’t the only thing that was boring.  

Just as an aside, I will for the life of me never understand why someone would spend 3 or 4 years writing, editing, casting, shooting and promoting movie with all the effort and work that is involved to make a film about a subject for which they are so obviously loathsome. (See “Iron Lady” for another example).  At least if you are going to do it you should make a better movie.  

The Favourite 

Queen Anne ruled England, Scotland and Ireland from 1702 til her death in 1714. During her reign England and Scotland merged as a realm and for the final 7 years of her life she was Queen of Great Britain and Scotland. I only bring this up because with what was most obviously a consequential reign the film makers chose to make a movie about the Queen’s rather violent lesbian affairs and the torrid rivalries that were born within her court to curry the Queen’s, um, favor.. Oh, yea and somehow this is represented by a bunch of rabbits. I swear to God.....rabbits. But don’t you worry. This is high art. I mean there are phenomenal actresses in juicy roles (true actually), exquisite costumes (also true) and the director has to be an unadulterated genius because of his indescribable brilliance to shoot the whole damn thing with a fish-eye lens to assumingly suggest the distorted sense of reality lived inside the walls of the monarchy. OOOOOOOOh, originality (finally sarcasm). Ah you pretentious mistress, I have seen thy face and this is the Favourite.  

There you have it. Enjoy the show!