A regular exercise here at the Pond, even if none of us are all that good at it. At the moment, I’m sick of considering the cast of GOP POTUS contenders. And as I thought Hillary was finally out of contention in 2008 (so much for my crystal ball), the sequel has been even more painful for me to watch. Then again, in general I don’t like sequels. Which is one reason why I haven’t seen many movies in the past year. However, I’ve been a sucker for the Academy Awards since I was thirteen years old and the habit is now too old to break.
Disclosure: My track record on picking these winners and losers isn’t good. Might be better if I ever saw all the nominated movies before the winners are named. Then my handicaps would be reduced to 1) not appreciating the big-budget, visually flashy, and boring storytelling as much as the AA members do 2) being politically less conservative than AA members that figures into the “Best Movie” 3) not being a Hollywood insider – popularity with AA members often counts. That said, the Academy rarely overlooks a film or acting performance of exceptional quality.
So far, have only managed to see three of the nominated movies.
I did sort of, kind of, consider seeing Mad Max Fury Road. The reviews were good (or generous), but didn’t see the prior ones (did I mention that I don’t like sequels?), don’t care for dystopian action movies, and the absence of Mel Gibson was a plus for me. I opted for Ex Machina instead.
Wouldn’t make an effort to see Room or The Revenant, but I could be persuaded. A movie buff friend rates Spotlight as a must see; so, it goes on my iist that also includes Brooklyn, Trumbo, and The Danish Girl, more for the acting performances than the movies. Joy is another David O Russell ensemble movie and and he’s batting zero with me. Like the actors and have nothing against the director of Carol, but didn’t John Sayles already do this story in Lianna? I know, it’s not a remake (which are also usually dreadful), but still… An entertaining and often very funny, small movie that walks through the “ever after” phase of a same-sex relationship is Grandma with Lily Tomlin. (I enjoyed it the same way I enjoyed the 2014 St. Vincent.)
Not looking good for me to pick acting winners unless there’s a “knock my socks off” performance in one of the movies on my list. Like three years ago, when one only needed to see Lincoln to know that none of the other nominated actors could reach the peaks that Daniel Day-Lewis did. Two years ago, one could get three of the four acting categories correct by seeing two movies.
What I have seen are: The Martian, Bridge of Spies, and The Big Short.
As Sci-Fi is another genre (along with boxing/sports movies) that I don’t care for, “The Martian” didn’t grab me. Visually, on a big screen, “Gravity” was a stomach-churning, wild ride. “The Martian” not so much. Competent film-making and acting but not more than that, but that is praise and not a slight because not so many movies achieve that much.
“Bridge of Spies” is a very professional movie. It doesn’t get much better than the opening sequence in this movie. The script by Matt Charman, Ethan Coen, and Joel Coen is better than what Speilberg usually works with. Cinematography is first rate. As usual, Tom Hanks hit all his marks, and while there was almost no room in this role for him to dig deeper, wish he’d give a bit more. Mark Rylance delivers that all too rare understated and touching performance. His nomination for Supporting Actor is evidence that his fellow actors recognized this feat. However, it’s a tough category this year.
That said, “Bridge of Spies” won’t be the best picture for 2015. It suffers from shortcomings not unlike those in “Lincoln.” Weak casting of secondary characters. Too much poetic license on a few historical facts that instead of effectively punching up the narrative rang false. My major complaint is that the narrative timeline got lost by the screenwriters, the director, and/or in the editing.
The Big Short. Okay, i love this movie. Almost in spite of and not because of the subject matter. It’s a challenging story to tell in a movie and make it interesting and compelling without resorting to a grabbag of cheap tricks as was done in “The Wolf of Wall Street” and “American Hustle.” Some viewers might get lost in the complexity of the bankster’s fraud, but they won’t miss that it was fraud and should otherwise enjoy the movie.
It’s creative and inventive dramatized story-telling of actual events (borrowing a bit from Michael Moore’s documentary style), breaking up what could have become a tedious tale told by men in offices. Men. Sorry women, but the MBS, CDOs, CDS were created, packaged, and sold by men. Too tell the story by arbitrarily casting a woman or two in principal roles would have been PC but false. Was surprised to learn after the fact that the director Adam McKay and screenwriters Adam McKay and Charles Randolph haven’t previously been associated with higher profile or critically acclaimed movies. With a production budget of only $28 million, they had to stretch the dollars. (By comparison, “Bridge of Spies” budget was $40 million (small for Speilberg), “Joy” was $60 million, and “The Martian” $108 million.) Expect we’ll hear and see more from both of them.
The casting was pitch perfect which must be more difficult than it seems because it’s the exception. This is the third time I’ve seen Steve Carell in a movie (never saw “Mad Men”) and he’s been outstanding in all three. Christian Bale is a “cold” actor by which I mean he doesn’t show everything and hints at more below the surface (not always effectively as it seemed absent in “American Hustle”). He hits it out of the park in this role. (Glad I’m not forced to choose between him and Ryland.) Gosling got the job done, but it was the least demanding part. In perhaps his least flashy role, Brad Pitt nailed it. Did I mention that I loved this movie?
Somebody at Politico is apparently unhappy with “The Big Short.” Billmon critiques that critique. Billmon hasn’t seen the movie and I haven’t read the Politico article, but what Billmon said sounds about right.
