2017 Best Picture Nominees

As usual, I’ll list them worst to first.

Hacksaw Ridge – If you’re looking for gore, bump this to the top. A couple of the long, bloody battle scenes featured deaths creative enough to make me laugh out loud, but I wouldn’t have objected to some more backstory. The real story is incredible, and the film conveys a lot of it, but the writing was bland and there was a lot of cheesy embellishing that made this boring and predictable.

Grade – C+

Hidden Figures – The feel-good tearjerker of the year. Based on an inspirational true story with plenty of exaggerated racism to create more tension. And there’s only so much you can do with math montages. Great story, ok writing.

Grade – B-

Fences – Brains wasted by racism in Hidden Figures; brawn wasted by racism in Fences. This was like the novel you didn’t enjoy reading, but left an impression. Maybe I’m being too critical. If another actor did what Denzel Washington did, I would probably be amazed, but he does this every time--and Viola Davis was amazing. Cindy said it felt too playish—we later learned it was adapted from a play. When you’re making a film, use the power of film, take us places; if you’re going to stay in his backyard for two hours, the dialogue better be incredible—which it wasn’t.

Grade – B-

Arrival – The thought provoker of the group. I imagine it is difficult to convey this type of science in a two-hour film, but they did enough to make it interesting.

Grade – B

Lion – Finished in less than two hours, but could have used at least another 20 minutes of backstory on his family life and relationship. Rooney Mara was great. (Nicole Kidman was too.) Good enough, but could have been much better.

Grade – B

LaLa Land – Halfway through I began thinking it felt like Whiplash, turns out it's the same writer. Same theme. Great directing; the opening scene is borderline showoff-y. Finale was great. But I didn’t really care much for the music.

Grade – B

Manchester By The Sea – Deserves a cinematography award in addition to the acting awards it probably won. This was a memorable story with writing that captured subtleties often overlooked.

Grade – B+

Moonlight – Powerful story, strong acting. Enjoyed the look into the less glamorous parts of Miami.

Grade – B+

Hell or High Water – Funny, visceral, scenic, political yet apolitical. Great score. A serious film that made me laugh out loud at least a half-dozen times.

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Grade – A

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Trust me.

favorite books from the past year

I rarely read books the year they’re released, but here are my favorite reads from the past year (in no particular order):

The Lowland – I just like the way Jhumpa Larhiri writes fiction. (I preferred The Namesake, but this was also very good.)

The Speechwriter – Quick, telling read about working for Mark Sanford before and during his scandal. Captures the unique stress of working for a difficult boss.

Thank YouFor Your Service / Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk – Both document the plight of Iraq/Afghanistan veterans; and while Thank You For Your Service (non-fiction) seemed better paced and structured and more comprehensive and superior in almost every way, there was something deeply visceral about Billy Lynn (fiction) that sticks with me more.

Being Mortal – Seems to paint a slightly neater picture of the modern aging dilemma than reality, but definitely worth reading. (Read this excerpt if you don't have time for the book -- or don't want to sit through an entire book about dying.)

Sideways – A fun read. And semi-autobiographical, which I like. (The only books he has published are Sideways and two sequels.)

The Martian – Gave me an appreciation for the level of thinking that goes into a mission to Mars. And funny too.

Fates and Furies – I enjoyed diving deep into the lives of this fictional couple. Comparisons to Gone Girl are inevitable, but they’re different. The writing can feel overdone at times, but most of the time it's very good. 

2016 Best Picture Nominees

This blog is alive and well.

I’ve included Oscars and Golden Globes. Low standard deviation this year. No complete duds, but not as strong at the top either.

Carol – A lot of ideas packed into this one, yet so many dramatic pauses.

Grade: B-

The Martian – I can’t tell whether I’m being too hard on it because it didn’t replicate the book, or too easy on it because I can’t separate it from the book. I’ll err on the side of being critical because Kapoor was played by a black man and Mindy Park was played by a white woman, which is ridiculous, if not outright racist. Visually impressive, but eh.

Grade: B-

Brooklyn – Interesting glimpses into the period, dull at times, not great writing, maybe not even good writing, but a tidy enough take on the joys and fears of starting over.

Grade: B-

Big Short – Good enough to watch, but like The Martian, the book was so much more complete. The film leaves out key players—I don’t think AIG was even mentioned—and makes Goldman Sachs look dumber than they were. I’d even recommend the NPR Planet Money special as a shorter and more comprehensive summary of the housing crash, but if you want it dramatized, this is entertaining, and still fairly informative, albeit incomplete and mildly deceptive.

Grade: B

Bridge of Spies – Humanizes aspects that we don’t often see, clichéd at times when it didn’t need to be—probably to pay for those big name actors. An enjoyable watch nevertheless.

Grade: B+

Mad Max: Fury Road – If you like action, it probably doesn’t get any better than this. I can’t imagine the budget. (I googled it, it doesn’t even rank in the top 100 budgets of all time—or the top 50 inflation adjusted.) (I’ve only seen 3 of the top 50 (Titanic [3], Avatar [11], The Dark Knight [46].)

Grade: B+

The Revenant – If you appreciate directing, this might be the one for you. Incredible long takes and amazing scenery, and I’m sure they overcame all kinds of crazy challenges trying to shoot this in the elements using only natural light. In terms of plot, I preferred it the first time around when it was called Gladiator, but that said, it was still good enough to keep us up later than we normally stay up.

Grade: B++

Room – I had no idea what this was going to be about and was pleasantly surprised by the range of emotions it took me through.

Grade: A-

Spotlight – A testament to the role of local newspapers and maybe a final rallying cry that we all need to be paying subscribers or else investigations like this will cease and we’ll all turn into brainwashed idiots who watch cable news. As far as the story itself, I didn’t find it particularly gripping except for a few of the ancillary characters. I’m guessing the movie’s excessive hype is due to the fact that almost all professional reviewers work for newspapers, and this movie is essentially a plea to keep newspapers alive—which is a critically important topic.

Grade: A-

Extra:

Café Society – After Magic in the Moonlight and Irrational Man, I was beginning to fear that Woody Allen was done. But Café Society, while not in his top two tiers, was watchable (in part because of great acting and beautiful cinematography.) The writing was downright lazy at times, but Allen might still have something in the tank.

Grade: B