Oscar Preview

Some thoughts and suggestions about another bad year of nominations

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Morning Update

Sunday, March 27, 2022

By Ken Tingley

Watching motion pictures these days is all about time investment. If you are going to attend, rent or stream a movie, you want those two hours to be enjoyable. That’s my standard. If it makes me think, if it moves me to do something, so much the better.

No decade better symbolized great movie-making in my lifetime more than the 1970s.

It started with Midnight Cowboy, Patton and The French Connection, gave us two Godfathers in three years, The Sting, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Next, Rocky, Annie Hall and Deer Hunter. Looking back, I suspect it is why I still love movies so much more.

An Academy Award nomination for Best Picture has always been the gold standard endorsement for watching a movie. Sadly, that was not the case last year with Nomadland. And despite 10 different nominations this year, the pickings are still pretty slim.

Let’s blame Covid and hope for better in the future.

Thankfully, three moves saved the season.

I’ve seen all the nominated films - OK, I missed Spider-Man and one documentary short - but here is the breakdown for the best of them.

DON’T BOTHER TO WATCH

- Dune - Three hours of sand drudgery with a hard-to-follow story, weak special effects and characters I did not care about.

- The Power of the Dog - While Benjamin Cumberbatch does a great turn as an angry turn-of-the-century cowboy, we never figure out why he is so angry or even what this movie is remotely about. The early critical praise for this movie is mystifying to me.

- Licorice Pizza - I really wanted to like this movie and I liked the two main characters. The problem is the story just doesn’t seem to go anywhere. There are some good performances, some funny bits - Bradley Cooper especially - but this was the type of movie that used to go straight to video instead of getting an Academy Award nomination.

- Drive My Car - I learned a lot about Japan and Japanese culture with this subtitled film. The characters and story are fascinating, but its message of loss did not resonate with me.

WORTH A LOOK, BUT…

- Don’t Look Up - If you are going to watch an end-of-the-world movie, this would be my choice as two scientists try to warn the world of impending doom at the hands of a runaway asteroid. This satire is at its best when the President (Meryl Streep) and her chief of staff (Jonah Hill) try to figure out the best way to spin the end of the world into an advantage in the midterms. It didn’t seem that far-fetched to me. Make sure to stick with the the credits to see the perfect ending.

- West Side Story - Steven Spielberg’s remake is colorful and visually wonderful to watch. Maybe because I saw the Queensbury High product on four consecutive nights eight years ago, I just had the feeling I had been there before.

- Nightmare Alley - The sets, the costumes and the acting is all outstanding, but this movie about a killer who becomes a carny magician is an hour too long and a little too bleak in its portrayal of the human race.

BEST PICTURE CONTENDERS

- CODA (which stand for Children of Deaf Adults) - Might be the only feel-good movie of the season. The story of a deaf family with a daughter who can hear and loves to sing is why we go to the movies. It deserves to win Best Picture.

- King Richard - This is story of how tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams’s father molded them into professional tennis players almost from the time they left the womb. And of course it has a happy ending.

- Belfast - Since my mom grew up in Belfast, Northern Ireland, I saw this movie as soon as it was released. Kenneth Branagh’s story of growing up during the 1970s “Troubles” was a lot different that I expected. It is not so much about the war and conflict that raged between Catholics and Protestants as one family’s dilemma of whether to stay or go. It made me think about my own family where my mother, two of her sisters and her brother all left Belfast for a better life. Apparently, it was a decision many families had to make.

SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOMINATED

- The Mitchells vs. The Machines - If you remember a time without smart phones and there is part of you that really believes computers could take over the world, then this tale of robot-controlled smart phones putting humans in their place will have you nodding in agreement. Thankfully, the flawed Mitchell family comes to the rescue. You can still see it on Netflix and the catchy “On My Way” tune is a bonus that makes you wonder how it didn’t get nominated for best song.

- Writing with Fire - After being blown away by the documentary “My Octopus Teacher” (it is still on Netflix) last year, this documentary of the only all-woman newspaper in India is my latest inspiring selection from the documentary category. The women overcome the caste system, their lack of education and the pressures by family and spouses to just be wives and mothers on their way to becoming professional journalists who make a difference in their community. They are confronted by sexism, corrupt police and the Mafia while trying to adapte to a digital product.  It is a must see for anyone concerned about journalism around the world. It ends by telling us that 40 journalists had been killed in India since 2014, making it the most dangerous country in the world for journalists.

- Raya and the Last Dragon - I refuse to see any superhero movies. So at the end of this movie, I was surprised to learn this animated entry is from the Marvel universe. It is an old-fashioned Kung-Fu fight scene masterpiece, has a sense of humor and unbelievable animation. It’s not the kind of movie I thought I would like, but I did.

- Free Guy - Although this was only nominated for visual effects, this tale of a character in a computer game (Ryan Reynolds) coming to life within in its confines is breathtaking for its visuals and creative script. It is a lot of fun to watch and I don’t even play computer games.