Movies – My focus last month was to watch all the Oscar nominated shorts and the Oscar nominated feature films I wasn’t excited about. I did end up watching all the shorts, but after watching Over the Moon on Netflix, I decided I didn’t want to finish my Oscar watchlist. I’ll save that bucket list project for when I’m retired. Hell, I didn’t even win my damn Oscar pool, so what’s the point? I was pretty excited to get back to watching movies I actually want to see after the Oscars aired. I did not get my money’s worth from AMC A-List last month as I saw Godzilla vs. Kong in early April, streamed Mortal Kombat on HBOMax, and then cancelled my tickets to Raya and the Last Dragon multiple times. Because of the ongoing pandemic, the movie theaters don’t have early matinee showings and any movie I watch is going to cost me at least three hours of poker and with Raya streaming for free on Disney+ in June, I just haven’t had the desire to go see it. Another thing that has become pretty clear to me: writing is my absolute last priority. I’ve gone from writing thoughts on every movie I see to only doing so less than 33% of the time last month. Plus, I didn’t post a single album review for any music I listened to. Yikes. I have a hard enough time balancing work, study, mental and physical health, hobbies, and family time. Posting movie reviews just hasn’t fit in my schedule since I’ve been back to playing.
I also went crazy and made a best films of the year list for every year from 2020 to 1982, the year I was born. I ranked 25 films for 2000 and later and 10 films for 1999 to 1982. I started fizzling out on my lists in the early 90s as I just haven’t seen most of the important films from those early years when I was a kid. I have all the lists on my blog here. Enjoy!
T.V. Shows (Ratings out of 5)
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier season 1 (2021, Disney+) – 3.5
I thought I was going to complete a bucket list project and watch every single film and short that was nominated for an Oscar this year. I basically went an entire year without being able to do my job, so it left me way more time to watch movies than I usually have. I kicked things into high gear starting in December and cranked out like 25-30 movies a month, but by the middle of April, I still had a handful of films I needed to watch and I wasn’t excited about any of them and poker and baseball started to dominate my time. On the eve of Oscar night, there are six films that were nominated that I haven’t seen. I did watch every international feature, documentary, and short though and that’s something I’ve definitely never done before. Below are my rankings and predictions for every category. I didn’t listen to any of the songs, so I left that category out and despite having a family member that works as an editor on big Hollywood movies Film Editing is the category I understand the least, so I left that off too. Enjoy!
Best Picture
Promising Young Woman
Minari
Sound of Metal
Nomadland
The Father
Judas and the Black Messiah
The Trial of the Chicago 7
Mank
Biggest Snub: Considering they can nominate as many as ten films for Best Pic, I think it’s crazy Soul didn’t a nomination. It was my third favorite movie of 2020 and such a feel good film, I can’t believe it’s not here. Also, I think it’s kind of strange that Thomas Vinterberg got a Best Director nomination but his Another Round didn’t get a Best Pic nom.
Prediction: I would be rather shocked if something other than Minari or Nomadland won. I think Nomadland is going to win, but Minari was a more enjoyable movie to me.
Best Actor
Anthony Hopkins, The Father
Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal
Gary Oldman, Mank
Steven Yeun, Minari
Biggest Snub: Delroy Lindo was so good in Da 5 Bloods that I thought he might have a decent chance at winning and he’s not even nominated. I’d rank him third on that list above.
Prediction: Chadwick Boseman has all the buzz and momentum, but Anthony Hopkins gave the performance of the year in The Father. While a posthumous Oscar would be really cool for Chadwick and his family — and he would be a deserving pick — I still think Sir Anthony gave a better performance.
Best Actress
Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman
Vanessa Kirby, Pieces of a Woman
Frances McDormand, Nomadland
Viola Davis, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Haven’t seen: Andra Day, The United States vs. Billie Holiday
Biggest Snub: There were a lot of really good performances from lead actresses last year, but I think the Academy mostly got it right. I thought Rosamund Pike absolutely made I Care A Lot and Zendaya really leveled up in Malcolm & Marie, but I’m not overly shocked neither of them are here.
Prediction: I believe Viola Davis is the favorite, but I think that’s ludicrous. Her screen time is rather limited and it’s not like she was Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs good. I’m rooting hard for Carey Mulligan here. She deserves it.
Best Director
Chloe Zhao, Nomadland
Lee Isaac Chung, Minari
Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman
David Fincher, Mank
Thomas Vinterberg, Another Round
Biggest Snub: I’ll say Shaka King because his movie got a Best Pic nom while Thomas Vinterberg’s movie did not.
Prediction: It would be a massive upset if anyone other than Chloe Zhao won.
Best Supporting Actor
Leslie Odom Jr., One Night in Miami…
Daniel Kaluuya, Judas and the Black Messiah
Sacha Baron Cohen, The Trial of the Chicago 7
Paul Raci, Sound of Metal
Lakeith Stanfield, Judas and the Black Messiah
Biggest Snub: It’s probably unfair that Lakeith Stanfield is eligible for this category. He was a lead actor in that movie (and so was Kaluuya probably). So he’s stealing someone’s spot and I’d suggest that someone should be Frank Langella in The Trial of the Chicago 7. He had me laughing that whole damn movie.
Prediction: This category is loaded, but Daniel Kaluuya has been sweeping awards season. Lock it up.
Best Supporting Actress
Yuh-Jung Youn, Minari
Amanda Seyfried, Mank
Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Olivia Colman, The Father
Haven’t seen: Glenn Close, Hillbilly Elegy
Biggest Snub: No one really stands out, but Dominque Fishback in Judas and the Black Messiah is probably the best performance that didn’t get nominated.
Prediction: This category is loaded too. I wouldn’t be mad if any of the top four won, but my favorite performance of the bunch was definitely Yuh-Jung Youn. Anyone that can make you laugh consistently while speaking a language you don’t understand is doing something special. I think she has stolen the momentum away from Seyfried, whom I used to think was a lock.
Best Original Screenplay
Promising Young Woman
Minari
The Trial of the Chicago 7
Judas and the Black Messiah
Sound of Metal
Biggest Snub: Considering how wildly imaginative Soul was, it is crazy that it got snubbed.
Prediction: Sorkin is probably going to win for Chicago 7, but I think Emerald Fennell and Promising Young Woman are drawing live.
Best Adapted Screenplay
The Father
Nomadland
One Night in Miami…
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
The White Tiger
Biggest Snub: Charlie Kaufman’s I’m Thinking of Ending Things was complete insanity. I’m not sure I liked the movie, but he unquestionably writes on a level that mere mortals are not capable of.
Prediction: Anthony Hopkins is legendary in The Father but Florian Zeller and Christopher Hampton gave him plenty to work with in a brilliant script. I don’t think the script is the best aspect of Nomadland but I actually think it might be the favorite in this category as well.
Best Animated Feature
Soul
Wolfwalkers
Onward
Over The Moon
Haven’t seen: A Shaun The Sheep Movie: Farmageddon
Biggest Snub: I’ve actually only seen the nominated films. I loved the first Croods movie so I’m a little surprised that its sequel got beat out by Over The Moon and Shaun The Sheep.
Prediction: Wolfwalkers was great, but Soul should have been a Best Pic nom and will win here easily.
Best Documentary Feature
My Octopus Teacher
Time
Collective
Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution
The Mole Agent
Biggest Snubs: Dick Johnson is Dead and Boys State feel like massive snubs. They’d both crack my top 5 easily.
Prediction: My Octopus Teacher blew my mind because its subject is so amazing and I think it’s unbelievably cool that they were able to catch that relationship between man and sea creature on film but… Collective and Time are far more poignant — one of those two are almost certainly going to win and I’ll say Time takes home the Oscar.
Best International Feature
Another Round
Quo Vadis, Aida?
Collective
Better Days
The Man Who Sold His Skin
Biggest Snub: There’s a Korean thriller I saw on Netflix named The Call. I loved it, but it has gotten basically zero attention anywhere that I’ve seen.
Prediction: Another Round feels like a lock, especially with that Best Director nomination, but Quo Vadis, Aida? was a great movie and should give the Danish submission a run for its money.
Best Cinematography
Nomadland
Mank
Judas and the Black Messiah
News of the World
The Trial of the Chicago 7
Biggest Snub: I don’t think I really liked Tenet much, but it was cool to look at, that’s for sure. Same with I’m Thinking of Ending Things.
Prediction: Nomadland is a virtual lock.
Best Production Design
Mank
News of the World
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Tenet
The Father
Biggest Snub: First Cow probably deserved an Oscar nomination for something and it’s production design was definitely great.
Prediction: Mank feels pretty safe here.
Best Costume Design
Emma
Mank
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Mulan
Haven’t seen: Pinocchio
Biggest Snub: Probably something I haven’t seen, but the guys in One Night in Miami… were looking pretty sharp.
Prediction: Wide open between the top 3, so I’ll go with my #1 in Emma.
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Emma.
Mank
Haven’t Seen: Hillbilly Elegy, Pinocchio
Biggest Snub: I can’t say I was a fan of Birds of Prey, but this is something it definitely did well.
Prediction: Well, I didn’t watch 40% of the nominees, but Ma Rainey seems to be a big favoite here.
Best Visual Effects
Tenet
The Midnight Sky
Love and Monsters
Mulan
Haven’t seen: The One and Only Ivan
Prediction: I was pretty mixed on Tenet but the visual effects were A+. This should be an easy win.
Best Original Score
Soul
Mank
Minari
News of the World
Da 5 Bloods
Biggest Snub: I liked the score for Nomadland enough to add the soundtrack to my library on Apple Music and use it for background noise while I meditate… so… I definitely thought it would crack Oscar’s top 5.
Prediction: Soul
Best Sound
Sound of Metal
Soul
News of the World
Mank
Haven’t seen: Greyhound
Biggest Snub: Definitely NOT Tenet.
Prediction: Sound of Metal not winning this category would be insanity.
Best Live Action Short
The Present
White Eye
Feeling Through
The Letter Room
Two Distant Strangers
Biggest Snub: Only saw these five.
Prediction: Before watching these, I thought The Letter Room probably had the best chance simply because Oscar Isaac was the star and it had some buzz, but as you can see above, it was far from my favorite of the noms. I think they were all pretty good and as much as I’d like to see Joey Bada$$ be part of an Oscar win (for Two Distant Strangers), The Present and White Eye are a notch above the competition here.
Best Documentary Short
A Love Song for Latasha
A Concerto is a Conversation
Colette
Do Not Split
Hunger Ward
Biggest Snub: I only saw one other documentary short and I’m fine with its lack of inclusion.
Prediction: This is the first time I’ve seen all five nominees in a shorts category and, honestly, I still have no clue. The only one of these I didn’t thoroughly enjoy was Hunger Ward (and it’s not like that didn’t cover heartbreaking ground). Prior to watching these, I was under the impression that A Concerto was the favorite, but I’ll be rooting for Latasha.
Best Animated Short
If Anything Happens I Love You
Opera
Burrow
Genius Loci
Yes-People
Prediction: I didn’t even enjoy the bottom two on the list and Burrow is at least one full notch below the top two. The visual of Opera was absolutely epic, but If Anything Happens I Love You is the most touching of this lot by a wide margin, plus it’s animation and music are high quality as well. Probably an easy win.
Movies – I got back to “normal” life during the last week of March, re-activating my AMC A-list membership and returning to the movie theaters. I also got back to doing my day job: playing poker. I still watched an absurd amount of movies in March, but with getting back to the poker grind last week and doing all my fantasy baseball drafts (five of them!) the week before that, I didn’t review most of the movies I watched. I’m guess that’s how it will be going forward. I’ll probably still watch 2-4 movies a week, but I won’t have much time to write about them. If I wind up reviewing a movie that I haven’t yet, I’ll just post the link in next month’s post like this. I’ll say this much: Anthony Hopkins in The Father is my favorite performance of 2020.
I also went crazy and made a best films of the year list for every year from 2020 to 1982, the year I was born. I ranked 25 films for 2000 and later and 10 films for 1999 to 1982. I started fizzling out on my lists in the early 90s as I just haven’t seen most of the important films from those early years when I was a kid. I have all the lists on my blog here. Enjoy!
This one had my anxiety levels rising from the jump. Imagine suddenly losing your hearing one day. Imagine suddenly losing your hearing when music is your passion and only source of income – not to mention the strongest bond you have with your significant other. It’s difficult and disturbing to watch Riz Ahmed’s character go through all the various stages of grief in dealing with his hearing loss, but we get an immersive glimpse at what that might be like if it happened to us. Ahmed gives the best performance of his career and will be a strong contender for a Best Actor nomination. Sound of Metal is possibly the best movie I’ve seen this year and it’s really sticking with me. I wouldn’t mind re-watching it again relatively soon. It’s heartbreaking and the most powerful movie I’ve seen that was released this year. After sitting on it for a few days, I’ve decided Sound of Metal is the first must see film of 2020. It’s streaming on Amazon Prime now so check it out ASAP.
Replay Value: I didn’t think so at first, but the more I’ve thought about this movie the last few days, the more interested I am in watching it again sooner rather than later.
Sequel Potential: None.
Oscar Potential: Riz Ahmed should be in the Best Actor mix and I expect this to be one of the ten or so movies that get a Best Picture nomination. I suppose a Best Pic nom means it’s also a fringe contender for screenplay and directing. The use of sound in this movie was pretty interesting, so maybe there’s a nomination in there, but I’m not sure if it would be for mixing or editing.
Director: Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight trilogy, Interstellar, Inception, Memento)
Starring: John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Kenneth Branagh
Anticipation Level: High
How Was It?
Christopher Nolan is smarter than the rest of us and he wants everyone to know it. Sure, he’s done plenty of high concept films before (Memento, The Prestige, Inception, Interstellar), but in all of those movies the plots are relatively easy to follow and you know who the characters are and why they are doing what they are doing. Tenet? I’ll be damned if anyone can honestly say they know what the hell is going on in this movie the first time they watch it. Things are complex enough as it is, but Nolan has made a habit of drowning out the dialogue with extraneous noise in his last couple of films (see also: Dunkirk) and when that dialogue is needed to explain critical plot points, it makes Tenet pretty much impossible to follow. This film would benefit a lot from having subtitles even though it is almost entirely in English.
At some point, I just turned my brain off and tried to enjoy the spectacle. Tenet definitely has some A+ action sequences and plenty of amazing visuals so it scores really high in those departments. This movie will have no issue racking up award nominations in all the technical apsects, although the sound editing and/or mixing is more of a problem than an asset here. The concept of inverting time makes for some really cool moments and some brilliant-looking shots.
I can’t say I cared about any of the characters in this movie so there was no emotional weight to the story during my first watch. It’s hard to say whether that’s a result of things being undeveloped or because I just didn’t get it, but either way, I didn’t feel any type of way about what was happening. I think the acting in this movie is pretty good and that’s not surprising as John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, and Elizabeth Debicki all have good performances on their resumes already. This movie is light on comedy, but Washington still finds a couple of moments to say something funny.
I feel like it’s unfair to give this movie a rating after one viewing considering I didn’t really understand it. I think even if the dialogue wasn’t so hard to hear a lot of the time and I had a better idea of what was going on, I’d still need to do extra research online to really get to the bottom of everything. I’ll eventually do that, but I’m guessing the average moviegoer isn’t too interested in all that. As a result, I expect most people not to like this movie and they will probably dismiss it after one viewing. I’m sure everyone is going to see it anyway (when they feel safe to do so), but I don’t recommend it unless you are okay with being clueless while watching it and spending extra time reading about it later. Tenet is quite easily my least favorite Chris Nolan film after one viewing and with a 150 minute run time, I can’t say I’m super excited to get back in the theater again and figure things out.
Replay Value: Required, but I don’t know how enjoyable it will be.
Sequel Potential: I don’t expect Nolan to make sequels to his original movies.
Oscar Potential: Cinematography, Visual Effects, Production Design, Film Editing, Original Score noms all seem likely. Dunkirk won Oscars for Sound Mixing and Sound Editing but I couldn’t hear the dialogue in that movie either so… I wouldn’t be shocked to see this get Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay noms because it’s a Chris Nolan movie, but not because it actually deserves them.
The Bat Cave 