Oscar movies
Mar. 4th, 2018 07:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
next_to_normalI managed to see six of the nine Best Picture nominees, and since tonight is Oscar night, I better talk about them before everyone loses interest (too late - does anyone even pay attention to the Oscars?).
In the order I saw them:
1. Dunkirk - I saw this in IMAX at the Air & Space Museum, which IMO was definitely worth it. This is the kind of movie that benefits from an immersive viewing experience. One of my friends said she didn't like Dunkirk because she couldn't follow it, but I didn't have that problem? I don't know if it's because I knew ahead of time that it was nonlinear or I've just seen a lot of Christopher Nolan movies. As far as war movies go, it feels like Saving Private Ryan without the emotional beats or character development, but that's not a criticism, really? It's not telling that kind of story, but what it is interested in doing - exploring, like most Nolan films, the perception of time - it does very thought-provokingly. At any rate, I liked it better than the other Dunkirk movie this year.
2. Lady Bird - I liked this one. It's not as splashy as some of the other nominees, but it's a sweet coming of age story, and the relationship between Lady Bird and her mother is really well played by both actresses. I think it's vaguely autobiographical, and the characters and setting all feel very real and familiar. Especially if you were a high school drama nerd, it is cringingly familiar, lol.
3. The Post - While it's not a bad movie, I couldn't help but think that they focused on the least interesting aspect of the Pentagon Papers, and that there were at least three other movies in there that I'd much rather be watching. The challenge of movies like this is to create a sense of tension and stakes when you already know the outcome, and this one never quite gets there. The movie is also trying to say something about the free press and the conflict that arises when politicians run in the same social circles as the media who cover them, but it sort of ends up feeling like the stakes are that Meryl Streep's friends in Washington won't talk to her anymore if she publishes their secrets. I know this was a rush job - Spielberg reportedly got the idea around Trump's inauguration, and the movie was out by the end of the same year - and it feels like the script could've used at least another pass or two. Bonus points, however, for framing it as a direct prequel to All the President's Men, thereby establishing a Washington Post Cinematic Universe.
4. The Shape of Water - I liked this one a lot more than I expected to based on the trailers, which just made me go "WTF is this even?" It's very well done and it has a lot of interesting things to say, buuuuut one of those things is "lady fucks a sea monster," and, well. Interspecies romance has never been my thing. I'm sort of surprised it's as favored to win as it is, but I guess the Academy is down with the fish sex. On the other hand, I guess if you are into those fandom AUs where Spike has wings and Buffy is a shapeshifting werebear or dragon!Tony Stark and unicorn!Steve Rogers are a couple, then this is the movie for you?
5. Get Out - This is the one I am super shocked it got nominated. I mean, it's so great, but (a) it's a horror movie and (b) it's challenging in a way that you'd think the (mostly-white) Academy voters would find uncomfortable? It's a little hard for me to judge, because by the time I saw it (after it came out on Netflix), so much about it had already seeped into the pop culture lexicon that, while not being spoiled exactly, I knew pretty much what to expect and how to feel about it. But then, so did the Academy, so maybe the fact that it came out so early in the year is actually a benefit, even though it's not the typical timing for an Oscar movie?
6. Darkest Hour - Someone on an NPR podcast (I think) described this as "like if you made a movie retelling Lady Bird from the perspective of Lady Bird's dirtbag boyfriend," and OMG it's so true. It's a less interesting and unnecessary perspective on Dunkirk, soured further by the fact that it cheats - as a biopic, while I'm not expecting total historical accuracy, I DO expect that pivotal moments on which the entire climax of the movie hinges not be totally made up! What is even the point of telling this "true" story if you have to make up the main character's crisis of confidence AND the scene that inspires him again?
I did not get to see Call Me By Your Name, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, or Phantom Thread, mostly due to traveling when my movie-watching friends went to see them. I hope to see the first two, at least, when they're available on Netflix. It does make it difficult to predict a winner, since Three Billboards was one of the front-runners.
In the order I saw them:
1. Dunkirk - I saw this in IMAX at the Air & Space Museum, which IMO was definitely worth it. This is the kind of movie that benefits from an immersive viewing experience. One of my friends said she didn't like Dunkirk because she couldn't follow it, but I didn't have that problem? I don't know if it's because I knew ahead of time that it was nonlinear or I've just seen a lot of Christopher Nolan movies. As far as war movies go, it feels like Saving Private Ryan without the emotional beats or character development, but that's not a criticism, really? It's not telling that kind of story, but what it is interested in doing - exploring, like most Nolan films, the perception of time - it does very thought-provokingly. At any rate, I liked it better than the other Dunkirk movie this year.
2. Lady Bird - I liked this one. It's not as splashy as some of the other nominees, but it's a sweet coming of age story, and the relationship between Lady Bird and her mother is really well played by both actresses. I think it's vaguely autobiographical, and the characters and setting all feel very real and familiar. Especially if you were a high school drama nerd, it is cringingly familiar, lol.
3. The Post - While it's not a bad movie, I couldn't help but think that they focused on the least interesting aspect of the Pentagon Papers, and that there were at least three other movies in there that I'd much rather be watching. The challenge of movies like this is to create a sense of tension and stakes when you already know the outcome, and this one never quite gets there. The movie is also trying to say something about the free press and the conflict that arises when politicians run in the same social circles as the media who cover them, but it sort of ends up feeling like the stakes are that Meryl Streep's friends in Washington won't talk to her anymore if she publishes their secrets. I know this was a rush job - Spielberg reportedly got the idea around Trump's inauguration, and the movie was out by the end of the same year - and it feels like the script could've used at least another pass or two. Bonus points, however, for framing it as a direct prequel to All the President's Men, thereby establishing a Washington Post Cinematic Universe.
4. The Shape of Water - I liked this one a lot more than I expected to based on the trailers, which just made me go "WTF is this even?" It's very well done and it has a lot of interesting things to say, buuuuut one of those things is "lady fucks a sea monster," and, well. Interspecies romance has never been my thing. I'm sort of surprised it's as favored to win as it is, but I guess the Academy is down with the fish sex. On the other hand, I guess if you are into those fandom AUs where Spike has wings and Buffy is a shapeshifting werebear or dragon!Tony Stark and unicorn!Steve Rogers are a couple, then this is the movie for you?
5. Get Out - This is the one I am super shocked it got nominated. I mean, it's so great, but (a) it's a horror movie and (b) it's challenging in a way that you'd think the (mostly-white) Academy voters would find uncomfortable? It's a little hard for me to judge, because by the time I saw it (after it came out on Netflix), so much about it had already seeped into the pop culture lexicon that, while not being spoiled exactly, I knew pretty much what to expect and how to feel about it. But then, so did the Academy, so maybe the fact that it came out so early in the year is actually a benefit, even though it's not the typical timing for an Oscar movie?
6. Darkest Hour - Someone on an NPR podcast (I think) described this as "like if you made a movie retelling Lady Bird from the perspective of Lady Bird's dirtbag boyfriend," and OMG it's so true. It's a less interesting and unnecessary perspective on Dunkirk, soured further by the fact that it cheats - as a biopic, while I'm not expecting total historical accuracy, I DO expect that pivotal moments on which the entire climax of the movie hinges not be totally made up! What is even the point of telling this "true" story if you have to make up the main character's crisis of confidence AND the scene that inspires him again?
I did not get to see Call Me By Your Name, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, or Phantom Thread, mostly due to traveling when my movie-watching friends went to see them. I hope to see the first two, at least, when they're available on Netflix. It does make it difficult to predict a winner, since Three Billboards was one of the front-runners.
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Date: Mar. 5th, 2018 02:21 am (UTC)Wow. I did not pick up on that. I enjoyed The Post very much. I thought it was overall a better film than Lady Bird, which is the only other nominated film I've seen, but the actress who played the mom was excellent. For some reason I am spacing on her name. Alison Janey? She was in West Wing? I am sorry in a way that I didn't see Dunkirk, although war movies are not really my thing, it sounds like the cinematography was spectacular.
I hate it when writers change history in biopics. Crossing off Darkest Hour, too. No need to bother with that either.
I am totally squicked by the idea of fish sex so thanks for the heads up there. Crossing that off my post-Oscars watch list.
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Date: Mar. 5th, 2018 02:54 am (UTC)Laurie Metcalf is the mom in Lady Bird, and she was excellent. Allison Janney is also excellent, but she was the mom in I, Tonya, which I haven't seen but very much want to.
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Date: Mar. 5th, 2018 05:04 am (UTC)Laurie Metcalf was also in a TV series back in the day. Which I am totally spacing on.
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Date: Mar. 5th, 2018 12:04 pm (UTC)But I'm OK with her losing to Alison Janney, even if I haven't seen I Tonya.
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Date: Mar. 5th, 2018 07:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Mar. 12th, 2018 08:18 am (UTC)Also, I have seen none of those movies. A friend of mine saw 3 Billboards, and didn’t like it.
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Date: Mar. 5th, 2018 12:59 pm (UTC)In happier news, I did love Three Billboards! Although it's garnered mixed opinions from those I know. Lemme know how you feel about it.
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Date: Mar. 5th, 2018 02:50 pm (UTC)Yeah, I have heard mixed things about Three Billboards as well.
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Date: Mar. 9th, 2018 08:31 am (UTC)- I had such mixed feelings about Dunkirk, in which I enjoyed it but didn't love it, and agree that it's best seen at the cinema. I really liked the play with time because creative storytelling decisions are my favourite, but honestly, while watching the movie, it felt more like a gimmick than definitely adding to the themes?
- I liked The Post, but I agree with you that it could be so much more. The central conceit was just kind of underwhelming?
- The Shape of Water was probably the movie that benefited most from the directing and whoever did set design, if that makes sense? A fairy tale that was directed and shot like a fairy tale, layered over with all sorts of meta about storytelling in itself, that was also super pretty. The fish stuff icked me out too, haha, like, I get it, but I can't get over it.
- 3 Billboards was... I'm sort of conflicted about it, where I do understand the style of the movie and the choice of themes, but that made for a less coherent movie overall? And the script could have been a lot stronger.
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Date: Mar. 11th, 2018 11:51 pm (UTC)I can see Dunkirk feeling like a gimmick. Afterward, I read that it was supposed to mimic the way time feels different during traumatic events, and it made sense, but I didn't especially feel it while watching.
I've also heard the same criticism of Three Billboards, that most of the problems were with the script.
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Date: Mar. 15th, 2018 05:19 pm (UTC)I'm looking forward to seeing The Shape of Water and Call Me By Your Name soon.
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Date: Mar. 20th, 2018 02:08 pm (UTC)