Oscar Nominations 2021: 8 of 9

1. The Power of the Dog, Dune, Belfast, and West Side Story
2. King Richard, Drive My Car, Don't Look Up, and Nightmare Alley
3. CODA, Licorice Pizza, Being the Ricardos, and The Lost Daughter
4. The Tragedy of Macbeth, Encanto, No Time to Die, and Flee
5. Tick, Tick... Boom!, Parallel Mothers, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, and The Worst Person in the World
6. Cruella, Spencer, The Hand of God, and Lunana: a Yak in the Classroom
7. Cyrano, The Mitchells vs the Machines, Luca, and Raya and the Last Dragon

Spider-man: No Way Home

1 Nomination

• Visual Effects

Director: Jon Watts

Cast: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Benedict Cumberbatch, Marisa Tomei, Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina, Jamie Foxx, Andrew Garfield, Tobey Maguire, Jon Favreau, Tony Revolori

 

I thought this was pretty fun, despite the fact that the last Spider-man movie I saw was the third Tobey Maguire Spidey. Thankfully, my niece Hannah gave me a play-by-play of the entire plot of this movie, including explanations about why particular moments had emotional weight. I duly felt the emotional weight of these moments, and was grateful for her explanations. It honestly was kinda cool watching the three Spideys together. However, I continue to think Alfred Molina's Doctor Octavius character is of absolutely no interest, and I can't say I care much about the Willem Dafoe guy with his goblin-heads either. But the visual effects were just really fun to watch, and I adore Tom Holland. He's so charismatic and delightful that I kind of think I'll wind up watching his other two Spidey movies. As for Oscars, the studio was hoping this third film might actually pull a Best Picture nomination somehow. Everyone loves this movie, but not enough to call it Best Picture of the year. Could this win for Visual Effects, on the other hand? I think it could. Marvel has not had a great track record with this, but it's possible.

Will Win: N/A

Could Win: Visual Effects

My Rating: #24 out of 60

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

1 Nomination

• Visual Effects
  

Director: Destin Daniel Cretton

Cast: Simu Liu, Awkwafina, Tony Leung, Meng'er Zhang, Michelle Yeoh, Ben Kingsley, Fala Chen, Yuen Wah, Florian Munteanu

I enjoyed this Marvel movie, too. For some reason I saw a much larger number of MCU movies this year – I saw Black Widow and Eternals too, and surprisingly liked them both! This one has a really ridiculous final battle. It's a battle (as so many of these movies are) for the fate of the universe or whatever between a pure good and a pure evil. Whatever. This is fun for most of its running time, though, even if it can't stop itself from overplaying its hand in act three. The opening fight sequence in the transit bus is really incredible. I had a good time.

Will Win: N/A

Could Win: N/A
My Rating: #31 out of 60

Free Guy

1 Nomination

• Visual Effects
  

Director: Shawn Levy

Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, Lil Rel Howery, Joe Keery, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Taika Waititi, Channing Tatum, Aaron Reed

I also liked Free Guy. This is a fairly dumb premise, and it is made dumber by Taika Waititi's idiotic antics, but it has some really cool sequences, and I liked its video game aesthetics a lot. I also loved Channing Tatum and most of the really stupid bits that the characters gave us. Utkarsh Ambudkar in a pink rabbit suit playing as a cop inside the game? Very funny stuff. This is an also-ran though. The visual effects team for Free Guy are just happy to be nominated.
Will Win: N/A

Could Win: N/A

My Rating: #34 out of 60

9. House of Gucci, Coming 2 America, and Four Good Days