Three nominations apiece for our next three movies:
3 nominations
- Picture
- Actress: Fernanda Torres (1st time nominee)
- International Feature: Brazil (Central Station, Four Days in September, O Qu4trilho, O Pagador de Promessas)
Cast: Torres, Selton Mello, Valentina Herszage, Luiza Kosovski, Barbara Luz, Guilherme Silveira, Gabriela Carneiro da Cunha, Marjorie Estiano, Antonio Saboia, Cora Mora, Fernanda Montenegro, Olivia Torres
This movie received a surprise Best Picture nomination that I still can't believe! Will I'm Still Here actually win International Feature? It might! Smart money two weeks ago would have said that no movie could beat Emilia Pérez for the International Feature Oscar, but here we are in mid-February, and it's beginning to look like the tables have turned. I'm actually going to switch my prediction. As more and more people see I'm Still Here, they're going to appreciate how good Walter Salles's drama is. There's something reassuring, too, about a film that is actually based in historical fact and that sticks much better to generic conventions. I'm Still Here is a taut historical thriller about a family living under a military dictatorship that is pretending to be a democracy. The movie documents many of the terrors of living through the two decades of Brazilian military dictatorship, and the whole thing is rooted in the true story of survivor Eunice Paiva who became a lawyer fighting for human rights and Indigenous sovereignty. The movie is impeccably made. Somehow I wound up seeing this movie in a theatre filled with fifteen to twenty Brazilian college students. At the end of the movie there was not a dry eye in this theatre.
Will win: International Feature
Could win: Actress
My rating: #33 out of 97
3 nominations
- Actor: Colman Domingo (Rustin)
- Adapted Screenplay: Greg Kwedar & Clarence Maclin & John "Divine G" Whitfield (all 1st time nominees)
- Original Song – "Like a Bird": Abraham Alexander & Adrian Quesada (1st time nominees)
Cast: Domingo, Maclin, Sean San José, Paul Raci, David "Dap" Giraudy, Patrick "Preme" Griffin, James "Big E" Williams, Mosi Eagle, Sean Dino Johnson, Sharon Washington
The trailer makes Sing Sing look like some Sundance bullshit, but Greg Kwedar's movie is so much better than that. Sing Sing does have structural problems, but this is because the film is interested in telling us true stories about incarcerated men and their lives more than it is interested in narrative structure per se. I didn’t mind this. I think the stories of these men are more important than a storyline that works well. I was really into this movie, and I forgive every one of its shortcomings; it (like I'm Still Here) is a true story. This one is about incarcerated men finally being granted freedom, and it tells true stories of these men in a way that is respectful and that I appreciated a great deal. I am very glad this movie doesn't hit any of us over the head with, like, messages about the healing power of theatre or anything like that, because that would cheapen the real value of arts in the prison. It isn't magic. It's practical: it gives focus, it helps with teamwork, it demands responsibility, and it creates empathy. This is a very good movie, and it moved me deeply.
Will win: N/A
Could win: N/A
My rating: #32 out of 97
3 nominations
- Original Score: Kris Bowers (1st time nominee)
- Sound
- Animated Feature
Cast: Lupita Nyong'o, Pedro Pascal, Kit Connor, Bill Nighy, Stephanie Hsu, Matt Berry, Ving Rhames, Mark Hamill, Catherine O'Hara
This has a couple of heart-tugging moments and a few fabulous visuals. But The Wild Robot has no surprises in its programming. It’s generic and cheesy and—like seemingly every single well-made children’s movie—it isn’t about kids at all; it’s about parenting! (This won’t surprise you if you’ve seen Inside Out 2 or Toy Story or nearly any other animated movie from one of the big studios.) Mostly The Wild Robot is here for the cheese, though. Use your heart and not your head. You can do it if you just try hard enough and work at it. Even though you don’t like others, you have to work together to save your home, etc., etc. You already know all these things, actually. This movie repeats them all with pretty music behind the sententiousness and pretends to be improvising when it’s really just running through a whole litany of pre-programmed platitudes. The actors—who are all doing amazing work—deserved better. I did appreciate the charming little nod to Karl Čapek’s 1938 play Rossum’s Universal Robots in the name of this movie’s robot but this is a warmed-over set of clichés. The Academy disagrees with me, nominating the movie's saccharine score, and even the film's sound! Trust and believe that the Academy will also give this movie the Oscar for Animated Feature come March.
Will win: Animated Feature
Could win: N/A
My rating: #71 out of 97
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