Oscar Nominations 2024: 10 of 11

And now for the remaining three movies nominated for visual effects:

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

1 nomination

• Visual Effects

Director: Wes Ball

Cast: Owen Teague, Freya Allen, Kevin Durand, Peter Macon, William H. Macy, Eka Darville, Travis Jeffery, Lydia Peckham

This was pretty strong. It had lots of good surprises and the main character is great. But act two is kinda boring, I’m afraid, and I frequently felt ahead of our protagonist, Noa. Still, I had lots of fun, there was much good action, and the visual effects were very good. I am ok with them continuing to nominate the Planet of the Apes movies in this category—even if they don't win. Rise of the Planet of the Apes was nominated in 2012, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes in 2015, and War for the Planet of the Apes in 2018. This movie doesn't really live up to the greatness of those three movies, but they were really good, so I can't be too mad. This had a lot to live up to, and if the pacing of Kingdom wasn't quite great, the effects were still absolutely top notch.

Will win: N/A

Could win: N/A

My rating: #57 out of 99

Alien: Romulus

1 nomination

• Visual Effects

Director: Fede Álvarez

Cast: Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, Aileen Wu, Spike Fearn, Robert Bobroczkyi, and a CGI version of Ian Holm voiced by Daniel Betts

I am not really into this kind of movie, but this works. It’s just so fucking gross. I know that's part of the appeal of this kind of horror—the fluids and the sheer disgust of it all—and I guess it's not for me. I also find the Alien universe’s interest in babies and pregnancy to be really nasty, as well. Like, as soon as one of the cast of characters in this film (played entirely by models, apparently) told us she was preggers I thought uh oh here we go: it’s Alien: Prometheus all over again. This movie’s third act is pretty great though. I was enjoying myself a lot... while also screaming about how nasty everything was. I felt gross for hours afterward. This is why I don’t watch stuff like this. Yuck. In other words, Alien: Romulus does what it promises it will do.

Will win: N/A

Could win: N/A

My rating: #73 out of 99

Better Man

1 nomination

• Visual Effects

Director: Michael Gracey

Cast: Robbie Williams, Jonno Davies, Steve Pemberton, Raechelle Banno, Kate Mulvaney, Frazer Hadfield, Damon Herriman, Jake Simmance, Alison Steadman

This movie is a conventional musical biopic that is made insanely, amazingly unconventional—to the point of being deranged—by the fact that Robbie Williams, the musician in question, is portrayed for the entire length of the film as a chimpanzee. He is a very realistic looking chimpanzee, too! The effects are great. The musical numbers here are really the highlight, though. Gracey had a movie musical hit with The Greatest Showman, and this is just as much of a musical. “Rock DJ” is insanely good; it's a total blast. “She’s the One” is excellent too. In fact, the whole thing really works. The reason I didn't love this movie is that Better Man's plot is just so conventional. You've seen this story a hundred times. And this makes its overly long running time—140 minutes—very silly indeed. For me, the chimpanzee gimmick really doesn't run out of steam; it keeps working for the entirety of the movie's length. But the story the movie has to tell is not nearly as cool as the style in which it is told, and for the last twenty minutes of this film, I was impatient for it to end..

Will win: N/A

Could win: N/A

My rating: #63 out of 99

More 2024 posts:

1. Emilia Pérez, The Brutalist, Wicked

2. A Complete Unknown, Conclave, Anora

3. The Substance, Dune: Part Two, Nosferatu

4. I'm Still Here, Sing Sing, The Wild Robot

5. Nickel Boys, The Apprentice, A Real Pain

6. Flow, September 5, Maria

7. The Seed of the Sacred Fig, The Girl with the Needle, Gladiator II

8. Inside Out 2, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, Memoir of a Snail

9. Animated Short Films

11. A Different Man, Elton John: Never Too Late, The Six Triple Eight

Robbie Williams in Better Man

Better Man is a conventional musical biopic that is made insanely, amazingly unconventional—to the point of being deranged—by the fact that Robbie Williams, the musician in question, is portrayed for the entire length of the film as a chimpanzee. He is a very realistic looking chimpanzee, too! 

The musical numbers here are really the highlight. “Rock DJ” is insanely good—both my companion and I looked at each other and said oh this movie is great when that number ended. “She’s the One” is excellent too. In fact, the whole thing really works. 

The reason I didn't love this is that Better Man's plot is just so conventional. You've seen this story a hundred times. And this makes its overly long running time—140 minutes—very silly indeed. If the film's plot isn't going to surprise us, it doesn't need to keep going. For me, the chimpanzee gimmick really doesn't run out of steam. It keeps working for the entirety of the movie's length, but the story the movie has to tell is not nearly as cool as the style in which it is told, and for the last twenty minutes of this film, I was impatient for it to end.

Oscar Nominations 2018: Part 12 of 12

Back to Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, or Part 11.

My Best of 2017.

Wonder

1 Nomination

• Makeup & Hairstyling

Director: Stephen Chbosky

Cast: Julia Roberts, Jacob Tremblay, Owen Wilson, Noah Jupe, Izabela Vidovic, Danielle Rose Russell, Sonia Braga, Nadji Jeter, Daveed Diggs, Millie Davis, Mandy Patinkin, Bryce Gheisar, Elle McKinnon

I love Julia Roberts. I think we should start with that. I am just happy to see her, and I am mostly willing to watch her do absolutely anything. She's just. So. Lovable. I love me some Owen Wilson, too, and the two of them are delightful in this. Wonder is about a kid with facial scarring who is about to start the fifth grade. Roberts and Wilson are the little boy's parents, and the little boy himself is played by Room's breakout star, Jacob Tremblay. As you might imagine, this is a very sentimental film with a lot of heart and a lot of hugs. It's also the kind of movie that is obviously based on a novel. It tries to give us a bunch of different perspectives as a way to disrupt standard narrative structures. All in all, Wonder is fine. You will probably like it if you are a mom. And I am not trying to be dismissive or derisive, but this film is a hug-your-kids-tighter, Hallmark-card, we're-all-beautiful-on-the-inside, if-we-could-only-just-all-be-a-little-nicer-to-one-another kind of thing. It's very well made; it's just not designed with me in mind as its ideal audience member.

Will Win: N/A

Could Win: N/A

My Rating: #66 out of 84

The Greatest Showman

1 Nomination

• Song – "This Is Me": Benj Pasek (La La Land) & Justin Paul (La La Land)
  

Director: Michael Gracey

Cast: Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Michelle Williams, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Austyn Johnson, Cameron Seely, Keala Settle, Sam Humphrey, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Byron Jennings, Eric Anderson

Sigh. This is almost impossible to take seriously. It's a musical version of the story of P.T. Barnum (not to be confused with the musical Barnum by Cy Coleman), but it is so different from the actual story of P.T. Barnum and so far removed from the realities of the 19th century that it consistently feels absurd. The movie conveniently leaves out the story of Joice Heth (I was waiting for her!), but it also seems not to take place in the real world at all. Nothing in the film feels the least bit realistic. A central storyline of The Greatest Showman, for example, is that Barnum imports a world-famous opera soprano to the United States. But when she performs for the audience in the U.S., she sings a pop song. The crowd goes wild. It's very strange. I know it's pretend and all, but  I just couldn't get my brain to let go and start pretending along with everyone else. Maybe it's because The Greatest Showman is just a parade of clichés. Barnum has a dream, he leaves behind his wife and children to pursue his dream, he (of course) is focusing too much on work and forgetting the important things in life like "family" and "love" and "friendship" and, like, being a dad. But Barnum learns his lesson, and once he decides to be a family man, the show is (miraculously) better than ever. Still, in terms of music, The Greatest Showman's is fun, and everyone in my theatre department is obsessed with this cover of "Never Enough" by John Pinto Jr.. I am also delighted that Keala Settle will be performing "This Is Me" at the Oscars. It's sure to be a rousing number, and maybe this song will even win.

Will Win: N/A

Could Win: Song

My Rating: #65 out of 84

Marshall

1 Nomination

• Song – "Stand Up for Something": Common (Selma) & Diane Warren (The Hunting Ground, Beyond the Lights, Pearl Harbor, Music of the Heart, Armageddon, Con Air, Up Close & Personal, Mannequin)
  

Director: Reginald Hudlin

Cast: Chadwick Boseman, Josh Gad, Sterling K. Brown, Kate Hudson, Dan Stevens, James Cromwell, Keesha Sharp, Roger Guenveur Smith, Barrett Doss, Derrick Baskin, John Magaro, Jussie Smollett

I quite like Common and Diane Warren's tune "Stand Up for Something". Warren is seemingly nominated every year these days. It is a return to her 1990s glory days when she penned songs that were made into worldwide hits by Céline Dion and Gloria Estefan and LeAnn Rimes and Aerosmith. Overall, this crop of original song nominees is pretty good, to be honest. But Marshall is not. This movie is yet another Hollywood cartoon version of history. This time it's Thurgood Marshall arguing a particular case in Massachusetts as a lawyer for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1940. Almost no one in this movie behaves like a real person. We, instead, get caricatures of Thurgood Marshall, Walter Francis White, and Langston Hughes. Thurgood Marshall is basically a superhero in this movie: the coolest person you've ever met, slicker than a movie star, smarter than a Rhodes scholar, with the ability to fight villains like Iron Man. We also get equally silly cartoon versions of white racists in a Northern state, men who can be destroyed easily by a witty comment or the well-timed turn of a fedora. I have become very tired of these glossy, cartoon versions of U.S. American history, particularly stories happening during Jim Crow. I feel beat over the head with them, mostly because they never seem to take history seriously, glossing over the real violence of Jim Crow with an anodyne, rose-colored, PG-13 gaze.

Will Win: N/A
Could Win: N/A
My Rating: #77 out of 84

Final Predictions:
Best Picture – The Shape of Water
Best Director – Guillermo Del Toro, The Shape of Water
Best Actor – Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour
Best Actress – Frances McDormand, Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri
Best Adapted Screenplay – James Ivory, Call Me by Your Name
Best Original Screenplay – Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri
Best Supporting Actor – Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri
Best Supporting Actress – Allison Janney, I, Tonya
Best Film Editing – Lee Smith, Dunkirk
Best Cinematography – Roger Deakins, Blade Runner 2049
Best Production Design – Paul Denham Austerberry, Jeff Melvin, Shane Vieau, The Shape of Water
Best Original Score – Jonny Greenwood, Phantom Thread
Best Costume Design – Mark Bridges, Phantom Thread
Best Foreign Language Film – Lebanon, The Insult
Best Visual Effects – War for the Planet of the Apes
Best Sound Mixing  – Dunkirk

Best Sound Editing – Dunkirk
Best Animated Feature – Coco
Best Animated Short Film – Lou
Best Live-action Short Film – The Eleven O'clock
Best Documentary Feature – Faces/Places
Best Documentary Short Film – Heroin(e)
Best Makeup & Hairstyling – Darkest Hour
Best Original Song – "Remember Me", Coco