Oscar 2017: Best Picture Nominees pt. 2

Having now seen the second third of this year's Best Picture nominees, I'm pretty happy with the results and am really looking forward to the final three films on my list for the awards this year.

Fences
Denzel Washington's Fences (written by the late August Wilson's as an adapted version of his own1987 Pulitzer Prize winning play), is a story of a black family in 1950s Pittsburg that begins simply and moves quickly into an incredibly powerful drama.  The two leads, Washington and Viola Davis play Tony and Rose Maxson, a couple who have been together for nearly two decades and are currently facing difficulties with their teenaged son Corey.  The story is intense, the acting is top notch and the film is well worth the watch.

Hell or High Water
Set in the Texas Midlands, Hell or High Water is a crime film with aspects of Film Noir, Westerns and Thriller merged together in an engaging story of two brothers, Toby and Tanner Howard (played by Chris Pine and Ben Foster) who set out to rob a number of banks in order to right a wrong perpetuated against their recently deceased mother.  Jeff Bridges plays a local ranger tasked with tracking the robbers down and the film works as a smart thriller set in an environment where virtually everyone sides with the criminals rather than the law.

Lion
If you've seen the trailer for Lion, you've already got a pretty good idea of what the film is about; a young Hindi boy named Saroo ends up lost on a train, lives homeless in Calcutta and is eventually adopted by a couple in Australia.  Years later he begins to track down his own origin, attempting to find his way home.  What I will say about the film is that although it sticks directly to the story I was expecting, the plot is well paced, the acting is wonderful and the musical score by Dustin O'Halloran and Hauschka may be my favourite this year. A really, really good movie.