Oscar 2017: Best Picture Nominees pt. 3

All right, the Oscars aired last weekend, but I still hadn't got around to the final three Best Picture nominees so here you go:

ArrivalDenis Villeneuve's Arrival sits quite nicely as a high concept science fiction film that in many ways is a throwback to late 70s science fiction focusing on issues of language like Riddley Walker, Juniper Time or The Ophiuchi Hotline. The film follows Earth's reaction to the appearance of alien spacecraft and their attempts to understand the language of the creatures within. An intriguing film that asks for multiple viewings.

Hacksaw Ridge
Mel Gibson's Hacksaw Ridge is almost two films; the first half being the story of a Seventh Day Adventist named Desmond Doss (played by Andrew Garfield) who enlists in the American military during the Second World War, but attempts to work in such a way as to remain true to his religious convictions, specifically to never handle a gun. The film moves from his initial attempts to impress the importance of his beliefs upon his superior officers and moves into a courtroom drama towards the halfway point. The second half of the film follows Doss into active service and works hard to show the horror of the Pacific theater of war. It's not for those with a weak stomach, but strives to show a different measure of the term heroism. In the end I'm not sure if I would ever re-watch it, but I certainly enjoyed it the first time.

Manchester by the SeaKenneth Lonergan's Manchester by the Sea is a drama following a man who has been put in the position of looking after his teenaged nephew after the boy's father has died. The story is straight-forward, but as with Fences is full of deep characterization and some pretty amazing performances. Well worth the watch.

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.

Oscars 2017: Best Picture Nominees pt. 1

Before the Oscars had been announced this year I had already seen both La La Land and Moonlight, and within the week of nominations I'd added Hidden Figures to my list.

La La Land - having really enjoyed Damien Chazelle's Whiplash last year, I have to admit I had been looking forward to La La Land months before it came out. The story focuses on an actress and a jazz musician who meet and fall in love while pursuing their professional dreams. The songs and dances are fun, the references to classic Hollywood films (and specifically musicals) are great fun for the film buff, and the simple storyline of the film made for a great viewing, I'm not sure how well it would stand up to a rewatch, and it didn't knock my personal favourite musical of 2016 (Sing Street) off of it's perch, but La La Land was a fun, frenetic film that basically had "Oscar Contendor" watermarked on every frame.

Moonlight - Barry Jenkins moonlight follows a young gay man named Chiron through three periods of his life, the beginning of adolescence, teenager, and as a young man, and examines how he interacts with his friends, society and culture. To date this is my favourite of the Best Picture nominees as the story was quite strong, the acting was incredible, and the film was an incredibly immersive experience. Well worth the watch and heartily recommended.

Hidden Figures - This was a delightful film that showed me some history I had been entirely unfamiliar with (not unlike The Dish (2000), director Theodore Melfi's film follows three different wormen working in three different departments at NASA during the early 1960s and told three pretty great stories.  A fun film with an important story to tell.

Oscars 2017!

Last week the announcements went out, and as per usual I'm now going to dedicate the next month to watching all of the fancy films recommended to me by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. I figure that as I spend the rest of my year watching various super-hero, monster and robot films, I can spend a month catching up with some pretty great drama.

This year I started with two Best Picture nominees already in my hand, having seen both La La Land and Moonlight before the nominations had gone out, but that leaves me with seven films to see, Arrival, Fences, Hacksaw Ridge, Hell or High Water, Hidden Figures, Lion, and Manchester by the Sea. I do try to work my way through the other categories with varying degrees of success (Production Design usually requires me to see one new movie, while Best Documentary Short goes unseen every year).

I made it out to see Hidden Figures with the family yesterday, and will post a review on it tomorrow.

Short version - It was pretty darn great!