As I write this post today, it has been just hours since the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences named its nominees for The 93rd Academy Awards, recognizing the best of what may have been its most unique year. 2020 was a pretty dreadful year all around. It was my most challenging, trying, and somber year. I’ve mentioned quite a few times in other reviews that most of the big blockbusters that were initially scheduled to be released were delayed to 2021 in hopes that the end of the COVID-19 pandemic would signal a return of moviegoers to the theaters. The jury is still out on each of these. Indeed, some theaters that closed their doors back in March of 2020 will never open their doors again. Others will see far less patronage because many movies have Video on Demand releases on the same day or shortly after their theatrical release.
Category Archives: Colman Domingo
The Birth of a Nation (2016)
Nate Parker (Beyond the Lights, Non-Stop) made his big-screen debut back in 2006, but a decade later, many moviegoers might not be able to pick him out of a lineup. However, that’s all about to change. The incredible The Birth of a Nation is about to launch Parker into the next tier of not just actors but also directors and screenwriters. I’ll be the first to say that I didn’t know who Parker was, but it might be time for me to go back and watch some of the movies on his filmography. Not only did Parker give an Oscar-worthy leading actor performance, but he also directed and wrote this film that, somehow, is flying under the radar. Parker knocked this movie out of the park. The 79% rating it is currently receiving on Rotten Tomatoes is quite respectable (especially for a movie based on a true event, but one that even Parker described as reality-based fiction), but I have seen almost no promotional materials for this movie. It opened the same weekend as Girl on the Train, which may have received as much publicity as any other movie released in 2016 so far.
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Lee Daniels’ The Butler (2013)
Lee Daniels’ The Butler was a well-made movie that many thought would receive multiple Academy Award nominations. It was a good movie, but certainly not one of the ten best of the year. There were fine performances given by the leads Forest Whitaker – (The Last King of Scotland, The Crying Game) and Oprah Winfrey (The Color Purple, Beloved). Still, neither gave one of the top five performances of the year in their category. In addition, director Lee Daniels (Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, The Paperboy) told a story that keeps you interested and involved, but this did not match the direction of Steve McQueen (12 Years A Slave) or Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity). In short, this was a good movie worth seeing, but one that most likely would not have been nominated for an Academy Awards, regardless of the year of release. Continue reading Lee Daniels’ The Butler (2013)