The race for the five Best Actor nominations might be the Academy Awards’ toughest race. Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born) is a lock. There has been some significant buzz for movies that have run in limited release only (Ethan Hawke – First Reformed) and Willem Dafoe (At Eternity’s Gate). Ryan Gosling had a considerable push heading into First Man, but the movie was a miss with critics and audiences. His outstanding performance could be a casualty in this tight year. A new crop of contenders could swoop in for a spot or two (Rami Malek –Bohemian Rhapsody), John David Washington (BlacKkKlansman), Lucas Hedges (Boy Erased). And then there are a couple of oldtimers who turned in a couple of possible final career performances (Clint Eastwood – The Mule) and Robert Redford (The Old Man & the Gun). But I will state, for the record, that one of the men listed above, not named Bradley Cooper, will be knocked out for the career-defining role of Viggo Mortensen (Appaloosa, A History of Violence) in Green Book.
Category Archives: Academy Award Nominees
Widows (2018)
After watching Widows, I can very confidently say that if you team up director Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave, Shame) and writer Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl, HBO’s Sharp Objects), I’m going to have my butt in a theater opening weekend. I’ve heard about Widows for months and saw the trailer the day before I saw the movie. And I still haven’t seen the whole trailer. I only needed to watch the first half of it to know that it was a movie I wanted to see immediately. McQueen, who was narrowly beaten out for Best Director (Alfonso Cuarón – Gravity), hardly seemed upset when, half an hour later, his 12 Years a Slave won topped Gravity (and others) for Best Picture of 2013. He’s been off the grid for the last five years (save for a few shorts), but he is back with a movie that might be better than any of his previous three masterpieces (12 Years a Slave, Shame, Hunger Strike). The only thing missing is an appearance by Michael Fassbender, but you won’t even notice.
Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)
As is the case with many biopics (since being hosed over by what I believed to be a movie based entirely on a true story in Remember the Titans), I like to read about what parts of the movie were factual and which were fictional to tell a better story. A good biopic often becomes great when you learn that what you saw on screen happened in real life. A good movie that bases its claim on being a true story or inspired by actual events but one that you later find out has been predominantly fictionalized loses much of its original appeal. And, honestly, there is no devastating dagger to a movie that I love when I learn that what I thought was a true story is not nearly as much as I thought.
The Wife (2018)
Interested in seeing Björn Runge’s (Happy End, Daybreak) much anticipated The Wife? Do yourself a solid. Skip and see the remarkably well-made Big Eyes instead. It’s essentially the same movie, except it’s actually entertaining. The Wife makes its point in a nuanced fashion. It’s slow and not in a good way. Its two main characters are so different from one another that you wonder why they are still together. And then, when you learn the big, dark secret, your only question is why they didn’t divorce years ago. Nevertheless, it’s a movie that is gaining recognition for the performance of its lead (Glenn Close – Fatal Attraction, Dangerous Liaisons) as Joan (aka The Wife). Could it lead to her seventh Academy Award nomination? Yes. Should it? It’s still early in the season, but probably not.
First Man (2018)
It takes a long, long time to land on the moon. So much can be said for the research, development, and execution of the Apollo 11 spacecraft on the lunar surface on July 21, 1969. You can also say as much as Damien Chazelle’s (La La Land, Whiplash) lackluster First Man. Maybe Chazelle should go back to writing his screenplays. After earning Oscar nominations (adapted for Whiplash, original for La La Land) for his first two directed movies, Chazelle picked up Josh Singer’s (Spotlight, The Post) for his third directorial effort. Unfortunately, the culmination likely didn’t do either man any favors. First Man lacked energy and originality and frequently veered into disinterest in its characters and outright boredom. While the film has resonated with critics (88%), there is a sharp dropoff in the audience score (66%). While the accomplishment in First Man is an important story that needed to be told in this medium (particularly to those who weren’t even born when this achievement happened, I think it should have been spearheaded by a director who is more seasoned in the biopic genre or at least had directed a film outside of the music drama genre which has thus far defined his career.