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.
Category Archives: Academy Award Nominees
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.
A Star Is Born (2018)
Wow. I really wanted to love this movie. Bradley Cooper’s debut directorial performance was so close to perfect and yet so far away at the same time. I admire his vision and ambition for this movie so much that I want to credit it even in the areas it struggled with. Watching it through the lens of a moviegoer looking for an escape rather than that of a wannabe movie critic would have allowed me to see past some of its many errors. Ultimately, however, this film was far too flawed to be a legitimate contender for Best Picture or Best Director, despite what many seem to be already predicting. I will touch on all of the good and all of the bad in what will be one of my more thorough reviews.