Brendan Fraser has been the odds-on favorite to win this year’s Academy Award for Best Actor since reviews from the 79th Venice International Film Festival on September 4 started pouring in. This was when the first images of Fraser’s transformation into a 600-pound reclusive online English teacher began to surface. Suddenly, Austin Butler (Elvis), this year’s darling and thought-to-be shoo-in, had a serious contender for the top prize for acting. With a few more films still to debut at the time of this writing, this category is a two-actor race. However, having seen both performances, first Butler and now Fraser in Darren Aronofsky’s (Black Swan, The Wrestler) The Whale, there is a strong case for either man. These two performances transcend anything I have seen in a year that could be stronger in this category. However, Fraser’s redemption story of a once A-list actor who has fallen into almost complete obscurity for the last decade will undoubtedly play a significant factor in the voters’ minds. This performance lived up to its hype, and this award feels like Fraser’s to lose.
Category Archives: Drama
Aftersun (2022)
A24 movies, the American independent entertainment company that specializes in film and television production, have been hit or miss for me. The distribution studio has my utmost respect, as I admire its effort and ability to bring to life smaller, independent projects that might otherwise have a chance for creation. Founded in 2012, the company has ventured out of obscurity and into the mainstream within the last half dozen years, with its films many Academy Award nominations, including wins for Best Actress (Brie Larson – Room, 2015), Best Documentary Feature (Amy – 2015), and Best Visual Effects (Ex Machina – 2016), and Best Supporting Actress (Yuh-jung Youn – Minari, 2020). As of this post, A24’s most recognizable and arguably successful film was Moonlight, which was the Best Picture of 2016 while earning Mahershala Ali a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. However, 2022’s Everything Everywhere All At Once will likely earn multiple Academy Award nominations and could win in multiple categories, including Best Picture.
The Forgotten Battle (2020)
Take a few pieces of Dunkirk, add a touch of All Quiet on the Western Front, layer in some 1917, shave in some Saving Private Ryan sprinkle, and finish it with some Letters from Iwo Jima. The result is Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.’s ( The Thing) 2020 under-the-radar masterpiece, The Forgotten Battle. This 2020 Netflix film was one that I had just heard of after completing my watch of All Quiet on the Western Front, which was another Netflix original that was equally as exceptional.
Lady Chatterley’s Lover (2022)
Score another victory for Netflix in its ongoing battles with Hulu, Apple+, Prime Video, Peacock, HBO Max, Disney+, etc. The original streaming movie streaming service has seen many peaks (and a few valleys) since it moved from its strictly digital base platform in 2007. Fifteen years later, with fierce competition, including the likes of Amazon and Apple, two of the most influential companies in the history of the world, the 1997 start-up company continues to be the clubhouse leader with both its quantity and quality of original content. Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre follows up The Mustang, her breakthrough directorial effort, with Lady Chatterley’s Lover, a heartwrenching retelling of the classic D.H. Lawrence novel.
The Batman (2022)
After Christopher Nolan’s fabulous trilogy of Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and The Dark Knight Rises, I was sure we wouldn’t see The Caped Crusader in a standalone film for a long time. Nolan’s series was pure perfection. Whichever director attempted to bring, arguably, the most storied superhero in comic book history was already behind the eight-ball before a script was even imagined. With its 29% Rotten Tomatoes score, 2016’s Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice was far from what we all hoped it would be. 2017’s Justice League (39%, 68%) didn’t help much. However, However, Zach Snyder’s 2001 director’s cut, while chalking in at over four hours, faired much better (71%, 94%). Matt Reeves’s (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Cloverfield) The Batman is a darker, more mysterious take and is the perfect movie to bring the iconic superhero back to the big screen in his own story.