Perhaps the most pleasant surprise of all 2018 movies was Dan Fogelman’s (Danny Collins) little-seen gutwrenching Life Itself. Not to be confused with the Roger Ebert documentary of the same name, this chapter-style movie is best viewed if you know as little about it as possible going in. I read this in the first paragraph of a review site I respect, and it was enough to get me to stop reading the review. I didn’t research anything more until I finished watching the movie and was completely shocked to see that it had just a 13% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes (78% fresh with audiences based on 981 ratings at the time of this review). While the drama was thick and all of the tie-ins between the stories a little too coincidental and convenient to believe that all of the connections truly happened by chance, I was able to suspend that portion of the movie because A) I didn’t see everything coming ahead of time (naively perhaps) and B) because the raw emotions of this film felt so thick and real to me that I couldn’t help but be wrapped in the folds of each character.
Category Archives: Drama
Black Panther (2018)
2009, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences expanded on a tradition that had existed since 1927. It increased the number of potential Best Picture nominations from the usual five to a potential maximum of 10. It was a move to inject more blockbusters into the Oscar mix and to give movies like Avatar, Inception, and Toy Story 3 the recognition of Best Picture that they deserved. But in essence, this was The Dark Knight rule. This 2008 film, the most incredible superhero movie ever made, was nominated for eight Academy Awards and won two (Best Supporting Actor – Heath Ledger, Best Achievement in Sound Editing).
Roma (2018)
Not all Best Picture winners are the best movies of the year. Unlike a team competition like the Super Bowl or World Series or an individual competition like a Spelling Bee or a marathon, awards in the arts are very subjective. Some sports, such as gymnastics, diving, boxing, and many reality shows (American Idol, America’s Got Talent), are also based on judge’s scores. Still, for the most part, I don’t think there is much of a difference between who the judges feel the best is and who the public believes the best is. Of the big Awards shows (Grammy, Oscar, Emmy, Tony, Country Music Awards, Golden Globes, etc.) The most diverse are music and television shows. I say music shows because there is no more significant distinction in personal taste in any art than there is when it comes to music. I say television because there is no way that every critic can watch every show nominated for awards, especially in 2018, when most of the shows that get nominated in the seemingly dozens upon dozens of unique categories are shows that the average person has never heard of. And for those shows, the voters usually watch just a single episode that gets nominated. This means that it is somewhat impossible to get to know these characters, nor is it possible to see the arc of where the show was or where it is going. Movie award shows are simpler, especially feature-length films (the types of films I review), because there are usually no more than 15-20 movies that get nominated.
Eighth Grade (2018)
Director Bo Burnham’s full-length feature debut, Eighth Grade, is a movie that feels very real in the time and age it was filmed. For a movie to feel this authentic, the individual writing the story and the person behind the camera must be entuned to the nuances and have experienced first-hand what his protagonist has experienced. Burham, at age 28 at the time of this film, isn’t so far removed from the experience that he can give his characters full life and meaning. Still, he is skilled enough to tell a story that is presented in a way that can successfully capture those emotions, progress a storyline, and make an end product that feels both rewarding and entertaining. While I didn’t love this film (I much more preferred the similar Mid90s, which was also about a character around or near 8th grade and released at around the same time as this film), it is an essential watch for persons in the age of 12 to 15 range and also caregivers of children of that age, or even slightly younger and slightly older.
Cold Mountain (2003)
The year was 2003, and a quiet little movie named The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King won the Academy Awards biggest prize, winning Best Picture. Some will argue that this was the culmination of a pretty darn good trilogy, and that will ensure that the Peter Jackson franchise was worthy of its share of accolades, although maybe Best Picture of the Year wasn’t one of them. I can’t give my opinion on that one because I have yet to see the film as of this writing (February 2019). I liked the first two enough and didn’t have a reason for not seeing the third other than length. I should probably watch The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers again beforehand.