Adapted plays that play out on the silver screen in a fashion that makes you feel like you are watching a play are not my favorite. That’s not to say they don’t always work because sometimes they do. Fences is an excellent example of this done correctly. That movie undoubtedly was successful because of its actors (most notably Denzel Washington and Viola Davis). Like Regina King’s One Night in Miami, Fences only had a couple of stages (in the backyard, front porch, and house). But while each movie was based on a stage performance, Fences felt raw and honest, whereas One Night in Miami felt…well…staged.
Category Archives: Genre
Da 5 Bloods (2020)
Something that seems too good to be true usually is war is hell, don’t count your chickens before they hatch, or a variety of other euphemisms can be used to describe Spike Lee’s (Malcolm X, He Got Game) 2020’s Da 5 Bloods. While this is not Lee’s first venture into a historical war drama (2008’s Miracle at St. Anna), it is his first look at the Vietnam War. While a strong contender for a Best Picture Oscar nominee, Da 5 Bloods could also give Lee his second Best Director nomination (2018’s BlacKKKlansman). Its best Oscar nomination chance is Best Actor (Delroy Lindo – The Cider House Rules, The Last Castle).
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020)
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.
Land (2021)
Land, the nondescript and forgettable title of Robin Wright’s directorial debut, has a Clint Eastwood-ish trailer. If you watch any movie directed by Clint Eastwood, it makes it look like it’s a Best Picture nominee. While many of these films earn an Oscar nomination, many more (The 15:17 to Paris, J. Edgar, Hereafter, Changeling, Invictus) not only do not but aren’t even worth a watch. Land is better than those previously mentioned films, but it likely will be just as unmemorable. It is by no means a bad movie. It is, however, a dime-a-dozen movie, and it certainly did not do its enthralling trailer any justice.
Nomadland (2020)
I listened to a podcast about Chloe Zhao’s (Songs My Brothers Taught Me, The Rider) Nomadland and how this might feel like a top ten movie in a typical year but maybe closer to the back five range rather than a front-runner for best film of the year. I agreed with that sentiment and wished I had said that myself. Like so much else associated with the year 2020, with a few exceptions, this year of films will quickly be forgotten. The fact that Nomadland is the clubhouse leader to win Best Picture at the time of this March 1st post seems incredible to me. I thought 2019 was a bad year, but it still produced memorable movies such as 1917, Ad Astra, and Parasite that will be remembered for years. While there are still a few movies I have yet to see that I think I’ll enjoy (most notably Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and The Trial of the Chicago 7), I have seen the other movies that likely will earn a nomination for Best Picture. It’s the weakest list I’ve seen in a long time, coming off a year in which I had said the same thing.