‘The Fabelmans’ Should Win Best Picture, It’s That Good!

I’ve almost watched all of the movies that have been nominated for Best Picture this year. Top Gun: Maverick, Avatar: The Way of Water, The Banshees of Inisherin, Everything Everywhere All at Once, All Quiet on the Western Front, Tar, and now The Fabelmans.

Before The Fabelmans, the movie I was rooting to garner the Best Picture win was The Banshees of Inisherin, a film whose comedic moments and dark twists left me riveted. You can read my review of the film here.

Despite Banshees‘ original storytelling it has been swept under the rug by the surprise hit of the award season, the multiversal family story featuring a predominantly Asian cast in Everything Everywhere All At Once. Unfortunately, in my opinion, I found the film to be far less special than was advertised among critics and casual viewers. As someone who has watched Regular Show, a show filled with surprise shenanigans for the heroes to face that force them to sometimes become better people, and some episodes of Rick and Morty, which is jam-packed with crude humor, EEAAO felt surprisingly simple.

‘Tár’ Will Earn Cate Blanchett Her Another Oscar but Was the Movie Good?

I watched Tár today and there’s no denying Blanchett’s deserved march to yet another Oscar win. She’s just so profoundly moving in her acting, so undeniably brilliant in every minute twitch, sniff, or sigh. In every choice, she makes her facial expressions. I cannot express enough how wonderful it is to watch Blanchett at her best in a movie because it truly is outstanding. That being said, Tár is a dreary movie in its inception.

Its grey cinematography is depressing, appropriately so in the context of the film, the scenes sometimes drag on for far too long, and by the end of the movie, I felt like the story could’ve been forty minutes shorter. Not to mention the fact that there is no music besides the music presented whenever she’s composing.

Despite my personal boredom with the movie, I believe it definitely deserves its six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. While it is a movie that felt, at times, lengthy there were moments that will stick with me in this film thanks to Blanchett’s incredible performance which is the obvious driving force of this film.

I’ll give it 4 out of 5 stars and 88 out of 100.

I thank you for reading and I hope you have a fantastic day.

‘The Father’: Yeah, Anthony Hopkins Deserved the Oscar

I’ve seen two more Oscar-winning films this past week so I thought I’d share my reviews of them. Enjoy!

The Imitation Game

A couple of days ago I decided to watch The Imitation Game, a biographical film about mathematical genius Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) and his collaboration with MI6 during World War II which led to his creation of what is technically the world’s first computer. Unsurprisingly, Cumberbatch, who earned his first Oscar nomination for the role, did an incredible job. Despite having my reservations about this film, it turned out to be far better than I would’ve imagined.

What made it more compelling as a story was the non-explicit yet the truthful depiction of Turing as a homosexual during a time when being gay resulted in a prison sentence. The constant thru line of his true self being alluded to yet hidden away provided more meaning to the film’s title, The Imitation Game, and added an extra layer of depth the movie surely needed.

Keira Knightley also did a tremendous job in the film, garnering a deserved Oscar nomination for her role as Turing’s best friend.

All in all, the film wasn’t the best biographical film I’ve seen (that still belongs to Malcolm X which Denzel Washington should’ve won Best Actor for, by the way) but it was a good one. I’ll give it 91 out of 100 and 4 out of 5 stars.

I Finally Watched ‘Lethal Weapon’ and ‘War Horse’

So, over the past couple of days I’ve watched some pretty popular films; War Horse and Lethal Weapon. Both were memorable and I have strong opinions on both of them so with no further delay, here are my reviews for each movie.

Lethal Weapon

Well, Lethal Weapon was not what I expected. Yeah, it’s a classic buddy-comedy duo type of a movie but it wasn’t as funny as Rush Hour and Bad Boys. Instead, it was a more serious film with humorous tones in it and I kind of liked that twist.

Mel Gibson’s suicidal Martin Riggs was a different type of a police officer and he ultimately got me invested in the story when I was kind of watching the film bored. The movie was good but at times it felt like a true-blue 80s’ film and that’s not always a good thing.

The scenarios Riggs and Murtaugh (Danny Glover) constantly found themselves in and out of at times felt ridiculous and totally cliche. But the movie was somewhat enjoyable and I understand why it is as famous as it is. I don’t think I’ll be watching it again though anytime soon.

Die Hard, however, a fellow action movie that had a Christmas setting in Los Angeles that came out just a year after Lethal Weapon, is far better though in casting, story, and action.

4 out of 5 stars

Movie Review Flashback: ‘Nomadland’ Is Stunning In Its Simplicity

I finally got around to watching NomadLand today and I was actually kind of blown away. At first I found it to be a bit boring and hard to stay attached but after a while the movie sucked me in and once it did it didn’t let me go.

Nomadland will definitely not be for everyone. It plays primarily in the vein of a documentary rather than a big-budget Oscar-nominated movie, the actors are so believable in this world as Frances McDormand, a nomad who’s traveling around the United States in her van during the Great Recession, perfectly becomes this character who’s down on her luck and is…just living her life.

I love a director who can bring accentuate the natural beauty of a landscape, like David Lean’s incomparable work on Lawrence of Arabia where he managed to turn a desert into the most beautiful region on Earth.

Chloe Zhao takes the landscapes of states like Nevada, South Dakota, California, and Arizona and makes incredible images that’ll just cause you to pause and ponder life. It was as if I was watching a documentary about national parks and RV camping…and I loved it!

But beyond each frame that exuded artistic expression was the story. It was so profound as it delved into the idea of love and death. I’m not ashamed to admit I got teary a few times and I especially got emotional at the end of this movie. Spoiler alert, nothing awful happens but it was still really moving in a poetic sort of way.

Nomadland has been the frontrunner for Best Picture for months now and I see why. It has a beauty and stillness to it that the other movies don’t. And unlike the other films, I feel like I haven’t seen Nomadland before. Meanwhile, nearly everything else felt like another rendition of something I’d seen before.

I’m so excited to see the Oscars in ten days and if Nomadland and Zhao don’t win for Best Picture and Best Director…I’m not going to be pleased.

(By the way, this lady’s directing a Marvel movie! That being The Eternals. Heck yeah!)

I thank you for reading and I hope you have a fantastic day.

‘Nomadland’ Is Stunning In Its Simplicity

I finally got around to watching NomadLand today and I was actually kind of blown away. At first I found it to be a bit boring and hard to stay attached but after a while the movie sucked me in and once it did it didn’t let me go.

Nomadland will definitely not be for everyone. It plays primarily in the vein of a documentary rather than a big-budget Oscar-nominated movie, the actors are so believable in this world as Frances McDormand, a nomad who’s traveling around the United States in her van during the Great Recession, perfectly becomes this character who’s down on her luck and is…just living her life.

I love a director who can bring accentuate the natural beauty of a landscape, like David Lean’s incomparable work on Lawrence of Arabia where he managed to turn a desert into the most beautiful region on Earth.

Chloe Zhao takes the landscapes of states like Nevada, South Dakota, California, and Arizona and makes incredible images that’ll just cause you to pause and ponder life. It was as if I was watching a documentary about national parks and RV camping…and I loved it!

But beyond each frame that exuded artistic expression was the story. It was so profound as it delved into the idea of love and death. I’m not ashamed to admit I got teary a few times and I especially got emotional at the end of this movie. Spoiler alert, nothing awful happens but it was still really moving in a poetic sort of way.

Nomadland has been the frontrunner for Best Picture for months now and I see why. It has a beauty and stillness to it that the other movies don’t. And unlike the other films, I feel like I haven’t seen Nomadland before. Meanwhile, nearly everything else felt like another rendition of something I’d seen before.

I’m so excited to see the Oscars in ten days and if Nomadland and Zhao don’t win for Best Picture and Best Director…I’m not going to be pleased.

(By the way, this lady’s directing a Marvel movie! That being The Eternals. Heck yeah!)

I thank you for reading and I hope you have a fantastic day.