The Academy Awards will be given out Sunday, April 25, 2021. I've seen all the nominees for Best Picture. That means my opinion means something. Right?
2020 was a strange year for movies. More movies were released by streaming services this year compared to past years. Some so-called major releases were postponed until 2021. All that resulted in, in my opinion, a decent selection of Oscar candidates, but inferior to the selections of previous years. If I expanded the field of nominees, I would include two or three movies that I considered snubs.
My ranking of the Oscar nominees is based on the grades I gave the movies immediately after seeing them. In case of ties, I ordered them by my considered judgment today. Note this is not my prediction of which movie will win, but which I would vote for, had I a vote.
The envelope please. The winner of "The Wheel Award for Excellence in Motion Pictures" goes to...
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The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020): Dramatization of the trial of protesters at Democratic National Convention in 1968, a stain on American justice. Compare with the recent impeachment trial, another stain on justice. No standouts, but lots of big names in the ensemble cast. A-
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Congratulations to the runners-up, in my ranked order.
Nomadland (2020): Frances McDormand plays a restless woman traveling the American West, living in her van, taking seasonal jobs, meeting others like her. Character driven. More documentary than drama. Poetry, not prose. You can't know America without knowing this movie. B+
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Minari (2020): Korean family moves from California to a farm in Arkansas, seeking a better life. Movie avoids the predictable plot devices in favor of letting us watch the struggles of a typical American family. Quiet, touching, life-reaffirming without being over-sentimental. B+
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Judas and the Black Messiah (2021): Fred Hampton and FBI plant in Chicago Black Panthers. No heroes, only villains and victims. Movie lacks dramatic tension between the two title leads. Police and FBI take deserved hit to their reputation. 50 years on, it's the same old shit. B+
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The Father (2020): Woman deals with her aging father. Characters come and go, scenes repeat, each time slightly differently, until you aren't sure if you are seeing reality or the world through the father's dementia. Deserved Oscar noms for Olivia Coleman and Anthony Hopkins. B+
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Mank (2020): Biopic of Herman Mankiewicz and the writing of Citizen Kane. Has look and feel of that great movie. See that movie first. Mank is a talented alcoholic inspired to greatness by his subject matter. Movie is filled with the sharp, fast, cutting dialog you'd expect. B+
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Promising Young Woman (2020): Woman whose best friend was raped seeks revenge. Kind of a #MeToo vigilante justice mission targeting men who take advantage of drunk women. A thriller and a psychological study of an extreme response to grief. Great acting by Carey Mulligan. B+
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Sound of Metal (2020): Rock drummer must deal with sudden deafness. It's not a punk-metal movie. Riz Ahmed's acting brilliantly captures the five stages of grief. Movie's sound brilliantly captures the experience from drummer's perspective. Some nice supporting roles, too. B+
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1 comment:
As expected, Nomadland won Best Picture. It was my first runnerup in my own rankings, which were based on the grades I gave the movies when I first watched them, but by the time of the awards ceremony, it was my sentimental favorite to win.
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