47 thoughts on “At The Movies: Oscar Nominations”

1. Hey, I actually saw some of these for once.

   Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood: I watched this in what would have been in the the wee hours of the morning on the flight over there. It was... okay? Good performances and all. However, I'm really not a fan of QT's recent trend towards revisionist history in his movies. Django was fine (as far as that goes), but Basterds was really annoying in that aspect. I mean, sure, you can play with the historical narrative a little, but I'm not a fan of ripping off historical events and then changing them completely. And besides that point,

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   the ending was so stupidly gratuitous (I mean, a flamethrower? Really?) that it killed any good will the movie had built up.

   Joker: Okay, a lot of problems with this one. First of all, the previews made me think this movie was going to be very different. That's fine, I usually don't like knowing anything going into a movie. Phoenix acted his ass off, but he was basically the whole movie. The rest of it was disappointingly shallow. As far as the controversy around the movie, I'm not one for censoring art, but I get their argument. The wrong people will most definitely come away from this movie with the wrong interpretation. I'm happy to dive deeper in my dissatisfaction in spoilers later.

   The Dark Knight Rises: After lightly arguing with a friend about Joker, I remembered that I'd never actually seen this movie, so I went back to check it out. It was, you know, decent enough. A little predictable (and a little long), but fine popcorn fare. I'd heard mention of the Bane voice, so I knew it was something, but I wasn't expecting, you know... that.

   The Good Place: This season is kind of all over the place, but I'm still enjoying it. The last episode wrapped up way too many problems way too quickly, and it would seemingly be the end of the show, but there are still 3 episodes left. I have an idea where they're going to take those episodes, but I never want to assume with this show.

   I wanted to watch Parasite on the plane, but couldn't quite muster the proper attention at that point.

   1. I too am very curious about what The Good Place is going to do over the last 3 episodes..

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      I told my wife at the end of season 3 that they'd get in because saving everyone is worth infinite points, so I CALLED IT! I wonder if Tahani's inability to pass Vicky's simulated test is going to present a problem.

2. I don't think any John Williams' Star Wars score is all that original at this point.

   1. Newbish is completely obsessed with the Star Wars scores, and...yeah, I'd have to agree. There's really no reason to listen to any of the last three (the prequels, for all of their other flaws, did feature very good music).

3. The first time I saw the trailer for Two Popes I honestly said to myself "Why is Anthony Hopkins in a helicopter with the Pope?"

   I thought it was like some sort of interview maybe, but then why would Hopkins be dressed up?

   The movie turned out to be pretty good, I enjoyed it. And even while watching it, if you told me it was actually Francis and not Pryce I would have believed you. He did such a good job embodying Francis, not merely looking a hell of a lot like him.

4. I have only seen three movies listed anywhere in the nominees - Two Popes, Endgame, and Rocketman

   1. Similar. Knives Out, Toy Story, Star Wars and Endgame.

      1. Yep. I think this year is the fewest nominees I've seen in years: Endgame, Star Wars, How to Train Your Dragon, and Rocketman.

         My wife and I used to make sure to see all the Best Picture nominees before the ceremony, but that fell off once we had kids. There are enough available now on Redbox/Netflix/steaming rentals that we may still get to most of them.

   2. What did you think of Rocketman? I liked it. Some people didn’t like the fantasy sequences but I thought it was a nice change of pace from typical musical biopics.

   3. I've only seen...uh.... Toy Story 4 and Kitbull.

5. I didn't see it and don't really know anything about it, but how is Tom Hanks a supporting actor in that movie?

6. I've only seen three movies from any of those characters. I liked two of em well enough (Toy Story 4 and Endgame) and despise the other (RoS. What a piece of trash).

7. Since last time, we started The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and made it through the first two seasons. Great show, funny, there's a reason it's won awards. We'll start season three soon.

   We tossed a coin week to The Witcher and finished that on Sunday. The differing time periods that are covered was easy to understand at the beginning at a bit more challenging but not too bad at the end. I enjoyed it but was a little disappointed in that it felt like half a season. There are three primary characters and it takes a fair amount of setup to get them in the same time and place. I expect this will be much less of a problem for the next season.

   We started when it first aired for Elementary, fell off a bit when we cut the cord, and are now watching the final season.

   I also watched The Rise of Skywalker. It's a mess. It's still fun and deserves a rewatch but probably not many more before the issues get too noticeable.

   1. I've watched all three seasons of Maisel. Season 3 started off with a bang, but by the end they were cramming to much into each episode. Agree it deserves all the accolades.

8. Started watchinh Schitt's Creek. Early into the second season, I've laughed sometimes but seems to be just churning its wheels. Is this all it is, the Rose's getting in awkward situations?

   Last Star Wars was meh. I loved the last one so disappointed that this one had to go back and make "corrections." Sure I was entertained but could have been so much more This could be a longer discussion if people want.

   Did anyone see The King on Netflix? Shakespeare version is better.

   Also Watchmen anyone?

   1. I like Schitt's Creek. One of the things I like most is that the characters are like real people in that they learn and change. There's so much growth from season 1 to 4

      1. I bailed before this growth during season one because there's a microscopic limit of Chris Elliott that I can handle.

      2. Agreed. It's a slow-burn series that takes a while to figure out the characters and how they can grow.

9. What did people think of Ford v Ferrari? It reminded me of Apollo 13 except with race cars.

   I've seen four of the movies on the best picture list. Nothing really blew me away.

10. I am six episodes deep into Watchmen. Really, really good, if a bit convoluted. The performances are great-ish.

    1. The last three episodes are excellent. Have fun.

11. Haven't been watching many movies lately, but for TV:

    Snowfall- I watched all three seasons over the past two months. It takes place in the beginning of crack spreading throughout Los Angeles, and includes the CIA's involvement in importing cocaine from South America. It's not something I would recommend to everyone, but I've enjoyed it. John Singleton was one of the producers, and it definitely has a very John Singleton kind of feel to it.

    Making It- Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman hosting a competition show for people doing crafts. No surprise that they are great together. My kids love this one.

    Highway Through Hell- My kids love this, too. My wife started watching it late one night on the Weather Channel, and has been hooked since. It follows a heavy towing company working in Canada, clearing big rigs and others off the snow-covered highways. It sounds like just a dumb reality show, and when she first told me about it, it just sounded like an Ice Road Truckers knockoff. But, it's really very entertaining. Watching them figure out how to tow something is like doing a physics problem: where should you connect the line, what angle do you need to pull from, how do you keep it from falling apart when you try to winch it, etc. Surprisingly entertaining. Airs originally on the Weather Channel, but past seasons are on Netflix.

    Avenue 5- Watched the first episode of this last night. Hugh Laurie as a captain of a space cruise ship. Only one episode in, but it seems like they've set the stage for a good show. We'll see if they pay it off as the season goes along.

    1. Avenue 5

       yeah, that's one i'm going to let simmer for awhile and see what people say. on my viewings of the previews, i could see that one going either way.

       1. After watching episode one, I could still see it going either way. I'm in enough to keep going, so I'll try to give an update next month.

       2. I watched it and can’t imagine watching another. Everyone’s an archetype, not a character. There’s a “Karen” that they actually named Karen. Ugh.

12. My thoughts on the Oscars are that I'll be disappointed if Parasite doesn't win Best Picture, and that I'm already disappointed that Adam Sandler didn't get nominated for Uncut Gems and Willem Dafoe didn't get nominated for The Lighthouse.

    FWIW my 10 favorite movies of the year:

    1. Parasite
    2. Uncut Gems
    3. Hustlers
    4. The Lighthouse
    5. Booksmart
    6. Shazam!
    7. Us
    8. Spider-Man: Far From Home
    9. Weathering With You
    10. Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood

13. We started on Brooklyn 99. Almost two seasons in. Kind of a poor man's Parks and Rec but that's still good. Braugher and Lo Truglio are hilarious.

    1. Oh, I love Brooklyn 99. I liked the first few seasons, but it really improved as time goes on. It goes from good to great as the seasons went along, in my mind at least.

       1. It is a show I want to watch, but is on a service I don't have. Sigh.

          1. yeah, i want to get in on that one too, but same. when i was traveling, i saw it was on NF and i got excited, but then i realized it was because i was in a different region with different licenses. didn't have time to watch it then unfortunately.

             i haven't seen any of the show, but i've probably watched this about ten times.

             1. With the number of clips I've seen on Facebook, I should probably watch the show. I do fear I've seen all the good bits.

    2. Noice

14. Predictions:
    Tom Hanks, “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” because Hanks
    Martin Scorsese, “The Irishman” because DeNiro
    Al Pacino, “The Irishman” because Pacino

    I liked:
    “Honeyland,” Tamara Kotevska, Ljubo Stefanov

15. Bad Boys For Life - Fun enough, but weirdly (and I can't believe I'm saying this)....missing Michael Bay a little bit? The second Bad Boys, maybe even moreso than The Rock, represents just how silly and fun the Michael Bay aesthetic can be, and while this one does deliver a fair bit of fun, it doesn't quite have the confidence to take it to the next level. It does feel like a bit of a relic. They don't really make a lot of movies like this anymore (because both filmmakers and real life pretty much exhausted the "cop who doesn't play by the rules" as an enjoyable trope).

    Finally saw El Camino. As a epilogue to Breaking Bad, it works. As a movie, it absolutely does not. That stands to reason, of course, but it robs the whole thing of gravitas. There were parts I liked, but overall, I was sort of surprised by how "meh" it left me.

    Duck Tales: The Treasure of the Lost Lamp - The kid is a DuckTales reboot fan. He had no idea that the old show existed. He still might not actually know, but he did enjoy this.

    The Good Place is not doing it for me this season. I loved seasons one through three, but the crawl to the end has resulted in a sort of stilted experience that is simultaneously spinning its wheels and barreling toward the finish line. It just doesn't bring as many laughs or as much poignancy as previous seasons. At this point, I'm just hoping that the last three episodes bring the story to a...erm....good place.

    Rocketman: It was fine. I liked the dreamy sequences (I agree with Free, they keep things fresh feeling), and I liked the music, and I liked Egerton's performance.

    My favorite movie of the year was Knives Out, but I didn't see that much in the way of "prestige" movies this year.

    1. I completely forgot about El Camino. Dunno if I'm in a rush to watch it.

       1. There are some movie tie-ins where a large part of the appeal is just getting back into the universe and seeing the characters. El Camino doesn't really work on either of those levels, since the story was more important than the setting, and since at the end of Breaking Bad, the majority of the characters are

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          Dead or exiled

          So it doesn't really work as a "where are they now?" thing, either.

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          It mostly exists to grant Jessie his hard earned (but potentially empty?) freedom, so it's hard to argue that by the end of the series proper, he hadn't gone through the wringer enough as it was.

       2. I watched it on a plane a few months ago. I enjoyed it at the time, but now have almost no memory of what happened. I remember hoping that it would be like a great Breaking Bad episode, but for me it was more like an average Breaking Bad episode, which is still pretty good.

          1. I thought it was a bit more than meh, but not hugely compelling either. However, compared to that wretched Deadwood "movie" it was must see TV.

             1. that's another one i haven't gotten around to, even after a recent rewatch. no one has compelled me to do so yet.

16. We did it! Finally finished Captain Marvel, Thor: Ragnarok, Infinity War, and Endgame. Spoiler, the good guys win. There sure were a lot of them. But that was fun.

    Wife was arranging a second showing of Frozen II, which I'm told is terrible, so I pulled a dad-move that I haven't employed until now, asked the boy if he wanted to see Knives Out. I liked it and he seemed jazzed at catching a good grown-up movie with me, so we'll have to try that again.

    We watched the Mandalorian over the holidays. Fun TV.

    Wife has been watching Shitt's Creek and rather enjoying it. She needs low-engagement escapist show. I like what I've seen well enough. Pardon me while I google...hey, I had no idea that David was a Levy. Well that's fun. Sometime a show is more enjoyable when you can tell the ensemble is having fun together (or at least imagine that's the case.)

    We also saw How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World at home, as well as Abominable. Both fine.

    We bought a Vizio sound bar + woofer on clearance (return) at Target. Not a game-changer for normal television, but it works, and the price was right. Need to find an action flick to watch and see if it makes a difference.

    1. re: Schitt's Creek - Twila, from the diner, is also a Levy

       1. What an adorable bunch of Canadians, those Levys!

          1. And those eyebrows!

             1. But two left feet.

17. Okay, tonight's episode of The Good Place finally went somewhere.

18. Saw Knives Out last night. Rian Johnson is the best. I'm generally not a fan of murder mysteries as either they take themselves too seriously or the plot is so wide open that literally anybody could be the killer at the end. This was just about perfect.

19. I just now finished Us. I think I may have destroyed my own enjoyment of it by seeing the twist in the first minute of the movie. I think I’d be surprised if anyone told me they didn’t.

    “The Outsider” on HBO is pretty good, but I can’t help but think the supernatural stuff disappointed me once it started happening.

    That was my evening. A doppelgänger double feature, unintentionally.

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