And the Award Goes to…

ME – seriously, the award goes to me – for going to see all of the Oscar-nominated films for best picture for this year.  Cue Rocky theme song!  It took me all of December and January to do it, but I got that sucker done.  This is a life goal, y’all, because I belong to a group who sees all of the Oscar-nominated films before the Oscars air on TV.  This may be minor to you, but it is also minor to me.  Ha!  So, now that I’ve made it through to the finish line, let me review these films for you so that you don’t have to go see the ones that didn’t deserve an Oscar nod.  You can thank me later.

Arrival

This film is about….I’m not really sure.  Can someone – anyone, Bueller, Bueller – help me understand this film?  I have no idea what this film is about.  It was slow and peculiar, and I didn’t feel compelled to read about the film after I watched it.  My movie-going buddy fell asleep during this film, and I don’t blame her at all as I thought it was a snooze-fest.  Go see it, and then tell me what it is about.  Grade:  Strange

Fences

I loved Denzel Washington and Viola Davis in this film, and I think that their nominations are well deserved.  I hope that they win for their acting work.  The film is based on the play, “Fences,” and directed by Denzel Washington.  It feels like a play performed on a stage, but I was always engaged – more than I thought I would be.  The content is raw as it shows the hardships that couples can face during their marriages.  There is very little music played during this film, which seems appropriate since it is based on a play.  Grade:  B

Hacksaw Ridge

I absolutely LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this film.  I saw it twice, and I would see it again in a heartbeat.  It is based on the true story of Desmond T. Doss, who was an conscientious objector during World War II.  This is a story of an honorable man who wanted to serve his country, but he believed that his religion and faith would not allow him to kill his fellow man.  Everything about this film is powerful – the acting, the editing, the music, the computer-generated images, everything.  If you haven’t seen this film, stay for the credits.  (Side note:  Teresa Palmer and Hugo Weaving should have been nominated for acting awards.  Rachel Griffiths was good, too.) Grade:  A+

Hell or High Water

I saw this film twice – once with the movie-going buddy and once with the Hubs.  The plot is great; the acting is good, and it is hilarious.  It’s just a fun film, a great guy film, which I love, and I could watch the restaurant scene with Jeff Bridges over and over again.  I’m glad that this little-known film got nominated, and I think Ben Foster should have been nominated for his acting in this film.  It is rated R for a very good reason (language, sexual content, etc.) Grade:  B+

Hidden Figures

I have seen this film twice, too.  I loved it so much the first time that I decided to take the baby girl and Hubs the very next day.  The baby girl loved it so much that she took her Nana to see it.  It is a great family film, one that shows discrimination and the race to space against the Russians during the ’60’s in a way that your kids will understand and enjoy.  Pharrell Williams did the soundtrack, and it adds a lot to this film.  Octavia Spencer was the only actor nominated for an acting award, and I just don’t understand that.  Taraji P. Henson and Janelle Monae deserve nominations just as much, if not more than, Octavia Spencer.  Pharrell didn’t get nominated for best musical score.  I’m giving you my famous hairy eyeball, Oscar voting members.  As we say in my family, you done messed up with this one!  Grade: A

La La Land

I loved this movie, y’all.  I love me a musical, and I just thought it was great fun.  I also saw this one twice because it has great music and, well, because Ryan Gosling.  It reminds me of the musical, “An American in Paris.”  With that being said, I don’t think that Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone should have been nominated for acting awards.  I feel like I need to go to confession for admitting that, but I think that the movie would have been just as successful if other actors had been in those roles.  There!  I said it!  I’m truly sorry, celebrity boyfriend and Emma.  Grade:  B+

Lion

This one made me want to scream at the screen.  I watched it, but I really wanted to run out of the theater as fast as I could because it’s a really hard film to watch.  The first hour deals with the plight of the little Indian kidnapped boy, Saroo, and I wanted to punch some adults in the face for how they treated the children.  Seriously!  By the time that the second hour rolled around, I was seriously ticked off and frustrated, so I didn’t really drift away into the film like I usually do.  I very much felt like I was watching something unfold from afar, and it didn’t suck me into the movie like I had hoped that it would.  The little Indian boy who plays Saroo did a great job of acting.  This film got nominated for several awards, and I’m not sure why because I don’t remember it being a remarkable film for the areas in which it was nominated. Grade:  C+ or B-

Manchester by the Sea

This film is very hard to watch, but I was really engaged the entire time.  The film deals with some tragic events that change a family forever, and it made me wonder how I would respond under those circumstances.  The plot is thought-provoking, and the acting is good, especially from the nephew, Lucas Hedges, who deserves his Oscar nomination.  Grade:  B

Moonlight

What can I say about this film?  It is slow, and I was bored for the most part.  I love to watch my movie-going buddy’s face when we go to movies, and at times, she looked like Kristen Wiig as Aunt Linda on “Saturday Night Live” as she watched this movie.  (Google it.)  At the end of this film, my movie-going buddy said, “Well, that’s two hours of my life that I won’t get back.”  Amen, sister!  Amen!  Grade: C

Silence

OK, I know that this movie, directed by Martin Scorsese, was not nominated for best picture or acting awards.  That is a shame.  It is an excellent film.  The acting is excellent; the scenery is beautiful, and the plot, although slow at times, is moving.  The film raises an excellent question that I mulled over for days:  What would your faith look like if you lived under a regime that did not support your religion?  After I saw this film, I immediately called the Hubs and told him to go see it that night.  Grade:  A