2016 Oscars

I thought the show was good fun. You can find out tonight's winners in every news outlet. Check out my other blog (part of my alphabetized index) for a sorted list of movies and their nominations and wins.

Creed (2015)

We skipped this when it was out the first time, saw it after the award season began, and are baffled that Sylvester Stallone was nominated for this corny sequel to the Rocky franchise. The only other time his name appears in the blog is a nomination for the Worst Director of 2011 for The Expendables, which we also avoided.

This is director Ryan Coogler's sophomore picture--his first, Fruitvale Station was fantastic, and also starred Michael B. Jordan. Tessa Thompson (last blogged in Selma) makes an appearance on screen and singing some cool songs, including Grip and Breathe, as does Claire Huxtable, er, Phylicia Rashad.

Composer Ludwig Göransson (most recently in these pages for Top Five) updates the Rocky theme, among other music.

Jack and I saw this three weeks ago and are at odds with Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences, averaging 94 and 92%. But they probably saw it because they wanted to, not because they felt obligated.

Sicario (2015)

We streamed this story of an FBI agent fighting the drug war at the US-Mexico border a month ago because of its Oscar nominations for cinematography and original score. Those parts were good but the rest of it didn't knock us out. Emily Blunt (last blogged for Into the Woods) is fine as the agent, as are Josh Brolin and Benicio del Toro (both in these pages for Inherent Vice) as two of the men working with her.

It's directed by Denis Villeneuve (last blogged for Prisoners) from a script by actor Taylor Sheridan (I haven't seen anything he's been in) in his screenwriting debut. Cinematographer Roger Deakins earned his 13th Oscar nomination for this (the others were The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Fargo (1996), Kundun (1997), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), The Man Who Wasn't There (2001), No Country for Old Men (2007), The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007), The Reader, True Grit, Skyfall, Prisoners, and Unbroken (2014)). He also did wonderful work in White Mischief (1987), Barton Fink (1991), The Hudsucker Proxy (1994), The House of Sand and Fog (2003), The Ladykillers (2005), Jarhead (2005), Revolutionary Road, A Serious Man, and so much more. Jóhann Jóhannsson's (also Oscar-nominated for The Theory of Everything) score can be streamed from this link (it takes a few seconds to begin). I don't like to make Oscar predictions, but I suspect the cinematography statue will go to The Revenant on Sunday and for music, I'd like The Hateful Eight to win but wouldn't be disappointed if it went to Carol or Bridge of Spies.

For once, the critics and audiences at Rotten Tomatoes like something way more than we did, coming in at 93 and 85%.

The Lady in the Van (2015)

Jack and I loved this charming comedy about a writer who allows a dotty old homeless woman park in his driveway and, ultimately, his life. Maggie Smith gives a tour de force in the titular role of Miss Shepherd, but didn't win anything for it. Smith (last blogged in The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) said on Fresh Air the other day that her character didn't know how to say thank you. So I waited and, in fact, she never does. Alex Jennings (I did love The Wings of the Dove (1997) and The Queen (2006), in which he played the main love interest and Prince Charles, respectively, but haven't seen his extensive British TV work) is wonderful as the screenwriter Alan Bennett, on whose memoir and stage play the movie is based. 

Nicholas Hytner (directed The Madness of King George (1994), The History Boys (2006), and more) directs from Bennett's screenplay and the latter has written into the script a marvelous cinematic conceit for him to talk with himself. Watch in the very last few minutes for a man to arrive in a scene on a bicycle. Someone says, "Hi, Alan," and it is, in fact, the real Mr. Bennett. I also learned in the Fresh Air interview that the location is the home (on Gloucester Crescent, Camden Town, London, England, to be exact) where Bennett lived at the time and currently owns, but he doesn't live there now. The seaside scenes were shot in Broadstairs, Kent, and are beautiful as well.

You'll see many supporting cast members flit in and out, and the most recognizable to me, besides Jim Broadbent (most recently in Brooklyn), are Frances de la Tour (in these pages for Hugo) as Mrs. Vaughan Williams with her toothy smile and Dominic Cooper (starred in The History Boys (2006) with de la Tour and is better known as Howard Stark in Captain America: The First Avenger and its spin-offs) as an actor in one of Bennett's plays. Oh, this explains it: Bennett wrote The History Boys, both the play and the movie, and twenty (!) cast members from that play and movie are in this movie. The biggest, pun intended, exception is Richard Griffiths, the rotund star of both History Boyses, who died at 65 in 2013. However, there is another Richard Griffiths in this movie. I presume he is young (I can't find a photo to prove it), because he wouldn't be allowed to have the same Screen Actors Guild name as someone living.

Music is quite important to the plot. The opening credits roll over what is supposed to be archival film of a piano concerto. The conductor there is the actual composer George Fenton (after I covered him in (the movie) Earth, he scored Bears). I'm happy to have found this youtube link with the entire soundtrack to this one. The second to last track is my favorite: Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11, second movement. You may skip right to it here, but I thoroughly enjoyed Fenton's tracks as well.

We're with the critics on this one, averaging 92% on Rotten Tomatoes, with audiences coming in at only 75.

45 Years (2015)

Very well done and not depressing, this is the story of a couple approaching their 45th anniversary party. Some reviewers want you to know in advance the past issue that pops up. I do not. Charlotte Rampling's first Oscar nomination (Best Actress for playing Kate) is well deserved. We last saw her in the lugubrious movie Melancholia. By no means a comedy, this, in fact, is somewhat of a mystery. As her husband Geoff, Tom Courtenay (most recently blogged for Quartet) is also quite wonderful. He is 78 to Rampling's 70 (her birthday was February 5, the day we saw it) and their characters accept the limitations of their age to varying degrees. One other character I enjoyed was Kate's friend Lena, played by Geraldine James (covered in the American remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo).

This is the third feature directed by Andrew Haigh, who wrote the screenplay based on the short story In Another Country by David Constantine. Cinematographer Lol Crawley (the only one of his projects that I've seen is the mini-series Hastings on Hudson) makes beautiful pictures of the seaside, meadows, and village of Norfolk, England. And, in lieu of an original soundtrack, there's a great number of songs from the 1960s including Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by the Platters.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics average a loving 96% and, though their audiences are more restrained at 74%, Jack and I think you'll like it as much as we did.

Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015)

As Larry David would say, pret-ty, pret-ty good. But way too long. Lots of battles, special effects, gadgets, and the return of some regulars from the six other chapters. I wrote my first ever movie review in 1977 of Episode IV in a newsletter for Film Women of Boston. Before I moved this summer I knew exactly where the hard copy was but now I don't. If it turns up I'll transcribe it and paste onto the bottom of this one. I skipped the next three episodes. Advice circulating on the world wide web advises in what order to watch the series: IV, V, II, III, and VI. Episode I is optional. Having seen IV, V, and VI (I think) I prepared by looking at the wikipedia entries for some of them and then my eyes glazed over. Don't worry, you should be able to follow this one without advance preparation.

Harrison Ford (last blogged in 42) is dashing as ever as Han Solo. Carrie Fisher made much of her being required to lose weight to reprise her role as Princess Leia. My favorite line was, "They might as well say 'Get younger,' because that's how easy it is" That said, even though she seemed quite slimmed down from the last time I saw her on screen (in the serieses Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce and Catastrophe), her wooden manner tells me she's a way better writer than actress. The most striking new kid is Daisy Ridley as Rey, a kick-ass girl who can run like the wind. Another relative unknown, John Boyega, stars as Finn. They are joined by, among many, the immensely talented Oscar Isaac as Poe and Adam Driver as Kylo Ren (most recently in Ex Machina and While We're Young, respectively). Nice that Isaac finally gets to play someone optimistic instead of his usual angry, sinister, or depressed. Domhnall Gleeson (last in The Revenant, another two hour 36 minute extravaganza, which we saw the next day a week ago) shows his range by playing a Hitler-type general. The rest of the cast and the trivia are too long to list here, although it's noteworthy that Lupita Nyong'o, who won the Oscar as a newcomer in 12 Years a Slave, voices the character of Maz.

Director/co-writer J.J. Abrams (last blogged for Star Trek Into Darkness) wrote the script with Lawrence Kasdan (covered in Darling Companion, in which I noted that he wrote Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)) and Michael Arndt (he wrote Little Miss Sunshine (2006) which won him his Oscar, Toy Story 3, as well also one of the earlier Hunger Games and A Walk in the Woods (2015) under pseudonyms, but I didn't see the latter two, though I wanted to see A Walk in the Woods).

John Williams (last blogged in The Book Thief) earns his 31st Oscar nomination (he has won five times) for the classic score. One of his Oscar wins was for Episode IV and he was nominated for V and VI (further incentive to skip the other three?). If you want to hear the current score, go to this link, pause it, click the settings gear, change the speed to 0.5, and click play. Or ditch John Williams and just listen to Bill Murray sing it. The movie has earned four other Oscar nominations and one each from the Art Directors' Guild and Costume Designers' Guild.

Fan-kids and movie buffs won't miss it and, due to Disney's having bought Lucasfilm, no one could escape the ads and tie-ins for months before its opening. We saw it in 3-D IMAX because we knew the technology would be top-notch, and it certainly was.

93% from critics and 90 from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes keeps this chugging along. You already know if you'll like it or not.

Anomalisa (2015)

Ann, Carolyn, Jack, and I liked this crazy animated feature about a depressed (and crazy) guy who meets an insecure (and crazy) woman on a business trip. I knew going in that there were only three voice actors: the man, the woman, and another man did everyone else's voice. That's good to know because you might think you are going crazy when people of all ages and both sexes sound the same.

David Thewlis (last blogged for The Theory of Everything) and Jennifer Jason Leigh (most recently in The Hateful Eight) are masterful in their roles as is Tom Noonan (part of the ensemble of co-director/co-writer Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York) who puts mood and feeling into each part he voices.

Kaufman won a writing Oscar for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2005), and was nominated for the original script of Being John Malkovich (1999) and adapting Adaptation (2002). All of them, and particularly Synecdoche, play fast and loose with reality and sanity. He also wrote the excellent Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), about the not-terribly sane Chuck Barris. This is Kaufman's second time directing and here he shares that duty and writing with Duke Johnson (new to me, he's an animator). The movie is nominated for the Best Animated Feature Oscar (awarded to the producers) and more. See my running list of nominations and awards.

The animation technique is stop-motion, in which the characters are photographed still, then moved in tiny increments, and all the photos are pieced together, such as in The Fantastic Mr. Fox or all the Wallace & Gromit movies. Some have been confused by the term "puppets," so maybe "dolls" would be more descriptive, because, like Pinocchio, they've got no strings. They're not realistic, with shortened arms, stubby fingers on big hands, and seams across their faces that make them look as if they're wearing glasses. Here are a production still and a close-up.

Do NOT bring the kids--they'd be bored before the onset of full nudity and sex anyway. Two separate stories on NPR said that the movement of naked bodies was a challenge for the animators and the sex scene was a challenge for Leigh.

During the movie you will be told the meaning and pronunciation of the title and will probably figure out why everyone else is voiced by Noonan. Or you can look up this term, used as a name early on. Because some might find it a spoiler, I won't print it. There's only one trivia item: that Lisa calls the freeway in Ohio "the 71," which is not likely to be used for a freeway in Ohio. I know that's how it's said in California. Imdb says it's also used in western New York.

The music, by Carter Burwell (Carol) is very pretty and you can listen to the first track on the album here.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are averaging 92% and its audiences 76. Not for the impatient, it takes a while to get going, but worth it for serious movie lovers.