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SCENE IT ALL BEFORE

2017 Oscars: First Impressions

1/24/2017

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The Oscar nominations came out a little over 24 hours ago, and after having some time to reflect I thought I’d share some thoughts on a couple of the biggest categories.

Best Picture
Arrival
Fences
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water
Hidden Figures
La La Land
Lion
Manchester By the Sea
Moonlight


Unsurprisingly La La Land is leading the way in Oscar nominations. What is surprising is that it received 14 nominations, which ties it for the most ever with Titanic and All About Eve. I loved La La Land; in fact, it was my favorite movie from 2016, but there are a lot of people who didn’t like it. Probably because self-proclaimed musical lovers and cinephiles like myself were showering it with so much love that by the time the average movie-goer saw it they were left wanting. I could (and probably will) fight to tell you why I love this movie, but that many nominations are just going to increase the hype and fuel the hate. It is quite possible that any one of the more diverse films the Academy finally decided to honor could beat it, especially Moonlight. The fact that Fences and Hidden Figures were also nominated will help the Academy distance itself from its #OscarsSoWhite problem and hopefully bring more perspective and variety to the show.

Best Actress
Isabelle Huppert (Elle)
Ruth Negga (Loving)
Emma Stone (La La Land)
Natalie Portman (Jackie)
Meryl Streep (Florence Foster Jenkins)

This is without a doubt the most competitive category in the field. Emma Stone and Natalie Portman have to be the odds-on favorites to win. I was surprised, though, that Amy Adams was left off the list. Arrival has been nominated for eight other Oscars, so clearly the Academy loved the movie. It’s not like the Academy doesn’t love Adams; she’s been nominated five other times. I doubt she would have won with the other heavy hitters in the category, but some recognition would have been nice. Someone who doesn’t need the recognition is probably Meryl Streep, who has now been nominated a record setting 20 times. We get it guys – you like her, she’s good. You don’t need to nominate her every year. Unless the real reason you are nominating Streep is for her Golden Globes speech, then by all means.


Best Supporting Actress
Viola Davis (Fences)
Naomie Harris (Moonlight)
Nicole Kidman (Lion)
Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures)
Michelle Williams (Manchester by the Sea)

One of the worst things about the Oscars is you can submit yourself into any category you want which is why Viola Davis is in the supporting actress category. Michelle Williams in Manchester by the Sea has an absolutely heartbreaking performance in two of the four scenes she appears in, but that is the thing—she’s only in four scenes. Meanwhile, Davis is in over half the movie and the Academy will have many more opportunities to see her perform. The most frustrating aspect of all is that Viola Davis had a really good chance to win as Best Actress. But I don’t think she wanted to walk away empty handed a third time, and in a panic submitted herself as a supporting actress.


Best Documentary – Feature
Fire at Sea
I Am Not Your Negro
Life, Animated
O.J.: Made in America
13th


I was surprised that O.J.: Made in America was considered for an Academy Award. The docuseries made its debut on ESPN and the seven hour run time seems a little too long for continuous viewing. But apparently there are theaters across the country are screening the docuseries both in separate parts and in its entirety. Not only that, but there are countless critics who named this series the best movie of the year when they were recapping their favorite movies from 2016. I wonder if O.J. could have had enough juice (heh) to have been a serious contender as Best Picture. On a separate note, congrats to the documentary category for leading the charge in diversity and making history with four of the five documentaries made by black directors.


Best Original Song
“Audition” (La La Land)
“Can’t Stop the Feeling!” (Trolls)
“City of Stars” (La La Land)
“The Empty Chair” (Jim: The James Foley Story)
“How Far I’ll Go” (Moana)

I have a lot of feelings about this category. For starters, why are “Audition” and “City of Stars” the two songs that are nominated for La La Land? Without question the best song from La La Land is the opening number, “Another Day of Sun,” in part because Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone aren’t singing in it. The song also opens the movie in a dynamic way that sets the tone, and is instrumentally more interesting, which is probably why the music was initially used for all the movie’s advertising campaigns. Next, what the hell is, “The Empty Chair”? I would drop that song and one of the songs from La La Land, and replace them with “Drive It Like You Stole It” from Sing Street and almost any song from Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping. If you haven’t seen Sing Street yet, it is streaming on Netflix and I highly recommend it. Not only was it nominated as a Best Picture for the Golden Globes, but it just happens to be a really enjoyable movie. And I know the Academy doesn’t mind putting more fun songs in consideration for Best Song, especially with past inclusions of “Blame Canada” and “Everything is Awesome.” I challenge you to find a cleverer song than any of those put out by The Lonely Island in the funniest movie of the year. And finally, within the category, I am pulling for Moana and “How Far I’ll Go” solely because I want Lin-Manuel Miranda to win the PEGOT.
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As we get closer to the awards I’ll have more to write about the nominees, but for now enjoy catching up on these movies.
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Oscar Preview: Moonlight Reviewed

1/19/2017

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It is pretty easy to become self-involved and only identify with characters with which you have similarities. I am embarrassed to admit I have not given much thought to what it must have been like growing up gay as a black man in a poor city. Sure, I’ve seen The Wire but I doubt Omar Little is indicative of the plight that men like this go through.

Moonlight follows Chiron, a young closeted black man growing up in an urban environment. Director Berry Jenkins brings the struggle to life over the course of the character’s experience: as a grade schooler nicknamed Little (Alex Hibbert), as a high schooler (Ashton Sanders), and as a grown man nicknamed Black (Trevante Rhodes). All three actors were amazing but Ashton Sanders stands out in the second act. The pain behind his character’s eyes feels the most authentic and it is impossible not to empathize with his inner struggle.
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The structure to the story is actually pretty interesting, because while we follow the same character throughout, the three separate acts function more like three different mini movies, each part focusing on a different problem in relation to his sexuality and the culture around him. 

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The best performance of the movie, and there are a lot of them, came from Ashton Sanders in the second act
Mahershala Ali (you may know from House of Cards) plays Juan in this movie and he is great. Juan is a drug dealer with a heart of gold, a character we have seen in many other movies and one that seemed too clichéd given the movie’s buzz. However, Ali’s performance and the affection that his character shows for a kid getting bullied feels genuine. His character could have been substituted for any man willing to step into a father-like role for a child, but I appreciate this character reflecting this story’s truth.

Moonlight won’t be for everyone, as it has little to no traditional “plot” and at times uses a slower, more deliberate pace. While I often do not enjoy character studies, this character felt unique.  Even when at times the movie shows its smaller budget with shaky camera movements, they counter-balance it though a beautiful setting and pristine lighting.

Another minor criticism of the movie is it feels like it is pandering to the awards crowd. Some of the scenes towards the end of each act come off as heavy handed, especially with the accompanying music.  These are the scenes that are just begging to be shown at the award shows so people at home can see what kind of movie it is.
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I wish the style of this movie had been more original. I feel like I have seen similar scenes a thousand times before, especially this time of year. However, this is still a quality and unique story. I can’t think of another movie I have seen with a gay black man as the central focus, I hope this will lead to an influx of more movies like this.
B
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The Town, Lite

1/12/2017

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Live BY Night Reviewed

Ben Affleck is a terrific storyteller; he has done great movies like Gone Baby Gone, The Town and the Academy Award-winning Argo. As he has progressed in his directing career, his movies have become more digestible with increasing amounts of both laughs and action. But with his latest movie Live By Night he may have tried to squeeze too much in.   

Live By Night is an adaptation of a Dennis Lehane novel by the same name, which is part of a trilogy following a single family. Lehane is also the author of the novels Shutter Island, Gone Baby Gone, and Mystic River, so you can see the temptation in taking on this series, too. The movie begins with Joe Coughlin (Ben Affleck) as an Irish gangster in Boston during the prohibition era. Coughlin gets into some trouble with the Irish mob so he decides to join their biggest rival: the Italians. He’s sent to run the Italian's’ operation, specifically the manufacturing and distribution of rum, in Florida. With everyone needing their booze, he is able to create a bit of an empire despite several organizations trying their best to stop him.
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Live By Night has a million subplots –it’s a mob story, a rags-to-riches story, a revenge story, and a love story. Coughlin has run-ins with rival mob groups, the Klan, and even organized religion. Affleck must have really liked these books, so much so that he probably refused to cut anything out. However, because there is so much happening he has no time to give depth to any of the numerous storylines. Every problem is solved via murder and the movie moves along to the next problem so he can shoot that, too. 
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Affleck is a good looking guy but I don't know if he can pull off the look of the 1920's
Throughout the movie we are constantly shown just how great Joe Coughlin is. He is simultaneously more cunning, more ruthless, more benevolent, and smarter than any of the people around him, and that is probably why he is also the most boring character in the movie. It’s the same problem that someone like Superman has; he is so far ahead of everyone around him that he can’t be stopped. The characters around him are flawed, troubled, or are sporting hilarious mustaches, and that makes them instantly more compelling. It helps that Affleck cast terrific people including Brendan Gleeson, Zoe Saldana, and Chris Messina, who is sporting the aforementioned mustache.

All that said, Live By Night isn’t a bad movie. It feels a lot like The Town, a Boston gangster who tries to live by a certain code of ethics; it was just executed differently. Live By Night is more of a popcorn flick—gangsters, guns, flappers, booze, women! And even when he tries to insert some messages about loving the people around you and hard work, it is all done in broad strokes. Nothing you need to think too hard about.  

Live By Night is a pretty dumb movie, and maybe even a dumb movie that doesn’t realize how dumb it is, but it’s still fun to watch, and by no means is it ever boring. There’s no need to rush out and see this—you’ve seen movies like this before—but if you liked Argo or The Town you could do a lot worse, like watching Bat-fleck fight Superman.
C/C-
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Top 5 Movies To Look Forward To In 2017 (Part 1)

1/5/2017

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January is notoriously a terrible month for movies; most people are either catching up on the end of the year award movies or staying out of the cold and watching football. I’m worried there won’t be many screeners this month, so I decided to do a top five for movies I am looking forward in the coming year. But I was a little overwhelmed about only picking five so I decided to do two lists of ten overall. The list below features movies coming out in the first half of the year. Be warned: I’m a bit of a basic bitch-- I like my pumpkins spiced and my heroes super, so expect a lot of big-budget blockbusters.

Logan (March 3)
X-Men Origins: Wolverine was absolutely atrocious. The Wolverine was fine if not forgettable. So why is Logan making the list for one of my most anticipated movies of 2017? Because after the success of Deadpool they have decided to give Wolverine the R rating he so desperately deserves. Which means Hugh Jackman is gonna be stabbing everybody. The movie is based off the comic series “Old Man Logan,” which is one of the best series out there; I just hope the movie does the source material justice. Hugh Jackman deserves a fitting send off as this will apparently be the last time he plays the character, and this movie could be just that.
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Beauty and the Beast (March 17)
Beauty and the Beast happens to be one of my favorite movies of all time. It also happens to be one of the best-made Disney movies, so there is a lot to live up to. After the trailer I became a little worried because Beast, Mrs. Potts, and some of the other CGI creations look a little off. But I am willing to look past this because of how well The Jungle Book turned out and my hope that our magical creatures will look better on the big screen than in a TV advertisement. If this stays true to the original and keeps that fantastic opening number we could be seeing something special.

The F8 of the Furious (April 14)
The tagline for the movie is “Family No More”— it looks like Vinny D will be betraying those closest to him and I need to know why. Is this betrayal for real? Is he pulling a con to get close to the enemy? Or does he just really want to make out with Charlize Theron in dreadlocks? I am also interested to see how legitimate the feud is between The Rock and Vin Diesel. I think we’ll have a better idea as we get closer to the release date.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (May 5)
I knew Guardians of the Galaxy was going to be great, I just felt it in my soul, and man I am glad that I was right. I am equally excited that everyone seemed to like it just as much as I did. And now Volume 2 is coming out and there is a lot to look forward to, including the return of the entire cast, James Gunn still directing, a chance to hear what Starlord’s Mom put on that second tape, and Baby Groot killing everybody. Marvel usually provides a great combination of action and comedy and  with a talking, angry raccoon as one of the lead characters you get the most equal mix.

Baywatch (May 26)  
The idea of a Baywatch movie originally hurt my head; how could a dumb show featuring women running in slow-motion become a movie? Then I found out that The Rock and Zac Efron were going to be in it and I gave it little leeway. Then I watched the trailer and all of a sudden I was excited. Baywatch looks like it is going to take a page from 21 Jump Street and won’t be taking itself seriously. This is great news because Johnson and Efron, besides being ridiculously hunky, also happen to be pretty funny when given the chance. As long as this movie stays ridiculous it has a chance to be really good.

What movies are you looking forward to in the first half of the year? Let me know. And we’ll get to the second half of this list a little later on. 

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