Merry Christmas. I hesitate to publish this morning, Christmas Day, but it's time to finish up the Christmas Catch Up series. And some of you might need this.
The holidays are so many things. This morning I was thinking about the fact that I used to come back to Mississippi from New York City, staying for just a few days and counting the hours to presents and the flight back. Today I am beyond grateful to be with my family as well as my new friends in recovery.
How cool is it that I got to watch "Free Solo" with my Dad last night, even though he fell asleep a couple of times. Or that I got to include Mom and Dad in my new "A Diva's Christmas Carol" movie watching experience?
It's not like that for everyone, and if it is a hard one for you this year, I can tell you that I've been there. I may not know you, but I love you.
Yesterday, while wrapping presents I watched "Black Christmas." Most people consider "Halloween" to have given birth to the 80s slasher films, but "Black Christmas" came first. I love this movie so much. It's scary, a little campy and acted to the rooftops by Margot Kidder, Olivia Hussey, Andrea Martin and Marian Waldman as Mrs. Mac (a role offered to Bette Davis, can you imagine?). The film is directed by Bob Clarke who would go on to direct a more traditional Holiday film, "A Christmas Story."
After "Black Christmas" I should have watched "Free Solo" but decided to add another new Christmas film watching tradition, one that I had hoped to do for a few years now, and that was "Carol." The brilliant film starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara, beautifully written by Phyllis Nagy and directed by Todd Haynes. The film was nominated for 6 Oscars but robbed of a Best Picture nomination. Thems the Oscar breaks, kids.
I couldn't help but wonder if the activists fighting for LGBTQ actors to play LGBTQ roles would've wanted different actors playing the leads, even though the film starred other out actors, Cory Michael Smith and Sarah Paulson. I will be digging deeper into this subject in my annual Honor Roll of the Year piece.
As I mentioned, Dad and I watched "Free Solo" last night, and with that film I managed to finish my Christmas Catch Up. A true Holiday Miracle. Sure, I didn't get in "Marry Poppins Returns" but I will squeeze it in before the end of the year somehow.
So, what did I learn from this process? Quite a bit, so let's break it down.
Awards Wiz continues to shift
I was listening to Kris Tapley chat about the fact that SAG voters may or may not have voted for "If Beale Street Could Talk" because they didn't get screeners in the mail in time to see the film. He mentioned that people shouldn't agree to be on a nominating committee if they weren't willing to make the effort to get to a screening. I totally understand this. Now that I choose to be a member of Film Independent as well as have the honor of being an Advisory Board Member of GALECA, nominating and voting on the Dorian Awards, I have an obligation I must take seriously. And I am.
As much as I love the Oscars, predicting them is so much less interesting to me now than it used to be. I am much more interested in writing about the films themselves, how they may or may not relate to each other, delving a bit into film criticism, but mostly observing and examining a full yearly cinematic landscape.
Vice
Since it's Christmas, I'll keep this as simple and nice as possible. I need to watch it again, although I really, really, really don't want to - if only to look at Christian Bale and Amy Adams's performances again. I found his Dick Cheney to be inconsistent. As a younger Dick Bale makes lazy choices that don't match up at all with who we see later. And McKay doesn't show us a connection from that earlier man to the monster he became. If you're going to tell this story, you need to tell the WHOLE STORY. Instead McKay goes for cheap gags. Yes...when we see the older Cheney Bale is fantastic and terrifying but I am judging the whole performance not just parts of it. To do otherwise is lazy criticism. I refuse to jump on a Christian Bale is awesome in everything bandwagon.
Ben is Back will not bring Julia back
When my GALECA membership did not bring me a screener for "Ben is Back," I reached out to Roadside Pictures asking for a screener...or a release date in my area. No response. I reached out a second time and no response. I don't have a personal connection at this studio and had to go through their website "contact' webform, but that hasn't kept me from getting a response before from other studios in the past.
I am a prime candidate for this film. I'm a person in recovery and I love Julia Roberts. Similarly to "Beautiful Boy" (which I did receive although my interview requests also received crickets from Amazon) I am really baffled by this. Stealing from my Exec Director at Oxford Film Festival
- DEAR FILMMAKERS - Know who is representing your film, because not everyone seems to have your best interest at heart.
In this day and age, Oscar nominations rarely just happen. I would be completely shocked if Julia managed to squeak in a nomination at this point.
A Documentary Feature isn't cracking my Top 10.
Although I have really enjoyed several Doc Features - "Three Identical Stranger," "RBG," "Science Fair," "Won't You Be My Neighbor," and "Free Solo," I haven't found a doc that is going to crack my Top 10. There have been years where this has happened - "Racing Dreams" and "If a Tree Falls: a Story of the Earth Liberation Front," both directed by Marshall Curry, for example. But this isn't the year.
An Animated Feature IS cracking my Top 10.
Top 10 is an understatement, actually. I thought I already had my battle for my top spot sorted out. That is until I saw "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse." I plan to see this film one more time before picking my Top 10, but about 20 minutes in, I knew. This is one of the Best Films of the year, and anyone who didn't see it before publishing their top films of the year made a mistake.
Two Foreign Films will crack the Top 10.
I've known that "Roma" was a serious contender since I was granted a special screening of the film back in early November, but "Burning" directed by Lee Chang-Dong may be my preferred film. It is such a stunner of a movie that I can't wait to watch it again, knowing where (most of) the characters end up. Steven Yeun and Ah-in Yoo are both incredible.
THE LIST
Happy As Lazzaro
A Kid Like Jake
Vice
Three Identical Strangers
Free Solo
Burning
We the Animals
Vox Lux
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
You Were Never Really Here
Colette
No comments:
Post a Comment