Comments (and a review) from Ken Burke
Opening Chatter: The Oscar awards for films released in 2021 will soon be announced—Sunday, March 27, 2022, ABC TV (and by other means, I’m sure, for Millennials/Gen Z’ers) at 5 PM Pacific zone—so it’s time for Two Guys in the Dark (well, just one guy again—me, Ken Burke; Pat Craig’s still far enough within the dark I can’t find him) to make some predictions, offer additional preferences. You can find lots of speculations, including relatively-informed ones such as this cluster from Variety but I think while acknowledgements from various critics’ groups may help narrow the films those Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences voters pay the most attention to as they’ve weeded through the many options/nominees to consider, the most useful indicators of how the Oscar votes may tally likely come from the various Guilds, with the ones I pay most attention to being the Producers Guild of America (PGA) for their choice of Best Picture (the producers get that Oscar), along with the results for the easily-obvious-categories from the Directors Guild of America, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), and the Writers Guild of America (WGA), simply because there’s a lot of membership-overlap between these industry groups and Academy membership, with the understanding all Academy members (about 10,000) vote for the winners in most of the categories so Guild wins don’t necessarily equate to Oscar wins (although they often do), but non-members of those various Guilds might be swayed by what their colleagues have chosen, all of which are known by now (results from the ones cited here will be woven into the comments about what I arbitrarily consider the 8 “major’ categories). Also, in the Short Takes section (very far below) there’s a review of the new Disney/Pixar Turning Red about a Chinese-Canadian teenager who finds herself plagued by a family curse that can easily-transform her into a large red panda (streaming on Disney+). If you’re not that interested in this year’s Oscars I’ll offer suggestions for some choices on the Turner Classic Movies channel (but too much extra text for line-justified-layout like you see here [Related Links stuff at each posting’s end is similarly-ragged], at least to be managed by this burned-out-BlogSpot-drone—oh, ye tedious software!) along with that standard dollop of industry-related-trivia.
With the above considerations, here are my predictions (plus preferences) in all 23 competitive categories (I’ve seen some/none of the nominees in a few so I’m just making some wild guesses)—winners, other comments to be added to this posting soon after the ceremony. Color-coding key: red = my prediction, green = my preference, red + green = prediction and preference (gold + bold updated here next week = WINNER! [plus update comments on my prognostications]). Due to my waning sanity and a desire to not clutter up this posting more than necessary (what a change!), I’ll skip my usual notes of director, year of release, date of a Two Guys review after most titles listed below, but you can see our Summary of Reviews to get that info (assuming we’ve posted a review for a specific title anytime after our launch in late 2011)—you’ll find the current nominees in many of the categories below, although not so much in Animated, Documentary, and International features (with a couple of screenings a week I don’t claim to see everything released, even when available) or most of this year’s Shorts—however, you do have to scroll through the various stars-clusters (each one alphabetized) in the Summary to find what you’re looking for so it does take a little time. You can also consult JustWatch to find streaming options for many of the 2022 nominees (some are still in theaters too) and IMDb to get background info on people I note in my various short commentaries.
One more thing for clarity: When nominations are determined they come from various branches within the Academy (actors, directors, screenwriters, various technical areas) except for Best Picture which everyone can nominate, with some determination as to how many finalists there’ll be up to a maximum of 10 for that top award, but when it’s time to vote in the actual categories most can weigh in on everything (a few may still require verification of viewing) so actors vote on sound, set designers vote on actors, etc., allowing bandwagon effects to often sweep something along in a gush of general popularity (with the counter-possibility of some well-liked-entries getting a “compensation” award [sorry, sound mixers] in a technical category because it likely won’t succeed in what many [including me] consider the major arenas [although I give more attention to scriptwriting than many others in determining what “major” means]). Further complication for Best Picture: voting’s ranked, so it’s not just what finalist gets the most votes but instead the 2nd, 3rd, etc. choices also are factored in, possibly resulting in a win for something with more down-ballot-votes than #1 choices. It’s a crapshoot! Even experts say Best Picture from these contenders is too close to call.
Best Picture
Belfast (review posted on November 25, 2021 [#5])
CODA (review posted on August 19, 2021) WINNER!
Don’t Look Up (review posted on January 13, 2022)
Drive My Car (review posted on March 10, 2022 [#10])
Dune [2021] (review posted on October 28, 2021)
King Richard (review posted on February 3, 2022)
Licorice Pizza (review posted on February 24, 2022)
Nightmare Alley (review posted on February 10, 2022 [#9])
The Power of the Dog (review posted on December 9, 2022 [#4])
West Side Story [2021] (review posted on December 16, 2021 [#2])
(I’m sticking in this photo of The Tragedy of Macbeth, despite it getting no Best Picture
nomination because it’s my no-doubt-about-it-choice for that award.)
In the list above the ones in purple also made my Top 10 of the 2021 releases (with my ranking in brackets after the review posting date); my other choices to bump the non-purples are The Tragedy of Macbeth (#1), Mass (#3), Being the Ricardos (#6), Parallel Mothers (#7), and Passing (#8)—sorry, but you’ll just have to scan through the above-noted-Summary of Two Guys Reviews (or use the links in my Top 10 posting just above) to get more details on my opinions of these extra 5 as I’m getting slap-happy already from inputting reference links. So, obviously, if my #1 is not even among the Academy’s final Best Picture nominees then I’ll have to say my preference within their group will be my #2 (and the other 5 stars-rated triumph for me from 2021, the new version of West Side Story [just watched it again on HBO, no qualms about my decision]). For comparison, you see just 5 of my Top 10 made into Oscar’s 10 Best Picture finalists while 8 of the PGA’s 10 noms overlapped with Oscars while Variety (V) predicted 7 of the 10 finalists just as Entertainment Weekly (EW) also got 7.
However, when considering the likelihood of what will actually win this year’s Best Picture Oscar the front-runner has been The Power of the Dog, which clearly has shown itself to be popular within the Academy given its 12 noms overall (Dune’s close behind with 10). Yet, that certainty was recently shaken up by the PGA giving their Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures to Phillipe Rousselet, Fabrice Gianfermi, and Patrick Wachsberger for CODA, a significant monkey-wrench for … the Dog because producers are the ones who take home the Best Picture Oscar. Nevertheless, everyone in the Academy (not just the Producers group, surely with many overlaps into the PGA) votes on Best Picture so all of those directors, actors, writers, and technicians will have to convinced as well, with the always-ongoing-possibility voters might heap other awards on … Dog (they certainly have plenty of opportunities) while CODA’s up for only 3: Picture, Supporting Actor (a heavy favorite), and Adapted Screenplay. CODA’s other big advantage is recently winning the SAG award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture (their equivalent of Best Film), so with all those Academy actors casting votes that might be enough to bring CODA's producers to the podium for the big prize of the night, yet I’m still seeing The Power of the Dog as the winner (some say Belfast or West Side Story might sneak in; we will see on Sunday).
3/28/2022—Now that Oscars are awarded (and yapping's still flying actively about Will Smith walking onto the stage, slapping Chris Rock hard for making a joke about wife Jada Pinkett Smith [more on that in the Two Guys posting of March 31, 2022]), I’ve put the WINNER! notations in the lists above/below with me getting 17 of 23 predictions right, 74%, which matches the success rate of Variety (Entertainment Weekly's far behind, 11 of 23 or 49%) although only 8 of my preferences were chosen, all but one (Belfast for Best Original Screenplay) were part of my prediction-preferences pairings as the Academy was doing me no favors, nor themselves with a running time of 3 hrs. 40 min. so it was almost midnight on the East Coast when it all concluded, not too helpful when hoping for a notable rise in the ratings. As expected, Dune was the night’s big winner taking 6 trophies of its 10 nominations, while CODA (photo above) got all 3 of its noms including Best Picture, The Eyes of Tammy Faye got its 2 options, with all other winners getting only 1 trophy apiece, including seeming-front-runner, The Power of the Dog, losing in 11 of its categories, then winning only for Best Director.
Directing
Kenneth Branagh, Belfast
Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Drive My Car
Paul Thomas Anderson, Licorice Pizza
Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog
WINNER!
Steven Spielberg, West Side Story
Again, as with most Oscar categories, all of the Academy members vote on the awards so winning in a Guild group doesn’t necessarily imply an Oscar-victory (yet it helps tremendously), but there seems to be strong support for Campion to follow up her DGA triumph (plus she’d be only the 3rd woman to win this award, following Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker [2009], and Chloé Zhao, Nomadland [2020])—further, there have only been 5 other noms for women in this category: Lina Wertmüller, Seven Beauties (1975); Campion previously, The Piano (1993); Sofia Coppola, Lost in Translation (2003); Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird (2017); Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman (2020). Had it been up to me, though, I’d have lost Hamaguchi and Anderson for Guillermo del Toro (Nightmare Alley) and my preferred Oscar-winner, Joel Coen, for … Macbeth; of the nominees, though, I’ll predict Campion but would keep my director choice along with Best Picture, hand the trophy to Spielberg (a DGA nominee, as were 3 of the other also-Oscar-contenders with that group switching out only Hamaguchi for Denis Villeneuve [Dune]). At least I can note that 3 of my Top 5 choices for Best Director ended up on Oscar’s list, even as V and EW correctly chose 4 of Oscar’s 5 contenders.
Actor in a Leading Role
Javier Bardem, Being the Ricardos
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power of
the Dog
Andrew Garfield, Tick, Tick…BOOM!
Will Smith, King Richard WINNER!
Denzel Washington, The Tragedy of
Macbeth
Given how there are so many cinema actors in both SAG (why their official website—just like the official PGA one—frustratingly doesn’t show this year’s winners of their awards is beyond me, but, fortunately, there are other sources for this info) and the corresponding Academy Guild it will likely be no surprise if SAG-winner Smith takes this Oscar (here the SAG and Oscar nominees completely overlap), which I would give to Washington (at least he got nominated, the only #1 on my lists to do so), but Smith seems to be the runaway-favorite for this role (plus he’s never gotten an acting Oscar while Washington already has 2 so that will probably play into voters’ considerations as well). Had it been up to me I’d have reluctantly bumped Bardem (much as I enjoyed him as Desi Arnaz/Ricky Ricardo) in favor of Mahershala Ali in Swan Song, not that it matters because Smith seemingly has this award sewed up. V successfully predicted all 5 of these nominees whereas EW and I were close at 4 each.
Actress in a Leading Role
Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy
Faye WINNER!
Olivia Colman, The Lost Daughter
Penélope Cruz, Parallel Mothers
Nicole Kidman, Being the Ricardos
Kristen Stewart, Spencer
There was early speculation on Stewart emerging as the clear-front-runner in this category, then rumors floated about all of the other nominees possibly having an edge, but when Chastain won the SAG prize the focus turned to her. I’d have made notable changes in this group, dropping Chastain, Colman, and Cruz in favor of Frances McDormand for … Macbeth (my #1; however, she’s already won 3 in this category—Fargo [1996], Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri [2017], Nomadland [2020]—putting her just one behind Katharine Hepburn, although McDormand also shared a Best Picture Oscar for Nomadland as a producer so she does have 4, maybe a reason Academy voters went with other options this year), Lady Gaga in House of Gucci, and Jennifer Hudson in Respect (the latter 2 nominated by SAG along with Chastain, Colman, and Kidman); thus, of the actual nominees I’ll join the crowd in predicting Chastain but if it were up to me I’d choose Kidman. EW predicted all 5 of these Oscar nominees as V got 4 of them, but I got just 2.
Actor in a Supporting Role
Ciarán Hinds, Belfast
Troy Kotsur, CODA WINNER!
Jesse Plemons, The Power of the Dog
J.K .Simmons, Being the Ricardos
Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Power of the
Dog
Here’s another case of an early front-runner possibly left behind on awards night with lots of acclaim shown toward Smit-McPhee, although Kotsur now seems to be the favorite given his success with SAG (where their nominees were markedly different, dropping all but Kotsur and Smit-McPhee for Ben Affleck [The Tender Bar], Bradley Cooper [Licorice Pizza], Jared Leto [House of Gucci]). I’d also dump Plemons and Simmons in favor of Leto (my #1) and Affleck, but of the actual contenders I’ll predict Kotsur (the second deaf actor ever to be Oscar-nominated, joining his CODA co-star, Marlee Matlin [won Best Actress for Children of a Lesser God {1986}]), but my choice among these survivors would still be Smit-McPhee. EW wins the nomination predictions here, nailing 4, as V and me each had 3.
Actress in a Supporting Role
Jessie Buckley, The Lost Daughter
Ariana DeBose, West Side Story WINNER!
Judi Dench, Belfast
Kirsten Dunst, The Power of the Dog
Aunjanue Ellis, King Richard
SAG winner DeBose sits as yet another clear-front-runner for this trophy though I’d have given it to her (un-nominated) co-star Rita Moreno for the same film (if DeBose wins for this role she’ll join Moreno who won as Anita in the 1961 West Side Story). Had it been up to me, I’d remove Buckley, Dench, and Ellis for Moreno, Ruth Negga (Passing), and Cate Blanchett (Nightmare Alley)—both of the latter, along with Caitríona Balfe (Belfast), DeBose, and Dunst, made up the DGA nominees. I don’t know this remake of West Side Story is a strong contender for anything else (although some hint it might sneak into Best Picture after all) so it’s an almost-easy bet DeBose will triumph here, although for me, of these nominees, I’ll prefer Dunst #4 on my list but my first 3 (noted above) aren’t competing for the Oscar. V is the most successful predictor of these nominees with 3, while EW (and I) foresaw just 2 apiece.
Writing—Original Screenplay
Belfast, Kenneth Branagh WINNER!
Don’t Look Up, Adam McKay
King Richard, Zach Baylin
Licorice Pizza, Paul Thomas Anderson
The Worst Person in the World, Eskil
Vogt and Joachim Trier
This category seems to be more in play than most of the other “major” ones (a subjective grouping, I admit, with all nominees in the other groups listed farther below surely feeling they too belong with any “major” cluster) as Don’t Look Up is a bit of a surprise winner from the WGA (I like it a lot as #2 on my list) where their noms match 3 of the Oscar finalists, substituting Being the Ricardos and The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun for Oscar’s Belfast and The Worst Person … (another surprise inclusion). This is the area where I’m in strongest-agreement with the Oscar voters because I’d leave out only The Worst Person … , to be replaced by Being the Ricardos. Of these nominees I prefer Belfast (my #1) but will chance predicting the marvelous satire of Don’t Look Up, although either could succeed because I think voters will feel both are deserving but likely won’t win anything otherwise. V successfully predicted all 5 of these nominees, as I got 4.
Drive My Car, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
and Takamasa Oe
Dune, Jon Spaihts, Denis Villenuve,
and Eric Roth
The Lost Daughter, Maggie Gyllenhaal
The Power of the Dog Jane Campion
Here’s where I diverge the most from the Oscar noms as The Power of the Dog is the only one on both of our lists (#3 for me); I’d drop their other 4 in favor of (in order) The Tragedy of Macbeth, West Side Story, Nightmare Alley, and Tick, Tick…BOOM! The WGA agrees with me on 3 of my substitutions, but not … Macbeth, with their award going to CODA (they also considered Dune) which gives it the probable edge for this category given Drive My Car, Dune, and … Dog seem destined for other wins with The Lost Daughter probably an also-ran in any of the 3 categories it’s competing in. So, CODA for my prediction, … Dog for my preference given that my 5 stars-stage-adaptations aren’t in the running here. V rightly-predicted 3 of these Oscar finalists, I foresaw only 1 (although I wasn't trying to predict who would be nominated in any category as V and EW were; I simply noted my Top 10 or Top 5 in each category, then compared my list to the Academy's finalists).
As for the other categories presented below I’ll do what I can to pick preferences and predicted winners, but some of these competitions are generally a lot hazier for me because: (1) In some cases I haven’t seen all the nominees—International Feature Film is one of those; I sense Drive My Car is the front-runner but I’ve seen only it and The Worst Person in the World in this group, while in Documentary Features I’ve seen only Summer of Soul …; (2) In other cases—Documentary and Live Action Shorts—I’ve seen nothing; (3) For some of the technical categories I may have a preference but I have no idea how these voters may lean, possibly influenced by members of other guilds I haven’t cited above, although I can remedy that a bit here by saying the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC; you’ll have to scroll down in their link quite a bit to get to their Theatrical Release) chose Dune for their award, while the American Cinema Editors (ACE) chose King Richard for their Dramatic Film, Tick, Tick…BOOM! for their Comedy Film, and the Cinema Audio Society (CAS), honored Dune for its aural achievement. Then, some voters just ride various bandwagons based on publicity campaigns, friends’ recommendations, desires to help out nominees unlikely to win in more-celebrated-categories (or who knows what else?), hampering my predictions.
Anyway, I’m now on the record with my preferences (where I can choose some) and 23 predictions (informed or totally speculative) for the upcoming 2022 Oscars (with my most-extensive-analyses of contenders noted below being in our March 10, 2022 posting about the Animated Shorts). After the Oscar ceremony this coming weekend, I’ll update this posting with the winners plus some final comments; in the meantime, please enjoy the show.* Although, the Academy—never to be without controversy of their own making—has decided to give awards in 8 categories (about 25% of the total) prior to the public broadcast (winners to be shown on video later in the evening [I hope] with those noted below in bold orange; of course this attempt at streamlining the official show is to improve ratings). As is no surprise, this choice has generated a protest so, again, we’ll just have to see what happens next Sunday. (And, yes, Danish Flee is nominated for Best International Feature, Documentary Feature, and Animated Feature [about getting out of Afghanistan]; it's on several streaming platforms for a very cheap rental, so I guess I should see this unique film sometime soon.)
*Oscar-trivia-buffs, I encourage visiting this site for an enormous dose of that sort of info, current through 2021 awards, likely to be further updated once the results for 2022 winners become public.
International Feature Film Documentary Feature
Drive My Car WINNER! Ascension
Flee Attica
The Hand of God Flee
Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom Summer of Soul (…Or, When the
Revolution Could Not be Televised)
WINNER!
The Worst Person in the World Writing with Fire
Animated Feature Film Animated Short Film
Encanto WINNER! Affairs of the Art
Flee Bestia
Luca Boxballet
The Mitchells vs. The Machines Robin Robin
Raya and the Last Dragon The Windshield Wiper WINNER!
Cinematography Film Editing
Dune WINNER! Don’t Look Up
Nightmare Alley Dune WINNER!
The Power of the Dog King Richard
The Tragedy of Macbeth The Power of the Dog
West Side Story Tick, Tick…BOOM!
Visual Effects Production Design
Dune WINNER! Dune WINNER!
Free Guy Nightmare Alley
No Time to Die The Power of the Dog
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings The Tragedy of Macbeth
Spider-Man: No Way Home West Side Story
Sound Music (Original Score)
Belfast Don’t Look Up
Dune WINNER! Dune WINNER!
No Time to Die Encanto
The Power of the Dog Parallel Mothers
West Side Story The Power of the Dog
Makeup and Hair Styling Costume Design
Coming 2 America Cruella WINNER!
Cruella Cyrano
Dune Dune
The Eyes of Tammy Faye WINNER! Nightmare Alley
House of Gucci West Side Story
Live Action Short Film Documentary Short Film
Ala Kachuu – Take and Run Audible
The Dress Lead Me Home
The Long Goodbye WINNER! The Queen of Basketball WINNER!
On My Mind Three Songs for Benazir
Please Hold When We Were Bullies
Music (Original Song)
“Be Alive” (King Richard)
“Dos Orughitas” (Encanto)
“Down to Joy” (Belfast)
“No Time to Die” (No Time to Die) WINNER!
“Somehow You Do” (Four Good Days)
And now, back to our regular programming …
I invite you to join me on a regular basis to see how my responses to current cinematic offerings compare to the critical establishment, which I’ll refer to as either the CCAL (Collective Critics at Large) if they're in a positive mood or the OCCU (Often Cranky Critics Universe) if they go negative.
SHORT TAKES (a few spoilers appear here)
Turning Red (Domee Shi) rated PG 100 min.
10 years ago in Toronto a 13-year-old-girl who’s spent her life so far pushing herself to perfection at the demand of her mother finds she’s the latest victim of a family curse where excited emotions will turn her into a huge red panda; at first, she’s terrified/mortified but her friends encourage her to embrace her new self, as it will help raise cash for an upcoming boy-band-concert.
Here’s the trailer:
(Use the full screen button in the image’s lower right to enlarge it; activate
that same button or use the “esc” keyboard key to return to normal size.)
If you can abide plot spoilers read on, but this blog’s intended for those who’ve seen the film—or want to save some $ (as well as recognizing those readers like me who aren’t that tech-savvy)—to help any of you who’d like to learn more details yet avoid these all-important plot-reveals I’ll identify any give-away sentences/sentence-clusters with colors plus arrows:
⇒The first and last words will be noted with arrows and red.⇐ OK, now continue on if you prefer.
In 2002 Toronto Meilin Lee (voice of Rosalie Chiang)—“Mei” to her friends, “Mei Mei” to her family—just turned 13, sees herself with adult freedom even though she’s constantly under the control of overbearing Mom Ming (Sandra Oh) who expects perfection in the classroom, help with maintaining the small family temple in honor of the ancestors, disapproves of her daughter’s close friends Miriam Mendelson (Ava Morse), Priya Mangal (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan), and Abby Park (Hyein Park), is furious when she thinks Devon (Addie Chandler), a local convenience store clerk, is putting the moves on Mei Mei, and conceals from the girl the family secret: eons ago ancestor Sun Yee called on the gods to allow her to turn into a giant red panda to protect her children when the men were off at war; over the years this ability is passed on to the family's women, but as it became a troublesome problem, a spell was created to capture each female’s panda in a red amulet worn around her neck.
Mei learns of this the hard way when the change comes upon her after a night of bad dreams (implications of Kafka's Metamorphosis [1915]) so she sees herself as a smelly monster who tries to hide from her parents, leaving Ming to mistakenly think Mei Mei’s having her first period (a bold reality for a Disney movie, but some parents don't like these overt references to menstruation, sexual awakenings, adolescent rebellion, even as experts consider such topics as healthy for discussions with kids), then tells her daughter the family truth. The transformation happens anytime Mei has strong emotions, but she can turn back into a girl again as soon as she calms down. At first she tries to hide herself from her friends and classmates until she sees they love the big furry version of her, are even willing to pay to have photos taken with her, etc. which plays into our 4 girls’ needs to raise cash for expensive tickets to an upcoming concert by popular boy-band 4*TOWN (which none of their mothers want them to attend [reminds me of when my wife, Nina, was about 14, wanted to see The Beatles when they first came to San Francisco, wasn’t allowed to go because her Mom “knows what goes on” {?} at such events]). They manage to raise the money (the last $200 coming from the panda appearing at the birthday party of classmate-bully Tyler Nguyen-Baken [Tristan Allerick Chen], even though it turns chaotic), but Mei discovers the concert’s on the same night as her planned panda-negating-ritual so she sneaks off to join her friends, infuriating Ming who has an ongoing-equally-controlling/distancing-relationship with her own mother, Wu (Wai Ching Ho).
⇒Ming breaks her talisman, turns into a huge, angry panda, disrupts the concert by wrecking the building it's held in, but is knocked unconscious by Mei’s panda so all the aunts gather to start the ritual (after having released their own pandas in order to get the strength to drag big Ming into the needed circle while the moon’s still in its red phase). Within the ceremony all of the women control their own pandas again, but Mei refuses, deciding she likes that part of herself, wants to use it to benefit others including helping raise money to repair Sky Dome, seriously damaged by Ming.⇐ There’s a lot going on beneath the immediate surface here as you can explore in this video about its 60 Easter Eggs (13:09) and the 2nd item under Related Links much farther below connected to Turning Red (as a Canadian man gives his take on what’s happening here), but a fundamental question is right out in plain sight as to whether this whole story is the fantasy-driven-narrative we see on screen or whether it’s all a metaphor for a girl’s transformation into adolescence where all that red (blood)/emotional distress and the need to finally reconnect with her family is truly about puberty, the disruption it makes into any female teenager’s life, providing a lot more to seriously talk about afterward than you’d expect from the Disney/Pixar brand, plus the focus on Asian, South Asian, Jewish, and Black primary characters is always welcome, whether in animation or live action.
Despite this worthwhile value, though, I don’t think this one fully accomplishes a result that belongs fully with Pixar’s best (one such as Encanto, which has a strong possibility of winning this year’s Animated Feature Oscar) as it regresses into too many scenes of action-for-action’s-sake which becomes superimposed on the disruptive-family-conflicts-material woven nicely into the first part of the plot; yet, I’m coming in as not-as-supportive-as-I-might-be with my 3½ stars while the CCAL’s much more enthusiastic: Rotten Tomatoes gives 95% positive reviews, Metacritic has an 83% average score (“Must-See” in their system; more details on both in Related Links). The folks at Pixar aren’t all that happy their recent features are being consigned to streaming, but at least subscribers to Disney+ ($7.99 monthly) get Turning Red for free so I’d recommend you consider signing up for a month just to see this movie and decide for yourself what you think of it. As usual, I’ll close out these comments with a Musical Metaphor, this time an easy selection from the soundtrack, the 4*TOWN boys’ (a fictional band voiced by Jordan Fisher, Finneas O’Connell, Josh Levi, Topher Ngo, Grayson Villaneuva) “Nobody Like U” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQQRjFzB8gY (written by Billie Elish and O’Connell) which clearly describes Mei in both her manifestations but acknowledges we all have valuel, it just needs to be recognized and appreciated.
Suggestions for TCM cablecasts
At least until the pandemic subsides Two Guys also want to encourage you to consider movies you might be interested in that don’t require subscriptions to Netflix, Amazon Prime, similar Internet platforms (we may well be stuck inside for longer than those 30-day-free-initial-offers), or premium-tier-cable-TV-fees. While there are a good number of video networks offering movies of various sorts (mostly broken up by commercials), one dependable source of fine cinematic programming is Turner Classic Movies (available in lots of basic-cable-packages) so I’ll be offering suggestions of possible choices for you running from Thursday afternoon of the current week (I usually get this blog posted by early Thursday mornings) on through Thursday morning of the following week. All times are for U.S. Pacific zone so if you see something of interest please verify actual show time in your area for the day listed. These recommendations are my particular favorites (no matter when they’re on, although some of those early-day-ones might need to be recorded, watched later), but there’s considerably more to pick from you might like even better; feel free to explore their entire schedule here. You can also click the down arrow at the right of each listing for additional, useful info.
I’ll bet if you checked that entire schedule link just above you’d find other options of interest, but these are the only ones grabbing my attention at present. Please dig in further for other possibilities.
(Yes, I know, I get more carried away with some of these descriptions than I do with others but, trust me, they’re all well worth your consideration, for those various reasons that I’ve noted or elaborated.)
Thursday March 24, 2022
2:30 PM 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968) Sci-fi spectacular, on my All-Time Top 10 list, lots of mysterious, difficult interpretations back then (since clarified with a novel and sequel) about a powerful object enhancing human evolution; astronauts to Jupiter aided/thwarted by super-computer HAL 9000 as the lone human fights for survival, encounters a transformation. “Star Gate” scene at the end visually-groundbreaking, still impressive; Oscar for Best Special Visual Effects.
5:00 PM The Producers (Mel Brooks, 1967) First version, later adapted to a successful Broadway musical (spawning another movie). Flimflam artist/stage producer Zero Mostel, nervous accountant Gene Wilder seek riches by getting too many investors for a show doomed to fail, Springtime for Hitler by ex-Nazi Kenneth Mars, starring wacky hippie Dick Shawn. But, it’s seen as satire, becomes a hit. Excellent balance keeps this as hilarious, not repulsive; Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
Friday March 25, 2022
12:30 PM Being There (Hal Ashby, 1979) Marvelous satirical exploration of the concept of cognitive dissonance as various self-absorbed characters encounter a man with mental limitations, a gardener (Peter Sellers) whose vague statements lead them to interpret him as a newly-emerged genius with political agendas sought to be implemented by high government officials, even putting him in line for the Presidency. Shirley MacLaine, Melvyn Douglas, Jack Warden, Richard Dysart, Richard Basehart (Oscar for Best Supporting Actor [Douglas], Sellers nominated for Best Actor). Ends on a great shot.
10:30 PM Woodstock: The Director’s Cut (Michael Wadleigh, 1970) Amazing doc culled from 3 days of the original 1969 festival in upstate NY with a lineup too long to list. Some of my favorites include Richie Havens (“Freedom”), The Who (a Tommy medley), Sha-Na-Na (“At the Hop”), Joe Cocker (“With a Little Help from My Friends”), Crosby, Stills & Nash (“Suite: Judy Blue Eyes”), Country Joe McDonald (“FISH Cheer”), Santana (“Soul Sacrifice”), Jimi Hendrix (“The Star-Spangled Banner”). This is the 1994 reissue at 224 min. (original ran 185), so settle in for the night and hang loose, man.
Saturday March 26, 2022
4:45 AM The Best Years of Our Lives (William Wyler, 1946) A richly-deserving Best Picture Oscar winner (along with a cluster of others including Best Director, Actor [Frederic March], Supporting Actor [Harold Russell], Adapted Screenplay, Film Editing, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture, plus an Honorary Oscar to Russell, an actual WW II vet amputee), focused on the difficulties of 3 returning G.I’s each with individual problems (a marvelous example of deep-focus-cinematography by Gregg Toland; I once got a chance to talk with Wyler about his intentions with this visual style). This film’s highly recommended to watch anytime it may be shown but especially on Veterans Day.
8:00 AM Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942) Do you really need my description to know what this one’s about? If so, Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, and Peter Lorre are “looking at you, kid,” to watch it! A movie truly defining what I consider to be a 5 stars-“classic,” celebrated for decades as a story of hope, patriotism, and making the right decision when romance conflicts with greater needs in the early years of WW II.
Sunday March 20, 2022
1:00 PM Gone With the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939) I may lose readers for noting this movie with its despicable, sappy presentation of slavery (although it gained a crucial Oscar for Hattie McDaniel, first for a Black actor) but from a production-values-perspective for its time it’s a triumph of the old studio system (even as it glorifies the “Lost Cause” of the Confederacy). Famous for romance of scheming Scarlett O’Hara (Vivian Leigh), dashing Rhett Butler (Clark Gable). Won Oscars for Best Picture plus Director, Adapted Screenplay (Sidney Howard), Actress (Leigh), Supporting Actress (McDaniel), Color Cinematography, Film Editing, Art Direction plus a Special Award to Production Designer William Cameron Menzies for use of color, and a Technical Achievement Honorary Award. Still box-office champ, adjusted for inflation; will TCM address Black Lives Matter considerations?
Wednesday March 16, 2022
11:15 AM Giant (George Stevens, 1956) An epic story of the West (3 hrs. 21 min.) but presented in a contemporary plot where the owner of a huge west Texas ranch (Rock Hudson) goes East to buy a horse, ends up also with a wife (Elizabeth Taylor) who has more supportive attitudes toward their Mexican workers. His older sister Luz (Mercedes McCambridge) dies, leaves a small plot to a local rounder (James Dean) who finds oil on his land, gets quickly rich, continues over the years to bedevil the main family. Oscar for Best Director (plus 9 more nominations), Dean’s last role before his car-crash death. For the time and location, a surprising ongoing theme of emerging social tolerance.
2:45 PM East of Eden (Elia Kazan, 1955) James Dean’s screen debut as Cal Trask, a WW I-era young man living near Monterey, CA trying to win the love of his stern father, Adam (Raymond Massey), who gives more support to other son Aron (Richard Davalos), adapted from the stunning John Steinbeck novel (with its intended Biblical overtones). Even when Cal makes a fortune for Dad he’s rejected so he shames Aron by revealing Mom (Jo Van Fleet) isn’t dead after all but lives nearby, running a brothel. Won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress (Van Fleet); Dean (already dead by the time of the awards) was nominated for Best Actor (as he was for his last, Giant [1956]).
If you’d like your own PDF of the rating/summary of this week's review, suggestions for TCM cablecasts, links to Two Guys info click this link to access then save, print, or whatever you need.
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Other Cinema-Related Stuff: Extra items for you: (1) Amazon buys MGM; (2) More Pixar controversy: They restore a same-sex kiss in upcoming Lightyear (Buzz's origin story) in response to Florida's "Don't Say Gay" law; (3) Only 7% of 2021 movies featured more women than men. As usual for now I’ll close out this section with Joni Mitchell’s "Big Yellow Taxi" (from her 1970 Ladies of the Canyon album)—because “You don’t know what you’ve got ‘till it’s gone”—and a reminder that you can search streaming/rental/purchase movie options at JustWatch.
Related Links Which You Might Find Interesting:
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*Please ignore previous warnings about a “dead link” to our Summary page because the problems’ been manually fixed so that all postings since July 11, 2013 now have the proper functioning link.
AND … at least until the Oscars for 2020’s releases have been awarded on Sunday, March 27, 2022 we’re also going to include reminders in each posting of very informative links where you can get updated tallies of which films have been nominated for and/or received various awards and which ones made various individual critic’s Top 10 lists. You may find the diversity among the various awards competitions and the various critics hard to reconcile at times—not to mention the often-significant-gap between critics’ choices and competitive-award-winners (which pales when they’re compared to the even-more-noticeable-gap between specific award winners and big box-office-grosses you might want to monitor here)—but as that less-than-enthusiastic-patron-of-the-arts, Plato, noted in The Symposium (385-380 BC)—roughly translated, depending on how accurate you wish the actual quote to be—“Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder,” so your choices for success are as valid as any of these others, especially if you offer some rationale for your decisions (unlike any awards voters who blindly fill out ballots, sometimes—damn it!—for films they’ve never seen).
To save you a little time scrolling through the “various awards” list above, here are the
Oscar nominees for 2021 films.
Here’s more information about Turning Red:
https://www.pixar.com/turning-red (scroll down for detailed info on this movie)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qV-2tVWISAc (15:14 Canadian man explains his perspective on the movie, a few in-jokes, local references, lost opportunities [long ad for the sponsor runs from about 12:50-14:14])
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/turning_red
https://www.metacritic.com/movie/turning-red-2022
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If you’d rather contact Ken directly rather than leaving a comment here please use my email address of kenburke409@gmail.com—type it directly if the link doesn’t work. (But if you truly have too much time on your hands you might want to explore some even-longer-and-more-obtuse-than-my-film-reviews-academic-articles about various cinematic topics at my website, https://kenburke.academia.edu/, which could really give you something to talk to me about.)
If we did talk, though, you’d easily see how my early-70s-age informs my references, Musical Metaphors, etc. in these reviews because I’m clearly a guy of the later 20th century, not so much the contemporary world. I’ve come to accept my ongoing situation, though, realizing we all (if fate allows) keep getting older, we just have to embrace it, as Joni Mitchell did so well in "The Circle Game," offering sage advice even when she was quite young herself.
By the way, if you’re ever at The Hotel California knock on my door—but you know what the check-out policy is so be prepared to stay for awhile (quite an eternal while, in fact, but maybe while there you’ll get a chance to meet Eagles co-founder Glenn Frey, RIP). Ken
P.S. Just to show that I haven’t fully flushed Texas out of my system here’s an alternative destination for you, Home in a Texas Bar, with Gary P. Nunn and Jerry Jeff Walker (although, as you know, with bar songs there are plenty about people broken down by various tragic circumstances, with maybe the best of the bunch—calls itself “perfect”—being "You Never Even Called Me By My Name" written by Steve Goodman, sung by David Allen Coe). But wherever the rest of my body may be my heart’s always with my longtime-companion/lover/
wife, Nina Kindblad, so here’s our favorite shared song—Neil Young’s "Harvest Moon"—from the performance we saw at the Desert Trip concerts in Indio, CA on October 15, 2016 (as a full moon was rising over the stadium) because “I’m still in love with you,” my dearest, a never-changing-reality even as the moon waxes/wanes over the months/years to come. But, just as we can raunchy at times (in private of course) Neil and his backing band, Promise of the Real, on that same night also did a lengthy, fantastic version of "Cowgirl in the Sand" (19:06) which I’d also like to commit to this blog’s always-ending-tunes; I never get tired of listening to it, then and now (one of my idle dreams is to play guitar even half this well). But, while I’m at it, I’ll also include another of my top favorites, from the night before at Desert Trip, the Rolling Stones’ "Gimme Shelter" (Wow!), a song “just a shot away” in my memory (along with my memory of their great drummer, Charlie Watts, RIP). To finish this cluster of all-time-great-songs I’d like to have played at my wake (as far away from now as possible) here’s one Dylan didn’t play at Desert Trip but it’s great, much beloved by me and Nina: "Visions of Johanna."
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