2016 Oscars: Picks, Pisses and Moans

Post-Pick Rant:

Once again, the award season is in high gear and controversy looms over the AMPAS (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences). Hashtags have been flying around the internet over the Oscars honoring only white people and laments are being addressed by everyone from Spike Lee to George Clooney. One comment that had me giggle was from Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune when he commented on the Best Picture nominees and said that the awards had "more white people than at a Donald Trump rally." Unfortunately, that is what are society has gotten itself into.

Gore Vidal once wrote that, "Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn." That quote ran through my head when Ice Cube was asked by Trevor Noah on The Daily Show about his feelings over his film, Straight Outta Compton, was shut out of the Best Picture category. Ice Cube responded saying that the film was not for awards recognition, but for the people. Despite the rave reviews and recognition the film received, it only got only one nomination for best screenplay, which was co-written by white writers.

Having said that, I do not think that the Oscars are racist, just schizophrenic. Last year, I mentioned the films that dealt with race which earned both nominations and Best Picture Awards from the Academy (In the Heat of the Night, 12 Years A Slave), yet Straight Outta Compton didn't get major award recognition nor did Stanley Nelson Jr.'s documentary, The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution.

Not only was race an issue, but gender as well with the Oscar committee. This past year was a definitive year for actresses, yet female directors were nowhere to be seen in the nominations list. Marielle Heller, who directed her debut film and one of my favorites of last year, The Diary of a Teenage Girl, was nowhere to be seen despite the recognition she received from both the Sundance and Berlin Film Festivals. Either the Academy has not been active in seeing all these great films or they have ears of tin and are not recognizing the gold that is out there.      

Picks:

Okay, so now that I got that out of my system, here's the list of the big six nominees and my choice over who will win, who should win, and who got royally screwed.

Best Supporting Actress:
Jennifer Jason Leigh- The Hateful Eight
Rooney Mara- Carol
Rachel McAdams- Spotlight
Alicia Vikander- The Danish Girl
Kate Winslet- Steve Jobs

Who Will Win: So far, Kate Winslet is on her way to earning her second Oscar for her performance as Joanna Hoffman in Steve Jobs, which will probably be the only win the film will get since the Academy (as crazy as they are) didn't nominate Aaron Sorkin for his sharp-tongued screenplay.

Who Should Win: In my view, I think both Rooney Mara and Rachel McAdams gave great performances out of the other nominees. Mara gave a great performance as a young photographer trying to find meaning in her life amidst her sexually conflicting circumstances in Carol. McAdams was brilliant as the sympathetic ear to the sexually abused who came forward to indite Cardinal Law in Spotlight. Personally, I would be happy if both actresses won.

Who's Missing: I was surprised by not seeing Kristen Wiig on the list for her performance as a wild-partying mother in The Diary of a Teenage Girl. She manages to bring a stirring mix of comedy and tenderness when talking to her teenage daughter about her budding sexuality, yet the Academy did not see that as Oscar material.

Best Supporting Actor:
Christian Bale- The Big Short
Tom Hardy- The Revenant
Mark Ruffalo- Spotlight
Mark Rylance - Bridge of Spies
Sylvester Stallone - Creed

Who Will Win: This year might be when Sylvester Stallone gets the Oscar for the character he created that defined his forty year career in film, Rocky Balboa. The Oscars are notorious for nominating actors who have never gotten the gold and giving them the equivalent of a lifetime achievement award, and Stallone's nomination is nothing different.

Who Should Win: I thought Mark Ruffalo gave a gripping and emotional performance as Mike Rezendes, the Boston Globe reporter and lapsed Catholic who wants to expose the hypocrisies of the Catholic Church in Spotlight. If Stallone weren't nominated, I would've placed all my chips on Ruffalo for giving another stunning performance that sadly might get overlooked by the Academy once again.

Who's Missing: Shocked would be a light adjective to describe my feelings for Jacob Tremblay being shunned from the Best Supporting Actor category. The nine-year old Canadian gave an astonishing performance as Jack in Room, a performance that was both physically and emotionally demanding almost as much as DiCaprio's performance in The Revenant. The Academy had no problem giving preteens the Oscar in the past (Tatum O'Neal and Anna Paquin), yet managed to overlook Tremblay. Also, Binicio del Toro was shut out for his intense performance as a vengeance-filled DEA agent in Sicario. Once again, the Oscars are schizo!

Best Actress:
Cate Blanchett- Carol
Brie Larson- Room
Jennifer Lawrence- Joy
Charlotte Rampling- 45 Years
Saorise Ronan- Brooklyn

Who Will Win: Out of all the great performances given in a year that was defined by great actresses, Brie Larson's performance as a young mother and victim of sexual abuse in Room is the one that stands out as the best.

Who Should Win: Brie Larson. No doubt about it.

Who's Missing: In a category made up of mostly Millennial actresses, I was scratching my head wondering why Bel Powley was not nominated for her risky and riveting performance in The Diary of a Teenage Girl. Powley's role as a 15 year old having a sordid affair with her mother's boyfriend is astonishing as it gives a glimpse into the life of a teenage girl entering womanhood, which is a breath of relief from the constant films about horny young men copulating with pastries or trying to get laid before graduation.

Best Actor:
Bryan Cranston- Trumbo
Matt Damon- The Martian
Leonardo DiCaprio - The Revenant
Michael Fassbender - Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne - The Danish Girl

Who Will Win: After being nominated five previous times, Leonardo DiCaprio is due to get an Oscar as High Glass in The Revenant. The Academy loves to see actors physically and mentally struggle on screen and being mauled by a bear and climbing into a horse carcass for warmth is going to get Leo an Oscar.

Who Should Win: Leonardo DiCaprio. Like Brie Larson in Room, DiCaprio is deadlocked into winning an Oscar.

Who's Missing: Paul Dano, who gave such a beautifully nuanced performance as the young Brian Wilson in Love and Mercy, was sadly overlooked. Dano successfully captured the passion and energy Wilson had while recording Pet Sounds, as well as his drug-induced meltdown. For a voting committee that loves to see suffering on screen, you think that the Academy would've given Dano a nod for playing a tortured genius. Wrong!  

Best Director:
Adam McKay- The Big Short
George Miller- Max Max: Fury Road
Alejandro G. Inarritu - The Revenant
Lenny Abrahamson- Room
Tom McCarthy - Spotlight

Who Will Win: Inarritu's gripping and sprawling Western, The Revenant, is certainly the front-runner for the Best Director Oscar, which would make him the first director, as well as first Mexican filmmaker, to win the award two consecutive times. The Academy, still on the ropes over the Oscars being non-diverse, will probably award Inarritu justifying that they are diverse.

Who Should Win: Although Inarritu's vision of the American frontier was astonishing, I would love to see Tom McCarthy to win for Spotlight. Just the fact that he did not rely on special effects and rekindled the simplistic filmmaking of 1970s investigative journalism films (All The President's Men) with an incredible script and terrific cast that he co-wrote was enough for me to claim it as the best film of 2015.

Who's Missing: Carol, a visual ode to 1950s New York and Sirkian melodramas, would have been nothing without Todd Haynes, who was surprisingly shut out of the list. Also, Marielle Heller being cast aside from the male-dominated list proves the Academy is finicky over awarding female directors, with the only exception being Kathryn Bigelow.

Best Picture
The Big Short
Brooklyn
Bridge of Spies
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Room
Spotlight

Who Will Win: It's a tight race between Spotlight and The Revenant as they both received accolades at the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards, but I am hoping that Spotlight wins.

Who Should Win: Spotlight

Who's Missing: Love and Mercy, The Diary of a Teenage Girl, Sicario.

Check out the winners on February 28th while I do my traditional commenting of the ceremony on Facebook. Also, feel free to post your choices for the big six categories or whether or not you want to weigh in on the diversity issue of the Academy Awards.  

Carol

3 1/2 out of 4 Stars

                        Carol is a stunning and deeply moving work of art by the modern maestro of the melodrama, Todd Haynes. Set in early-1950s New York, Therese Belivet (Rooney Mara) is an aspiring photographer/department store clerk who has a chance meeting with Carol Aird, a wealthy housewife in the middle of a divorce, leading to a suspenseful and sincere relationship. While Carol is alone during Christmas, she invites Therese into her home and dysfunctional life as Carol's embittered drunk of a husband, Harge (Kyle Chandler), threatens to claim sole custody their daughter. The story leads into a tender and visually evocative homage to the melodramas of Douglas Sirk, a territory not unfamiliar to Haynes    ( i.e. Far From Heaven).

Cate Blanchett gives a passionate and stunning performance as Carol Aird; she captures the melodramatic pathos of Jane Wyman's Cary Scott in All That Heaven Allows with such radiance. Rooney Mara is incredible as Therese as she juggles the conflicting nature of accepting her sexuality while trying to find a steady relationship with her boyfriend (Jake Lacey). Sarah Paulson is brilliant as Carol's former lover as she tries to stand up for her friend and not succumb to the pressures by Harge.

Todd Haynes succeeds in delivering a tender and poignant look at lesbianism in the early stages of Cold War America. Like his previous work in films like Safe and Velvet Goldmine, Haynes provides a provocative and stylistic look at sexual politics without being overtly salacious. Haynes' vision is simpatico with Phyllis Nagy, who wrote the screenplay over ten years ago despite several turnarounds, by adapting Patricia Highsmith's semi-autobiographical novel. Carol is at its heart a lovely ode to melodramatic cinema with a story that is as significant today as it was published over sixty years ago.    

The Revenant

Four out of Four Stars



A sprawling and jarring two and a half hours, The Revenant is a no holds barred look at survival of the fittest. Think Jeremiah Johnson on peyote. Set in the Midwestern wilderness in 1820, Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his son (Forrest Goodluck) lead a group of soldiers through Indian territories shedding sweat and blood for pelts. During the expedition, Glass is mauled by a grizzly bear and tries to cling on to life much to the dismay of John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy), a ruthless fur trader who kills Glass' son and leaves Glass for dead. Filled with a thirst for revenge, Glass weathers the harsh elements of nature in order to claim something wealthier than gold, retribution.

 Leonardo DiCaprio gives a stellar and ambitious performance as Hugh Glass with such physical and dramatic demand. Raw, angry, and evocative, DiCaprio gives a performance worth it's weight in gold as he goes to great lengths to track down his son's assailant such as burning scars on his neck to stop the flow of blood, enduring a shootout with French traders, or climbing into a dead horse for warmth. 

Tom Hardy is no stranger to playing villains, such as his work on The Dark Knight Rises or Legend, but his performance as Fitzgerald is as villainous and violent as any other sociopath he has played. Domnihall Gleeson gives a solid supporting performance as Captain Henry, who relies on Glass' tracking expertise through the wilderness. Will Poulter, known for his performance in Son of Rambow, is brilliant as Bridger, a morally conflicted soldier who doubts the actions taken by Fitzgerald. 

A year after Birdman, director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu delivers another stunning and visceral work of art. Collaborating with cinematographer extraordinaire Emmanuel "Chivo" Lubezki, Inarritu crafts a film as visually stunning as David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia with the supernatural quality that mirrors Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line and The New World.

Forrest Goodluck and Duane Howard also give exemplary performances. Unlike the previous string of westerns this past year (Slow West, The Hateful Eight), The Revenant shows a beautiful and harrowing perspective from the Native Americans as they are also trying to find their form of vengeance. It's not as schmaltzy as Dances With Wolves as it has the same grit and existentialism as Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man.

In short, The Revenant is a harrowing film that is as expansive and wild as the wilderness depicted in Michael Punke's novel.

Janis: Little Girl Blue

Janis: Little Girl Blue is a poignant look at the life and career of one the great female icons in rock and roll, Janis Joplin. Directed by Amy Berg, the documentary focuses on a series of letters written by Joplin to her mother (narrated by Cat Power) throughout her meteoric rise to the top between 1966 to 1970. The film also telling interviews by those that loved her spirit, like Bob Weir of The Grateful Dead, along with those that knew her behind the bombastic energy she delivered on stage. Watch Dick Cavett's tongue and cheek anecdotes about Janis when she wasn't on his television show or D.A. Pennebaker give a play-by-play behind her performance at the Monterey Pop Festival. 

The film, unlike Howard Alk's 1970 documentary, succeeds not only with Joplin's letters being the narrative thread throughout the film, but the use of rare footage by D.A. Pennebaker shows a different side to the Queen of Psychedelic Soul. During the Cheap Thrills recording sessions in 1967, Pennebaker filmed Joplin with Big Brother and the Holding Company molding their version of the Gershwin brothers' "Summertime" into a jarringly sweet hybrid of soul and acid rock. The footage showed Joplin not as a boozy, drug-addled diva but as someone musically intelligent and tenacious in getting the right note and the best take on a song.

In addition to Pennebaker's raw footage, film of Joplin's last days adds an emotional weight, such as when she's feeling uncomfortable in front of the press during her return to her hometown of Port Arthur, Texas, the town she fled from after her difficult childhood. Janis: Little Girl Blue does succeed in giving another perspective to Janis Joplin that shies away from the mythical ethos she gained after her death by managing to have her voice and her letters float above the speculative nature surrounding her short-lived life.