Welcome
to our special OSCAR WEEK SERIES of
reviews. This series will go through the seven categories in which an award is
given based on the entire film (rather than any one constituent element). This seventh
review in the series will go through the BEST PICTURE nominees.
ARRIVAL
Arrival is the latest film from
director Denis Villeneuve. The film is a science fiction story about mysterious
aliens coming to Earth and an extremely talented language specialist being
enlisted by the military to find a way to communicate with them and what their
purpose is on earth. Arrival is one
of the best science fiction films we’ve seen in years with its intelligent and
emotionally impactful story design and quality filmmaking.
With
Arrival, the most apparent thing in
the film (and the most obvious positive) is quality of the filmmaking.
Villeneuve directs this film impeccably well. The production design and effects
are beautiful. The cinematography and score are great. The performances are
solid (and one could even call Amy Adams incredible). All of the technical
elements are there for a great film. It also has an emotional center which was
really intelligently designed and effective. Arrival is simply a great movie. I only have a couple gripes with
the film. First, Jeremy Renner was underused and underwhelming in the film.
Second, the film goes a bit too long in over explaining what happens at the
end. Really, really strong film nevertheless though.
Ryan’s Score: 8.5/10
Extended
review here.
Check
out James’ review here.
FENCES
Fences is the third directorial feature
from acclaimed actor Denzel Washington. The film, based on the stage play
written by August Wilson, follows the story of a husband and wife in Pittsburgh
dealing with money issues as well as some serious family and relationship
drama. This film is an absolute actors showcase and gave us two of the best
performances I saw all year but it never elevated itself as a film beyond the
stage play.
The
obvious thing that must be said for this film is that the acting is brilliant.
It is almost wall to wall dialogue and Denzel Washington and Viola Davis (who
also won Tony Awards for their work in this play on stage) deliver career
defining performances. They are both absolutely incredible at delivering
dialogue extremely well and emoting in ways that completely move the audience
to laughter and to tears. The film is also extremely well written which makes
the wall to wall dialogue feel more purposeful and effective. As I said in my
summary, the film never goes to the next level. This felt very small and
literally like a stage play. There were opportunities to expand and show the
audience more rather than constantly telling them what’s happening but it never
takes that step. That was really unfortunate in a movie with such good
performance work.
Ryan’s Score: 7/10
Extended
review here.
HACKSAW RIDGE
Hacksaw Ridge is the latest directorial
effort by Mel Gibson. The film follows real life American hero Desmond Doss who
when into a violent combat zone in World War II without any weaponry in order
to be a combat medic exclusively saving injured soldiers’ lives. This film
wrecked me in all the right ways and was my personal favorite film of 2016.
What
Hacksaw Ridge did so effectively for
me was to do so many different things extremely well and impact my mind as a
viewer in many deep and different places. The beginning of the story gets to a
lot of those happier emotions, the middle gets to the emotions that promote
determination, and the end digs into feelings of horror and shock. I was
stunned by this movie and stunned that this was a cinematic telling of a true
story. It gets you in the head of a complicated character and shows you the
really horrifying consequences of making a decision. One thing I especially
loved about this film was that it didn’t pretend to have answers or preach a
message. It’s a character portrait, and a beautiful one at that.
Ryan’s Score: 9.5/10
Extended
review here.
Check
out James’ review here.
HELL OR HIGH
WATER
Hell or High Water is a neo-western film
directed by David Mackenzie and written by Taylor Sheridan. The film follows
the story of two brothers robbing banks to get back at them for abusing their
family through a lone as well as the two Texas police officers pursuing them. I
think this is a tremendously well-written film and the kind of film we sorely
need more of in modern cinema.
The
western is a very classic brand of cinema but one that hasn’t been terribly
present in terms modern storytelling. This film tells a completely contemporary
story, and one that is strikingly in our public consciousness, through the lens
of a western and it was totally captivating. It also used a really underused
setting (West Texas) for the film which has a very cinematic look that is
brilliantly captured here. The way we follow these four characters was
extremely compelling in this kind of storytelling. The only negatives I really
have with the film are that some of the parts toward the end felt overly
convenient or unresolved. Overall this was a hugely effective film and one that
I hope spawns more like it.
Ryan’s Score: 8.5/10
Check
out James’ review here.
HIDDEN FIGURES
Hidden Figures is the second major
directorial feature by Theodore Melfi. It follows the story of three
African-American women working at NASA in the 1960s helping with the very first
American space flights. I thought this film was generally enjoyable and
extremely well performed but also exceedingly schmaltzy and forgettable.
The
most obviously great thing about Hidden
Figures was the performance work. The leading performances by Taraji P.
Henson, Janelle Monae, and Octavia Spencer were absolute home-run performances.
Each of them moved me in different ways and they constantly captivated my
attention and made me care even more about the troubling situations they were
dealing with throughout the film. I also thought that Melfi captured a pleasant
tone that made this eminently watchable and effective for all kinds of
audiences. What I thought really fell flat in this film was its believability and
grit. This is a true story but it didn’t feel like one. It often felt, as I
said earlier, schmaltzy and like a Hallmark or Lifetime movie because it was
too light and airy to feel like the real world in this case. Overall, Hidden Figures is fine but also kind of
forgettable.
Ryan’s Score: 7/10
LA LA LAND
La La Land is the third directorial
feature by writer/director Damien Chazelle. The film is a musical follows the
story of two young ambitious artists (one a jazz musician and the other an
actress) in Los Angeles as they meet and fall in love. This film is a
delightful movie, a really pleasant musical, and a wonderful modern pastiche of
classic films.
There
is nowhere else to start with La La Land
than with the music. Justin Hurwitz’ score is one of the best I have ever heard
in any film ever and the actual musical numbers are no slouches either. On top
of that I found the way Chazelle directed the film to be really interesting and
I loved to see the passion for LA and classic cinema bleed through the screen
and into the minds of the audience. I also found the films use of color
throughout popped off the screen in a captivating and impressive way
throughout. I wasn’t in love with La La
Land though. I think that some elements of the relationship between the
leads didn’t sell me completely and something about the ending left me feeling
a touch unfulfilled. Also, the fact that Chazelle and cinematographer Linus
Sandgren consistently failed to pan smoothly bothered me (maybe more than it
should have). This is definitely a film everyone should see though and is an
incredibly enjoyable one to watch.
Ryan’s Score: 8.5/10
Check
out Jonathan’s review here.
LION
Lion is the feature directorial
debut of Australian filmmaker Garth Davis. The film follows the true story of a
young boy/man named Saroo who gets separated from his family in India and with
no way of finding them is adopted from an orphanage by a loving family in
Australia and then his search, as an adult, for his biological family once
again. I was extremely underwhelmed by this film and remain perplexed how it
made its way into this Best Picture race.
To
begin with the positives, the performances in this film are mostly quite good.
Sunny Pawar, Dev Patel, and, of course, Nicole Kidman are all really strong.
They bring a good emotional resonance to the film that does make it work in
some ways at the end of the day. It also has a great sense of place and
authenticity. The film really stumbles in its storytelling though. For
starters, it feels like two entirely different films with young Saroo and older
Saroo. Then, on top of that, it also has several story threads (mostly
centering around a second adopted brother) that go totally unresolved in the
film. Further, and this was most egregious, some of the things Patel aged-Saroo
chose to do really turned me off his character and made me almost not root for
him to succeed which is really not what you want in a film like this. I know
many people who have reacted differently to Lion
so I can’t totally say “get away” but I can’t give it my recommendation.
Ryan’s Score: 5/10
Extended
review here.
MANCHESTER BY
THE SEA
Manchester by the Sea is a 2016 directorial
feature by Kenneth Lonergan. The film follows the story of a man and his nephew
after the man’s brother (nephew’s father) passes away and he must move back to
a small town in northern Massachusetts to take care of his nephew while dealing
with other demons from his past. This film is emotionally quite effective and
has a turn that absolutely broke my heart and sold me on the film until the
end.
As
with several of the nominees listed above, the main place to start is with the
stellar performances, especially the leading role by Casey Affleck. Affleck is
incredible in this film and, with very little dialogue on point, shows incredibly
layered and interesting emotions by just being. He epitomized the sense of
being a real person unlike most roles in cinema and it made me attach to the
film much more than I would have otherwise. The supporting performances by
Lucas Hedges, Michelle Williams, and Kyle Chandler were all really superb as
well. Finally, I think the sense of place is well captured. This felt like
small town Massachusetts and the one brief scene in Boston was so eerily
familiar to this Boston-dweller that I felt the setting really being alive in
the film. I found myself not sold at first, then sold after the twist, then let
down immensely at the end. This is a film that should have made my top ten of
the year (and could have done so) but it ended so unfulfilling that I left it
feeling very “blah” about the film. That let down feeling was not about whether
the film ended happily or not, it just didn’t end in a tangible way and that
jarring finish is why it didn’t work for me on the whole. It is still a deeply
effecting film in certain ways and worth watching.
Ryan’s Score 7.5/10
Check
out Jonathan and my Double Take review here.
Check
out Sammy’s London Film Festival review here.
MOONLIGHT
Moonlight is the second film from
director Barry Jenkins. The film, told in three parts, shows the growth and
maturation of a boy named Chiron who is gay and growing up in a somewhat rough
lower income neighborhood and the different friends and mentors he encounters
as well as the struggles he encounters at home and in the neighborhood. I think
Moonlight is an incredible,
introspective piece of cinema with a great message about growing up and being
different.
Jenkins
has presented us with an incredibly beautiful film here. Much like Richard
Linklater two years prior, Jenkins has found a way to get to the real heart of
a coming of age story in a more impactful way than almost any film in the genre
prior. On top of capturing a story with heart, the film is also technically
brilliant. The cinematography and score are great. The performances are
uniformly brilliant. The directorial vision is outstanding. Basically every
element of this film lands brilliantly and makes it one of the most deeply
impactful films of the year. Definitely one that everyone should go out and
watch as soon as they can.
Ryan’s Score: 9/10
Extended
review here.
Check
out James’ review here.
Check
out Sammy’s London Film Festival review here.
PICKS AND PREDICTIONS:
Ryan’s Pick: Hacksaw Ridge
Ryan’s Prediction: La La Land
GoldDerby Experts Prediction:
La La Land
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