krickets | Oscar-talk

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So on Friday I decided last minute to buy the Regal Cinemas best picture film festival pass. You pay $35 dollars and get admission to all of the best picture nominees plus a really good deal on a drink and popcorn. ($5.00 for a medium soda+popcorn which is normally like 12 bucks, which is crazy!)

I'm not really in it for the popcorn, I'm in it for the movies. I'd already previously seen Hidden Figures and La La Land. So far with the pass I've seen Arrival, Hacksaw Ridge, and Lion.

Here are my non-spoilery thoughts on all of them:

Arrival: I get the impression I'm supposed to have really strong emotions about this movie, but the thing is that I kind of didn't? I thought it was really gorgeous and wasn't by any means bored with it, but I really didn't feel anything. Maybe I need to re-watch it? I don't know! Definitely my least favorite of the 5 I've seen.

Hacksaw Ridge: I remember initially seeing the preview for this and thinking that it was going to be good, but I wasn't quite prepared for how good it would actually be. Definitely exceeded my expectations on this one. By a lot! The one thing I didn't like was how (in my opinion) over the top some of the early battle sequences were. I GET what they were doing, but I honestly felt like if I was an innocent person who wandered into the wrong theater right at that moment, I would not have been able to initially tell if I'd walked into a war movie or a ZOMBIE movie. So those small moments were a little much, but taken as a whole this was a great picture. The actor who played his father was truly amazing in this. I'm surprised he wasn't nominated for supporting actor. I also found it funny that all of the military jokes about Andrew Garfield's physique totally mirrored my own thoughts about him. Sorry Andrew!

Lion: Wow. I went into this knowing nothing about the film and only watching the preview shortly before going into the theater. I did love La La Land which I know is favored to win, but in my opinion this movie is the TRUE best picture. So wonderful. Expect waterworks. Plus, I really love Dev Patel (thank you, Newsroom) and he was really wonderful here. (Plus he looked pretty good without a shirt.) Not sure why he's not nominated for Leading Actor as he's clearly the lead character. I guess he SUBMITTED for supporting? Is that just a sneaky way to potentially secure a win, or is that a humility thing? I don't know!

La La Land: I really liked this a lot. Very fun to watch and I actually loved the ending. I keep hearing people who just dislike this movie based on the ending but I don't really understand that. I won't say anymore, even though this is not a movie about the ending or spoilers.

Hidden Figures: So inspiring. I love this story and I LOVE Octavia Spencer. I really liked the turn for Kirsten Dunst's character, which was nice and subtle. All of that said this is just not a best picture contender for me. Still a great movie that I would highly recommend, and is probably a good one for re-watching too. Oh and this is the first time I've seen Kevin Costner in anything in a long time. It was great to see him in this.

I'm seeing Fences tonight, Moonlight tomorrow, Manchester by the Sea on Thursday and I'm gonna try to squeeze in Hell or High Water at some point. (I actually have that DVD at home through the Netflix DVD service.) This will probably be the first year ever that I've seen all of the nominees. I say PROBABLY because I'm uncertain if I'll really be able to squeeze in a showing of Moonlight.

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Hidden Figures is the only movie I've seen from the Oscar nominated list. I really liked it. All the performances were great and I loved the scene where Katherine was yelling at her boss about the bathroom.

Yeah that's a very pivotal moment in the movie. Loved that as well!

That is a really cool movie deal!! I'd love to do that. I've only seen Arrival, which I loved loved loved. And I think it was because I went into it not knowing anything about it and thinking I was just humoring Josh with a movie he wanted to see. When you have low expectations, sometimes you get surprised!

Again, based on other's responses to Arrival, I feel like I must have missed something. Maybe I was just tired? I agree about low expectations. I didn't have many preconceived notions about Arrival though, but I do really like the cast, so based just on cast they were pretty high.

I would say you should check it out in your area, but it's already 4 days into it and you might not have the time to make it worth your money. They're doing it in a lot of different cities. Though I'm not sure if they may have sold out of passes. I know they only had a certain amount.

Edited 2017-02-20 17:31 (UTC)

Arrival is up for an Oscar? Oscar for what? I saw that thing streaming online. I'm glad I didn't pay for it. It was all right but didn't live up to the potential of its actors. And what the hell was Lawrence Fishburne doing in there?!

Octavia Spencer was gold. :-D All of them were.

I couldn't get through Moonlight. I sensed impending doom so I just stopped watching.I could be wrong but I don't want to know. No interest in Fences at all, though I love Viola. I just don't want to see Denzel overact. I don't dislike him, but after the Great Headache I need gentle movies. No shouting.

What is your favorite for Best Picture?

Hahaha, I understand why it's nominated. I think I see why it's considered a "serious" sci fi film and not just average. But I just didn't love it unfortunately. I think you meant to say Forest Whitaker?

I don't think there's any doom in Moonlight. I haven't seen it yet, but I have a feeling.

Regarding Fences... just saw it. Very powerful stuff. I'll make a quick post to review it in a minute.

What's the Great Headache?

Right now my favorite of the nominees is Lion. Do I think Lion will win? Probably not. But it should. (I am still 3 movies short of seeing all the nominees though!)

I honestly think I missed up Arrival with Passengers. Which did have Laurence Fishbourne in it. Then I remembered Forest Whittaker was sort of randomly in Rogue One and I got really confused. Is Arrival good?

I had a bad, bad headache last week so I was watching really gentle, easy things on my mind that didn't require much thought. Like 20 minutes of the Lego Batman movie. And vet shows on TV. :-)

What is Lion about?

Haha, Arrival is underwhelming for me. It's not bad. But I know plenty of people who loved it and found catharsis in it. I really liked Passengers... haha. But it was a fun movie, not an Oscar movie!

Lion is a true story about a man from Tasmania (adopted by a white Tasmanian couple) who begins to remember his childhood in India before adoption, and realizes that he was actually mistakenly separated and lost from his family and then he becomes consumed with trying to find them, specifically trying to remember and locate where he lived using google earth and his vague memories as a guide. As a very young child he was mispronouncing the name of his village, so the words he uses to name it are not on any map. Authorities could not find where he was from so could not conduct a meaningful search for his missing family. (India is a big place, with even more people!) That's how he ended up in an orphanage and placed with his adoptive parents. Heart wrenching, bitter sweet, somewhat joyful in parts. The child who plays Saroo as a young boy is probably the most adorable thing I've ever seen. He's played by Dev Patel as an adult. Rooney Mara plays his girlfriend. Nicole Kidman as his adoptive mom.

Lion sounds like a great movie! Kind of like Life of Pi or Slumdog Millionaire. I can't believe Nicole Kidman is old enough to play the mother of an adult! But she did adopt her own kids at age 25 and they are indeed grown.

Passengers. Yep. But now maybe I should see Arrival. I chose Passengers and Rogue One over it at the time but maybe I was wrong.

You certainly made the most of your movie ticket!

hell or high water is soooo gooood. i didn't get the end to la la land - i mean, why did they end it that way? what were they trying to say? - but up until then i really enjoyed it. and overall it was cute and fun and serious and i'm glad i saw it. i think i liked lion and hidden figures better, tho, and not just because both of them made me cry. or because dev patel is extensively easy on the eyes. :D

>>I guess he SUBMITTED for supporting? Is that just a sneaky way to potentially secure a win, or is that a humility thing?<<

my guess is it's a sneaky way to secure a win. i have no idea who else is nominated for best actor vs who's nominated for best supporting, but someone probably thought dev patel has a better shot among the best supporting actors. like the way the martian won a golden globe for best comedy when it is in no way a comedy, but the best drama nominations were too tough to beat.

I keep hearing GREAT things about Hell or High Water, which is funny because that was the biggest question mark for me when I saw the list of nominees. Just watching the preview, I know there must be something more to it than it seems. Lots of people who's opinion I really trust when it comes to movies have told me it's really good so I'm excited to watch it. I think I might start it on my lunch break today.

On La La Land's ending. Is your issue with it that it wasn't a happy ending? Because... for me it made sense. It wasn't the story of the great love of someone's life. It was the story of ONE of the loves of someone's life. I mean marry that with ambition, Hollywood, dueling values and that's basically La La Land. The fact that they didn't end up together is not an issue for me. The time jump is not an issue for me. Maybe that's what you didn't like about it? Like maybe you're okay with them parting ways but not with the time jump? I think the time jump served a purpose, it said, Here I am in my successful life now, but I still remember/look fondly/appreciate what we had and what might have been and what you gave to me as a person. In fact, I wouldn't be who/where I am today without you. Etc. I don't know. I understand not loving movies that are buried in misery or even getting burnt out about it. But I found La La Land delightful despite its lack of a traditional happy ending.

The Martian wasn't a comedy? I am one of those who read the book (before they were even making a movie!) and I guess I "read" the movie differently because the book was HILARIOUS! Mark Watney was like a cross between an astronaut, a botanist, and a comedian. I guess maybe some of the funny stuff didn't come across as well in the movie because you can't really escape the doom he's facing. But the book was comic gold. In fact our book club basically underlined the entire book, marking our favorite "Watney-isms" as we dubbed them.

Saroo is a Tassie boy!! So glad you liked Lion and that it's getting the recognition it deserves :)

There's another Aussie movie coming out soon that, if you get a chance, I highly, HIGHLY recommend. It's called Jasper Jones.

Oh man it was so good. Tasmania looks beautiful. (I'm not sure if they actually filmed there, but it was pretty!) I will have to come and visit some day!

Jasper Jones is a book that I wanted to read. Okay now I really need to read the book so I can later watch the movie.

OMG, YES! Read Jasper Jones! It's one of the best things I've ever read.

Ever.

Also, definitely come visit Tasmania :) I have a spare room that is all yours!

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