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Oscar-talk
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.
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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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.