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Films of 2020/Awards Season

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    #26
    I'd move The Father up to the top list, but otherwise I agree. I definitely liked Mank the least.

    After multiple beers with former colleagues on Wednesday I got home and managed to forget that I had Disney Plus and so paid ?14 to watch Onward on Sky. A schoolboy error. I yearn for simpler times.

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      #27
      Originally posted by The Mighty Trin View Post
      Just watched Sound of Metal and I thought it was superb, although another tough watch. Riz Ahmed gives a hell of a performance. It should win the Best Sound Oscar if nothing else.
      Agreed, watched this the other night. Trying to catch up on few recent movie releases, as a break from binge watching TV series runs.

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        #28
        Tonight we watched Love and Monsters, which was a thoroughly enjoyable post-apocalyptic romp nominated for the Best Visual Effects Oscar (to my mind a modern Tremors) and then Borat 2, which is somewhat surprisingly nominated for two Oscars. I really struggle to watch awkward TV, but it was a lot of fun. Both 7/10. I have 7 Oscar nominated films and the shorts left to watch before I have to put on a DJ and watch the awards (films and theatre are my GF's big thing as I watch live and currently not so live sport and moan vigorously about The Mighty Wakefield Trinity).

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          #29
          Watched Pieces of a Woman last night. A very tough first 30 minutes when you know that something horrendously bad is about to happen and that lives will fall apart. Vanessa Kirby was excellent and deservedly nominated for Best Actress.

          In terms of documentaries Crip Camp and Collective were very good. I didn't like Time at all. Overall, My Octopus Teacher was the most enjoyable.

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            #30
            Well, one of the strangest conclusions to an Academy Awards that I've seen. They announced Best Picture *before* the lead acting awards...most people speculating that they wanted to finish with a emotional tribute to Chadwick Boseman, who was the favorite for Best Actor. Joaquin Phoenix goes on stage and says that the introduction about the emotions felt when acting, getting lost in a role, blah blah blah, is strange to him because he's never felt that way. He's completely joyless and he has no energy for presenting the award and it's seemed to grind to a halt. When the envelope is opened, we find out that Anthony Hopkins has one. He's not there at the ceremony, and then it cuts to Questlove, who has been DJing the transition music, and he wraps up the show. A completely underwhelming and abrupt ending.

            At least Union Station looked nice.

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              #31
              Really enjoyed Promising Young Woman tonight. All I can say is that Carey Mulligan is 100 times more talented than her husband.

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                #32
                What Incandenza said. It all just petered out as they seemed to speed through the final Big 3 and the finale was a total damp squib. Miss TMT and I finished off all the films before the Oscars by watching The Man Who Sold His Skin and Quo Vadis Aida?, both of which were tough to watch but very rewarding.

                We were chatting to friends in the US for a couple of hours whilst watching and discovered that the UK had a good 30 second delay on the feed via NOW TV, so we found out the winners from our friends before it was announced over here. They didn't beep out the swearing over here though, unlike in the US.

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                  #33
                  Originally posted by Logan Mountstuart View Post
                  Really enjoyed Promising Young Woman tonight. All I can say is that Carey Mulligan is 100 times more talented than her husband.
                  I think that’s unduly harsh on Carey.

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                    #34
                    I finally saw 'Promising Young Woman' the other night. It's definitely impressive but I found it all slightly distant which surprised me. It didn't involve me as much as I expected it to for a film covering the issues it does.

                    It wasn't the performances as I thought they were all very good but it did come across very much as the work of a first time writer/director...and not in a good way.

                    I'm certainly surprised it won the Origjnal Screenplay Oscar especially against the other two nominees I've seen so far (' Judas and the Black Messiah' and '...Chicago Seven') though there is the fundamental silliness of the Oscars and all awards shows to factor in.

                    SPOILER

                    The ending is pretty awful and it's no surprise to read it was tacked on at the suggestion of the film's financiers.

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                      #35
                      With cinemas back open this week in England I've taken the chance to see two Oscar contenders which I was saving to see in theatres, one for the sound and one for the visuals. Both of them had living in vans as a central theme, coincidentally.

                      Sound of Metal was the former and though I knew in advance it was meant to be a tough watch I don't think I realised quite how discomforting an experience it would be at times. The contrast is stark between the sections of the film where Olivia Cooke's Lou lights up Riz Ahmed's Ruben's life (and, by extension, the movie itself) and the middle section where she is absent. That's necessary for the film's ending to have the impact it does, of course.

                      It's admirable, moving and enlightening viewing rather than a wholly enjoyable movie but I'm glad I saw it. Both leads are always very likeable and watchable. It is also, unsurprisingly, very worthy of it's Best Sound Oscar.

                      Nomadland is in some ways a similar experience in that the impact of the movie is from a slowly unspooling narrative about an individual's experience which succeeds or fails because of the central characters' performances. In this case, Frances McDormand is an even more reliably assured and compelling actor than Ahmed and Cooke. Not that much happens (though a huge amount of ground is covered, literally) but McDormand and the supporting cast draw you in along with the beautiful visuals of a vast range of American landscapes.

                      The switch between straight acting and real life nomads effectively featuring in documentary-style footage is a little jarring at times but works overall. David Straithairn is great in his role too and reminded me a little of Sam Elliott's understated film-stealing turn in 'A Star Is Born'

                      It's a surprising Best Film winner and probably wouldn't have won in most other years but that's not a criticism. It probably says more about modern America than any other recent major film I can think of and that's vitally important.

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                        #36
                        Went to see Judas & The Black Messiah tonight. First visit to the cinema in what, 7 months? Brilliant performances from Daniel Kaluuya and LaKeith Stanfield. I read that the pair of them were both nominated for Best Supporting Actor which doesn't seem right. Stanfield in particular is brilliant. I'm watching the Eye on the Prize documentary which features William O' Neal's interview on informing for the FBI.

                        Didn't rate Nomadland at all and Sound of Metal was ok. Paul Raci was brilliant as Ruben's mentor.
                         
                        Last edited by RobW; 21-05-2021, 21:42.

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