All of the Academy Award Nominated Films

This may be the first time I’ve ever done this. Over the past several months, I watched all 10 of the movies that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar.

It may also be the first time I’ve felt that all of the nominated films deserved to be nominated.

In case you haven’t seen some or all of them and you’re interested in my two cents, here they are in order of my preferences, along with brief notes on each.

1. The Zone of Interest 

A distinctly different Holocaust film, with a clever perspective and great performances.

2. Oppenheimer 

It aimed to be a big and important film, and it met its ambitions completely.

3. Poor Things 

Wild, crazy, inventive, and exuberant, brilliantly shot and with a great performance by Emma Stone.

4. American Fiction 

A simple, straightforward drama about something that never should have happened in American book publishing. Jeffrey Wright’s performance was perfect. He carried the film.

5. Past Lives 

I have a prejudice towards Asian dramas and particularly Korean romantic movies. Past Lives delivered everything you would want from this genre: a good, believable story, emotionally moving visuals and music, and two adorable leads.

6. Killers of the Flower Moon 

The film didn’t quite measure up to the book (which I read for my book club), but it was nonetheless very good, with many good performances and lots of issues to think about later.

7. Anatomy of a Fall 

There are several things about this film that could have and did disappoint many critics, including the unsatisfactory denouement. But the photography, the music, the scenery, and the acting kept me fascinated all the way through.

8. The Holdovers 

You’ve seen this story a dozen times, and yet you won’t be bored or disappointed seeing done again with a great cast and good performances by all.

9. Maestro 

I’ve always been interested in Leonard Bernstein. Not just because of the music he made, but also because of the many rumors I’d read about his personal life. I wouldn’t call Maestro a great film, but it was good enough to earn the nomination.

10. Barbie 

I didn’t know what to expect, but I was prepared to be disappointed. I wasn’t. I was happily entertained and not bothered by the various woke “messages” because the film never took itself very seriously.

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Andrew Tate’s New “Fireblood” Commercial

Andrew Tate 

Andrew Tate is loathed by lefties, because he has a very old-fashioned view of the proper roles for men and women in the world today.

The mainstream press has been hard on him, even circulating a false story that he had a brothel going in Romania. I see him as a very successful, but also brash, tough-guy influencer whose ideas are closer to Jordan Peterson’s than Attila the Hun’s. If you check him out on YouTube, debating TV hosts and the like, you’ll see what I mean.

I found out about him from BG, the 16-year-old son of TG, an old friend. Within six months last year, BG transformed himself from an overweight game-binging sloth to a lean, mean learning machine. He devotes himself to training and studying, and he’s grown more respectful and courteous, to boot. I attribute this to the macho teachings of Andrew Tate.

That one transition was so remarkable, and so improbable, that I became a Tate fan. But there has always been one thing that bothered me about him: His style of debate, although reasoned and rational, is very aggressive. When he’s in a heated debate, knowing he was a champion kickboxer, I find myself worrying that, at any moment, he’s going charge his opponents and pummel them into submission.

I want to say to him: “Relax. You are smart. You don’t have to be so dominant. Take yourself a little less seriously. Make a self-effacing joke once in a while.”

I never had the opportunity to coach him, but he seems to have gotten the idea with this pseudo commercial about a supplement he is supposedly selling called Fireblood. I thought it was funny. Tell me what you think.

Click here.

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How the Michelin Tire Company Became Synonymous with Fine Dining 

I never associated the Michelin restaurant rating system with the Michelin tire company, but they are connected.

Watch the fascinating story of how the “star” system originated here.

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The Tourist

Directed by Chris Sweeney
Starring Jamie Dornan and Danielle McDonald
Series 1 (6 episodes) premiered Jan. 1, 2022 on BBC One; currently on Netflix
Series 2 (6 episodes) launches Feb. 29 on Netflix

Watch Time: 1 hr. per episode

Plot: An Irish tourist wakes up with amnesia in a small-town Australian hospital and must use the few clues he has to discover his identity before his past catches up with him.

What I Like About It 

1. It’s a gripping and fast-moving series that satisfies its genre as a dramatic thriller. And it provides something extra for fans of cinema in that the script is inspired by the intelligent zaniness of the Coen brothers (but a bit darker) and the direction is reminiscent in many ways of David Lynch (but a tad more sober). The combination is a fascinating, freaky, and often funny series that will give you enjoyment on several planes and at multiple levels.

2. The lead actors, Jamie Dornan and Danielle McDonald, are both very good and perfectly selected for their roles.

3. And speaking McDonald… Her character reminds me of Frances McDormand’s in the Coen brothers’ Fargo. In McDonald’s case, she is an overweight, underconfident, but intuitive low-level policewoman who, against the wishes of her superiors, inserts herself into the case and becomes not just a principal character but a deserving leading lady.

Critical Reception 

* “This funny, suspenseful six-part thriller doesn’t merely keep us guessing. It keeps its amnesiac hero guessing, too.” (NPR)

* “Dornan finds a quirky, unsettled way to play a man who doesn’t know who he is without resorting to the cliché of the lost soul.” (Roger Ebert.com)

* “A pulse-pounding series packed with humor and philosophical questions.” (The Guardian)

You can watch the trailer here.

Friday Night Blind 

A short (just over 13 minutes) documentary that follows the minor struggles and triumphs of a trio of visually impaired friends who meet once a week to go bowling.

Watch the whole thing here.

“This Muslim Israeli Woman Is the Hope of the Middle East” 

From Bari Weiss, writing in The Free Press

“Lucy Aharish is one of the most prominent television broadcasters in Israel. But that’s not the thing that makes her exceptional. The thing that makes Lucy stand out is that she is the first Arab Muslim news presenter on mainstream, Hebrew-language Israeli television.

“I’ve done many interviews that have stayed with me. This might be the most moving of all.”

Watch Weiss’s interview with Aharish here.

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1. Society of the Snow 

Directed and co-written by J.A. Bayona
Released Sept. 9, 2023 (Venice Int’l Film Festival)
Streaming on Netflix Jan. 4, 2024

Watch Time: 144 min.

In 1972, a Uruguayan plane, chartered to transport a rugby team to Santiago, Chile, crashes into a glacier in the heart of the Andes. Of the 45 passengers on board, only 16 manage to survive. The film, an adaptation of the book by the same name, documents the accounts of all 16 survivors.

What I Liked About It 

The story was familiar to me. It was sensationalized because those that survived for 72 days until they were rescued (until they rescued themselves) had resorted to cannibalism to stay alive, and the direction of the film emphasized the horror of it all.

I also very much admired the photography, the sound effects, and the music. All artfully done. Also that the dialog was entirely in Uruguayan Spanish.

What I Didn’t Like 

It left me emotionally exhausted and depressed. It took me 24 hours to get back into a good frame of mind.

Critical Reception 

Society of the Snow received mostly favorable reviews. It is an Oscar nominee for Best International Feature Film of 2023.

* “The material is fundamentally gripping, and parts of it are tough to resist…. But Society of the Snow is a perverse movie to watch the way most people will see it – on Netflix, in the comfort of their homes, with a refrigerator nearby.” (Ben Kenigsberg, The New York Times)

* “As a film that attempts to honor its victims while simultaneously offering graphic details, it both improves upon previous iterations of the material and exposes the limits of the story itself.” (Shirley Li, The Atlantic)

* “A fervent film, heartfelt and shot with passion and flair.” (Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian)

You can watch the trailer here.

2. A World Within a World: The Bay Houses of Long Island 

Produced and directed by Barbara J Weber and Greg Blank 
Originally aired on PBS Oct. 15, 2020
Currently streaming on Amazon 

Watch Time: 1 hr.

A recommendation from KG: A documentary about the history and traditions of the bay houses on the South Shore of Long Island, not far from where I grew up.

Bay houses are small shacks that have stood on Long Island’s South Shore marshlands since the 1700s. Of 40 of these homes, 14 miraculously withstood Hurricane Sandy – unofficially referred to as Superstorm Sandy – in 2012. A World Within a World explores the lives and experiences of bay house owners in the Town of Hempstead from both a historical and a contemporary perspective, capturing their perseverance and endurance.

You can watch the trailer here.

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Griselda 

A six-part Netflix miniseries
Directed by Andrés Baiz
Starring (and co-produced by) Sofia Vergara
Premiered Jan. 25, 2024

Watch Time: 1 hr. per episode

Griselda is a biographical crime series dramatizing the true story of Griselda Blanco, who began her life as a prostitute in Colombia and eventually led one of the most profitable cocaine cartels in the US.

What I Liked About It 

The story: Amazing!

The plot: Fast-paced, non-stop, suspenseful, and believable.

The costumes: Vintage 1980s Miami. The wardrobes alone are worth the watch.

The star: All of the actors are strong in this series, but Sofia Vergara, someone I think of as a superb comedic actress, creates a character every bit as scary and seductive as Hannibal Lecter.

Critical Reception 

Griselda has gotten generally positive reviews from critics, with particular praise for Vergara’s performance.

* “The former ‘Modern Family’ star goes full Pacino-in-Scarface mode and delivers a robust, screen-rattling, suitably over-the top performance in the blood-soaked series… that plays like an extended B-movie.” (Chicago Sun-Times)

* “Hugely enjoyable, well-paced, and gorgeous to look at throughout.” (The Guardian)

* “Those who enjoyed Narcos and Sons of Anarchy will find plenty here to entertain them on the surface, but in terms of larger social commentary or insights on the state of Latinidad, it’s an empty vessel.” (RogerEbert.com)

You can watch the trailer here.

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Forgotten Love

Directed by Michal Gazda
Produced by Netflix
Released Sept. 27, 2023

Watch Time: 2 hrs. 20 min.

Forgotten Love is Neflix’s adaptation of a 1992 classic Polish melodrama – the third adaptation of the Polish novel Znachor (which translates as “The Quack”).

I was suspicious of the title. It sounded like it could be a romance. But its conciseness and its vagueness gave me hope for something more.

And it delivered…

What I Liked About It 

This is a very good movie. I found it easy to watch, easy to enjoy, and it left me feeling satisfied. I think that was because it was (1) wonderfully imagined, (2) well built, (3) carefully managed, and (4) meticulously acted.

Why I Can’t Call It a “Great” Movie 

For all its excellence, including the script, the acting, the direction, and the cinematography, Forgotten Love is essentially a fantasy. A great film in my book is one that has great depth in terms of plumbing human nature and great detail in showing with exactness how humans behave (or once behaved) in particular times and situations.

Fantasy fiction has different objectives. It is not about the truth of who we truly are/were. It is about who and how we would like to be in imagined times and situations.

You can watch the trailer here.

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BlackBerry 

Released May 12, 2023
Directed by Matt Johnson
Starring Jay Baruchel, Glenn Howerton, and Matt Johnson
Watch Time: 2 hours

The Plot 

The story of the rise and fall of the first smartphone.

What I Liked About It 

The story behind this comedy docudrama (the factual story) is dramatic, sometimes exciting, and ultimately edifying. It stimulated lots of thoughts about my own experiences as an entrepreneur and made me feel better about my marketing rule: Try to be number two.

What I Didn’t Like 

The denouement, like most stories in life, was half-sad.

Critical Reception 

* “This is one of those whip-smart, character- and story-driven gems that grabs you from the start and never lets go.” (Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times)

* “A corporate comedy of errors – but the film really shines thanks to Howerton, whose towering, shark-like performance makes him a villain for the ages.” (Beth Webb, Empire Magazine)

* “What emerges from the electronic noise and fussy aesthetic of BlackBerry is a compelling portrait of a company that flew too close to the sun.” (Katie Walsh, Los Angeles Times)

You can watch the trailer here.

 

Shucked 

The Broadway production opened April 4, 2023 at the Nederlander Theatre 
Music and lyrics by Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally
Book by Robert Horn
Watch Time: 135 minutes, with one intermission

You’ll need to get to NYC to see Shucked with the Broadway cast before it goes on tour. I saw it last weekend with K and a bunch of the extended family. It was a packed house, and the show got a standing ovation.

The Plot 

What do you get when you pair a semi-neurotic, New York comedy writer with two music superstars from Nashville? A hilarious and audacious farm-to-fable musical about the one thing Americans everywhere can’t get enough of: corn.

What I Liked About It 

Although the theme is corn and the major motif is corny humor, the script and lyrics are very smart. The play works as a musical comedy, but also, somehow, as a feel-good, we’re-all-human dramatic story in the midst of all the hateful culture wars going on outside the theater.

What I Also Liked About It 

My niece, Isabelle McDalla, has one of the leads as an ingenue.

Critical Reception 

Reviews were mixed. Critics tended to praise the comedy and acting but didn’t love the music. Still, the show received nine Tony nominations and won one: Alex Newell for Best Featured Actor in a Musical (which makes Alex one of the first openly non-binary performers to be nominated for and win a Tony).

You can watch an ad for Shucked here.

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Sick of Myself 

Watch Time: 97 minutes

I wanted to watch Forgotten Love, which had been highly recommended by my Myrtle Beach buddies. But I wanted to watch that one with K, and she was not available. So, I flicked through Prime’s recommendations and found Sick of Myself, a 2022 Norwegian film written and directed by Kristoffer Borgli and starring Kristine Kajuth Thorp and Erik Saether.

It began as a typical Scandinavian domestic drama, but quickly turned into something that I would have criticized as absurd and implausible… except the acting and the direction were so good, I couldn’t pull myself away from it.

Sick of Myself is hard to classify. I’d say it’s 50% black comedy, 25% political satire, and 25% horror. It’s odd. It’s not for everyone. But it’s very good.

Interesting 

Borgli said that living in Los Angeles while writing the script is what most heavily influenced the film’s characters and plot: “The influence from the environment around me here really did something to the story and to the character. The personal traits of her being hugely ambitious, opportunistic, and maybe even a little bit of a narcissist were things I bumped into more frequently here than I did in Norway.”

Critical Reception 

* “Kristoffer Borgli is unduly proud of himself for concocting his unlikable protagonists, and he marinates in their repulsive self-absorption.” (Slant Magazine)

* “Putting aside the film’s obnoxious social critique… there is something compelling about its particular brand of cynicism.” (New York Times)

* “It’s not subtle, but a committed performance from Thorp and some uncomfortable truths about the nature of self-promotion [make] this a thought-provoking satire.” (Empire Magazine)

You can watch the trailer here.

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The 10 Greatest Opening Scenes in Movie History

Spend a half-hour with these clips. It will make you richer. Then, if you want to, rank them yourself by whatever criteria matters to you.

My main criterion is emotional engagement. On that score, I rank the greatness of these opening scenes almost in the reverse order of Far Out Magazine’s… although I’d probably put The Godfather at #1. Click here.

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