Amph The 2019 Oscars

Yeah, for me it's probably like

Black Panther
Eighth Grade
The Favourite
Hereditary
Shoplifters

That's a shot at a top five "official" 2018 movies. It's always hard for me to classify movies that come out one year and then are released in the States in another year. I know Loveless only opened in theaters here in February, but it came out other places in 2017 and it was even Russia's submission to the Oscar's last time, so it wasn't eligible this time, so I don't even know how to deal with that. If we're including movies that only opened in commercial theaters in 2018, I would add

Loveless
Revenge
The Rider

Those are like my cream of the crop. In alphabetical order. Obviously I loved a lot of other stuff. Of those . . . man, I can't pick like a favorite. They're all so different. Yeah, I just can't even begin to order those in any way. But those eight are my top.

 

I still need to see The Favourite.

 

And Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, and Best Actress.

 

FTFY.

 

I see that Roma is most likely the front runner for Best Picture by the media that I follow. However, it's not getting any mention here. I've seen the film and I would say it's definitely an "art house" film and has all the key elements that would garner votes from the academy.

Director Alfonso Cuarón uses purposeful very long extended shots to frame the story telling of Roma. The prime example is the opening five minutes of the film which is a camera filming a cement tile floor with the sounds of water swishing in the background before the water enters the frame. And as such, the film tests the viewers patience as well as an appreciation of film being truly a form of art and not just a means to tell a story or spectacle. And with that being the framework of the film, Cuarón uses the mundane of everyday life as the narrative to tell the story of Roma. Therefore, it's not your typical film where's the viewer is spoon fed the narrative through dialogue or interactions with other characters or even any type of other narration cues like a voice over or title cards. Instead you spend day after day (so to speak) with the characters and experience their lives to get into their world and let the circumstances of life unfold, which is where the narrative is derived. So, it's about an hour into the film where a plot or narrative becomes discernible and any real drama takes place. So, that's when you see the film as a piece of art; the clay being sculpted into something recognizable.

There are two remarkable and dramatic scenes in the film that's beautifully captured. And both scenes are done by the means of a mounted single camera and one extended long take. Those two scenes are:

Spoiler

the birth giving scene and the beach rescue scene.

The way both scenes are directed and performed are truly works of art as they seem simplistic but they're powerful, intense and compelling. All without CGI/practical special effect and IIRC, without the score of any music; just the camera, the actors and the natural sounds to create the drama and impact of those two scenes.

That being said, Roma is not the type of film with a high rewatchable value, but it is certainly a great example of film being a piece of art. Therefore, it's understandable why this film is being talked about as the front runner for Best Picture and Alfonso Cuarón as Best Director.

 

You know, I'm not sure how I forgot Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse when I made that list earlier. It's definitely in my top five.

 

I still haven't seen it.

 

My top five films of 2018 are:

(Films I immediately wanted to see again)
Avengers: Infinity War
Black Panther
A Simple Favor
A Quiet Place
Ready Player One

Honorable mentions include (films I really liked and wouldn't mind seeing again soon):
Mission Impossible: Fallout
Isle of Dogs
Heredity
Crazy Rich Asians
Bohemian Rhapsody
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

And much affection for (I liked but seeing it once is enough):
Bird Box
Sorry to Bother You
Roma
The Favourite

I'll see a Star is Born in the next few days. I'll have to wait for Green Book and 8th Grade to be available on home video.

I did see Vice and enjoyed it.

I will say this about The Favourite, it's more sexual that I anticipated. And although Emma Stone is fabulous in her role, it didn't see too far how see normally plays a character, which is charming, captivating and compelling. The typical Emma Stone stuff.

 

There's still some stuff I need to catch up on, but at the moment my top five is:

Leave No Trace
If Beale Street Could Talk
Blindspotting
Into the Spider-Verse
The Favourite

 

Hey someone else who liked/saw Leave No Trace!

I haven't seen Beale Street or Spider-Verse, though I plan to.

 

Yes, a movie not getting much love in the EoY retrospectives it seems. It's a lot of fun and Kendrick in particular is great. I wouldn't have minded her getting an Oscar nomination actually; it would be nice to occasionally see a comedic performance on the list.

 

Is anyone staying up specifically to watch the sneak peak (the pilot) of "Whiskey Cavalier" that is going to air AFTER the Oscars (at 11:35 PM)? Based on the previews alone, I think this show is going to tank hard. It also has one of the dumbest names for a show I've ever heard.

 

Whiskey Foxtrot would have been better. At least people would have maybe put together that they're code words. I mean, at least some people are aware of what Whiskey Tango Foxtrot means. I mean, they'd have to change the guys name obviously. But, yeah, the notion that anyone who just finished watching a four hour awards show is going to be in the mood to stay up even later to watch Scott Foley and his weird face in a stupid spy comedy . . . I have no confidence in that notion. It's not the Super Bowl.

 

I hope it does tank, and quickly. I want Lauren Cohen back on TWD.

 

FTFY

 

Kendrick, to me, is like the modern day John Cusack. Very talented and good in everything she's in and she plays the "every man" so freaking well. I typically try to watch whatever she's in. Which is why I ended watching Table 19 and loved it as the movie tried not to fall in the trapping tropes of romcoms.

I live on the West Coast, so I wouldn't really be "staying up." Although, I really don't have any interest in catching Whiskey Cavalier. It looks very network TV. Meaning, I could probably find something in the same vain but better on cable or some streaming service. In others words, no.

I concur. I haven't caught up on The Walking Dead since it took its winter break, but from what I did watch, they didn't kill off Maggie but just wrote her off to do her own thing. She's great as the farmer's daughter that became a leader.

I remember first seeing Cohen when she appeared on Chuck.

 

I am trying to get my wife instead of watching the Oscars Sunday try to binge watch the Academy Award movies of 1994. What were they?

- Forrest Gump
- Four Weddings and a Funeral
- Pulp Fiction
- Quiz Show
- The Shawshank Redemption

I know some years are better then for Oscar nominee films but that is just insane. Forrest Gump is an absolute fabulous film and IMHO is only the third best one on the list as both The Shawshank Redemption and Pulp Fiction are better! 1994 also had Ed Wood (another fabulous movie) and my personal library of favorites The Crow (in many ways it still is my favorite comic book movie) along with Jim Carrey's year of insanity where he had Ace Ventura 1, The Mask and Dumb & Dumber all in the calendar year.

 

Forrest Gump was the definitely the darling feel good movie of that list. Not to mention that Tom Hanks was equally beloved by the general movie going audience and academy voters. Over the years, I think The Shawshank Redemption has been considered the best film on the list. I never saw Four Weddings and a Funeral. However, think most of the general movie going audiences have heard of those films and I don't think any of them were limited release movies.

 

IMO Shawshank was robbed for the best picture Oscar; and yes I saw almost every movie except Four Weddings.

 

'94 was a pretty strong year, but i'd only consider pulp fiction and shawshank to be "classics". forrest gump was a fun, silly film. probably didn't really deserve a bp nomination, much less the win.

 

Heard about Peter Tork?

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-47319788

554, to be exact.