I realize the fact that I write and happen to love movies doesn’t make me a film critic, but if you can’t wax poetic and force your opinion on the world on your own blog, than where can you? Besides, the Oscars are on tonight and I have some thoughts on the nominees.
One of my favorite movies of the nominees this year is Nebraska. I thought it was smart, funny, touching and well-acted. I doubt that it, or Bruce Dern, will get any well-deserved recognition aside from the nomination, but I’ve cast my vote. It’s probably too simple of a film to take Best Picture or Actor anyway, but that’s what I loved about it. It was like good writing, full of rich observations of character and human nature while leaving a little something to the imagination. It was quiet where that other family drama was loud. I mean screaming, crying, in-your-face, over-the-top loud. Of course, I’m talking about August: Osage County, a movie that really let it all hang out. Every twisted, horrid detail was shouted out on screen until you felt as drained and limp as dirty laundry left flapping in the breeze. Or like you’d just been hit by a bus. And not the happy, hippy Partridge family bus either.
Another of my favorites, and one that stands a better chance of winning, is Dallas Buyers Club. I’ve never been more impressed with Matthew McConaughey, who even managed to be memorable in a bit part in The Wolf of Wall Street. And Jared Leto has my vote for Best Supporting Actor for his gender bender role as Rayon, particularly over Barkhad Abdi in Captain Phillips. Not that I have anything against the Somalian actor, he was truly frightening as a Somalian pirate, but c’mon, how much of an actual stretch was it? Jared Leto played a transvestite. I had to look him up, wondering what I’d seen him in. Turns out, I’ve seen him in everything! (Fight Club, Requiem for a Dream, Alexander.) And each time he’s been virtually unrecognizable, from one role to the next or from himself. Besides, acting is his life’s dream. I gotta support that. If Barkhad Abdi won, it’d be similar to how I feel when one of the real housewives writes a best selling novel. (Like whining, “That’s not faaa-irrr!”)
I confess to not seeing two movies, mostly by choice. 12 Years a Slave, because I prefer to be emotionally disturbed in the privacy of my own home, and Her, because the idea of Joaquin Phoenix falling in love with his phone creeped me out. Joaquin is creepy enough as it is.
The movie I’m afraid will take the majority of awards is Gravity. Don’t get me wrong, Sandra Bullock was great, as were the visual effects. But, in the end, I couldn’t have cared less whether George and Sandra made it safely back down to earth or spun away in space forever. I’ve read there were more than a few gaffs in both the laws of physics and credibility and heard Clooney’s character likened to that of Toy Story’s Buzz Lightyear, which cracks me up and seems accurate enough.
While I may have been impartial to the astronaut’s fate in Gravity, in All Is Lost, I wanted to shove Robert Redford off the boat and drown him myself. As someone who continually mutters and curses to herself (just ask my mom), I couldn’t get past the lack of dialogue. If it weren’t for the lone dropping of the F-bomb, I’d have wondered if Redford’s character were human at all. Thank goodness all it’s up for is a Sound Editing award, and even that I have to give to Gravity. There was something very cool going on with sound, from the deafening silence of space to the crash of flying debris. I’m not savvy enough to know what it was, just that it was good.
So there you have it. My two cents, for what it’s worth. Feel free to agree, or disagree as the case may be. It will be published in the comments for all the world to see. Today we’re all film critics. And that’s gotta be worth at least a penny.
Amy F. Quincy Author/Freelance Writer 