Dune

Academy Awards – ND #110

Posted on by Lisa Weikel 8 Comments
A Heart (of a Sort) – Or is this pepper just acting? – Photo: L. Weikel

Academy Awards

I wrote back in February (here and here) about a few of the films we’d watched that were nominated for Best Picture in the Academy Awards. The last time I gave an opinion, I was still rooting for Dune. I was surprised to discover when I checked a few minutes ago that I never ended up writing about Coda. We really liked it, but even if I’d written about it, I probably would’ve still had Dune as my preferred front-runner.

Over this weekend, we tried to stuff in a couple more nominees, if only because it makes watching the Academy Awards more interesting. (Yes, I know, many people no longer even bother to watch them. But we do.)

Licorice Pizza and Belfast

The last two we managed to see before the Oscars were Licorice Pizza and Belfast. To put it succinctly, perhaps my taste is too pedestrian (harkening back to my reaction to The Power of the Dog), but Licorice Pizza was…odd. I tried to like it, but none of the characters spoke to me. I didn’t even actually like the characters, which is crucial, at least for me. And I don’t mean that I have to ‘like’ the characters in the sense that I would want to be their friend or family. I just like to find someone in a movie who intrigues me, makes me want to understand or protect them, or is even such a ‘bad guy’ that they capture my imagination.

For whatever reason, I just couldn’t make heads or tails out of the main characters of Licorice Pizza. In fact, I don’t even understand the title. The best I could guess is that the two flavors just don’t go together. (I won’t explain any further, since I don’t want to spoil it for you if you want to see it and still haven’t.)

I’m so glad we watched Belfast today, though. It gave me a much greater appreciation for the competition and I have to say, it really touched my heart. I know a few of you had recommended Belfast a while back, and now I understand why. When I wrote about wanting to see it (back in February) it was available on Amazon but it was $19.99 and you had to buy it. It’s now rentable on Amazon for $5.99. I guarantee, it is money well spent.

Bizarre Behavior

Finally, we did end up watching the Oscars tonight. We re-watched the utterly bizarre assault by Will Smith on Chris Rock several times. That whole interchange was so bizarre, we kept trying to discern if it was staged.

It was quite obvious that Chris Rock had no idea he was going to get clocked by Smith. And that’s understandable, since Will Smith did not have even the slightest look of disapproval on his face when he heard the joke. (Jada Pinkett Smith had a cloudy expression cross her face, but ?) And quite honestly? I had to think a minute before I even got the joke. Heck – GI Jane was from back in 1997! And when I got it, it didn’t even seem mean – dumb, maybe, but it was simply an allusion to her shaved head.

The Reactions

I’ve been watching the reactions of people online and on Twitter and I find it astonishing that so many people assume that Chris Rock ‘should have known’ that Jada Pinkett Smith has alopecia, a condition that involves hair loss, and that’s why she shaves her head.

Why on earth would Chris Rock be presumed to know that? Do people really think everyone follows every utterance of every so-called ‘famous’ person? She’s a stunning woman – and to me (I didn’t know she had alopecia until tonight either) her shaved head just seemed like a bold fashion statement that could only be carried off by someone both beautiful and confident.

I find it much more deeply disturbing that people are rallying around Smith for his utterly inexcusable and unprovoked assault on live tv, and then vulgar shouted threats at Rock when he returned to his seat. It was a joke. It probably went over the heads of half the people there because they weren’t even born when GI Jane was released. And anyone could see from the delivery that it wasn’t intended as a real cut to Pinkett Smith.

Worst of All

The worst reaction though, in my opinion, was Smith’s truly bizarre tearful ‘acceptance’ speech when he later won for Best Actor. Ew. He didn’t even have the grace to apologize to Chris Rock – which at least would’ve been a step in the right direction. Instead, he tried to justify his behavior as an act of love.

Sorry, but that’s an excuse used all too often in abusive situations. As are the tears. (Let’s remember – he just won for Best Actor, too!) And then capping it off with some baloney about thinking his supposed great talent as an actor makes him a vessel of LOVE?

Please.

The fact that he received a standing ovation after that garbage was appalling. What in the world are we modeling to our children? He is no better than TFG, who infamously said, “When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.”

A little self-restraint, followed up with some humility, would have served him – and the world he thinks he’s here to inspire as a ‘vessel of love’ – far better.

(T+110)

Nightmare Alley – ND #71

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Full Moon that has a Nightmare Alley look – Photo: L. Weikel

Nightmare Alley

We watched another movie nominated for Best Picture tonight: Nightmare Alley. There are at least six very well known actors in the film, Bradley Cooper being the male lead and both Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett playing significant female roles. I assumed it had been nominated for something concerning them, such as Best Actor, Actress or Best Supporting Actress or Actor. Not once did I realize it was nominated for Best Picture – nor did I think it deserved it after watching it.

Holy cow was it a long movie – over two and a half hours! It definitely was not worth sitting in one place for that long. I was grateful, therefore, that we watched it at home, on HBO. Or maybe we watched it on Hulu. I can’t remember. It’s available on both of those streaming services. It was both a blessing and a curse to have the clicker handy for puppy bathroom breaks. When we would hit the pause button, Karl and were shocked – at least three times – to see just how much run-time was left on the film. (That’s never a good sign.)

And that’s not to say that I object to long movies. Quite the contrary, if they’re so engrossing I don’t even realize the passage of time. Dune, also up for Best Picture, was almost exactly as long – but in that movie I felt the length encouraged an immersion in its story.

No Surprises

I guess I was disappointed with the writing. The story line in Nightmare Alley was formulaic and flirted with being cliché. Even the plot twists (such as they were) seemed to be broadcast miles ahead and were sadly predictable.

I feel like a curmudgeon, griping about the length of a movie, or the formulaic storytelling. Between Nightmare Alley and The Power of the Dog, I sound pretentious and cranky even to my own ears.

I guess I’m offering my observations just in case any of you have a limited tolerance for watching movies and could use a filter.

How to Compare?

The only movies nominated for Best Picture that we have left to watch are Belfast, Licorice Pizza, West Side Story, and Drive My Car. And of those, it looks like the only one we have left to watch at home is Belfast – and even that will cost $19.99. The last three we’d have to go to a theater to see, and none of them have enough allure to lure me there at this stage of the game.

For the life of me, I don’t know how the Academy of Arts and Sciences can pit ten such vastly different movies against each other for Best Picture. So far, I think my favorites (of the nominees) have been Dune and King Richard. And just in sheer scope of losing myself in a film, I’d have to choose Dune. For now. But I’m open to being persuaded by the remaining contenders I’ve yet to watch.

Sincerely, your very neither Siskel nor Ebert.

(T+71)

Unsettled – ND #67

Posted on by Lisa Weikel 1 Comment
Panorama of Rainbow Dog Over Cemetery – Photo: L. Weikel

Unsettled

I’m feeling kind of quiet this evening. Karl and I watched one of the movies that received a ton of Academy Award nominations the other day, “The Power of the Dog,” on Netflix. Perhaps it was the movie that left me feeling unsettled and reticent to write much of anything. Or maybe I was headed in that direction even before we watched it.

It’s movies like this that make me feel decidedly pedestrian in my discernment of artistry in film. I guess I have to be satisfied with liking what I like. While I was kept in suspense over where the characters were headed, in the end, I craved more character exposition. There just seemed to be so much more I yearned to know about these people. And perhaps – is that it? Is that what I don’t ‘get’ about some critically acclaimed films? Is engendering the feeling of wanting to know more – or just being free to allow our imaginations to build out the backstories –  the mark of a profoundly Oscar-worthy film?

Perhaps.

And maybe that’s why, if I had to pit this against Dune, I’d choose Dune. Then again, there are a number of other films I’ve seen (so far) in the Best Picture category that also captivated me.

Words Unnecessary – Photo: L. Weikel

Look to the Sky

Instead of leaving you guys with a cranky personal grouse over The Power of the Dog, I’d like to offer some photos of a rainbow dog we saw this afternoon as we crested a hill near our home. We were passing by a cemetery that holds special significance to our family. Not because of who’s buried in it, but because of those who tended to its maintenance for several years.

Sadly, it is not maintained the way it used to be. The grass seems to almost be hacked instead of mowed and nothing is trimmed neatly around the gravestones. Many headstones have in fact toppled over. This makes me sad.

Yikes. Yes, I’m noticing the pattern.

There was actually a glimpse of profound beauty as we came upon the cemetery today, though.

Perhaps, as my mother used to say, “Discretion is the better part of valor.” Instead of writing anything else, I’ll just share the rainbow dog and the beauty we witnessed – and call it a day.

Ha – perhaps I just stumbled upon the true power of the dog – the rainbow dog: to transform ‘unsettled’ to ‘awe-filled.’

Rainbow Dog – Photo: L. Weikel

(T+67)