The best, but sometimes most controversial part of January is usually the Oscar and BAFTA nominations. On the bright side of things, it’s a chance for all those wonderful films, and talented artists to be noticed for their hard work, and this year the selection has been outstanding.
I thought I’d take a look at the films I’d seen so far (hence ‘part one’), and what I thought of them. I’ve looked at BAFTA and Oscar nominations, so here we go.
MANCHESTER BY THE SEA
Manchester by the Sea was a very harrowing film that left most cinema-goers incompetent of performing basic tasks after being so emotionally drained. One of Affleck’s best roles to date, the film makes an excellent case for new and different types of storytelling that aren’t as clear and linear as most. Michelle Williams is perfection in her supporting role, and I’d be over the moon for her to receive an award for her performance. The music is excellent, all characters have depth and stories, and the script is so gripping, it makes the length 100% worth it.
It’s been nominated for 6 Oscars and BAFTAs including Best Actor (Affleck), Best Supporting Actress/Actor (Williams/Hedges), Best Picture, Editing, and Screenplay. Definitely deserving of the nominations, it would be good to see Hedges or Williams win, and I wouldn’t mind recognition for their editor Jennifer Lame.
4 Stars
MOANA
I loved Moana. I listened to the full soundtrack for a week straight and am still enjoying it now. The casting choices were spectacular, and having musical king Lin Manuel-Miranda on board certainly boosted the film’s star rating. A really fun and enjoyable, yet emotional film.
It’s been nominated for both Oscar and BAFTA’s Best Animation, and the Oscar for Best Song in the lovely How Far I’ll Go. It has a great chance at all 3, and although I’m indifferent to the awards it may or may not culminate, it’s certainly a film to get a copy of on DVD, and to enjoy over and over.
4 Stars
JACKIE
God almighty this was something else. Jackie is so intense and powerful. Natalie Portman does a stunning job, and so do her supporting cast of Peter Sarsgaard, Greta Gerwig, and Billy Crudup. The camera work is genuinely next level, and the soundtrack is so haunting and – just incredible. A truly impressive piece of film-making that just made me so happy because of how clever, and well-crafted it was.
Portman has been nominated for both Best Actress awards, although I’d prefer she receive the BAFTA so that Ruth Negga from Loving can receive the Oscar. It completely missed out on the Make-Up and Hair category where it deserved both but received neither, yet it has a fair chance at Costume Design. I would love for it to win score but it’s tough to be up against La La Land this year so we’ll wait and see.
5 Stars
LOVING
Loving comes out 3rd February, and I’ll just tell you that the trailer does it no justice. I did not want to see it, but it’s a truly exceptional love story with exemplary acting from the two leads Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga. I feel I should also point out that Irish actor Ruth Negga does a flawless South American accent, and is also totally the star of the show. It’s a tough story-line that takes it’s time in being told, but makes it point gently, and leaves the audience more thoughtful than empowered; a rare but necessary affect to be felt by film.
Ultimately the film has only received Negga’s Oscar for Best Actress, and the publicly voted Rising Star BAFTA. It would be lovely to see her win, as a real, deserving talent.
3 Stars
LA LA LAND
You don’t need my review. At a guess, you already know about five other people who have seen it. My issue is that the hype has let it down, as it always does. La La Land isn’t for everyone because no film is for everyone, it’s impossible, and we wouldn’t need awards if it was. La La Land is for musical lovers, drama lovers, realism lovers, classic Hollywood lovers, and Damien Chazelle lovers. I am one of these people, so I thought it was great. My friends that don’t like musicals have generally not enjoyed it that much. You see what I’m saying? It’s a great film that oozes style and nostalgia. Most of the reviews are correct, but obviously it can’t win everything. So where does it stand?
14 Oscar noms, and 10 BAFTA noms. Record-breaking and generally not-too-shabby. It is deserving of the wider aspect awards like cinematography and production design. I don’t see it’s cast taking anything home, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Best Score/Song 1/Song 2. I’d also like to join in the mass of people demanding one song nomination being replaced with this song from Sing Street. Totally deserving.
4 Stars
KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS
I could happily talk about the studio LAIKA for hours, and Kubo is no exception to their string of emotionally run stories with beautiful animation and characters. It’s a tough story, it really is, but it’s moving, and it’s not too much to watch. It’s gorgeous, and fun, and sweet, and tells a good lesson about coping with grief. Much like Coraline, ParaNorman and Boxtrolls too, it has just the right amount of creepy.
ParaNorman – my favourite – has previously lost out to Brave so it will be interesting to see if Kubo follows suit with Moana. It has two chances at Best Animation, but also a surprise chance at the Oscar for Visual Effects. I’m not expecting much winning, but it would be lovely if it did.
4 Stars
ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY
This was another film I was mostly uninterested in, yet turned out alright. It wasn’t amazing, and Forest Whitaker was awful (just so we’re clear), but the droid voiced by Alan Tudyk is a real scene-stealer. Felicity Jones and Diego Luna are a really well-cast duo, and it’s also really great to see a more diverse cast in such a popular franchise. It’s not an amazing film, and I was disappointed by Whitaker, and the CGI reanimation of Peter Cushing, but it’s a good story, and a well-pieced together film. It’s one I’ll need to watch again to judge properly.
It actually picked up very few nominations this year, with Sound, Visual Effects, and Make-up and Hair. I’m not getting my hopes up for sound or visual effects, but who knows how they’ll choose. It is a very tough year after all.
3 Stars
FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM
The only real criticism I have for this film is the pacing; it didn’t necessarily need to cut anything, it just needed to move a little faster to keep up the more exciting pace of the beginning of the film. That, and the casting of Johnny Depp (why?). Colin Farrell was truly fantastic casting, and does so well in the wizarding world. He was one of my favourite things about the film. Of course, Redmayne was also excellent, and the casting of most other supporting roles was well done. It’s a lovely film that gives us cute and strange new creatures, and an interesting story line. It was an easy crowd-pleaser if done right, and they succeeded.
It’s walked away with nominations for Costume and Production Design at both, but also Sound, Visual Effects, and Outstanding British Film. It’ll be great to see it win anything, and I think it has a fair chance at Costume or Production Design at either.
4 Stars
PIPER
Piper probably slipped your mind a little because it’s only the animated Pixar short that was screened before Finding Dory, but it was charming. Oohs and aahs were audible in most cinemas as the small, and adorable little bird learned to find food, and stay safe from the sea. There’s not much to say about it other than how sweet and beautiful it was to watch.
It’s been nominated for Short Film (Animated) by the Oscars, despite not making the BAFTA’s Short Film list. It has a fair chance, and my only opinion is that Inner Workings – the short screened before Moana – deserved to be nominated as well, but that’s a personal opinion on a very uplifting short.
THE JUNGLE BOOK
I won’t lie. The Jungle Book disappointed me, and made me confident that Andy Serkis’ take would be number one (to be released late 2018). It’s Jungle Book so there’s nothing to say about the story or the characters, but something about this kind of live-action remake seemed to take the magic out of it. I wasn’t swept off of my feet, and that would be fine for anything else, but this was a Disney film, and it could’ve been better. I look forward to the next one, as it has dark intentions, and a vibe of origins; it’s new and different. This was a technology-infused remake with some questionable voice casting but however made a great choice in Sir Ben as Bagheera.
It slipped under the radar for a little while, but has been recognised for both categories of Visual Effects at the Oscars. I’m not sure it’s up to facing the competition but we’ll see!
2 Stars
FINDING DORY
Finding Dory is a perfect good story-line to justify such a late sequel, and the reappearance of beloved characters like Mr Ray make it a really happy film. I did enjoy the plot, and the new characters, but was particularly swayed by the whale-shark Destiny (voiced by It’s Always Sunny veteran, Kaitlin Olson). It’s just very pleasant, and cute. A bit of harmless fun from Pixar that doesn’t disappoint original fans.
I was surprised to see the Oscars leave Dory behind, and sent my apologies to Ellen on their behalf. It’s only taken one nomination for Animated Film, but probably won’t get the gold this year.
3 Stars
STAR TREK BEYOND
Star Trek Beyond is not written by J.J. Abrams (who wrote the first two), and that’s obvious when watching. It’s instead written by everyone’s favourite nerd, Simon Pegg. As a result, there’s a lot more Scotty, but no-one’s complaining. The plot isn’t exactly fascinating, and my attention faltered occasionally when I saw it first, but I’ll watch it again as the film mostly works around the concept of friendship within the crew. Elba doesn’t make for the greatest villain, but the newest crew member found in Jaylah (Sofia Boutella) makes up for that.
It’s been nominated in the Oscars category for Makeup and Hairstyling, and is fairly deserving, but as I’ve already said a few times, it’s a tough competition this year.
3 Stars
talk movie to me 