Mike's Fearless Oscar Picks

As with past years I am picking who I think will win, not who I want to win.  I will also give you a possible winner if I feel that the category isn’t a lock.  Actual winners highlighted in green.

Best Picture:  Nomadland

Best Achievement in Directing:  Chloé Zhao - Nomadland

Best Actor:  Chadwick Boseman - Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom   Could win:  Anthony Hopkins - The Father

Best Actress:  Viola Davis - Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom    Could win:  Frances McDormand - Nomadland

Best Supporting Actor:  Daniel Kaluuya - Judas and the Black Messiah    Could win:  Sacha Baron Cohen - The Trial of the Chicago 7

Best Supporting Actress:  Yuh-Jung Youn - Minari   Could win:  Olivia Coleman - The Father

Best Original Screenplay:  Promising Young Woman - Emerald Fennell    Could win:  Aaron Sorkin - The Trial of the Chicago 7

Best Adapted Screenplay: The Father - Christopher Hampton, Florian Zeller

  Could win:  Nomadland - Chloé Zhao 

Best Animated Feature:  Soul    Could win:  Wolfwalkers

Best Production Design:   Mank - Donald Graham Burt, Jan Pascale

Best Cinematography:  Nomadland - Joshua James Richards   Could win:  Mank - Erik Messerschmidt

Best Costume Design:  Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom - Ann Roth   Could Win: Mank - Trish Summerville

Best Film Editing:   Sound of Metal - Mikkell E. G. Nielsen

Best Makeup and Hair:  Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom – Mia Neal, Sergio Lopez-Rivera, Jamika Wilson

Best Sound:  Sound of Metal – Nicolas Becker, Jaime Baksht, Michelle Couttolenc, Carlos Cortés, Phillip Bladh    Could win:  Soul – Ren Klyce, Coya Elliott and David Parker

Best Visual Effects:  Tenet – Andrew Jackson, David Lee, Andrew Lockley, Santiago Colomo Martinez

Best Original Score:  Soul – Jon Batiste, Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross

Best Original Song:  Speak Now from One Night in Miami – Leslie Odom Jr., Sam Ashworth  Could win:  Húsavík from Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga - Savan Kotecha, Fat Max Gsus and Rickard Göransson  (Fight For You - Judas and the Black Messiah)

Best Documentary Feature:  My Octopus Teacher  Could win:  Collective

Best International Feature:  Another Round    Could win:  Quo Vadis, Aida 

Best Live Action Short:  Two Distant Strangers   Could win:  Feeling Through

Best Animated Short:  If Anything Happens I Love You   Could win:  Opera

Best Documentary Short:  A Concerto Is a Conversation   Could win: Colette

Wonder Woman 1984

 Note to readers: I currently am not willing to risk my health (I’m 62 and an asthmatic) by visiting a theatre. All films that I have seen for review have been screened in my home. I am not going to tell you whether or not to attend a theatre. Just be aware of the risks, do your research, and follow the instructions to the letter.

My View: Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) PG-13    We fast forward to 1984, and Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) is facing new challenges and new enemies in Max Lord (Pedro Pascal) and Barbara Minerva (Kristen Wiig), also known as The Cheetah. First, let me warn you that you will need those Christmas dinner leftovers to make it through the two hours and thirty-minute length of this film. Unfortunately, you feel all of this movie's length as it takes forever to move forward. I thought the first Wonder Woman film was one of the best films of 2017 and that director Patty Jenkins did an outstanding job of giving us a DC character that we could fall in love with. This time, instead of Wonder Woman’s love for a man as one of the sources of her strength, Jenkins makes it a weakness, and the film suffers because of it. The film is set in the mid-80s, and other than a funny shout-out to the crappy clothes of the time, we get very little feel for that time period, other than the thought that I was back in the 80s watching those bad Superman sequels. I would have liked this film to have been more about Wonder Woman versus The Cheetah, a villain who never quite gets the center stage that she deserves. The plot of Max Lord trying to take over the world had a very late 60s, early 70s DC comic book feeling, a time when the DC comics had one-dimensional villains who didn’t make it past the one issue they were in. Overall, after watching this film, I felt let down by the plot. I wanted the fire and passion I got from the first film; instead, I got a lot of Max Lord acting like a real estate pitchman on coke.  There is a small scene after the first bit of closing credits that you will enjoy.   My Rating: Bargain Matinee    Wonder Woman 1984 Website    Now playing in select theatres and on the HBO Max platform.

My View: Soul (2020) PG     A musician, Joe (Jamie Foxx), who has lost his passion, is transported out of his body and must now find his way back, helping an infant soul (Tina Fey) learn about herself. Finally, a Pixar movie for adults! Now, children will enjoy some aspects of the film, especially the time that Joe spends in ‘The Great Beyond’ with his charge, soul number 22. By the way, Tina Fey is delightful as 22, and the Pixar people did the smart thing and let her deliver a lot of her own lines as the character who wants nothing more than to stay where she is, no going back to Earth for her. The film deals with many adult themes; when to let your dreams die, if your life is full without fulfilling those long-lost dreams, and how much would you give to get what you always have longed for. The animation is beautifully done, sometimes simplistically so, and the score by Jon Batiste, Trent Reznor, and Atticus Ross is a mix of glorious jazz with a score that simply matches the film and its tone. Now, I might have enjoyed a few other Pixar films more (Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Up), but Soul is a film that fills you up with hope and warm feelings, and that’s all we need from a Pixar picture right now.   My Rating: Full Price    Soul Website    Available on the Disney + platform.

My View: News of the World (2020) PG-13    Five years after the Civil War, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd (Tom Hanks) makes his living going town to town as a storyteller, reading from news accounts, telling stories of all kinds. In the plains of Texas, he finds Johanna ( Helena Zengel), a ten-year-old girl who was raised by the Kiowa people as their own. Against her will, the Captain agrees to take Johanna to her relatives in a remote town hundreds of miles away. The two will travel a great distance to meet the tremendous challenges of both human and natural forces to find Johanna a home. Everything you want in a Tom Hanks performance is in this film and maybe, just a little more. We all know that Hanks has experience playing a cowboy, if one that is animated and loved (Woody), but this is the first time Hanks has appeared in a live-action western. It reminded me of the westerns that Jimmy Stewart did in his 50s and 60s, the grizzled, seen it all hero who had a past he would rather not bring up. Hanks is reliable in the role, an instant father figure to a young girl in need of understanding and love. This is an old-fashioned tale of a single man who undertakes a job no one else is willing to do. A man with a moral backbone who knows he must do what is right, no matter the consequences. What I have always loved about westerns is that they take a simple story and make it relevant to modern times. Instead of making the Indians the bad guy, it's Captain Kidd’s fellow ex-confederate soldiers that he once fought along with are now the enemy. This film wouldn't have worked as well without the instant chemistry that Hanks has with his co-star, Helena Zengel, who gives a touching and sometimes powerful performance as the little girl taken twice against her will from her families. The News of the World is a modern tale that has just enough of the old west to make it a western for everyone.    My Rating: Full Price     News of the World Website     Now playing in select theatres.

Indiefest: One Night in Miami (2020)  R  Fictional account of one night where Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, Sam Cook, and Jim Brown gathered to discuss their roles in the civil rights movement in the turbulent 1960s. While not as flashy as another recent stage to screen adoption Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, One Night in Miami has competing and forceful performances from a cast that is given the challenging task of portraying characters that are well-known and distinct. Like Black Bottom, director Regina King has taken what could have been stagey and stiff and breathed life into a story that mostly occurs in and around a hotel room. The cast does a wonderful and fascinating portrayal of four men trying to find their way in an increasingly complex and complicated world. You have the brash, brilliantly charismatic boxer Cassius Clay (Eli Goree), the confident, strong football star Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge), the slick and talented singer Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.), and the fiery, bombastic Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir). The four good friends are all dealing with a time of significant change, with the civil rights movement gaining speed on the national front. Two of the men will soon be gone (Cooke and Malcolm X) but will leave behind works and legacies that have survived long after they were gone. The other two, Brown and Clay (soon to be Ali), are men whose fight for equality and change was just starting. The film shows all the torment and thought that went on behind the scenes as the four try to figure out what their roles would and should be to help a movement move forward. The four actors are dynamic in their roles, with Odom Jr. and Goree standing out in their roles of iconic entertainers who want to make their mark on history.   My Rating: Full Price      One Night in Miami Website    Now playing in select theatres and available on the Amazon Prime website on Jan. 15th.

My View: The Midnight Sky (2020) PG-13    Augustine (George Clooney) is a scientist in the Arctic who learns of a mysterious global catastrophe. He now races to stop Sully (Felicity Jones) and her fellow astronauts from returning home to an uncertain future. This isn’t a great film as it slowly wanders along to tell a story filled with dread and despair. Visually, the film is beautifully brought about, with it going back and forth from the arctic's bleak world to the grandeur of space travel. The film has a hard time not hitting you over the head with the idea that we are our own worst enemy, and it seems that there is nothing more to do but accept it. This is a film that tries too hard to make a point; Augustine made a mistake in his past and now has a chance to make up for that mistake, the human race has made a mess of Earth, but maybe our space explorers can save a bit of humanity for the future. There are a few good action sequences in space, but most of the action is predictable and is put there just to give our characters more obstacles to overcome. The film never delivers the emotional moment you need for it to do, making the whole movie feel pretty empty, like being in the arctic or space.    My Rating: Bargain Matinee     The Midnight Sky Website    Now playing in select theatres and available on the Netflix platform. 

Indiefest: Promising Young Woman (2020) R    A young woman (Carey Mulligan), traumatized by a tragic event in her past, seeks revenge against those she feels to have wronged her, getting vengeance against those who crossed her path. What a performance Mulligan gives as Cassandra, a woman whose life is dedicated to getting revenge, sometimes just against men who take advantage of women and other times, at the people responsible for bringing her world crashing down while she was in college. Mulligan is breathtaking as a woman with a nasty, dark sense of humor that isn’t afraid to push any boundary to get the results she wants. The film is so much fun to watch, as you delight in far Casandra will go to take her revenge. I hope that no one spoils all the twists and turns because it is an engaging and surprising story that keeps you wondering just how far will Cassandra go and will it have consequences. One of the best films of the year, and I hope that you are willing to go on this bumpy ride with Mulligan’s incredible performance as a woman you can’t help yourself root for, no matter how far, or wrong she goes down the slippery road of revenge.     My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again    Promising Young Woman Website   Now playing in select theatres.

Indiefest: Sylvie’s Love (2020) PG-13    Set in the summer of 1957 in New York, Robert (Nnamdi Asomugha) is an up and coming saxophonist who meets Sylvie (Tessa Thompson), a young woman who dreams of a career in television while she waits for her fiancé to return from the war. This is one of those films where the heart is in the right place, the leads are perfect in their roles, but the movie never finds the spark it needs to keep us interested. I loved Tessa Thompson in this role, as the strong-willed Sylvie, who doesn’t need a man to provide for her and is tenacious in her desire to succeed in a career that she loves. This is a love story not only between two star-crossed romantics but also a love story of a woman in love with television. The film takes too many twists and turns, with one too many obstacles put in the way of our two lovers, making the story slow down to a crawl. I did love the soundtrack, capitalizing on Robert’s and Sylvie’s love of music to accompany them on their journey. However, any momentum that our stars find is quickly extinguished by the complications of the script. Sylvie’s Love heart is in the right place, but it never finds the momentum to keep us wanting more.    My Rating: Bargain Matinee     Sylvie's Love Website    Available on the Amazon Prime format.

FamilyFaire: We Can Be Heroes (2020) PG    When alien invaders capture the earth’s superheroes, their children must band together to save their parents and the world. If you saw The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 3-D, then you know what you are getting in this quasi-sequel. Robert Rodriguez continues to pour out these low budget, kid action films that constantly tarnish what was at the start of a promising career. The action and the special effects are cheaply done, and the acting by most of the kids is rough. The storyline is simple, so very young children will enjoy the costumes and the bright colors, but adults will be put the sleep by a plot written for a five-year-old. The fact that he got Pedro Pascal, hot off The Mandalorian, and Christian Slater to do this film is either a miracle or really sad. We Can Be Heroes can be summed up by saying a six-year-old will enjoy the character Guppy, a 5-year-old with super strength, but parents are going to cringe at the preformance.    My Rating: Cable    We Can Be Heroes Website   Available on the Netflix platform.  

Forgotten Film: Anna and the Apocalypse (2017) R   Anna (Ella Hunt) just wants to survive high school and go off traveling for a year before college. Anna has an overprotective dad (Mark Benton) and a job at a bowling alley with her best friend John (Malcolm Cumming). Little do they know that soon a zombie apocalypse will come to their sleepy, tiny town of Little Haven. Part Shaun of the Dead, part High School Musical, this is the Christmas movie for you if you like funny, sometimes bawdy songs combined with killing zombies. Little seen when this film came out, it is a blast to watch as Anna and her high school chums rack up the zombie kills as they sing about tweeting, not fitting in with the cool crowd and sex. Anna and the Apocalypse is a smart, hilarious film with some fun songs and lots of great zombie deaths. What more could you want from a Christmas film?   My Rating: Full Price    Anna and the Apocalypse Website

Weird Credits: From the credits of Wonder Woman 1984: Movement Artist

Coming Soon to a Screen Near You: The Little Things (2021) R Former L.A. Sheriff Joe Deacon (Denzel Washington) comes back to Los Angeles for what should be a quick evidence gathering assignment. Instead, he becomes involved in a hunt for a serial killer led by L.A. Sheriff Jim Baxter (Remi Malek). All roads lead to a man (Jerod Leto) who may be involved with Deacon’s shadowy past. This movie looks to be right up Denzel Washington’s sweet spot, a determined man with a tortured past.       The Little Things Info

Until Next Time!

Bloodshot

My View: Bloodshot (2020) PG-13   Ray Garrison (Vin Diesel) was an elite soldier who was killed in battle and is brought back to life by an advanced technology that gives Ray the ability of superhuman strength and almost immediate healing. Ray soon learns that what he thinks is real or knows may not be what is happening to him. I am guessing that Vin Diesel had a lot to do with the script since, at least three times, his character’s sexual prowess is brought up. You can also tell by how much Diesel is on the screen (try in almost every shot). I didn’t care about any of the characters in the film, the action sequences are some of the worst I’ve seen in quite a while, and the plot is just plain silly. Elza Gonzalez, as a fellow recipient of the technology (she can breathe air that has been poisoned), gives a woefully acted performance in a cast full of bad acting. The film seemed long, and it is for this type of action film, almost 1 hour and 50 minutes of dull.   My Rating: You Would Have to Pay Me to See it Again     Bloodshot Website

My View: I Still Believe (2020) PG   Jeremy (K.J. Apa) goes off to college, where he meets and falls in love with Melissa (Britt Robertson). As Jeremy’s singing/songwriting career starts to take off, the young couple learns that Melissa has cancer. Their beliefs in God and each other will be challenged in this troubling time. If you don’t like faith-based films, then this film isn’t for you. Based on the real love story between Christian superstar singer Jeremy Camp and his wife, I Still Believe works due to the chemistry of K.J. Apa as Jeremy and Britt Robertson as Melissa. The film is greatly helped by the singing of Apa, who, as TV’s Riverdale fans will attest, can belt out a tune and has the charisma of Camp when he is on the stage performing. Unlike a lot of faith-based films that seemingly fill out their casts with players from the local Baptist church community theatre, I Still Believe is helped by Gary Sinise, who plays Camp’s father. I will warn you that you will need to bring a few tissues along when you see this film.   My Rating: Bargain Matinee    I Still Believe Website

My View: The Hunt (2020) R   Twelve strangers wake up in a clearing and don’t have any idea where they are or how they got there. They are about to find out why they have been chosen, chosen for 'The Hunt.’ I can’t say too much about this film because, right from the start, this wacky and fun gorefest breaks a lot of rules in creating an inventive storyline that I really enjoyed. If you have seen the commercials or the trailer, you may think you know what this film is about, but I am telling you that you are probably wrong. I can tell you that Betty Gilpin, who has shown some spark in the TV series GLOW, is brilliant as a woman who decides that she is going to take charge and survive. My only regret about the film is I wish they had played up the comedy (think absurd plot lines) a bit more. Still, I had such a good time watching this film, that I told one of the critics after the screening, that I wanted it to be longer so I could enjoy the crazy world the film created.    My Rating: Full Price    The Hunt Website

Indiefest: Wendy (2020) PG-13   Retelling of the classic story of Peter Pan, wherein a land that aging and time have become unglued, Wendy (Devin France) must fight to save her family. In undoubtedly one of the biggest disappointments of the 1st quarter of films, two-time Oscar-nominated writer/director Benh Zeitlin, brings us a mess of a movie that felt more like a play put on by a bunch of neighborhood kids, than a film from a filmmaker that brought us the magical Beasts of the Southern Wild. Be warned that this is not a kid's movie, as it tells a muddled story of Wendy and Peter who run around quite a bit but never seem to do anything more than speak dialogue which is painful to hear and a plot that I have no clue what was about. I wanted this film to end ten minutes after I started watching it because I was bored out of my mind. It took eight years for Benh Zeitlin to bring us this movie, maybe he spent too much time with the project and got lost because when I watched it, I was also lost.   My Rating: Cable     Wendy Website

Indiefest: Balloon (2018)   In the summer of 1979, two families plot to escape East Germany to the West by making a homemade hot-air balloon. Based on an incredible true story, this film will keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. The film perfectly creates the anxiety and fear that permeated everyone under the Communist rule in East Germany, where you couldn’t trust anyone, and your neighbor might be a snitch for the secret police. The film builds the tension throughout the movie and can’t believe how creative the families were in their attempt to find freedom in the West. I thoroughly enjoyed this film, and you will be on the edge of your seat, rooting for their escape.   My Rating: Full Price     Balloon Website

Indiefest: Hope Gap (2019) PG-13   An adult son (Josh O’Connor) is caught in the middle when after 29 years, Grace (Annette Bening) learns that her husband, Edward (Bill Nighy), is leaving her for another woman. Grace is caught unaware of her husband's unhappiness, and her life comes apart at the seams. Hope Gap is a film that is about two miserable people who spent too much time in their routines, not to notice their unhappiness. Bening has the toughest part in the movie, as you never like Grace. Bening’s character is selfish, a bully, and not very loving, making Bening’s performance stand out from the other two cast members. Bill Nighy isn’t given much to do with the milk-toast, reserved Edward. The film does turn around a bit near the end of the film as each character seems to right themselves and start living again, but it takes quite a while to get to that part, making the film drag a bit.   My Rating: Bargain Matinee     Hope Gap Website

Forgotten Film: Tucker and Dale vs. Evil (2011) R   Tucker and Dale are best friends who are headed to their new vacation cabin (a fixer-upper), but there is something you need to know about them: they are hillbilly rednecks. A bunch of preppy college kids are headed to the same section of the woods near an isolated lake. There is one thing that they all find out once they get to their camps…twenty years ago, five college students mysteriously disappeared there. The two groups encounter each other, and the college kids start dying. The difference between this and other slasher films is this is a comedy, and the deaths are all accidental.  This is a funny film that uses all of the horror stereotypes to play for laughs. Tyler Labine, who plays Dale (from TV programs Reaper and Mad Love), and Alan Tudyk (Transformers: Dark of the Moon), who plays Tucker, are brilliant as the dim-witted hillbillies who don't quite get why anyone could be afraid of them. If you are a fan of films like Shaun of the Dead and Attack the Block, you should see this delightful movie.  My Rating: Full Price     Tucker and Dale vs. Evil Info

Weird Credits: From the credits of The Hunt: Truck Costumer

Coming Soon to a Theatre Near You: Soul (2020)   A musician (Jamie Foxx) who has lost his passion is transported out of his body and must now find his way back, helping an infant soul (Tina Fey) learn about herself. All you have to say is Pixar, and I’m in.    Soul Website

Until Next Time!