my picks for tonight’s 90th Academy Awards (the Oscars for 2017’s films) (winners indicated)
I correctly guessed 15 out of the 24 categories, which is one of my better showings ever, I think.
Month: March 2018
Oscar Nominated Documentary Shorts 2018 (90th Academy Awards) review
My pick: “Heaven Is a Traffic Jam on the 405,” a marvelous portrait of artist Mindy Alper, one that challenges us all to know ourselves as well as she seems to, even when it’s incredibly painful.
Oscar Nominated Live Action Shorts 2018 (90th Academy Awards) review
My pick: I think the quietly shocking “DeKalb Elementary” may win for its very of-the-moment story about a school office worker’s attempt to de-escalate an invading gunman’s rage via patience and empathy.
Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts 2018 (90th Academy Awards) review
My pick: I suspect that this year’s winner will be “Garden Party,” a spectacular debut from new French animation studio Illogic that I am sure we will be seeing a lot more stunning work from.
should I live-tweet a reread of ‘Ready Player One’… (update: results in)
Twitter says yes.
movies by or about women opening US/Can from Fri Mar 02
Lots of female characters (albeit in films with only tiny releases), and so many of them are being menaced, threatened, and violently attacked. Damn.
movies by or about women opening UK/Ire from Thu Mar 01
Documentaries by Andrea Luka Zimmerman and Jen Randall, a drama by Saila Kariat, and more.
PBS ‘Frontline’ and BBC ‘Panorama’ take on Harvey Weinstein
A good primer on the rapid unraveling of Harvey Weinstein, with hints of how much more story there may still be to tell.
A Fantastic Woman movie review: the horror of grief denied
A quiet yet resolute portrait of bravery and resilience in the face of unconscionable bigotry, and distressingly moving. Specific yet universal, and wonderfully human.
Red Sparrow movie review: undercovers agent
Ballerina turned whore-spy? This is like a cheap porn scenario, and the Hollywood gloss makes it worse. Risible yet tedious, yet another movie by men that thinks it’s critiquing misogyny yet is indistinguishable from it.
