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shadowkat1. )Currently watching the 95th Oscars. (I've seen all the movies in the best picture category, except for maybe four - Avatar, Fablemans, All Qiet on the Western Front, and Triangle of Sadness. Most of them, with the exception of Top Gun, are haunting and stick with you long after the final reel.).
So far so good. Weirdly they did the Best Animated Feature first. It was, not surprisingly, Pinnochio by Guillermo Del Toro. Which means I have to watch that on Netflix at some point. He made a speech in favor of animation.
They are also doing scanning codes - for learning more about the nominees. (Note I hate Q code scans. Even my church is doing it now. Do they realize how hard these things are to scan on phones?)
Hmmm, they are doing Supporting Actor and Actress at the same time - which would save time. Usually they are spaced out. One is done early on, and the other much later.
Short Round (Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom, Encino Man, Goonies - then disappeared, doing mainly stunt work) aka Ke Huy Quan - just won the best supporting actor for Everything, Everywhere, All at Once, some thirty years later - he played Michelle Yeoh's husband in the film. That's kind of cool. His message, " Dreams last a life time, I almost gave up on mine, for all of you out there - please don't give up on your dreams." And Jamie Lee Curtis won for best supporting for Everything, Everywhere All at Once - which is her first nomination and first win. Former scream queen from horror films - gets an Oscar for an independent film. [Not sure it matters, but it is nice to see folks who never get it. Jamie Lee Curtis' parents Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis never won although they were nominated.]
At any rate, I'm enjoying this year's better than last year. Also, Jimmi Kimmel addressed last year's slap well - stating, that if anyone tried it, he had various folks that would beat them up. Then listing them.
Navlny - the documentary film about political oppression in the Ukraine.
And, hey, we get David Byrne performing...This is Life, with stretchy fingers.
I didn't realize how many movie studios are celebrating 100 years of movie making. Both Disney and Warner Brothers are celebrating 100 years of movie making.
The changed "Best Foreign Film" to "Best International Feature Film" which went to "All Quiet on the Western Front (Germany)" - no surprise there.
Apparently they decided to re-insert all 23 categories, including all the shorts, which had been removed previous years. I may jump out soon.
This years nominated songs are rather interesting - one was from aBollywood "Tollywood" film. [ETA: From South India - Telegu, not Hindi.]
There's a lot of pharmaceutical ads during this telecast - I was hoping for movie commercials.
2. Women Talking
Not what you'd think. At all.
This is a film adapted from a fictional novel based on a real life event.
The real life event is rather harrowing - in 2009, a group of women were sexually assaulted by a group of men in a small Mennonite Community in Bolivia. The men anesthetized the women with a farm animal tranquilizer, then subsequently raped them. They woke up with blood between their thighs, and feeling violated. Then they spoke to each other, shared stories, and caught the men. The men were tried, convicted, and sentenced to 25 years in prison. A Canadian writer read about it, and decided to write a fictional novel about these events, based on her own personal novel of living in a Mennonite Community. Frances McDormand read the book, and acquired the rights and convinced Sarah Polley to help adapt it, and direct.
The film is a fictionalized account, and it focuses on the women after the attacks. We don't see them. We see the aftermath in flashes. The women waking up with blood on the streets. Bruised. Battered. Screaming. Traumatized. We see shadows running off. And then one was caught and provided the names of the others. They are sent to jail - to protect them from the women, who go after they with scythes. All the men leave - to take them to jail, and to get bail money to get them out. Leaving the women behind - the women have forty-eight hours to make a choice - do they stay and forgive them, and enter the kingdom of heaven, do they stay and fight, or do they leave taking the children and all their belongings with them?
They can't read or write - but they've learned to vote. And there is a tie - between staying and fighting, and leaving. So women are selected from the five ruling families to determine what they should do. The film is those ten women, of varying ages, discussing the matter - or talking.
One man, portrayed by Ben Whishwaw, August - is asked to take the meeting minutes. Outside of August, we don't see any men. Just the side of the Census taker in a truck for two minutes, the little boys, the non-binary transgender man, Melvin (who refuses to talk unless people use his name), and from a distance, Claus, who comes back to the community drunk late one night - and beats his daughter and wife. We don't see it. We only see the result. Other than that - it is all women. Only the women in this film are given a voice.
The set design is spare. It's a hayloft. The costumes also spare. We see the fields that stretch on forever, and the hayloft.
And the score is rather interesting - I don't often mention score, but this fascinated me. For the most part it is birds tweeting, children laughing, and silence - or hymns the women sing. Then, then - there's the Census Tacker Truck that drives through the village, pulling us out of our view that we're in the 19th Century. And it's blaring in almost garish fashion - the Monkeys' song, Daydream Believer as sung by Davy Jones. And the song jars the women, waking them up, making them jump. Two young girls go out to the truck and talk to them - brought out by the song, and curiosity. The song haunts ...and echoes. And is run again in the credits. Emphasizing that the women...may well be daydreaming their resolution.
The film much like Tar, Banshees, and Everywhere Everything All at Once - haunts long after the final reel. And here, the ending is both uplifting and disturbing.
My takeaway, is Judith Ivey's statement...among the women talking, "We solve with passivity, not violence. Violence solves nothing. That is not who we are and not how we are forgiven. And to stay continues violence, enables it, to leave, is passive, and makes a statement without it."
It haunts me, because I wonder if this is true. Would they not be pursued?
Would they not find it elsewhere - the male violence? Can you leave?
I've left toxic situations - but never without a price. And there is one here as well. And they analyze it thoroughly.
For a film that is basically just talking - it is compelling and haunting long after the final reel.
3. Daisy Jones and the Six
We've all seen it before - the story of the band breakup. Except this one is fictional. And if I didn't know any better - I'd say it was more than loosely based on the rise and fall of Fleetwood Mac. (It's not, adapted from a fictional novel of the same name - the writer based it on Fleetwood Mac (or her imagination of it) along with various other bands in the 70s and 80s with bad breakups. )
Daisy is played by Riley Keough, Elvis' granddaughter. And Sam Clafin plays Billy Dunn - the almost cliche ridden front man, who cheats on his wife while she's pregnant with girl groupies on tour - long before he ever meets Daisy.
It does pulls in Rhythm and Blues, and Disco singers, with Simone, and the producer Teddy Price. We also get Timothy Oliphant as a seedy tour producer.
The story is told in flashbacks by the band in a documentary interview style, which is more entertaining than expected - and helps the narrative move along. It also acts as a sort of commentary on what is happening, as the older versions of the band members reflect on what happened.
The setup? In 1977, "Daisy Jones and the Six" after having a platinum album and a sold out tour, number one in the country - suddenly without warning or explanation ended their tour, and never toured again. It was their last tour, and their last album. No one knew why - until now.
All the band members are separately interviewed to determine what happened.
So we get their conflicting reports, and their commentary, uncensored, about each other.
This is how the novelist told her story, and the television series uses a similar format. I've not read the best-selling novel - so no clue what the differences are, outside of what I've read.
Even without knowing the inside story of Fleetwood Mac's breakup, this reminds me of it. And when I hunted it down - apparently the novelist was to an extent inspired by it - so while they vary, it is fairly close.
The music is okay, the narrative is kind of slow, but it could get better.
I'm on the fence about the cast. I'm not sure if Sam Clafin may be too old for the role? Although he looks like a rock star. I'm giving it five episodes before I make a final decision. I kind of like stories about rock bands. Also a fan of Fleetwood Mac - which I listened to in the 1970s - now.
Add to that - it has a kind of feminist take - in which it shows how Daisy and other women in the story are striving to have control and power over their art and journey.
4. Artist Way & Church
Take aways from today's Artist Way session at church, and well church in general.
* Church has been doing sermons on "Fairy Tales". Today it was Little Red Riding Hood.
ME: Sermon was on Little Red Riding Hood. They even did a performance of it.
Wales: You are kidding me!
ME: No, really not. They had a costumed wolf complete with wolf mask, and a costumed red riding hood, even acted it out.
Wales: That's so cool.
Me: Also a panel where they asked the Wolf and Red Riding Hood questions about what they were thinking during it.
Wales was impressed, apparently it's among her favorite fairy tales.There's so much to play with.
Here, the message was ...to watch out for being sold something that appears great, but isn't, and don't let it stop you from smelling the flowers - but at the same time don't stray too far from your path to do so.
* From Artist Way group afterwards...
Turn off the inner critic. Turn off the judge. The quantity is up to me, the quality to God. Just write, just draw, just pain - and don't worry if it looks great.
Also, stop worrying about doing it right. There isn't a right or wrong way of doing it.
It's turning off that inner critic that I'm struggling with at the moment.
So far so good. Weirdly they did the Best Animated Feature first. It was, not surprisingly, Pinnochio by Guillermo Del Toro. Which means I have to watch that on Netflix at some point. He made a speech in favor of animation.
They are also doing scanning codes - for learning more about the nominees. (Note I hate Q code scans. Even my church is doing it now. Do they realize how hard these things are to scan on phones?)
Hmmm, they are doing Supporting Actor and Actress at the same time - which would save time. Usually they are spaced out. One is done early on, and the other much later.
Short Round (Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom, Encino Man, Goonies - then disappeared, doing mainly stunt work) aka Ke Huy Quan - just won the best supporting actor for Everything, Everywhere, All at Once, some thirty years later - he played Michelle Yeoh's husband in the film. That's kind of cool. His message, " Dreams last a life time, I almost gave up on mine, for all of you out there - please don't give up on your dreams." And Jamie Lee Curtis won for best supporting for Everything, Everywhere All at Once - which is her first nomination and first win. Former scream queen from horror films - gets an Oscar for an independent film. [Not sure it matters, but it is nice to see folks who never get it. Jamie Lee Curtis' parents Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis never won although they were nominated.]
At any rate, I'm enjoying this year's better than last year. Also, Jimmi Kimmel addressed last year's slap well - stating, that if anyone tried it, he had various folks that would beat them up. Then listing them.
Navlny - the documentary film about political oppression in the Ukraine.
And, hey, we get David Byrne performing...This is Life, with stretchy fingers.
I didn't realize how many movie studios are celebrating 100 years of movie making. Both Disney and Warner Brothers are celebrating 100 years of movie making.
The changed "Best Foreign Film" to "Best International Feature Film" which went to "All Quiet on the Western Front (Germany)" - no surprise there.
Apparently they decided to re-insert all 23 categories, including all the shorts, which had been removed previous years. I may jump out soon.
This years nominated songs are rather interesting - one was from a
There's a lot of pharmaceutical ads during this telecast - I was hoping for movie commercials.
2. Women Talking
Not what you'd think. At all.
This is a film adapted from a fictional novel based on a real life event.
The real life event is rather harrowing - in 2009, a group of women were sexually assaulted by a group of men in a small Mennonite Community in Bolivia. The men anesthetized the women with a farm animal tranquilizer, then subsequently raped them. They woke up with blood between their thighs, and feeling violated. Then they spoke to each other, shared stories, and caught the men. The men were tried, convicted, and sentenced to 25 years in prison. A Canadian writer read about it, and decided to write a fictional novel about these events, based on her own personal novel of living in a Mennonite Community. Frances McDormand read the book, and acquired the rights and convinced Sarah Polley to help adapt it, and direct.
The film is a fictionalized account, and it focuses on the women after the attacks. We don't see them. We see the aftermath in flashes. The women waking up with blood on the streets. Bruised. Battered. Screaming. Traumatized. We see shadows running off. And then one was caught and provided the names of the others. They are sent to jail - to protect them from the women, who go after they with scythes. All the men leave - to take them to jail, and to get bail money to get them out. Leaving the women behind - the women have forty-eight hours to make a choice - do they stay and forgive them, and enter the kingdom of heaven, do they stay and fight, or do they leave taking the children and all their belongings with them?
They can't read or write - but they've learned to vote. And there is a tie - between staying and fighting, and leaving. So women are selected from the five ruling families to determine what they should do. The film is those ten women, of varying ages, discussing the matter - or talking.
One man, portrayed by Ben Whishwaw, August - is asked to take the meeting minutes. Outside of August, we don't see any men. Just the side of the Census taker in a truck for two minutes, the little boys, the non-binary transgender man, Melvin (who refuses to talk unless people use his name), and from a distance, Claus, who comes back to the community drunk late one night - and beats his daughter and wife. We don't see it. We only see the result. Other than that - it is all women. Only the women in this film are given a voice.
The set design is spare. It's a hayloft. The costumes also spare. We see the fields that stretch on forever, and the hayloft.
And the score is rather interesting - I don't often mention score, but this fascinated me. For the most part it is birds tweeting, children laughing, and silence - or hymns the women sing. Then, then - there's the Census Tacker Truck that drives through the village, pulling us out of our view that we're in the 19th Century. And it's blaring in almost garish fashion - the Monkeys' song, Daydream Believer as sung by Davy Jones. And the song jars the women, waking them up, making them jump. Two young girls go out to the truck and talk to them - brought out by the song, and curiosity. The song haunts ...and echoes. And is run again in the credits. Emphasizing that the women...may well be daydreaming their resolution.
The film much like Tar, Banshees, and Everywhere Everything All at Once - haunts long after the final reel. And here, the ending is both uplifting and disturbing.
My takeaway, is Judith Ivey's statement...among the women talking, "We solve with passivity, not violence. Violence solves nothing. That is not who we are and not how we are forgiven. And to stay continues violence, enables it, to leave, is passive, and makes a statement without it."
It haunts me, because I wonder if this is true. Would they not be pursued?
Would they not find it elsewhere - the male violence? Can you leave?
I've left toxic situations - but never without a price. And there is one here as well. And they analyze it thoroughly.
For a film that is basically just talking - it is compelling and haunting long after the final reel.
3. Daisy Jones and the Six
We've all seen it before - the story of the band breakup. Except this one is fictional. And if I didn't know any better - I'd say it was more than loosely based on the rise and fall of Fleetwood Mac. (It's not, adapted from a fictional novel of the same name - the writer based it on Fleetwood Mac (or her imagination of it) along with various other bands in the 70s and 80s with bad breakups. )
Daisy is played by Riley Keough, Elvis' granddaughter. And Sam Clafin plays Billy Dunn - the almost cliche ridden front man, who cheats on his wife while she's pregnant with girl groupies on tour - long before he ever meets Daisy.
It does pulls in Rhythm and Blues, and Disco singers, with Simone, and the producer Teddy Price. We also get Timothy Oliphant as a seedy tour producer.
The story is told in flashbacks by the band in a documentary interview style, which is more entertaining than expected - and helps the narrative move along. It also acts as a sort of commentary on what is happening, as the older versions of the band members reflect on what happened.
The setup? In 1977, "Daisy Jones and the Six" after having a platinum album and a sold out tour, number one in the country - suddenly without warning or explanation ended their tour, and never toured again. It was their last tour, and their last album. No one knew why - until now.
All the band members are separately interviewed to determine what happened.
So we get their conflicting reports, and their commentary, uncensored, about each other.
This is how the novelist told her story, and the television series uses a similar format. I've not read the best-selling novel - so no clue what the differences are, outside of what I've read.
Even without knowing the inside story of Fleetwood Mac's breakup, this reminds me of it. And when I hunted it down - apparently the novelist was to an extent inspired by it - so while they vary, it is fairly close.
The music is okay, the narrative is kind of slow, but it could get better.
I'm on the fence about the cast. I'm not sure if Sam Clafin may be too old for the role? Although he looks like a rock star. I'm giving it five episodes before I make a final decision. I kind of like stories about rock bands. Also a fan of Fleetwood Mac - which I listened to in the 1970s - now.
Add to that - it has a kind of feminist take - in which it shows how Daisy and other women in the story are striving to have control and power over their art and journey.
4. Artist Way & Church
Take aways from today's Artist Way session at church, and well church in general.
* Church has been doing sermons on "Fairy Tales". Today it was Little Red Riding Hood.
ME: Sermon was on Little Red Riding Hood. They even did a performance of it.
Wales: You are kidding me!
ME: No, really not. They had a costumed wolf complete with wolf mask, and a costumed red riding hood, even acted it out.
Wales: That's so cool.
Me: Also a panel where they asked the Wolf and Red Riding Hood questions about what they were thinking during it.
Wales was impressed, apparently it's among her favorite fairy tales.There's so much to play with.
Here, the message was ...to watch out for being sold something that appears great, but isn't, and don't let it stop you from smelling the flowers - but at the same time don't stray too far from your path to do so.
* From Artist Way group afterwards...
Turn off the inner critic. Turn off the judge. The quantity is up to me, the quality to God. Just write, just draw, just pain - and don't worry if it looks great.
Also, stop worrying about doing it right. There isn't a right or wrong way of doing it.
It's turning off that inner critic that I'm struggling with at the moment.
no subject
Date: 2023-03-13 03:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-03-14 12:53 am (UTC)It's worth watching - the film surprised me. (I've not read the book.) It's free now on Amazon.
no subject
Date: 2023-03-14 02:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-03-14 07:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-03-13 04:25 pm (UTC)I hated the movie commercials we got within the broadcast -- WTF with Disney promoting its Little Mermaid and WB doing that whole 100 years thing? I guess they figured so many people skip commercials they were going to make sure you watched it.
What's interesting is that we still have studios around from that time. I mean there are others which technically exist in some form which will also be celebrating soon. But at least Disney and WB really still are studios.
I could have done with a lot less about the slap, although the "being danced off stage" was a good bit. My favorite bit about the slap was in the final moment of the broadcast, when Kimmel goes off stage and turns the counter on "Years without an Oscar incident" to "1" What would they have done if some other screw up had occurred? Maybe he'd just have looked at it sadly.
no subject
Date: 2023-03-14 01:31 am (UTC)Agreed, I found it interesting that WB and Disney are at least still studios - 100 years later.
MGM not so much.
They did go on a bit too long about the slap. It's almost as if they felt they had to address the proverbial elephant in the room and then stomp on it. I did like Kimmel going off stage and hitting years without an Oscar incident - "1". (The last few years admittedly have not been incident free.)
The Big Winner
Date: 2023-03-13 04:55 pm (UTC)I love EEAAO, so I'm generally pleased with the love fest. If I have any reservations, I think Angela Bassett should have won over Jamie Lee Curtis (but maybe not over Stephanie Hsu), and it's a shame Cate Blanchett and Michelle Yeoh couldn't both win.
Blanchett's Lydia Tar is a dazzlingly complex creation, a fully realized artistic genius with relatable (if not excusable) flaws. The movie simply wouldn't exist with anyone else in the role.
Yeoh? Evelyn Wang's alternates were glamorous movie star and martial arts master. Pfft. That's not acting; that's her real life. But she made me believe that Evelyn Prime was a battered down loser who'd missed every opportunity for greatness (and therefore, was the perfect vessel for her alternate selves).
That's acting.
But Ke Huy Quan made that movie for me. Quan was an assistant director for Wong Kar Wai during his time in the wilderness, and Smooth Business Guy Waymond looked every bit like a tortured romantic from a WKW movie. For Quan, it must have been like stepping out from behind the camera and getting to be Tony Leung. No wonder every minute of his time on screen seems filled with joy.
Re: The Big Winner
Date: 2023-03-14 01:23 am (UTC)1. Weirdly EEE is the movie I remember the least of all of the films that I saw. I don't know why that is? It didn't resonate for me at all - not that I'd say that's a requirement, a lot of things don't. But, from that film? All that I remember are Yeoh's and Curtis' performances - which may or may not have more to do with the fact that I like the actresses.
I can tell you that I didn't remember Ke Huy Quan in the film at all. (I literally have little to no memory of his role.) Funny side note? My co-workers and I had a discussion - trying to figure out who he played in the film, and why he was nominated. None of us could remember his roles - and didn't realize he was even in the film.
EEE is a busy film. So the brain kind of chooses what to focus on? I focused on the talking rocks, and the relationships with between Yeoh and Curtis, and Yeaoh and her daughter. I'm guessing you focused on Quan, and his relationships throughout? So for you, Curtis barely resonated, while for me, Quan didn't.
It's not important, just interesting to me.
2. Did you see Banshees? The supporting actress in it - was kind of the best thing in it. But, I knew Curtis had the award in the bag.
Basset? Eh, it's not her best work. That film disappointed me. And I felt it was a touch overrated. Also busy, and the action sequences annoying. So, I'd not have nominated it. I was surprised she was nominated for it.
Jamie Lee Curtis - was unrecognizable in EEE and in some respects that most surprising thing in it. Also her character and Yeoh's grounded the film for me, and moved me the most - their enemies to friends to lovers relationships in varied universes. It was unconventional and interesting. And the only thing I remember from the film, outside of the talking rocks, and the Bagel and the annoying teenage girl/Mom interactions.
3. Blachett vs. Yeoh.
Eh. I remember TAR better than EEE. And I know my co-worker will be put out that Cate Blanchett lost to Michelle Yeoh (he disliked EEE). But, I felt Yeoh made EEE work. It really needed her to ground it, and be able to carry off all the alternate versions of herself, make each distinct, and compelling. She did. It's a busy film - if it weren't for Yeoh, I'm not sure I'd have bothered with it. Blanchett is kind of like Streep - she gets nominated a lot. And plays a lot of similar roles. While she made TAR work - and was the reason it works, I don't necessarily think I wanted that film to be rewarded for anything. I didn't like it. Even though I can't forget it.
4. Finally, I find myself once again quoting Woody Allen - "You can't really compare films to each other effectively - it's not a horse race or an athletic event." He's right, you can't.
Two people can watch the same film and see them very differently. My brother, for example, tends to watch films from a very technical perspective or like a cinematographer - so its about the visual for him. We both saw, EEE, actually you, me, Chidi, and Mel separately saw EEE, and all of us came out of it with varying experiences. You loved it - it resonated, you focused on the spousal relationship, and on Quan's character. Chidi hated the film, as did his film school friends - they found it busy, and hard to follow and didn't like it. Mel found it busy and hard to follow. Neither remembered Quan's character at all. I enjoyed the film, but remember little of it - and what I remember of it - is Yeoh and Jamie Lee Curtis's characters, the teenage daughter's angst, the Bagel, and the talking rocks. I remember the theme, which centered around the teen daughter and Curtis characters for Yeoh. Her husband from my perspective was immaterial and irrelevant.
Busy movies tend to be viewed differently by everyone who sees them. It's kind of like Elvis? My family loved that film. My brother, sisterinlaw, myself, and my mother all loved it and thought it was excellent. That's kind of rare - we rarely all agree. While your family hated it and couldn't make it through it. And Wales didn't finish it, nor did Chidi, and Mel was unenthused.
Movies like beauty and humor are always in the eye of the beholder. And Awards shows? Political affairs and popularity contests.
no subject
Date: 2023-03-14 12:15 am (UTC)I was surprised at all the QR codes - I wonder how many people actually used them. It's not my thing either and while I get why they did it, I didn't like them replacing restaurant menus.
one was from a Bollywood film
I know Kimmel referred to RRR (the movie the song was from) like that, but it's actually not a Bollywood film. Bollywood doesn't represent all Indian movies - just the Hindi ones. RRR is a Telegu (South Indian language) movie. They even refer to that aspect of the film industry as "Tollywood".
no subject
Date: 2023-03-14 12:52 am (UTC)I think they learned their lesson finally - and realized they need a safe host, who is a talk show host/presenter, not a stand-up comedian. The difficulty with standup comedians is they often veer into insult humor. And that's not necessarily the best choice with that particular audience of fragile egos - particularly when they are all on camera, and slightly drunk.