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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)