More Movie Awards

The people who host the big movie awards show tonight are fussy about who uses their name, so I won't. You know who I mean.

This year, I saw all the Best Picture  nominees, either through screeners sent by S.A.G. for their awards, because I maintain a membership with them, or, sometimes, in a theater. They are all good movies.

"Call Me By Your Name" is an old-fashioned romance, slow and beautiful, only the romance is between a teenage young man and a somewhat older grad student. It's really a Merchant-Ivory production, from the people who made "Howard's End" and "Remains of the Day," only Merchant died some years ago, so the script is by James Ivory, turning ninety this year in June. I especially like Timothée Chalamet, who is twenty-two, playing the seventeen-year old who falls in love with another man. To be that young, and know yourself well enough to play that character, onscreen through most of the movie, and frequently undressed, takes a level of acting expertise and unselfconsciousness I don't think many actors can handle. I would go for Chalamet for Best Actor, for which he has been nominated.

"Darkest Hour" is about Winston Churchill's first month in office as Britain is about to be attacked by Nazi Germany. It ends with the evacuation of Dunkirk, which is what the movie "Dunkirk" is about. Both movies are great history, and Gary Oldman's nominated performance as Churchill is amazing. "Darkest Hour" is meticulous in the details, looks beautiful and rouses one to a patriotism one doesn't see anymore, not anywhere. "Dunkirk" does the same, but is a more modern movie, filled with newer effects, and focused on several individuals, none of whom have what you would call a "star turn." Given a choice of one of the two, I would take "Dunkirk" because the patriotism is not people at home cheering on Churchill by pledging to fight, but follows the actual people doing the fighting, who survive with courage and great luck. I found that more moving.

"Get Out" is a freak show, scary and funny and original. Daniel Kaluuya stands out, and was nominated for Best Actor, but the supporting cast was also great. This movie gets points for being a sock in the nose to racists. Jordan Peele, who is African-American, was nominated for Best Director.

"Lady Bird" has a great costar- Sacramento. It's about a teen girl (Saoirse Ronan) and her mother (Laurie Metcalf), and the teen's desire to leave Sacramento, where she has lived all her life. She takes drugs, has sex with a jerk of a guy (Timothée Chalament again), dyes her hair blue and fights with her mother. I saw it in Memphis with Joe's cousins. The 17-year old girl, whose grandmother hosts Thanksgiving, raved about it. She is smart and, supposedly a "good girl" so I wondered about her identifying with the main character. This is one of the few movies that passes the "Bechdel Test"  where two women relate to each other for more than five minutes without it being about a man. Greta Gerwig was the rare female nominated for Best Director, and Ronan and Metcalf are up for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress respectively. I'm familiar with Sacramento, and it was really filmed there and looks as charming as it is. I wish there were an award for "Best Location."

"Phantom Thread" was the most annoying movie of the year, at least that I saw. Yes, it looks great, the clothes designed by the lead character (Daniel Day-Lewis) are interesting, if not beautiful, the sets, the score by a string orchestra, all brilliant. But another story about a pretty twenty-something girl in love with a crotchety sixty-year old man? Please. I didn't find any of the characters appealing, and yes, Daniel Day-Lewis is a great actor, but this was so stylized as to be off-putting, and can we talk? No way was that character straight. In addition to Best Picture, Day-Lewis is nominated for Best Actor and Paul Thomas Anderson for Director. I looked at my watch too many times during this movie. We should be gripped, if not entertained, instead of being exhausted and exasperated. End of sermon.

What could be bad about "The Post?" Steven Spielberg directing Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks. It's perfect- for 1978. My sister saw it in Greenbelt, Maryland. She said everyone cheered at the climactic scene. The audience in Greenbelt skews older and well-educated. The movie was about The Pentagon Papers. "Why were they cheering?" my sister asked. "They were all in Washington when this happened. They couldn't have been surprised." Streep was nominated for Best Actress, and of course, she was great. I liked her 1970s outfits, too. I identified her with Hillary Clinton, and Nixon with the current President. I think I was supposed to.

"The Shape of Water" was the most beautiful film this year, romantic and full of fantasy. Guillermo del Toro was nominated for Best Director, another potential slap to the bigots, as he is Mexican. I did feel that he didn't really "get" the early 1960s in America, not having been alive then and not being American. I was also annoyed that we were supposed to be in Baltimore and nothing looked like Baltimore (the movie was filmed in Toronto, parts of which look like Baltimore, but not where this was filmed), and the beginning of the rainy season was part of the plot, but the mid-Atlantic does not have a "rainy season." The 1962 cars were beautiful, and Sally Hawkins as a young woman who works as a janitor and is mute, was terrific, without speaking, quite a trick. Octavia Spencer was nominated for Supporting Actress, but didn't have enough to do,  and Richard Jenkins, nominated for Supporting Actor, was let down by the script. I would have gone for Michael Shannon for Supporting Actor, had he been nominated.

I watched "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" on a S.A.G. screener with Joe. He loved it. I didn't. Not subtle, and "Fuck" seemed to be every other word. For the S.A.G. awards, I voted for Sam Rockwell for Best Supporting Actor for his over-the-top performance, but on thinking about it, I like Woody Harrelson (also nominated) for embodying the warmth and compassion of his character. He was the only one in the movie not screaming all the time. Frances McDormand was nominated for Best Actress, and she was terrific.

I also saw "I, Tonya," just last night, because Margot Robbie was nominated for Best Actress and Allison Janney for Best Supporting Actress. That was an entertaining, different, roller coaster ride of  a movie. Robbie, who can skate (there were doubles for some of the scenes) was all in, if too old, and Janney was blood-curdling. Clever of Robbie to produce this movie and make sure it got done. I also liked Sebastian Stan as Tonya's husband Jeff, handsome, charming and a total dick.

I watched "The Florida Project" and "Mudbound" on screeners. I didn't think Willem Dafoe, nominated for Supporting Actor, had enough to do in "The Florida Project." I might have voted for Bria Vinaite, as the mother in this movie, for Best Actress. Apparently, she had never acted before. I was moved by "Mudbound." Any of the actors in that could have been nominated, but Mary J. Blige was, for Supporting Actress, probably because she was far away from how we know her. I would vote for her. I missed Denzel Washington in "Roman J. Israel, Esq." and Christopher Plummer in "All The Money In The World." Other than those two, I saw all the Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress nominees.

Were I eligible to vote, I would vote "Dunkirk" Best Picture, Timothée Chalamet, Best Actor, Margot Robbie, Best Actress, Woody Harrelson, Best Supporting Actor, and Mary J. Blige, Best Supporting Actress. For Director, I would go for Guillermo del Toro, without being upset if anyone else won unless it was Paul Thomas Anderson.

The awards show is on tonight, soon. I won't be watching it.