Sunday, February 26, 2017

89th Academy Awards Preview

This Sunday February 26, 2017 will be the return of an event that I look forward to each year for the dedication to cinema and the pageantry and tradition of what the event has meant since 1927. This year marks the 89th installment of this event and it should be an interesting night. What I will do is post the main awards nominees: Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Director-these are the six I feel are the important ones, though I am always interested in Best Costumes, Best Score/Original Song, Best Visual Effects and Best Make-Up, they aren't necessarily the most important ones-just ones that interest me. I will post the ones I THINK/FEEL will win in bold. I will post the ones I WANT to win in italics. Keep in mind in one or more of these categories there may be one and the same for think and want. Then I will provide some commentary on my thoughts on the nominees involved. I will talk mostly about the choices I selected rather than discussing each nominee as I usually do as I didn't have the time. I needed to write something for my readers, though.

Best Picture: 
Arrival
Fences
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water 
Hidden Figures
La La Land 
Lion 
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight 



I think Moonlight is a poweful movie portraying social issues of the day. It creates some intriguing characters set amidst the backdrop of dangerous neighborhoods in Miami The first two acts are well done overall. The inclusion of Juan's character holds the first act together nicely, and Chiron & Kevin's relationship helps the second act. However, I thought the movie itself fell flat in the third act and took away everything that was working in the first two acts. I absolutely loved La La Land. The movie is colorful. People pushing through obstacles to achieve their dreams is inspiring, and the music is excellent.

Best Actor:
Casey Affleck-Manchester by the Sea
Andrew Garfield-Hacksaw Ridge
Ryan Gosling-La La Land
Viggo Mortensen-Captain Fantastic
Denzel Washington-Fences

Is Denzel Washington a great actor? Absolutely! His performance as Private Trip in Glory remains one of my all time favorite roles. Who could forget his excellent work as Alonzo Harris in Training Day that saw him take home Best Actor in 2001. However, do I think he should win for Fences? To be perfectly honest, I would say not quite.. I felt he gave a fantastic performance, but this is a role that basically felt like Washington was going through the motions. While it's based on a play which means there's already established dialogue in some form, you have to try to make the lines stand out and make the audience feel like they're immersed in a movie. I never felt that way with this performance. I think he deserves the nomination, though, because it's Denzel! Casey Affleck's work in Manchester by the Sea is amazing to watch. It's a depressing movie, but Affleck really captures the melancholy nature of the movie. The events of the movie show why Lee Chandler is how he is. That burning house scene still sticks with me. It was an excellent performance showing that Affleck is one of the best the industry has seen. He's always been a gifted actor, and it's great seeing him recognized for it. Recent news might derail him from winning, but he ultimately deserves to win for how much he put of himself into this role.

Best Actress:
Isabelle Huppert-Elle
Ruth Negga-Loving
Natalie Portman-Jackie
Emma Stone-La La Land
Meryl Streep-Florence Foster Jenkins


Isablle Huppert gave a truly great performance in Elle. She is a legend of French cinema, and her work as a video game designer combined with the intense overall theme of rape and survival showed an actress perhaps delivering her swan song performance. This would be a great cap to end her career. With her win at the Golden Globes, I see her picking it up based on respect from the Academy and how powerful the performance is. For the first time ever I'm torn on who I want to win., because I have two I want to win here: Natalie Portman & Emma Stone. Both of these actresses are in my Top 10 of all time. Their performances in their two respective movies are two of their strongest performances. Portman's work as Jackie Kennedy was in my Top 5 female performances of the year, which is why I listed her first in this category. Also,Jackie Kennedy is in my Top 5 historical figures list. Her voice, her demeanor, and her presence were perfect. She potrayed Jackie as a strong, but also vulnerable woman in her and the nation's darkest hour. It was simply an excellent performance that deserves to win. Stone was brilliant as Mia in La La Land. Her journey to become a successful actress as she navigates through Hollywood is inspiring. She always puts forth incredible effort, and succeeds. This could be her moment, and I'd absolutely love it. She has a great singing voice and her acting was on point. I'd like to also add for the Best Actress category that Hailee Steinfeld as Nadine in Edge of Seventeen & Amy Adams as Louise Banks in Arrival deserved nominations. Steinfeld's performance as Nadine was my favorite female performance of 2016, and Adams portrayal as Banks was possibly her best performance to date. Sometimes, you have to hate the Oscars for snubbing people that certainly deserve to be on the list. I would have nominated those two over Ruth Negga & Meryl Streep in a heartbeat.

Best Supporting Actor:
Mahershala Ali-Moonlight
Jeff Bridges-Hell or High Water
Lucas Hedges-Manchester by the Sea
Dev Patel-Lion
Michael Shannon-Nocturnal Animals

I think Mahershala Ali and Janelle Monae's performances were the best parts of Moonlight. Ali's Juan character is the best and worst part of Chiron's life in my opinion. You watch as he takes Chiron under his wing to provide stability, but at the same time he's the reason for his neglect from his mother, due to his drug dealing. It's very interesting to think about. It's a damn shame he was only in the first act, because after he's gone from the movie, the movie slowly starts deteriorating. Even though I wasn't a huge fan of this movie, I can't say enough good things about Ali's performance as Juan. If I had to pick another choice for who I want to win then it would be Dev Patel in Lion. Patel has been a great actor since I saw him in Skins. His performance here on a journey to find his birth mother and family as a whole is truly epic. It's basically a version of the Odyssey in some ways. It was based on a real story of Saroo. Patel actually rode the same trains and visited several of the same orphanages, even going as far as to meet the real Saroo in person. That shows extreme dedication to this project. He wanted to make it authentic. It's a performance of a journey to find love and unification. I was impressed with his work. Between Mahershala Ali & Dev Patel, it's going to be a close one. I loved both performances, so I'd be perfectly fine with either of them. If I had to choose another option of who I want to win, I'd definitely select Lucas Hedges performance in Manchester by the Sea! He was great as Lee's nephew. Instead of Jeff Bridges for Hell or High Water, I would have nominated Woody Harrelson's performance in Edge of Seventeen. He was on top of his game as Mr. Bruner-the sarcastic teacher that cares about his students, especially Nadine deep down.

Best Supporting Actress:
Viola Davis-Fences
Naomie Harris-Moonlight
Nicole Kidman-Lion
Octavia Spencer-Hidden Figures
Michelle Williams-Manchester by the Sea

There's a lot of controversy about Viola Davis being nominated for Best Supporting Actress as she should have been included in Best Actress for Fences, but she has a better chance of winning if she's nominated in this category, which is why the Academy put her in this category. Davis is one of the best actresses going today. She always puts forth a solid performance, and her work in Fences was no exception. I think she definitely did a better job than Denzel Washington in this movie. Davis has basically been the de facto choice since Day 1, so I really don't think anybody else has a chance of winning this. Her fire and demanding voice will lead her to victory. (While she's only on screen for a limited amount of time, I'd personally love to see Michelle Williams win this. That scene with her and Casey Affleck outside the church is enough to make me want to see her win. I mean, I've been a fan of Williams since she played Jen on Dawson's Creek. I thought she should have won Best Actress for My Week With Marilyn in 2011. I think her performance was indicative of a woman that felt the same hardships that Lee has been feeling, and when she sobs uncontrollably and apologizes for everything, it's extremely powerful. Williams is a great actress that I'd love to see pull off the upset. Unfortunately, I don't see it happening, but last year, I never saw Mark Rylance winning for Bridge of Spies,which was my choice last year as well and left me pleasantly surprised when they announced his name. Go Michelle!

Best Director:
Denis Villenueve-Arrival
Mel Gibson-Hacksaw Ridge
Damian Chazelle-La La Land
Kenneth Lonergan-Manchester by the Sea
Barry Jenkins-Moonlight

The Best Director category this year is stacked. Ultimately, I see Barry Jenkins pulling out the win. His style is similar to Boyhood in terms of splitting the acts through different phases of the main character's life. The overall movie in general has gotten so many positive reviews from critics and I feel the Academy wants to give him the win. Jenkins should have had an actor that slightly resembled Chiron in his earlier stages to make the movie more effective. I really didn't like the third act of that movie, and I think casting and overall pacing in the third act hurt the movie. Jenkins had a great vision and it's an extremely powerful movie, but I think and want Damian Chazelle should win this. He created such a fun musical movie loaded with a colorful palette that kept me invested in the movie. This, combined with the larger than life characters on the screen were excellent. La La Land is a feel good movie, which is why I want to see it win Best Picture and Best Director. Chazelle's vision just based on that opening freeway traffic jam alone is enough to convince me he should win. I wouldn't mind seeing Mel Gibson win, either. It's really great to see him back at the Oscars. I've always liked Gibson. The research he did to put this together is amazing. The way he shot it brought the audience into the battles! While Jenkins is the Academy's favorite, Chazelle's work should definitely win.


Now that I have covered the six major categories, I hope the readers of this blog will enjoy this look into the 89th Academy Awards. The only other thing I'd like to add is I hope to see Zootopia win Best Animated Feature. I am so picky on animated movies, but Zootopia was just so amazing. I love the unique characters as well as the entertaining plot. I enjoyed writing this Oscars piece and hope you enjoy reading it. There are some really competitive categories, and it should be interesting to see what Jimmy Kimmel does as the host. 



No comments:

Post a Comment