OSCAR NOMINATION
2024
BEST ACTOR
COLMAN
DOMINGO
RUSTIN
PLOT: Bayard Rustin, a charismatic, determined black gay man in the 60s who against all odds organized the March on Washington.
WHAT IS GOOD: Colman Domingo is AMAZING as Bayard Rustin! He was smart, savvy and nothing stopped him. Chris Rock (yeah the comedian) as Roy Wilkins another activist that didn’t care for Rustin is very and good and Jeffery Wright is terrific as Adam Clayton Powell Jr. is great! My only hope is Jeffery Wright will do Adam Clayton Powell Jr. biography.
WHAT IS WRONG: When Hollywood does a biography they pick and choose what is in the film and YOU want to learn more you must read to find out the real story.
SHOULD YOU WATCH: ABSOULETY! Rustin is an unsung person on the March on Washington that is finally getting his due.
BEST ACTOR
BRADLEY
COOPER
MASTRO
BIOGRAPHY /DRAMA
PLOT: The biography of Leonard Bernstein the brilliant conductor and his wife Felicia Montealegro.
WHAT IS GOOD: Bradley Cooper as Bernstein. He is passionate about his music and friends. Carey Mulligan as his wife Felicia is a great for loving him no matter what. Cooper is also the director and it is very good.
WHAT IS WRONG: Felicia may have an interesting back story but it is not talked about much.
SHOULD YOU WATCH: YES because of the
performances of Cooper and Mulligan are very well done.
OSCAR NOMINATION
2024
BEST ACTOR
PAUL
GIAMATTI
HOLDOVERS
COMEDY/DRAMA
PLOT: Paul Giamatti is Paul Hunham a crusty teacher who is punished has to take care of students at Christmas in 1970. Most leave except one young man that changes his life.
WHAT IS RIGHT: The cast that consist of Giamatti, newcomer Dominic Sessa as Angus Tully, a smart but troubled young man and Da Vine Joy Randolph as Mary Lamb, a black cook who’s son died in the Vietnam War. They are a sad but funny group of people trying to cope with life that didn’t give them a good hand.
WHAT IS WRONG: Predictable but still interesting.
SHOULD YOU WATCH: If you enjoy watching people deal with
tragedy and regrets then YES!
PAST REVIEWS--
BEST ACTOR
CILLIAN
MURPHY
OPPENHEIMER
SEE REVIEW
BEST ACTOR
JEFFREY
WRIGHT
AMERICAN
FICTION
SEE REVIEW
BEST ACTRESS
ANNETTE
BENING
NYAD
BIOGRAPHY/DRAMA
PLOT: Diana Nyad is a gifted swimmer and at 60 she decides to swim from Cuba to Florida.
WHAT IS RIGHT: Bening as Nyad! The female is driven! Five times she tried because she believed she could do it. Also outstanding is her good friend and coach Bonnie Stall played by Jodie Foster. She trusted in her friend despite how crazy it was! The rest of the cast was great as well.
WHAT IS WRONG: When Hollywood does a bio they sometimes alter the facts.
SHOULD YOU WATCH: YES!
The film is about the human spirit that can’t be stopped!
BEST ACTRESS
LILY
GLADSTONE
KILLERS OF
THE FLOWER MOON
CRIME DRAMA
PLOT: Osage Indians stuck oil and white men married the women to kill them and get the insurance money.
WHAT IS RIGHT: When you think of native Indians you think of them on horse with bow and arrows killing the hero. Not this film. They are shown as intelligent, wealthy people who want the same thing any other people want equality and acceptance. The cast! Leonardo Di Caprio is fantastic as Ernest Burkhart who was lead astray by his uncle William “King” Hale played by the great actor Robert DeNiro. He should have been nominated. Molly Burkhart played by Lily Gladstone is just amazing as Ernest’s wife. She is not melodramatic as a woman trying to find out who is killing her people, her husband is trying to poison her and the death of her child. She has a silent strength you can see all the pain in her eyes.
WHAT IS WRONG: It is too long! Martin Scorsese makes great epic stories but it is too long!
SHOULD YOU WATCH:
YES! If you like great story
telling, great acting.
EMMA STONE
POOR THINGS
HORROR/COMDEY/DRAMA
PLOT: Bella (Emma Stone) jumps off a cliff killing herself and her baby inside her but Dr. Godwin Baxter (William Dafoe) finds her in the water reanimates her and places her baby’s brain in her head. She starts off as a toddler then matures into a woman.
WHAT IS GOOD: It is a different telling of Frankenstein. Very funny but mostly bizarre at times. Emma Stone is fine from child-like to grown woman. Mark Ruffalo as Duncan Wedderham a lustful cad who has sex with her a lot on a cruise.
WHAT IS BAD: It is not for kids! Lots of nudity and sex! Bella is a corpse! Is it Poor Things or Porno Things?
SHOULD YOU WATCH: This is a strange movie so if you want
something different-this is iT!
BEST ACTRESS
SANDRA
HUELLER
ANATOMY OF A
FALL
DRAMA/MYSTERY
PLOT: Sandra Voyter is a writer with her husband and young, blind son and they live in the isolated mountains. One day his husband falls off the top floor of the big house and dies. Sandra is indicted but did she do it?
WHAT IS GOOD: Sandra Huller as Sandra whose past is far from perfect but still loves her husband and child.
WHAT IS BAD: Slow paced. It’s a French movie
SHOULD YOU WATCH:
Yes for the performances.
BEST ACTRESS
CAREY
MULLIGAN
MASTRO
SEE REVIEW
BEST
SUPPORTING ACTOR
Stering K. Brown
-American Fiction
Robert
DeNiro-Killers- of the Flower Moon
Robert
Downey Jr. Oppenheimer
Ryan Gosling
–Barbie
Mark
Ruffalo-Poor Things
SEE REVIEWS
BEST
SUPPORTING ACTRESS-
Emily
Blunt-Oppenheimer
Danielle
Brooks-The Color Purple
Jodie-Foster
Nyad
Da Vine Joy
Randolph-The Holdovers
BEST
DIRECTOR
Jonathan
Glazer
THE ZONE OF INTEREST
PLOT: Commandant Rudolf Hoss (Christian Friedel) has wonderful home, a loving family and great backyard the bad part is it is next to a concentration camp in the 40s.
WHAT IS RIGHT: The acting is really great especially by the two leads Friedel and Oscar nominee Sandra Huller. The music is scary as hell. You don’t see the horror but you definitely hear it. The sickening part is the family has drama like most families but they seem to ignore the hideous things around them.
WHAT IS BAD: Slow but frightening.
SHOULD YOU SEE IT: YES but fair warning: It is not a popcorn movie! It is powerful and shocking!
BEST DIRECTOR
JUSTINE
TRIET- Anatomy of a Fall
YORGOS
LANTHIMOS-Poor things
JONATHAN
GLAZER-The Zone of Interest
SEE REVIEW
MARTIN
SCORESE-Killer of the Flower Moon
Christopher
Nolan-Oppenheimer
BEST PICTURE
American
Fiction
Anatomy of a
Fall
Barbie
Killers of
the Flower Moon
Mastro
Past Lives
Poor Things
The Zone of
Interest
PAST LIVES
BEST PICTURE
ROMANTIC/DRAMA
PLOT: Nora and Hae adore each other when they were young but Nora moved to the US while Hae stayed in Korea. He comes to see her. They care about each other but things and time have changed.
WHAT IS GOOD: Greta Lee as Nora. She hated leaving her country but is content with living in America yet she still thinks of her young lover Hae. Teo You as Hae Sing stayed in Korea but to him his life is ordinary. Both care deeply for each other but life happens. Past lives is a saying in Korea and it is throughout the movie. John Magaro is good as Arthur who is a writer and understanding husband of Nora.
WHAT IS BAD: Not much humor.
SHOULD YOU WATCH: It is a romantic movie without the melodrama.
THE BEEKEEPER
ACTION
PLOT: An elderly woman Eloise Parker (Phylicia Rashad) lets Adam Clay (Jason Statham) stay at her barn to take care of his bees. She is scammed out of her life savings and kills herself and Clay wants revenge.
WHAT IS GOOD: Jason Statham as Adam Clay! He is more than a beekeeper; he is a retired special agent. Phylicia Rashad as Eloise a kind senior who helps Adam. She isn’t in the film long but she is great.
WHAT IS WRONG: It is like a low-rent John Wick.
SHOULD YOU
WATCH: If you like Jason Statham
YES. You have seen it all before but he
is a very good action actor!
ARGYLLE
ACTION/COMEDY
PLOT: Elle Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard, Jurassic World) has a dull life but she is a successful spy novelist whose real spies want her information. It’s an update on The Long Kiss Goodnight.
WHAT IS GOOD: Sam Rockwell (Aidan) is great as a real agent trying to protect Elle. He is very funny but he can fight! The action sequences are amazing.
WHAT IS BAD: There is a lot of unbelievable twist and turns. Elle’s cat Alfie gets into bad situations dropped in her backpack, left to die and shot at for comedy!
SHOULD YOU WATCH: Not
really. If you can see it on cable or
streaming it would be better. Exciting
but senseless!
MADAME WEB
ACTION/SUPERHERO
PLOT: Cassandra Web (Dakota Johnson) is a paramedic and she gains clairvoyant powers and must save three teens from an evil Spiderman (Tahar Rahim) because these three female teens will kill him in future.
WHAT IS RIGHT: The ending is exciting. She does become blind and in a wheelchair like in the comic book by the end of the movie.
WHAT IS WRONG: Madame Web is a villain in the Spiderman comic books but to the public she is not well known. It is really a mess! The three ladies are stereotypical types the nerdy girl; the smart girl and the tough girl. The bad Spiderman ONLY goal is to kill the women. He has a little backstory. Cassandra supposed to protect them but leaves them alone a lot. Four writers including the director S.J. Clarkson who did the great Netflix series Jessica Jones !
SHOULD YOU WATCH: NO!!! This movie should be seen on a streaming service or ON DEMAND
DUNE PART TWO
SCI-FI/ACTION
PLOT: Paul Atreies is now part of the leader Fremen warriors along with Chani (Zendaya) who is his love interest.
WHAT IS RIGHT: Timothy Charlamet is good as Paul and Zendaya as a female warrior Chani but Austin Butler as Feyd Ratha Hankonnenn is great an evil assassin.
WHAT IS WRONG: As always in Hollywood there are changes from the classic novel to the screen.
SHOULD YOU WATCH: YES! If enjoyed the last one it and it is better.
IRON CLAW
BIOGRAPHY/DRAMA
PLOT: The tragic tale of the Von Erich dynasty in wrestling. Fritz Von Erich (Holt McCallany) is determined to make one of his four boys a wrestling champion and will do whatever it takes. He pushes them to the limit!
WHAT IS GOOD: The cast. Holt Mcallany is amazing as the father who will break his sons to become a wrestling champion. Zac Elfron as Kevin Von Erich is intense trying to get his approval but always failing. Maura Tierney as Doris Van Erich the silent but strong mother of the family who tries to keep it together despite all the sadness.
WHAT IS WRONG: Aaron Dean Eisenberg as Ric Flair! They should have got the real guy because He would be better than the actor who played him. REMEMBER: When you are watching a bio not everything is true and you have to separate fact from fiction.
SHOULD YOU WATCH: YES! It is a sad story of brothers who loved each
other but their father’s dreams got in the way of them living.
THE COLOR PURPLE
MUSICAL
PLOT: Celie goes on a journey to find faith, hope and her sister. Based on the novel by Alice Walker, was a movie in 1985.
WHAT IS GOOD: The songs are very
good especially “Hell No.” Taraji P.
Henson as Shug Avery, a sassy, brassy
blues singer daughter of a preacher.
When she is singing or talking she is sensational!
Fantasia Barrino as Celie who went through hell in life is fantastic. The rest of the cast is equally good.
WHAT IS BAD: It still makes black men look bad.
SHOULD YOU WATCH: YESSSS! It is better as a musical than the drama in
1985. It has tragedy and triumph. Worth watching.
AMERICAN FICTION
COMEDY/DRAMA
PLOT: Monk Ellison (Jeffrey Wright) writes intelligent novels that don’t sell but he needs money to pay bills so he writes a book about stereotypical blacks in the ghetto which becomes a best seller.
WHAT IS RIGHT: The cast is amazing that includes Sterling Brown, Tracie Ellis Ross, Issa Rae and John Oritz, Monk’s happy agent he has a successful client. The subject matter is great as well! Not all black writers want to write about the usual slavery; crime and being poor.
WHAT IS WRONG: The predicable story of family with problems and secrets.
SHOULD YOU WATCH: YES. It shows that black writers have the same
problems as black actors; the usual, tired stereotypes.
MAYHEM
ACTION
PLOT: Sam (Nassim Lyes) is a model prisoner. He finally gets out finds a job, marries and has a little girl. He wants to buy land but can’t but Narong (Olivier Gourmet) will help him if he does illegal activities and when he doesn’t bad things happen to his family.
WHAT IS GOOD: The fight scenes! Brilliantly brutal and men and women get Sam’s wrath! Also you can about the characters because Sam wants to do the right but his pass catches up with him.
WHAT IS WRONG: It is not wrong but half the movie is subtitled; the other half English.
SHOULD YOU WATCH: YESSS! People who love action will love this
MOVIE!!!
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