Oscar Night Predictions 2023

Happy Oscar weekend! Another Oscar season is coming to a close. To wrap it up, I like to do two things: pick a top five from Best Picture and post my official picks for each category. As always, I tried to watch as many films as possible, yet it was never enough. First, here are my top five films nominated for Best Picture:

Women Talking, Tar, TopGun: Maverick, Triangle of Sadness and Everything Everywhere All at Once

Now, onto my Oscar picks in each category. A few categories are left out simply because I didn’t see enough of those films to form a decent opinion on them. Enjoy!

Lead Actor: Brenden Fraser in The Whale

Lead Actress: Michelle Yeoh in EEAAO

Supporting Actor: Ke Huy Quan. I’ll be heartbroken if he does not win.

Supporting Actress: Jamie Lee Curtis, but I would not be upset if any of the other ladies won. So many amazing supporting ladies this year!

Director: Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert for EEAAO

Original Screenplay: Everything Everywhere All at Once

Adapted Screenplay: Women Talking

Cinematography: I would like to see Empire of Light take this. It was only nominated for cinematography and is such a beautiful film.

Film Editing: EEAAO

Production Design: Babylon

Costume Design: EEAAO

Sound: Top Gun: Maverick

Makeup and Hairstyling: The Whale

Original Score: Babylon, cause I cannot stop listening to that jazzy soundtrack.

Original Song: Naatu Naatu from RRR (Maybe I just really want RRR to win an Oscar after it was cruelly denied a Best Picture nomination.)

Visual Effects: Avatar, but nothing else!

Documentary Feature: Fire of Love

Animated Feature: GDT’s Pinocchio

Best Picture: Everything Everywhere All at Once. I really do think this movie could and should take it all, but we’ll see how Sunday night goes. In my opinion, no other film this year is as courageous and compelling so I hope the Academy gives this film and all who worked on it the honor and respect it deserves.

Thanks readers, enjoy Oscar night!

Triangle of Sadness

Ruben Östlund’s Triangle of Sadness is a hilariously tragic social commentary like I’ve never seen before. In three acts, it centers on a young couple of British models, Carl (Harris Dickinson) and Yaya (Charlbi Dean). The opening scene shows us male models in a documentary setting, being interviewed and asked among many questions, how they feel about earning 1/3 as much as female models. This disparity is illustrated further when Carl and Yaya argue over who should pick up the check at dinner. This is part 1.

Part 2 takes place on the yacht. A luxury cruise yacht for maybe two dozen ultra rich guests. It seems Yaya scored a place on this yacht for free as part of her instagram-model influencer gig (she is mostly paid in free stuff). She, and other ladies, make sure their partner takes lots of pictures on the picturesque sundeck. Other guests include Dimitri (Zlatko Burić) a Russian man who proudly claims “I sell shit”, Jarmo (Henrik Dorsin) a timid and lonely middle aged tech genius, Therese (Iris Berben) a woman who suffered a stroke and can only say “In Den Wolken,” and a kind elderly British couple who got rich selling bombs. 

There seems to be more staff than guests on this yacht, it takes a lot of manpower to keep the boat a float and the guests happy, but a majority of them are kept out of sight and out of mind. It’s a very upstairs/downstairs situation. That is until one of the rich Russian ladies gets drunk and insists that all the staff go down the water slide. Her request is begrudgingly fulfilled and ends up spoiling the food and setting the Captain’s Dinner back half an hour. What perfect timing! That’s just when the ship hits some rough waters and makes all the guests waiting for and dining on rancid octopus sea sick. 

The Captain’s Dinner scene is the funniest scene all Oscar season! At least I think so. Fair warning, there is a lot of vomiting. So much vomiting! Like the rocking of the boat (expertly visually depicted!), the vomiting starts slow and builds and spreads until it is out of control. At the start of dinner, everyone is dressed in their fanciest clothes and jewels trying to keep composure as the boat rocks and the chandelier shakes. Around the room, one at a time, people start to gag and belch as they wait for food or choke down fancy rancid seafood. Soon, vomit is splattering everywhere and the only ones holding their meals down are the staff, the Russian who sells shit and the captain (Woody Harrelson) who ate a cheeseburger and fries instead of the octopus. Together they get drunk and start reading quotes from Marx and other philosophers over the intercom. Everyone is stuck listening to their drunken banter while they get sick. If I could distill this film down to a single image, it would be when one woman is trying to hold onto the toilet but ends up sliding around on her bathroom floor covered in her own shit and vomit while wearing her finest jewelry.

Part 3 is definitely a spoiler, so go watch Triangle of Sadness (it’s on Hulu and to rent on Prime!) and come back when you’re ready. You ready? Part 3 is entitled The Island. The morning after the captain’s dinner, the ship is attacked by pirates (probably because the whole crew was cleaning puke) and ends up bombed and sunk. Only nine people survive and make it to the island, including Carl, Yaya, Dimitri, Therese, Jarmo, and Abigail (Dolly de Leon) the toilet manager on the yacht. But the pecking order completely unravels on the island. The rich have no survival skills. What good is being rich or beautiful when you’re marooned on an island? In Carl’s case what good is your masculinity when you’re unskilled and have nothing to offer but your good looks? Abigail quickly becomes the leader because she’s the only one who knows how to fish, prepare food or make a fire. And she takes pretty boy Carl as her prize.

Triangle of Sadness is nominated for three Academy Awards including Best Picture and best original screenplay. Ruben Östlund is nominated for best director, his first nomination. 

There is so much to say about Triangle of Sadness, I could go on about it all day. And I have, my husband has had a hell of a week dealing with me. I love the social commentary about classism, sexism, socialism and communism. So many isms! I love how flawlessly pulled off the boat rocking is and how it started to make me seasick on my own couch. I love how society flips on the island and Abigail creates a matriarchy. And I love all the puke! I mean seriously, Östlund took a huge risk there, committed to it and cranked that shit up to eleven and it worked. Thank you for a fantastic movie and the greatest puke scene in Oscar history! 

“Winston, look. Isn’t this one of ours?”

Top Gun: Maverick

Over the summer I was a stubborn fool. I didn’t go see Top Gun: Maverick in theaters. I know, I know. Alyson, what were you thinking?! Didn’t you hear the rave reviews? Why? I don’t know. Like I said, I’m was stubborn and just plain stupid. Part of me didn’t want to give Tom Cruise anymore money. Before that opening montage on the aircraft carrier at golden hour was over I was regretting everything. My husband looked at me from the other side of the couch, reading the regret and admiration on my face, “I told you to go out and see it.” I wish I had seen it in IMAX. Instead I watched it 3 times in 24 hours on my couch with a free trail of Paramount+, like a chump.

Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) has been a captain in the Navy flying various aircraft for over thirty years. It seems he doesn’t rise higher in the ranks because he makes it a habit of pissing off admirals. Just when it seems that Maverick has flown too close to the sun again, this time in a beautiful and daring scene as he pushes a new aircraft past mach 10, his old wingman Iceman (Val Kilmer) calls him up for a special assignment at Top Gun. There Maverick is briefed about a top secret mission to destroy an enemy nuclear thing hidden between mountains. To complete and survive the mission, pilots and their aircraft will be pushed to insane limits and have to hit a target only three meters wide. To Maverick’s surprise, his task is to teach the new generation of pilots how to complete the mission. 

Things get complicated because one of the young pilots is Goose’s son, Bradley, aka Rooster (Miles Teller). If you didn’t see the original Top Gun, there are flashbacks showing that Goose was Maverick’s partner and he died in an accident while Maverick was flying. It’s obvious Maverick has some major guilt and PTSD over the accident. But what Rooster holds against Maverick is the fact that he pulled his papers at the flight academy, setting his career back four years. Obviously they’re going to butt heads. 

The flight training and mission scenes are a huge part of what makes this film so amazing. Each time we’re in a cockpit is a wild ride. The scenes are thrilling, visually spectacular, expertly choreographed and edited flawlessly. During the big mission I was on the edge of my seat, cheering and yelling at the characters. Not to give anything away, but I did not expect such a grand finale to that mission, it was perfect. 

The compelling story and Maverick’s character growth is what I really think landed this film into a best picture nomination. I’ll be the first to say, the first Top Gun is good, not great. 1986 Mav is just a hot shot who screwed up and got his friend killed and scrapes by on talent, luck and guts. Top Gun: Maverick does not let us forget that, but expands from there. Maverick is still self-sabotaging, perhaps as penance, but it seems that the years have made him less arrogant, less of a hot head and more emotionally vulnerable. He’s grappling with his job being replaced by drones, his friend’s failing health and the worry that he’ll lose the only person he really cares about, Rooster. The mission is extremely dangerous. Choosing Rooster for the mission may earn the kid’s trust back, but Rooster may never come back. And no matter what the Navy puts Maverick through, he just keeps living. And then there is Penny (Jenny Connelly) and old flame who owns the local watering hole. In 1986 Mav would’ve pestered her and followed her into the bathroom like a jerk. This Maverick has matured a bit, their relationship is sweeter and maybe there is more to lose.

If you asked me last summer if a sequel to Top Gun would be any good or gain any non-technical Oscar nominations, I would have laughed and said no way. Currently, Top Gun: Maverick is nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture. I am most impressed with the film’s nomination for adapted screenplay. Other nominations include film editing, visual effects, sound, and original song. And Hold My Hand is so much better than Take My Breath Away. 

“It’s not the plane. It’s the pilot.”

The Banshees of Inisherin

The Banshees of Inisherin has been categorized as a comedy. And while there are a few funny moments, maybe more awkward than funny, this movie is far from a laugh riot. I guess it’s more of a comedy of exasperation. Unless you find loneliness and despair on a tiny, rural island off the coast of Ireland in 1923 with bombs going off on the mainland hysterical. 

Simply put, one day Pádraic (Colin Farrell) suddenly finds that his friend Colm (Brendan Gleeson) doesn’t want to be friends anymore. Colm tells Pádraic straight off that he’s dull and doesn’t want to waste his time with him anymore. Understandably, it’s a tough to swallow, Pádraic wants to know if he’s done something or offended Colm in some way. It’s not that, Colm just seems to think their friendship is a waste and he’d rather focus on music. He’s writing a beautiful piece on his violin. But when Pádraic keeps pestering Colm, he warns Padric that he will cut off his own fingers each time Padric tries to talk to him. I mean, the man values playing his violin …how serious can he be? 

***Spoiler Alert*** He’s fe*kin’ serious. A thump and a splash of blood on Pádraic’s front door confirms that Colm would rather cut off his own fiddle playing fingers rather than deal with Pádraic. We could laugh and say these grown men just need a decent therapist, but the only thing close to that on their little island is the bartender down at the pub. 

The rest of the island is just as fe*ked up. The policeman’s son, Dominic (Barry Keoghan) is either hiding from his abusive father or bothering the women in the pub. The unfriendly shop lady is desperate for any news going around, even opening letters that aren’t hers. And showing up out of the blue is this ghoulish old woman who seems to know everyone’s business and loves stirring up trouble. The only one who isn’t fe*ked up is Pádraic’s sister, Siobhán (Kerry Condon). Maybe that’s why she’ll get a chance to leave. 

The infamous “I’m nice!” scene stands out for the perfect acting and the message Pádraic is trying to drunkenly convey. “I’m nice” sure, kindness may not be remembered historically like Mozart but it helps keep the world spinning and makes it all a little more bearable. Don’t push nice people away. If you push them too far and alienate them, who knows what they might do. 

The Banshees of Inisherin is currently nominated for nine Academy Awards including Best Picture. Martin McDonagh is nominated for best director, his first nomination in the category. Colin Farrell is nominated for lead actor. Brendan Gleeson is nominated for supporting actor, along with Barry Keoghan. And Kerry Condon is nominated for best supporting actress. This is each actor’s first Oscar nomination. The film is also nominated for original score, original screenplay and film editing. 

Without putting to much wind into it, this is a beautifully shot film depicting despair, isolation and loneliness in such a remote place where anyone’s business becomes everyone’s gossip. The budding spring on this Irish isle is picturesque but the people make it bleak. If only they could all be as nice as Pádraic, but even he can be pushed to do mean things. Justice for Jenny!

“I do worry sometimes I might just be entertaining myself while staving off the inevitable.”

Everything Everywhere All at Once

When I first saw Everything Everywhere All at Once when it first came to theaters, I left the theater absolutely gobsmacked. I was astounded and confused but I loved it. I had never seen a film like that before, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. The film was wild, with kung fu fighting, crazy things happened in nearly every scene, yet it was profound and contained a message about kindness, acceptance and healing. There were people with hot dog fingers and people exploding into confetti, a hibachi chef with a raccoon hidden under his hat! At times it was funny and silly, even with cartoon sound effects, but then somber and serious. It sounds like it would be a big mess, but it wasn’t. It was perfect. 

The story centers around Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh), a middle aged Asian American woman who runs a laundromat with her husband, Waymond (Ke Huy Quan). On this particular day, she has a lot on her plate: her father is in town, they’re throwing a Chinese new year party tonight, her daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu) is wanting to introduce her girlfriend to her grandfather and they have a meeting with an IRS agent (Jamie Lee Curtis) about being audited. To complicate things even further, Waymond starts acting very strange as they get to the IRS building. He says he is from another dimension and together they must save the world. Also, Waymond wants a divorce. 

The multiverse activity we encounter in EEAAO makes Dr. Strange and his movies look like child’s play. We don’t see a lot inside each multiverse, but rather who Evelyn is within them based on different decisions she made throughout her life. She sees who she would have become if she had not run off with Waymond to get married and live in America and many other versions of herself. When Evelyn understands her place in the multiverse more and is better at verse-jumping she realizes that a version of her daughter is the evil that must be defeated before all the universes are sucked into her everything bagel (it’s like a black hole, but way cooler). Rather than kill/sacrifice her daughter to save the multiverse, Evelyn tries to become as strong as her evil counterpart by verse-jumping to gain all sorts of abilities. 

All the actors in this film do a phenomenal job making us believe all the insanity happening in this film. Michelle Yeoh makes Evelyn relatable and surprisingly bad-ass once she gets the hang of verse jumping. In the beginning, Evelyn is a bit cold, no nonsense and bossy, but by the end she’s transformed into someone so much more strong, confident and reckless. Ke Huy Quan switches back and forth from normal wimpy Waymond to bad-ass alpha Waymond with hilarious ease. One moment he’s sweet and dorky, and the next he’s taken off his fanny pack and beat up a slew of police officers with it. Stephanie Hsu has to embody Joy as an awkward young adult who is running out of steam trying to be enough for her mother, but also as Jobo, an evil carefree egomaniac. I imagine filming that first scene with Jobo in the hallway must have been so fun for Hsu. And Jamie Lee Curtis is almost unrecognizable in her fat suit and then is wild as she verse-jumps, fights and plays the piano with her toes in the surprisingly tender hot dog finger universe. 

Everything Everywhere All at Once is nominated for a whopping eleven Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert are jointly nominated for best director. Michelle Yeoh is nominated for lead actress, Ke Huy Quan for supporting actor. Stephanie Hsu and Jamie Lee Curtis are both nominated in the supporting actress category. This is each actor’s first Oscar nomination. The film’s other nominations include best costume design, film editing, costume design, original screenplay and original song (This Is a Life). I wouldn’t mind seeing EEAAO sweep and take home ten little Oscars. 

This film is so ambitious and took a lot of risks. All the visual effects were done by a team of nine people, including the directors, who simply learned how to pull these tricks off with online videos. It takes the multiverse genre to new, unexpected heights. It’s an amazing mix of nearly every film genre rolled into one with the actors doing amazing stunts, physical comedy and heart-tugging emotional moments. And it’s weird. I mean as one point Evelyn has to fight two men with strangely phallic trophies stuck up their butts. And yet it works. It’s visually beautiful. It’s funny. It’s sincere. It’s compelling. It’s crazy. It’s amazing. It really is Everything Everywhere All at Once. 

“Your stupid plan to somehow save your daughter has managed to piss off everyone in the multiverse. But it just might work.”

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio is a beautiful work of stop-motion animation retelling the classic tale of a wooden puppet come to life. Here, Guillermo del Toro focuses more on life, death, grief and the heavy burden each of those things can be. We see how happy and complete Geppetto (voiced by David Bradley) is with his son, Carlo. Then, after Carlo’s devastating death, we see the gaping horrible grief in Geppetto, like a deep wound that will never heal. One night, while drunk and weeping at Carlo’s grave, Geppetto cuts down the pine tree he planted for Carlo (with a new Cricket resident (voiced by Ewan McGregor) inside!). Fueled by grief and wine and he vows to make Carlo again and creates Pinocchio. After Geppetto has passed out, a mysterious Wood Sprite (voiced by Tilda Swinton) brings Pinocchio (voiced by Gregory Mann) to life and charges the Cricket to be his conscience. And poor Geppetto wakes up to a horrible hangover and a shock to find his slap-dash, wooden mess has come to life and calls him Papa! 

Geppetto’s main problem is not that he now has a new wooden son, but that Pinocchio behaves nothing like Carlo. Carlo was a perfectly well behaved and helpful boy and Pinocchio is, to put it politely, not. He is loud, unruly, dangerously curious, chaotically energetic, gullible and innocent to a fault. Pinocchio is not a bad boy, but often just doesn’t understand or know any better. I think many parents can understand Geppetto’s dilemma; too often we wish that one child could behave as well as the other. But the message we see by the end of the film is not for the boy to be “good” so he can be real, but for the parent to love the child as he is, splinters and all.

My younger son has taken a keen liking to this film and loves Pinocchio for all his imperfections. He loves to ask for things in an energetically annoying “please please please PLEASE!!!” as Pinocchio does. My son especially enjoys Spazzatura (the monkey voiced by Cate Blanchett),  the scenes depicting the monstrous whale that swallows them whole and any time Pinocchio’s nose grows. And to my terror, he thinks it is hilarious when Pinocchio innocently sets his feet on fire, and then enjoys it! Maybe my son sees a bit of himself in the little wooden boy. All I know for sure is, this film is the reason we’ve gone through so much hot chocolate lately. 

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio is on Netflix and rated PG. With the more mature themes presented, I believe that this film is meant to be enjoyed by the whole family and parents should guide their children through it. The heartbreaking focus on death and grief can be a bit much for very sensitive children. The rabbits carrying Pinocchio’s coffin in the underworld are not cute and fluffy. There are intriguing parallels between Pinocchio and the wooden man he sees in the church. The depiction of 1930s fascist Italy, complete with military youth camps and Mussolini casually ordering his men to shoot Pinocchio is something many parents may not want their kids to see. Not to mention Pinocchio’s special song for when Mussolini visits his puppet show! 

But Guillermo del Toro understands animation is not a medium just for children, but an art for all to enjoy, even when telling children’s fairy tales. And he has created a wonderful, remarkable and beautiful stop motion animated film that adults can immerse themselves in without feeling childish. And can I say, there is just something intangibly perfect about telling the tale of Pinocchio with a whole cast of puppets that the talented animators bring to life!

“I’m made of flesh and bone and meaty bits!”

Tár

In Todd Field’s latest film, Tár, we meet our title character at the top of her game. Lydia Tár (Cate Blanchett) is the first female chief conductor at the Berlin Philharmonic. In an early scene she is interviewed on stage and Adam Gopnik lists off her illustrious list of titles and accomplishments, including an EGOT. She has a wife and daughter, two spacious apartments and fans who talk and flirt with her after public engagements. She even teaches the occasional class at Juilliard, with her own brand of no nonsense engagement with the students.

But there is a dark side to Lydia. Her wife, the first violin in the orchestra, has helped her play politics and climb the ladder within the orchestra. And she plans to have the old man of the orchestra replaced soon. Lydia has used her influence to help aspiring female conductors, but perhaps with certain favors exchanged along the way. When a young protégé and ex-lover commits suicide, Lydia is haunted by her. Soon, Lydia’s life, world and mind start to unravel. 

I will venture out on a limb and call this film a ghost story. Do I have proof of these ghosts? Only flashes of red hair and figures lurking in the background around Lydia’s apartment. Yes, go back and watch it again. I counted at least three unexplained human forms. And who else could have set that metronome off in the night? It’s the ghost of Krista, and it took me two watches to find her and I’ll admit it scared the hell out of me the first time I noticed her sitting in that chair in Lydia’s bedroom in the middle of the night. 

One theme I noticed and love is how Lydia is constantly distracted by sounds. A knock at the door, a pen clicking, heels clacking, a siren, even a subtle vibration of the car vent. Sometimes they simply distract her from the situation at hand or they even wake her up in the night. We could chalk it up to her astute musicality and acute hearing but I also think it shows the weight of her guilty conscience. Especially that screaming in the park. 

Cate Blanchett leads this film like a force of nature. At first we see her Lydia as an accomplished, strong and intelligent woman who presides over her orchestra and the world she has created. During this time we may envy or look up to this Lydia. But as the story unfolds, so does Lydia’s character. We see a cold, calculating woman, selfishly using others as needed and able to toss them away easily. The way she can look at Olga, as if she were a wolf ready to devour her, is so calculated and restrained yet yearning. And towards the end, watching her throw her world into further chaos is beautiful and hypnotic. I could watch Cate Blanchett stand backstage and then tackle her replacement over and over again. Her control and then unhinged rage is absolutely perfect. I think it could sway the Academy into giving her a shiny new Oscar. 

Tár is also nominated for six Academy Awards including Best Picture. Other nominations include original screenplay, cinematography and film editing. Cate Blanchette is nominated for best lead actress, her fifth nomination in the category, her eighth acting nomination overall. And Todd Field is nominated for best director, his first nomination in the category.

There is a lot to unpack in this film and honestly, it gets better and better each time I watch it. With my first watch, I considered it your basic artsy character study, taut, smart and intense. But something about Tár gnawed at me, so I watched it again, studied how the character unravels herself and discovered the hidden ghosts. I’m now convinced poor Krista was haunting Lydia, driving her mad and leading her to her ultimate downfall. 

“You must in fact stand in front of the public and God and obliterate yourself.”

Women Talking

In a remote religious community, the women have finally had enough. Enough of what? The men. And their violence. Their savage beatings. Rape. No one is safe from them, not even their own little children. So a group of women gather in a hay loft to discuss what to do about it. Do they do nothing? Stay and fight? Or simply leave and never look back?

The women discussing this decision in the hayloft range from the very old to no more than twelve, but they have all been attacked. Not each character’s story is discussed, or shown through devastating flashbacks, I’m afraid of how long and depressing the film would be if so. Stories include Mariche (Jessie Buckley), a wife and mother trying to protect her children from their violent father. Ona (Rooney Mara) is an unmarried woman pregnant by an attacker. Ona’s sister, Salome (Claire Foy), had to walk twelve miles to get her three year old daughter antibiotics after she contracted an STD from being raped. And one teen, Mejal (Michelle McLeod), has panic attacks because of the trauma she’s endured.  

There is one man present in the hayloft discussions, August (Ben Whishaw). Because he is the school teacher and his trusted family was once excommunicated trying to stand up against the violent men the women trust him to keep notes, since none of them know how to read or write. He quickly understands he is there to listen, take notes, bear witness, give his opinion only when asked, and hopefully teach the men later. 

There is a wonderful discussion about whether the young teen boys are safe to go with the women that leads into a lesson to teach the boys better. This male driven society has taught generations of boys to become violent predators, but the women and August agree that has to stop. The boys must be taught to treat women as equal and to never be violent. There is never a discussion about how the girls must learn to protect themselves. These women know they can not be protected when living among monsters. 

Women Talking is only nominated for two Academy Awards. They include Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture. Women Talking is the only film nominated for Best Picture directed by a woman. What a shame Sarah Polley was not nominated for her vaillant directing here. 

**Spoiler Alert** The film ends before we see the men’s reactions. Most women in the audience know how it will play out. They’ll wake up so surprised. They never saw this coming. How could she? What could she be so upset about? But we know this was not a hasty decision. Women are not taught to act rashly. We think and rethink these decisions over and over again for too long. This has been building up for years, decades and over generations. It was bound to snap. 

There is nothing flashy, sexy or action packed about Women Talking. These Mennonite girls weren’t wearing makeup, short skirts or got drunk at a party. The men are simply monstrous predators, barely worthy of any on screen presence. The film is powerful, heartbreaking and defiant against the long silence many women endure. It asks you to sit down, be quiet and listen. Bear witness to these stories. Understand and empathize with these poor, beaten women. Watch them rise up. They have nothing, no money, no education, nothing but their lives and hope for a better tomorrow. I truly hope this film will inspire other women to rise up against their aggressors and for the men to learn and do better.

“We have been preyed upon like animals. Maybe we should respond like animals.”

Elvis

Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis portrays the king of rock and roll in ways many who lived before his time have never truly comprehended. The young are told Elvis was revolutionary and a rebel when he first broke onto the music scene. And older generations still revel in the glitz and glamor he brought to Vegas, where his presence has become mythical, yet commercialized. But rather than giving us a straightforward retelling of his life, Baz lets Elvis’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks), take the reins, and narrate this film. We see the Elvis he discovered, created, worked like a dog and kept caged in that glittering Las Vegas hotel. And filled with dizzying visual techniques and unexpected musical mashups, is a damn good show.

In classic Luhrmann fashion, this film follows his typical formula, making this film feel like an emotional roller coaster ride. The opening builds up the tension, we are aware of Elvis’s eventual demise. Then we plunge into an energetic world of rock and roll shows, girls screaming for Elvis dancing in his pink suit. The sudden rise to fame is exciting and intoxicating. But consequences of his rebellion hit. Tragedy strikes when his mother dies just after he is forced into the US army. Then we’re shown the dizzying years of television and movie fame, trying to stay relevant and true to himself as the world quakes from the civil rights movement and all this wears on his little family. As Elvis dreams of a world tour, the Colonel unveils his greatest con of all, keeping Elvis permanently in Las Vegas to perform in the same place, same time over and over again. The final act casts us into despair as we watch poor overworked Elvis succumb to his pill addiction and fading health under the spotlight. 

What keeps me coming back to this movie again and again is the first half of the film, depicting a young, skinny Elvis discovering his own style. We are shown flashbacks of him as a little kid in dirty overalls, hanging out with little black boys, sneaking a peak at some raw rhythm and blues and simultaneously surrendering to the ecstasy of a revival tent. As a young man, he enjoys hanging out on Beale Street with BB King. One of my favorite scenes is when they’re watching a young, unknown Little Richard sing Tutti Frutti

One of the best things this film portrays is just how divided the times were around Elvis. On one side, we see young people moved by his music and girls screaming over his dancing. However, Elvis is a product of the segregated south and those who want to keep it that way cannot abide by a young white man gyrating his hips and playing “negro music.” Elvis just wants to be true to himself, not sellout but keep supporting his family. He’s constantly in conflict with himself and what others expect him to do. Especially what the Colonel wants him to do. 

Elvis is currently nominated for eight Academy Awards including Best Picture. The film is also nominated for best sound, film editing, production design, makeup and hairstyling, costume design and cinematography. Austin Butler is nominated for Best Lead actor in his amazing performance as Elvis, his first Oscar nomination. 

I cannot think of another director better suited to make a biopic about Elvis. Baz Luhrmann brings his spectacular visual style and funky love of music mashups to perfectly create an enjoyable and empathetic ride through Elvis’s life. The impacts, both cultural and personal are clear to the audience, shown in a way that all generations can appreciate them. And who else could use a mix Hound Dog with Doja Cat and pull it off? 

“Come on, man. They’re not gonna put you in jail. They might put me in jail for walkin’ across the street, but you a famous white boy. Too many people making too much money off you to put you in jail.”

All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)

Edward Berger’s All Quiet on the Western Front starts with a moment of juxtaposition. We are shown the beautiful winter forest in France, and then a family of foxes sleeping, nestled in their foxhole. A foxhole as nature intended. Then we are shown a gruesome, overhead shot of a nearby battlefield. The bodies of young men in German and French uniforms are strewn about in the cold mud. If only they had stayed in their foxholes. Or warm in their homes. 

Then we are shown the ever moving machine that is war. Soldiers emerge from the trenches only to die within a few minutes. The dead are collected into piles and transported. They are stripped of their uniforms and shoes. Coffins are stacked. Blood is washed out of uniforms, the bullet holes sewn shut. Ready for the next round of soldiers to wear, fight and die in.

Adapted from Erich Maria Remarque’s classic novel, the film follows four young German men as they leave school, eager to join the war. Their teacher fills them with hope, telling them that they are the future of Germany, that they will be marching on Paris within weeks and many wonderful things await when they come home victorious. 

The boys’ arrival at the front is a rude awakening. Their transport is given up so medics can help the dozens of dying men left in the mud. One of their first orders in the trench is to bail out the filthy, knee high water. One boy comments “Somehow this isn’t how I imagined it.” By the end of the night the boys will have experienced their first bombing and seen absolutely horrific and gruesome deaths. 

Watching this version of All Quiet on the Western front is not for the faint of heart. The realistic violence and gore rival nearly every other war movie I’ve ever seen. I can watch grizzly horror movies and not bat an eye, but some of the violence and reactions from other soldiers got under my skin and made me want to turn away. I share this with you not just as a warning for the squeamish, but a testament to how effective this film is. It is an unflinching look at the horrors of war and makes us more sympathetic to these poor soldiers dying in the mud and fills us with hatred for the leaders who keep this war going in comfort from afar.

All Quiet on the Western Front is nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The other nominations are best sound, adapted screenplay, cinematography, production design, makeup and hairstyling, visual effects, and original score. It’s easy to see that with this film’s various technical achievements make it an intense and immersive film to experience.. All Quiet on the Western Front is also nominated for Best International Feature Film, representing Germany. 

This film is a stirring, dramatic and gruesome look at World War I. And just as the author originally intended, it still sends a deep anti-war message. It’s never worth it. There is no glory in war. There is no glory in death. To some, soldiers were simply a cog in the machine, easily replaced when they were spent. But the human within the soldier, they are worth remembering. We remember their sacrifice and tell their stories for generations to come. 

“My son killed in the war. He doesn’t feel any honor.”