88th Academy Awards

            Whether you're into the crazy fun of awards season or not, the Academy Awards have proven to show up every year and be one thing: cool. You will always have a good time watching this; an almost untouchable realm of humans that are now acting in a way we aren't used to: human. Relax while tuning in, this is about the fun of seeing the purest form of entertainment climaxing onto one stage and celebrating a year's worth of fun that we all shared.

            Like you, I have my own opinions and I'd like to lend them for your comparison. Here is who I think will win in the "big" categories as well as who I think you shouldn't be surprised as an underdog win if the Academy is so forgiving. Also, there were a few snubs this year that I may as well bring up because, why not, it's what I do!

Best Picture
Will Win: The Revenant
Close Second: Spotlight or Room

Best Director
Will Win: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (The Revenant)
Close Second: Tom McCarthy (Spotlight)

Best Actor
Will Win: Leonardo DiCaprio
Close Second: Leonardo DiCaprio

Best Actress
Will Win: Brie Larson
Close Second: Saoirse Ronan

Best Supporting Actor
Will Win: Mark Rylance
Close Second: Mark Ruffalo

Best Supporting Actress
Will Win: Kate Winslet
Close Second: Alicia Vikander

Best Writing (Directly For Screen)
Will Win: Spotlight
Close Second: Bridge of Spies

Best Writing (Based Off Previous Work)
Will Win: The Martian
Close Second: Room


SNUBBED
Johnny Depp- Black Mass
Jacob Tremblay- Room
Ridley Scott- The Martian
Ex Machina

Spotlight & Room

Spotlight

            Here's a controversial topic: let's go off the deep end and dive into a case that lowers Catholic priests down to the lowest scum of the Earth. As difficult a task as that seems, it happened and it was covered up. Over and over again. Of course, this should not cast a shadow over every priest but to those who have been found guilty, there's hell to pay thanks to the Spotlight investigative team at The Boston Globe in 2001. Four journalists make up this elite team that resides in the lower level offices of the renowned newspaper in Boston, MA and they pride themselves on working slow but extremely effectively, sometimes taking more than a year researching a story. The head of the quartet is Walter Robinson (Michael Keaton), but call him Robby. He may have his own office but there really isn't much separation from the other three: Mike Rezendes (Mark Ruffalo), Sacha Pfeiffer (Rachel McAdams), and Matt Carroll (Brian d'Arcy James). Together, they are brought to the attention of a sexual abuse case that was buried from the 1970s involving a priest and a young boy. Trying to keep things as hush-hush as possible, the Catholic Church removed him from the parish but it turns out he's not the only one that's been covered up and slapped on the wrist for this crime. Possibly 70+, no wait, more like 100+...in the Boston area alone. There's no action here, just solid facts coming from a dynamite Oscar-worthy script right there in courier-new. From the press room, to the office, to the churches, to the courts, hold onto the person next you and try to keep up with this team along with the new editor in town (Liev Schrieber) who watches over them stone-coldly but realizes the kind of leeway this sort of investigating calls for. This ensemble of actors leaves me short of words. Each player just bouncing off the next in a cut-throat journalistic style that punches harder with every interview they track down. I would say Mr. Mark Ruffalo has his scene-stealing moments that earned him the Supporting Actor Oscar nom but we can't leave out the most impressive and fellow nominee Rachel McAdams who prods and prods in rare form as Sacha Pfeiffer. Do not forget that even though Mr. Keaton did not get nominated this year, it was the real life Walter "Robby" Robinson who was astounded by the physical and vocal accuracy that Keaton had mastered before they had even met. The truth hurts sometimes and this subject matter leaves some people still in disbelief but the facts don't lie. It may not win Best Picture at the Academy Awards but I'm sure it has caught the eye of a few aspiring journalists out there looking to shine their own spotlight. GRADE: 9/10

Room

            I don't know about you but I will always be drawn to a kind of minimalist style of filmmaking. You know, the ones that can count the actors on one hand and only take place on one or two sets. The ones like Room. Always go with what works and, in this case, the simpler the better. Room is based of Emma Donaghue's novel of the same name before she adapted her book into the entrancing script immortalized on the silver screen. If you don't know much about this movie with an ambiguous one-word title, allow me to give you a quick rundown. Ma and Jack live in a room. Ma has been there for 7 years now and the movie opens on Jack's 5th birthday so you do the math on that one. A man stops by once a week with the bare (very bare) essentials. There's a sink, toilet, tub, rug, wardrobe and bed. That's all they get. One way in and no way out for 7 years (or Jack's whole life for the matter). I'm going not so far out on a limb by saying Brie Larson will snag the Best Actress Oscar as Ma. That's not a hard decision at all given her complete devotion as a mother raising her child in the most unbearable of conditions. Now Jacob Tremblay, an 8 year old playing a 5 year old and no Oscar nomination? Are you serious? The emotion this young man pulled off working in such close quarters is mesmerizing. He even provides a considerable amount of voice over narration that creates such an innocent environment dropped in a dark tunnel. Brie Larson will get the gold but it's Jacob who deserves the standing ovation here. Unbelievable talent that is nowhere near its peak. Room almost watches like a headline on the nightly news but proves that a scary and paranoid subject matter has another side of the wall as everything in life does. Trust me, this will make you want a deep breath of fresh air as soon as you leave the theater. Thank you for the simple things and thank you for keeping us grounded in a world full of distractions. GRADE: 9/10

Hail, Caesar!

            As you have experienced in the past, there are really two kinds of movies: those that are fun to watch and keep you on the edge of your seat, and those that are hard to watch and lose your interest from being a plain bad movie or just missing the wow factor. It's only every once in a great while that you come across a film that is a hybrid of the two. We'll call it the "hard to figure out" category. I guess you could consider this type of film an achievement all on its own but I wouldn't dwell too much on that notion this time around.

             Well, I hope that was a good enough intro for you and maybe it'll soften the blow on what has become Hail, Caesar!

            The Coen Brothers (Joel and Ethan) are what one would call a dynamic duo. That's an easy reference to make and even a bit of an under statement when discussing the minds who brought to the screen Fargo (1996), No Country For Old Men (2007), True Grit (2010), and what could be their crown jewel, The Big Lebowski (1998). Like Tarantino, if they wrote the script then there's a pretty darn good chance they'll share the director's seat. Hail, Caesar! is not an exception to this Coen tradition but it does fall off the beaten path when it comes to the Coen plot. Or any plot, for that matter.

            When you see names like Clooney, Brolin, Tatum, Johansson, and Fiennes lit up on a marquee you can expect a pretty show to follow. All are actors with considerable film records and frequented by big box office turnouts. Now, what went wrong this time?? Why was Hail, Caesar! so difficult to follow? And where oh where was the storyline?

Alden Ehrenreich and Ralph Fiennes as
Hobie Doyle and Laurence Laurentz.

            Okay okay, let's start with what we know. Josh Brolin is Eddie Mannix. He's a strong arm in 1950s Hollywood and the type of producer that you want to work for and he'll get you to perform one way or the other. He's a big shot with Capitol Studios and is now trying to wrap up two soon-to-be huge blockbuster hits, until, the 1950s equivalent to George Clooney as well as star of one of the films is kidnapped. Next, there's George Clooney playing the kidnapped Baird Whitlock. He's filming Capitol Studios' "Hail Caesar!" (I know it's confusing but bear with me) and is drugged then swept up by a couple of set extras while still wearing his Roman guard costume (which he spends the entire movie in). Turns out, the captors that are holding him in a rather amazingly retro beachfront house are disgruntled screenwriters who have adopted the practices of communism. Who'da thought!

              On the other side of the set is Ralph Fiennes as critically acclaimed director Laurence Laurentz (get it?). His feature film, "Merrily We Dance", stars the hottest new talent on the block, Hobie Doyle. Hobie is a twangy southern boy with a bright future in the world of Westerns. Too bad "Merrily We Dance" is not a western but an average romantic-comedy that requires a tuxedo over leather chaps and feels to Doyle as if the saddle's been tied a little too tight for this cowboy. Note: a particularly hilarious sequence mixing Laurentz's British fluidity and Doyle's clumsy manner is what this film needed much more of.

           

Josh Brolin stars as executive producer Eddie Mannix.

I have to give this movie credit in the quality factor. This was no low budget beginner's cut. It was made to be another Coen knockout. The sets themselves are looks into the golden age of Hollywood with a quick nonchalant joke thrown in here and there but this film lacks so much focus that it even took away from the fun of a period piece. There is one pretty cool dance sequence featuring Channing Tatum breaking out some Gene Kelly sailor moves that really sold me on the fact of how good of an actor he actually is.

            After a lot (I hate to admit) of contemplating what this could be classified as, I came to kind of a conclusion: I believe it is meant to be a satire on the communist "agenda" of Hollywood during the actual making of huge films with huge stars back in the 50s and 60s. Even saying that makes me wince because it still doesn't cover the incompleteness of what the filmmakers seemed to be striving for. Oh yeah and Scarlett Johansson's in it, too, I had almost forgotten. GRADE: 6/10