First Man
I was very excited to hear Damien Chazelle was directing another film after the success of Whiplash and La La Land. But, did I think First Man was out of this world? Definitely not. (Why, yes, yes I did use a space pun. You are welcome.) The story shows the personal life of Neil Armstrong and portrayed him, not as the charming American hero that we all know him as, but as a boring, unemotional and almost arrogant man. I have not read the biography that the film is based on so I don’t know if that’s how the biographer depicted him or if that was a choice by Chazelle, but I wasn’t into it. Also Ryan Gosling was just Ryan Gosling in the movie. I feel like there were obvious character choices he could have made that were missed. Visually the film was great. The action scenes set in space were stunning and it will probably win the visual effects category. It also deserves it nomination for Production Design. It was also nominated for Sound Mixing and Sound Editing. During the film, I found it tough to understand the dialogue and it was frustrating. I almost missed an important death in the beginning of the film because of the layering of score, sounds from rain and muffled dialogue. I watched 3/4ths of the film with subtitles on. Because of this, I don’t think it should win Sound Mixing. There were, though, brilliant moments in the film when they were in the spacecraft that makes it a front runner for Sound Editing. Overall, I think you’ll be fine if you don’t watch this film. It was just alright.
Green Book
If you had no idea what Green Book was until the golden globes, you’re not alone. From the film poster I thought it looked like Driving Miss Daisy but in reverse. It’s true in a way. It is about racial divide and a chauffeur but it’s so much more than that. Set in 1962, it’s about a famous pianist, Don Shirley, that is paraded around high class white societies because of his talent, but is still treated like a second class citizen because of his race. He struggles with his own identity. He does not fit in with white people because of his skin color and he fights desperately to not be like how society portrays a black man to be, even refusing to eat fried chicken because of the implications surrounding it. It’s a wonderful movie and you should definitely go and see it. It’s nominated for Film Editing, which was deserving, but I haven’t seen enough of the other films to make any certain predictions. It was nominated for Best Screenplay and man, do I want it to win. The humor was intelligently placed to lighten the tension with this serious subject matter. The dialogue was moving, with lines like, “You never win with violence. You only win when you maintain your dignity.” Or the scene where Shirley and Lip confront each other on their real feelings about their situation in life:
Dr. Don Shirley: You shouldn’t have hit him.
Tony Lip: I didn’t like the way he was treating you, making you stand out in the rain like that.
Dr. Don Shirley: Please, you hit him because of what he called you. I’ve had to endure that
kind of talk my entire life, you should be able to take it for at least one night.
Tony Lip: What, I can’t get mad at that stuff that he was saying because I ain’t black? Christ, I’m blacker than you.
Dr. Don Shirley: Excuse me?
Tony Lip: You don’t know shit about your own people, what they eat, how they talk, how they live. You don’t even know who Little Richard is.
Dr. Don Shirley: Oh, so knowing who Little Richard is makes you blacker than me? Oh, Tony, I wish you could hear yourself sometimes, you wouldn’t talk so damn much.
Tony Lip: Bullshit! I know exactly who I am. I’m the guy who lived in the same neighborhood in the Bronx my entire life, with my mother, my father, my brother, and now my wife and kids. That’s it, that’s who I am. I’m the asshole who has to hustle every goddamn day to put food out on table. You, Mr. Big Shot, you live on top of a castle traveling around the world doing concerts for rich people. I live on the streets, you sit on a throne. So, yeah, my world is way more blacker than yours!
Dr. Don Shirley: Yes, I live in a castle! Tony. Alone! And rich white people pay me to play piano for them, because it makes them feel cultured. But as soon as I step off that stage, I go right back to being just another n****r to them. Because that is their true culture. And I suffer that slight alone, because I’m not accepted by my own people, because I’m not like them either! So if I’m not black enough, and if I’m not white enough, and if I’m not man enough, then tell me Tony, what am I?!
I’m judging you slightly right now if you don’t have chills after reading that. It’s also nominated for best supporting actor for Mahershala Ali and it has to go to him. He was phenomenal. He’s really been killing the game the last couple of years. He was great in Hidden Figures and won best supporting actor for his role in Moonlight. He’s just very talented and I can’t wait to see what he does next. Viggo Mortensen was also nominated for Best Actor. He’s always a good actor. He really transformed into a new person in this film. It wasn’t just that he gained weight and dyed his hair, he was Tony Lip through and through. Do I think he’ll be strong enough to beat his contenders? Unfortunately not. I also feel this way about the Best Picture nominee. I think it was such a great film and I would love to see it win, I just don’t think the academy will give it to them. So far, though, It’s the best film I’ve seen all year.
Isle of Dogs
Just a warning: I am a huge fan of Wes Anderson so my opinion is very biased. Isle of Dogs is a movie about a place in the future where dogs are exiled to an island and a very brave boy who would risk his life to save his furry friend. Creativity was superb, cinematography was classic Anderson, the voice actors were perfect (Bill Murray, Brian Cranston, Edward Norton, Scarlett Johansson, Jeff Goldblum ... do I even need to continue?) and the humor was charming. I will have to say that out of all of Anderson's films, this is the one I was most underwhelmed with. I did not think the plot was as good as his other films. So far it is my favorite for the Best Animated category, but I think the Academy is going to give it to the Incredibles. It is also up for Best Score and it deserved the nominee. I just think there are better scores out there this year. (Looking at you Black Panther.)
Ralph Breaks the Internet
I never saw Wreck it Ralph. Nothing about the film looked interesting to me. I was a little worried that I would be completely lost when I watched Ralph Breaks the Internet. Luckily, I was never confused about anything, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the film. The movie was about two video game characters who have jumped into the internet to try and raise money for an arcade game piece. They attempted to raise funds through internet scams, online games and eventually finding success through viral videos. The best part about the film was how relevant it was to today's cyber generation. I really could not see how this film could be enjoyed by children, most of the jokes seemed to be geared towards an older audience. Overall, I did find this film to be cute. It's plot and animation, though, were subpar to me and it won't win Best Animated Feature.
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