I love movies (the older the better) and I’ve developed this annual tradition of having to see all the movies nominated for best picture before the Academy Awards are handed out.
Once again I find myself up against a tight deadline to get them all watched before this Sunday night. Now if you ask my boss Freda or my husband Jeff, they’ll tell you that’s nothing new and it’s not just with movies…wink wink. It also doesn’t help that there are 9 nominees this year and most didn’t come out until December!
I love Hollywood and awards season, it still holds a lot of glamour to me. And while I’m hoping this year will not be so political and just focus on the art and the talent, I’m afraid that’s just too much to hope for. Regardless, I’ll be watching because there are so many worthy Oscar contenders in the running this year! So far I’ve seen Best Picture nominees – La La Land, Arrival, Hell or High Water and Hidden Figures. This week I’ll add Hacksaw Ridge and Manchester By The Sea (a priority because I feel Casey Affleck will get the Best Actor nod). I’ve also seen Jackie, a great performance by Natalie Portman, but I don’t see her beating the likely winner Emma Stone in La La Land. Hollywood is in love with the musical, it’s gained 14 nominations – tying the previous record held by all About Eve and Titanic – and it could sweep. I have to admit I was not a big fan, they almost lost me with the opening scene. All I could think about was “did they really shut down L-A freeway traffic to shoot this nonsense?”…then again when Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling flew up into the stars while dancing….eek. But they have great chemistry together and were perfectly suited for the parts.
There was clearly one performance left out of the Best Actress category in my opinion – Taraji P Henson in Hidden Figures. I’m a big fan of hers, this was very different than anything else she’s done and it was flawless, but she was left out of the running. Hidden figures is also the film I’d like to see win Best Picture! My second choice would be Arrival – great story line and should win a lot of technical awards. La La Land will mostly likely take it unless Hollywood surprises us all by giving it to Moonlight…the sleeper hit of the season with an almost certain nod to Mareshala Ali as Best Supporting Actor. I hope I can squeeze this one and Fences into my schedule before Sunday! It’s doubtful I can get to Lion, that’s the only one I know very little about. One thing I will say is that there is a lot of diversity in the nominees this year and I’ve have been exposed to movies I probably would have never gone to see.
So this year the real winner is me! Now where’s my Oscar?
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