Review: "KNIVES OUT" a Fresh Cut of Murder Mystery

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 15 (of 2020) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

Knives Out (2019)
Running time:  130 minutes (2 hours, 10 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for thematic elements including brief violence, some strong language, sexual references, and drug material
WRITER/DIRECTOR:  Rian Johnson
PRODUCERS:  Rian Johnson and Ram Bergman
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Steve Yedlin (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Bob Ducsay
COMPOSER:  Nathan Johnson
Academy Award nominee

MYSTERY/COMEDY

Starring:  Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Toni Collette, LaKeith Stanfield, Christopher Plummer, Katherine Langford, Jaeden Martell, Riki Lindhome, Edi Patterson, Frank Oz, K Callan, Noah Segan, M. Emmet Walsh, and Marlene Forte

Knives Out is a 2019 mystery film written and directed by Rian Johnson.  The film is a modern whodunit and a murder mystery inspired by the works of the legendary mystery novelist, Agatha Christie.  Knives Out focuses on a master detective investigating an eccentric, combative family after the family's patriarch is found dead.

Knives Out introduces wealthy crime novelist, Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer).  He has invited his family to his Massachusetts mansion for his 85th birthday party.  The following morning, Harlan's housekeeper, Fran (Edi Patterson), finds Harlan dead, with his throat slit.  Local police Detective Lieutenant Elliott (LaKeith Stanfield) believes Harlan's death to be a suicide.  However, an anonymous party among the family has secretly paid private eye, Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), to investigate Harlan's death as a homicide.  Blanc finds his suspects among the members of the family, and each one is either eccentric or combative.

Blanc learns that Harlan's relationships with his family were strained.  Blanc is keeping an eye on particular members of the family.  There is Harlan's eldest daughter, Linda Drysdale (Jamie Lee Curtis), a real estate mogul, and his youngest son, Walt Thrombey (Michael Shannon).  There is also Joni Thrombey (Toni Collette), Harlan's daughter-in-law and the widow of his late son, Neil, and his son-in-law, Richard Drysdale (Don Johnson), Linda's husband.  Even Harlan's nurse and close friend, Marta Cabrera (Ana de Armas), is a suspect... or at least has knowledge that will answer important questions.  And where is Harlan's grandson, Ransom “Hugh” Drysdale (Chris Evans), the spoiled playboy son of Linda and Richard?

Whodunit... if it is true that someone did anything criminal?  Or is the truth more complicated and too obvious for even world-famous private investigator Benoit Blanc to discover?

Rian Johnson's Knives Out starts with an excellent screenplay, not necessarily in terms of the mystery's plot.  That is mostly just an exercise in genre elements and trappings – similar to the twists and terms found in the works of Agatha Christie and those stories inspired by Christie.  The best of Knives Out is in the characters, the kind that character actors can use to chew up movie scenery.

The cast of Knives Out is comprised of actors who have been at or near the top of their professions in film or television at some point in their careers.  They are not really known as character actors because they have been or still are headliners.  However, they are mostly veteran actors, and they can do what character actors do best, and that is deliver performances that create the kind of characters of which film audiences cannot get enough.

That is what Rian Johnson did with this film.  He composed a topnotch script, and then, he directed his actors to topnotch performances.  The result is a mystery film that grabs the viewers and holds them from start to finish.  I certainly felt as if I could not let stop watching Knives Out; it is truly a fun film to watch.  It is not perfect; there seems not to be enough screen time for some of the best characters, such as Jamie Lee Curtis' Linda Drysdale, Michael Shannon's Walt Thrombey, and Toni Collette's Joni Thrombey.  And Chris Evan's Ransom Drysdale seems misused...

Still, get yourself to Knives Out, dear reader.  It is one of the funniest and most enjoyable murder mystery films in quite some time.

8 of 10
A

Saturday, June 20, 2020


NOTES:
2019 Academy Awards, USA:  1 nomination: “Best Original Screenplay” (Rian Johnson)

2019 BAFTA Awards:  1 nomination: “Best Screenplay” (Rian Johnson)

2019 Golden Globes, USA:  3 nominations:  “Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy,” “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Ana de Armas), and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Daniel Craig)


The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site or blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Review: "HELLBOY" Reboot is Hella Fun

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 12 (of 2020) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

Hellboy (2019)
Running time: 121 minutes (2 hours, 1 minute)
MPAA – R for strong bloody violence and gore throughout, and language
DIRECTOR:  Neil Marshall
WRITER:  Andrew Cosby (based upon the Dark Horse comic book series, Hellboy, created by Mike Mignola)
PRODUCERS:  Lawrence Gordon, Carl Hampe, Yariv Lerner, Lloyd Levin, Matt O'Toole, Mike Richardson, Les Weldon, and Philip Westgren
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Lorenzo Senatore
EDITOR:  Martin Bernfeld
COMPOSER:  Benjamin Wallfisch

SUPERHERO/FANTASY/HORROR/ACTION

Starring:  David Harbour, Ian McShane, Daniel Dae Kim, Sasha Lane, Milla Jovovich, Stephen Graham (voice), Penelope Mitchell, Mark Stanley, Brian Gleeson, Mario de la Rosa, Alistair Petrie, Sophie Okonedo, and Thomas Haden Church

Hellboy is a 2019 superhero, horror, and dark fantasy film from director Neil Marshall.  The film is based on the Hellboy character and comic books created by Mike Mignola and published by Dark Horse Comics.  The film is a reboot of the Hellboy film franchise, which began with director Guillermo del Toro's 2004 film, Hellboy.  Hellboy 2019 finds the title character trying to stop an ancient sorceress who is bent on destroying humanity.

Hellboy opens in the year 517 A.D.  Vivienne Nimue (Milla Jovovich), the evil “Queen of Blood,” unleashes a plague on England.  King Arthur uses his legendary sword, Excalibur, to dismember Nimue.  Because even dismemberment will not kill Nimue, Arthur has the parts of her body hidden in different secret locations across England.

In the present-day, Hellboy (David Harbour), a powerful demon who works for the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (BPRD), returns to the organization's headquarters in Colorado.  There, he is assigned by BPRD leader, Trevor Bruttenholm (Ian McShane), his adoptive human father, to travel to London to assist the Osiris Club, an ancient English society similar to the BPRD, in hunting three giants that are plaguing Great Britain.

Meanwhile, a pig-like creature, Gruagach (voice of Stephen Graham), is on a quest to retrieve Vivienne Nimue's limbs so that, once she is whole again, she will grant him his wish for revenge against Hellboy.  Nimue, however, has other plans for Hellboy, which don't include his destruction.  Now, only Alice Monaghan (Sasha Lane), a young spirit medium, and Ben Daimio (Daniel Dae Kim), a British “M11” agent, and Hellboy stand between Nimue and Hell on Earth.

I am not a big fan of Guillermo del Toro's original Hellboy film.  It has great production values, and is a gorgeous movie fill with fantastical visual elements.  But the story is executed in a clunky and awkward fashion and the characters are not that interesting.  However, del Toro's follow-up to that film, the Oscar-nominated Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008), is one of my all-time favorite films, and I consider it to be one of the all-time best films adapted from a comic book.

Director Neil Marshall's 2019 Hellboy reboot was a box office bomb, with its worldwide box office failing to recoup even the film's production costs.  On the other hand, I think Hellboy 2019 is far superior to Hellboy 2004 and is closer to Hellboy II, in terms of quality.  In fact, Hellboy 2019 almost seems like a reworking of the plot of the 2008 film.

First, I should say that there are a few things that I don't like about Hellboy 2019.  For one thing, although I am a fan of the actor Ian McShane, I do not like his version of Hellboy's father, Trevor Bruttenholm, who seems to be nothing more than a monster fighting, soldier of fortune caricature.  Also, I absolutely hate the new costume and makeup design for Hellboy.  It is true that I prefer Ron Perlman, the actor who played Hellboy in del Toro's films, but David Harbour does represent himself quite well as Hellboy in the new film.  The new Hellboy is just too ugly.

What is there to like about Hellboy?  Most of the supporting characters in this new film don't amount to much, but Sasha Lane makes Alice Monaghan stand out as a character worthy of being next to Hellboy.  After a dry start, Daniel Dae Kim keeps Ben Daimio from being a one-note joke.  The story and their performances find a way to make those two characters fit next to Hellboy in a way that other supporting characters do not.

Andrew Crosby's screenplay for Hellboy 2019 creates a plot, settings, and characters that genuinely seem to be part of a world deeply connected to the supernatural and to otherworldly places.  Crosby fills the story's main narrative and its nooks and crannies to the point of overflowing with strange and magical beings and places.  [See Baba Yaga.]  Hellboy's back story, conflicts, and dilemmas resonate as authentic.  For instance, Hellboy's dilemma of being caught between the world of humans and the world of monsters creates a sense of drama and conflict because it makes the viewer constantly guess about the decisions Hellboy makes.  Is he going to turn against humanity and side with the monsters, at least to some extent?  [That dilemma is raised to lesser extent in del Toro's Hellboy II.]

David Harbour takes Cosby's character work in the screenplay and creates a version of Hellboy that seems plausible and worth following around in this adventure.  As Hellboy, Harbour is as good as Perlman was as the character in Hellboy II, although (once again), Harbour's Hellboy is “fugly.”

Neil Marshall takes Cosby's script and leads his collaborators into creating a rip-roaring, hell-raising action film that is probably the first true blend of the superhero and horror genres.  Marshall's film is gripping and fun from beginning to end, with only a few bumps along the way.  It is crazy and fun to watch in its craziness

Much of the commentary I came across on the Internet said that Hellboy 2019 was absolutely terrible.  What I have discovered, instead, is that this new Hellboy film is worthy of being the first film in a wonderful new Hellboy film series.  Alas, a series is unlikely to happen after the new film's poor box office performance.  I am sure, however, that via home entertainment and cable television, fans will discover what a fine film Hellboy 2019 is.

7 of 10
B+

Friday, May 15, 2020


The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint or syndication rights and fees.

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Review: "Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood" is a Sparkling Fairy Tale

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 10 (of 2020) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019)
Running time:  161 minutes (2 hours, 41 minutes)
MPAA – R for language throughout, some strong graphic violence, drug use, and sexual references
WRITER/DIRECTOR:  Quentin Tarantino
PRODUCERS:  Shannon McIntosh, David Heyman, and Quentin Tarantino
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Robert Richardson (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Fred Raskin
Academy Award winner

COMEDY/DRAMA/HISTORICAL

Starring:  Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Emile Hirsch, Margaret Qualley, Timothy Olyphant, Julia Butters, Austin Butler, Dakota Fanning, Bruce Dern, Mike Moh, Luke Perry, Al Pacino, Nicholas Hammond, Samantha Robinson, Rafal Zawierucha, Lorenza Izzo, Costa Ronin, Damon Herriman, Lena Dunham, Zoe Bell, and Kurt Russell

Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood is a 2019 comedy-drama and historical film from writer-director Quentin Tarantino.  The ninth film from Tarantino, it focuses on a faded television actor striving to maintain fame and success in the film industry during the final years of Hollywood's “Golden Age” in Los Angeles of 1969, with his TV stunt double at his side.

Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood opens in February 1969.  Veteran Hollywood television actor, Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio), fears that his career is rapidly fading to nothing.  Dalton was the star of the 1950s Western television series, NBC and Screen Gems' “Bounty Law” (a fictional show).  He believes that he has now been reduced to appearing as a guest star on TV series featuring new star actors, usually playing the villain.  Casting agent Marvin Schwarz (Al Pacino) recommends that Dalton move to Italy to make “Spaghetti Westerns,” which Dalton feels are beneath him.

At Dalton's side is his best friend and stunt double, Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), a World War II veteran who is a stuntman that is highly skilled in hand-to-hand combat.  Booth lives out in the boonies in a tiny trailer with his pit bull, “Brandy,” and he drives Dalton around Los Angeles because Dalton's driver's license has been suspended due to a DUI.  Booth is also currently struggling to find stunt work in Hollywood because of rumors that he murdered his wife.

Meanwhile, hot young actress, Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie), and her husband, one of the hottest young directors in Hollywood, Roman Polanski (Rafal Zawierucha), have moved next door to Dalton.  Dalton dreams of befriending the couple in a bid to help revive his declining acting career.  Months later, late in the evening of August 8th and in the very early moments of August 9th, 1969, both Dalton and Booth will have a chance to change their own fates and that of Tate and her friends.

Quentin Tarantino's Oscar-winning, 2009 film, Inglourious Basterds, is a bracing, gripping, hugely entertaining, and brilliantly-made film.  However, I am always put-off by its alternate-history last act, which has some splendid moments and a genius final scene, but also has that kill Hitler thing.

Tarantino's Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood is not bracing or gripping for most of first two hours of storytelling.  Rather than being a brilliantly-made film, Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood has genius level productions values:  cinematography, production design and art direction, costumes, soundtrack, editing, etc.

However, there are two segments towards the end of the film that make Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood a truly great film and one of 2019's very best.  First, there is Cliff Booth's visit to the “Spahn Ranch,” a sequence that is scarier than most entire horror movies and has more tension than most crime thriller films have in their entire story.  The second great segment is the film's final half-hour, which is the kind of film-making that only a genius filmmaker can create.  Without spoiling the film, I can say that this finale, which alters history and which is largely driven by graphic violence, had me cheering and screaming like a madman as I was watching it shortly after one o'clock in the morning.  This last half-hour was the catharsis that I did not realize that I had needed for decades.

Now, that I have praised Tarantino and his artistic and technical collaborators, I need to praise the acting.  Most all of the small performances are quite good.  The three performances that drive Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood are given by Leonardo DiCaprio as Rick Dalton, Brad Pitt as Cliff Booth, and, in a somewhat smaller part, Margot Robbie as Sharon Tate.

DiCaprio fashions a fading TV star in Dalton that is so convincing that I had to convince myself that Dalton is a fictional character and not a real-world actor.  Pitt finally received the acting Oscar he has been long overdue for creating in Booth, a rich character filled charm, pathos, and soul.  Robbie plays Sharon Tate as a happy spirit, embracing her craft and profession with innocence that is not naive and with a joy that dispels at least some of the darkness that was closing in on the last days of the 1960s and on “old Hollywood.”  Robbie gives Tate a love of people that provides this fairy tale of a film with the smattering a fairy dust that it needs.

And that is what Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood really is.  It is a fairy tale, complete with a lurking darkness and edginess, that is an ode to the world in and around a Los Angeles and a Hollywood that existed more in perception than in reality.  And once again, I can say that in Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood, Tarantino has made a movie that no one else could ever make.

A+
9 out of 10

Friday, May 1, 2020


NOTES:
Academy Awards, USA 2020:  2 wins: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Brad Pitt) and “Best Achievement in Production Design” (Barbara Ling and Nancy Haigh); 8 nominations:  “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (David Heyman, Shannon McIntosh, and Quentin Tarantino), “Best Achievement in Directing” (Quentin Tarantino), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Leonardo DiCaprio), “Best Original Screenplay” (Quentin Tarantino), “Best Achievement in Cinematography” (Robert Richardson), “Best Achievement in Costume Design” (Arianne Phillips), “Best Achievement in Sound Mixing” (Michael Minkler, Christian P. Minkler, and Mark Ulano), and “Best Achievement in Sound Editing” (Wylie Stateman)

Golden Globes, USA 2020:  3 wins: “Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy,” “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Brad Pitt) and “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (Quentin Tarantino); 2 nominations:  “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Leonardo DiCaprio) and “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Quentin Tarantino)

BAFTA Awards 2020:  1 win: “Best Supporting Actor” (Brad Pitt); 9 nominations:  “Best Film” (David Heyman and Shannon McIntosh), “Best Screenplay-Original” (Quentin Tarantino), “Best Leading Actor” (Leonardo DiCaprio), “Best Supporting Actress” (Margot Robbie), “Best Director” (Quentin Tarantino), “Best Editing” (Fred Raskin), “Best Production Design” (Barbara Ling and Nancy Haigh), “Best Costume Design” (Arianne Phillips), and “Best Casting” (Victoria Thomas)


The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint or syndication rights and fees.

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Review: "Midsommar" is Both Familiar and Freaky

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 9 (of 2020) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

Midsommar (2019)
Running time:  147 minutes (2 hours, 27 minutes)
MPAA – R for disturbing ritualistic violence and grisly images, strong sexual content, graphic nudity, drug use and language
WRITER/DIRECTOR:  Ari Aster
PRODUCERS:  Patrik Andersson and Lars Knudsen
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Pawel Pogorzelski   
EDITOR:  Lucian Johnston
COMPOSER: Bobby Krlic

HORROR

Starring:  Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor, Vilhelm Blomgren, William Jackson Harper, Will Poulter, Ellora Torchia, Archie Madekwe, Henrik Norlen, Gunnel Fred, Isabelle Grill, Agnes Rase, Mats Blomgren, and Hampus Hallberg

Midsommar is a 2019 horror film written and directed by Ari Aster.  The film follows a group of friends that travel to Sweden to visit a isolated village and attend its mid-summer festival only to find themselves in the clutches of a pagan cult.

Midsommar introduces college student, Dani Ardor (Florence Pugh), who has recently been traumatized by a bizarre family tragedy.  Dani is also involved with an emotionally-distant boyfriend, Christian Hughes (Jack Reynor), and the incident with Dani's family further strains their tenuous relationship.  Dani learns that in the upcoming summer, Christian and his friends, Mark (Will Poulter) and Josh (William Jackson Harper), have been invited by their Swedish friend, Pelle (Vilhelm Blomgren), to accompany him to Sweden.

There, the group will travel to Pelle's ancestral commune, the Harga, in Halsingland and experience a midsummer celebration, a nine-day feast, that occurs every 90 years.  Christian reluctantly invites Dani to come along.  As soon as the group arrives, however, bizarre and horrible things begin to happen, and some of their friends begin to disappear.  Will Dani and her friends uncover the truth about this idyllic village in time to save themselves?

Midsommar is the second feature film from writer-director Ari Aster, who wowed audiences with his 2018 film, Hereditary (which I have not yet seen).  Midsommar is creepy, bizarre, troubling, and unsettling.  Some of the film has stayed with me in the eight hours since I finished watching it, and I can't stop thinking about both some of its scenes and some of the pagan practices, rituals, and iconography depicted in the film.  Midsommar is a beautiful looking film, especially the costumes of the Harga villagers, the flower arrangements, and the sets.

That said, much of Midsommar is a reworking of decades-old films that have dealt with murderous pagan cults.  That includes the British films, Eye of the Devil (1966) and The Wicker Man (1973), and also the 1978, two-part NBC miniseries, “The Dark Secret of Harvest Home” (1978).  In fact, I recognized a lot of ideas in Midsommar that are similar to plot threads in “The Dark Secret of Harvest Home,” which was based on Thomas Tyron's 1973 novel, Harvest Home.

So Midsommar is good and creepy and unsettling and disturbing.  However, it isn't so much original as it is the revival of genre of cult movies that are about cults.  If you have not seen the earlier films, Midsommar is a good place to start.

B
6 of 10

Friday, April 10, 2020


The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

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Review: "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 5 (of 2020) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
Running time:  141 minutes (2 hours, 21 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sci-fi violence and action
DIRECTOR:  J.J. Abrams
WRITERS:  Chris Terrio and J.J. Abrams; from a story by Chris Terrio and J.J. Abrams and Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly (based on characters created by George Lucas)
PRODUCERS:  Kathleen Kennedy, J.J. Abrams, and Michelle Rejwan
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Dan Mindel
EDITORS:  Maryann Brandon and Stefan Grube
COMPOSER:  John Williams

SCI-FI/FANTASY/ACTION/ADVENTURE/DRAMA

Starring:  Mark Hamill, Billy Dee Williams, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong'o, Anthony Daniels, Ian McDiarmid, Naomi Ackie, Kelly Marie Tran, Richard E. Grant, Keri Russell, Domhnall Gleeson, Billie Lourd, Dominic Monaghan, Warwick Davis, Denis Lawson, and Joonas Suotamo with Carrie Fisher (archive footage)

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is a 2019 science fiction, fantasy, and action film directed by J.J. Abrams.  It is the ninth movie in the Star Wars film franchise's “Skywalker Saga,” which began with the 1977 Oscar-winning film, Star Wars, created by George Lucas.  Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is also a direct sequel to Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) and Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017).  In The Rise of Skywalker, the surviving Resistance fighters battles the First Order as the last of the Jedi faces the most powerful of the Dark Side.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker begins one year after the “Battle of Crait” (as seen in Star Wars: The Last Jedi).  Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) is now “Supreme Leader” of the First Order, and he is vexed by mysterious broadcasts that carry the voice of someone claiming to be “the Emperor.”  Determined to find this “phantom Emperor,” Kylo uses a Sith device called the “Wayfinder,” which leads him to a secret part of the galaxy and the planet, “Exegol.”

There, Kylo discovers a physically impaired Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid), the Emperor of the late Galactic Empire, long thought to be dead.  Palpatine reveals that he has been manipulating things behind the scenes, including luring Kylo to the Dark Side.  He wants Kylo to find Rey (Daisy Ridley) and to bring her to him.

Meanwhile, on the world the “Resistance” calls its home, Rey continues her Jedi training under the tutelage of General Leia Organa (archive footage of the late Carrie Fisher).  Thanks to a mole/spy in the First Order, the Resistance has learned of Kylo Ren's discovery.  Now, Rey, Finn (John Boyega), Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo), BB-8, and C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) leave on a mission to find a second Wayfinder, the one for which the late Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) had once searched, one that will lead them to Exegol.

Rey, Finn, and Poe will need the help of old heroes, like Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams), and new friends, like Jannah (Naomi Ackie), if they are going to stop the forces of the Dark Side.  Kylo and Palpatine are plotting something called “the Final Order,” which includes a secret armada of the most powerful “Star Destroyers” ever assembled.

Hopefully, I can keep this review from running on too long.  The reviews for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, both formal and commentary from social media, are decidedly mixed.  Some think The Rise of Skywalker is the worst Star Wars movie ever.  Others have called it mediocre or average.  Some don't like one half of it and like the other half.  Some think it is the best Star Wars movie (1) in the sequel trilogy, (2) since the original trilogy (3) or the best Star Wars movie ever.

I think Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is the best Star Wars film since the end of the original Star Wars trilogy, Return of the Jedi, which was released in 1983.  I like everything about The Rise of Skywalker.  The directing, the writing, the CGI and the science and technology, the cinematography, editing, film score, costume design, art direction and set decoration, and, of course the acting.

Co-writer-director J.J. Abrams and co-writer Chris Terrio give us a satisfying resolution to the story arcs of both Rey and Kylo Ren.  Finn and Poe Dameron finally get quality screen time that allows the audience to see the best of their characters.  A number of actors who have appeared in Star Wars films over the last four decades-plus lend their voices to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.  Lando Calrissian finally returns, with Billy Dee Williams making a star turn in each of his scenes.  Their are wonderful new characters (Keri Russell's Zorri Bliss) and the delightful return of familiar characters.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker also offers the revival of old plots, and the film contains numerous references to important moments in previous films (including the execution of a feat of power displayed by Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back).  Even the last shot of the movie references an important moment in the original Star Wars film.

I love Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker without reservation...  Well, maybe I think the movie is not long enough, because I could have watched another hour of it.  It is like a dark, but fantastic fairy tale, full of symbolism and magic.  So, you, dear reader, can take my sky-high recommendation with many proverbial grains of salt.  Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is my favorite movie of the year.  It is a fine end to the “Skywalker Saga”... or it is a satisfying goodbye until we see Rey, Finn, Poe, and our favorite Star Wars characters next time.

10 of 10

2020  Academy Awards, USA:  3 nominations: “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures-Original Score” (John Williams), “Best Achievement in Visual Effects” (Neal Scanlan, Patrick Tubach, Dominic Tuohy, and Roger Guyett), and “Best Achievement in Sound Editing” (Matthew Wood and David Acord)

2020 BAFTA Awards 2020:  3 nominations: “Original Music” (John Williams), “Best Sound” (David Acord, Andy Nelson, Christopher Scarabosio, Stuart Wilson, and Matthew Wood) and “Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects” (Roger Guyett, Paul Kavanagh, Neal Scanlan, and Dominic Tuohy)

Friday, December 20, 2019

Edited Tuesday, March 17, 2020


The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved.  Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Review: "QUEEN & SLIM" Lives in Power

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 4 (of 2020) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

Queen & Slim (2019)
Running time:  132 minutes
MPAA – R for violence, some strong sexuality, nudity, pervasive language, and brief drug use.
DIRECTOR:  Melina Matsoukas
WRITERS:  Lena Waithe (from a story by James Frey and Lena Waithe)
PRODUCERS:  Pamela Abdy, Andrew Coles, James Frey, Michelle Knudsen, Melina Matsoukas, Lena Waithe, and Brad Weston
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Tat Radcliffe
EDITOR:  Pete Beaudreau

DRAMA

Starring:  Daniel Kaluuya, Jodie Turner-Smith, Bokeem Woodbine, Chloe Sevigny, Flea, Sturgill Simpson, Indya Moore, Benito Martinez, Jahi Di'Allo Winston, Soledad O'Brien, and Gayle King

Queen & Slim is a 2019 American drama, road movie, and romance film from director Melina Matsoukas and screenwriter Lena Waithe.  The film follows an African-American couple whose first date turns into a race for their lives after a confrontation with a violent white police officer.

Queen & Slim introduces Queen (Jodie Turner-Smith), a criminal defense attorney, and Slim (Daniel Kaluuya).  After three weeks of asking, Slim finally convinces Queen to have dinner with him.  After eating at an Ohio diner, Slim is driving Queen home when his presumably erratic driving attracts the attention of a police officer.  The white police officer (Sturgill Simpson) not only pulls the two over, but also makes Slim step out of the car.

Agitated, the officer draws his gun on Slim and shoots and wounds Queen.  In an attempt to save their lives, Slim tackles the officer, before grabbing the cop's gun and shooting him to death in self-defense.  At the urging of Queen, the couple go on the run, headed for God knows where... but it is a journey of self-discovery and maybe even of finding love where there was none.

Queen & Slim offers three excellent performances, by Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie Turner-Smith in leads roles and by Bokeem Woodbine in a supporting role.  Kaluuya portrays Slim as a man who feels that what happens in his life has already been decided by fate.  Turner-Smith presents Queen as a woman who has a view of life that is not so much cynical as it is matter-of-fact.  She seems to believe that people, to some extent, can shape their own lives, rather than be subjected to fate.

As a couple, Queen and Slim don't fit, so what the actors present is the evolution of two characters that see the other side on the way to understanding one another.  There isn't really a magic moment, so much as there is an evolution – a kind of romantic journey of discovery.

On the other hand, as Queen's Uncle Earl, Bokeem Woodbine offers an eye-opening performance as a man who has found his kingdom inside, away from an outside that has no regard for him.  The last several years as seen Woodbine finally getting roles in larger and in more prestige projects, ones that both show off his star quality and his acting range.

Queen & Slim is also, in many ways, the creation of its writer Lena Waithe and director Melina Matsoukas.  Waithe's screenplay, based on a story Waithe concocted from James Frey's initial idea and story, offers more than just an “African-American take on the infamous killer couple, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow.”  It is a love story in which two people are forced to first discover and then plum the depths of each other's individual humanity in a way that much of country would refuse to do for either of them.  That is why this movie is not a crime drama, although the impetus for Queen and Slim's journey involves a crime.  Waithe's screenplay is a road movie that is also a romance, showing the power of Black romantic love to survive even when a maelstrom surrounds it.

In Queen & Slim, Melina Matsoukas presents a film of striking visual power.  Via Tat Radcliffe's gorgeous cinematography and Pete Beaudreau's sultry editing, Matsoukas drinks in the environments – from waterways and countrysides to rundown urban places and the interiors of old house – and finds the aching, painfully beauty in everything that surrounds the characters.  Even the off-kilter moments, shot at odd angles, draw the reader into the story.

And in the end that is what makes Queen & Slim an exceptional film – the story.  What begins as a contemporary tale of the kind of strife that seems timeless and eternal in the history of America becomes a story that hatches and becomes whole in the end.  Waithe and Matsoukas dare to make something different and are different enough to be daring.  So Queen & Slim is one of the best films, not only in 2019, but also in recent memory, and perhaps it will eventually be one for the ages.

9 out of 10
A+

Sunday, December 8, 2019


The text is copyright © 2019 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

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Disney Celebrates Four Oscar Wins at 92nd Academy Awards

‘Toy Story 4’ is Best Animated Feature at 92nd Oscars®

Disney and Pixar’s Toy Story 4 was named best Animated Feature Film at the 92nd Oscars. This is the second time the Toy Story franchise has received the award, following Toy Story 3’s win in 2011.

Producers Jonas Rivera and Mark Nielsen accepted the award alongside director Josh Cooley, who said, “We want to thank the movie-going audience so much, especially those who grew up with Toy Story. We hope that your adventures with Woody and Buzz made growing up a little bit easier.”

In all, Disney releases received four Oscars during the live telecast from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California.

Taika Waititi received the Oscar for best Adapted Screenplay for Fox Searchlight’s Jojo Rabbit. Waititi, who, with this win, became the first person of indigenous descent to win an Academy Award®, dedicated his award to “all the indigenous kids in the world who want to do art and dance, and write stories.”

Ford v Ferrari, from 20th Century Fox, was recognized in two categories. The Oscar for best Sound Editing went to Donald Sylvester, and Michael McCusker and Andrew Buckland (below, L-R) share the honor for best Film Editing.

During the ceremony, Idina Menzel, the voice of Elsa, and Norwegian singer Aurora were joined by Elsas from around the globe for a stirring performance of Frozen 2’s Oscar-nominated song “Into the Unknown.” In addition, Randy Newman performed Toy Story 4’s “I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away” and Chrissy Metz performed Breakthrough’s “I’m Standing With You,” both also nominated for Academy Awards.

Congratulations to all of this year’s Oscar winners. To view the entire list, visit Oscar.com.

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Review: "Terminator: Dark Fate" Tries... Lawd, It Tries

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 3 (of 2020) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)
Running time:  128 minutes (2 hours, 8 minutes)
MPAA – R for violence throughout, language and brief nudity
DIRECTOR:  Tim Miller
WRITERS:  David S. Goyer, Justin Rhodes, and Billy Ray; from a story by James Cameron, Charles H. Eglee, Josh Friedman, David S. Goyer, and Justin Rhodes (based upon characters created by James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd)
PRODUCERS:  James Cameron and David Ellison
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Ken Seng
EDITOR:  Julian Clarke
COMPOSER:  Junkie XL

SCI-FI/ACTION/THRILLER

Starring:  Linda Hamilton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mackenzie Davis, Natalia Reyes, Gabriel Luna, Diego Boneta, and Fraser James

Terminator: Dark Fate is a 2019 science fiction and action-thriller from director Tim Miller.  The film is the sixth in the Terminator film franchise, but Terminator: Dark Fate is a direct sequel to the original film, The Terminator (1984) and its sequel, Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), both of which were directed by James Cameron, who is a co-writer and co-producer on this new film.  In Dark Fate, a soldier from the future arrives in the present day to protect a young woman marked for termination by another kind of soldier from the future.

Terminator: Dark Fate opens in 1998 when events that began fourteen years earlier come to a close... of sorts.  The story moves forward to the year 2020 when two fighters from the future (the year 2042) arrive separately in Mexico City.  One is Grace (Mackenzie Davis), a cybernetically-enhanced human soldier.  The other is an advanced Terminator model, the Rev-9, (Gabriel Luna), sent by “Legion,” an A.I. (artificial intelligence) built for cyber-warfare that threatens the existence of humanity in the future.

Their target is a young Mexican woman, Daniella “Dani” Ramos (Natalia Reyes); Grace wants to protect her, and the Rev-9 wants to kill her.  Grace is able to temporarily fend off the Rev-9 in order to protect Dani, but she cannot defeat the Terminator.  To do that, Grace and Dani will need the help of a mysterious woman named Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) and an old T-800 Terminator that calls itself “Carl” (Arnold Schwarzenegger), and even they may not be enough help.

Ten years ago, Warner Bros. attempted to reboot the Terminator film franchise with the film, Terminator: Salvation (2009).  I really liked that film and thought that it had saved the franchise, which seemed rudderless in the wake of the entertaining, but superfluous Terminator: Rise of the Machines (2003).

Ten years later, we get Terminator: Dark Fate, and I think this entertaining sequel, reboot, re-imagining can revive the Terminator franchise, as far as the larger narrative is concerned.  Can Dark Fate save the franchise financially and in terms of popularity?  Outside of a few studios (Marvel, Pixar, Lucasfilm) and one genre, superhero films, predicting box office success of big-budget, “tent-pole,” event films, is a crap-shoot.

That aside, I really like Terminator: Dark Fate.  Most of the film is a series of impossible-looking action sequences.  The fate of Dark Fate is in the hands of sound editors, sound mixers, CGI artists, and film editors.  Dark Fate is an extended thrill ride, a giant thrill machine, a breathtaking race, a heart-stopping chase, etc.  The airplane duel and the entire waterfall/hydro-power battle are jaw-dropping sequences.  Dark Fate gives its audience second, thirds, and fourth servings when it comes action and thrills.

However, in terms of drama and character, Terminator: Dark Fate is skimpy.  Most of the characterization and personalities are copied or are leftovers from James Cameron and Terminator co-creator Gale Anne Hurd's work on the first two films.  Linda Hamilton's Sarah Connor is good here, but she could have been better.  Dark Fate's story material is so underdeveloped that Hamilton seems forced to overact.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the rest of the cast does its best being really intense.  I must note, however, that Gabriel Luna does a wonderful job being creepy, chilling, and cold-freaking-blooded as the Rev-9 Terminator.  If this film has an actor having a star turn, it's Luna.

My quibbles aside, I think Terminator: Dark Fate points to an interesting and intriguing new direction for the Terminator films.  I found myself enjoying it so thoroughly, it wasn't until I started writing this review that I even gave a thought to the character and drama writing.  Let's be honest, what you feel immediately while watching a movie is what really counts in terms of entertainment value.  And Terminator: Dark Fate is the real fucking deal when it comes to action movies.

A-
7.5 of 10

Saturday, November 2, 2019


The text is copyright © 2019 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

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Nominations for the 2020 / 92nd Academy Awards Announced

92ND OSCARS® NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED

Actor-producer John Cho and producer-actress-writer Issa Rae announced the 92nd Oscars® nominations Monday, January 13, 2020, live from the David Geffen Theater at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, opening later this year, via a global live stream on Oscar.com, Oscars.org, the Academy’s digital platforms, an international satellite feed and broadcast media.

Cho and Rae announced the nominees in 8 categories at 5:18 a.m. PT, and the remaining 16 categories at 5:30 a.m. PT. For a complete list of nominees, visit the official Oscars website, www.oscar.com.

Academy members from each of the 17 branches vote to determine the nominees in their respective categories – actors nominate actors, film editors nominate film editors, etc. In the Animated Feature Film and International Feature Film categories, nominees are selected by a vote of multi-branch screening committees. All voting members are eligible to select the Best Picture nominees.

Active members of the Academy are eligible to vote for the winners in all 24 categories beginning Thursday, January 30 through Tuesday, February 4, 2020.

The 92nd Oscars will be held on Sunday, February 9, 2020, at the Dolby® Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live on ABC at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. "Oscars: Live on the Red Carpet" will air at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT. The Oscars also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

Nominations for the 2020 / 92nd Academy Awards:

Best motion picture of the year

•     "Ford v Ferrari" Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping and James Mangold, Producers
•     "The Irishman" Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Producers
•     "Jojo Rabbit" Carthew Neal and Taika Waititi, Producers
•     "Joker" Todd Phillips, Bradley Cooper and Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Producers
•     "Little Women" Amy Pascal, Producer
•     "Marriage Story" Noah Baumbach and David Heyman, Producers
•     "1917" Sam Mendes, Pippa Harris, Jayne-Ann Tenggren and Callum McDougall, Producers
•     "Once upon a Time...in Hollywood" David Heyman, Shannon McIntosh and Quentin Tarantino, Producers
•     "Parasite" Kwak Sin Ae and Bong Joon Ho, Producers

Performance by an actor in a leading role
    Antonio Banderas in "Pain and Glory"
    Leonardo DiCaprio in "Once upon a Time...in Hollywood"
    Adam Driver in "Marriage Story"
    Joaquin Phoenix in "Joker"
    Jonathan Pryce in "The Two Popes"

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
    Tom Hanks in "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood"
    Anthony Hopkins in "The Two Popes"
    Al Pacino in "The Irishman"
    Joe Pesci in "The Irishman"
    Brad Pitt in "Once upon a Time...in Hollywood"

Performance by an actress in a leading role
    Cynthia Erivo in "Harriet"
    Scarlett Johansson in "Marriage Story"
    Saoirse Ronan in "Little Women"
    Charlize Theron in "Bombshell"
    Renée Zellweger in "Judy"

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
    Kathy Bates in "Richard Jewell"
    Laura Dern in "Marriage Story"
    Scarlett Johansson in "Jojo Rabbit"
    Florence Pugh in "Little Women"
    Margot Robbie in "Bombshell"

Best animated feature film of the year
    "How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World" Dean DeBlois, Bradford Lewis and Bonnie Arnold
    "I Lost My Body" Jérémy Clapin and Marc du Pontavice
    "Klaus" Sergio Pablos, Jinko Gotoh and Marisa Román
    "Missing Link" Chris Butler, Arianne Sutner and Travis Knight
    "Toy Story 4" Josh Cooley, Mark Nielsen and Jonas Rivera

Achievement in cinematography
    "The Irishman" Rodrigo Prieto
    "Joker" Lawrence Sher
    "The Lighthouse" Jarin Blaschke
    "1917" Roger Deakins
    "Once upon a Time...in Hollywood" Robert Richardson

Achievement in costume design
    "The Irishman" Sandy Powell and Christopher Peterson
    "Jojo Rabbit" Mayes C. Rubeo
    "Joker" Mark Bridges
    "Little Women" Jacqueline Durran
    "Once upon a Time...in Hollywood" Arianne Phillips

Achievement in directing
    "The Irishman" Martin Scorsese
    "Joker" Todd Phillips
    "1917" Sam Mendes
    "Once upon a Time...in Hollywood" Quentin Tarantino
    "Parasite" Bong Joon Ho

Best documentary feature
    "American Factory" Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert and Jeff Reichert
    "The Cave" Feras Fayyad, Kirstine Barfod and Sigrid Dyekjær
    "The Edge of Democracy" Petra Costa, Joanna Natasegara, Shane Boris and Tiago Pavan
    "For Sama" Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts
    "Honeyland" Ljubo Stefanov, Tamara Kotevska and Atanas Georgiev

Best documentary short subject
    "In the Absence" Yi Seung-Jun and Gary Byung-Seok Kam
    "Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You're a Girl)" Carol Dysinger and Elena Andreicheva
    "Life Overtakes Me" John Haptas and Kristine Samuelson
    "St. Louis Superman" Smriti Mundhra and Sami Khan
    "Walk Run Cha-Cha" Laura Nix and Colette Sandstedt

Achievement in film editing
    "Ford v Ferrari" Michael McCusker and Andrew Buckland
    "The Irishman" Thelma Schoonmaker
    "Jojo Rabbit" Tom Eagles
    "Joker" Jeff Groth
    "Parasite" Yang Jinmo

Best international feature film of the year
    "Corpus Christi" Poland
    "Honeyland" North Macedonia
    "Les Misérables" France
    "Pain and Glory" Spain
    "Parasite" South Korea

Achievement in makeup and hairstyling
    "Bombshell" Kazu Hiro, Anne Morgan and Vivian Baker
    "Joker" Nicki Ledermann and Kay Georgiou
    "Judy" Jeremy Woodhead
    "Maleficent: Mistress of Evil" Paul Gooch, Arjen Tuiten and David White
    "1917" Naomi Donne, Tristan Versluis and Rebecca Cole

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
    "Joker" Hildur Guðnadóttir
    "Little Women" Alexandre Desplat
    "Marriage Story" Randy Newman
    "1917" Thomas Newman
    "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" John Williams

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

•     "I Can't Let You Throw Yourself Away" from "Toy Story 4" Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
•     "(I'm Gonna) Love Me Again" from "Rocketman" Music by Elton John; Lyric by Bernie Taupin
•     "I'm Standing With You" from "Breakthrough" Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
•     "Into The Unknown" from "Frozen II" Music and Lyric by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez
•     "Stand Up" from "Harriet" Music and Lyric by Joshuah Brian Campbell and Cynthia Erivo

Achievement in production design
    "The Irishman" Production Design: Bob Shaw; Set Decoration: Regina Graves
    "Jojo Rabbit" Production Design: Ra Vincent; Set Decoration: Nora Sopková
    "1917" Production Design: Dennis Gassner; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales
    "Once upon a Time...in Hollywood" Production Design: Barbara Ling; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh
    "Parasite" Production Design: Lee Ha Jun; Set Decoration: Cho Won Woo

Best animated short film
    "Dcera (Daughter)" Daria Kashcheeva
    "Hair Love" Matthew A. Cherry and Karen Rupert Toliver
    "Kitbull" Rosana Sullivan and Kathryn Hendrickson
    "Memorable" Bruno Collet and Jean-François Le Corre
    "Sister" Siqi Song

Best live action short film
    "Brotherhood" Meryam Joobeur and Maria Gracia Turgeon
    "Nefta Football Club" Yves Piat and Damien Megherbi
    "The Neighbors' Window" Marshall Curry
    "Saria" Bryan Buckley and Matt Lefebvre
    "A Sister" Delphine Girard

Achievement in sound editing
    "Ford v Ferrari" Donald Sylvester
    "Joker" Alan Robert Murray
    "1917" Oliver Tarney and Rachael Tate
    "Once upon a Time...in Hollywood" Wylie Stateman
    "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" Matthew Wood and David Acord

Achievement in sound mixing
    "Ad Astra" Gary Rydstrom, Tom Johnson and Mark Ulano
    "Ford v Ferrari" Paul Massey, David Giammarco and Steven A. Morrow
    "Joker" Tom Ozanich, Dean Zupancic and Tod Maitland
    "1917" Mark Taylor and Stuart Wilson
    "Once upon a Time...in Hollywood" Michael Minkler, Christian P. Minkler and Mark Ulano

Achievement in visual effects
    "Avengers: Endgame" Dan DeLeeuw, Russell Earl, Matt Aitken and Dan Sudick
    "The Irishman" Pablo Helman, Leandro Estebecorena, Nelson Sepulveda-Fauser and Stephane Grabli
    "The Lion King" Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones and Elliot Newman
    "1917" Guillaume Rocheron, Greg Butler and Dominic Tuohy
    "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" Roger Guyett, Neal Scanlan, Patrick Tubach and Dominic Tuohy

Adapted screenplay
    "The Irishman" Screenplay by Steven Zaillian
    "Jojo Rabbit" Screenplay by Taika Waititi
    "Joker" Written by Todd Phillips & Scott Silver
    "Little Women" Written for the screen by Greta Gerwig
    "The Two Popes" Written by Anthony McCarten

Original screenplay
    "Knives Out" Written by Rian Johnson
    "Marriage Story" Written by Noah Baumbach
    "1917" Written by Sam Mendes & Krysty Wilson-Cairns
    "Once upon a Time...in Hollywood" Written by Quentin Tarantino
    "Parasite" Screenplay by Bong Joon Ho, Han Jin Won; Story by Bong Joon Ho

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Walt Disney Company Celebrates Its 2020 Oscar Nominations

The Walt Disney Company’s Films Receive 23 Oscar® Nominations

Nominations for the 92nd Oscars® were announced this morning and releases from The Walt Disney Company’s portfolio of brands earned a combined 23 nods in 15 categories. Fox Searchlight Pictures’ Jojo Rabbit received six nominations, including Best Picture and best Actress in a Supporting Role for Scarlett Johansson; and 20th Century Fox’s Ford v Ferrari is nominated in four categories, including Best Picture. The three nods for Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker include a nomination for John Williams for his original score. Pixar’s Toy Story 4 is among this year’s nominees for best Animated Feature Film.

Here is the complete list of The Walt Disney Company’s 2020 Academy Award® nominees:

Best Picture
Ford v Ferrari—Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping and James Mangold, Producers
Jojo Rabbit—Carthew Neal and Taika Waititi, Producers

Actress in a Supporting Role
Scarlett Johansson—Jojo Rabbit

Costume Design
Jojo Rabbit—Mayes C. Rubeo

Animated Feature Film
Toy Story 4—Josh Cooley, Mark Nielsen and Jonas Rivera

Film Editing
Ford v Ferrari—Michael McCusker and Andrew Buckland
Jojo Rabbit—Tom Eagles

Original Score
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker—John Williams

Animated Short Film
Kitbull—Rosana Sullivan and Kathryn Hendrickson

Sound Editing
Ford v Ferrari—Donald Sylvester
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker—Matthew Wood and David Acord

Sound Mixing
Ad Astra—Gary Rydstrom, Tom Johnson and Mark Ulano
Ford v Ferrari—Paul Massey, David Giammarco and Steven A. Morrow

Documentary (Feature)
The Cave—Feras Fayyad, Kirstine Barfod and Sigrid Dyekjær

Makeup and Hairstyling
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil—Paul Gooch, Arjen Tuiten and David White

Original Song
“I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away” from Toy Story 4—Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
“I’m Standing with You” from Breakthrough—Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
“Into the Unknown” from Frozen 2—Music and Lyric by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez

Production Design
Jojo Rabbit—Production Design: Ra Vincent, Set Decoration: Nora Sopková

Visual Effects
Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Endgame—Dan DeLeeuw, Russell Earl, Matt Aitken and Dan Sudick
The Lion King—Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones and Elliot Newman
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker—Roger Guyett, Neal Scanlan, Patrick Tubach and Dominic Tuohy

Adapted Screenplay
Jojo Rabbit—Screenplay by Taika Waititi

“Thank you to the Academy for their recognition of our film Ford v Ferrari,” said producer James Mangold. “Jenno [Topping], Peter [Chernin] and I are thrilled to be nominated among such moving and unique films—and also grateful to our brilliant team of artists who brought our remarkable characters, and their adventures on and off the track, to life.”

Pixar’s Josh Cooley, director of Toy Story 4, and producers, Mark Nielsen and Jonas Rivera, shared their reaction to the film’s nominations for best Animated Feature and Original Song: “Working on Toy Story 4 has been an incredible journey and a tremendous honor. We love these characters so much—they are like family to us. Our goal was to tell a story that explored the idea that our purpose is a moving target. It’s humbling how that message resonated with audiences around the world. We hope people have found it not only to be entertaining, but thoughtful as well.

“Of course it’s also a film about toys, which hopefully helps imbue the experience with humor and fun, as well as emotional depth. But for us, and our entire crew, when we receive an honor like today’s two nominations, it’s clear our purpose is to strive to tell great stories. Thank you Academy for this recognition—to infinity and beyond!”

Disney Legend Randy Newman, who penned the song “I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away,” said, “I’m very happy. I loved working with Josh Cooley on Toy Story 4. I’m proud of this song. I like it as well as any song I’ve written for a movie. I hope it wins.”

Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Academy Award®-winning songwriters for Frozen, had this to say about their nomination for Frozen 2’s “Into the Unknown,” recognized in the best Original Song category: “For us, ‘Into the Unknown’ is more than a song—it’s a culmination of a decade-long collaboration with the incredible artists at Walt Disney Animation Studios, led by our partners and friends Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck. We have been so lucky to work hand-in-hand almost daily for five years helping to craft the story and songs for Frozen 2. To be honored by the Academy once more means the world to us.”

Creature Effects Supervisor Neal Scanlan is nominated alongside Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach and Dominic Tuohy for the visual effects in Star Wars:The Rise of Skywalker, the Skywalker Saga’s epic conclusion. “Unbelievable, I feel incredibly lucky and honored to be nominated,” he said. “For the entire team, it is confirmation that all of their commitment and hard work has been noticed and acknowledged at the highest level. The Rise of Skywalker is the last film in the trilogy and with that comes some sadness, however this nomination is a perfect way to finish.”

The 92nd Oscars will be held on Sunday, February 9, 2020, at the Dolby® Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live on the ABC Television Network at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT. The Oscars also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

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Review: "Gemini Man" Strong Start, Embarrassing Finish

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 2 (of 2020) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

Gemini Man (2019)
Running time:  117 minutes (1 hour, 57 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for violence and action throughout, and brief strong language.
DIRECTOR:  Ang Lee
WRITERS:  David Benioff, Billy Ray, and Darren Lemke (from a story by Darren Lemke and David Benioff)
PRODUCERS:  Jerry Bruckheimer, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Don Granger
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Dion Beebe
EDITOR:  Tim Squyres
COMPOSER:  Lorne Balfe

SCI-FI/ACTION/THRILLER

Starring: Will Smith, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Clive Owen, Benedict Wong, Linda Emond, Douglas Hodge, Ralph Brown, Ilia Volok, and E.J. Bonilla

Gemini Man is a 2019 science fiction and action-thriller film from director Ang Lee and starring Will Smith.  The film focuses on an aging hit man who faces off against a younger version of himself.

Gemini Man introduces Henry Brogan (Will Smith), a government assassin who is considered the best assassin of his generation.  After completing an assassination mission in Europe that turns complicated, Henry decides to retire.  However, the government agency for which Henry kills, the Defense Intelligence Agency (D.I.A.), decides that it is time to permanently retire him, and sends an assassination squad to kill him.

Henry kills the team, and rescues a fellow D.I.A. agent, Danny Zakarweski (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), who had been watching him.  Henry and Danny turn to a longtime associate of Henry's, Baron (Benedict Wong), who flies them to Bogata, Colombia.  There, Henry plots his next move, but what he doesn't know is that a D.I.A. supervisor, Clayton “Clay” Varris (Clive Owen), head of a top-secret black ops unit code-named “GEMINI,” has marked him for death.  And the assassin Clay has sent to kill Henry may be the most-perfect assassin to take down the world's best assassin.

While watching Gemini Man, I thought the film reminded me of one of those mid-1990s action movies that had science fiction elements.  I am thinking of director John Woo's Nicolas Cage vs. John Travolta film, Face/Off (1997), or director Chuck Russell's Eraser (1996), starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Sure enough, I later learned that Gemini Man was originally meant to go into production back in 1997, but it ended up in “development hell” until producer David Ellison bought the rights.

They really don't make movies like Gemini Man anymore.  Our current movie action heroes are superhero action heroes like Black Panther, Captain America, and Iron Man, and, quite frankly, their films are better than Gemini Man is.

Actually, Gemini Man starts off pretty strongly, kind of like a slightly less polished version of a Jason Bourne film.  The first hour or so of Gemini Man is tense, thrilling, and filled with mystery.  However, once the mystery is solved and once the film reveals the identity and origin of the killer (code-named “Junior”) sent to kill Henry Brogan, the tension and drama of the film is let out like air out of a balloon.  There is an fierce “final battle” in the film's last act, and there is a feel-good, if not weird, happy ending, but the atmosphere of high-tech thrills that initially filled Gemini Man is gone.

The special effects in Gemini Man look like special effects – in a too obvious way.  The computer-generated 23-year-old Will Smith sometimes looks weird and plastic.  I don't want to use the word “awful,” but...  I think Marvel Studios did a much better job creating a younger face for Samuel L. Jackson/Nick Fury in this year's blockbuster, mega-smash hit film, Captain Marvel.

Anyway, the performances are good, but not great.  Will Smith's performance as Henry Brogan is practically the same he gave in his previous sci-fi action-thriller, I, Robot (2004).  It is good to see that Mary Elizabeth Winstead can play an adult, and Benedict Wong is proving to be a winning character actor in roles that provide both comic relief and wit.  As usual, Clive Own proves that he can do mean, but his Clay Farris is much more menacing early in Gemini Man.  By the end of the film, Farris is practically a cartoon villain.

Gemini Man is a good and entertaining film.  It could have been so much better though; in fact, (as I keep saying), the beginning is really good and holds the promise of being the start of an exceptional action film.  Alas, Gemini Man is not exceptional.  If you are a Will Smith fan, Gemini Man is not so good that you have to see it in a theater; you can certainly wait for the home media release.

6 of 10
B

Saturday, October 12, 2019


The text is copyright © 2019 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

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Review: "Joker" Ain't No Joke

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 1 (of 2020) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

Joker (2019)
Running time: 121 minutes (2 hours, 1 minute)
Rating: MPAA – R for strong bloody violence, disturbing behavior, language and brief sexual images
DIRECTOR:  Todd Phillips
WRITERS:  Todd Phillips and Scott Silver
PRODUCERS:  Todd Phillips, Bradley Cooper, and Emma Tillinger Koskoff
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Lawrence Sher
EDITOR:  Jeff Groth
COMPOSER:  Hildur Guðnadóttir

CRIME/DRAMA

Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy, Brett Cullen, Shea Whigham, Bill Camp, Glenn Fleshler, Leigh Gill, Douglas Hodge, Carrie Louise Putrello, Sharon Washington, Brian Tyree Henry, and Dante Pereira-Olson

Joker is a 2019 crime drama from director Todd Phillips.  The movie offers a gritty character study and new origin story of The Joker, the classic Batman villain who first appeared in Batman #1 (cover dated: Spring 1940).

The film opens sometime in the early 1980s.  Gotham City is in a state of chaos because of political and social turmoil and also because of class conflict between the extremely wealthy and powerful and the ordinary citizens.  Gotham is also in the middle of a mayoral election and a strike by the sanitation workers, which means that no one is picking up the garbage.  Trash bags and refuse line the streets, and this has created a rodent problem so bad that people are talking about “super rats.”

One of Gotham's beleaguered citizens is Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix), a man with a history of mental illness, including a stint in a mental institution.  Fleck works as a “party clown,” but he aspires to be a stand-up comedian.  He lives with his ailing, aging mother, Penny Fleck (Frances Conroy), who also has a history of mental illness.

Living in poverty and being mostly a loner, Arthur Fleck feels he has been disregarded by society.  All his life, it seemed to him that no one even noticed that he existed, so he always wondered if he really existed.  Now, two unexpected incidents in a single day will change his life.  One is an accident and mistake that costs Arthur his job.  The other is a violent act of self-defense that will leave an already shocked city aghast.  But not everyone is appalled by the man who will become “Joker.”

After all the controversy and worry that it would inspire lonely, young men (particularly “incels,” the “involuntarily celibate”) to violence, Todd Phillips' Joker, the comic book movie that is not a comic book movie, turns out to be a somewhat more personal film and, on the part of Joaquin Phoenix, a more intimate performance than one would expect from all the hullabaloo.  Joker portrays the descent (or ascent?) of a man from mentally-ill invisible man to psychopathic murder and celebrated figure.

I don't know if Joker is Phoenix's best performance, because as good as the Oscar-nominated actor is here, this millennium has seen him deliver tour-de-force performances in varied roles across a variety of films.  If he deserves to be nominated for an Oscar or even win one for his performance in Joker, this performance is just the latest example of actor-as-artist who has been in full bloom for quite awhile.  Phoenix's performance as Arthur fleck is both gut-wrenching and utterly entertaining.  He manages to be both dark and light, pitiful and deadly in a role and performance that is too complex to describe in a paragraph or two.  I can say that in the annals of films based on comic books, Phoenix as Arthur Fleck is an immortal work of art.

Director Todd Phillips and his co-screenwriter, Scott Silver, have created a movie that is an evolution in the comic book film genre.  However, most comic book movies are meant to be popcorn entertainment, even when they are deeply thoughtful, poignant, and/or dramatic.  I believe that Joker is not meant to change the direction of such films coming from Marvel Studios' Marvel Cinematic Universe (the MCU) or from Warner Bros. line of DC Comics-inspired films.  Like Christopher Nolan did with his film, The Dark Knight (2008), Phillips points towards a different direction for comic book films with Joker.  I think that The Dark Knight partly inspired Marvel's Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), so, in the next five years, I expect to see at least one great comic book movie following in the inspired dance steps of Joaquin Phoenix's Joker.

The film has good supporting performances; for me, Robert De Niro as television talk show host, Murray Franklin, and Zazie Beetz as “love interest,” Sophie Dumond, who makes the most of her relatively small role, are standouts.  The crazy, ominous, gorgeous film score by Hildur Guðnadóttir is also one of the film's most special elements.

In Joker, Joaquin Phoenix and Todd Phillips have created something scary, beautiful, fantastic, exhilarating, funny, and dazzling.  I will admit that sometimes it scared me and made me uncomfortable, but I love it all the more because of that.  Joker is a bravura act of cinema.

9 of 10
A+

Saturday, October 5, 2019


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"Best Picture of 2019" Academy Award Has 344 Suitors

344 FEATURE FILMS IN CONTENTION FOR 2019 BEST PICTURE OSCAR®

Three hundred forty-four feature films are eligible for the 2019 Academy Awards®, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today.

To be eligible for 92nd Academy Awards consideration, feature films must open in a commercial motion picture theater in Los Angeles County by December 31, and begin a minimum run of seven consecutive days.

Under Academy rules, a feature-length motion picture must have a running time of more than 40 minutes and must have been exhibited theatrically on 35mm or 70mm film, or in a qualifying digital format.

Feature films that receive their first public exhibition or distribution in any manner other than as a theatrical motion picture release are not eligible for Academy Awards in any category.  The “Reminder List of Productions Eligible for the 92nd Academy Awards” is available at http://www.oscars.org/oscars/rules-eligibility.

Nominations for the 92nd Academy Awards will be announced on Monday, January 13, 2020.

The 92nd Oscars® will be held on Sunday, February 9, 2020, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live on the ABC Television Network.  The Oscars also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

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Disney Brands Celebrate Recent Film and TV Award Nominations

17 Golden Globe® and 49 Critics’ Choice Nominations for Films and Television Series from Across Disney’s Brands

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) announced the nominees for the 77th Annual Golden Globe® Awards, Monday, December 9, 2019. In the film categories, Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Frozen 2, Walt Disney Pictures’ The Lion King and Fox Searchlight Pictures’ Jojo Rabbit received two nominations apiece.

In the television categories, FX’s Fosse/Verdon leads with three nominations: Best Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television, Best Performance by an Actor in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television (Sam Rockwell) and Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television (Michelle Williams).

Other film and TV nominees include Hulu’s The Act, Catch-22 and Ramy; FX’s Pose; 20th Century Fox’s Ford v Ferrari and Pixar’s Toy Story 4. Winners will be announced on Sunday, January 5, 2020, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.

A complete list of Golden Globe film and television nominations from across The Walt Disney Company’s brands is included below. To view the entire list of this year’s awards nominees, visit GoldenGlobes.com.

Best Motion Picture—Musical or Comedy
Jojo Rabbit (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture—Drama
Christian Bale, Ford v Ferrari (20th Century Fox)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture—Musical or Comedy
Roman Griffin Davis, Jojo Rabbit (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Best Animated Feature Film
Frozen 2 (Walt Disney Animation Studios)
The Lion King (Walt Disney Pictures)
Toy Story 4 (Pixar Animation Studios)

Best Original Song—Motion Picture

• “Into the Unknown” (Frozen 2)—Music by: Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez; Lyrics by: Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez
• “Spirit” (The Lion King)—Music by: Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Timothy McKenzie and Ilya Salmanzadeh; Lyrics by: Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Timothy McKenzie and Ilya Salmanzadeh

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series—Drama
Billy Porter, Pose (FX)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series—Comedy or Musical
Ramy Youssef, Ramy (Hulu)

Best Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Catch-22 (Hulu)

Fosse/Verdon (FX)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Christopher Abbott, Catch-22 (Hulu)
Sam Rockwell, Fosse/Verdon (FX)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Joey King, The Act (Hulu)
Michelle Williams, Fosse/Verdon (FX)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Limited Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Patricia Arquette, The Act (Hulu)

Additionally, nominations for the 25th Annual Critics’ Choice Awards were unveiled Sunday, December 8, 2019. In the film categories, Fox Searchlight Pictures’ Jojo Rabbit leads with seven nominations, and in the television categories, 20th Century Fox Television’s This Is Us leads with five nominations. A complete list of film and television nominations from across The Walt Disney Company’s brands is included below. To view the full list of this year’s awards nominees, visit CriticsChoice.com. Winners will be revealed live from Santa Monica, California, on Sunday, January 12, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

Best Picture
Ford v Ferrari (20th Century Fox)
Jojo Rabbit (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Best Supporting Actress
Scarlett Johansson, Jojo Rabbit (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Best Young Actor/Actress
Roman Griffin Davis, Jojo Rabbit (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Thomasin McKenzie, Jojo Rabbit (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Archie Yates, Jojo Rabbit (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Best Adapted Screenplay
Taika Waititi, Jojo Rabbit (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Best Cinematography
Phedon Papamichael, Ford v Ferrari (20th Century Fox)

Best Editing
Andrew Buckland and Michael McCusker, Ford v Ferrari (20th Century Fox)

Best Visual Effects
Ad Astra (20th Century Fox)
Avengers: Endgame (Marvel Studios)
Ford v Ferrari (20th Century Fox)
The Lion King (Walt Disney Pictures)

Best Animated Feature
Frozen 2 (Walt Disney Animation Studios)
Toy Story 4 (Pixar Animation Studios)

Best Action Movie
Avengers: Endgame (Marvel Studios)
Ford v Ferrari (20th Century Fox)

Best Comedy
Jojo Rabbit (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Best Sci-Fi or Horror Movie
Ad Astra (20th Century Fox)
Avengers: Endgame (Marvel Studios)

Best Song
“I’m Standing With You,” Breakthrough
“Into the Unknown,” Frozen 2
“Speechless,” Aladdin
“Spirit,” The Lion King

Best Drama Series
Pose (FX)
This Is Us (NBC)

Best Actor in a Drama Series
Sterling K. Brown, This Is Us (NBC)
Freddie Highmore, The Good Doctor (ABC)
Billy Porter, Pose (FX)

Best Actress in a Drama Series
Mj Rodriguez, Pose (FX)
Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Asante Blackk, This Is Us (NBC)
Justin Hartley, This Is Us (NBC)

Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Susan Kelechi Watson, This Is Us (NBC)

Best Comedy Series
PEN15 (Hulu)

Best Actor in a Comedy Series
Ramy Youssef, Ramy (Hulu)

Best Limited Series
Catch-22 (Hulu)
Fosse/Verdon (FX)

Best Movie Made for Television
Patsy & Loretta (Lifetime)

Best Actor in a Limited Series or Movie Made for Television
Christopher Abbott, Catch-22 (Hulu)
Sam Rockwell, Fosse/Verdon (FX)

Best Actress in a Limited Series or Movie Made for Television
Megan Hilty, Patsy & Loretta (Lifetime)
Joey King, The Act (Hulu)
Jessie Mueller, Patsy & Loretta (Lifetime)
Michelle Williams, Fosse/Verdon (FX)

Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie Made for Television
George Clooney, Catch-22 (Hulu)

Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie Made for Television
Patricia Arquette, The Act (Hulu)
Margaret Qualley, Fosse/Verdon (FX)

Best Animated Series
The Simpsons (Fox)

Best Comedy Special
Live in Front of a Studio Audience: Norman Lear’s ‘All in the Family’ and ‘The Jeffersons’ (ABC)

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Down to 20 Films Pursuing Visual Effects Oscar at 92nd Academy Awards

20 CONTENDERS ADVANCE IN VFX OSCAR® RACE

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that 20 films are in the running in the Visual Effects category for the 2020 / 92nd Academy Awards®.

The films are listed below in alphabetical order:

“Ad Astra”
“The Aeronauts”
“Aladdin”
“Alita: Battle Angel”
“Avengers: Endgame”
“Captain Marvel”
“Cats”
“Dumbo”
“Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw”
“Ford v Ferrari”
“Gemini Man”
“The Irishman”
“Jumanji: The Next Level”
“The Lion King”
“Men in Black: International”
“Midway”
“1917”
“Spider-Man: Far from Home”
“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker”
“Terminator: Dark Fate”

The Academy’s Visual Effects Branch Executive Committee determined the preliminary list of films eligible for further awards consideration.  Later this month, the committee will select a shortlist of 10 films that will advance to nominations voting.

Nominations for the 92nd Academy Awards will be announced on Monday, January 13, 2020.

The 92nd Oscars® will be held on Sunday, February 9, 2020, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live on the ABC Television Network.  The Oscars also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

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92nd Academy Awards Has 159 Documentary Feature Suitors

159 DOCUMENTARY FEATURES SUBMITTED FOR 2019 OSCAR® RACE

Several of the films have not yet had their required Los Angeles and New York qualifying releases.  Submitted features must fulfill the theatrical release requirements and comply with all of the category’s other qualifying rules in order to advance in the voting process.

The submitted features, listed in alphabetical order, are:

“Advocate”
“After Parkland”
“The All-Americans”
“Always in Season”
“The Amazing Johnathan Documentary”
“American Dharma”
“American Factory”
“American Relapse”
“Angels Are Made of Light”
“The Apollo”
“Apollo 11”
“Aquarela”
“Ask Dr. Ruth”
“At the Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal”
“Bethany Hamilton: Unstoppable”
“The Biggest Little Farm”
“The Black Godfather”
“Blink of an Eye”
“Blowin’ Up”
“Blue Note Records: Beyond the Notes”
“The Boy Band Con: The Lou Pearlman Story”
“Bridges of Time”
“The Brink”
“Broken Dreams”
“The Bronx USA”
“Bruno Sammartino”
“Buddha in Africa”
“Call Me Intern”
“Carmine Street Guitars”
“The Cave”
“Chasing Einstein”
“Cinema Morocco”
“Citizen K”
“The Cold Blue”
“Cold Case Hammarskjold”
“Combat Obscura”
“The Cordillera of Dreams”
“Cracked Up”
“Cunningham”
“David Crosby: Remember My Name”
“Debut”
“Diego Maradona”
“The Disappearance of My Mother”
“Don’t Be Nice”
“Echo in the Canyon”
“The Edge of Democracy”
“The Elephant Queen”
“Emanuel”
“Ernie & Joe: Crisis Cops”
“Fantastic Fungi”
“#Female Pleasure”
“Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles”
“Fiddlin’”
“Finding Farideh”
“Finding the Way Home”
“5B”
“For Sama”
“For the Birds”
“Foster”
“The Fourth Kingdom. The Kingdom of Plastics”
“Framing John DeLorean”
“Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened”
“The Game Changers”
“Gay Chorus Deep South”
“Gaza”
“Ghost Fleet”
“The Gift: The Journey of Johnny Cash”
“The Gospel of Eureka”
“The Great Hack”
“Hail Satan?”
“Halston”
“Hate among Us”
“Heading Home: The Tale of Team Israel”
“Heimat Is a Space in Time”
“Hesburgh”
“Honeyland”
“Hope Frozen”
“The Hottest August”
“Humberto Mauro”
“I Had a Dream”
“Immortal”
“The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley”
“It’s a Hard Truth Ain’t It”
“Janani’s Juliet”
“Jawline”
“Jay Myself”
“Jim Allison: Breakthrough”
“Joseph Pulitzer: Voice of the People”
“The Kingmaker”
“Knock Down the House”
“Letter to the Editor”
“Liberty: Mother of Exiles”
“Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice”
“Love, Antosha”
“M for Malaysia”
“Maiden”
“Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound”
“Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love”
“Meeting Gorbachev”
“Midnight Family”
“Midnight Traveler”
“Mike Wallace Is Here”
“Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool”
“Moonlight Sonata: Deafness in Three Movements”
“The Most Dangerous Year”
“Mosul”
“Moti Bagh”
“My Home India”
“My Name Is Daniel”
“On the President’s Orders”
“One Child Nation”
“Pavarotti”
“The Proposal”
“Prosecuting Evil: The Extraordinary World of Ben Ferencz”
“Q Ball”
“The Quiet One”
“Raise Hell: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins”
“Reason/Vivek”
“Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project”
“Reinventing Rosalee”
“The Rememberer”
“The River and the Wall”
“Roll Red Roll”
“Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese”
“Running with Beto”
“The Russian Five”
“Satan & Adam”
“Scandalous”
“Sea of Shadows”
“Serendipity”
“The Serengeti Rules”
“Shooting the Mafia”
“16 Bars”
“16 Shots”
“The Spy behind Home Plate”
“Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken”
“Talking about Trees”
“Tell Me Who I Am”
“Tesla Nation”
“This Changes Everything”
“This One’s for the Ladies”
“Tigerland”
“To Be of Service”
“Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am”
“True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight for Equality”
“A Tuba to Cuba”
“Walking on Water”
“Watson”
“Western Stars”
“What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael”
“What You Gonna Do When the World’s on Fire?”
“When Lambs Become Lions”
“When Tomatoes Met Wagner”
“Where’s My Roy Cohn?”
“Who Will Write Our History”
“Woodstock: Three Days That Defined a Generation”
“Wrestle”
“XY Chelsea”
“Ximei”

Documentary features that have won a qualifying award at a competitive film festival or have been submitted in the International Feature Film category as their country’s official selection are also eligible in the category.  A shortlist of 15 films will be announced on December 16, 2019.

Films submitted in the Documentary Feature category may also qualify for Academy Awards in other categories, including Best Picture.

Nominations for the 92nd Academy Awards will be announced on Monday, January 13, 2020.

The 92nd Oscars® will be held on Sunday, February 9, 2020, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live on the ABC Television Network.  The Oscars also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

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