Sunday, February 26, 2017

Best Picture

The following films have been nominated for Best Picture:
La La Land
Manchester by the Sea
Hacksaw Ridge
Arrival
Lion
Fences
Hidden Figures
Moonlight
Hell or High Water

Out of these nine films, I'll definitely watch La La Land again, because it was light, fun, family friendly, and Ashley really liked it.
 
Manchester by the Sea was deeply depressing, with Casey Affleck single-handedly bringing a dark cloud of bleakness to an otherwise sunny coastal town.  For this role he deserves the award for Best Actor.

Hacksaw Ridge honestly doesn't deserve to be in the running for Best Picture; I can only suppose that its anti-war message won favor with the Hollywood crowd.

Arrival was a really good character study packaged in a decent science fiction film.

The first half of Lion was a moving story about a boy lost in India; unfortunately he wasn't in the second half.

Fences may be a good play, but the film version isn't a good translation.

I'm glad to have seen Hidden Figures, it's a good film about amazing women.

Moonlight is the most dynamic film of the nine, and while I grieve the message it delivers, it deserves to be Best Picture this year.

I had my very first Shiner Bock after seeing Hell or High Water.  I had my first White Russian the night I saw The Big Lebowski.  Characters that Jeff Bridges plays in movies have good taste in adult beverages.

As for Best Supporting Actress, I'd say Viola Davis in Fences gave the most powerful performance.

Best Supporting Actor is the hardest to choose from, but I would probably vote for Mahershala Ali in Moonlight.

I've only commented on categories for which I saw all the nominees.  On a side note, Jess and I tried to watch the all the feature length documentaries nominated this year, but after 7 hours and 47 minutes of O.J.: Made in America, can you really blame us for not seeing the rest?  By the way, it was quite good.

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