Oscar Contender Holiday Movies

I already reviewed Lion earlier in the week. Here are the rest of the movies I went to see over Christmas vacation.

Tuesday 12/27 – La La Land – Liberty Tree Mall – with niece Yvonne

also

Saturday 12/31 – La La Land – Liberty Tree Mall – with L L Lizbeth

Yvonne and I both were dying to see this one and we both fell in love with it. Lizbeth and I planned on being movie buddies over vacation so when she got home, I went to see it with her for a second time.

It was magnificent. The music was beautiful, the cinematography was delightful, there was a ton of chemistry between the leads. There was so much to love about this movie! Story is girl flips off boy in traffic, boy snubs girl, girl tortures boy in 80s band act of revenge, boy gets girl, jazz, acting and fate step in.

The first time I saw this movie I had a huge smile on my face, the second time I cried throughout the whole thing. (This could be a me problem.) But both times I left the theater grateful for having been there. On the first viewing, I applauded at the end of several of the musical numbers and so did other members of the audience. When I went later in the week, I still applauded but was looked at askance by other members of the audience for my enthusiasm.

This movie gets a high 5 on the Barb-o-Meter and is recommended for everyone who values creativity and understands the idea that love is a gift.

Wednesday 12/28 – Rogue One – Liberty Tree Mall – el Guapo, the boys and nephew Drew.

Yes, it was fantastic. It reminded me of The Dirty Dozen, but in space. Sure, I slept though about 62% of it. But the parts I stayed awake for were magnificent. I don't suppose there are people who look at a Star Wars movie and think, “Well, I'll wait to see how the reviews come in and then decide if I am going to spend my $11 on it.” You're pretty much legally obligated to go see it. And we were no exception. There is this Death Star being built and it is going to be a big deal. There are some plans for it and finding these plans will allow the rebel alliance to make 6 or 9 more movies (depending on how you count them) so they must be found. Someone on the internet posted about how the Galactic Empire really needs to employ better archivists for their records. I concur.

Seeing this movie the day after Carrie Fisher passed away added an emotional bump I wasn't expecting.

I give this one a 3.5 out of 5 – it was loud and violent and couldn't really keep me awake. But the parts I saw were excellent.

Wednesday 12/28 – The Lobster – my living room – el Guapo, even though he claimed he wasn't watching it

This was a strange, strange movie. It had actors that I love – Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz play the strange people who fall in love. And Olivia Colman showed up as the hotel manager to surprise me, I always love her.

The premise is that everyone must be coupled. You must have a partner. (Don't have a moving buddy? Get one!!) When Colin Farrell's wife leaves him for another nearsighted man, he is sent to a hotel where he has 45 days to find a partner or he will be turned into a lobster. Makes perfect sense, doesn't it? There is a dog (who used to be Farrell's character's brother), the gorgeous, unrecognizable Ben Whishaw as a man with a limp, John C. Reilly sporting a lisp and a cruel woman played by Angeliki Papoulia who I have never heard of, but will be keeping an eye out for. It got a 90% fresh rating from Rotten Tomatoes critics, but only 60% from normal people. And this makes sense. The ending is abrupt and leaves you to decide what actually happened.

I gave this movie a 3 out of 5, but I feel like if I were to watch it again, the score would go up because I wouldn't have to wait for it to begin to make sense. I recommend this movie to people who are secure in their relationship status (be they paired or single), have an open mind and aren't planing on getting LASIK surgery any time soon.

Thursday 12/29 – Manchester by the Sea – The Cabot – el Guapo and LLLizbeth

Well we had to go see this at our local cinema what with it being filmed in the Garden City! There were several local landmarks in view. First off, the table that my colleagues and I sit at on Friday afternoons at Fibber McGee's was on display during an early scene. Beverly Hospital where my younger son was born and the funeral parlor across from Rite Aid both were settings for important parts of the story. There is one point where if the camera had been pointed a little bit to the right, you may have been able to see my house! (Sadly, Cabot Street was not as scenic as Lothrop Street for the big parking scene...) So that was exciting.

Now to the film itself – it is one of the best movies I have ever seen in my life. It was so perfectly put together that even when looking at places I have known in real life, I was never pulled out of the story. It is also harrowing. My shirt was damp from crying. Seriously, it wrecked me. I got to discuss it with the guy behind the counter at the liquor store and he said he felt the same way. Because OF COURSE I had to go to the liquor store right after seeing this movie. Before I saw MbtS, I ran into a friend at the movie theater at the mall and when I mentioned that I was going to see it at the Cabot the next day, he said to make sure I scheduled some extra therapy sessions because I was going to need them. (On a side note, when I told him I was not in therapy he said, “Really? No one has ever suggested that you go? There have been no court orders?")

I had a few students in my film class who saw it over break and when we discussed it on Wednesday one of them opined that it wasn't as painful to watch it if you took the kid's point of view, rather than the adults. Nonetheless, it will have an impact.

This movie gets a 5 from me (and pretty much everyone one else in the world) and I recommend it for everyone who can drown their sorrows after, who can schedule more therapy and for children 15 and older.

Friday 12/30 – The Arrival – Liberty Tree Mall – alone

This could have just have easily been a review of Fences, because I was still on the fence (heh...get it?) about which one to see when I got to the theater. But the start time was a little more convenient for The Arrival, so there I went.

I was taken quite by surprise by how much I liked this movie. I have grown to appreciate science fiction films thanks to the support of my sci-fi-maniacal husband, but it is rarely going to be my first choice of genre. This film had my favorite kind of sci fi setting – in our world in the near future – and it had some really interesting real science bolstering it up. The premise was the arrival of some unidentified life forms (12 maybe?) over different areas in the world and the different ways humans attempted to interact with them.

Amy Adams played a woman who loses a child early in the film to some sort of horrible disease and is currently living a solitary life of teaching linguistics at a university during the day and drinking wine at home alone at night. When the visitors come, she is tapped to try to learn their language. Jeremy Renner (el Guapo's celebrity doppelganger!) plays a physicist with whom she works. They start off not really trusting one another's perspectives on the aliens, but end up with a strong sense of mutual respect.

The story unfolds a bit more slowly than the usual space movies I have seen, which I appreciated. And the bad guys (there are a few different sets) are generally more nuanced than viewers usually get in this type of movie. (With the exception of a couple of kids who watch way to much Bill O'Riley. Let that be a lesson to you all!) I have some overarching questions about fate and inevitability that are brought up by the way the film ends, so if you see it, message me and explain it please.

I gave this moody little film a 5, I really did. I recommend it to any literate person who likes tentacles, gravity and ponytails.

Monday – 1/2 – Jackie – Liberty Tree Mall – niece Yvonne and sister-in-law Liz

Liz is the sister of el Guapo and she is a big fan of the Kennedys I was thrilled to be invited to go see this film with her and her daughter. The fact that I invited myself in no way diminished my pleasure.

Natalie Portman is amazing! I admired her work in Black Swan, put up with her in the first few Star Wars, loathed her in Beautiful Girls and loved her in Where the Heart Is – which is a horrible movie, nonetheless, she was adorable in it. She plays Jackie Kennedy perfectly. I was never that interested in Jackie. I mean, I think she had an interesting life, but I never read much about her or was that curious. Well, I am now!

The movie is very moody. It has a strange soundtrack that I found really evocative. Her speech, facial expressions and even costumes really drew me to the character, even as I realized that she was not particularly likable. The framing device for the story is an interview with a reporter (played by the reliably dreamy Billy Crudup) in Hyannis shortly after the assassination of JFK. The meat of the movie is the time between when the Kennedy's landed in Dallas and when the president's body is interred at Arlington National Cemetery.

The story is familiar, the parts that stood out to me were the people who supported Jackie at this time. Greta Gerwig plays Nancy Tuckerman, Jackie's best friend and social secretary of the Kennedy White House with warmth. Peter Sarsgaard plays Bobby Kennedy beautifully - trying to be kind to Jackie while reeling from the death of his brother. But the show belongs to Portman and it is impossible for me to imagine anyone else ever playing this part.

I gave this movie a 4.5. It probably should earn a 5 for the quality of production and the stellar performances, but it is a cold movie, I think perhaps intentionally, and while I appreciated it as a work of art, it rarely hit me emotionally. Again, perhaps a flaw of mine and not the film. But in a week of seeing some really remarkable films, it holds up. I recommend it to anyone who likes couture, mild rhotacism and capricious funeral plans. 

So there you have it. If we are Oscaring these contenders, I think Portman and Affleck deserve the big prizes with Michelle Williams (didn't mention her in my Manchester review, but holy cow!) and Sarsgaard providing the best support. La La Land, however, was the most pleasurable movie-going experience of my year, twice! And for me, it is the best picture.