The Bridges of Madison County starts with a mystery. A sister and her brother try to find out why their mother requested that she be cremated and her ashes scattered from a bridge rather than be buried next to her late husband. Going through their mother’s things, they learn about four-day affair that she had with a photographer who was just passing through town and taking pictures of covered bridges.
Meryl Streep plays their mother, an Italian war bride named Francesca. Clint Eastwood plays the photographer, Robert Kincaid. The movie shows how Francesca, trapped in a loveless marriage, rediscovered her passion for life and love during her four-day affair with Robert. Robert rediscovered his love for photography. (I like to take pictures so I was happy for him.) With her family due home after a trip to the Iowa State Fair, Francesca had to decide whether to abandon them to pursue her affair with Robert. Since this is the first that her children have ever heard about the affair, it’s easy to guess what she decided to do.
My aunt loved this film and I like it too. It’s the most tasteful film about a woman being tempted to abandon her family that I’ve ever seen. It’s a film about adultery that the entire family can enjoy! The film looks beautiful and Meryl and Clint … wow! Let’s just say that they seemed to be really into each other. The two leads give such heartfelt performances that every moment felt authentic and by the end of the movie, I very much wanted to see Francesca’s ashes dumped over the side of that bridge. Whenever anyone says that Clint Eastwood could only play cops and cowboys, tell them to watch Bridges of Madison County.
The Deer Hunter, which won the 1978 Oscar for Best Picture Of The Year, opens in a Pennsylvania steel mill.
Mike (Robert De Niro), Steve (John Savage), Nick (Chistopher Walken), Stan (John Cazale), and Axel (Chuck Aspegren, a real-life steel worker who was cast in this film after De Niro met him while doing research for his role) leave work and head straight to the local bar, where they are greeted by the bartender, John (George Dzundza). It’s obvious that these men have been friends for their entire lives. They’re like family. Everyone gives Stan a hard time but deep down, they love him. Axel is the prankster who keeps everyone in a good mood. Nick is the sensitive one who settles disputes. Steve is perhaps the most innocent, henpecked by his mother (Shirley Stoler) and engaged to marry the pregnant Angela (Rutanya Alda), even though Steve knows that he’s not actually the father. And Mike is their leader, a charismatic if sometimes overbearing father figure who lives his life by his own code of honor. The men are held together by their traditions. They hunt nearly every weekend. Mike says that it’s important to only use one shot to kill a deer. Nick, at one point, confesses that he doesn’t really understand why that’s important to Mike.
Steve and Angela get married at a raucous ceremony that is attended by the entire population of their small town. The community is proud that Nick, Steve, and Mike will all soon be shipping out to Vietnam. Nick asks his girlfriend, Linda (Meryl Streep), to marry him when he “gets back.” At the reception, Mike gets into a fight with a recently returned soldier who refuses to speak about his experiences overseas. Mike ends up running naked down a street while Nick chases him.
The Deer Hunter is a three-hour film, with the entirety of the first hour taken up with introducing us to the men and the tight-knit community that produced them. At times, that first hour can seem almost plotless. As much time is spent with those who aren’t going to Vietnam as with those who are. But, as the film progresses, we start to understand why the film’s director, Michael Cimino, spent so much time immersing the viewer in that community of steel workers. To understand who Nick, Mike, and Steve are going to become, it’s important to know where they came from. Only by spending time with that community can we understand what it’s like to lose the security of knowing where you belong.
If the first hour of the film plays out in an almost cinema verité manner, the next two hours feel like an increasingly surreal nightmare. (Indeed, there was a part of me that suspected that everything that happened after the wedding was just Michael’s drunken dream as he lay passed out in the middle of the street.) The film abruptly cuts from the beautiful mountains of Pennsylvania to the violent horror of Vietnam. A Viet Cong soldier blows up a group of hiding women and children. Michael appears out of nowhere to set the man on fire with a flame thrower. An army helicopter lands and, in a coincidence that strains credibility, Nick and Steve just happen to get out. Somehow, the three friends randomly meet each other again in Vietnam. Unfortunately, they are soon captured by the VC.
They are held prisoner in submerged bamboo cages. Occasionally, they are released and forced to play Russian Roulette. Mike once again becomes the leader, telling Steve and Nick to stay strong. Eventually, the three men do manage to escape but Steve loses his leg in the process and a traumatized Nick disappears in Saigon. Only Mike returns home.
The community seems to have changed in Mike’s absence. The once boisterous town is now quiet and cold. The banner reading “Welcome Home, Mike” almost seems to be mocking the fact that Mike no longer feels at home in his old world. Stan, Axel, and John try to pretend like nothing has changed. Mike falls in love with Linda while continuing to feel guilty for having abandoned Nick in Saigon. Steve, meanwhile, struggles to come to terms with being in a wheelchair and Nick is still playing Russian Roulette in seedy nightclubs. Crowds love to watch the blank-faced Nick risk his life.
Eventually, Mike realizes that Nick is still alive. Somehow, Mike ends up back in Saigon, just as the government is falling. Oddly, we don’t learn how Mike was able to return to Saigon. He’s just suddenly there. It’s the type of dream logic that dominates The Deer Hunter but somehow, it works. Mike searches for Nick but will he be able to save his friend?
The Deer Hunter was one of the first major films to take place in Vietnam. Among the pictures that The Deer Hunter defeated for Bet Picture was Coming Home, which was also about Vietnam but which took a far more conventional approach to its story than The Deer Hunter. Indeed, while Coming Home is rather predictable in its anti-war posture, The DeerHunter largely ignores the politics of Vietnam. Mike, Nick, and Steve are all traumatized by what they see in Vietnam. Mike is destroyed emotionally, Steve is destroyed physically, and Nick is destroyed mentally. At the same time, the VC are portrayed as being so cruel and sadistic that it’s hard not to feel that the film is suggesting that, even if we did ultimately lose the war, the Americans were on the correct side and trying to do the right thing. (Many critics of The Deer Hunter have pointed out that there are no records of American POWs being forced to play Russian Roulette. That’s true. There are however records of American POWs being forced to undergo savage torture that was just as potentially life-threatening. Regardless of what one thinks of America’s involvement in Vietnam, there’s no need to idealize the VC.) Released just a few years after the Fall of Saigon, The Deer Hunter was a controversial film and winner. (Of course, in retrospect, the film is actually quite brilliant in the way it appeals to both anti-war and pro-war viewers without actually taking a firm position itself.)
In the end, though, The Deer Hunter isn’t really about the reality of the war or the politics behind it. Instead, it’s a film about discovering that the world is far more complicated that you originally believed it to be. De Niro is a bit too old to be playing such a naive character but still, he does a good job of portraying Mike’s newfound sense of alienation from his former home. In Vietnam, everything he believed in was challenged and he returns home unsure of where he stands. While John, Axel, and Stan can continue to hunt as if nothing happened, Mike finds that he can no longer buy into his own philosophical BS about the importance of only using one shot. Everything that he once believed no longer seems important.
It’s a good film and a worthy winner, even if it does sometimes feel more like a happy accident than an actual cohesive work of art. The plot is often implausible but then again, the film takes place in a world gone mad so even the plot holes feel appropriate to the story being told. Christopher Walken won an Oscar for his haunting performance as Nick and John Savage should have been nominated alongside of him. This was Meryl Streep’s first major role and she gives a surprisingly naturalistic performance. During filming, Streep was living with John Cazale and she largely did the film to be near him. Cazale was dying of lung cancer and he is noticeably frail in this film. (I cringed whenever Mike hit Stan because Cazale was obviously not well in those scenes.) Cazale, one of the great character actors of the 70s, died shortly after filming wrapped. Cazale only appeared in five films and all of them were nominated for Best Picture. Three of them — The first two Godfathers and The Deer Hunter — won.
The Deer Hunter is a long, exhausting, overwhelming, and ultimately very moving film. Whatever flaws it may have, it earns its emotional finale. Though one can argue that some of the best films of 1978 were not even nominated (Days of Heaven comes to mind, as do more populist-minded films like Superman and Animal House), The Deer Hunter deserved its Oscar.
The awards precursor season is getting started …. kinda.
The AARP Movies For Grown-Ups Nominations were announced last week, on the 20th. I’m only now getting around to sharing them because I’m not a member of AARP and therefore, I had no idea these nominations had even been announced. It seems a bit earlier than usual, for them. Then again, you know how retired folks are about getting up early.
How influential are the AARP nominations? Not very. These nominations were not made being film critics or people who work in the industry. They were made by the editors of AARP’s magazine. That said, it’s always good to get mentioned somewhere. If nothing else, this list might indicate which films are resonating with the over-5o set.
Or maybe I just like long lists.
Anyway, here are the nominations! The winners will be announced on January 11th, during the Denny’s breakfast special.
Best Picture/Best Movie for Grownups A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Emilia Pérez
Gladiator II
September 5
Best Actress Pamela Anderson (The Last Showgirl)
Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Hard Truths)
Nicole Kidman (Babygirl)
Demi Moore (The Substance)
June Squibb (Thelma)
Best Actor Adrien Brody (The Brutalist)
Daniel Craig (Queer)
Colman Domingo (Sing Sing)
Ralph Fiennes (Conclave)
Jude Law (The Order)
Best Supporting Actress Joan Chen (Didi)
Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor (Nickel Boys)
Lesley Manville (Queer)
Connie Nielsen (Gladiator II)
Isabella Rossellini (Conclave)
Best Supporting Actor Clarence Maclin (Sing Sing)
Guy Pearce (The Brutalist)
Peter Sarsgaard (September 5)
Stanley Tucci (Conclave)
Denzel Washington (Gladiator II)
Best Director Pedro Almodóvar (The Room Next Door)
Jacques Audiard (Emilia Pérez)
Edward Berger (Conclave)
James Mangold (A Complete Unknown)
Ridley Scott (Gladiator II)
Best Screenwriter Jacques Audiard, Thomas Bidegain, Nicolas Livecchi (Emilia Pérez)
Jay Cocks and James Mangold (A Complete Unknown)
Winnie Holzman (Wicked)
Peter Straughan (Conclave)
Denis Villeneuve and Jon Spaihts (Dune: Part Two)
Best Ensemble A Complete Unknown
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
His Three Daughters
September 5
Sing Sing
Best Actress (TV) Jennifer Aniston (The Morning Show)
Jodie Foster (True Detective: Night Country)
Jean Smart (Hacks)
Meryl Streep (Only Murders in the Building)
Sofia Vergara (Griselda)
Best Actor (TV) Billy Crudup (The Morning Show)
Idris Elba (Hijack)
Jon Hamm (Fargo)
Gary Oldman (Slow Horses)
Hiroyuki Sanada (Shōgun)
Best TV Series or Limited Series The Crown
Hacks
Palm Royale
Shōgun
Slow Horses
Best Intergenerational Film Didi
Here
His Three Daughters
The Piano Lesson
Thelma
Best Time Capsule A Complete Unknown
The Brutalist
Here
Maria
September 5
Best Documentary I Am: Celine Dion
Luther: Never Too Much
Piece by Piece
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story
Will & Harper
Adam McKay has a new movie coming out. It’s called Don’t Look Up and the cast is packed with stars. It’s apparently a comedy about two astronomers who discover that a comet is about to collide with Earth, potentially ending all life as we know it.
Here’s the teaser:
I’m not really a big Adam McKay fan. In fact, I think the last Adam McKay film that I really liked was Anchorman. The Big Short was overrated and smug. Vice was an attempt to destroy Dick Cheney that, instead, rehabilitated the former vice president’s image in the eyes of many. (I mean, seriously, it takes a certain amount of effort to screw up a film that’s only reason for existing was to portray Dick Cheney as being a sinister figure.) Both Vice and The Big Short were victims of McKay’s tendency to try too hard to prove that he’s capable of more than just Anchorman. (Let’s be honest, though. If you had to pick between Anchorman and either of McKay’s Oscar-nominated films, which one are you going for?)
McKay is not a particularly good or clever political satirist but there are people who love his work, largely because they already agree with him. His films are like the progressive, secular version of God’s Not Dead, heavy-handed, predictable, and beloved by people who exist in a very specific social and cultural bubble. Of course, both The Big Short and Vice received several Oscar nominations but that due more to Hollywood agreeing with the film’s politics than the films themselves.
Anyway, the teaser features Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Meryl Streep, and Jennifer Lawrence, all acting up a storm. (These are four talented actors, all of whom really need a director who is willing to say, “Okay, let’s dial it back a little.” Subtlety, of course, is not really a McKay specialty.) I’m not looking forward to this film but I’ll still watch it when it shows up on Netflix. Who knows? Maybe it’ll feel more like Anchorman than Vice. One can only hope!
Here’s what won at the Satellite Awards on the 15th. I apologize for being a bit late in posting this but the weather conspired to keep me from watching the Satellite Awards.
Actually, did anyone watch the Satellite Awards? Does anyone even know who is even giving these things out?
Well, regardless, here’s what won in the film categories:
SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD RECIPIENTS
Mary Pickford Award: Tilda Swinton Tesla Award: Dick Pope Auteur Award: Emerald Fennell – Promising Young Woman Best First Feature: Channing Godfrey Peoples – Miss Juneteenth Stunt Performance Award: Gaëlle Cohen Humanitarian Award: Mark Wahlberg Ensemble Motion Picture: The Trial of the Chicago 7 Ensemble Television: The Good Lord Bird
Actress in a Motion Picture Drama
Carey Mulligan – Promising Young Woman Frances McDormand – Nomadland Vanessa Kirby – Pieces of a Woman
Viola Davis – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Kate Winslet – Ammonite
Sophia Loren – The Life Ahead
Actor in a Motion Picture Drama
Anthony Hopkins – The Father
Delroy Lindo – Da 5 Bloods Riz Ahmed – Sound of Metal Steven Yeun – Minari
Chadwick Boseman – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Gary Oldman – Mank
Actress in Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical
Meryl Streep – The Prom
Rashida Jones – On the Rocks
Margot Robbie – Birds of Prey
Michelle Pfeiffer – French Exit Maria Bakalova – Borat Subsequent Moviefilm Anya Taylor-Joy – Emma
Actor in Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical
Andy Samberg – Palm Springs
Lin-Manuel Miranda – Hamilton
Dev Patel – The Personal History of David Copperfield Sacha Baron Cohen – Borat Subsequent Moviefilm Leslie Odom Jr. – Hamilton
Actress in a Supporting Role Amanda Seyfried – Mank Olivia Colman – The Father
Yuh-Jung Youn – Minari
Ellen Burstyn – Pieces of a Woman
Nicole Kidman – The Prom
Helena Zengel – News of the World
Actor in a Supporting Role
Brian Dennehy – Driveways
David Strathairn – Nomadland
Sacha Baron Cohen – The Trial of the Chicago 7 Chadwick Boseman – Da 5 Bloods Kingsley Ben-Adir – One Night in Miami
Bill Murray – On the Rocks
Motion Picture, Drama Nomadland
The Trial of the Chicago 7
The Father
Promising Young Woman
Minari
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Tenet
Sound of Metal
One Night in Miami
Miss Juneteenth
Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical
On the Rocks
Hamilton
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Palm Springs
The Personal History of David Copperfield The Forty-Year-Old Version
Motion Picture, International
Another Round
Tove
A Sun
Two of Us
Jallikattu
I’m No Longer Here
Atlantis
My Little Sister La Llorona
Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed Media
Over the Moon
Soul Wolfwalkers
Demon Slayer-Kimetsu No Yaiba-The Movie: Mugen Train
Accidental Luxuriance of the Translucent Watery Rebus
No. 7 Cherry Lane
Motion Picture, Documentary Collective
Crip Camp
MLK / FBI
The Dissident
A Most Beautiful Thing
The Truffle Hunters
Acasa, My Home
Coup 53
Gunda
Circus of Books
Director
Aaron Sorkin – The Trial of the Chicago 7 Chloé Zhao – Nomadland David Fincher – Mank
Darius Marder – Sound of Metal
Lee Isaac Chung – Minari
Florian Zeller – The Father
Screenplay, Original
Lee Isaac Chung – Minari
Aaron Sorkin – The Trial of the Chicago 7
Jack Fincher – Mank
Pete Docter, Mike Jones & Kemp Powers – Soul
Andy Siara – Palm Springs Emerald Fennell – Promising Young Woman
Screenplay, Adapted
Ruben Santiago-Hudson – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom Christopher Hampton & Florian Zeller – The Father Jessica Bruder & Chloe Zhao – Nomadland
Kemp Powers – One Night in Miami
Edoardo Ponti – The Life Ahead
Luke Davies & Paul Greengrass – News of the World
Original Score
Ludwig Goransson – Tenet
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross – Mank Alexandre Desplat – The Midnight Sky James Newton Howard – News of the World
Emile Mosseri – Minari
Terence Blanchard – One Night in Miami
Original Song “Io Si” – The Life Ahead “Hear My Voice” – The Trial of the Chicago 7
“Rocket to the Moon” – Over the Moon
“Speak Now” – One Night in Miami
“Everybody Cries” – The Outpost
“The Other Side” – Trolls World Tour
Cinematography
The Midnight Sky
Nomadland Mank
News of the World
One Night in Miami
Tenet
Film Editing
Nomadland
The Father The Trial of the Chicago 7
Mank
One Night in Miami
Minari
Sound (Editing and Mixing) Sound of Metal
Tenet
Mank
The Prom
The Midnight Sky
Nomadland
Visual Effects
The Midnight Sky
Mank Tenet
Birds of Prey
Greyhound
Mulan
Art Direction and Production Design
The Personal History of David Copperfield
One Night in Miami Mank
The Midnight Sky
The Prom
Mulan
Costume Design
Mulan
Emma
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Mank The Personal History of David Copperfield
One Night in Miami
If the Golden Globes are the bastard children of the Oscars than the Satellites are the bastard children of the Golden Globes. And if there’s anything that will always hold true, it’s that bastard children can eventually be accepted but bastard grandchildren are always going to struggle. That’s my fancy way of saying that the Satellites have been around for 25 years and still, it doesn’t seem like anyone pays them much attention. It’s also an excuse to use the word bastard 4 times in one paragraph.
Anyway, the Satellites announced their nominees earlier today. Their film nominees can be found below! If you want to see what they nominated in the television categories, check it out for yourself at their site!
SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD RECIPIENTS
Mary Pickford Award: Tilda Swinton
Tesla Award: Dick Pope
Auteur Award: Emerald Fennell – Promising Young Woman
Best First Feature: Channing Godfrey Peoples – Miss Juneteenth
Stunt Performance Award: Gaëlle Cohen
Humanitarian Award: Mark Wahlberg
Ensemble Motion Picture: The Trial of the Chicago 7
Ensemble Television: The Good Lord Bird
NOMINEES FOR MOTION PICTURE
Actress in a Motion Picture Drama
Carey Mulligan – Promising Young Woman
Frances McDormand – Nomadland
Vanessa Kirby – Pieces of a Woman
Viola Davis – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Kate Winslet – Ammonite
Sophia Loren – The Life Ahead
Actor in a Motion Picture Drama
Anthony Hopkins – The Father
Delroy Lindo – Da 5 Bloods
Riz Ahmed – Sound of Metal
Steven Yeun – Minari
Chadwick Boseman – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Gary Oldman – Mank
Actress in Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical
Meryl Streep – The Prom
Rashida Jones – On the Rocks
Margot Robbie – Birds of Prey
Michelle Pfeiffer – French Exit
Maria Bakalova – Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Anya Taylor-Joy – Emma
Actor in Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical
Andy Samberg – Palm Springs
Lin-Manuel Miranda – Hamilton
Dev Patel – The Personal History of David Copperfield
Sacha Baron Cohen – Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Leslie Odom Jr. – Hamilton
Actress in a Supporting Role
Amanda Seyfried – Mank
Olivia Colman – The Father
Yuh-Jung Youn – Minari
Ellen Burstyn – Pieces of a Woman
Nicole Kidman – The Prom
Helena Zengel – News of the World
Actor in a Supporting Role
Brian Dennehy – Driveways
David Strathairn – Nomadland
Sacha Baron Cohen – The Trial of the Chicago 7
Chadwick Boseman – Da 5 Bloods
Kingsley Ben-Adir – One Night in Miami
Bill Murray – On the Rocks
Motion Picture, Drama
Nomadland
The Trial of the Chicago 7
The Father
Promising Young Woman
Minari
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Tenet
Sound of Metal
One Night in Miami
Miss Juneteenth
Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical
On the Rocks
Hamilton
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Palm Springs
The Personal History of David Copperfield
The Forty-Year-Old Version
Motion Picture, International
Another Round
Tove
A Sun
Two of Us
Jallikattu
I’m No Longer Here
Atlantis
My Little Sister
La Llorona
Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed Media
Over the Moon
Soul
Wolfwalkers
Demon Slayer-Kimetsu No Yaiba-The Movie: Mugen Train
Accidental Luxuriance of the Translucent Watery Rebus
No. 7 Cherry Lane
Motion Picture, Documentary
Collective
Crip Camp
MLK / FBI
The Dissident
A Most Beautiful Thing
The Truffle Hunters
Acasa, My Home
Coup 53
Gunda
Circus of Books
Director
Aaron Sorkin – The Trial of the Chicago 7
Chloé Zhao – Nomadland
David Fincher – Mank
Darius Marder – Sound of Metal
Lee Isaac Chung – Minari
Florian Zeller – The Father
Screenplay, Original
Lee Isaac Chung – Minari
Aaron Sorkin – The Trial of the Chicago 7
Jack Fincher – Mank
Pete Docter, Mike Jones & Kemp Powers – Soul
Andy Siara – Palm Springs
Emerald Fennell – Promising Young Woman
Screenplay, Adapted
Ruben Santiago-Hudson – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Christopher Hampton & Florian Zeller – The Father
Jessica Bruder & Chloe Zhao – Nomadland
Kemp Powers – One Night in Miami
Edoardo Ponti – The Life Ahead
Luke Davies & Paul Greengrass – News of the World
Original Score
Ludwig Goransson – Tenet
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross – Mank
Alexandre Desplat – The Midnight Sky
James Newton Howard – News of the World
Emile Mosseri – Minari
Terence Blanchard – One Night in Miami
Original Song
“Io Si” – The Life Ahead
“Hear My Voice” – The Trial of the Chicago 7
“Rocket to the Moon” – Over the Moon
“Speak Now” – One Night in Miami
“Everybody Cries” – The Outpost
“The Other Side” – Trolls World Tour
Cinematography
The Midnight Sky
Nomadland
Mank
News of the World
One Night in Miami
Tenet
Film Editing
Nomadland
The Father
The Trial of the Chicago 7
Mank
One Night in Miami
Minari
Sound (Editing and Mixing)
Sound of Metal
Tenet
Mank
The Prom
The Midnight Sky
Nomadland
Visual Effects
The Midnight Sky
Mank
Tenet
Birds of Prey
Greyhound
Mulan
Art Direction and Production Design
The Personal History of David Copperfield
One Night in Miami
Mank
The Midnight Sky
The Prom
Mulan
Costume Design
Mulan
Emma
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Mank
The Personal History of David Copperfield
One Night in Miami
Let Them All Talk is the latest film from Steven Soderbergh. Meryl Streep plays Alice Hughes, a novelist who is traveling to London on the Queen Mary so that she can accept a literary prize. Accompanying her are two friends from college, Roberta (Candice Bergen) and Susan (Dianne Wiest), both of whom have far less glamorous lives than Alice’s. Roberta is also still angry because she feels that Alice used details from Roberta’s life in one of her novels.
Also on board the Queen Mary are Alice’s nephew, Tyler (Lucas Hedges, who overacts to such an extent that it’s almost as if he’s daring the Academy to take back that nomination for Manchester By The Sea) and Karen (Gemma Chan), who is Alice’s new agent and who is trying to figure out what Alice’s next book is going to be about. (Karen hopes that it’ll be a sequel to her first novel, the one that was full of details stolen from Roberta’s life.) Though Alice keeps insisting that she wants Tyler to keep Roberta and Susan entertained while she works on her latest book, Tyler is far more interested in getting to know Karen.
The film was shot on the Queen Mary, while the ship was actually making the voyage across the Atlantic. Though the actors had a story outline, the majority of the dialogue was improvised and Soderbergh essentially just sat in a wheelchair with his camera and followed the actors around. In short, this is a film that you probably could have shot, the only difference being that you probably wouldn’t have been able to get Meryl Streep to agree to appear in it. I’m tempted to say that the story of the production is actually more interesting than the film itself but, to be honest, Steven Soderbergh shooting an improvised film isn’t that interesting. Soderbergh’s always had a weakness for gimmicks like improv. You may remember that, decades ago, he and George Clooney insisted on trying to produce largely improvised television shows for HBO. Though the shows got a lot of hype before they premiered, both K Street and Unscripted mostly served to prove that improv is often more interesting in theory than in practice.
That’s certainly the case with Let Them All Talk, which is one of the most mind-numbingly dull films that I’ve ever sat through. I think the assumption was that Meryl Streep, Candice Bergen, and Dianne Wiest would automatically be interesting to watch no matter what they said but it doesn’t work out that way. Meryl Streep, in particular, is so excessively mannered that she comes across like a retired drama teacher playing the lead in the community theater production of Mame. Candice Bergen does a bit better but Dianne Wiest is stranded with a role and subplot that seems almost like an afterthought. In the end, the film just isn’t that interesting. The “just start filming and see what happens” approach has its limits.
To be honest, as I watched Let Them All Talk, I found myself wondering if maybe Steven Soderbergh was deliberately trolling everyone by seeing how bad of a film he can make before critics stop reflexively praising everything that he does. Let Them All Talk currently has a score of 89% at Rotten Tomatoes so Soderbergh still has a ways to go.
If want to see how my thinking has evolved, check out my predictions of January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, and October! You’ll probably notice that the main evolution in my thinking this month is that I’ve dropped Hillbilly Elegy from my predictions and I’ve added Meryl Streep because she gets nominated for everything.
Best Picture
The Father
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Mank
Minari
News of the World
Nomadland
One Night in Miami
Pieces of a Woman
Soul
Sound of Metal
Best Director
Lee Isaac Chung for Minari
David Fincher for Mank
Regina King for One Night in Miami
Florian Zeller for The Father
Chloe Zhao for Nomadland
Best Actor
Ben Affleck in The Way Back
Riz Ahmed in Sound of Metal
Chadwick Boseman in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Anthony Hopkins in The Father
Gary Oldman in Mank
Best Actress
Viola Davis in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Vanessa Kirby in Pieces of a Woman
Frances McDormand in Nomadland
Meryl Streep in The Prom
Kate Winslet in Ammonite
Best Supporting Actor
Sacha Baron Cohen in The Trial of the Chicago 7
Chadwick Boseman in Da 5 Bloods
Richard E. Grant in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie
Here’s the trailer for The Prom, the latest film from Ryan Murphy. Apparently, Netflix is going to give this film a huge Oscar push and considering that it stars Meryl Streep, you really can’t blame them.
To be honest, this film looks like the most Ryan Murphy thing that Ryan Murphy has ever done. I imagine that some people will absolutely love it and some people will hate it and that there probably won’t be much space in between. Hopefully, this film will be a hit and Murphy will get so busy directing films that he won’t have time to do any further seasons of American Horror Story.
This film will be available of Netflix on December 11th!
As this very strange year enters into the home stretch, it does seem like, almost despite itself, the Oscar picture is becoming a little bit clearer. The Venice and Toronto film festivals have announced their lineups. Theaters are tentatively reopening and, assuming that there isn’t a spike in moviegoers contracting the Coronavirus as a result, the majority of them could be reopen by December. For all the talk about how this year was going to be the Streaming Oscars, it’s totally possible that, with the eligibility window being extended to February and assuming theaters don’t have to close again, the Oscars could, once again, be dominating by traditional theatrical releases.
Anyway, here are my predictions for this month. Though the picture may have cleared a little, the year is still pretty uncertain so take these with a grain of salt. I imagine, over the next month, we’ll see a lot of movies scheduled for that January/February window of eligibility.
Through the Shattered Lens 