An EPIC High Stakes and Daring Deeds Would You Rather Tag!

 Hello, everyone, and happy mother’s day!

In case you didn’t know it, I’m here to tell you that Heidi at Along the Brandywine has been hosting an Epic Story Month which started April 5th and is still going until May 14th. How awesome is that? I already reviewed my favorite epic movie Willow (1988), but I’m here now to fill out the tag that Heidi put together!

Would you rather...:

1) …fight a dragon or a giant?

Dragons are friends, not foes. Look at how cute they are!

It’s better to just befriend the dragon than even try to fight because this could happen which would be extremely unpleasant.

I’m rather tall so I could hoist my own against a giant. All that really matters is leverage. I could go with so many different tactics...Yeah, I’ll be fine. I choose the giant.

2) …time travel back to ancient Egypt or go to Mars?

I already know more about ancient Egypt than I would ever want to know. You guys don’t understand, I know almost everything about it. My sisters and I got very tired of that. It is on this planet, but space sounds fun. Let’s go with Mars!

3) …explore a deep dark cave or a long lost, underwater city?

Caves have snakes and all kinds of other weird creatures, so no.

I love water, so count me in for the trek into the depths! Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) was a favorite movie that my sisters and I watched over and over again so I am totally down for that.

4) …be a court jester or lead a wagon train?

Court jesters kind of live in fear of their lives because any wrong move and they could be killed off. All the same, I’d rather do that than have the pressure of leading people to a destination through the wilds. If Danny Kaye can fake it then so can I.

5) …eat a meal with hobbits or Master Tumnus?

Is there even any question?

I just spent a whole post telling you why I love Narnia so much, so that is the obvious answer.

6) …walk through an enchanted mirror or jump into a pool leading into another world?

Guys, you don’t know how hard a decision this is. I LOVE mirrors and going through one for any reason is an awesome concept, but a pool leading into another world? Both sound awesome. I want them both.

I guess it is more common to have a mirror that might be enchanted, so I wouldn’t want to pass that up. Final choice, the mirror.

7) …live in a castle or a house in the treetops?

Castles are fine and dandy, but I’ve wanted to live in the Swiss Family Robinson’s treehouse since I first saw that film many a year back. They have so many inventions that are just epic. So I’ll stay in my house in the treetops and wish you luck on trying to get a palace of some kind.

8) …go over a waterfall in a barrel or climb Mt. Everest?

Walking isn’t really my think as much as being near the water. I will definitely choose the waterfall!

9) …ride a buffalo or be a cannoneer in a sea battle?

I am an expert on buffalo. I’ve had them wander down the street. Trust me, you don’t want to get anywhere near them. While being near a battle sounds less than inviting, I can at least do it with some hope of success. I’ll lose my hearing being so close to those big booms but at least I’ll not have all of my bones smashed.

10) Bonus question: you’re caught by the Bad Guys and tied up to a chair when a fire erupts at your feet (long story ;)). Do you break the ropes and tumble out the window, yell for help, or hop your chair across the room to take refuge in the cold fireplace/chimney corner?

I’m the one who started the fire so of course I have an escape plan. I have a knife or gizmo in the heel of my boot that I can pop off and aid me and Artie in our escape. Because you can bet that I’m filling in for Jim West on this mission.

Bet you that Jim just shot a grappling hook from that gun. That's his favorite thing to do with it.

Thanks to Heidi for hosting! Check out the other entries HERE. There is still ample time to join in the fun if you want to!

Readers, thanks for making it to the end! What do you think of my answers? How would you escape from being tied in a chair when there is fire? Anyone else have trouble on whether to choose a mirror or magic pool? Did you get any of my references? Are there any you didn’t get?

Again, happy mother’s day!

MovieCritic

Movie Review: Solo: A STAR WARS Story (2018)

 May the fourth be with you!

All my fellow STAR WARS fans know what today is! The day to celebrate one of my favorite film franchises! For anyone who hasn’t seen STAR WARS and is confused, let me explain it to you. In STAR WARS a common saying is, “May the force be with you”, and since today is May 4th, you get the gist.

What are all of my fellow fans doing today? I’ve been busy all day admiring my STAR WARS gear, watching one of the films, and drinking chocolate milk. Right now after all that I’m reviewing one of the spin-off movies for you! Before I get started, know this:

My guarantee: On ALL of my reviews there are NO spoilers unless I give you warning. This is spoiler free!

Interested in the other movies? I highly recommend watching them in the following order (with links to my reviews):

IV: A New Hope (1977), V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980), VI: The Return of the Jedi (1982), I: The Phantom Menace (1999), II: Attack of the Clones (2002), III: Revenge of the Sith (2005), VII: The Force Awakens (2015), VIII: The Last Jedi (2017), & IX: The Rise of Skywalker (2019).

Watch them in that order, ignoring those pesky numbers and all of the surprises will be intact!

If you want to watch the first spin-off, Rogue One (2016), then you can watch it any time, really, but in the timeline it goes between what happens in III: Revenge of the Sith (2005) and IV: A New Hope (1977).

What about this one? If you want to watch this movie then you can once again watch it without previous experience, but you’ll get a lot more of the references if you’ve seen the original trilogy (episodes IV-VI) because that is where they drew inspiration even though in the timeline this comes around the same time as Rogue One (2016). Warning, if you have seen the prequels (episodes I-III) but haven’t seen the TV series STAR WARS: Clone Wars, then something near the end will really confuse you. My sister and I were bewildered and didn’t understand what happened because it wasn’t consistent with the rest of the series. That is, until a friend who had seen Clone Wars explained it to her.

Now, what we’ve all been waiting for, the review!

Solo: A STAR WARS Story (2018):

The orphan Han manages to get off the planet Corellia, escaping from a gang. Time passes and he has gone through several army positions until he gets thrown in jail. There he meets a new friend and later runs in to some smugglers. Working together they want to steal coaxium, a valuable fuel. When plans fall through they have to work specially for Dryden Vos of the Crimson Dawn where they strike a new difficult deal to make up for a mistake: Make a Kessel Run to get unprocessed coaxium. What with faces from Han’s past as well as new shifty accomplices, whom can he trust?

Genres: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Action, Adventure.

Length: approx. 135 minutes.

Script: 8. A smattering of mild common swearing, but not too bad.

Crew: Directed by: Ron Howard. Written by: Jonathan Kasdan, Lawrence Kasdan, based on characters by George Lucas.

Starring:

Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo.

‘“Sorry I punched your face.”

“Happens more often than you think.”’

Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca.

Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian.

Emilia Clarke as Qi'ra.

Woody Harrelson as Tobias Beckett.

Paul Bettany as Dryden Vos.

Erin Kellyman as Enfys Nest.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge as L3-37.

Thandie Newton as Val.

Jon Favreau as the voice of Rio Durant.

Linda Hunt as the voice of Lady Proxima.

Ian Kenny as Rebolt.

John Tui as Korso.

Charlotte Louise as Margo.

Sema-Tawi Smart as Chanteuse.

Clint Howard as Ralakili.

Dee Tails as Quay Tolsite.

Attila Vajda as Sagwa.

Anthony Daniels as Tak.

Kiran Shah as Karjj.

Lily Newmark as Lexi.

Samantha Colley as Ottilie.

Costumes: 8. For some reason today anything I put here seems like it would be weird. Don’t know what that’s about. I don’t have anything bad to say about any of the outfits, I thought they were cool!

Cinematography: 7. Typical for an action movie. Lots of CGI with the space travel which was overdone in a few places but other than that fine.

Cinematography by: Bradford Young.

Music: 8. I don’t love it like I do the original, but I still like it! It was distinctly its own thing yet as the movie went on started using more STAR WARS themes which was very cool. I especially like the track for the Marauders.

Music by: John Powell with a few contributions by John Williams.

Quotability: 5. Has a surprisingly low score for a STAR WARS movie, I know. I haven’t even considered quoting it at all since I watched it, and neither has my sister. But there were some decent lines that I found.

“I admire anyone who can crawl their way out of a sewer.”

Content: 7. There is death, killing, and one or two suggestive lines. There are some scary things like creatures and powers that people have, but it didn’t bother me excessively.

Originality: 9. It was much more original than I expected! It took an idea and expanded on it, adding fun characters. I was impressed!

Good For: STAR WARS fans.

Age Range: It is rated PG-13 because of the violence and that’s not far off. I can see younger kids liking this a lot, but it would depend on what they personally like already. That’s me stating the obvious, sorry!

Overall Score: 7.5.

Worth watching?: Yeah, I’m glad to finally know what all of the hype is about.

Will I watch again?: Well...when I first started this review I was sure that the answer was no, but thinking about it this much has made me want to try it again.

Bonus thoughts:

Here’s what you guys have been wondering the whole time: Did I like it? Some of you might have guessed my feelings, but I assure you that there is more to it!

The story was fun, the design of the movie was rad, the characters were well constructed, and it was a neat journey.

Just one big problem:

It wasn’t Han Solo.

Before you turn on me know that I liked it quite a bit! The thing is, I would be very engaged then I would think, “Wait, this is Han?” It would completely throw me off track because it. isn’t. him. Han is a mysterious character whom we first see in A New Hope. I don’t need a backstory made up for him. Alden Ehrenreich was trying his best, so I don’t blame him in any way as he was great to watch, but I prefer to think of him as a whole new character in the fabulous STAR WARS universe.

The most believable character of the ones we are familiar with was Donald Glover’s Lando. He was very charismatic yet without a lot of maturity. I love Lando so I highly approve. I think of this movie as Lando with a bunch of new never-before-seen characters.

My favorite part of all of this had to be Dryden Vos. Paul Bettany rocked acting him! He was so creepy with a spoilt elegance. It was revoltingly awesome. He was an epic villain.

I have to say that I didn’t like L3-37, but that’s just me. Qi’ra was a fascinating character whom I want to know more about!

I liked a ton of concepts here. The Marauders, the Crimson Dawn (such a neat name! Every organization needs to have such an incredible name), and Enfys Nest and crew! It had great potential.

This film was definitely an ordeal to make! They went through several directors before landing on Ron Howard as well as some change of cast and crew involving several reshoots. Knowing this beforehand I thought that it would be easy to spot where things got changed around, but I was wrong and didn’t notice.

The climax was one of the craziest that I’ve ever seen! I was getting whiplash from everything that was happening so quickly! At first I was just stunned (and a little irritated) but thinking about it now, it was really cool. Probably my second favorite part of the movie after Dryden Vos. If, like me, you are a hardcore STAR WARS fan yet are wary of trying this then I would say it is worth a shot! You don’t have to believe that everything is cannon and just enjoy it as something completely different like me, or if you enjoy it as it is then I’ll be happy for you!

Well, there’s the scoop from me. Thanks for reading this! Tell me if you’ve seen this and what you think of my thoughts! Was anyone else unsure of this film? Was it better or worse than you expected? Let’s just talk all things STAR WARS! Who else likes Dryden Vos as much as I do?

May the fourth be with you, and Godspeed rebels.

MovieCritic

The Narnia Tag!

 Good tidings my people!

Today is the last day of April, so May is almost upon us! Is it just me, or does May scream NARNIA? The snow is melting, flowers are starting to bloom, creation and adventure is everywhere, overall Aslan is on the move. Sure, I know that most people think of March or April in what I just described, but where I live the snow doesn’t usually melt until May and flowers definitely don’t come out before Mother’s Day. It can be like this in the earlier months, but we all know that it is an illusion and it is going to snow again.

(Which I am the cause of because I am Jadis the White Witch and proud of it.)

Since I am in such a nostalgic mood for Narnia, it is the perfect time to fill out a tag! This tag was bestowed upon me by two of my favorite peeps: Olivia @ Meanwhile in Rivendell and Sarah Seele @ Sixty Something Trees. Thanks, you two! You both know my love for Narnia so I appreciate it greatly.

I’m taking a small moment to mention that there are SPOILERS AHEAD. If you haven’t read ALL SEVEN BOOKS of the Chronicles of Narnia, then read no further! The Chronicles of Narnia is my favorite book series of all time, so I really don’t want the marvelous surprises taken away from you.

Rules:

1. Thank the person who nominated you

2. Rate your degree of “Narnia fanatic” (nostalgic, serious, maniacal)

3. Answer the questions below

4. Tag 5+ bloggers

5. Have fun!

Scale of Fanaticism:

1. Nostalgic Fanatic: You read the book and/or watched the movies as a child and the word Narnia gives you a warm feeling.

2. Serious Fanatic: You rediscovered the wonder of Narnia after you were older and have read the books and watched the movies.

3. Maniacal Fanatic: You have lived Narnia from childhood, hid in closets on more occasions than is healthy, have read and watched all the movies including the BBC version.

I protest! This isn’t fair! Anyone who knows me would tell you right away that I am a Maniacal Fanatic, but according to this I wouldn’t be because I haven’t seen the BBC version. Trust me, it’s not for lack of trying! I want to see it so badly but I haven’t had a chance.

I basically live and breathe Narnia. It fills me with an unimaginable joy every time I think of it. So I am breaking the rules and am calling myself a Queen Fanatic. You can surmise what that means.

Questions:

(Note, at first I was disappointed that there were only seven questions, but then I realized that’s because there are seven books so I highly approve)

1. Who’s your favorite Pevensie sibling?

I feel a wee bit called out as Olivia said that we in the Narnia fandom tend to not pick favorites, saying that all of them are the best and wonderful in their own way. Which is so try, man! They are the best! But, Olivia chose a favorite so I must too. I’m admitting something that I have never admitted before (besides to my sister a few weeks ago). I actually do have a favorite Pevensie.

Any guesses?

I feel like this Pevensie is the least appreciated of all of them.

I have seen people specially take time to mention all three of the others, but people say that this person is just kind of there.

That isn’t true. This character is one of the most amazing characters of all time and I relate to this person in a million ways.

They are all precious, but I have to admit this one is my favorite.

Peter.

People talk about how Edmund the Just has a heart-wrenching redemption arc. People talk about how Susan the Gentle was mistreated and deserved a better ending. People talk about how Lucy the Valiant is so pure and has a goodness and faith that exceeds all things.

I agree with all of those statements 100% and don’t want to down any of them because I love them all and wouldn’t change them for the world.

I just have a special place in my heart for Peter the Magnificent and it’s probably the fault of movies and William Mosley because they were my introduction to the world and I’ve been loving it ever since.

‘At the name of Aslan each one of the children felt something jump in its inside.....Peter felt suddenly brace and adventurous.’

Just read or watch The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Everyone is always looking up to Peter and asking him what he thinks. He has to plan an army for crying out loud! He just wants to take care of his siblings and do the best for them. He is so humble, too! He was never cruel to Lucy when they all thought that she was making Narnia up, then as soon as he found out it was real he was sorry and asked for her forgiveness.

Source

In Prince Caspian I feel so much for him as he has the responsibility of guiding them all to where Caspian is. He is the leader and has to make big decisions which are usually having to split a vote. My favorite part of the whole series is the glorious scene where he apologizes to Aslan for having lead the group wrong and Aslan says to him, “My dear son.”

My heart can’t get any fuller.

Peter is my precious son and I will love him a bit more than the others for my whole life.

(I am also super bitter that in the movie they made him and Caspian hate each other because in the book both are so respectful of the other and it is the best dynamic. But other than that the movies are my favorites)

(I wrote this all before I learned that Megan Chappie feels the same way yet she beat me to publishing her post. You should check out hers HERE)

2. What is the most underrated Narnia book?

The Last Battle.

The first time I read it I hated it like so many others do. What?? This is how it all ends?

When I reread it in May of 2018 I went in without remembering a single thing that happened. I had read it so quickly and didn’t like it that I completely forgot what happened. I love that because it gave me a new chance to see it a different way.

Source

I do protest what happens to Susan, but that is my only problem with the book. It is profoundly beautiful and majestic and a perfect ending to a brilliant series.

Shift is so horribly manipulative yet REAL. I hardcore relate to Puzzle which probably isn’t good. C. S. Lewis gave us A UNICORN. Allllllllllllllll of it is fantastic and makes me weep with joy and sadness.

3. Who is your favorite Narnian king?

Frank the cabby! His reverence at Aslan and awe of the newly created world sparks wonder in me. He makes me cry. I mean, all of the books make me cry in someway, but it doesn’t make it any less special. I know that he and his wife, Helen, were the best first king and queen of Narnia that anyone could ask for.

Source

4. Who is your favorite Narnian queen?

I can’t pick between Susan and Lucy so I will stubbornly say both of them.

Source

5. Which non-human Narnian do you like best?

Like best? Who came up with this painful question??

Aslan is the given so we aren’t even going to include him. Of all the others, I have to say...Mr. Tumnus.

Once again, the deep nostalgia for the movies is coming through. I remember watching this movie about a war and not knowing what was going to come then suddenly Lucy was in a new world with a new friend. Mr. Tumnus brings a whole new level of happiness to my life.

AND (I can’t possibly narrow it down to a single creature) Puddleglum. He is my favorite wet blanket in the whole universe. I can’t hope to say anything original about him, but I’ll say this: His loyalty never fails to make me doubt less.

6. Which book deserves a movie?

I know that a lot of people don’t want to see them as movies but it was my introduction to the world so I really, really, really do. I have been wanting to see a movie of The Silver Chair ever since The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010) came out. If they make that one (even though the actors are too old now) then they have to continue with the rest of the series!

What is the one thing you did as a Narnia fan that you do not regret?

No regrets! My birthday theme was Narnia a few years ago, I’ve hidden in closets millions of times and don’t think any of it is a waste of time.

Especially for all of the times that I’ve started at a painting of the ocean in my grandma’s basement hoping that it would move. I swore that it did once, just ever so slightly.

That’s it! A lot of people have done this tag already so I won’t nominate anyone new, but if you want to fill it out then please do! Thanks again to the ladies who tagged me!

Thanks to all of you for reading! Anyone shocked by my favorite Pevensie? Does anyone else love the movies like I do? How did you get into the Chronicles of Narnia?

MovieCritic

The Oscars Results 2021

 Hello, everyone!

As many of you may know, Sunday was the 93rd Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars. For some wild reason it is tradition on this blog for me to talk about the results, so that’s what we’re going to do today! I started this because when I first wanted to know about the Oscars I could never find who the winners were and I wanted others to have it easier, but now it’s easy to find the answers anywhere. Because of that I’ll try to make this short and snappy and not take up too much of your time. All the same I might as well type it up because I spent 3 hours the other day watching this.

Sometimes I get all crazy excited about the Oscars and other times I think “meh”. (This may be because they, for whatever insane reason, didn’t give the greatest movie of all time enough praise in 1946, but I digress). You know in the movie Ratatouille (2007) where they are told to make a recipe involving “sweet bread, cuddlefish tentacles, dried white fungus, anchovy liquorish sauce, etc.” and everyone (Colette) is like “I don’t know this recipe”? That’s how I’ve felt about the movies lately. I’m not downing them in any way! I am now very interested in a lot of these. I’m sure that they deserve the credit given to them, it just feels like there is a certain feel a movie has to have to even be considered and those aren’t the kinds of movies that I watch. I’m probably just spoiled from last year where I knew a lot about all of the nominees and had even watched one of them that was a big contender so I was eager to see what would happen! This had never happened before and it probably won’t for another few years so I should get used to it. 

Interested in the past years that I have talked about? Here are the results from 2017, 2018, 2019, & 2020.

Disclaimer: Even though I am putting these here, it does not mean that I support or want to watch these movies. I am just here to tell you who won.

Best Actress in a Supporting Role:

The nominees:

Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm...

Glenn Close, Hillbilly Elegy

Olivia Colman, The Father

Amanda Seyfried, Mank

Winner: Yuh-Jung Youn, Minari (as Soon-ja)

Best Costume Design:

The nominees:

Emma. (Alexandra Byrne)

Mank (Trish Summerville)

Mulan (Bina Daigeler)

Pinocchio (Massimo Cantini Parrini)

Winner: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Ann Roth)

Best Sound:

The nominees:

Greyhound (Warren Shaw, Michael Minkler, Beau Borders, & David Wyman)

Mank (Ren Klyce, Jeremy Molod, David Parker, Nathan Nance, & Drew Kunin)

News of the World (Oliver Tarney, Mike Prestwood Smith, William Miller, & John Pritchett)

Soul (Ren Klyce, Coya Elliot, & David Parker)

Winner: Sound of Metal (Nicolas Becher, Jaime Baksht, Michelle Couttolenc, Carlos Cortés, & Philip Bladh)

Best Original Score:

The nominees:

Da 5 Bloods (Terence Blanchard)

Mank (Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross)

Minari (Emile Mosseri)

News of the World (James Newton Howard

Winner: Soul (Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, & Jon Batiste)

Best Animated Short Film:

The nominees:

Burrow (Madeline Sharafian & Michael Capbarat)

Genius Loci (Adrien Mérigeau & Amaury Ovise)

Opera (Erick Oh)

Yes-People (Gísli Darri Halldórsson & Arnar Gunnarsson)

Winner: If Anything Happens I Love You (Will McCormack & Micheal Govier)

Best Live-Action Short Film:

The nominees:

Feeling Through (Doug Roland & Susan Ruzenski)

The Letter Room (Elvira Lina & Sofia Sandervan)

The Present (Farah Nabulsi & Ossama Bawardi)

White Eye (Tomer Shushan & Shira Hochman)

Winner: Two Distant Strangers (Travon Free and Martin Desmond Roe)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role:

The nominees:

Sacha Baron Cohen, Trial of the Chicago 7

Leslie Odom, Jr., One Night in Miami...

Paul Raci, Sound of Metal

Lakeith Stanfield, Judas and the Black Messiah

Winner: Daniel Kaluuya, Judas and the Black Messiah (as Fred Hampton)

Best Documentary Feature:

The nominees:

Collective (Alexander Nanau & Bianca Oana)

Crip Camp (Nicole Newnham, Jim LeBrecht, & Sara Bolder)

The Mole Agent (Maite Alberdi & Marcela Santibáñez)

Time (Garrett Bradley, Lauren Domino, & Kellen Quinn)

Winner: My Octopus Teacher (Pippa Ehrlich, James Reed, & Craig Foster)

Best Documentary Short Subject:

The nominees:

A Concerto is a Conversation (Ben Proudfoot & Kris Bowers)

Do Not Split (Anders Hammer & Charlotte Cook)

Hanger Ward (Skye Fitzgerald & Michael Scheuerman)

A Love Son for Latasha (Sophia Nahali Allison & Janice Duncan)

Winner: Colette (Anthony Giacchino & Alice Doyard)

Best International Feature Film:

The nominees:

Better Days (Hong Kong)

Collective (Romania)

The Man Who Sold His Skin (Tunisia)

Quo Vadis, Aida? (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Winner: Another Round (Denmark)

Best Production Design: (Production Design [PD] and Set Decoration [SD])

The nominees:

The Father (PD: Peter Francis. SD: Cathy Featherstone)

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (PD: Mark Ricker. SD: Karen O’Hara and Diana Stoughton)

News of the World (PD: David Crank. SD: Elizabeth Keenan)

Tenet (PD: Nathan Crowley. SD: Kathy Lucas )

Winner: Mank (PD: Donald Graham Burt. SD: Jan Pascale)

Best Film Editing:

The nominees:

The Father (Yorgos Lamprinos)

Nomadland (Chloé Zhao)

Promising Young Woman (Frédéric Thoraval)

The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Alan Baumgarten)

Winner: Sound of Metal (Mikkel E. G. Nielsen)

Best Cinematography:

The nominees:

Judas and the Black Messiah (Sean Bobbitt)

News of the World (Dariusz Wolski)

Nomadland (Joshua James Richards)

The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Phedon Papamichael)

Winner: Mank (Erik Messerschmidt)

Best Visual Effects:

The nominees:

Love and Monsters (Matt Sloan, Genevieve Camailleri, Matt Everitt, & Brian Cox)

The Midnight Sky (Matthew Kasmir, Chris Lawrence, Max Solomon, & David Watkins)

Mulan (Sean Andrew Faden, Anders Langlands, Seth Maury, & Steve Ingram)

The One and Only Ivan (Nick Davis, Greg Fisher, Ben Jones, & Santiago Colomo Martinez)

Winner: Tenet (Andrew Jackson, David Lee, Andrew Lockley, & Scott R. Fisher)

Makeup and Hairstyling:

The nominees:

Emma. (Marese Langan, Laura Allen, & Claudia Stolze)

Hillbilly Elegy (Eryn Krueger Mekash, Matthew W. Mungle, & Patricia Dehaney)

Mank (Gigi Williams, Kimberley Spiteri, & Colleen LaBaff)

Pinocchio (Mark Coulier, Dalia Colli, & Francesco Pegoretti)

Winner: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Sergio Lopez-Rivera, Mia Neal, & Jamika Wilson)

Best Animated Feature Film:

The nominees:

Onward (Dan Scalan & Kori Rae)

Over the Moon (Glen Keane, Gennie Rim, & Peilin Chou)

A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmagedon (Richard Phelan, Will Becher, & Paul Kewley)

Wolfwalkers (Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart, Paul Young, & Stéphan Roelants)

Winner: Soul (Pete Doctor & Dana Murray)

Best Original Song:

The nominees:

“Hear My Voice” (by Daniel Pemberton & Celeste Wite from The Trial of the Chicago 7)

“Husavik” (by Savan Kotecha, Fat Max Gsus, & Rickard Göransson from Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga)

“Io Sì (Seen)”(by Diane Warren & Laura Pausini from The Life Ahead [La Vita Davanti a Se])

“Speak Now” (by Leslie Odom, Jr. & Sam Ashworth from One Night In Miami...)

Winner: “Fight For You” (by H.E.R., Dernst Emile II, & Tiara Thomas from Judas and the Black Messiah)

Best Adapted Screenplay:

The nominees:

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm..., written by Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Dan Swimer, Peter Baynham, Erica Rivinoja, Don Mazer, Jena Friedman & Lee Kern, based on the story by Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Dan Swimer, & Nina Pedrada.

Nomadland, written by Chloé Zhao based on the book by Jessica Bruder

One Night in Miami..., written by Kemp Powers based on his play

The White Tiger, written by Ramin Bahrani based on the novel by Aravind Adiga

Winner: The Father, written by Christopher Hampton & Floian Zeller, based on the play by Florian Zeller

Best Original Screenplay:

The nominees:

Judas and the Black Messiah, written by Will Berson, Shaka King, Kenny Lucas, & Keith Lucas

Minari, written by Lee Isaac Chung

Sound of Metal, written by Darius Marder, Abraham Marder, & Derek Cianfrance

The Trial of the Chicago 7, written by Aaron Sorkin

Winner: Promising Young Woman, written by Emerald Fennell

Best Actor in a Leading Role:

The nominees:

Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal

Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Gary Oldman, Mank

Steven Yeun, Minari

Winner: Anthony Hopkins, The Father (as Anthony)

Best Actress in a Leading Role:

The nominees:

Viola Davis, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Andra Day, The United States vs. Billie Holiday

Vanesa Kirby, Pieces of a Woman

Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman

Winner: Frances McDormand, Nomadland

Best Director:

The nominees:

Thomas Vinterberg, Another Round

David Fincher, Mank

Lee Isaac Chung, Minari

Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman

Winner: Chloé Zhao, Nomadland

(Comment: This was only the second time in history where a woman won!)

Best Picture:

The nominees:

The Father (David Parfitt, Jean-Louis Livi, & Phillppe Carcassonne)

Judas and the Black Messiah (Shaka King, Charles D. King, & Ryan Coogler)

Mank (Céan Chaffin, Eric Roth, & Douglas Urbanski)

Minari (Christina Oh)

Promising Young Woman (Ben Browning, Ashley Fox, Emerald Fennell, & Josey McNamara)

Sound of Metal (Bert Hamelinck & Sacha Ben Harroche)

The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Marc Platt & Stuart Besser)

Winner: Nomadland (Frances McDormand, Peter Spears, Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey, & Chloé Zhao)

Oscar win tally:

Nomadland: 3

The Father: 2

Judas and the Black Messiah: 2

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom: 2

Mank: 2

Soul: 2 (The only movie of all of these that I've seen!)

Sound of Metal: 2

Another Round: 1

Colette: 1

If Anything Happens I Love You: 1

Minari: 1

My Octopus Teacher: 1

Promising Young Woman: 1

Tenet: 1

Two Distant Strangers: 1

There you have it! Another year, another round of movies! Has anyone seen any of these? Any that you want to see? Thanks for reading!

MovieCritic