☀️ Happy Monday!
I’ve been in a musical mood lately, so let’s talk about movie musicals this week! Today’s recommendation is for the fools who dream… that they could win Best Picture. Miss last week’s fresh start movies? Check out all my recommendations here.
Plus, my frenzied reactions to this morning’s Oscar nominations and a review of Underwater.
Okay, here’s day one.
Today's movie // Streaming on Prime VideoLa La Land
Mia (Emma Stone) is an aspiring actress trying to make it in Hollywood. Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) is a down-on-his-luck jazz pianist with dreams of his own club. Together, they go on a musical adventure chasing their dreams and falling in love — but at what cost? [Trailer]
Why you should watch it: La La Land is a classic, big, colorful Hollywood Golden Age musical brought into the modern age. The musical numbers are easily the most impressive in decades (maybe ever) that are audaciously staged around LA — a crowded freeway, the Griffith Observatory. Beautifully choreographed and shot with a technical mastery that director Damien Chazelle has shown in all of his films, it’s a spectacle on every level.
However, what keeps you hooked is the story and charming performances by Stone and Gosling. Mia and Sebastian could be replaced by any millennial with dreams of something bigger. The movie nails the journey of chasing your dreams and how it affects the psychology of everything in your life, including your relationships. Romantic, energetic, but melancholic, it’s truly a modern movie musical.
Directed by Damien Chazelle
Runtime 104 mins
Year 2016
Genre Musical
📺 Buy or rent: Prime Video // iTunes // YouTube
In theatersUnderwater
After an earthquake destroys their underwater station, six researchers must navigate two miles along the dangerous, unknown depths of the ocean floor to make it to safety in a race against time.
My take: Underwater is like if you took all the character development, world-building, and plot out of the original Alien and just left the horror bits — somehow it works. We’ve seen Alien copycats before to varying degrees of success. From the great (The Descent) to the fine (Life) to the insulting (Inseminoid, anyone?). But at the very least, Underwater is keenly aware of its position. It’s an economical, mindless, Hollywood thrill ride. Exactly what you’d expect from a mid-January horror. (⭐️⭐️½ — Recommended 👍)
Directed by William Eubank
Runtime 95 mins
Year 2020
Genre Sci-fi Horror
📺 In theaters now
State of the (Oscars) raceThe Oscar nominations are here
It’s the best and worst morning of the year — the Oscar nominations announcement! As usual, there were huge snubs and surprises, so here is the good, the bad and the ugly. See the full list of nominations here.
The good:
Not much, to be honest.
Parasite landed 6 nominations for Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, International Film, as well as surprise noms in Production Design and Editing.
Antonio Banderas was nominated for his first Oscar for Pain and Glory.
The Original Screenplay category is great: Knives Out, Marriage Story, 1917, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and Parasite.
Hair Love, a lovely and beautiful short (watch the shorts people!), was nominated for Best Animated Short.
The Lighthouse received a well-deserved Best Cinematography nomination and Ad Astra was nominated in Best Sound Mixing.
Despite little attention this awards season, Little Women was nominated for six awards — Picture, Actress (Saoirse Ronan), Supp. Actress (Florence Pugh), Adapted Screenplay, Original Score, Costume Design.
The bad:
The Farewell received no nominations.
No Parasite actors were nominated.
Lupita Nyong’o was snubbed for Us.
Apollo 11 was snubbed in Best Documentary Feature.
One of the best songs written for a movie last year, “Glasgow (No Place Like Home),” missed out on a Best Original Song nomination.
Joker led with 11 nominations including in some egregious categories like Costume Design and Makeup and Hairstyling.
The ugly:
The Best Director category is all-male despite Greta Gerwig’s Little Women being nominated in six categories. As Issa Rae said during the announcement, “Congratulations to those men.”
Only one actor of color — Cynthia Erivo for Harriet — was nominated in an acting category.
Despite nominations at the Golden Globes and SAG Awards, Jennifer Lopez was snubbed for her performance in Hustlers.
Stay tuned for more takes.
Thanks for reading! I’ll be back in your inbox on Wednesday. Do something kind for someone this week.
You’re the best!
Karl (@karl_delo)