by

Song of the Day #4,676: ‘Wuhan Flu Song’ – Sacha Baron Cohen

Concluding my personal list of Oscar nominations with a look at the Best Supporting Actress race.

Maria Bakalova – Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

Talk about a tough assignment for a debut film role. For her role as Borat’s feral daughter Tutar, Bakalova had to repeatedly improvise with no room for error, while playing off of Sacha Baron Cohen, one of the greatest improvisational talents in the world. She pulled that off with hilarious results, and found room to build a character we actually care about by the end of the film. All that and she had to share a hotel room with Rudy Giuliani at peak creepiness. Reward this woman!

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #4,675: ‘A Change is Gonna Come’ – Leslie Odom Jr.

Continuing my personal list of Oscar nominations with a look at the Best Supporting Actor race.

Kingsley Ben-Adir – One Night in Miami

I could have dedicated four of these five slots to the cast of One Night in Miami, but I limited myself to just two. Ben-Adir earned one of those for his thoughtful portrayal of Malcolm X. Standing in the shadow of Denzel Washington’s towering performance in Spike Lee’s epic biopic, Ben-Adir manages to make this role his own, highlighting the man behind the legend. We see Malcolm as a husband and father, a nerdy camera buff, a friend. But in several exchanges, we also see the fiery orator who stirred a revolution.

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #4,674: ‘Don’t Leave Me This Way’ – The Communards

Continuing my personal list of Oscar nominations with a look at the Best Actress race.

Jessie Buckley – I’m Thinking of Ending Things

I believe Buckley should have received a Best Actress nod for her work in 2018’s Wild Rose, and she’s just as good here. She is clearly a major talent on the rise. In Charlie Kaufman’s depressing puzzle box of a movie, Buckley has the challenge of playing a projection. But she infuses the character with so much warmth and intelligence that she feels like a flesh and blood human being. So much so that the film noticeably sags when her character drops out of the narrative toward the end. Buckley is one of those actors who will always be the most magnetic presence in anything she does.

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #4,673: ‘Main Theme’ – Ludovico Einaudi

Continuing my personal list of Oscar nominations with a look at the Best Actor race.

Riz Ahmed – Sound of Metal

I enjoyed Ahmed’s work in Nightcrawler, Rogue One, and especially The Night Of, but I wasn’t prepared for the tour de force he delivers here. As a heavy metal drummer who loses his hearing, Ahmed portrays the rage simmering just below the surface, but also the impulsive need to fix himself and those around him.

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #4,672: ‘Low Mist (Day Three)’ – Ludovico Einaudi

This Sunday, long after most people have forgotten what movies they watched in 2020, the Motion Picture Academy will broadcast the 93rd Academy Awards.

This week, I will play “If I Ran the Oscars” and list my own nominees for five main categories: Best Director, Best Supporting Actor and Actress, and Best Actor and Actress. I will not predict the actual winners, as there is an Oscar pool to win and I won’t be tipping my hand here.

As for Best Picture, I counted down my own top ten movies of 2020 several weeks back, and in my fantasy world that lineup (with one change due to a movie I’ve seen since) would compete for the top prize.

Continue reading →