The Oscar Project Reviews
It's not often I come across a film that makes me step back and consider a new way to experience the world around me. "Feeling Through" does just that and does so in many unexpected ways in its short 19-minute run time. This is the story of a homeless teen named Tareek (Steven Prescod) trying to find a place to crash for the night. After leaving some friends, he notices a deaf and blind man named Artie (Robert Tarango) on a street corner holding a sign asking for help crossing the street. Tareek hesitantly helps the man get to the bus stop before deciding to wait for the bus with him and make sure the bus driver knows to alert him when they reach the correct stop. In some ways, this film is a classic combination of two misunderstood individuals that have little in common on the surface, but discover interesting bonds as they get to know one another. There is also a level of uncertainty throughout the film, and I could not help but question how difficult it is to trust someone that you can neither see nor hear, but can only sense by their touch. I know it would drive me crazy, but someone like Artie doesn't know any different. It is a true testament to the strength of humans that we can adapt to live in any way we need to. What many would term a severe disability is not that, but truly an ability to experience the world in a way that few people ever can. Tarango, the actor who plays Artie, is also DeafBlind and makes history as the first such actor to play a leading role in a film. That alone is reason enough to see this film, but it does not disappoint and I highly encourage anyone to check out this film and imagine how your unique situation affects how you feel your way through the world. 9 out of 10 "Feeling Through" is available to stream on the official film website, www.feelingthrough.com.
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The most important part of this film is the conversation, but the concerto serves as a jumping off point for the conversation to take place at all. The conversation between co-director Erik Bowers and his grandfather Horace Bowers Sr. comes in the run up to Erik being the featured composer at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. When he sits down with his grandfather, he uncovers a family history that goes back to the Jim Crow south, winds through the mid-20th century when Horace negotiated life as a black business owner, and eventually led to Erik's achievement and recognition as a black composer today. The film is important and hopefully spurs many young people today to have deep conversations with their own grandparents and parents about what things were like when they were young. We take a lot for granted about where the world is today, often forgetting that things were much different just a generation or two ago. By having these conversations, we can hopefully learn from the lessons of the past, and apply them to continue improving our society moving forward. While the film is only 13 minutes long, I would be happy to have a much longer conversation like this in a feature length film. 9 out of 10 "A Concerto is a Conversation" is available on YouTube. There are times when you should just stop reading a review and go watch the film. This is one of those times. No seriously, you probably already have a Netflix account, so go watch this film now before reading another word. Once you've watched the film, please click here to read my review. As the second nominated film from Pixar's "SparkShorts" program, "Burrow" is a cute and family friendly film, but it stops short of being groundbreaking. If you've seen these films on Disney+, you know they are cute and slightly different than the typical Pixar animated shorts we've seen over the years. Like last year's nominee "Kitbull," "Burrow" is a more traditional 2D animated film instead of the 3D animation Pixar has become known for. The film focuses on a young rabbit who has dreams of building her dream burrow, complete with a picture to help her as she digs. She begins to construct her home, but ends up running into all sort of other creatures who have already set up residence in the ground. She tries to avoid these other creatures and soon ends up digging too deep, impacting the water table underground and threatening the entire burrow neighborhood. She must act quickly to try and avoid catastrophe for all the creatures she encountered in her dig. While the story is cute, the resolution is a bit predictable. "Burrow" is not the strongest SparkShort to come out of Pixar in the past year and I was a bit disappointed that neither "Loop" nor "Out" received a nomination. 6 out of 10 "Burrow" is available to stream on Disney+. Part documentary, part rumination on a subset of our world that have been left behind, Nomadland is an absolute gem of a film that must be seen to be understood. On the face of it, it's difficult to see how a nearly two hour film about a woman who lives in her van can be engaging and interesting, but director Chloé Zhao delivers in this meditative film. The story is simple as it follows Fern (Frances McDormand) as she travels from place to place, after losing her husband and her job. She is new to the nomadic lifestyle, but is learning quickly as she interacts with fellow nomads across the country. She eventually meets Dave (David Strathairn) at one stop and the pair strike up a friendship that brings their paths across one another several times throughout the film. You might be asking, where's the conflict in this film? It was a question I consistently asked before watching it, but was surprised to see it materialize on the screen in unlikely places. There is the obvious pull of the relationship with Dave when he decides to settle down with his son and grandson, but there are other smaller things as well. Fern has to learn how to dispose of her own waste on the road. She has to deal with a flat tire and more serious mechanical issues with her van which she turns to her own family for help. While some of these elements are certainly manufactured for the film, they felt real and natural things for someone living this lifestyle to face. And I would be remiss if I didn't mention the cinematography and scenic nature of this film. The majority takes place in the Western United States, out on open roads and vast deserts with mountains in the distance. Only when Fern has to ask her family for help do you get any sense that anything larger than a one stop-light town exists in this world. It's extremely refreshing and the entire film has a casual pace that lets the viewer relax and be at one with their own thoughts. If I didn't know who McDormand and Strathairn were and you put this film in front of me, positioned as a documentary about nomads, I would completely believe you. There is nothing forced in the film and that's what feels so great about it. The two leads are surrounded by actual nomads used to shoot the film and these lend an air of credibility to it. The film is well deserving of the many accolades it has already received and I expect it to bring home several more at the Oscars in April. 9 out of 10 Nomadland is available to stream on Hulu. It's hard to come to a movie with a title like Judas and the Black Messiah without any preconceptions, but the more openly you can approach this movie the better. The film follows the events of the late 1960s when a young petty criminal named Bill O'Neal (Lakeith Stanfield) seeks to avoid prison time for stealing a car by working with the FBI to infiltrate the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party, led by Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya). O'Neal must gain Hampton's trust, while simultaneously navigating the world of a very white criminal justice organization that he doesn't fully trust. You might think coming into this film that it's going to glorify the Black Panther Party, but it does not. Neither does it paint them in a fully negative light. There are moments where the people involved in the party are violent and vengeful, but there are also tender moments, showing their humanity. Throughout the film, I found my own allegiances changing from scene to scene, keeping my on my toes as I tried to figure out exactly who was on who's side on screen. Kaluuya was long rumored to be an Oscar contender for his role in this film, and won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor back in February 2021. I was not surprised to see Stanfield receive a nomination for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar alongside Kaluuya and honestly think his portrayal of the O'Neal's Judas character was better than Kaluuya's. Overall, this is a powerful film with strong performances throughout the cast. I highly recommend this film as we wait to see how many Oscars it can bring home at the end of April. 8 out of 10 While it's not entirely necessary to make a feature film about everyone's favorite feuding cat and mouse, Tom & Jerry brings just enough substance to the big screen to make it worth the ride. It's a little surprising that it took this long for us to get a feature length version of the classic Hanna Barbara Tom & Jerry cartoons. On the other hand, they work so well in short sequences, it is difficult to sustain their level of antics over a 90-minute run time. That is the main downfall of this film, it just can't sustain the typical Tom & Jerry energy throughout the course of the film. That said, I'm not sure it should even try to do that, because then it just becomes a string of gags with little to no plot. Not that there is much plot here to begin with. The film keeps things simple with Kayla Forrester (Chloë Grace Moretz) faking her way into a job at a prestigious New York hotel on the eve of the wedding of the century between Preeta (Pallavi Sharda) and Ben (Colin Jost). She is assigned to work under the event manager Terence (Michael Peña) who doesn't quite trust her from the beginning. When Jerry shows up in the hotel, Kayla convinces Terence and the hotel manager to "hire" Tom to help find the mouse and get rid of him. Tom & Jerry regular Spike also appears (as Ben's pet dog) along with Preeta's pet cat Toodles Galore just to add to the chaos. The wedding story line serves to propel the action forward a bit and sets up some of the more hilarious physical comedy of the film. All the animals in the film are animated, while the human characters and settings remain live action. This mix feels right and most of the actors do a passable job of acting against the animated characters, with the best one being Moretz. Kayla even gets a side romance with the hotel bartender while at the same time finding her groove as Preeta's confidante leading up to the wedding. In the end, this is a fun film, if not terribly engaging cinema. If you have kids and are looking for something new to watch with them, chances are they will love Tom & Jerry. Just don't go in expecting anything more than a longer version of their short cartoons. 6 out of 10 Tom & Jerry is currently in theatrical release and streaming on HBO Max. While much was made about the appearance of Trump lawyer and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani in this film, it is the light that it shines on America's divided culture that rules the day. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm picks up with Borat (Sacha Baron Cohen) being let out of forced labor he was sentenced to following the disgrace he brought on his country for the 2006 film. He is brought before the premier and given a mission to deliver the Kazakh Minister of Culture, Johnny the Monkey, to President Trump in order to redeem the nation. Being unable to get close to Trump after defecating in the landscaping of Trump Tower in the first film, they settle on gifting the monkey to Vice President Mike Pence instead. Borat and Johnny set out across the ocean and arrive in Galvaston, Texas where Borat discovers his fifteen-year-old daughter, Tutar (Maria Bakalova), stowed away with the monkey. Having only just learned of Tutar's existence prior to departure, Borat tries to send her back home before altering his plans and making her the gift to Pence instead of the monkey. As with the initial film, Cohen dives into his character full force, with the new complication that his character is easily recognized in public. He counters this with numerous elaborate costumes and relying on Tutar to be the new "undercover" character. We see the pair interact with all variety of Americans in their journey while Tutar struggles to come out from the oppressive oversight of her father. They often refer to a guide book to raising girls provided by the Kazakh government, which sounds like something straight out of Taliban controlled Afghanistan. Women are not allowed to drive, work, etc. and these concepts are challenged by the people they meet in America. While many will write this off as a leftist slam against the previous presidential administration in the United States, there is more here if you explore under the surface. Through all the crazy interactions Borat and Tutar have in the film, Borat learns to love his daughter and more importantly appreciate what she can contribute to society, not as a piece of property to him to hand over to another man, but as her own person. If you're a fan of the first film, this follow up is sure to please. If you missed the original or dismissed it as too over the top, I urge you to give this film a chance. 8 out of 10 Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is available streaming exclusively on Amazon Prime. Palm Springs arrived during our pandemic days of quarantine, many of which felt mind-numbingly the same. Seeing the carefree approach of the characters in this film was refreshing in a film that could easily have been a simple rehash of the Bill Murray classic Groundhog Day. The basic premise is similar to the 1993 film. This time we find Nyles (Andy Samberg) waking up with his girlfriend as they prepare for her sister's wedding that night. Nyles is very clearly just along for the ride as he lounges in the pool at the desert resort before showing up to the wedding in a Hawaiian shirt and shorts. At the wedding, he jumps in to give a touching speech in place of the maid of honor, Sarah (Cristin Milioti) who doesn't want anything to do with the evening's events. When the pair runs away from the reception together, they end up near a cave in the desert. Nyles enters the cave, telling Sarah not to follow him, which she does anyway, causing her to wake up back on the morning of the wedding, doomed to repeat the day over again. What made this film work so well for me was the way it addressed living with the same person over and over in the same place and time over and over again. As I mentioned at the top, it was a perfect escape during the pandemic when this became the reality of many people stuck in their homes with their families. You woke up to the same routine of Zoom meetings, virtual school, and the same four walls around you and the days blurred together. Fortunately for Nyles and Sarah, they know that they are stuck and there doesn't seem to be anything they can do about it, so they might as well embrace it and have some fun. And fun they do have. In what might be the best part of the film, an extended montage follows their exploits as they explore the boundaries of acceptable behavior at and around the wedding, frequently going well beyond those boundaries. Of course there is the required love connection between the pair as they come to the realization that they can never be with anyone else. However, unlike Groundhog Day, Palm Springs keeps you guessing right up to the end when it comes to the love story. With a tight 90-minute run time, Palm Springs wastes nothing and delivers a strong story contained within an initially familiar narrative device. Samberg is hilarious and Milioti proves his equal throughout. Do not miss this one. 8 out of 10 Palm Springs is available streaming exclusively on Hulu. |
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