It's not usually a good sign when 45 minutes into the film I'm already starting my blog. Slumdog Millionaire is one I'm watching over several nights due to other stuff happening in the evenings for me. Typically when I have to watch over several nights I wait until I'm done to start my blog post about the film, but I already have some thoughts on this one. The first being that the premise seems a bit too convenient. Apparently Jamal answers more questions right than he should on this game show, which is just the Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? The show is set up that no one can get all the answers right (and then the producers never have to pay out the award money). But somehow the majority of questions that Jamal has are ones that deal with specific moments in his life that lead him to point where he is now. The structure is clever, I'll give it that, but it just seems to unrealistic. And I'm having a hard time just being interested in the characters and their story. Adding that to an unrealistic plot and I'm just not into the film.
But I will forge on and report back when the film is over...
Well, it's done now. It took two more nights, but I finished Slumdog Millionaire. The film did improve as it went on. I found myself looking forward to the scenes with Irrfan Khan, whose work I just love in The Namesake. Khan is the police detective who has been tasked with determining how Jamal was able to answer all of these questions (Jamal is arrested under suspicion of cheating). Khan is such a versatile actor. Having seen him in The Namesake as well as Life of Pi I knew he could play the quiet, unassuming character well, but as the police detective he's rough, stern, and kind of a jerk. It was interesting to see him in such a different way.
Other than Khan, it was fun to see Dev Patel as Jamal just because he's so young in this film compared to the other film I've seen him in (2016's Lion for which he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor). Watching him go from his everyday life to the game show parts definitely showed off his acting skills, but I preferred the story of Lion to Slumdog Millionaire.
Thursday, May 17, 2018
Tuesday, May 8, 2018
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri: 2017
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri was the favorite for this year's Oscar race for Best Picture. So much so that I put a hold on it at my library, thinking I would get it after the Oscars and be all set to cover 2017. Then on Oscar night, The Shape of Water won.
I debated cancelling the hold. After all, even though I changed the purpose of my blog, I'm still trying to finish Best Picture winners (and I'm finally getting close!). But a coworker told me how fantastic Three Billboards was, so I decided to leave the hold as it was. I'm glad I made that decision.
The film is worth watching just for the acting. Frances McDormand as the mother of the murdered girl is astounding. Her grief cycles between sorrow and anger constantly, and you don't always know what side you'll see or it may even be a mixture of both. To complicate things further, there's a flashback that shows the terrible relationship Mildred (McDormand) and her daughter Pamela (a brief role played by Kerry Condon). Mildred's grief becomes more understandable and terrible when we know the final words the women exchanged (you'll have to watch to know).
I don't want to say much more about the film because that would simply spoil too much of it, and I think a lot of people still need to see it. It's dark, that's for sure, but it's important, too. So much of the film is about women fighting to be heard, to have power. In times like now with #MeToo, this film is needed to show what happens when sexual assault and rape are ignored.
I debated cancelling the hold. After all, even though I changed the purpose of my blog, I'm still trying to finish Best Picture winners (and I'm finally getting close!). But a coworker told me how fantastic Three Billboards was, so I decided to leave the hold as it was. I'm glad I made that decision.
The film is worth watching just for the acting. Frances McDormand as the mother of the murdered girl is astounding. Her grief cycles between sorrow and anger constantly, and you don't always know what side you'll see or it may even be a mixture of both. To complicate things further, there's a flashback that shows the terrible relationship Mildred (McDormand) and her daughter Pamela (a brief role played by Kerry Condon). Mildred's grief becomes more understandable and terrible when we know the final words the women exchanged (you'll have to watch to know).
I don't want to say much more about the film because that would simply spoil too much of it, and I think a lot of people still need to see it. It's dark, that's for sure, but it's important, too. So much of the film is about women fighting to be heard, to have power. In times like now with #MeToo, this film is needed to show what happens when sexual assault and rape are ignored.
Brokeback Mountain: 2005
The 2006 Oscar Best Picture went to Crash, a film I've seen and that is hotly contested as unworthy of its Oscar. I have no desire to see Crash again, especially when I could watch a better film about race relations where things don't tie up as neatly as they do in parts of Crash. So I went with the film that people believed would win that year: Brokeback Mountain. I didn't know much about Brokeback Mountain prior to watching it other than Ang Lee was the director (and he is amazing), the film stars Heath Ledger (and he is also amazing), and the story has gay characters (which is a type of story I need to see more of to understand LGBTQ experiences).
I expected Brokeback to have some action. With cowboys and horses, I expected the usual ranch scenes, maybe some shooting, just the usual western film characteristics. While Ennis and Jack shoot an elk and at coyotes and look after sheep, the film doesn't really fit the western genre I expected. Instead, it's a love story. Totally unexpected for me, and honestly, a huge relief since I don't really like westerns. What I found so moving in this film were the quiet moments. Seeing Alma realize that her husband doesn't love her and is in love with a man is heartwrenching. I know she doesn't accept what he's doing, and my heart breaks for her not being able to forgive him for being who he is.
Her silence breaks later when she is remarried and confronts Ennis about all the fish he didn't catch on those fishing trips with Jack. The scene where she confronts him made me so angry at first because I thought she was shaming him for being gay, but I wonder if it's more about her being heartbroken. I don't know if her hatred is directed at him or at his sexuality. The complexity of her feelings and how he can't handle those feelings makes the scene all the more intense.
Having now seen both Crash and Brokeback Mountain, I have to say I'm disappointed that Crash won. Brokeback Mountain may be subtle, but it's subtlety is part of what makes it so powerful. The love story between Jack and Ennis shows how beautiful love is and that love is love, no matter who that love is between.
I expected Brokeback to have some action. With cowboys and horses, I expected the usual ranch scenes, maybe some shooting, just the usual western film characteristics. While Ennis and Jack shoot an elk and at coyotes and look after sheep, the film doesn't really fit the western genre I expected. Instead, it's a love story. Totally unexpected for me, and honestly, a huge relief since I don't really like westerns. What I found so moving in this film were the quiet moments. Seeing Alma realize that her husband doesn't love her and is in love with a man is heartwrenching. I know she doesn't accept what he's doing, and my heart breaks for her not being able to forgive him for being who he is.
Having now seen both Crash and Brokeback Mountain, I have to say I'm disappointed that Crash won. Brokeback Mountain may be subtle, but it's subtlety is part of what makes it so powerful. The love story between Jack and Ennis shows how beautiful love is and that love is love, no matter who that love is between.
Monday, April 16, 2018
Million Dollar Baby: 2004
Million Dollar Baby is one of the films where I remember watching the Oscars in 2005 and seeing Hilary Swank win for her portrayal of Maggie Fitzgerald, a female boxer, and having no interest in watching the film. Picking up the film at my local library to watch for this blog I had only slightly more interest because I know I'm approaching the end point of watching best picture winners and I'm excited to finally meet my goal. That and Rocky was better than I expected, so I figured another boxing film might be good.
I wouldn't say that Million Dollar Baby is good, but I wouldn't say that it's bad. The film has some interesting moments, and it's not your typical boxing film (spoiler: she doesn't win the title). The story tackles the difficult subject of euthanasia and handled it with grace. The acting is good. Did Swank earn her Oscar? Sure, I think so. It's hard to know for this year as I haven't seen the other nominees (check out the list for Best Actress for the 2005 Oscars), but there were scenes where Swank convincingly showed joy, pain, fear, and more.
For me, there are a few issues with Million Dollar Baby. One is the frame story. Morgan Freeman, who plays Eddie, narrates the film, and until the end you don't know why. When you find out why, it doesn't make much sense. Apparently he's writing a letter to Frankie's daughter to explain why her father was a good man. You know that Frankie has a bad relationship with his daughter, but it's never clear why, so then the letter doesn't have much meaning. I just wasn't invested in Frankie's character because I didn't know enough about him. The other issue I had was length. Some parts of the film just seemed to drag on. As Maggie begins fighting, the montages are quick, but then after her injury, so much of the film drags. Maybe it felt that way because I wanted to know how things would turn out, but that part dragging along with the somewhat unnecessary character Danger (I'm not sure what the point was to having his character in the story) made the second half of the movie go on and on. That slowing down of the story made the ending have less of an impact on me.
I'll leave off with this thought. If you told me that you're going to watch Million Dollar Baby, I wouldn't say you should or shouldn't. But I wouldn't be that interested in knowing your thoughts about it.
I wouldn't say that Million Dollar Baby is good, but I wouldn't say that it's bad. The film has some interesting moments, and it's not your typical boxing film (spoiler: she doesn't win the title). The story tackles the difficult subject of euthanasia and handled it with grace. The acting is good. Did Swank earn her Oscar? Sure, I think so. It's hard to know for this year as I haven't seen the other nominees (check out the list for Best Actress for the 2005 Oscars), but there were scenes where Swank convincingly showed joy, pain, fear, and more.
For me, there are a few issues with Million Dollar Baby. One is the frame story. Morgan Freeman, who plays Eddie, narrates the film, and until the end you don't know why. When you find out why, it doesn't make much sense. Apparently he's writing a letter to Frankie's daughter to explain why her father was a good man. You know that Frankie has a bad relationship with his daughter, but it's never clear why, so then the letter doesn't have much meaning. I just wasn't invested in Frankie's character because I didn't know enough about him. The other issue I had was length. Some parts of the film just seemed to drag on. As Maggie begins fighting, the montages are quick, but then after her injury, so much of the film drags. Maybe it felt that way because I wanted to know how things would turn out, but that part dragging along with the somewhat unnecessary character Danger (I'm not sure what the point was to having his character in the story) made the second half of the movie go on and on. That slowing down of the story made the ending have less of an impact on me.
I'll leave off with this thought. If you told me that you're going to watch Million Dollar Baby, I wouldn't say you should or shouldn't. But I wouldn't be that interested in knowing your thoughts about it.
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