Adnerb the Movie Nerd

Movie reviews from a middle school teacher's perspective

Oscar Predictions

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Even though I haven’t posted reviews for a few months, I have been going to the movies every week and have seen most of the Oscar contenders.  Those of you who have been reading my little blog know that I have been eerily accurate in my Oscar predictions in the past.  This year I am not as confident, but will give it a shot.  Remember, these are not the ones I would pick, but the ones I think the Academy will pick.

 

Best Supporting Actress:  Jamie Lee Curtis or Angela Bassett might cancel each other out.  In that case, I would go with Kerry Condon.

Best Supporting Actor:  Judd Hirsch might win simply because he is so well-liked.  However the Academy might go with Ke Huy Quan.

Best Actress:  I really can’t choose between Cate Blanchett and Michelle Yeoh.  They both gave such strong performances.  I think the academy will go with Michelle since she has never won and Cate already has 2 Oscars.

Best Actor:  I know a lot of people are rooting for Austin Butler in Elvis but I think they are going to give it to Brendan Frasier in The Whale.  Honestly, it could be either one.

Best Movie:  Everything Everywhere All At Once seems to be the front runner going in and I see no reason for the academy to not go in that direction.

Best Director:  So this is where I think the academy could surprise us.  I think Steven Spielberg might get the best director even though the Fablemans won’t take best picture.

Best Animated Feature:  This is the toughest category for me.  I think the Academy might go with Pinocchio.  However, I wouldn’t be surprised if Marcel the Shell with Shoes On wins.

Best Original Song: Naatu Naatu for no particular reason.

Best Adapted Screenplay:  Women Talking because of the fact there is a lot of conversation in this one.

Best Original Screenplay: Everything Everywhere All At Once.  However, I would love to see the Banshees of Inisherin win.

Best Foreign Film:  All Quiet on the Western Front.

Best Soundtrack:  In am going with John Williams because I really want him to win, even though I doubt it.  he has been nominated over 50 times and his last win was in 1993.  Come on academy!!!

 

So these are my predictions for some of the categories.  How do you think I did?  What are your choices?  I would love to hear from you.

 

 

Violent Night

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Well, I am not sure I would want to put this one on my Christmas Movie rotation, but I did have a good time watching Violent Night.  David Harbour plays a Santa Clause who is a little disillusioned by the greed of modern kids and their parents.  Because of this, he drinks  too much, yells at his reindeer, and throws presents around.  He visits a house where a rich matriarch (Beverly D’Angelo) has gathered her money grubbing children and grandchildren for an overly catered Christmas event.  It turns out the house has been targeted by an evil bad guy who calls himself Scrooge (John Leguizamo).  Unfortunately for Scrooge, one of the grandkids is on Santa’s nice list and he decides to come to her rescue when the family is kidnapped by Scrooge and his evil mercenaries..  Lots of very bloody mayhem ensues.  David Harbour is great as Santa.  He has a history, he’s not always on the nice list. He is tough but takes alot of punishment.  Once he finds all of Scrooge’s minions on the naughty list….he wields everything from a hammer to ice skates to Christmas lights as he dispatches one bad guy after another.  I love the little homage to the movie ‘Home Alone,’ where we see the real consequences of booby-trapping a house.  But beneath all the horrific action, this is a true holiday movie with a happy ending.  Don’t take it too seriously as this is all tongue in cheek and definitely over the top. It’s almost camp.  My biggest criticism is that there was a little too much vomit and bodily liquids for my taste.  So I recommend this one to those of you who want a new take on the holdidays, and would like to know what to do with all those left over candy canes.

The Menu and Glass Onion

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I am a sucker for murder mysteries and both of these movies delivered everything I like in good ones!  “The Menu” isn’t a true whodunit, but more like a why’d-he-do-that and the mystery is who, if anyone, will escape unscathed.  “Glass  Onion,” (a sequel to Knives Out) on the other hand, will have you guessing the whole time.  Both movies come to a satisfying conclusion.  “The Menu” stars Ralph Fiennes as a very talented high-end chef who serves an exclusive, and very expensive, meal every year to a small group of hoity-toity rich people.  Some of the guests this time are Ana Taylor-Joy, Nicholas Hoult, John Leguizamo, Judith Light, and Janet McTeer just to name a few.    It becomes increasingly clear (not to mention horrifying)  that  the chef has conjured up more than just a meal.  The fun of this extremly dark comedy  is in figuring out who will still be around by the time the sixth course is finished.  Shout out to Hong Chau as the maitre d’  of the restaurant, who is just as subtly creepy and mysterious as the chef.

Part of the fun of “Glass Onion” rests with Daniel Craig reprising his role as Detective Benoit Blanc.  His acting and accent are spot on and the little tidbits we find out about his personality and private life are intriguing.  The set up for the story is that self-centered billionaire, Ed Norton (at his unlovable best) has sent invitations to a close knit group of his “friends” to spend a weekend playing a murder mystery game.  The guests include Kate Hudson, Janelle Monae, Dave Bautista, Kathryn Hahn, and Leslie Odom Jr.  Of course, there is a real murder and it is very convienent that Detective Blanc is there to peel away the many layers of this “onion” mystery.  Look for two cameos.  One, I will not spoil because you will recognize him right away.  The other one, well, I won’t spoil that one either.  I’ll just  say that you will see him several times.  Let me know if you recognized him before the credits rolled, or you googled who it was.  🙂

I highly recommend both of these movies. Which ever you choose, you are in for an entertaining time.

Black Adam

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For anyone out there listening, this will be my last weekly review for awhile.  I am still seeing a movie at a theatre every Saturday and have seen some really great movies.  Reviews can not exist in a vacuum though, and I am not sure my little missives are being read by anyone.  This is not to say that I will completely give up movie reviews, but they will not be coming out weekly.  That being said – here we go!!

Black Adam is a DC movie that I found rather meh.  I am a fan of The Rock, especially when he is in comedies like “The Jungle Cruise” or “Jumanji”.  I thought it might be fun to see him as a superhero, but this movie really wasn’t much fun at all.  It all starts out in ancient Kahndaq where Teth Adam is given superpowers by a council of gods.  He uses these powers to get revenge on the people who killed his father, so he is imprisoned for 5,000 years, thus turning into Black Adam.  Through some very muddled story telling, Adam is released and reluctantly helps to save his hometown from various evil doers.  Viola Davis is completely wasted as a feeble sort of Nick Fury, but the storyline doesn’t give her much to do, or even explain what she is up to.

Tasked with bringing in Black Adam are the Justice Council, who  seem to be copying (and not in a good way) some of their more superior Marvel counterparts.   The Justice Council consists of Hawkman, Dr. Fate, Atom Smasher, and Cyclone.  Except for Dr. Fate (Pierce Brosnan) none of these heroes are  interesting or even very powerful. It’s over complicated and jumps all over the place.

I guess Black Adam wasn’t a bad film, it does have its moments, and the CGI is impressive.  But if this is the best that DC has to offer, I think I will stick with Marvel.

See How They Run

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What a gem.  If you liked Knives Out, Clue, and Murder By Death, this is the movie for you!  The story takes place in 1950’s London.  In the story, some producers have decided to make a movie version of Agatha Christie’s play ‘The Mouse Trap’ (which is still running in London after more than 50 years, by the way).  The cast of characters include a despised director ( Adrian Brody), a rookie constable (Saoirse Ronan, as an innocent appearing but smarter-than-you-thought PC Stalker, the rookie detective who  steals the show!) and an alcoholic world weary detective (Sam Rockwell).  The movie has to be delayed when a member of the cast is murdered!  Some of my favorite suspects included Shirley Henderson (remember her as Moaning Myrtle in the Harry Potter series?), David Oyelowo and Ruth Wilson.  This is all very tongue-in-cheek and includes puns, play on words, literary allusions and the breaking of the fourth wall.  I also enjoyed the references to 50’s movies.  One highlight is an appearance by Agatha Christie herself and a trippy take on the old mystery trope “The butler did it.”  This is another movie that won’t be around in theatres long , so if you want to see it in a theatre, stop reading this review and get going!  You will be glad you did!