Daniel Kaluuya is a lock
voted for Nomadland, thought it was beautiful
― Dan S, Wednesday, 21 April 2021 00:23 (three years ago) link
So Menari is good? My mother-in-law recommended it, which is usually not an endorsement.
― change display name (Jordan), Wednesday, 21 April 2021 00:44 (three years ago) link
It's cute, and Youn Yuh-jung deserves her award, but way too facile.
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 21 April 2021 00:51 (three years ago) link
It is somewhat facile, but I dunno if I would call it cute.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 21 April 2021 01:05 (three years ago) link
It does have some third act problems but overall I’ll take it. I did like that it was never clear whether one particular supporting character was to be feared or trusted.
― avatar of a kind of respectability homosexual culture (Eric H.), Wednesday, 21 April 2021 01:08 (three years ago) link
and it has Steven Yeun
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 21 April 2021 01:09 (three years ago) link
everything I've heard about Minari makes it sound like the least worst one of these, maybe The Father as well
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 21 April 2021 05:02 (three years ago) link
The Father struck me as labored and in places cruel. Olivia Colman and Olivia Williams humanize it.
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 21 April 2021 09:34 (three years ago) link
Of the ones I've seen: Trial of The Chicago 7 (I'm a complete sucker for a courtroom drama) nudges fractionally ahead of Sound Of Metal (gripped throughout, but I thought it got weaker towards the end). Promising Young Woman is some distance behind (entertaining but over-rated and ultimately a bit trashy), while Mank was so unbearable that we switched off after about 30 minutes (Hollywood just loves a film about Hollywood).
― mike t-diva, Wednesday, 21 April 2021 11:14 (three years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Thursday, 22 April 2021 00:01 (three years ago) link
hmm no
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 22 April 2021 00:07 (three years ago) link
Do you not like rock
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 22 April 2021 00:35 (three years ago) link
I've seen all of these but Mank, Chicago 7, The Father and Promising Young Woman. I'll likely never see the first three, but Sound of Metal is the best of the other three that I have seen (Minari, Nomadland, Judas).
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 22 April 2021 01:01 (three years ago) link
Mank was as someone said like the 4th episode of a 6-episode miniseries, starting and ending in the middle. I thought it was charming and the cinematography was great. I liked it a lot.
The Trial of the Chicago 7 was a made-for-tv movie with punchy Aaron Sorkin dialogue, not at all great but very enjoyable.
Viola Davis was only in 35 minutes or so of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom but she was fantastic and completely owned that film.
I really liked Riz Ahmed and Sound of Metal, it was good but I don't think of it as the best of these. Looking forward to Exit West
― Dan S, Thursday, 22 April 2021 01:59 (three years ago) link
One thing I'm sure of is that I would rather have seen I'm Thinking of Ending Things up instead of the other two Netflix films. It still lingers in my mind; the other two define the kind of thing I forget an hour later.
― clemenza, Thursday, 22 April 2021 02:09 (three years ago) link
I thought Exit West was a good book, curious how it will translate. Like "Underground Railroad" (which is a new miniseries?), it's got magic realism elements that I fear will work better on the page. Unrealized, as it were.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 22 April 2021 12:30 (three years ago) link
It's actually an odd slate of Oscar noms, a bunch of movies with diverse and interesting subjects that are undoubtedly worth watching but nothing that necessarily sticks out, let alone as "must see." Like a bunch of palate cleansers.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 22 April 2021 12:34 (three years ago) link
Can't believe First Cow wasn't nominated.And the best thing I saw all year was Small Axe. Wish it had been eligible.
― TO BE A JAZZ SINGER YOU HAVE TO BE ABLE TO SCAT (Jazzbo), Thursday, 22 April 2021 14:19 (three years ago) link
As I think I've already said three or four times in various forms and maybe even on this thread, in no way does a Sound of Metal "feel" like a best picture, but in this lineup it pretty much is.
― avatar of a kind of respectability homosexual culture (Eric H.), Thursday, 22 April 2021 14:20 (three years ago) link
One thing I'm sure of is that I would rather have seen I'm Thinking of Ending Things up instead of the other two Netflix films. It still lingers in my mind; the other two define the kind of thing I forget an hour later.THIS.
― TO BE A JAZZ SINGER YOU HAVE TO BE ABLE TO SCAT (Jazzbo), Thursday, 22 April 2021 14:21 (three years ago) link
have only seen judas, nomadland, and promising young woman, none of which inspired me enough to vote in this poll.
nomadland and judas were certainly several cuts above promising young woman, which was a mess.
― voodoo chili, Thursday, 22 April 2021 14:36 (three years ago) link
Marisa Tomei deserved a nom for The King of Staten Island.
― too cool for zen talk (Eazy), Thursday, 22 April 2021 14:37 (three years ago) link
i liked sound of metal for the same reasons i liked nomadland upthread - just a reasonably well-made adult drama that gave viewers credit for being slightly smarter than a 12y/o, unlike most of the others. picked it narrowly over nomadland bc while you didnt have to be a genius to figure out what plot beats were coming, it still felt slightly less familiar than nomadlands "white movie star grieves in beautiful places" thing. plus it had a cameo from the band surfbort.
― nobody like my rap (One Eye Open), Thursday, 22 April 2021 14:47 (three years ago) link
all of the other movies would have benefitted from more surfbort imo
― nobody like my rap (One Eye Open), Thursday, 22 April 2021 14:49 (three years ago) link
the "best picture" category should be replaced with "most surfbort"
― voodoo chili, Thursday, 22 April 2021 14:58 (three years ago) link
*by, not with, prepositions are hard
― voodoo chili, Thursday, 22 April 2021 14:59 (three years ago) link
and your game is soft
;)
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 22 April 2021 15:13 (three years ago) link
I get the feeling Nomadland is gathering steam because many of the people watching it think of it as political when imo one of its biggest flaws is that it's *not* political.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 23 April 2021 12:53 (three years ago) link
It seems to be bending over backwards not to be political but it’s also empty enough that anyone can fill it with whatever level of political subtext they prefer be present.
― avatar of a kind of respectability homosexual culture (Eric H.), Friday, 23 April 2021 14:22 (three years ago) link
It is a pleasant and sometimes affecting drama about grief. Nothing more, nothing less.
― edited for dog profanity (cryptosicko), Friday, 23 April 2021 17:03 (three years ago) link
I've posted a couple of these monthly Zoomcasts I do with two friends; we talked about Sound of Metal the other night (also Town Bloody Hall, but it's a different clip).
www.youtube.com/watch?v=03Q_Q2U85SU
― clemenza, Saturday, 24 April 2021 01:14 (three years ago) link
trying to watch all of these in the last week
Sound of Metal - engaging but dumb. a thinly disguised rehab movie.Nomadland - pretty but there's nothing thereMank - i dug the bad audio but otherwise it's very "why am i watching this". gave up halfway through.The Trial of the Chicago 7 - the most aaron sorkin ever
― wasdnuos (abanana), Saturday, 24 April 2021 02:56 (three years ago) link
Greil Marcus on Nomadland: "At least there aren’t any Leonard Cohen songs."
It's a good putdown, but--and I'm not a huge Cohen fan myself--McCabe & Mrs. Miller minus those Cohen songs just wouldn't be the same film or nearly as good.
― clemenza, Saturday, 24 April 2021 15:28 (three years ago) link
I like to think that Nomadland being the frontrunner is just overdue recognition for The Rider
― swing out sister: live in new donk city (geoffreyess), Saturday, 24 April 2021 16:00 (three years ago) link
Watching Nomadland now and damn if this doesn’t match up a LOT with the conditions depicted in Phil A Neel’s _Hinterland: America’s New Landscape of Class and Conflict_, tho deliberately shedding any political-economic talk
― Glower, Disruption & Pies (kingfish), Sunday, 25 April 2021 03:28 (three years ago) link
The Rider is the superior film, but Nomadland is great and obviously political. It's just not a treatise, it's a story about people. "But isn't it cowardly to show Amazon and not make a specific point about its awfulness?". Amazon/ billionaires making bank out of low wage jobs and the people who desperately need them are awful, but I think this film does right in observing life as a daily routine, not story beats or spectacular horror, I think it's more powerful because more believable to see these bad places just be a part of the characters' everyday life. Bob in the film: "If society was throwing us away and sending us as the work horse out to the pasture, we work horses have to gather together and take care of each other. And that's what this is all about. The way I see it is that the Titanic is sinking." There's camaraderie and joy in finding together just as there is despair at the system throwing people in the water to care for one another, and acknowledgement of the betrayal.
― abcfsk, Sunday, 25 April 2021 12:13 (three years ago) link
Mank is like Ready Player One for the TCM set. A tedious, self-congratulatory, and pointless film.
― edited for dog profanity (cryptosicko), Sunday, 25 April 2021 17:21 (three years ago) link
ugh, promising young woman. what a void of a film
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Monday, 3 May 2021 20:56 (three years ago) link
If only! It's a Death Star exploding.
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 3 May 2021 21:39 (three years ago) link
my sister loved Promising Young Women, kind of scared to check it out now
― A viking of frowns, (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 3 May 2021 21:57 (three years ago) link
i'm so proud of the fake rape revenge film for not depicting the rape directly and yet managing to include a scene of traumatic violence against a woman anyway
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Monday, 3 May 2021 22:16 (three years ago) link
even then i feel like i would enjoy it 20 percent more had someone taken the reins of the music supervision
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Monday, 3 May 2021 22:17 (three years ago) link
the music was terrible
― Dan S, Monday, 3 May 2021 22:24 (three years ago) link
the last twenty minutes are just so rotten
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Monday, 3 May 2021 22:25 (three years ago) link
what does this movie bring to the table that jennifer's body didn't a thousand times better
furious at this fucking movie
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Monday, 3 May 2021 22:26 (three years ago) link
Sound of Metal - engaging but dumb. a thinly disguised rehab movie.
I don't know if thinly disguised as much as just misleadingly marketed!
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, 3 May 2021 23:04 (three years ago) link
well I was expecting a live film of an Iron Maiden concert so I was particularly disappointed
― A viking of frowns, (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 3 May 2021 23:09 (three years ago) link
I thought it was going to be a tour diary of a noise rock duo, so same.
Actually I thought it was pretty good, but because Ahmed and Raci were so good. A good case of the right actors elevating the material.
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, 3 May 2021 23:11 (three years ago) link
sound of metal is an incredible film
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Friday, 8 July 2022 18:21 (one year ago) link
Otm
― Spottie, Friday, 8 July 2022 19:12 (one year ago) link
the only one of these that i'm interested in rewatching
― nobody like my rap (One Eye Open), Friday, 8 July 2022 19:30 (one year ago) link