More 2017 nominated films: Nocturnal Animals, Moana, Passengers, Elle

4/3/17 Nocturnal Animals, Nominated Best Supporting Actor, 2016

I don't even know what to do here. I've tried explaining the movie to a couple different people, and while I agree the premise is unusual and original, I couldn't get past the opening sequence, hell, I can't even talk about the opening sequence without getting uncomfortable, and then I just wanted the movie to be over. AND, even after watching the special features, which explained a lot, nothing made those first five to seven minutes relevant. Anyway, the movie is told from two points of view, one is 'the real world' with Amy Adams as Susan Morrow, an art gallery owner, currently married to Hutton Morrow (Armie Hammer, although, truth be told, it could have been anyone) who has received a manuscript from her ex-husband, Edward Sheffield (Jake Gyllenhaal). The 'real world' story is told in flashbacks, so we see Susan in current time, but also go back to her relationship with Edward. As Susan reads the book called Nocturnal Animals, the story is portrayed in the movie, with Jake Gyllenhaal taking on the male lead, Tony Hastings, who is driving with his wife and daughter (Isla Fisher and Ellie Bamber), who look a LOT like Susan Morrow, when they are harassed and practically driven off the road by a few rough looking guys, who have bad intentions. Tony's family is taken from him, and he needs the help of Detective Bobby Andes (Michael Shannon in an Oscar-nominated role) to find out what happened. The men become partners of sorts as they try to find out what happened and also bring the bad guys to justice. The film goes back and forth between reality and the novel, showing us Susan in her pretty unhappy life, seeming to think about Edward and 'what if?'. I thought the whole premise was very clever, and to me, whether you see it or not comes down to your personal taste; if I would have skipped the first 10 minutes, I would have liked the movie a lot more I think. Gyllenhaal was really good in dual roles; Adams, who I love, was okay, but it was Gyllenhaal's movie. Shannon was good as well, and lately, he has been great in so many different films, but the Supporting Actor category was tough this year. Director Tom Ford has thought out every detail, with all the little hints carried from the real world to the story world; the lighting to differentiate the two worlds. I don't know if I have ever done this before, but I am going to walk back my initial reluctance to like this movie and to recommend it (with my previous caveat). That's what happens when you wait a week to write a review.

4/8/17 Moana, Nominated Best Animated Feature Film, Best Original Song, 2016

I enjoyed Moana, I didn't love it, but I did laugh out loud at some parts, and I did love the Oscar-nominated song "How Far I'll Go", and I'm partial to stories that have strong female leads, and I don't think we've had anyone from the Pacific Islands. Instead of the more familiar Greek or Roman myths, Moana is the story of Polynesian gods and demigods and how the islands were created by Maui, a demigod, voiced by The Rock/Duane Johnson; as many gods and demigods from different mythologies, he loses his mojo and has to wait for an unsuspecting human to rescue him. Moana is that human, defying her father to go farther out to sea than is considered safe. Some of the funniest moments are Moana and Maui bickering with each other. They face adventures fighting off coconut pirates (true story), a giant coconut crab, voiced by Jemaine Clement (Flight of the Conchords) who seems to be aware of his Jamaican counterpart from The Little Mermaid, Sebastian. His few minutes on screen are pretty hilarious. Johnson's personality really came through even though it was an animated persona and Auli'i Cravalho was terrific both as an actress and singer, in fact, it was her singing on Oscar night that got me excited about watching the movie; she did a spectacular job. I just noticed that I didn't mention her until almost the end, and I apologize for that, it's probably due to the fact that I've written this particular review over three separate days, which plays hell with any train of thought. One thing that I did find annoying was the character of Heihei, Moana's pet rooster, who just seemed like the director/writer checking a box: cute, but dumb pet sidekick. If you're looking for a family movie, I suggest getting this from the library or buy it, if you're so inclined, and if you're really adventurous, perhaps you can find the sing-a-long version.

4/8/17 Passengers, Nominated Best Original Score, Best Production Design, 2016

My feeling after watching Passengers starring Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt was, meh. It was another movie with an interesting concept, suspended animation gone awry, but only for a few people, the rest are blissfully unaware, but I don't think it could decide if it wanted to be a comedy, a drama, a science fiction action movie or all of the above. A brief synopsis: 5,000 passengers (colonists) are traveling for 120 years to a new planet and they are in a state of suspended animation; Jim Preston (Pratt) is awakened by a mechanical error, and finds himself alone on the ship, well, alone except for Arthur, the robot bartender (Michael Sheen) and other android or virtual characters. In his loneliness, Jim comes across a fellow passenger, Aurora Lane (Lawrence) and he falls in love with her through her video profile, and has a debate with himself and Arthur about waking her up, and pretty much shortening her lifespan and guaranteeing she won't see the new colony. After a year of being alone, Jim wakes her up, although he pretends her capsule had a mechanical failure as well. So, no real surprise that they fall in love, it wasn't even that hard. They spend a year together, when Arthur decides that he needs to tell Aurora that Jim woke her up on purpose. This does not go over well at all, but their spat is interrupted by another pod malfunctioning, and Gus (Laurence Fishburne), a crew member waking up; the three discover that there are some major issues happening with the ship. Up to this point we've had a little comedy, a little romance, and now we get into the science fiction/action bit, when the ship is in danger of exploding, Preston is willing to sacrifice himself to save the ship, and Aurora. After watching movies like Interstellar and The Martian, my expectations are pretty high, and the few minutes of action/suspense, didn't do anything for me. I was disappointed with Jennifer Lawrence; maybe it was the script, but I did not for one minute believe she was Aurora Lane. Chris Pratt was Chris Pratt, smart alecky, brash, nothing terribly new.

4/11/17 Elle, Nominated Best Actress, 2016

I am not going to give too much away because you really have to watch this movie unfold, and I don't want to ruin it. What I will say is that with all due respect to Emma Stone and La La Land, Isabelle Huppert, nominated for Best Actress, was robbed, absolutely, no question in my mind. Huppert is Michele LeBlanc, an executive of a video game company, which if you know anything about video gaming (and I know very little), it's a pretty male dominated industry. Michele comes off as an angry, bitter, vindictive and controlling woman towards her son, her lover, her ex-husband, mother, really almost anyone. Honestly, I usually hate those types of women (people) and movies that feature them, which is probably why Netflix thought I would rate it 2 stars, but the Paul Verhoeven-directed movie is more complex and so is Huppert's portrayal of a very resilient woman. Michele has a dark past, although not a secret one, and it clearly affects her forty years later, especially in her relationships with men. Michele enters into relationships with men that at best are ill-advised and at worst, dangerous, but it's almost like she does it knowingly, taking herself to the edge, seeing if she can pull herself back. I haven't seen most of Huppert's films, but even if I didn't like the film, I usually appreciated her role in it (I have seen Heaven's Gate, Madame Bovary, 8 Women, Amour). The movie is graphic, violent and occasionally difficult to watch, but Huppert is really good, but the total flipside to Emma Stone's character in La La Land, that's for sure. So, it's not much of a synopsis, but if you like foreign films and the work of Paul Verhoeven and Isabelle Huppert, and a tense, unconventional story, I recommend this. But this won't be for everyone, and I won't be offended if you don't watch it.