For the ninth year in a row, I decided to watch at least three of the Academy Award nominees for Best Picture with the intention of reviewing them and figuring out which ones I liked the best.
It all started originally in 2011 as a way to get back to enjoying former childhood and young adult activities I used to do, such as watching quality movies at theaters not long after they came out.
This year I saw “Green Book” at the theater about a month ago, and then watched “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “A Star Is Born” on my computer within the last week.
It was not how I wanted to do it, but after I spent at least 30 minutes past the listed starting time for “Green Book” watching promos of other movies, and because the times or availability of the other two did not meet my schedule, that is what happened.
I enjoyed all three, and have mentioned below which one I like the best. But despite the fact they were all worth seeing, none of them jumped out and totally captured my heart like such other Best Picture winners of recent years as “The King’s Speech,” “The Artist” and “Spotlight.”
Although this is another year when no one outside the accountants is completely sure which one will win, many say “Roma” will become the first foreign language film to win. Others think “Green Book” could win, and “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “Black Panther” – the first superhero movie to be nominated – have also garnered some other top picture awards.
“A Star Is Born” is no doubt the consensus crowd favorite among regular viewers. Other Best Picture nominees – all of which I want and hope to still see after the awards show – are “Blackkklansman,” “Favourite,” and “Vice,” the latter about former vice president Dick Cheney.
Of the three I did watch, I have reviewed them below, and have my favorite listed last.
The winner will be announced Sunday night during the Academy Awards show on ABC, an event that has already had enough lead-up drama to make another movie, or at least a soap opera.
Regardless, I and the several million other viewers will still be watching with much anticipation to see what wins Best Picture and the other awards.
Third Favorite: “A Star Is Born” -- I was handicapped regarding this movie because since about last fall, I had heard and read where people were calling it among the greatest movies they have ever seen and by far the best of the year. Of course, if someone asks you to taste some chicken salad, and he or she calls it the best ever, you are bound to be at least a little disappointed.
Still, I liked “A Star Is Born” and it left me feeling a little emotionally cleansed and trying to remember what is important in life. That is, despite the fact the movie has almost as many curse words as breaths taken.
The plot – a well-done remake of two other movies dating back decades – follows the career of a noted male singer played by Bradley Cooper, who is making his directorial debut with the movie. After one of his concerts, he happens to go into a bar looking for a drink, and Lady Gaga’s character is taking a break from her thankless restaurant job elsewhere to perform.
He is taken aback by her talents and soon meets her and they start talking. He learns she has had ambitions to be an accomplished singer but has not had any luck. He encourages her and, as their romance blossoms, even gets her out on stage at one of his shows to sing a song she had written and which he likes.
He helps her, but she has to end up helping him more through a surprising twist as the movie goes along.
A promoter/manager realizes after she performs a few times with him that she could have her own solo career, so she does that, initially with the good wishes of Bradley Cooper’s character, Jack Maine.
She ends up almost having a new persona as she goes from basic singer to one who goes through different hairstyles and even starts dancing as part of her show in line with a typical pop superstar. I, for some reason, thought of the evolution of Taylor Swift from basic singer/songwriter to also being a show dancer as I watched that.
In contrast, Jack stays stuck in his character as the movie goes along, and it is not pretty. His drinking and drug use become more pronounced, much to the disappointment of Lady Gaga’s character, Ally.
After he embarrasses her with a very low moment for him at a very high moment for her – being falling-down drunk on stage when she wins Best New Artist at the Grammys – he enters rehab.
She stays with him and everything seems fine, but at the end he takes his life while home alone. It is certainly sad seeing his beloved dog outside the closed garage after that happens, as the canine appears to wonder what has happened.
Ally is devastated, but then his brother and band manager – played by Sam Elliott, whose familiar deep voice has been used on beef and Ram truck commercials – tells her that Jack was responsible for his own death.
A touching scene is then shown in which she is performing at a symphony concert, and sings a song he had written but had not performed. As she does, happier scenes from the movie are shown.
If not a return to joy and normalcy, there is at least some closure at the end.
It was certainly a good movie, but for some reason I would probably find myself watching only a couple of the music/singing scenes if I watched it again.
Second Favorite: “Bohemian Rhapsody” – This movie also deals with music – that of the 1970s and ‘80s British rock band, Queen, and its lead singer, Freddie Mercury.
The film has actually not been as favorably received among general movie fans as some other Best Picture nominees and has been criticized for the great liberties taken in distorting some facts about Queen and Mr. Mercury. I, too, noticed that they portrayed the connected songs, “We Will Rock You/We are the Champions,” as coming out in the early 1980s, but they actually did a few months before I graduated from Baylor School in 1978.
However, since I did not know a whole lot else about Queen and Mr. Mercury – other than that he died after contracting AIDS – I did not have any expectations and actually found it an uplifting storyline in many ways.
While Mr. Mercury and his wild lifestyle could have made for a dark and depressing movie, the producers actually decided to focus more on his unique and positive contributions. As a result, a moviegoer is actually left with a somewhat sympathetic view toward him.
Coming from unusual beginnings as a man of Indian descent, the buck-toothed Mr. Mercury – played well by Rami Malek -- meets the future Queen group as well as his future wife, a young woman with appealing traits and played by Lucy Boynton.
At this time, the two lovers are almost naïve and innocent, which one might not later associate with Mr. Mercury.
He has also joined the band after an opening occurs and, in his unique style, becomes the creative lead and front man with his many gifts. The story of the development of the progressive, rock opera-like song, “Bohemian Rhapsody,” is told. For those who can’t remember, it is the one that has the words, “Galileo, Galileo,” in it.
However, as he begins to deal with his feelings about his sexuality, he tells wife Mary Austin he thinks he is bisexual, so their relationship ends, although they remain close off and on over the years.
Taking up with a male who becomes a negative and controlling influence, he sees his life spiral out of control through excessive partying and promiscuous behavior.
With the help of a few people, he ends up straightening out his life somewhat about the time he realizes he has HIV. He also ends up connecting more strongly with Mary, his family and others.
He had also left Queen for a period, and the former controlling manager had not told him about the famous Live Aid concert of 1985 to raise money for starving people. However, he gets back together with the band amicably, and they are able to get a last-minute performance slot at the coveted concert fund-raiser at Wembley Stadium.
The last 10 or 15 minutes are devoted to their concert, and it is quite entertaining for fans of Queen’s music. It is also an uplifting scene for those who love the human experience, as people are wondering if he will be physically able to perform due to his illness.
As fans see, he is more than able and connects with concertgoers as few other musicians from that time period could.
Maybe just because it had a more uplifting tone overall – or at least a happier ending -- than “A Star Is Born,” I enjoyed it a little more.
Favorite: “Green Book” – This movie also deals with a true story related to music, with a few historical inaccuracies as well. But, as they say, don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story, and this one is quite an uplifting tale.
A noted black pianist named Don Shirley, played by Mahershala Ali, is tourng the South in 1962 with his two band mates, and he hires a white man, Tony “Lip” Vallelonga, played by Viggo Mortensen, to drive him.
Since most of the South was still segregated then, they take a copy of the “Green Book,” which listed places in the South friendly to or available for black patrons. And the movie shows them using it on several occasions, although perhaps not as much as the movie title might suggest.
What also makes this movie good is that the two men are much different in more than skin color. Mr. Shirley is neat and articulate, while Mr. Lip is sloppy and has a working-class, common-sense view of the world.
But, as fate would have it, they develop an unexpected bond as time goes by. It reminded me a little of the popular 1989 Best Picture movie, “Driving Miss Daisy,” which also dealt with a black person and a white person becoming unlikely allies.
This bond would become important on several occasions. Early on, before they even get to the South, Tony has to use his skills as a nightclub bouncer to make sure a Steinway piano was in a performance hall as Mr. Shirley requested, even though the manager did not think that was necessary.
He also helps rescue Mr. Shirley from a bar and from an arrest after being caught in a homosexual encounter with someone at a YMCA.
Tony also grows to dislike some of the treatment he sees Mr. Shirley being given – including when he could not use the bathroom in one large Southern home despite being the guest of honor and performer.
Mr. Shirley, in turn, also helps Tony on occasion, including by writing articulate letters to Tony’s wife that she loves and by calling attorney general Robert Kennedy after they had been put in jail. This occurred after they drove through a “sundown” town after dark, when that was illegal for a black man in the days of Jim Crow laws.
And then, after they leave a Birmingham, Ala., country club before a performance after Mr. Shirley could not eat dinner there, they drive through the night, with Mr. Shirley driving part of the way to help Tony get back to his family by Christmas.
A touching scene occurs when they are pulled over again by police, but this time just because they have a flat tire. The police even help them fix it.
They arrive home for Christmas safely, and Mr. Shirley later comes over to their house, at which time an emotional scene occurs and Tony’s wife thanks him for the letters, knowing he had obviously written them.
The two men – one black and one white - had developed a genuine bond with each other. They had also made each other better people due to their differences.
It was a two-hour look into always doing morally right and helping each other, and the viewer – at least this one – walked away at the end full of inspiration about the potential for good in people.
Jcshearer2@comcast.net