Being a member of the WGA and DGA, I’ve received a lot of screeners of the hopeful films. And I have to say I am singularly unimpressed.
Maybe it’s just that I’m an old guy and remember when Pictures of the Year meant THE GODFATHER, LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI. These were epic motion pictures, with scope, brilliant performances, and masterful storytelling.
And now any movie that Michael Bay doesn’t direct is considered Oscar-worthy.
CRAZY RICH ASIANS? It’s a frothy romcom. There used to be one a week released a few years ago. The producers of PILLOW TALK never felt they deserved an Oscar. CRAZY RICH ASIANS may be delightful and entertaining (I haven’t seen it), but it’s just a Friday night date movie.
Every year now it seems there are six movies about the British monarchy. They're starting to feel like Oscar grabs.
THE GREEN BOOK was very enjoyable, but when you remove the racial element it’s just a by-the-numbers buddy road picture. Good performances, and scenes that hit all the desired emotions but nothing you haven’t seen before fifteen times. And factually inaccurate. As a way of passing the time for a couple of hours it was just fine. But again – Best Picture?
ON THE BASIS OF SEX was good (see my review posted yesterday), but not in the league of similar fare like THE VERDICT or A FEW GOOD MEN.
Have we really lowered the bar or is it just that Hollywood now makes so few movies without an Avenger that every one with less than a half-hour of CGI thinks they’re a serious contender?
I haven’t seen all the screeners yet and one may just blow me away, but for now, for me – THE BLACK PANTHER is the Best Picture of the Year.
from By Ken Levine
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