Taking Umbrage with the Academy's nominations

 Even though you didn't go to any movies in the last year, the Oscars are still happening on April 25th. Because there hasn't been the usual crush of advertising for coming features, it was pretty easy to not hear of any of them, more so than any other year. Reading reviews and descriptions of them, I am sure they are well imagined, deeply contemplative and expertly crafted. In any other year, I have no reason to doubt that those would have been the best movie.

Last year, however, was 2020. 2020 needed something else.

At really no point was I interested in something dark and brooding, something that made me look inwardly, or something that brought to light a problem that exists in society that might not otherwise get national attention. We had all of those things thrust in our face at all times. Between the news and social media, I was certainly not looking to sink deeper into the more grim portions of my psyche.

And so, with all new movies nearly immediately at my fingertips, I actively avoided these so called good movies, and looked harder for stupid movies that gave me some chuckles, had a generally decent heart, and didn't make me think about it for even a second afterwards.

It wasn't the best movie made in the last year, but for me, the Movie of 2020 is definitely Hubie Halloween.

Eurovision isn't terrible!

One recent trend I have noticed with comedies is that they have leaned heavily on Adam Sandler or Will Ferrell, either through their appearance or their benefactory, and almost universally, they are lazy, crass or feature Nick Swardson (both). I expected Eurovision Song Contest, the Story of Fire Saga to be more of the same. 

It featured all of the things that augured potential bad news. It had Will Ferrell. It had Will Ferrell in spandex. It had many different people from different countries with different accents. And you know what? It didn't really lean hard into any of those potentially lazy, homophobic, xenophobic crutches. The closest we got to homophobia was a meta joke about how homophobic the Russian government was. 

The movie doesn't lean on Ferrell and his physical comedy. It doesn't lean on his Icelandic character's homeland as a punchline. It doesn't even lean on any of the competing nations or stereotypes about those countries to get many cheap jokes.

There is a very good reason for this, actually. Will Ferrell's wife is Swedish, and she introduced him to the real Eurovision contest, which he likes. This movie was meant to be about the main characters, Lars and Sigrit, underdogs trying to compete in this grand event, rather than a parody of the event itself.

Since this was a character study, rather than a nonsensical farce, care was taken in fleshing out the cast. Rachel McAdams and Pierce Brosnan brought character to their Icelandic roles, rather than caricature. Dan Stevens made his Russian antagonist more than his superficial stereotype as he appeared at the beginning of the movie, and made him almost sympathetic by the end of the movie. 

One of the surest signs that the movie was an homage and not a satire was the wide range of cameos of previous contestants and winners of Eurovision. Because it was an homage, and rightly featured the tapestry of humanity that has appeared in the contest, the only goofy people could be Ferrell (and to a lesser degree McAdams') characters. 

Since a measure of respect was given by Ferrell and company, the movie needed to concentrate on being clever, if a little weird at times, and didn't need to devolve into the tired tropes that Netflix comedies have been emitting. Maybe it's not the best movie that Ferrell has ever made, but it sure is a heck of a lot better than it threatened to be. 

A Universe and a Galaxy

On my flight to San Francisco, I wanted to watch something fairly light that I didn't need to invest too much of my attention on, and I went with the 2nd Lego Movie. I'm a grownup. The movie lasted only 90 minutes of the 4 hour flight, so I vowed to watch something longer on the way home. I picked Avengers Endgame, and it worked out perfectly.
This is the second time I watched the movie, and was therefore able to absorb the details much more closely. (I was also able to watch it in one sitting this time, because my viewing partner didn't need to go to bed). The details, however, were more important to long time comic book fans. The coolest part for me was the coming together of all those storylines and all those heroes.
Undoubtedly, that was the pinnacle of the entire Marvel franchise to date, and will be tough to replicate in the future. Still, why would they feel the need to? On the whole, most of the characters in the Universe are part of their own story. They can keep telling Black Panther's story without Valkyrie flying in on a Pegasus. Captain Marvel will surely have some interstellar sequel that will be unconcerned about Spider-Man's pursuit of a high school diploma.
The other big franchise that is reaching its conclusion is, of course, Star Wars. Both franchises are Disney properties and make a bazillion dollars, chiefly on the backs of nerds, but that is about where the comparisons end, at least cinematically. The two biggest overarching difference revolve around the two points I made about Endgame, which made the movie so special for me and other viewers.
Star Wars is a 9 movie arc, telling the story of the same family, and those surrounding them. Those movies not of the main series are related closely to the so called Skywalker Saga. The culmination of the 9 movie arc will not result in some grand coming together of beloved characters from across the movies. There isn't a deep well of characters that will converge at the end of the movie. Instead, the end of the Rise of Skywalker will simply be the end of the story for several important characters, notably Kylo Ren and Rey.
While the end of December's movie offers the conclusion of a beloved saga, it does something that the Marvel Universe doesn't: It offers up an entire galactic playground for directors and film writers to work with. As we've seen from Rogue One and Solo, the feel and thematics are unconfined by the feel and thematics of the original anthology. There is another trilogy on the way, and it will be a complete surprise. The Star Wars Galaxy will live on, and we have no frame of reference as to how it will do so. Any movie can be made in the Star Wars Galaxy, and we won't be able to say if it's right or wrong.
Marvel's movies and Star Wars films appeal to a broadly similar fan base, but aside from the content of the films, they also have completely different circumstances surrounding them. The Marvel Universe is exciting, because we can see what we know come together, but Star Wars is exciting because there is a whole Galaxy to explore

Marvel seems to just make good movies

For most of us, I think, the superheroes we grew up with were Batman, Superman and to some degree, the Justice League. That is to say, DC Comics really dominated the 80s and 90s, from TV shows, including cartoons to movies. Heck, they probably had a firm grip on things before that, too. Spider-man was perhaps the lone Marvel superhero in the mainstream, and that turned into two different movie franchises, even predating the current glut from Marvel.
Now just think about how the comic industry has turned on it's head in the last decade plus. Sure, we were vaguely aware of, if not terribly excited by, Iron Man, Captain America, and the Incredible Hulk. Now, they are the centerpieces of a historic movie franchise, which is presently dominating the silver screen.
Sure, next month the next round from the Avengers is going to be released, and that gets its fair share of fanfare. But it's Captain Marvel, this months blockbuster, that is most indicative of the success of Marvel's franchising.
I'm not particularly surprised that a superhero movie with a female lead is doing well. Wonder Woman was an excellent film and did very well at the box office. The difference is that people heard of Wonder Woman before Gal Gadot donned the outfit. Until the movie was announced, I had never heard of Captain Marvel, despite the enthusiasm of so may comics aficionados.
Even other lesser known characters, like Black Panther, had been introduced before their standalone movie, but Captain Marvel's logo was merely seen on Nick Fury's beeper in an credit cut scene. The best comparison, I think, would be Ant-Man, a not so well known character who now has a pair of movies.
And they both did great. Hype was created essentially from nothing, and these movies, first Ant-Man and now Captain Marvel did very well. Heck, Captain Marvel was eagerly anticipated. It's pretty clear that the excitement is simply that Marvel is releasing a new movie, rather than the desire to see a particular character (at least for the general public). Marvel's reputation is wonderful after a long track record of good movies. They aren't getting lazy, only better, and we're all just going to keep eating them up until they stumble.

The Oscars: Grammys 2

Sometimes, I feel an investment in the Oscars, especially if there is a buzzy movie that is nominated, or I hear a lot about some of the nominations before the ceremony begins, even if I haven't heard much about them when they were initially released. Sometimes I will hear about performances from a particular movie, or more rarely, I will have seen a film that is nominated even before nominations are released.
This year, I'm not even interested in the best picture or acting categories. I haven't seen anything except Black Panther, which really wasn't as good as some other best picture films but way better than most superhero flicks. It explores complex issues in it's own way, but perhaps not as explicitly as BlacKkKlansman, and those two films likely compete in the same space for ballots.
That's about the extent of my introspection on best picture nominees, and I have zero thoughts on the acting categories.
Perhaps for the first time, I am very excited to see what happens with the music categories. I've been open about my appreciation for the entire soundtrack to Black Panther, and am on record as saying that Kendrick Lamar deserves an Oscar for his work. Three Six Mafia has an Oscar. It's not unheard of for a hip hop performer to win one, and Kendrick Lamar is significantly more talented, and there are a handful of songs that are better than It's Hard Out Here for A Pimp on the Black Panther soundtrack.
But then A Star is Born was released. The movie's feature song "Shallow" was so good that it actually won a Grammy for best performance in the pop category, not just the music for visual media. It was a better song than almost all other pop songs released last year. Black Panther and Kendrick Lamar suddenly don't have the award as locked up as I expected.
Ultimately, the Oscars are likely to play out how the Grammys did. Black Panther was nominated for Album of the year, which is an incredible accomplishment, and a credit to Kendrick Lamar and the other artists on the album for a well rounded body of work, and won for the best score. All of the Stars was nominated for many best song categories, and King's Dead was nominated for best Rap Song. Neither won.
That's how it will go at the Oscar's, I suspect. Black Panther won't win anything for the best song, that will go to Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, but the score will go to Black Panther. Any other result will be a surprise. I'll be rooting for the favorites.

Kendrick Lamar will probably get an Oscar nomination (or two)

Black Panther is, probably without any argument, the movie of the winter. It's making a lot of money, and it isn't really even a big money making time of year for movies. It's something of a cultural touchstone, given its heavily African American cast, while at the same time being a well reviewed film in a money making genre.
For the record, I was a huge fan of the movie, and the thing that I took away from it was how well the music played with the action. There wee a few songs that stand out, appearing at various points in the movie itself, or in the closing credits, but the kicker for me was the score.
The score borrowed heavily from "Pray for Me" by The Weeknd featuring Kendrick Lamar. Kendrick has writing credits on this song, as well as the rest of the soundtrack. If you haven't seen the movie yet, you should, and just know that you will hear this sampled quite frequently:

The questions I could see involve the musical preference of the Academy, but Eminem has won the Oscar for 8 Mile, and Three 6 Mafia won it for Hustle & Flow. In fact, it is more common for a hip hop song to win than not if it is nominated.
And for Black Panther, the music was so integral, and there was so much original content and scoring it seems unlikely that the Academy will leave it un-nominated. With no major Disney releases (the typical winner in this category) it's hard to imagine many challengers for the award by year's end.

The Last Jedi is about character growth, like it or not

[Spoilers, of course]

The interesting thing to me, with regard to the newest movie of the Star Wars anthology, is how many of the criticisms of the film exist because viewers don't like the fact that director Rian Johnson actually made a film rather than another episode of Star Wars.

After seeing The Force Awakens, most viewers said "that was good, I can't wait to see what happens next" whereas after The Last Jedi, anticipation for the 9th movie in the series has been blunted, because there was so much to digest from this movie. While this movie indeed carried on the overarching story, it was also an excellent thematic lesson in and of itself. The themes that the movie bore, most notably of failure and the ability to grow from those failures, allowed characters to develop beyond the archetypes we had already been accustomed to.

Let's take a look at two criticisms in particular, and I'll try to put your mind at ease. First, and most damning, is perhaps the one that came from Mark Hamill himself, who said he disagreed with how Luke Skywalker was portrayed in The Last Jedi, because the Luke he knew would never give up in the face of adversity like the fall of Ben Solo. Never mind the fact that most Star Wars fans remember his origins as a whiny farm boy, but his earlier failures are central to the plot of this particular movie.

If you need any help with this concept, Yoda is there to help spell it out explicitly for you (Aside - the criticism that Yoda seemed to have been shoehorned in to this movie also remain unfounded, because he is so integral to the moral to this story). In order to teach, one must pass along strengths, but also weaknesses and failure. Too late, Luke learned the dangers of hubris, which the Jedi's failures a generation ago should have passed on to him. Now, understanding these lessons, he can and did share those with Rey, and used Kylo Ren's own arrogance and anger against him, in order to stall for time for the Resistance.

A broader question, aside from the implications of the Force and the Jedi, is what the heck did the Finn/Rose story have to do with anything? Many people have said that they would have been ok with their story line had they been successful, but frankly, they had to fail. The point of their mission was to fail.

There were three important characters that needed to be a part of this story line. The first is Poe Dameron, who slowly saw the light as the movie progressed. He achieved an early success, destroying a dreadnaught in the opening scenes of the movie, but was reprimanded for the high cost of the attack. Shortly thereafter, an attack on the bridge killed most of the top leadership, including Admiral Ackbar, and severely wounded Leia (in a scene that I am growing more comfortable with) putting Admiral Holdo in charge, as a character that Poe did not know or trust.

Holdo had the best intentions in mind, but Poe remained unconvinced, and dispatched Finn and Rose on their mission to Canto Bight. Ultimately, he learned that patience would have been rewarded, and his brashness led to a further decimation of the resistance as transports were destroyed after the betrayal of the coder. By the end of the movie, on Canto Bight, Poe made two decisions that showed he now understood the value of assessing potential costs with gains, and patiently waiting for all information to come available.

The second character is more obviously Finn. Upon awaking from a medical stasis, he immediately wants to know the status of Rey. To him, the galaxy is mostly about him, and the woman who first ever treated him like a human being. His goal upon encountering Rose was to take the tracking beacon away from the Resistance fleet.

Being sent to Canto Bight with Rose opened his eyes to the plight in the galaxy. Yes, he could not fight those that he did not hate, but now, he learned that the Resistance wasn't fighting because they hated the First Order, necessarily, but because people like the stable hands needed the support of those stronger than them. By the end of the movie, the cause for Finn was no longer vengeance or self preservation, but doing right for those that needed help. Rose put it best when she told him that the war would be won by protecting who they love, not killing who they hated.

And that brings us to Rose, who was introduced to us in this movie, and might just be the most underappreciated character in The Last Jedi. Really, she is at the heart of where I think the franchise is headed. She is the every-woman, brought up from the lowest rungs of society to a mechanic's role in the Resistance. She comes from nowhere, like Rey, but without the sensitivity to the Force. In a movie that lays bare the failures of the doctrinal Force teachings, her heart and determination are the characteristics that drive any success in this movie.

That, I believe, is where this franchise is heading with episode 9. The only Skywalkers left are Leia and Kylo Ren. This franchise, then, is no longer about the Skywalkers, but rather about the Galaxy. The Force is guided by the Light and the Dark, but the Galaxy, like humanity, has Good and Evil at his poles. Unlike the Force, which requires balance, inherent Good doesn't require Evil to rise to its equal. This movie sets up the possibility of so many stories outside the characters we know, and sets up a climax in which the Galaxy, not necessarily a particular character or bloodline, prevails.