the Oscar nominations are not a good guide to escapism or even popularity.
but unlike past years, this year's list includes two family friendly films: Belfast and King Richard. And one for you to explain to your kids who are no longer taught Shakespeare in school: Macbeth.
the film that will probably win a lot of awards for it's originality is the Power of the Dog, which I reviewed in the past. The reviews insist it was about "toxic masculinity" and hey, any film that bashes white guys must be praised.
But as I noted before: The reviews about toxic masculinity is a bit off: The hatred of the woman seems more to be due to his repressed homosexuality, which is not noticed until near the end of the film.
As a physician, I have seen a lot of depressed women who were the target of similar abuse by such men, who married to get "cured". But in today's world one is not supposed to notice this, even though it is the best argument I can think of for gay marriage.
One wonders how the PC police let that plot get filmed.
but I agree with Sam Eliott with it's main flaw: They didn't get the culture of Texas cowboys right, (a man who insulted a nice woman in public as was done in the film would have gotten his tush kicked in Texas).
Dune, as I said in a previous blogpost, had beautiful cinematography, but without having read the books, I couldn't understand what was going on. For fans only.
Belfast was a nice quiet film about growing up in a neighborhood where violence was slowly increasing, and it explored the question if one should stay or go if one was in a similar situation. Civil war type situations mean neighbors against neighbors and tears families apart. It could be enjoyable even if one did not know the history of the "Troubles" or the background of the religious hatred there. But the film was about families, not violence or politics, so it is a satisfying film.
King Richard is another family friendly film: About Venus and Serena Williams training for success in tennis with the help of their father. Showing women can succeed, and minorities can break into a white professional sports, was good, in the same happy genre of Rudy, where the underdogs win due to their hard work.
Don't look up was stupid. With a capital S. It's an anti American film, where everyone is stupid. Yes, I know it is a satire but it isn't a good satire. It's not funny.
Satire has to be based on reality, but as I said in my review: it has little to do with today's reality (what, no internet?). One suspects that even if things are that bad in the USA, the asteroid would get zapped by China, or maybe Elon Musk. And I hate films that are unrealistic,
I thought I would enjoy West Side Story, but it began with 12 minutes of discordant music, ugly slum background, and gang members improbably dancing, but no plot to be seen....at which point I turned it off. I'll watch it later for free on HBO. Or maybe just watch the old version.
One film that surprised me for being good was Nightmare Alley. A noir film and a remake of the classic film from 1947, this film has both plot and characters keep your attention. It should have been promoted more than the more PC films in the list.
Macbeth was an interesting remake of the classic play and altough black and white the cinematography emphasized the black mood of the film and was great. I would love to do an essay comparing it's cinematography to Kurasawa's Throne of Blood.
So that is a summary of most of the films that are available here in Asia.
On the other hand, what everyone will actually watch (and in a theatre) is the lastest Spiderman: With not one, not two, but three Spidies plus Dr. Strange.
Because plot, characters, and special effects are combined into a classic story. But hey, it's Spiderman, so don't expect it to win a prize.
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