THE FATHER: 2020 was obviously a fucked year for Hollywood. Pretty much everything after February except for Tenet went straight to your TV screen instead of a movie theater. But while most of the Hollywood blockbusters were postponed, I don't think too many Oscar-type films were (Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch and Spielberg's West Side Story might have been in the mix). So without a huge blockbuster like Titanic steamrolling through the Academy Awards, expect zero ratings and minimal chatter this year. They also postponed the show two months for no good reason (I guess so Judas & the Black Messiah could be nominated?). The Father is the only film on this list that went straight to theaters. It isn't even being released on demand until next week. This one stars Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Coleman. Hopkins is terrific as a man with dementia and Coleman is his daughter who's hesitant to put him in a home. It was adapted from a 2012 play...which means it's mostly talking with very little plot, action, or...well, much of anything besides Hopkins chewing the scenery. It's a short movie and it's good but there's not much to it. Hopkins is great but it kind of feels like retreading the same ground Haneke's Amour did...and that was much better. **1/2
JUDAS & THE BLACK MESSIAH: This went straight to HBO Max. It's about Fred Hampton, a Black Panther that was murdered by the Chicago police. The film is well made, well acted, and looks terrific. It's also kind of boring. The story the movie is based on is so interesting that I kind of would have rather watched a documentary about it. Lakeith Stanfield gives a great performance as an undercover FBI informant, although honestly he pretty much plays the same character he does in FX's Atlanta. **1/2
MANK: For whatever reason, I loved this film and nobody else did. Maybe it's because it's about a writer and I'm a writer plus I love old Hollywood. I also love David Fincher's films...and Gary Oldman...and Amanda Seyfried. So this movie is kind of perfect for me. The script, by Fincher's now dead dad, is terrific. I actually put on the closed captioning while watching this just so I could catch all of the witty lines (Gary Oldman also mumbles his lines because he's supposed to be an old drunkard). The picture, in black and white, looks phenomenal. This was my 3rd favorite film of 2020...but the first two (Palm Springs and The King of Staten Island) weren't nominated for anything so this is the only horse in the race I'm rooting for. ***1/2
MINARI: This is the tale of Korean immigrants trying to make it in mid-west America in the 80's. It's a good film but kind of dull in a lot of aspects. Steven Yeung, of The Walking Dead fame, stars as the father. It never quite hits that emotional peak it attempts to achieve for whatever reason. **1/2
NOMADLAND: This is the favorite, and one of the better films on the list. Francis McDormand stars as a lady without a home who travels around the country working out of a van. Obviously, the scenery is spectacular and the director Chloe Zhao has done a good job at repurposing the non-fiction book into a drama that also stars some real people playing themselves. I still can't believe they got Zhao to make a Marvel movie after this. ***
PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN: This is also one of the better films nominated. It's a rape-revenge film, a genre that some women are uneasy about but has kind of blossomed after #metoo. I guess the uneasiness lies in the fact that women would rather have rapists accept their crimes and apologize instead of victims having to become superhero murderers and turn into criminals themselves. Carrie Mulligan stars as a defeated, broken, shell of a woman that still lives with her parents and secretly goes out at night to clubs, pretends she's too drunk to stand, and when the men take her home to take advantage of her she shocks them by showing that she's not drunk and makes them admit they're monsters and will have to change their ways. It's an interesting premise and the script is well done. Bill Burnham steals the movie as Carrie's new boyfriend and it's too bad he wasn't nominated. The ending doesn't entirely work, but it's at least as strange, weird, and exciting as the rest of the film. ***
SOUND OF METAL: This movie is about a drummer in a metal band that starts losing his hearing. I didn't really like this movie at all. It's not terrible or anything, it's just not that compelling. Riz Ahmed got nominated for Best Actor and he's okay but the only reason he probably deserves a pat on the back is because he learned sign language. All of the elements of an emotional, heartbreaking, Rocky-esque, rising-like-a-phoenix-from-the-ashes masterpiece are there...but the film never gets to that level. **
THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7: Picture the gritty, bloody, confusing, chaos of the infamous Chicago Democratic Convention riots in 1968 and then slap of coat of Hollywood gloss over it and you get this movie. I usually enjoy Aaron Sorkin's screenplays, but this one just doesn't pop like The Social Network. The entire movie just feels too sanitized and safe. It's about dirty hippies in the 60's but looks and feels like an episode of Law & Order from this century. Sasha Baron Cohen got nominated for his role playing Abbie Hoffman...but he was a hell of a lot better playing Borat but wasn't nominated for that (his co-star was). I did watch this whole film so I guess it's not awful, it's just disappointing thinking what it could've been. **
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