The Oscar Project
Now that I have all the separate categories out of the way, I am going to run down my top ten films of this year, but first I want to give out my top films that I watched for the first time this year. These are all films that were released prior to 2021 and didn't get around to watching until this year. Several of them are quite recent (2020 releases) but there are a few classics on the list as well. First up, numbers ten and nine.
10. Love and Monsters (2020)
What I love most about this film is that the title says it all. At its core, this film is a love story...and there are lots of monsters in it. In fact, as far back as 2012, The Hollywood Reporter described the film as "a post-apocalyptic road movie in the vein of Mad Max and Zombieland with a John Hughes-esque love story at its center."
The film does very much remind me of Zombieland, but with more tenderness. For anyone who has seen that film, the films lead, Joel (Dylan O'Brien) is much more of a Columbus than a Tallahassee at the beginning of the film. But what gives the film so much heart is that Joel is absolutely terrified of going out in the wild to face the terrible monsters that live there, but he does it anyway, not for his own survival, but to find the love of his life. I visited this film as part of my prep for the Oscars ceremony this year and while it didn't win, it was nominated for Best Visual Effects. I'm so happy that this film crossed my path and it could very easily have been included in my list of biggest surprises earlier this week. 9. Bombshell (2019)
This was one that I missed in my Oscar prep a few years ago, but had been meaning to come back to as soon as possible. Bombshell is one of those very difficult movies to make because you're making a drama film with actors about real people, in very close proximity to when the events depicted in the film actually took place.
The film stars Charlize Theron as Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, Nicole Kidman as Fox News host Gretchen Carlson and Margot Robbie as Kayla Pospisil, a fictional character meant to take on the role of the many other women who ultimately came forward to accuse Fox News CEO Roger Ailes (John Lithgow) of sexual harassment. This film still feels important even a few years later as there are still plenty of women out there that endure harassment like this in the workplace. As depicted in the film, it is often seen as something they just have to "deal with" in order to move up in their career, but that's not something that can or should be tolerated anymore. Anyone with a voice, male or female, should speak up and speak out about this kind of treatment and the more male voices that shout about this issue the better.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorI'm just a film buff who wants to watch great movies. Where else to find the best, than the list of those nominated by the Academy each year? Archives
May 2023
Categories
All
|