On March 15, the Academy Award nominations will be revealed. Then, those golden statues will be handed out on April 25. Ready to cram on some crazy good cinema from the comfort of your home as nominations are revealed and before winners are anointed? The Movie Mensch’s first Oscar Watch column of the season provides priceless insight into what movies you should experience to be ready for Hollywood’s biggest night.
Whether they be in consideration for Best Picture or the acting, directing, technical or writing categories, these flicks are your Oscar homework. To call it “work” of any kind is a misnomer. This is cinematic bliss incarnate.
Sound of Metal
Look for Riz Ahmed to score a nod for Best Actor for his portrayal of a heavy metal drummer who loses his hearing and must learn a whole new way of life. He also needs help because he’s an addict and losing one’s hearing (and thus livelihood) could certainly be a trigger. Look for Paul Raci to be nominated for Best Supporting Actor for the most endearing of performances. The film deserves a Best Picture nod, but not sure it’ll slip in. It will also surely score on sound nominations as director Darius Marder literally puts us in Ahmed’s head as the hearing slowly goes. It is a marvel technical achievement.
Watch on: Amazon Prime.
Nomadland
Look for nods for Best Picture, Best Director for Chloé Zhao (in fact, she’s my favorite to win), Best Actress for Frances McDormand. She plays Fern. She’s not homeless, don’t let her catch you saying that around her! Fern lives in her van and gets to drive across the beautiful United States living her life one day at a time. It is a beautiful film on many levels. Don’t miss this one.
Watch on: Hulu.
My Nomadland review.
Mank
David Fincher directed the true story of Herman Mankiewicz (Gary Oldman), the man who wrote the screenplay for Citizen Kane and how exactly he came up with the story. He lived it! This Netflix flick has Oscar written all over it. Surefire bets for nominations are Best Picture, Best Actor for Oldman, Best Director for Fincher, Best Supporting Actress for Amanda Seyfried (as actress Marion Davies, a confidant of William Randolph Hearst), and Best Original Screenplay for Jack Fincher (David’s dad!). It’s in black and white and has a “feel” that is second to none, look for Best Production Design too. Don’t miss this one.
Watch on: Netflix.
My Mank review.
One Night in Miami
This true story of how four friends came together on one evening in Miami for a pal’s coming-out party (in the ring!) is also a coming-out party for the director, Regina King. Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.), and Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge) came to town to witness the then known as Cassius Clay (Eli Goree) win the Heavyweight Title for the first time. The film captures a moment in time where the country was on the cusp of a real revolution with the Civil Rights Movement. King captures the play’s essence amazingly well, look for her to be nominated for Best Director, the film easily could get a Best Picture nod and the acting ensemble deserves attention too.
Watch on: Amazon Prime.
Judas & The Black Messiah
Judas & The Black Messiah hits you like a hurricane and follows the true story of Black Panther Party of Illinois leader Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya) and how his group was infiltrated by the FBI and an informant named Bill O’Neal (LaKeith Stanfield). It is an explosive story filled with performances that blew me away, especially Kaluuya, who is my lock to win Best Actor. The film could see a Best Picture nod as well and it deserves a Best Director nod for Shaka King.
Watch on: HBO Max.
My Judas & The Black Messiah review.
The Trial of the Chicago 7
Aaron Sorkin wrote and directed the true story (sense a theme here with all the true stories?) of the so-called Chicago 7 (which was really 8!) for inciting riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Sorkin is a lock for a screenplay nod, and if I was a betting man, also look for him to score a Best Director nomination too. As for actors, Sacha Baron Cohen is favored to score a Best Supporting Acting nod for his portrayal of Abbie Hoffman. If you ask me, the person who deserves the Best Supporting Acting nod is Eddie Redmayne for his portrayal of Tom Hayden.
Watch on: Netflix.
My The Trial of the Chicago 7 review.
Minari
Minari is a celebration of the American dream and it is alive and well. The film follows a Korean family as they move to rural Arkansas with the hopes of starting a farm and growing Asian vegetables for the budding Asian population in the Midwest. The little boy in the movie, David (Alan S. Kim) would grow up to be the film’s writer-director, Lee Isaac Chung. Look for a Best Picture nomination, as well as a Best Director nod for Chung. For me, Yuh-Jung Youn is a lock to win Best Supporting Actress for her lively turn as the family’s grandma. Also in the running for Best Actor is The Walking Dead vet, Steven Yeun.
Watch on: On Demand on various sites.
My Minari review.
The Father
Anthony Hopkins is the title character, and, in The Father, he will break your heart into a million pieces. That’s OK. It is a performance that surely would win Best Actor in any other year (i.e., when Chadwick Boseman dazzled in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom). Hopkins is an 80-year-old man who does not want to give up his freedom and his London flat. His daughter, Olivia Coleman’s Anne, is moving to Paris and desperately believes that her dad needs to be in a home. If it feels like a play in the best of ways, that is because director Florian Zeller adapted his stage play for the screen and it is glorious in every way possible. Best Picture potential, Best Supporting Actress for Coleman possibly, but this film is all about Hopkins and his surefire lock for a Best Actor nomination.
Watch on: On Demand, rental Services begin March 26.
Tenet
The likely winner of a slew of technical awards, Tenet is the latest from Christopher Nolan and it is a marvel of the science of cinema. Look for Best Sound nominations, as well as Best Effects and other assorted technical awards.
Watch on: On Demand, rental on various sites.
My Tenet review.
Pieces of a Woman
Just as The Father is all about Hopkins, Pieces of a Woman is all about the mesmerizing turn by Vanessa Kirby. She plays a mother who faces a nightmare none of us would wish on our worst enemy, but as it happens to Kirby’s Martha, we are enthralled and cannot look away. It is a performance that surely will be nominated for Best Actress. It is an important movie because it salutes the institution of motherhood and everything that it means, even if one was only a mother for a few minutes.
Watch on: Netflix.
Soul and Wolfwalkers
Soul and Wolfwalkers are the two to beat in the Best Animated Feature category. If either won, I’d be thrilled. Soul is unlike any Pixar movie you’ve seen before and Jamie Foxx and Tina Fey deliver performances that are literally out of this world. It is a movie that will make you think (as most Pixar movies do) and leave you looking at life a whole lot different than you did before you pressed play. Wolfwalkers is a mesmerizing animation journey that follows a young girl and her father as she befriends a girl from a nearby tribe who supposedly can turn into wolves at night.
A young apprentice hunter and her father journey to Ireland to help wipe out the last wolf pack. But everything changes when she befriends a free-spirited girl from a mysterious tribe rumored to transform into wolves by night. Both are must-sees, and both would be deserving of that Best Animated Feature title.
Watch on: Wolfwalkers on Apple TV+ and Soul is on Disney+
My Soul review.
Da 5 Bloods
Spike Lee’s Vietnam lost treasure/brotherhood flick features a boatload of talented actors, doing their best work—such as Delroy Lindo as Paul. He should get a Best Actor nod, but his name has not been mentioned of late. In fact, the movie seems to have fallen off of people’s radar completely. Well, here is your reminder of the greatness that is Lee’s Da 5 Bloods. It should get a Best Picture nod, Best Director nod, and Best Original Screenplay nomination. Look for Chadwick Boseman to score a Best Supporting Actor nomination to accompany his Best Actor nod for Ma Rainey’s (keep reading below!).
Watch on: Netflix.
News of the World
See the movie that will find Tom Hanks getting robbed again. Who might not get robbed is the film itself and its young star, Helena Zengel, who is in the discussion for Best Supporting Actress for her stunning portrayal of the twice-orphaned Johanna. But in all seriousness, it is surreal how pitch-perfect Hanks is as Captain Kidd—a man who traipses across the country reading the news of the day in post-Civil War America for folks who don’t have access to the material or the time to actually sit down and read it. When Kidd comes across Johanna, she was in a caravan that had been attacked and she was the only survivor. Despite great personal cost and risk to himself, Kidd agrees to take her to a relative in Texas, and in the process, she (and we) sees a window into his world, and he learns more about hers.
It is a touching and powerful story that should be in the conversation for Best Picture, Best Director (Paul Greengrass), Best Adapted Screenplay (Greengrass and Luke Davies), Best Actor (Hanks), Best Supporting Actress (Zengel), Best Cinematography, Best Editing, and Best Costume Design.
Watch on: On Demand rental on various sites.
Promising Young Woman
Carey Mulligan gives a tour de force performance as a sexual abuse survivor who has taken it upon herself to teach the entire male gender a thing or two about consent. Along the way, she meets Bo Burnham’s Ryan, who may be—just maybe—is a “nice guy” who can help her. Emerald Fennell wrote and directed the stunner of a movie that is as much a dark comedy as it is a revenge fulfiller. It is engaging, incredibly timely, and packs a punch with its twists and turns that you just do not see coming. Mulligan is a lock for a Best Actress nomination, and we think she’ll win. Fennell is getting lots of buzz for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay, while the movie itself should hear its name called for Best Picture when those Oscar nominations are revealed.
Watch on: On Demand rental on various sites.
My Promising Young Woman review.
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Viola Davis is phenomenal as Ma Rainey in this “loosely” based on a true story of the Mother of the Blues. The film is based on the incredible play by August Wilson and brought to the screen by director George C. Wolfe. The central locale is a recording studio in Chicago where Ma and her band were laying down tracks for what is sure to be a hit record. Trouble rises when tension permeates between the star trumpeter Levee (Boseman) and the rest of the band, as well as between Levee and Ma herself. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom grabs you by the lapels and never lets you go. There are a few scenes with Boseman that just screams Academy Award and thus why he is a favorite to not only score a nod for Best Actor but to win the trophy posthumously. Davis is a surefire Best Actress nominee and look for the film to score a nod for Best Picture. Wolfe deserves a nomination for Best Director, but it is a crowded field (isn’t it every year?!). I’d love to see Glynn Turman, who plays Ma’s keyboard player Toledo, get a nod for Best Supporting Actor… but we will see.
Watch on: Netflix.
My Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom review.
The Way I See It
Pete Souza served as chief White House photographer for two presidents who could not be more different—President Ronald Reagan and President Barack Obama. His story is the core of the documentary The Way I See It, which deserves a nomination for Best Doc. It not only spotlights the job of chief photog for the White House but illustrates what we the people “deserve” from the person who holds the highest office in the land. It is a timely doc, but it also is incredibly entertaining.
Watch on: Various On Demand sites for rental.
All In The Fight for Democracy
When Stacey Abrams lost her bid to be governor of Georgia, she claimed that there was an incredible amount of voting irregularity that made it difficult for people of color (POC) to make their voices heard via voting. She is the focus of the documentary All In: The Fight for Democracy but is truly just one spoke in the wheel that is this look at the history of POC and voting and how it is the greatest threat to our democracy that exists. It surely deserves a nod for Best Documentary and after you experience it, I’d bet the farm that you will agree!
Watch on: Amazon Prime.
My All In: The Fight for Democracy review.
John Lewis: Good Trouble
John Lewis is an American hero and that is more than established in the documentary John Lewis: Good Trouble. He passed away July 17, 2020, and not only will this film make you miss the Civil Rights icon, but it will have you looking around to see who will carry the baton that he proudly wielded for six decades—right up to and including the day he died. It is rare that a doc manages to cover everything that goes into making a revolutionary life without the viewer feeling that something was missed. But John Lewis: Good Trouble does just that and deserves some major Best Documentary Feature love. If it doesn’t score a nod, look for it to lead people’s “Snubs” lists!
Watch on: HBO Max, and rental on various On Demand sites.