Oscars Tomorrow

 God, this Oscars season has felt like a decade! Of course that is true of the last year in general. I'm rooting for Chloé Zhao tomorrow and so happy for her to get this moment. 

I'm most excited for Best Actress which could go in any number of ways. I'm predicting Viola Davis will win with the support of SAG behind her, but really hoping Carey Mulligan gets an Oscar that she has deserved many times over. McDormand gave my favorite performance of the year so I'll be very happy if she can pull it off too. 

My 2020 Film Awards

 

(The Forty Year Old Version - Radha Blank

 Straight Up - James Sweeney

Shirley - Josephine Decker

Rocks - Sarah Gavron)

For having a big chunk of films moved from 2020 to 2021, we really ended up with a great slate of films. There were a bunch of great films that went mostly under the radar, meanwhile I find the films circulating around the Oscars to be a mostly good but lukewarm group. I'm not sure why I'm saddened by this fact since it happens every single year, but it is what it is. Those four films I listed above were just outside of the top ten, but I loved them all and wanted to highlight them. For the last ten years or so I've done my own personal awards for directing, acting, writing, etc. I'm just sort of burned out of the whole awards season thing, so I won't be doing a full ballot, but here is my top 10 of the year.

My Top 10 Films of 2020: 

1. Nomadland (Director - Chloé Zhao)

2. The Kid Detective (Director - Evan Morgan)

3. First Cow (Director - Kelly Reichardt)

4. And Then We Danced (Director - Levan Akin)

5. Promising Young Woman (Director - Emerald Fennell)

6. Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Director - Eliza Hittman)

7. Spontaneous (Director - Brian Duffield)

8. Get Duked! (Director - Ninian Doff)

9. Sound of Metal (Director - Darius Marder)

10. Dating Amber (Director - David Freyne)

The Whale

 News broke yesterday that Brendan Fraser has been cast in Darren Aronofsky's next film. I've long been a fan of Brendan Fraser, I think it was all the times we had to watch George of the Jungle in the afterschool program I was in. 

He's playing a 600 pound man which sounds quite interesting. I'm struggling to imagine how they will even do it, but I'm excited for it. Aronofsky is one of my favorite directors. The Wrestler and Black Swan are both my choices for Best Picture of their respective years and I nominate both mother! and Requiem for a Dream as well. 

I'm excited to see whom gets cast alongside Fraser. Aronofsky always gets the best out of his performers. Ellen Burstyn, Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei and Natalie Portman all are my winners for acting awards for their performances in his films. I also nominate Jennifer Lawrence and Mila Kunis. I imagine Fraser will be in contention for my Best Actor prize for this performance.