THIS YEAR’S OSCAR NOMINEES
by Donnie Martinez (February 2017)
Just as I have done for many years, my picks for the Oscar Awards are now once again shared with friends, relatives, activists, neighbors and people with whom I went to school. It is now twelve years of my ongoing neurological illness for which there is no cure, yet my spirits continue to be lifted whenever my health challenges allow me to get out to a movie theater.
BEST ACTRESS NOMINEES are: Isabelle Huppert; Ruth Negga; Natalie Portman; Emma Stone; and, Meryl Streep. Ms. Huppert is very good as an assault victim trying to figure out which man in her life is the disguised rapist, as detailed in the well-done suspenseful film “Elle.” Ms. Negga is very good as an African American whose outlawed marriage to a white man became a 1967 landmark court case that legalized inter-racial marriage, as detailed in the true story “Loving.” Ms. Portman is very good in her portrayal of Jackie Kennedy’s emotional hard times in the aftermath of her husband’s assassination in November 1963, as detailed in the true story “Jackie.” Ms. Stone is very good as an aspiring actress having a love affair with an aspiring jazz musician, as conveyed in the film “La La Land.” Ms. Streep is very good as a 1940s wealthy socialite obsessed with her dream of becoming a great singer, as detailed in the true story “Florence Foster Jenkins.” Isabelle Huppert is my choice for the award, but I won’t be disappointed if the award goes to Natalie Portman or Emma Stone.
BEST ACTOR NOMINEES are: Casey Affleck; Andrew Garfield; Ryan Gosling; Viggo Mortensen; and, Denzel Washington. Affleck is very good as an emotionally-depressed man who worsens as he faces a past family tragedy upon returning to his home town after his brother’s death, as detailed in the film “Manchester by the Sea.” Garfield is very good as a U.S. conscientious objector who without a gun saved lives on the battlefield in World War II, as detailed in the true story “Hacksaw Ridge.” Gosling is very good as an aspiring jazz musician having a love affair with an aspiring actress, as conveyed in the film “La La Land.” Mortensen is very good as a counter-culture principled socialist living with his Buddhist wife and their six children in a secluded forest far away from society when his wife’s death results in the children having their first-time exposure to society upon helping their dad to uphold their mother’s Will, as detailed in the well-done film “Captain Fantastic.” Washington is very good as a 1950s working-class African American man whose past haunts him and whose infidelity threatens to tear apart the life he has with his two sons and devoted wife, as conveyed in the well-done film “Fences.” Andrew Garfield and Viggo Mortensen are my choices for the award, but I won’t be disappointed if the award goes to Denzel Washington.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR NOMINEES are: Mahershala Ali; Jeff Bridges; Lucas Hedges; Dev Patel; and, Michael Shannon. Ali is very good as a drug dealer who becomes a father figure to an African American gay male being raised by a drug-addicted single mother, as conveyed in the well-done film “Moonlight.” Bridges is very good as a sheriff in pursuit of two brothers who repeatedly rob the bank that seeks to foreclose their property, as conveyed in the well-done film “Hell or High Water.” Hedges is very good as the teen nephew of an emotionally-depressed man who worsens as he faces a past family tragedy upon returning to his home town after his brother’s death, as detailed in the film “Manchester by the Sea.” Patel is very good as an adopted young man who uses modern computer technology to track down his long-lost biological mother in India, as detailed in the true story “Lion.” Shannon is very good as a police detective in pursuit of the criminals who terrorized a family late at night, as conveyed in the well-done suspenseful film “Nocturnal Animals.” Dev Patel is my choice for the award, but I won’t be disappointed if the award goes to Mahershala Ali.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS NOMINEES are: Viola Davis; Naomie Harris; Nicole Kidman; Octavia Spencer; and, Michelle Williams. Ms. Davis is very good as the devoted wife of an African American man whose past haunts him and whose infidelity threatens to tear apart the life he has with his two sons and wife, as conveyed in the well-done film “Fences.” Ms. Harris is very good as an African American drug-addicted single mother raising her young gay son, as conveyed in the well-done film “Moonlight.” Ms. Kidman is very good as the adoptive mother of a young man who uses modern computer technology to track down his biological mother in India, as detailed in the true story “Lion.” Ms. Spencer is very good as one of the African American professional women who broke down the racial barriers at the U.S. Government’s space program (NASA) in the early 1960s, as detailed in the well-done film “Hidden Figures.” Ms. Williams is mediocre as the ex-wife of an emotionally-depressed man who worsens as he faces a past family tragedy upon returning to his home town after his brother’s death, as detailed in the film “Manchester by the Sea.” Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer are my choices for the award, but I won’t be disappointed if the award goes to Nicole Kidman.
BEST PICTURE NOMINEES are: “Arrival”; “Fences”; “Hacksaw Ridge”; “Hell or High Water”; “Hidden Figures”; “La La Land”; “Lion”; “Manchester by the Sea”; and, “Moonlight.” Noticeably absent from the list are the films “Free State of Jones” (true story of a white man who led a rebellion of slaves in the 1800s) and “Denial” (true story of a scholar who denied the existence of the Holocaust).
“Arrival” is a science-fiction film about a linguistics professor who learns to communicate with aliens on extra-terrestrial spaceships that appear on Earth as the world is on the brink of global war.
“Fences” is a well-done film about a 1950s working-class African American man whose past haunts him and whose infidelity threatens to tear apart the life he has with his two sons and devoted wife.
“Hacksaw Ridge” is a well-done film based on the true story of a U.S. conscientious objector who, without a gun, saved lives on the battlefield in World War II.
“Hell or High Water” is a well-done film about two brothers who repeatedly rob the bank that seeks to foreclose their property.
“Hidden Figures” is a well-done film based on the true story of African-American professional women, who faced discrimination in their jobs at the U.S. Government’s space program (NASA) in the early 1960s and who eventually prevailed in breaking barriers.
“La La Land” is a well-done film about the love affair of an aspiring actress and aspiring jazz musician. Despite lacking plot substance, the film is visually appealing upon conveying the story with the mix of singing and dancing reminiscent of musicals that were popular in the 1950s and 1960s.
“Lion” is a well-done film based on the true story of an adopted young man who used modern computer technology to track down his long-lost biological mother in India.
“Mancester by the Sea” is a good film about an emotionally-depressed man who worsens as he faces a past family tragedy upon returning to his home town after his brother’s death.
“Moonlight” is a well-done film about an African American drug-addicted single mother raising her young gay son who is mentored by an adult drug dealer and his wife.
For me to enjoy a movie, it must almost always have two main qualities: (1) it reveals events of a historical era unfamiliar to me; or (2) it is set in a geographic location or situation unfamiliar to me. Because they were set in locations unfamiliar to me and they had many historical details that I did not know until seeing the films, “Hidden Figures,” “Hacksaw Ridge” and “Lion” are my choices for best picture.
ABC will televise the awards on Sunday, February 26, 6:00 p.m. Colorado time.
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