Hello everyone!
It's that time of year again, that frantic time when movie lovers everywhere scramble to watch the movies nominated for Best Picture (recently, movies that would likely go unnoticed if it weren't for an Oscar nomination. And...and some cases...still unnoticed because, hey, they're not good. I'm looking at you, "Moonlight" and "Shape of Water.")
The Oscars, perhaps more than any other awards show, brings out the movie critic in all of us. The only difference between me and, let's say, a casual reader of this blog (which would be pretty much the globe since I seem to be a very casual contributor to the blog) is that my writing partner and I have actually published our movie reviews in books. (Look in the margin for links to our collections or just click here.) Based on that, I feel I can review the two movies that will most likely take the Best Picture award this year.
Both are masterclasses in storytelling. For me this is key because if the storytelling is no good, what's the point? Then you're just watching a Star Wars film after Disney got its hands on the franchise. (If I'm found dead in a ditch somewhere, it's because henchmen from Disney have killed me.) Both are based loosely on true events. "1917" is based on stories Director Sam Mendes' grandfather's stories of his service in World War I. "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" is written around the Sharon Tate murder in Hollywood in summer 1969.
Grounded in real events and with master writers and storytellers at the helm, both movies give viewers everything and anything they can hope for in a film. This is real, deeply moving, well thought out, movie making at its finest.
Each film has something that separates it from the other.
"1917" is an unbelievable study in cinematography. Much has been made about the "one shot" method of shooting, but for me, there was a moment in the film, a night shot, that was so transcendentally beautiful, it was no longer a movie, it was life. For a film that spends the better part of two hours moving the viewer through mud and muck and barbed wire and dead bodies, this moment was as unexpected as it was glorious and for me, that puts it over the top in the Best Picture category. Also, Mendes does it with a largely unknown cast. (Tell me, did Colin Firth even get paid for his part? I mean, I've swallowed pills that took a longer time to get down my throat than he was on screen.)
"Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" is a long movie. Tarantino takes his time telling this story and somehow, even though we feel like we've seen this all before, he slowly, patiently, carefully gives us something we've never seen before and didn't expect, and he's got an A list cast around him that understands the vision. He avoids the violence that pervades his previous films (although he doesn't cut it out entirely) but this is a seductive film. You don't realize you're being drawn into anything surprising until the very end. That's when I stood up and yelled, "What did I just see?" (fortunately I was at home.)
I've seen my fair share of movies. I've seen most people's fair share of movies. I am telling you, it takes a lot to surprise me when it comes to films. And these two did it. I'm giving both 5 stars. Both will be in my permanent collection. But I give the edge to "1917" on Oscar night.
