Today Vox posted an overview of the Best Picture nominees, plus trailers for each nominated film. The article also helpfully provides information on how to see each film, i.e., which are in theaters only, which are available on which streaming channel, etc. Here are the eight nominees for 2021 Best Picture:
- The Father
- Judas and the Black Messiah
- Mank
- Minari
- Nomadland
- Promising Young Woman
- Sound of Metal
- The Trial of the Chicago 7
The only one I’ve seen so far is “Mank,” which I thought was pretty good. Gary Oldman is amazing as always. I tried to watch “The Trial,” which has also been streaming for a while, but I got distracted early on and wandered off. (It’s entirely possible it’s a fine film that I just wasn’t in the right mood to see that particular day. I’ll give it another shot.)
I’ve been looking forward to seeing “Nomadland” (I have loved Frances McDormand ever since “Raising Arizona”) and Minari (I have adored Steven Yeun since “The Walking Dead”). “Judas and the Black Messiah” is about Fred Hampton, whose assassination is a criminally underreported facet of American history, so I’m glad the movie is getting Oscar notice and look forward to it becoming available via streaming.
I’d watch Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman read a seed catalog, so “The Father” is on my list too. Have you seen any of these movies, and if so, what did you think?
Other topics welcome too — open thread!
trollhattan
Jeez, when was I last in a theater?
No dogs have I in this hunt. Maybe I can correct that before the broadcast.
guachi
I actually still buy movies. I purchased, in 4k, 17 movies from 2017, 16 from 2018, and 8 from 2019 but I have zero from 2020 on my radar. I guess it’s the downside of not being able to go to a theater and then my local theater just shutting down completely.
My recent 4k purchases have been all catalog titles, of which I count 11 in the last six months. I can’t be alone in mostly checking out on the 2020 movie releases. Anyone have any recommendations of anything cinematic?
geg6
I saw “Trial of the Chicago 7” and it’s exactly what you would expect an Aaron Sorkin film about this incident to be. Not totally accurate, but a roaring good story. And Sacha Baron Cohen is great as Abbie Hoffman.
I really, really want to see “Judas and the Black Messiah.” Not sure I’m really interested in the rest. Not nominated, but a couple I really want to see are “One Night in Miami” and “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.”
?BillinGlendaleCA
@trollhattan:
For me, 2005.
Phylllis
Nomadland was incredible. The book is worth a read too. I thought Mank was very good. Would have liked to have seen more of Tom Burke in it. Amanda Seyfried was amazing, I thought.
Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA)
I loved The Sound of Metal. Very happy to see Riz Ahmed nominated for Best Actor.
Sorry to see Mads Mikkelsen overlooked for Another Round, though, but Thomas Vinterberg got a Best Director nomination and it’s up for Best Foreign Language film so okay.
In a day or two I’ll forget all about this. But it’s fun for now.
Grover Gardner
I couldn’t get into MANK. About a quarter of the way through I couldn’t see where it was going I so gave up. Which is odd because I’m a Hollywood buff. Maybe that’s the problem. Something about seeing young actors playing Kaufman and Dorothy Parker or whoever kind of turned me off. It turned into a game, like, “Oh that must be so-and-so, and I suppose that’s supposed to be so-and-so.” And Hearst was famous for his high, squeaky voice, come on! ;-) Maybe I need to give it another chance. Or maybe it was like my wife trying to watch movies about football and never buying any of it. Oh well.
laura
I thought Trial of the Chicago 7 was very good – and Mark Rylance. I wandered away bored from Mank despite Gary Oldman. I would have seen every nominated movie if it had a judging of baked goods and the british countryside.
Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix
Promising Young Woman is about the darkest thing I’ve seen in a long time. Carey Mulligan is excellent, as always.
gwangung
Just an annual reminder…there have been more white actresses who have won Oscars for playing Asian women, than there have Asian actresses for playing Asian characters.
Asians may get parity this year if Youn Yuh-jung wins for MINARI.
swiftfox
I could not remember Francis McDormand in “RA” (I looked it up) but she was the lead in the earlier Coen Bro film “Blood Simple”, their first movie and one of their best.
JML
I enjoyed Trial of the Chicago 7, but it definitely shouldn’t be seen as accurate. Sorkin definitely plays fast & loose with the facts in order to get through the kind of message he wants to get out there. But taken as theatre it’s very entertaining, because no one writes the Big Speech like Sorkin.
As a director…he’s a great writer. :P
Miss Bianca
One of the most depressing things about my theater being closed for a year, officially, as of today in fact (when we closed after the Sunday matinee of the latest Star Wars episode), is that I’ve only heard of a few of these, and haven’t seen any of them, yet. Definitely want to catch Nomadland and Judas and the Black Messiah; maybe the Chicago 7 movie. Don’t know about any of the others.
craigie
I have seen all of those, except for Minari. They are all good (of course) but only Promising Young Woman had me thinking about what I had seen for several days afterward. Not at all what I expected, but in a good way.
CaseyL
Wow: contrast this with last year, when I had actually seen a few of the Best Picture nominees – this year, I’ve barely heard of most of them!
Admittedly, I no longer follow popular culture as closely as once upon a time, but this takes being out of touch to a whole new level.
Betty Cracker
@swiftfox: One of the interesting things I’ve observed about Coen Bro movie fandom is the wildly disparate rankings fans give individual films. I could be wrong, but it seems like there’s usually more consensus on other filmmakers’ masterworks.
UncleEbeneezer
We were very disappointed in Nomadland. It is dreary beyond belief with a bunch of not particularly likable characters. Even McDormand got on our nerves. Also, this was supposed to be trailer-park central during the Obama years and somehow the only racism evident was one dude’s Dixie Swastika tattoo…you gotta be kidding me. That is totally unrealistic given our experiences at campgrounds. The racist symbols (Gadsen Flags, Confederate Flags, and now Trump/Blue Lives Matter flags) are everywhere. We finished the film feeling: what the hell was the point of all that?
Sound of Metal was really good, though the guy who runs the camp for the deaf actually gave the even-more-Oscar-worthy performance, in my opinion.
Judas And The Black Messiah was very good, but didn’t really blow me away. I would have liked to have seen much more of Hampton’s personal story and the FBI informant (played by Lakeith Stanfield) seemed SO OBVIOUSLY a govt mole that it was hard to take the Panthers security seriously if they somehow missed it. That said Daniel Kaluuya’s performance was great. For a story about the US government’s underhanded racism, I think US Vs. Billie Holiday was actually more interesting, and Andra Day was perfect and amazing in portraying the complexity of Holliday. Also, Mangrove, the first installment of the Small Axe movie series on Amazon Prime, was also a better racial justice struggle film than Judas, imo.
trollhattan
@swiftfox:
“Blood Simple” was my intro to the brothers Cohen. Was wowed then and many times since. Their body of work–together and solo–has to be one of the best catalogues in cinema.
McDormand has had so many memorable parts. She’s a force.
OGLiberal
I only saw “Mank” so it should win everything. Only saw Mankiwiecz portrayed in one other film, by Malkovich, and didn’t get the sense that he was that much of a mess or that close to Hearst. Apparently, this one was closer to reality. Oldman is great but also much older than Herm when he died and that was years after the events in the film. But, fuck it….he’s Gary Oldman. He’s had many great roles but I loved him in The Professional, which also starred a certain young child actor who is now almost 40 so, ke-rist, I feel old. Now I want to re-watch Rozencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.
Just give everything to Wandavision, even though that’s TV, kind of.
trollhattan
@Betty Cracker:
Maybe a product of how they boing between comedy and drama? They might not be wild about “Lebowski” becoming THE cult classic but the enduring popularity will likely carry further than love for “No Country.”
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
Shocking!
Oscar snubbed Jodie Foster and Rosamund Pike, both who won Golden Globes.
Mary G
I watched Judas and the Black Messiah last night, which was its last on HBOMax. It was really hard to watch knowing what would happen and fighting the feeling that not much has changed since then. Daniel Kaluuya and Lakeith Stanfield both give Oscar-worthy performances, as does Dominique Fishback. The ending is unflinching and gutting. Worth all the prizes, but not sure it’s going to get any of them considering that the Academy is still more old and white than anything else.
The only other one I’ve seen is Mank, in which Oldman is his usual invisible self, and the costumes and sets are amazing, but it feels like there’s no there there plotwise.
dmsilev
I’ve not seen the film version of The Father, but going to see a staging of the original play was one of the last things I did before the pandemic closed everything down, and it was a real punch to the gut. Very well done, but in no way a happy fun experience. The reviews I’ve read say that the film is a pretty faithful adaptation, so take that for whatever it’s worth.
jnfr
We watched “Judas and the Black Messiah” last night, and I loved it. It was so much of its time and so true to that time. The acting was superb, and the story is riveting. Highly recommended.
The only other one we’ve seen is “Trial”, which I quite liked and as everyone notes it was really Sorkinesque, so a lot will depend on whether you like that style or not. Good acting in that one as well.
Really looking forward to “Nomadland” soon.
James E Powell
@UncleEbeneezer:
I had a similar reaction to Nomadland. I would like to discuss the ending, but I don’t want to spoil anything. Save it for another day.
Kent
I thought Nomadland was searing. It’s not about camping at recreational state park type campgrounds where one does sometimes see MAGA racist bullshit but honestly not all that much. My wife and I owned a popup that we used all over Texas, Arkansas, New Mexico, and the Gulf Coast so we have a lot of campground experience, although admittedly pre-Trump. I don’t recall seeing much racist shit at all while out camping, even in east Texas which is racist as hell.
There is a whole other community of campers around big remote plains state employers like Amazon warehouses in South Dakota that are not your recreational campgrounds but for migrant workers. Decades ago when I was in college I spent two summers following the wheat harvest across the plains with a combining crew and we stayed in those same small town campgrounds that only really get used during the middle of the wheat and corn harvests. Completely different thing from recreational weekend camping.
Major Major Major Major
I, for one, was shocked to see a Hollywood film about Hollywood films get nominated for so many Hollywood trade show awards.
Mike in NC
We’re going to check out Nomadland tonight.
PJ
@Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix:
It’s funny, because I found Promising Young Woman very disappointing. What starts off as what could be an interesting character study of a very damaged person cops out by becoming a stupid revenge thriller. The writing was so bad – all of the characters except for Carey Mulligan’s are one dimensional and even hers barely gets to two dimensions, and the story was predictable.
Betty Cracker
Prime subscribers PSA: I just discovered you can stream “Sound of Metal” for free, which I plan to do now that I know that.
@trollhattan: I’m sure that at least partly explains it. “No Country” was an excellent film, but I can’t imagine watching again; I didn’t sleep for a week the first time! Cult classics have to be re-watchable by definition, right?
@OGLiberal: Dying to see Wandavision, but I am not a Disney subscriber, damn it. I’ll have to wait for the eventual Netflix appearance.
WV Blondie
My husband and I have our neighbor, a widow, over to dinner once a week, since she doesn’t like the headache of cooking for herself. We usually arrange to watch a movie.
We all found Nomadland to be unwatchable, even McDormand (an actor we all admire).
PJ
@UncleEbeneezer:
I watched Judas and the Black Messiah last night, and while it was very well done, I didn’t find it particularly interesting. It didn’t really get into what made Fred Hampton who he was, and I was never that invested in the Bill O’Neil (sp?) character because it never seemed like he had that much of a dilemma.
trollhattan
@Betty Cracker:
Heh, revisiting “No Country” can ONLY happen once I’ve forgotten I ever saw it. “Sleep tight, gramps!”
Attending a screening of “Lebowski” now (what, twenty years later?) is a hoot because of the participation. Also the white Russians for sale in the lobby, costume competitions, etc.
Just caught Buscemi as Khrushchev in “The Death of Stalin.” Holy hell, is that a ride.
Kent
I watched Mank when it came out and couldn’t really get through it. Found most of the characters completely unsympathetic. I knew some of the history of that era but I’m not enough of a fanatic or buff to really know all of it. Then again, I have alcoholics in the family and I really don’t find endless portrayals of drunks drinking themselves to death to be particularly entertaining.
raven
Gillian Welch and David Rawling win a grammy!!!!
raven
@swiftfox: And Fargo
OGLiberal
@Betty Cracker: i watched Wandavision with my daughter. She’s Marvel-tuned but not as much as I am…and I’m a film noob, never read the comics. She loves strong female characters (obsessed with Agents of SHIELD) so this was right up her alley. It does build – like most Marvel “series” you really can’t just watch one. Elizabeth Olsen and Kathryn Hahn are just insanely good. As is Paul Bettany.
Miss Bianca
Excuse me, I am interrupting this Oscar thread with a very important O/T announcement, which is, I JUST GOT MY FIRST COVID SHOT APPOINTMENT!! And my second scheduled as well! This Friday, March 19, HERE WE COME!!
raven
@Miss Bianca: You can’t be O/T in an open thread.
Betty Cracker
@trollhattan: I live too far outside civilization to be aware of such things as public Lebowski screenings, which sound like fun! My sister and I had planned a Lebowski-themed party for my brother’s birthday last April — he is a huge fan! But the damned pandemic canceled it, and this year it’ll still be too risky. At least he got his Medina Sod bowling shirt. Maybe next year…
Old School
@Betty Cracker:
I doubt it will ever appear on Netflix. Disney + and Netflix are competitors.
Miss Bianca
@OGLiberal: Oh, my gosh, Paul Bettany and Kathryn Hahn in it as well? WandaVision just turned into Must-See TV!
Fun fact: I directed Kathryn Hahn in her first-ever production at Northwestern, when she was a freshman and I a second-year grad student in the Theater Department. One of those rare occasions where I can truly say, “Yep, even then, I could tell there was something special about this girl.” Fantastically talented, intelligent (I had her in my discussion session for Intro to Theater History as well), and sweet and funny to boot. Hasn’t surprised me at all that she went places after college.
raven
@Betty Cracker: I went to see in an art theater in Atlanta when it came out and people there didn’t have a fucking clue. “The Port Huron Statement” indeed.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Still no mention of The Passion of the Baud. What a rip off.
pajaro
Ms. Pajaro and I watched and loved Minari. We’ve also seen Nomadland and The Trial of the Chicago 7. Of the three, Minari would be my pick. It’s an immigrant story, but an unusual one. Each one of the characters were drawn like real people, each with strengths and weaknesses, rather than as archtypes. Both good and bad stuff happens, but not necessarily of the type or at the time that you expect it.
gwangung
@Miss Bianca: Hahn takes the show, and this is a series where Elizabeth Olsen does Emmy-level work as the lead.
schrodingers_cat
I haven’t heard of many of this films let alone seeing them. What is Nomadland about. From its previews/trailers that I have seen on Twitter it seems very dreary.
OGLiberal
@Miss Bianca: Bettany has been Avengers associated- albeit just as voice, to begin with – since the first Iron Man film. He’s the “Vision” in Wandavision. Kathryn Hahn was just incredible, like silly good. Her character is wonderful with lots of evolution. I’d watch the show just to see her. She was that good.
gkoutnik
@OGLiberal: “R&G Are Dead” is on my all-time short list of best stage plays, but the movie easily won my “Worst Movie Containing Brilliant Actors” award – it just doesn’t work.
OGLiberal
@gwangung: I saw hints of Olsen’s talent in the films but she was incredible in this series, where she was able to shine.
Steve in the ATL
@raven: got your G-Day ticket yet, or is $10 too steep for a retiree?
Anyway
The only one in the list I’ve seen is -Sound of Metal- watched because Riz Ahmed was in it, and it was on Prime. (I liked him in The Night Of). I liked SoM, didn’t love it.
UncleEbeneezer
@PJ: EXACTLY! And if you already knew the basics of the story, it really didn’t have much interesting or new to say about it. I was kinda bored for much of the film, even though it is right in the wheelhouse of my interests. Whereas the Small Axe films, takes some interesting looks at various angles of racism in the UK, covering ground and stories I haven’t seen before.
Kent
Main character Francis McDormand loses her husband to cancer and her home and job in a factory mining town in Nevada that shuts down, and finds herself quasi-homeless and living out of her van, moving from town to town and job to job, and learning how to survive that sort of life. David Strathairn plays a supporting role, but a lot of the other supporting characters are real folks living the same nomad lifestyle out of their vans and campers.
Yes it is dreary. Has some of the same flavor as John Steinbeck or Upton Sinclair’s work recast in the 21st Century.
schrodingers_cat
@schrodingers_cat: *these not this
@Kent: I think I will pass.
OGLiberal
@gkoutnik: I only saw the film so have no reference point. Probably just basing my opinion on the fact that I love Oldman and Roth.
Betty Cracker
@raven: Hahaha! Gotta admit the Port Huron thing went over my head the first time I saw it too, though I got the gist from the context.
Yutsano
Definite no dog in this hunt. Good luck to all the nominees!
UncleEbeneezer
@Kent: I’m not talking about just flags and symbols but also conversations. You can’t have conversations with white people who are suffering economic burden and feel left behind etc., for 5 minutes without some low-key racism, xenophobia or other forms of class/race resentment kicking up. I just can’t buy that ANY place was free of it, during the first Black President’s term and the height of the Tea Party.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
Like you, Betty, the only one I’ve seen on that list is “Mank”.
@geg6: “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” is excellent. Chadwick Boseman is of course incredible, and so is Viola Davis as the title character, who I’d never heard of before (she was a real person, and the play’s title is the name of her signature song).
CaseyL
@Betty Cracker: If you’re into the Marvel cinematic universe, you might want to seriously consider subscribing to Disney+. All the offshoot miniseries, plus the newest movies, will air on it.
PST
@Phylllis: Nomadland, which was indeed incredible, I watched at home on Hulu. The last current film I watched at home and really found thought provoking was Marriage Story. That one belonged in the living room. It isn’t visually spectacular and I liked pausing it occasionally to think about what I had just witnessed. Nomadland, on the other hand, is is much more visual with some amazing scenery, including the inside of an Amazon warehouse as well as the Badlands and desert. I wish I could have seen it in a movie theater. It managed to merge professional actors and real wanderers seamlessly, something that probably owes a lot to McDormand as well as the director.
dnfree
@Grover Gardner: your comments on “Mank” echo ours. It seemed very insiderish, and I didn’t care about or identify with any of the characters. It’s rare that we quit watching a movie, but this one we did.
We liked Ma Rainey, but for Chadwick Boseman more than for Viola Davis. I’d like to see the play to see how they compare.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Miss Bianca:
Can somebody explain “WandaVision” to me? I’ve seen an episode and a half and I’ll still confused as to what the hell this is all about.
Or, if not giving spoilers, maybe just tell me how much I have to get through to get some hints as to what the hell is going on. When do they reveal that?
Because as it is, they captured the flavor of hokey 60s sitcoms so accurately that we just feel (so far) like we’re watching hokey 60s sitcoms and not getting a lot of enjoyment out of it.
I skipped about 10 minutes in the middle of the first episode, maybe I missed something crucial?
Miss Bianca
@OGLiberal:
@gwangung:
Although, sadly, I will likely have to wait until (if/when, that is) WandaVision comes out on DVD, cuz that’s just how I roll.
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Honestly, I am the worst person to ask, because I haven’t seen it – only seen reviews of it on A/V Club, among other places, and noticed it was getting a hell of a buzz.
Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA)
@Miss Bianca: Congratulations! At around 3:00 this morning I got Mr. Mingobat and myself an appointment for tomorrow. We have to drive two hours each way, and there was nothing about second appointments, which will worry me until that second appointment is scheduled. Very happy to hear you got both appointments already set.
Hoping you have an easy, side-effect-free vaccination.
PST
@schrodingers_cat: I honestly wouldn’t describe Nomadland as dreary, even though it is often very sad. McDormand is a very funny actress and her character looks at the world with dry humor. The film provokes anger about the social and economic way we discard people, but in many ways it is a story about friendship and family.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Grover Gardner: You kids get off my lens!
Just Some Fuckhead
@Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA): I got the second jab Friday noon and had a 102 fever by early Saturday morning that didn’t break until around Sunday noon. The spouse got her second jab this morning at 6:30am and came home from work this afternoon feeling queasy, and very cold. And her arm is very painful, something she didn’t get from the first jab.
Note to JR in Doucheville: We are not complaining, just noting for the record.
Miss Bianca
@Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA): Thanks! Judging from my reaction to the flu shot this time round, I expect one or other of the jabs to knock me on my ass, but oh, so worth it. (it’s the Moderna vaccine, I believe, that we’ve been getting.)
Funny, I was sitting home today feeling a little sluggish and under the weather, but news that vaccine was waiting perked me right the hell up! It’s through my local Public Health Agency.
And, credit where credit due – it’s the ONE thing about its COVID response that hasn’t been FUBAR’d under the current Director. March 19 is literally the first day that my age/risk factor cohort is eligible in Colorado, and they are *on it*. I heard a rumor that we might be able to start early, because so many old/right-wing neighbors were passing it up, but this is earlier than I had dared hope!
dexwood
@trollhattan: A few years ago we went to a fundraising screening of Lebowski attended by Jeff Bridges and T-Bone Burnett. I bought tickets minutes after they went on sale. The night of the event we found ourselves sitting four seats away, same row, as the honored guests. I thought my wife was going to go sit in Bridges’ lap she was so excited. After the screening, they took seats on the stage where they answered questions and told stories for ninety minutes. Great night.
Betty Cracker
@PST: Good description of McDormand’s talent. She was great in the title role in “Olive Kitteridge,” which could have been thoroughly depressing in the hands of a less skillful actor.
OGLiberal
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: A bit of MCU background definitely helps but not absolutely required. Based on episode 1 – and I’m an MCU freak – I thought these were standalone episodes. But they are not. You really do have to watch the entire series. In my opinion, it’s worth it. More generational TV “parodies” follow but the larger story line only barely starts in episode 2….it’s basically non-existent in episode 1, which makes sense when taken as a whole. It’s pretty much an MCU flick in 9 episodes.
OGLiberal
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Adding, the throwback show stuff is explained much later on and is a very important element in Wanda’s character. It’s great because most of us can relate to all of those shows but it is a key plot point.
NotMax
Came away singularly underwhelmed by Mank.
@Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA)
Have never been less than impressed by a Mads Mikkelsen performance. His characterizations demonstrate more layers steadily, doggedly being exposed than an onion. (And he can do a mean high kick too.)
Steve in the ATL
@dexwood: have you heard T-Bone’s version of “diamonds are a girl’s best friend”? Good stuff!
germy
Nothing for “Hillbilly Elegy” ?
LOL
Old School
@germy: Glenn Close got a Supporting Actress nomination.
She also got a Razzie nomination for the same role.
dexwood
@Steve in the ATL: No. I’ll check it out.
raven
@Steve in the ATL: I’ve never been much interested in that game. Now the calcutta for the tourney tomorrow, I’m buying Illinois no matter how much it costs.
Kent
Shrug. We did a shitload of state park camping across the south and southwest during the decade that we lived in TX during all the Obama years and really didn’t see much of that. Mostly a mix of retirees on the road with fancy big rigs, and families out for a weekend with kids. Also the occasional long-distance traveler types. Were there racists? I expect so. But not more so than anyplace else.
Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA)
@NotMax: I was pretty impressed by the dance scene in Another Round. Those cobblestones had to hurt.
Uncle Cosmo
Hm. That’s a pretty fair description of my reaction to my first
AntiquaModerna jab 9 days ago. “Queasy and cold” for a little less than a day; sore arm for 3 days (probably aggravated by a tendency to sleep on that side). I think I’ll preposition extra blankets, acetominophen & warm drinks for after the booster Holy Saturday afternoon.louc
Mank was ok, though Oldman was amazing. The Trial was entertaining. Truth be told, we only got half-way through Nomadland because we’re just not in the right frame of mind to watch it right now. It was gorgeously shot and I saw where the movie was going with character development. But with COVID anxiety and even deaths from COVID in the family, it was hard to grapple with the bleakness of the movie.
I’m po’d that neither Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom nor One Night in Miami were nominated for best picture . They were two of my favorite movies of the past year, besides Alexander Hamilton. I’m rooting for Chadwick Boseman to get a posthumous Oscar.
Brachiator
This is the first year in a while in which I have not seen any of the films nominated for best picture. Or most other films, period.
I have seen Riz Ahmed in other work, and think he is a great actor.
J R in WV
@Miss Bianca:
Our second shot of Moderna will be next Friday. I called to ask about a time this morning, and they said to hold on for a couple days, they’re working on booking people for their second shots…
This afternoon Wife had her follow up after her second cataract removal, all is sweet. “I can’t prescribe an improvement in your right eye, and the left eye is pretty close to that good!” So worked well, come back in 18 months… Whoot!
Just Some Fuckhead
@Uncle Cosmo:
We’re just pushing through. I question how effective a vaccine that got so little testing (in comparison to every other vaccine) can be so the goal is to not do anything that might interfere with its efficacy. :) Others mileage may vary.
Steeplejack
@NotMax:
I first saw Mikkelsen in Unit One, a Danish cop series that ran on MHz. (It may still be on there.) It was pretty good, and he was excellent.
Steeplejack
@Uncle Cosmo:
I made sure to get my first (Pfizer) vaccination in the arm that I don’t typically sleep on, but I ended up having only a tiny bit of soreness anyway (and no other symptoms).
Just Some Fuckhead
@Steeplejack:
Smart. I didn’t consider that for either jab and it caused me great discomfort. I only sleep on my left side, got the shot in the left arm both times like an idiot.
August West
I’m a big fan of Nomadland, Judas and the Black Messiah, Mank, The Trial of the Chicago 7, and Sound of Metal. Hugely disappointed that Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and One Night in Miami weren’t nominated. Thought Promising Young Woman was a worthless, steaming pile of excrement and a complete waste of time.
Several great films released this year, but none were anywhere near as powerful as last year’s Parasite. That film will stay with me forever.
Steeplejack
@Just Some Fuckhead:
Can’t claim to be a genius on this. I just read something that triggered the thought, and I happened to remember it when I was about to get jabbed.
I sleep on my left side 80% of the time, probably an artifact of facing the dearly departed housecat’s side of the bed. I still have to remind myself that it’s okay to occupy that side.
Eunicecycle
@Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA): I don’t know how the place you are going does it, but the RiteAid where my husband and I got ours, they gave us the appointment when we got the first shot. It was in 3 weeks at the same time as the first, since we got the Pfizer vaccine.
Emma
Some great extra context for Minari is this 45-minute convo between the director Lee Isaac Chung and Bong Joon Ho. 2 great directors fanboying over each other’s work, spectacular. Youn Yuh-Jung also elaborated on her answer to Sandra Oh’s question from a while back about whether she understood Korean American han (not my favorite term, since it originates from Japanese colonial scholars talking about why Koreans are different from Japanese, but anyways): https://twitter.com/APEntertainment/status/1370177973869899778?s=20
Tim in SF
“The only one I’ve seen so far is “Mank,” ”
I kinda think Trial of the Chicago Seven should be required for anyone in Democratic politics. The (probably apocryphal) scene between Tom Hayden and Abbie Hoffman when they argue about priorities is the quintessential fight between progressives and pragmatists.
Sacha Baron Cohen had an interview with Kara Swisher where he talks about the scene and about the movie – that’s worth listening to, as well.
NotMax
@August West
Film adaptations of American stage plays traditionally receive short shrift by Academy voters. The Father did sneak in this year; mayhaps due to the original play (and subsequent first film version Floride) being foreign.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Steeplejack: I went into the second shot having already figured out I shouldn’t get it in my left arm and still got it in my left arm because I’m really fucking stupid.
Steeplejack
@Just Some Fuckhead:
I find that it’s easy to get distracted when I’m in those assembly-line situations. “Wait, I signed off on the optional vasectomy?!”
Summer
I liked Nomadland because of its spaces and silences. It also reminded me of “Wendy and Lucy,” a beautiful, heartbreaking film that I really loved.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Steeplejack: :)
citizen dave
If we’re still going on this one, I feel compelled to say again I thought Mank was friggin’ horrible in how tremendously boring it was. I slept through the first half, then we watched the second half the next night (and I watched once I realized it had to do with Citizen Kane.). Later some googling showed me the film does the same thing to Welles that critic Pauline Kael did to a film professor–she took his research, twisted it into a 1970s book making these erroneous claims that Welles didn’t have much to do with Kane. He did.
And it was so friggin’ boring!
Saw Nomadland and Chicago 7, both are fine movies, possibly even great
I’d love to watch a movie about Fred Hampton but read a review really taking down the Judas movie. I think the review put me off the movie altogether.