We're still 10 full days before the early morning announcement of the nominees for the 88th Academy Awards. But that's not going to stop me from going way out on a limb and calling the best of the best as I see them.
And the worst of the worst.
Life is filled with balance and so, for every Oscar, there is an equal and opposite Razzie. Razzies, if you're not already familiar, are more appropriately known as the Golden Raspberry Awards. They're for the stinkers, the Adam Sandler and Uwe Boll titles, the movies that are otherwise so bad and reprehensible that they deserve an award. It's like setting a benchmark for awfulness so that better movies can be compared against it. Think of it as Absolute Zero so that we know what the temperature is above that.
These awards now go hand in hand with each other, and so I present my Oscar and Razzie predictions. The first is always easier since excellent movies are so hard to find.
The Oscars will be announced during a presentation ceremony that will be held on Feb. 28. The Razzies take the stage the day after. Adam Sandler, have you marked Feb. 29 on your calendar?
Academy Award-worthy films
In this wintry time when the year changes, when people eat way more figgy pudding than usual, the theatrical schedule is also uncharacteristically replete with movies that strive for gold. The past few weeks have seen such Oscar contenders as Joy, The Hateful Eight, The Big Short, Concussion, The Revenant and In the Heart of the Sea being released. Observant readers will surely have noticed how I left off Star Wars: The Force Awakens from that shortlist. That's because it's just not a good movie and I didn't like it.
In the same breath, I would count out Concussion, The Big Short and In the Heart of the Sea. I've watched Will Smith try to do serious movies. My very movie review career started with one of his best works, The Six Degrees of Separation. Lately (meaning everything he's done since), he's been far too earnest, far less believable and incredibly less memorable. He has become a counterpart of Tom Cruise, an actor who performs with the ideology that the sheer energy they put into a role will transmute itself into the audience's eyes and somehow connect us all to greater meanings and larger truths. Instead, I groan every time they're in a "serious" movie. C'mon … did you even see The Pursuit of Happiness or Seven Pounds? My heartstrings are still sore.
The Big Short does have a somewhat contemporary storyline and has a pretty solid cast, but where's the buzz? And In the Heart of the Sea, directed by Ron Howard and encapsulating an entirely historic and American story of enterprise and survival, was just not epic enough for this critic's liking. I much prefer his 1994 engrossing comedy-drama The Paper. Howard is a populist masquerading as an elitist. Basically, he's America's film equivalent to Shakespeare but without the authentic poetry or majesty of the proceedings. One day he'll stop trying so hard and then he'll be absolutely grand.
Joy and Hateful Eight come from such strident filmmakers as David O. Russell and Quentin Tarantino. Each has carved out their particular niche as a maverick in modern cinema. The former often goes for nuanced and quirky personal dramas while the latter often unleashes his new works like thoroughbreds right out of the gate and hungry for justice. While I usually prefer QT because of his dedication to cinema and unbelievably great dialogue, Russell gets the advantage for his subtlety and his cast's understated greatness. He himself has been up for the big time three times while frequent collaborator Jennifer Lawrence has taken one Oscar home already for her first two times out to the multiplex under his direction. The guy knows what he's doing. This might just be his big time.
But wait … a serious contender or two came out earlier in the year. Much has already been said about Mad Max: Fury Road. It's already received a lot of attention and for great reason: it's an incredible visual spectacle with a story and performances that captured a lot of people's imaginations and attentions. It's also ostensibly an action movie, which might hinder its chances. Maybe.
Other major contenders are Bridge of Spies, Steven Spielberg's newest. Not that there's a problem with such glorious Stars and Stripes flicks touting the best of America. But in the world market Tom Hanks can only carry you so far before you have to admit that other countries have glory too. Also there is Anomalisa from writer/director/genius Charlie Kaufman. It's a stop motion animated story that's called the most human film of the year. If you haven't seen Adaptation or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind or Being John Malkovich, do yourself a favour and book the flicks and take off the next few days. The guy might be neurotic – might! – but he'll surely bring you closer to yourself. He might not win the big trophy but he has my admiration.
Then there's Carol, the indie favourite by director Todd Haynes. I'm a fan. I'm Not Here was brilliant. Far from Heaven was excellent too. I think that this is the year that Haynes should reign. Fury Road probably will though. It's the mainstream choice with the closest approximation to artistry for a big budget film.
Razzy-worthy films
Is Adam Sandler ready for the lifetime achievement award? It doesn't matter. His newest pic, the Netflix-released The Ridiculous Six tried to send up Tarantino's Hateful Eight but rather earned the scorn of numerous members of its cast and multiple members of the critical press as well. But hey … it's Sandler! Why should we bother wasting our breath or words on a performer who panders to the lowest common denominators but also promotes stereotypes and promotes discrimination? Boo. And bah!
But he's practically relegated to the second rate pile now. Persona non grata. Instead, we should pay attention to how bad some movies are. Some are just bad because the directors and producers don't know what they're doing. Maybe they mean well and they want to entertain but they are as inept as Adam Sandler. Or perhaps they aim for the stars but end up in the gutter.
I'm going out on a limb by saying that Spectre, the latest in the James Bond filmography, was such a spectacle. Sure, this awful back-story started out with a unique and technically interesting scene but then it squandered two hours on awfulness, the likes of which I can only liken to my compost pail after not having been scoured for a summer. Daniel Craig is an unforgivable Bond. Frankly, Simon Pegg would be better. Hey, wait … that's not a bad idea.
Perhaps Jupiter Ascending tops even all of that pseudo macho bombast. The Wachowskis reached their nadir early with The Matrix. Sadly, they should have stopped there. Nothing since has manifested close to its potential. This ridiculous sci-fi epic, way over budget and way, way past biting off what it could chew, features Channing Tatum and Mila Kunis. Enough said. Keanu Reeves looks like Gielgud in comparison. Forsooth.
But I can't help but come back to Sandler who spent the year with dribbling dreck like Pixels, a Ghostbusters wannabe about goofballs who save the world from video games come to life. Then there was The Cobbler. Raise your hands … who saw this one? Who can even name what it was about? Adam Sandler … retire. You are not helping cinema.
Fantastic Four, however, was the crown jewel in the sewer stains at the cinema this year. It undeniably achieved a kind of lasting stigma about hope and disappointment. Director Josh Trank might have made a good name for himself with his 2012 debut Chronicle but any and all goodwill was flushed away with this Marvel superhero mistake. It was spectacularly unspectacular in all ways and even its stars seemed to lift their chins at it. Even more outrageous was how it tried to revive a major comic book franchise out of the toilet drain where two recent films within the last decade had already plopped it. We all know how tough it is to polish a turd. Even Marvel disavowed it. Ouch.
In Razzie terms, Fantastic Four is the big number two.
