Letter to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for 2019
Dear Hollywood Foreign Press Association,
Hi, it's Greg O'Neill. First of all, terrific choice for the Cecil B. DeMille Award. Tom Hanks is wholly deserving. I thought that it had already happened, and that I had missed it! I was kind of relieved to go on over to the website today and see that he was the pick for this year.
Here are some humble, admittedly humble, suggestions for the coveted Golden Globe Award nominations for 2019. I am from the midwest. I only stream on Netflix when I'm with my wife, so I see what's suggested to her. I get the DVDs still from Netflix (but not all of their streaming options get released to DVD or blu-ray, only a select few, lol). So at this point in the year, you're going to get the suggestions that you get from a school teacher out of Lewistown who has only made, by my count, nine trips to the cinemas in 2019. (Amazon Prime, Netflix streaming, and a couple of rentals from Family Video in Canton account for my having any list of movies to suggest at all.) Here it goes.
1. Joe and Anthony Russo, Best Director, The Avengers Endgame.
I can't believe I suggested that, but there, I just did. I squirmed in my seat through the admittedly excellent Captain America: The Winter Soldier, watching the earnest Steve Rogers sift his way through years of accumulated HYDRA corruption within SHIELD, a fish out of water from the 1940's struggling to find his place in 2014. But the scene I missed while getting my niece a snack at the Cinemark Rave, when Sebastian Stan looks in Chris Evans' eyes and says "I'm with you until the end of the line," justified everything else that happened before and after that film. And I trusted these guys enough to deliver with Endgame. They did. It was remarkable to watch the post-apocalyptic society, the surviving Avengers, reckon with how best to, well, avenge the death of the fallen. And I managed to not see it until its 3rd weekend! For the most part, spoiler free... one or two huge spoilers, but that didn't spoil the whole movie, not by a long shot. I'll add to that Robert Downey, Jr., Best Actor in a Drama, and Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeeley, Best Screenplay. This was the Avengers' last chance to take a stand, to figure out a way to bring back Hawkeye's family, to prove that Peter Parker wasn't headed for his death when he collapsed into Tony Stark's arms, not feeling well, to bring back Black Panther, to bring back Baby Groot, and for me, in some form, in any form, Gamora. It was wonderful to see the Avengers earnestly working together again, setting aside the differences that have plagued them throughout the movies, and using the Quantum Realm, thanks Ant-Man and the Wasp, to time-jump, like a really great Quantum Leap episode, putting some things right that once went wrong. Deeply emotional scene between Robert Downey, Jr. and John Slattery as father and son in 1970. He couldn't reveal he was his son. His name was Howard Potts? I don't even remember what pseudonym he used. But it was great for Stark to finally get to say goodbye to his dad, something he had been miserable about not doing since the press-conference scene of the first Iron Man. He also discovered how nervous his dad was to be a father, and how dearly he was looking forward to raising a beautiful son. Four Stars.
2. Best Animated Feature, Best Original Song: Never Too Late, Tim Rice and Elton John, The Lion King
I am well aware that The Lion King took a drubbing on RottenTomatoes.com. No matter. I'm not a movie critic. I'm a school teacher. That, plus a former 12 year old boy who loved it when he got to see The Lion King with his mom at the Showcase Cinemas in Milan. For all the money that was poured into this project, yes, it did manage to recreate the childlike joy of seeing the lion cub Simba come to realize that his father's place as king of the Pride Lands would one day be his place. And while he had childlike pride, he had a good heart. In as much as he had a huge shadow out of which to crawl, after the death of his father, much as his father's legacy loomed large over his own rule, Simba realized that the freedom he sought from his past was of no good to anyone but himself. And he realized that the shame of his father's death was no excuse to run from his problems. And it was as satisfying to 37 year old Greg as 12 year old Greg, in watching Jon Favreau's 2019 photorealistic like-photography recreation of Serengeti Africa, witnessing the moments where Simba went from life-long guilt-tripped cub, wrought on him by the heinous Uncle Scar, to King-to-be Lion. Nobody's fool. Not a push-over. He was a different lion after he grew up and got his facts straight. He was a different lion when he realized that he deserved to be loved by his parents, by Nala, and by his kingdom. He was a different cub when he realized he was enfranchised and entitled to seek his claim to the throne, and wrestle the nefarious Scar for the stake he had claimed for himself. And not only for the glory of the job, though that was tantalizing to the cub Simba; but to bring the lions in his pride back from the brink of starvation; and the pride lands from destitution. I don't see this as another product in the Disney machine just manufactured to make money. This was an artistic achievement. Audiences loved it. Critics were hard on it. But maybe over time, they'll be less hard on it. It was a beautiful rendering of the initial vision I beheld in 1994. Four Stars.
3. Keanu Reeves, Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Randall Park, Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy, Ali Wong, Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy, Nahnatchka Khan, Best Director; Michael Golamco, Randall Park, Best Screenplay; Best Picture, Musical or Comedy, Always Be My Maybe.
I happened to get to see Always Be My Maybe on Netflix with Sara just this past Tuesday night, when I arrived home for Thanksgiving break. It was excellent. Sasha and Marcus. Two lovers, star-crossed at least for now. He grieves over the untimely death of his mom. But as we learned from the movie Wedding Crashers, death can be an aphrodesiac. And shortly after the funeral, there they are having a first kiss. And sure as the Lord makes little green apples, that awkward kiss, as teenagers in 2003, will lead to them having sex for the first time, in the back of his Toyota Corolla. But while waiting in line for a post-coitus dinner at the Burger King, Marcus has to pop off to Sasha about how she doesn't have the right to grieve over his mom like he does. Flash forward to present day. Sasha is a super successful restaurant owner and manager. Marcus works in Heating and Air Conditioning with his widowed father in San Francisco. Sasha is engaged to some douchebag who wants to have a hall pass in India before coming back to marry her. That doesn't work out well for her, as she screams over the phone at him, once she finds out online he's going out with Padma Lakshmi. But Sasha is a strong, independent woman who is sure of her goals. She will waste no time moving on to the next man. It is time for her to follow her heart... to Keanu Reeves. Oh yes, in the interim, she will have a meet-cute but awkward with Marcus. He's installing air conditioning to the apartment she is subletting from her friend. He still has his band from high school, Hello Peril. Against her better judgment, Sasha is hit with a wave of nostalgia, like the wafting smell of a Burger King broiler, and she maybe, just maybe, may find her way back to the boy she once had a crush on. Will each of them be able to get over their respective pride and reduce themselves to asking each other out! This was a great movie! I laughed so very hard! Four stars!
Elsewhere in my top ten:
4. Tom Holland, Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy, Zendaya, Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy, Spider-Man: Far From Home.
The heaviness of Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Engame has worn off. The attack of Thanos, in possession of the Infinity Stones, is now reduced to a footnote in history, a "blip," and the people who came back five years later, are just left with the consequence of having to go to high school and make up a semester or something that they missed! They're still the same age! And Zendaya is still the same age. So she must have been lost in the blip, because she's Tom Holland's age! Well, half of humanity had vanished, so many people at the high school must be coming back to finish their high school credits. (Though they'd technically be 21). I brushed aside the continuity issues and checked my brain at the door when I went to see this at the Regal 14 cinemas in Moline with Brent Behrens in July. I loved getting to see Peter Parker be a teen again. I loved getting to see him compete with a good looking but territorial nit-wit guy for the hand of Zendaya. Most of all, I loved seeing Jacob Batalon and Anjourie Rice fall in love on the flight to Venice, Italy. They had great chemistry over the course of the movie. I also loved Martin Starr and J.B. Smoove as the faculty chaperones! They were excellent. They were reflective of the best of the frat pack movies of the mid 2000's.
5. Leonardo DiCaprio, Best Actor Drama, Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood
This movie had moments of unsettling violence that normally would be hard for me to get past; (I practically walked out on Django Unchained in 2012), but like Django was held together by the friendship between Jamie Foxx and Christoph Waltz, likewise there's a bond of friendship between Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt, and the entire movie stands and falls on that. Leonardo DiCaprio is like, no offense, the equivalent of Anthony Edwards or Nathan Fillion- a small-screen TV star who has about a decade to 15 years between him and his glory days, on the show for which he is well-known. Rick Dalton (DiCaprio) has drinks with Hollywood big wigs, but can't seem to get long-term deals in place. So he guest stars on westerns. He's a has-been. But even in as much as he's not at the pulse of the industry anymore, he still has Cliff Booth, his loyal stuntman, widowed but happily (eerily). The two of them are to Forrest Gump themselves into a formative moment in Hollywood history, and criminal history- when Charles Manson gave the order to young people on his compound to kill members of the Hollywood elite. The new wave directors and their waifish manic pixie dream girls. We all know how this tragedy unfolded in August of 1969, and the 8 months pregnant actress Sharon Tate was felled to their nefarious scheme. But Tarantino sees these people as anti-Hollywood. And he gives them the same brutal treatment as the hired hands of Candieland in Django. When you get in Tarantino's cross-hairs, he tortures you... mercilessly. But at least this time, I had a better idea of what I was getting myself into; and rather than focusing so much effort on the violence, this was as focused on friendship, and bromance. Two guys trying to stay relevant in Hollywood. What could have been if they had been at the right place at the right place in 1969 Los Angeles. Three and 3/4th stars.
6. Chris Evans, Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Rian Johnson, Best Screenplay, Best Director; Best Picture Musical or Comedy, Knives Out
This film was a traditional murder mystery, with strong hints of comedy, courtesy of writer-director Rian Johnson. But it has a social conscience. The film's love for its beleagured help, the personal care provider Marta (Ana de Armas), lifts it above other formulaic murder mysteries. She's from... I think Ecuador (numerous countries of possible origin are mentioned, sad laugh). But the wealthy children and grandchildren of Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) show their father and grandfather not nearly as much love and affection as the woman who has no stake in his fortune, only wants to make a paycheck, and keep her mom safe from ICE agents, as she's an undocumented immigrant. And so it is, when someone has tampered with the medicine labels in her medical bag, and she gives him his medicine like she's done every day for years, she stands to get arrested and charged with wrongful death. But Harlan is willing to dedicate his last remaining minutes of life to making sure that this doesn't happen. He knows his family would descend upon her like a murder of crows. He knows that his own family will descend upon him, for approaching them one by one in his office on the night of his 85th birthday party, to notify them that they're not going to get the financial help they've grown accustomed to, as a punishment for their lives of decadence and cheating. So why, of all people, should Marta suffer? Of course she shouldn't! Thrombey hatches a plan to help her escape implication; but she wants to help get medical help; they are at cross-purposes. But I think Harlan's more concerned for Marta's well-being than even Marta is. Certainly more than the vultures that comprise his family are. When he dies, be it suicide or murder, she will not be to blame. He's determined to that end. So who will ultimately be to blame? That's for the police detectives, and private eye Benoit Blanc (a delightful Daniel Craig) to find out. Great effort. This type of movie was made for the Golden Globes. Maybe even the Oscars. Who knows? But it's definitely droll enough to be nominated in the Musical or Comedy category for the Golden Globes. 3 and 3/4th stars.
7. Zachary Levi, Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy, Best Picture, Musical or Comedy, Shazam! I loved getting to see Billy Batson grow up fast, not only as a teenager making his way in the foster system and protecting his new-found family from the diabolical villain, but also as the newly-formed adult, Shazam. Shazam is a clumsy adult, which he figures out he can become by saying the name Shazam. Will he use his superpowers for good? Or for self-gain? It was a beautiful movie to watch. If there's a sequel, I hope it's half as good. It was delightful seeing the character journey of this installment, from a guy who eats his lunch off of showing off his superpowers on the steps where Rocky ran in Philadelphia to a man who has to go to the theme park at Christmas time with his foster brothers and sisters to teach Dr. Sivana a lesson. Lots of action. Lots of heart. 3 and a half stars.
8. Original Score: Captain Marvel. I liked the story of Carol Danvers. I got that no one thought she could do it when she got injured in a softball game as a little girl. I liked that she had to push herself through Air Force training, that she pulled herself up by her bootstraps, after taking blow upon blow. I loved that she showed what a woman is capable of, joining the Kree, joining the Star Force Military, fighting the Skrulls, and maybe helping an old friend fight alongside her in the intergalactic battle of good and evil, and in doing so set a great example of you can do anything woman power for the said friend's daughter.
9. X-Men: Dark Phoenix. Man, I can't really think of what to nominate it for. So I'll say Jennifer Lawrence, Best Supporting Actress.
10. Yesterday: Himesh Patel, Lily James, Actor and Actress in Musical or Comedy.
I also enjoyed Late Night with Kelly Kapur... I mean Mindy Kaling, and Emma Thompson. (Please consider her for Musical or Comedy Actress!)
I also enjoyed Last Christmas. Emilia Clarke would be a candidate for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy. I also enjoyed, you guessed it, Emma Thompson.
Little was a little bit of af let down, I loved Marsai Martin. She should get a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy. Issa Rae and Regina Hall performed ably as well.
That is literally all of the movies I have seen so far in 2019.
Thank you!
Greg O'Neill
Hi, it's Greg O'Neill. First of all, terrific choice for the Cecil B. DeMille Award. Tom Hanks is wholly deserving. I thought that it had already happened, and that I had missed it! I was kind of relieved to go on over to the website today and see that he was the pick for this year.
Here are some humble, admittedly humble, suggestions for the coveted Golden Globe Award nominations for 2019. I am from the midwest. I only stream on Netflix when I'm with my wife, so I see what's suggested to her. I get the DVDs still from Netflix (but not all of their streaming options get released to DVD or blu-ray, only a select few, lol). So at this point in the year, you're going to get the suggestions that you get from a school teacher out of Lewistown who has only made, by my count, nine trips to the cinemas in 2019. (Amazon Prime, Netflix streaming, and a couple of rentals from Family Video in Canton account for my having any list of movies to suggest at all.) Here it goes.
1. Joe and Anthony Russo, Best Director, The Avengers Endgame.
I can't believe I suggested that, but there, I just did. I squirmed in my seat through the admittedly excellent Captain America: The Winter Soldier, watching the earnest Steve Rogers sift his way through years of accumulated HYDRA corruption within SHIELD, a fish out of water from the 1940's struggling to find his place in 2014. But the scene I missed while getting my niece a snack at the Cinemark Rave, when Sebastian Stan looks in Chris Evans' eyes and says "I'm with you until the end of the line," justified everything else that happened before and after that film. And I trusted these guys enough to deliver with Endgame. They did. It was remarkable to watch the post-apocalyptic society, the surviving Avengers, reckon with how best to, well, avenge the death of the fallen. And I managed to not see it until its 3rd weekend! For the most part, spoiler free... one or two huge spoilers, but that didn't spoil the whole movie, not by a long shot. I'll add to that Robert Downey, Jr., Best Actor in a Drama, and Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeeley, Best Screenplay. This was the Avengers' last chance to take a stand, to figure out a way to bring back Hawkeye's family, to prove that Peter Parker wasn't headed for his death when he collapsed into Tony Stark's arms, not feeling well, to bring back Black Panther, to bring back Baby Groot, and for me, in some form, in any form, Gamora. It was wonderful to see the Avengers earnestly working together again, setting aside the differences that have plagued them throughout the movies, and using the Quantum Realm, thanks Ant-Man and the Wasp, to time-jump, like a really great Quantum Leap episode, putting some things right that once went wrong. Deeply emotional scene between Robert Downey, Jr. and John Slattery as father and son in 1970. He couldn't reveal he was his son. His name was Howard Potts? I don't even remember what pseudonym he used. But it was great for Stark to finally get to say goodbye to his dad, something he had been miserable about not doing since the press-conference scene of the first Iron Man. He also discovered how nervous his dad was to be a father, and how dearly he was looking forward to raising a beautiful son. Four Stars.
2. Best Animated Feature, Best Original Song: Never Too Late, Tim Rice and Elton John, The Lion King
I am well aware that The Lion King took a drubbing on RottenTomatoes.com. No matter. I'm not a movie critic. I'm a school teacher. That, plus a former 12 year old boy who loved it when he got to see The Lion King with his mom at the Showcase Cinemas in Milan. For all the money that was poured into this project, yes, it did manage to recreate the childlike joy of seeing the lion cub Simba come to realize that his father's place as king of the Pride Lands would one day be his place. And while he had childlike pride, he had a good heart. In as much as he had a huge shadow out of which to crawl, after the death of his father, much as his father's legacy loomed large over his own rule, Simba realized that the freedom he sought from his past was of no good to anyone but himself. And he realized that the shame of his father's death was no excuse to run from his problems. And it was as satisfying to 37 year old Greg as 12 year old Greg, in watching Jon Favreau's 2019 photorealistic like-photography recreation of Serengeti Africa, witnessing the moments where Simba went from life-long guilt-tripped cub, wrought on him by the heinous Uncle Scar, to King-to-be Lion. Nobody's fool. Not a push-over. He was a different lion after he grew up and got his facts straight. He was a different lion when he realized that he deserved to be loved by his parents, by Nala, and by his kingdom. He was a different cub when he realized he was enfranchised and entitled to seek his claim to the throne, and wrestle the nefarious Scar for the stake he had claimed for himself. And not only for the glory of the job, though that was tantalizing to the cub Simba; but to bring the lions in his pride back from the brink of starvation; and the pride lands from destitution. I don't see this as another product in the Disney machine just manufactured to make money. This was an artistic achievement. Audiences loved it. Critics were hard on it. But maybe over time, they'll be less hard on it. It was a beautiful rendering of the initial vision I beheld in 1994. Four Stars.
3. Keanu Reeves, Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Randall Park, Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy, Ali Wong, Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy, Nahnatchka Khan, Best Director; Michael Golamco, Randall Park, Best Screenplay; Best Picture, Musical or Comedy, Always Be My Maybe.
I happened to get to see Always Be My Maybe on Netflix with Sara just this past Tuesday night, when I arrived home for Thanksgiving break. It was excellent. Sasha and Marcus. Two lovers, star-crossed at least for now. He grieves over the untimely death of his mom. But as we learned from the movie Wedding Crashers, death can be an aphrodesiac. And shortly after the funeral, there they are having a first kiss. And sure as the Lord makes little green apples, that awkward kiss, as teenagers in 2003, will lead to them having sex for the first time, in the back of his Toyota Corolla. But while waiting in line for a post-coitus dinner at the Burger King, Marcus has to pop off to Sasha about how she doesn't have the right to grieve over his mom like he does. Flash forward to present day. Sasha is a super successful restaurant owner and manager. Marcus works in Heating and Air Conditioning with his widowed father in San Francisco. Sasha is engaged to some douchebag who wants to have a hall pass in India before coming back to marry her. That doesn't work out well for her, as she screams over the phone at him, once she finds out online he's going out with Padma Lakshmi. But Sasha is a strong, independent woman who is sure of her goals. She will waste no time moving on to the next man. It is time for her to follow her heart... to Keanu Reeves. Oh yes, in the interim, she will have a meet-cute but awkward with Marcus. He's installing air conditioning to the apartment she is subletting from her friend. He still has his band from high school, Hello Peril. Against her better judgment, Sasha is hit with a wave of nostalgia, like the wafting smell of a Burger King broiler, and she maybe, just maybe, may find her way back to the boy she once had a crush on. Will each of them be able to get over their respective pride and reduce themselves to asking each other out! This was a great movie! I laughed so very hard! Four stars!
Elsewhere in my top ten:
4. Tom Holland, Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy, Zendaya, Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy, Spider-Man: Far From Home.
The heaviness of Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Engame has worn off. The attack of Thanos, in possession of the Infinity Stones, is now reduced to a footnote in history, a "blip," and the people who came back five years later, are just left with the consequence of having to go to high school and make up a semester or something that they missed! They're still the same age! And Zendaya is still the same age. So she must have been lost in the blip, because she's Tom Holland's age! Well, half of humanity had vanished, so many people at the high school must be coming back to finish their high school credits. (Though they'd technically be 21). I brushed aside the continuity issues and checked my brain at the door when I went to see this at the Regal 14 cinemas in Moline with Brent Behrens in July. I loved getting to see Peter Parker be a teen again. I loved getting to see him compete with a good looking but territorial nit-wit guy for the hand of Zendaya. Most of all, I loved seeing Jacob Batalon and Anjourie Rice fall in love on the flight to Venice, Italy. They had great chemistry over the course of the movie. I also loved Martin Starr and J.B. Smoove as the faculty chaperones! They were excellent. They were reflective of the best of the frat pack movies of the mid 2000's.
5. Leonardo DiCaprio, Best Actor Drama, Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood
This movie had moments of unsettling violence that normally would be hard for me to get past; (I practically walked out on Django Unchained in 2012), but like Django was held together by the friendship between Jamie Foxx and Christoph Waltz, likewise there's a bond of friendship between Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt, and the entire movie stands and falls on that. Leonardo DiCaprio is like, no offense, the equivalent of Anthony Edwards or Nathan Fillion- a small-screen TV star who has about a decade to 15 years between him and his glory days, on the show for which he is well-known. Rick Dalton (DiCaprio) has drinks with Hollywood big wigs, but can't seem to get long-term deals in place. So he guest stars on westerns. He's a has-been. But even in as much as he's not at the pulse of the industry anymore, he still has Cliff Booth, his loyal stuntman, widowed but happily (eerily). The two of them are to Forrest Gump themselves into a formative moment in Hollywood history, and criminal history- when Charles Manson gave the order to young people on his compound to kill members of the Hollywood elite. The new wave directors and their waifish manic pixie dream girls. We all know how this tragedy unfolded in August of 1969, and the 8 months pregnant actress Sharon Tate was felled to their nefarious scheme. But Tarantino sees these people as anti-Hollywood. And he gives them the same brutal treatment as the hired hands of Candieland in Django. When you get in Tarantino's cross-hairs, he tortures you... mercilessly. But at least this time, I had a better idea of what I was getting myself into; and rather than focusing so much effort on the violence, this was as focused on friendship, and bromance. Two guys trying to stay relevant in Hollywood. What could have been if they had been at the right place at the right place in 1969 Los Angeles. Three and 3/4th stars.
6. Chris Evans, Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Rian Johnson, Best Screenplay, Best Director; Best Picture Musical or Comedy, Knives Out
This film was a traditional murder mystery, with strong hints of comedy, courtesy of writer-director Rian Johnson. But it has a social conscience. The film's love for its beleagured help, the personal care provider Marta (Ana de Armas), lifts it above other formulaic murder mysteries. She's from... I think Ecuador (numerous countries of possible origin are mentioned, sad laugh). But the wealthy children and grandchildren of Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) show their father and grandfather not nearly as much love and affection as the woman who has no stake in his fortune, only wants to make a paycheck, and keep her mom safe from ICE agents, as she's an undocumented immigrant. And so it is, when someone has tampered with the medicine labels in her medical bag, and she gives him his medicine like she's done every day for years, she stands to get arrested and charged with wrongful death. But Harlan is willing to dedicate his last remaining minutes of life to making sure that this doesn't happen. He knows his family would descend upon her like a murder of crows. He knows that his own family will descend upon him, for approaching them one by one in his office on the night of his 85th birthday party, to notify them that they're not going to get the financial help they've grown accustomed to, as a punishment for their lives of decadence and cheating. So why, of all people, should Marta suffer? Of course she shouldn't! Thrombey hatches a plan to help her escape implication; but she wants to help get medical help; they are at cross-purposes. But I think Harlan's more concerned for Marta's well-being than even Marta is. Certainly more than the vultures that comprise his family are. When he dies, be it suicide or murder, she will not be to blame. He's determined to that end. So who will ultimately be to blame? That's for the police detectives, and private eye Benoit Blanc (a delightful Daniel Craig) to find out. Great effort. This type of movie was made for the Golden Globes. Maybe even the Oscars. Who knows? But it's definitely droll enough to be nominated in the Musical or Comedy category for the Golden Globes. 3 and 3/4th stars.
7. Zachary Levi, Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy, Best Picture, Musical or Comedy, Shazam! I loved getting to see Billy Batson grow up fast, not only as a teenager making his way in the foster system and protecting his new-found family from the diabolical villain, but also as the newly-formed adult, Shazam. Shazam is a clumsy adult, which he figures out he can become by saying the name Shazam. Will he use his superpowers for good? Or for self-gain? It was a beautiful movie to watch. If there's a sequel, I hope it's half as good. It was delightful seeing the character journey of this installment, from a guy who eats his lunch off of showing off his superpowers on the steps where Rocky ran in Philadelphia to a man who has to go to the theme park at Christmas time with his foster brothers and sisters to teach Dr. Sivana a lesson. Lots of action. Lots of heart. 3 and a half stars.
8. Original Score: Captain Marvel. I liked the story of Carol Danvers. I got that no one thought she could do it when she got injured in a softball game as a little girl. I liked that she had to push herself through Air Force training, that she pulled herself up by her bootstraps, after taking blow upon blow. I loved that she showed what a woman is capable of, joining the Kree, joining the Star Force Military, fighting the Skrulls, and maybe helping an old friend fight alongside her in the intergalactic battle of good and evil, and in doing so set a great example of you can do anything woman power for the said friend's daughter.
9. X-Men: Dark Phoenix. Man, I can't really think of what to nominate it for. So I'll say Jennifer Lawrence, Best Supporting Actress.
10. Yesterday: Himesh Patel, Lily James, Actor and Actress in Musical or Comedy.
I also enjoyed Late Night with Kelly Kapur... I mean Mindy Kaling, and Emma Thompson. (Please consider her for Musical or Comedy Actress!)
I also enjoyed Last Christmas. Emilia Clarke would be a candidate for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy. I also enjoyed, you guessed it, Emma Thompson.
Little was a little bit of af let down, I loved Marsai Martin. She should get a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy. Issa Rae and Regina Hall performed ably as well.
That is literally all of the movies I have seen so far in 2019.
Thank you!
Greg O'Neill