The 94th Academy Award Winners

Well, it was more eventful than last year's show.

They gave eight awards out ahead of time, then edited the acceptance speeches into the show. A little awkward, but I didn't hate it as much as I thought I might. This led the producers to think we had enough time for two musical numbers from Encanto.

The three hostesses (Wanda Sykes, Regina Hall, Amy Schumer) juggled comedic duties. I thought Hall's bit about privately testing the singles actors like Bradley Cooper and Tyler Perry backstage for COVID was funny, and Schumer had some good lines in her own monologue. ("Being the Ricardos is like if they did a Michael Jordan biopic but only showed the bus rides between games.") Sykes's pre-recorded detour of the new Hollywood museum should have been cut in half or dropped.

But the one they're going to be talking about is the Will Smith altercation. Chris Rock poked fun at a couple celebs but then joked about Jada Pinkett Smith preparing for G.I. Jane 2. At first Will laughed along but then he saw the look on Jada's face. Some back-story: Jada has alopecia. Smith marched up to Chris Rock and gave him a full slap on the face. American audiences didn't see the next ten seconds but clips from other broadcasts have gone viral to show that Smith stayed upset ("Keep my wife's name out of your f---ing mouth!") Rock then introduced the nominees for Best Documentary.

And then a half-hour later, Will won. It's quite something to behold his speech. He did ultimately apologize to the Academy, but not to Chris Rock. I'll be fascinated to see what tomorrow's headlines are like.

The winners:

BEST PICTURE - CODA

BEST DIRECTOR - Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog

BEST ACTOR - Will Smith, King Richard

BEST ACTRESS - Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR - Troy Kotsur, CODA

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS - Ariana DeBose, West Side Story

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY - Sian Heder, CODA

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY - Kenneth Branagh, Belfast

BEST ANIMATED PICTURE - Encanto

BEST DOCUMENTARY PICTURE - Summer of Soul

BEST FOREIGN PICTURE - Drive My Car (Japan)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY - Dune

BEST COSTUNE DESIGN - Cruella

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS - Dune

BEST ORIGINAL SONG - "No Time to Die", Billie Eilish

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE - Hans Zimmer, Dune

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN - Dune

BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING - The Eyes of Tammy Faye

BEST EDITING - Dune

BEST SOUND - Dune

BEST ANIMATED SHORT - The Windshield Wiper

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT - The Queen of Basketball

BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT - The Long Goodbye

X - Movie Review

Starring Mia Goth, Jenny Ortega, Martin Henderson, Brittany Snow, Scott Mescudi, Owen Campbell and Stephen Ure.

Written & Directed by Ti West.

★★½ 

Ti West's horror movies have always been more about atmosphere than actual scares. I was reminded of this during the second half of the movie, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

His House of the Devil was homage to satanic-panic films like Rosemary's Baby, and his The Innkeepers was homage to haunted-hotel movies like The Shining. This is his homage to 1970's slasher flicks like Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

It's set in 1979, and West uses stock changes and quick edits to give it that grindhouse feel. The scene is set when we see some Texas police officers surveying a bloody scene at a farmhouse. Dead body in the front yard, blood all over the porch, more gruesomeness inside. Then we rewind 24 hours to see how we got here.

We meet aspiring actress Maxine (Mia Goth), her adult-film producing boyfriend (Martin Henderson), auteur-wannabe RJ (Owen Campbell) who believes smut films can be made artfully, and three others along to help. They've rented a guesthouse on a farm in rural Texas to make their own porno The Farmer's Daughters. They haven't told the old Christian couple they're renting from what they're doing, and the first half of the movie is about building the tension, but once the killing starts, the suspense and atmosphere masterfully woven gives way to tongue-in-cheek gore.

I can't say it's ever scary. Suspenseful, yes. Scary, no. When I think of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, there's that scare of the first kill, and the scares build from there. Here, these young people get separated too easily, going off one by one to look for the others that are missing. I was also distracted the entire movie by one baffling decision. Rather than get an older actress to play the wife, Mia Goth plays the role in heavy old-age make-up. Why? It's obvious it's a younger woman in old-age make-up. Could never suspend my disbelief on that one. (The answer actually comes in a hilarious post-credits stinger).

So... I admire the craft. The cast. The editing. The music. I suppose we're in a new era. It seems like it's not possible for slasher flicks to be scary anymore. Maybe I'm jaded. At least the occasional supernatural horror movie can still land.

The Batman - Movie Review

Starring Robert Pattinson, Zoe Kravitz, Paul Dano, Jeffrey Wright, Colin Farrell, John Turturro, Andy Serkis, Peter Sarsgaard, and Jayme Lawson.

Written by Matt Reeves & Peter Craig.

Directed by Matt Reeves.

★★★½ 

There are several familiar elements that get swirled together in this dark walk through the irredeemable Gotham City. It honors the Nolan trilogy while borrowing just as much from David Fincher, particularly Se7en and Zodiac. I liked Matt Reeves' desire to emphasize the detective elements of Batman. This has always been a strong trait of him in the comic books, but maybe it hasn't been emphasized as much in the films.

Batman is allowed into crime scenes. Somehow this masked vigilante, who's only been doing this two years, has the trust of Lt. Gordon (Jeffrey Wright), though most of the other cops think it's out of line. Gotham is being plagued by a serial killer named the Riddler (Paul Dano), leaving clues along the way as to whom his next victim will be. 

The theme of Gotham is rot. It's a metropolis where too many cops, lawyers, and politicians have been corrupted, to where a known crime boss like Carmine Falcone (John Turturro) can peddle his wares without fear or retribution. Batman deals with criminals his way, and they're usually ground-level thugs, but the Riddler wants to expose and kill the biggest targets he can find.

The screenplay doesn't let Pattinson do much besides brood as Bruce Wayne. In many ways, he's more in character as Batman. The suit does a lot of work, but he has the "presence" one needs in a suit like that. Every supporting actor has at least One Scene where they go toe-to-toe with Pattinson and are allowed to shine. Batman's felt a lot like the host of the coolest rogue gallery out there and that's true here. 

Dano is nice and creepy as Riddler and it's deep into the movie before we see him out of disguise. His showdown with Batman really does it. Behind his glasses, he has an unnerving serial killer smile. Farrell is terrific as Penguin. If you'd just told me "someone famous" is playing him, I don't know if I could have figured out it was him. The makeup's tremendous, and under that disguise, Farrell most resembled DeNiro's take on Al Capone from The Untouchables. It really is a shame they wouldn't Penguin smoke in the movie. This guys "needs" to be chomping on a cigar while he does business.

I'll be curious how it holds up under a second viewing. It'll be on HBOMax in about 35 days, so that's when we'll see.

Uncharted - Movie Review

Starring Tom Holland, Mark Wahlberg, Antonio Banderas, Sophia Ali, Tati Gabrielle, Steven Waddington and Pingi Moli.

Written by Rafe Judkins, Art Marcum & Matt Holloway.

Directed by Ruben Fleischer.

★★½ 

Uncharted follows the tradition of National Treasure and Red Notice, of people hopscotching around the world looking for valuable treasure in a movie that doesn't take itself too seriously, nor does it try to elevate the genre. It is what it is and no more.

Tom Holland plays Nathan Drake, a young man who studied Magellan with his brother but is now a bartender/petty thief. He gets a job offer from Victor "Sully" Sullivan (Mark Wahlberg), a treasure hunter who knew Nathan's long-lost brother. He wants Nathan to help him find Magellan's treasure. 

There's a lot of double-crosses in the film, and they never really explain why Nathan's so good at hand-to-hand combat. A brief shot of him exercising covers it, I guess. The final chase scene / fight showdown would have been comfortable in Jungle Cruise.

It held my interest throughout, and it's fun to watch Tati Gabrielle (You) play a heavy. It leaves itself wide open for a sequel with two mid-credits stingers at the end. It's fine. It's okay. I've never played the game so can't speak to how faithful or unfaithful it is with the source material. Catch a matinee or wait for it to stream.

SAG Award Winners

The SAG Awards are on of my favorites. Not too many categories, so it's all done in two hours. In Memorium is only actors, so no agents or attorneys in there. Many shout-outs to Ukraine, whose president is a "fellow actor". Just about every acceptance speech was good; had some real teary-eyed gratitude come from Will Smith, the Squid Game crew, the CODA crew, and most moving was Michael Keaton, who lost his nephew to a drug overdose.

MOVIES

Best Cast - CODA

Best Actor - Will Smith, King Richard

Best Actress - Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye

Best Supporting Actor - Troy Kotsur, CODA

Best Supporting Actress - Ariana DeBose, West Side Story

Best Stunt Ensemble - No Time to Die

TV

Best Cast Drama - Succession

Best Cast Comedy - Ted Lasso

Best Actor Drama - Lee Jung-jae, Squid Game

Best Actress Drama - HoYeon Jung, Squid Game

Best Actor Comedy - Jason Sudeikis, Ted Lasso

Best Actress Comedy - Jean Smart, Hacks

Best Actor Miniseries - Michael Keaton, Dopesick

Best Actress Miniseries - Kate Winslet, Mare of Easttown

Best Stunt Ensemble - Squid Game

Lifetime Achievement Award - Helen Mirren