It's the time of year where Allison and I are at a movie almost weekly as we race to get the Oscar nominees watched! A lot of times it seems almost impossible to get any Best Actress nominees watched because they aren't typically in the Best Picture category - well, with 1 film we added to our female categories!!
First up, we saw Darkest Hour a few weeks ago. It was on some lists as a Best Picture nominee and not on others, so we gambled, and I'm glad it paid off as an official nominee.
Plot: During the early days of World War II, the fate of Western Europe hangs on the newly-appointed British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who must decide whether to negotiate with Hitler, or fight on against incredible odds.
Review: So many thoughts about this movie! First, Gary Oldman did a fantastic job as Winston Churchill - he was unrecognizable as himself and had I not known it was him, I would have NEVER guessed it was him. The film itself was really fascinating, but I think if you weren't familiar with WW2, it would be really confusing. In the last 5 years or so, I've become pretty obsessed with WW2, and I've read a lot of 'women on the home front' books which has lots of small plots that cover battles/historical parts of the war, so I definitely have a better understanding than I did a few years ago. They talk about battles as if everyone knows about them and certain historical people that way too. I did not know that the UK almost negotiated with Hitler and that to me was so fascinating - all the pressure Churchill got to work with Hitler - can you imagine how the world would be today if he'd caved? And all of this was 18 months before America joined the fight - amazing how dire it was for them and they hung on for 5 more years! Overall a fascinating movie, but I don't think it'll win Best Picture... Rating: B+
Next up, I, Tonya. This is not nominated for Best Picture, but Allison has wanted to see it for months, so we finally made that happen! Both Margot Robbie and Allison Janney are nominated (for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress), so once we get through all the Best Picture nominees, we'll have the 2 female categories covered too which is super exciting. #nerdalert
Plot: Competitive ice skater Tonya Harding rises amongst the ranks at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, but her future in the activity is thrown into doubt when her ex-husband intervenes.
Review: Oh man, this was so fun in a dark, dark way. It's sad when you think this is Tonya's real life (or real-ish given this is a movie) - especially when you see her mother physically and verbally abusing her - but at the same time it's so ridiculous you can't help but laugh. The performances were great, even though I knew the story it played out fresh - this is a great movie! Rating: A
4 comments:
Does the tonya movie get into the scandal of the hitmen and broken knees? I know so little of that era of figure skating. Now Michelle Kwan I’m all about. :)
I hardly ever go see movies but your review makes me want to see both of them! Especially because I'm old enough to remember the whole Tonya-Nancy scandal :)
Thumbs up to both! - AP
I loved both of these.
I got to interview some of the crew from Darkest Hour. When I was talking to the Production Designer and Set Decorator, both of whom are British, they said that before this movie, THEY had NO IDEA how close Britain came to complete capitulation. It's fascinating.
Darkest Hour makes an amazing accidental double feature with Dunkirk, btw.
And I, Tonya. Oh man. What can I say that hasn't already been said?
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