Before I make my predictions later this week for who will win an Oscar Sunday and give my opinion on who should win, here are four movies with actors nominated who likely will not win.
Bridge of Spies: Any movie that has the word Spy in the title and does not star Melissa McCarthy is usually not for me, but the magical Steven Spielberg has managed to make one that did not bore me to tears. Tom Hanks, the Jimmy Stewart of our day, plays a lawyer who tries to do what is right by protecting a Russian spy even when no one thinks he should. Oscar Nominated Mark Rylance plays the accused spy, and he's such a good actor (he's extremely well known in the theater world) that he almost makes playing this part look easy. Anyone else who played this probably have acted it with a capital A, and it is to his credit that he didn't. What I liked most about this film is how it played with gray areas of morality. Why is a spy who comes to our country terrible, but a person we send to do the very same job in another country isn't? Spielberg is generally good at presenting these moral quandaries. This is mid level Spielberg here, but compared to most directors that's not too shabby
Bridge of Spies 7 out of 10
Trumbo- I didn't think I'd like Trumbo and frankly I dont think Oscar nominated Brian Cranston, a great actor, does anything particularly interesting here, but I ended up liking the story. Our country has made many bad choices in our history and blacklisting "communists" was one of them. I'm actually surprised the Academy didn't fall harder for this because it's a movie about making movies and the film takes an interesting and sometimes too light hearted approach to the subject matter. I do wish the great Diane Lane's character would have been more complex and I'm glad Helen Mirren wasn't nominated because her character really felt like an underwritten afterthought to me.
Trumbo 7 out of 10
Steve Jobs
I wanted to love Steve Jobs since I like everything Apple invents (except the watch) but I just liked it. Frankly, Michael Fassbender is who elevates the movie for me. Though he looks nothing like Steve Jobs, he really disappeared into the role. At times the Aaron Sorkin rat a tat dialogue is too much, and I didn't like how the film was framed around Steve Jobs making public announcements over the years. Kate Winslet is the only actor in any of these film's that I'm writing about today who could win, and aside from the unique Eastern European accent she speaks, I'm not sure why. Steve Jobs definitely had a lot of flaws but watch it for Michael Fassbender!
Steve Jobs 7 out of 10
45 Years-
I'm glad that Charlotte Rampling has been nominated for an Oscar after an amazing career, but it is her character that gives me the most pause about the movie 45 years. She plays a woman who finds out a secret about her husband after 45 years of marriage and there lies the problem for me. The secret doesn't feel that devastating. However, Rampling's character is devastated and she acts that part very well. I'm not saying that this character doesn't have the right to feel that way, but I just had a really hard time understanding it. I thought a lot about the movie after it was over. It definitely challenged me even if I didn't necessarily love it.
45 Years 7 out of 10
All 7s. Jackpot!
My next blog post will be my Oscar predictions and my favorites of their choices! Look out for that.
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