Best Pictures #91: 2022 (95th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee: Top Gun: Maverick

by A.J.

Best Pictures #91: 2022 (95th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee

Top Gun: Maverick

“You’ve been called back to Top Gun.”

I was skeptical, more than skeptical actually, about a sequel to Top Gun thirty-six years later. Even though I enjoy the original very much, and am a big Tom Cruise fan, I was flat out dismissive after seeing the trailer. I was wrong. Very, very wrong. Top Gun: Maverick, a sequel that no one asked for, is not just a fantastic, entertaining summer action movie, it is a masterfully crafted, exciting, and fun movie that every big budget action movie should strive to be like. If it was released in the 1980’s or 90’s this might be just another action movie, but in 2022, Tom Cruise, as star and producer, and director Joseph Kosinski have created a dazzling technical achievement, a thrilling entertainment, and something truly special. 

After his program testing experimental supersonic jets is shut down in favor of a drone program, Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell is called back to the Navy’s elite pilot training program known as Top Gun. However, Maverick won’t just be teaching young pilots, he will be training them for an almost impossible mission deep in enemy territory. Like the first Top Gun movie, the “enemy” is never specified or seen up close. Like the first Top Gun, this film can be seen as patriotic Navy propaganda or an elaborate recruitment video. However, like the first movie, Top Gun: Maverick is neither political nor mindless. It is a thrill ride with enough sense to allow room for characters to grow and even emotions to build. 

This older version of Maverick is a more mature character, deeply informed by the tragedy in his past, the death of his best friend and F-14 Tomcat partner, Goose (played by Anthony Edwards in Top Gun). Maverick is concerned with the safety of his students, but not his own. It is interesting to note that in Top Gun, characters are referred to almost exclusively by their call signs. Before watching the sequel I could not have guessed Maverick's real name. In Top Gun: Maverick, he is called Pete more than a few times. In the training scenes and in the air, Tom Cruise shows us Maverick. In the scenes on the ground, in scenes showing concern and vulnerability, Cruise lets us see Pete Mitchell. I’m a huge fan of Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible movies, but this movie's Oscar nominated screenplay allows for character driven acting that we haven’t seen from Cruise in a while. 

Jennifer Connolly plays Penny, a divorced mother and owner of a bar in Fighterown, USA, the location in San Diego of the Top Gun training facility. She is also an old flame of Maverick. They reconnect in a pretty amusing scene of him violating her bar policy and having to pay for everyone’s drinks. But there are other scenes where Connolly gets to play a mature character, not just a trophy. These more intimate scenes I enjoyed as much as the rest of the movie. 

The other important relationship for Maverick is with Bradley Bradshaw, callsign Rooster, who is Goose’s son and also a Top Gun pilot. I’ve been no fan of Miles Teller, but he does a fine job as Rooster, the cautious flyer with a chip on his shoulder. Maverick pulled strings to set back Rooster’s career as a Navy pilot to keep him safe. Now, Maverick must decide on sending Rooster on a mission with slim chance for survival. Visually, Teller is essentially cosplaying Anthony Edwards as Goose; his entrance is played on the right side of parody. Character-wise Teller and the screenplay avoid the pitfalls of this kind of character; he never comes across as whiny or over burdened, nor is he simply a rehash of Goose. I would have liked more time with the other new pilots (Hangman played by Glen Powell and Phoenix played by Monica Barbaro) but, as is, they are all the movie needs. 

Maverick’s biggest supporter, and the reason he still has a Navy career, is his old rival turned friend, Tom “Iceman” Kazansky (Val Kilmer), now an admiral and commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Iceman is suffering from throat cancer, similar to what Kilmer experienced recently in real life, so he and Maverick communicate via text messages. Kilmer has only one scene where he and Cruise meet face to face and it, like so much of the movie, avoids pitfalls even though it plays out how you might expect. It is a wonderful and emotional character focused scene. 

Top Gun: Maverick received 6 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Adapted Screenplay, Original Song for “Hold My Hand” by Lady Gaga and Bloodpop, Visual Effects, Sound, and Editing. Curiously absent is a nomination for the outstanding cinematography by Claudio Miranda. It is not just that there are great landscapes captured from the air by zooming jets. New techniques were developed to mount the IMAX quality cameras to the jets and Miranda worked with Sony to develop cameras that would fit inside the F-18s. This thrilling point of view footage combined with the excellent and rightfully nominated sound design really make you feel like you are in the jets, flying at supersonic speeds, trying not to blackout as the jets and pilots are pushed to their limits. Cruise made it well known that this movie used real jets and real G-forces and not only did I feel that in the theater, I even felt it watching at home on my regular TV with a regular sound set up. The cinematography and sound and editing and visual effects do more than just create thrills; they effectively convey the danger facing the pilots, which enhances the drama, which in turn adds another layer of substance. 

The references to the first Top Gun are more than just pandering winks and nods. Miles Teller plays “Great Balls of Fire” on a bar piano just like Anthony Edwards did in Top Gun, but this segues to a flashback to the first movie that builds drama while also functioning as exposition. The ending feels contrived but action movies, like horror movies, don’t have to be realistic, they just have to be good and Top Gun: Maverick is the best of the best. 

Nominees: Tom Cruise, Christopher McQuarrie, David Ellison, Jerry Bruckheimer, producers

Director: Joseph Kosinski

Screenplay: Ehren Kruger and Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie; story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks; based on characters created by Jim Cash & Jack Epps Jr.

Cast: Tom Cruise, Jennifer Connolly, Miles Teller, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Val Kilmer

Production Companies: Paramount Pictures, Skydance, TC Productions, Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films

Distributor: Paramount Pictures

Release Date: May 27th, 2022

Total Nominations: 6, including Best Picture

Other Nominations: Adapted Screenplay-Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, Christopher McQuarrie, Peter Craig, Justin Marks; Editing-Eddie Hamilton; Original Song-Lady Gaga, BloodPop for "Hold My Hand"; Sound-Mark Weingarten, James Mather, Al Nelson, Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor; Visual Effects-Ryan Tudhope, Seth Hill, Bryan Litson, Scott R. Fisher

Best Pictures #85: 2022 (95th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee: Avatar: The Way of Water

 by A.J.

Best Pictures #85: 2022 (95th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee

Avatar: The Way of Water

“The way of water has no beginning and no end.”

Thirteen years after the release of the record-breaking mega-hit blockbuster Avatar, the long-delayed sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water, finally made its way to theaters, also becoming a mega-hit. I was no fan of the first Avatar—its admittedly dazzling and impressive visuals were not enough to overcome a mediocre, derivative script and stiff acting from its lead, Sam Worthington—so I was, at best, indifferent about a sequel. Upon this visit to the alien moon of Pandora, the visuals and special effects are still dazzling but somewhat less impressive because we’ve been here before and know that the visual effects goals of writer-director James Cameron are achievable. However, I was much more caught up in the story and events in the Way of Water. For most of, but certainly not all, of its 3-hour 12-minute runtime I was well entertained. 

Sam Worthington returns as the ex-marine Jake Sully, who left his human body permanently for his Na’vi avatar in the first movie. Years have passed and Jake Sully and Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) now have children of various ages and find their home and lives again threatened by invading militaristic humans. Jake and Neytiri have also adopted the young teen-ish daughter of Sigourney Weaver’s character from the first movie, who died. How she came to have a Na’vi daughter is glossed over and forgotten. However, Weaver brings a believable youthful energy to her performance of an adolescent character. Stephen Lang as Quaritch, the villain from the first movie, who died, also returns as a Na’vi clone/hybrid and the “how” and “why" of this are glossed over and forgotten as well. In the first movie the peaceful, nature bonded Na’vi were being driven from their homes so humans could mine a precious mineral. Here, Quaritch and his band of human-Na’vi hybrid soldiers are unleashed simply to seek and destroy Jake Sully in the hopes that this will put down a larger Na’vi insurgency (but this too is glossed over and forgotten). 

If Avatar was James Cameron’s allegory for the plight of Native Americans against Westward Expansion, then The Way of Water is Cameron’s allegory for Vietnam—scenes of the human-Na’vi soldiers harassing natives and burning villages could be taken from any number of Vietnam war movies. This connection is interesting but does not do much to enhance the story’s substance.  

It is not until Jake and Neytiri seek refuge with the seafaring Metkayina Na’vi of Pandora’s coastline and the focus moves decidedly to the kids and their attempts to learn, adapt, and fit in with the teenage/adolescent Metkayina Na’vi that the Way of Water really hits its stride. Indeed, for most of the movie the adult Na’vi are more supporting players. Perhaps the most memorable sights and scenes from this Avatar sequel are the intelligent whale-like Tulkun that the sea-Na’vi share a deep bond with. One of the teen Sully boys forms a bond with an outsider whale that ends up being pretty meaningful.

The action scenes are exciting and thrilling, especially the climax, that is until it drags on and on. At a certain point it felt like things were going wrong just for the sake of making the movie longer. Too many scenes take far too long to revel in the majesty of the natural beauty of Pandora, which is more time for me to think: of course this looks spectacular, it was painstakingly made over years in a computer. As good as this movie is and as much of an improvement over the first film in terms of story, it never really earns its over 3-hour runtime. 

Nominees: James Cameron, Jon Landau, producers

Director: James Cameron

Screenplay: James Cameron & Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver; story by James Cameron, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Josh Friedman, Shane Salerno

Cast: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang

Production Companies: Lightstorm Entertainment, TSG Entertainment

Distributor: 20th Century Studios

Release Date: December 16th, 2022

Total Nominations: 4, including Best Picture

Other Nominations: Production Design-Dylan Cole, Ben Procter, Vanessa Cole; Visual Effects-Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon, Daniel Barrett; Sound-Julian Howarth, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Dick Bernstein, Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Michael Hedges

Best Pictures #47: 2018 (91st) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee: Black Panther

by A.J.

Best Pictures #47: 2018 (91^st) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee

Black Panther

Wakanda Forever!

Marvel’s Black Panther will forever hold a place in Academy Awards history as the very first superhero movie to be nominated for Best Picture. It is also only the second comic book movie to be nominated for Best Picture—the first was Skippy in 1931 (which was my favorite of the Best Picture nominees for that year). Black Panther is also notable for being a major studio movie that features a predominantly black cast and crew. It was the highest grossing film of 2018, received critical acclaim, and now has been nominated for 7 Academy Awards. Despite all of that, Black Panther is most notable of all for standing out amongst the din and spectacle other superhero movies and giving us memorable characters and a new and exciting country: Wakanda.

The fictional African nation of Wakanda is a feast for the eyes. The costumes for its people blend traditional African motifs with a sleek futuristic sensibility with creative and impressive results; it’s no surprise costume designer Ruth E. Carter has received an Oscar nomination for her work. Production designers Hannah Beachler and Jay Hart have received much deserved Oscar nominations for creating the look of Wakanda. The visuals of both interiors and exteriors are exciting and dazzling. The design for the snowy mountain homeland of Wakanda’s reclusive Jabari tribe alone deserves an Academy Award. Most of all the production design creates a high-tech futuristic place that feels like it could be a part of the real world.

Of course, Black Panther is woven into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The African superhero first appeared in Captain America: Civil War, where the king of Wakanda was killed by terrorists making his son, Prince T’Challa, unexpectedly king. T’Challa also became the Black Panther, protector of Wakanda, aided by a super suit and magical potion that gives him super strength. The brilliance of the screenplay by director Ryan Coogler and co-writer Joe Robert Cole is it does not require you to have seen other Marvel superhero movies to enjoy or understand the characters or plot. This might be the most accessible film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe aside from the first Iron Man back in 2008.

Chadwick Boseman plays T’Challa/Black Panther and he does a good job of playing not just a believable superhero but also a believable leader of a country. Though T’Challa is the main character, the stand out characters and performances are in the supporting cast. Michael B. Jordan as Killmonger is easily the most memorable and interesting villain of any Marvel movie. Killmonger is a living breathing person (not just a big CGI bully like Thanos) with understandable though not admirable motivations. T’Challa’s allies are the mostly female and all badass warriors and scientists of Wakanda. Letitia Wright plays Shuri, T’Challa’s younger sister. She is the Q to his James Bond, inventing cutting-edge, high-tech gadgets and since they’re siblings the characters have a lively back and forth banter. Lupita Nyong’o is T’Challa’s ex-girlfriend and Wakanda’s chief spy, Nakia. Danai Gurira is Okoye, Wakanda’s tough and unflappable general. Martin Freeman is good comic relief as a fish-out-water CIA agent awestruck by Wakanda.

I think part of the reason for Black Panther’s success with audiences and critics and the reason it doesn’t feel like just another superhero movie is its story follows the template of a James Bond movie rather than a superhero movie. There is even a memorable action scene set in a posh casino followed by a car chase. The rest of the action sequences are not as jarring or bombastic as those from The Avengers movies. You can follow what is happening and where and who it is happening to; you can actually be engaged in the action. Moreover, there’s reason for the action. Killmonger’s sincere but villainous motivations and T’Challa’s dilemma in being both a protector and a leader add substance to superhero spectacle.  

Nominees: Kevin Feige, producer

Director: Ryan Coogler

Screenplay: Ryan Coogler & Joe Robert Cole

Cast: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o

Production Companies: Marvel Studios

Distributor: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Release Date: February 16^th, 2018

Total Nominations: 7, including Best Picture

Other Nominations: Original Score-Ludwig Göransson; Original Song-Sounwave, Kendrick Lamar, Anthony Tiffith, SZA for "All the Stars"; Costume Design-Ruth E. Carter; Production Design-Hannah Beachler, Jay Hart; Sound Editing-Benjamin A. Burtt, Steve Boeddeker; Sound Mixing-Steve Boeddeker, Brandon Proctor, Peter J. Devlin