Best Pictures #92: 2022 (95th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee: All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)

by A.J. 

Best Pictures #92: 2022 (95th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee

All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)

“You are fortunate to be living in great times.”

The 2022 version of All Quiet on the Western Front is good enough to stand alongside the best anti-war films, but it will stand out because it is one of the still small number of movies about the First World War, and, most notably, it is German made. Published in 1929, Erich Maria Remarque’s now classic novel about an eager, patriotic German teenager experiencing the true horrors of war on the Western Front in Northern France, was first adapted by Universal Pictures the following year. That film, directed by Lewis Milestone, won Best Picture at the 3rd Academy Awards and remains one of the great anti-war films, with sights that still shock and scenes loaded with undated pathos. The novel and film ran afoul of the emerging Nazi party, who sabotaged screenings before both the novel and film were banned after they took power. Another version of All Quiet on the Western Front (there is also a surprisingly memorable made-for-TV version from 1979), seems unnecessary, but director Edward Berger uses modern cinematic styles and techniques, in addition to modern technology and visual effects, to create a harrowing and effective anti-war film.

Modernizations aside, the biggest difference between this version and the classic film and novel is the addition of scenes of the German High Command negotiating the armistice. Daniel Brühl plays real life German official Matthias Erzberger, who works to negotiate a quick armistice. He is not presented as heroic, but he is frustrated by the stubbornness of the German generals and the arrogance of the French generals, who understand that they are winning. While the politicians and generals quibble over words and protocol, teenage Paul, who joined the German army in spring of 1917 full of patriotic idealism, and his fellow soldiers are suffering and fighting and dying in mud and squalor, in conditions that before 1914 were unimaginable. The sharp and jarring juxtaposition of these scenes is intentional and highly effective. The First World War was called The Great War and The War To End All Wars because the methods of the war and conditions it created were so awful that, surely, there would be nothing after.

Berger’s film excels at something terrible, successfully conveying the horrors of modern industrial war: the grueling and terrible conditions of trench warfare; stabbing a man multiple times only to be trapped in a bomb crater with him as he dies slow enough to make you realize his humanity; the absurd and terrifying sights of soldiers in gas masks; a friend exploding into a spray of blood; WWI era tanks, lumbering steel rhombuses slouching forward and spitting explosions; soldiers with guns that throw fire instead of bullets.   

As Paul, Felix Kammerer is good at being simultaneously a generic stand-in for any young person caught up in their country’s war and a distinct person, easy to distinguish and follow. Albrecht Schuch is memorable as “Kat,” a veteran of the trenches. Paul and Kat have quiet moments together, cherished for their calmness and connection. Paul has an arc, though it is uncomplicated (patriotic idealism into jaded realism), and the rare moments of calmness do not build character so much as they maintain humanity. The amazing and moving speech Paul gives to a group of high school students at the behest of his former teacher (whose words inspired him to enlist), where he tells them that it is awful to die for your country, as well as the final image of the 1930 version, one of the most famous and poignant in film history, are replaced with a new gut wrenching ending.

I read one critic describe Sam Mendes’s WWI film 1917, a Best Picture nominee of 2019, as a movie not about the horrors of war, but a horror movie about war. I am not sure I agree with regards to that movie (I found it extremely tense and affecting, but a bit too thrilling to convey horror), but I believe this sentiment is true of Francis Coppola’s Apocalypse Now and Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket, and, now, perhaps, Edward Berger’s All Quiet on the Western Front; time will tell. This is a rough movie to watch, and I probably would not have seen it if it had not been nominated for Best Picture by the Academy Awards. I was much more willing to watch the 20-minute vomiting and diarrhea scene from Triangle of Sadness than to watch this movie. However, this is one remake I will never begrudge because its effect and the effect of the 1930 version and the novel remain the same: war is cruel and disgusting and the ones who fight and suffer and die have no say in how it is fought or when it ends. 

Nominees: Malte Grunert, producer

Director: Edward Berger

Screenplay: Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson, Ian Stokell; based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque

Cast: Felix Kammerer, Albrecht Schuch, Daniel Brühl

Production Companies: Amusement Park

Distributor: Netflix

Release Date: October 28th, 2022

Total Nominations: 9, including Best Picture

Other Nominations: International Feature Film-Germany; Adapted Screenplay-Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson, Ian Stokell; Cinematography-James Friend; Production Design-Christian M. Goldbeck, Ernestine Hipper; Makeup and Hairstyling-Heike Merker, Linda Eisenhamerova; Original Score-Volker Bertelmann; Sound- Viktor Prasil, Frank Kruse, Markus Stemler, Lars Ginzel, Stefan Korte; Visual Effects-Frank Petzold, Viktor Muller, Markus Frank, Kamil Jaffar

Best Pictures #80: 2021 (94th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee: Dune (2021)

 by A.J. 

Best Pictures #80:

2021 (94th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee

Dune (2021)

 “Fear is the mind killer.”

Frank Herbert’s 1965 epic science-fiction/fantasy novel Dune has long been considered by many to be unfilmable. The fabulous documentary Jodorowsky's Dune details the attempt by cult filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky to adapt the novel. David Lynch’s 1984 version flopped on every front and, despite the cult following it has since built, seemed to prove the novel’s unfilmableness. Now, director Denis Villeneuve also proves that Dune is unfilmable, but in a different way. This version, co-written by Jon Spaihts, Denis Villeneuve and Eric Roth, adapts only half of the novel. However, it did succeed in creating a film that was a massive hit with critics and audiences. A sequel to adapt the rest of the novel was quickly greenlit. Dune (2021) is undeniably a great technical achievement but I was underwhelmed by the characters and story and suspect I only understood the plot and world of Dune because I had recently read the novel and had seen the David Lynch version.  

The plot, in its simplest form, is as follows: In the year 10191, the House of Atreides, led by Duke Leo Atreides (Oscar Isaac) is given charge of the desert planet of Arrakis, also called Dune, source of the spice-melange, a narcotic that makes space travel possible. The former ruling family, led by the evil Baron Harkonan (Stellan Skarsgard), springs a trap that sends the duke’s son, Paul Atreides (Timothee Chalamet) and wife, Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), a member of a mystical spiritual order, into the unlivable deserts of the planet only sparsely populated by the native Fremen people and giant sandworms. 

It’s no surprise that Dune received Oscar nominations for Sound and Visual Effects. The “thropter” aircrafts are particularly memorable and overall the visual effects blend CGI well with the practical elements of just about any scene. However, the Costume and Production Design nominations are more perplexing. The color palette is nearly monochromatic; everything is a shade of brown or beige or yellow. Many of the costumes are black, which doesn’t seem like a good color for the desert, and the interiors are large chambers that might be more impressive if they weren’t so empty.

Before arriving on Arrakis, Paul began having visions and may be the chosen one of ancient prophecies. Timothee Chalamet does a good job as the gifted but inexperienced Paul. Stellan Skarsgard, channeling Marlon Brando as Colonel Kurtz from Apocalypse Now–he even emerges from shadows with water dripping over his bald head–is plenty villainous as Baron Harkonen. Rebecca Ferguson and Oscar Isaac also give good performances, yet I wasn't especially attached to any of the characters. Though the screenplay takes its time with only half of the novel, the film still feels like it is trying to cram in and explain a lot, leaving little time for characters to breathe or intrigue to grow. 

There is enough of a quasi-conclusion that you feel satisfied when the credits roll, though it is clear that the story is not over. I suppose I will watch the sequel/continuation when it is made, but I’m in no rush. However, I don’t think I’ll rewatch this version of Dune before I do; Denis Villanueve’s Dune isn’t a place I would like to revisit. This is a serious, humorless film that not only takes itself very seriously but demands you take it very seriously as well. That is hard to do when so much about the world Frank Herbert created is kind of weird and even silly (in this version we do not see the rhythmless walk Paul and Lady Jessica must do to not attract the worm). David Lynch’s adaptation, for all its flaws, embraced that weirdness and never tried to be “cool.” It took itself seriously but never asked that of the audience, which allows it to be fun. David Lynch’s Dune is a place I have been to many times.  

Nominees: Mary Parent, Denis Villeneuve, Cale Boyter, producers

Director: Denis Villeneuve

Screenplay: Jon Spaihts, Denis Villeneuve, Eric Roth

Cast: Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård

Release Date: October 22nd, 2021

Production Companies: Legendary Pictures

Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures

Total Nominations: 10, including Best Picture

Wins: 6) Cinematography-Greig Fraser; Editing-Joe Walker; Original Score-Hans Zimmer; Production Design-Patrice Vermette (production design), Zsuzsanna Sipos (set decoration); Visual Effects-Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles, Brian Connor, Gerd Nefzer; Sound-Mac Ruth, Mark A. Mangini, Theo Green, Doug Hemphill, Ron Bartlett

Other Nominations: Adapted Screenplay-Jon Spaihts, Denis Villeneuve, Eric Roth; Costume Design-Jacqueline West, Bob Morgan; Makeup and Hairstyling-Donald Mowat, Love Larson, Eva Von Bahr

Best Pictures #79: 2021 (94th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee: Nightmare Alley (2021)

 by A.J. 

Best Pictures #79: 2021 (94th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee

Nightmare Alley (2021)

“Mister, I was born for it.”

I always look forward to the new Guillermo del Toro movie no matter the genre or premise. So much care and consideration and enthusiasm goes into every aspect of a movie that if it misses in one way, it still connects in another. There is always something interesting. This is true of del Toro’s Nightmare Alley. Even though I didn’t entirely enjoy it, I know I will see it again because so much about it lingers in my mind. 

Bradley Cooper plays Stanton Carlisle, a quiet drifter who lands a job at a carnival during the late 1930’s. He listens and observes and comes across as a blank. He learns about the carnival, the flashy side of showmanship and its dirty secrets. Zeena (Toni Collette), the resident psychic/mind reader, takes him under her wing. Along with her severely alcoholic husband (David Strathairn), a now retired mentalist, Stanton helps with her show, all the while picking up how they "read the minds" of the audience. Then he starts talking, finds a stage and romantic partner in Molly (Rooney Mara), finds success, and stops listening and observing. He should have quit while he was ahead, but that’s not who he is and that’s not the kind of movie this is. (If you stop the movie at a certain point about a third of the way through, it’s a happy ending for most of the characters.)

The production design, costumes, and cinematography have all received Oscar nominations which is no real surprise since they are all quite remarkable. The production design and costumes are everything you expect from a Guillermo Del Toro movie set in the 1930’s that takes place in part at a carnival. The whole film is filled with intriguing, memorable imagery whether it is in the rundown carnival (the least whimsical carnival you’ve ever seen outside of a proper horror movie) or the large open spaces of the wealthy. The cavernous office of psychiatrist Dr. Lilith (Cate Blanchett), with whom Stanton partners for a dangerously ambitious con, evokes feelings of discomfort and danger. 

This is a dark film thematically. The original 1947 version, directed by Edmund Goulding and starring Tyrone Power, and del Toro’s version both qualify as Film Noirs: exploring a dark, seedy world and its characters that proper, mainstream society turns away from. The 1947 version remains an effective, gripping, and intense movie despite the restrictions of the Production Code. It mixes in more humanity than the new version, making it more of a tragedy and giving it in some ways a more powerful ending. 

More than one source I found described the 1946 novel, written by William Lindsay Gresham, as bleak. This new adaptation, written by del Toro and Kim Morgan, does not shy away from bleakness. Both versions include the lowest of the carnival performers, the geek, who bites the heads off chickens or snakes. Of course del Toro’s version is more upfront and graphic about showing what the geek does and how someone becomes a geek. “Man or beast?” the barker asks the crowd. It is a man, of course, usually a desperate alcoholic who is manipulated into taking the job and then controlled by feeding his addiction. There aren’t many sympathetic characters here. Controlling the geek or looking the other way is routine for the carnival. Learning the tricks of mentalism, how to do a cold reading on a stranger and trick them into revealing details about themselves, is an exciting thing at first. Then comes exploitation and hubris. The world of wealthy socialites is not much different, just with nicer clothes. Guillermo del Toro has given us many movies about monsters that act like humans, now he’s given us a movie about humans that act like monsters. 

Nominees: Guillermo del Toro, J. Miles Dale, Bradley Cooper, producers

Director: Guillermo del Toro

Screenplay: Guillermo del Toro & Kim Morgan

Cast: Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, Rooney Mara

Release Date: December 17th, 2021

Production Companies:TSG Entertainment, Double Dare You Productions

Distributor: Searchlight Pictures

Total Nominations: 4, including Best Picture

Other Nominations: Cinematography- Dan Laustsen; Production Design-Tamara Deverell (production design), Shane Vieau (set decoration); Costume Design-Luis Sequeira

Best Pictures #77: 2021 (94th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee: West Side Story (2021)

 by A.J.

Best Pictures #77: 2021 (94th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee

West Side Story (2021)

“Life can be bright in America/If you can fight in America/Life is all right in America/If you're all white in America.”

Nearly every remake is unnecessary. The first exceptions that come to mind are John Huston’s The Maltese Falcon, John Carpenter’s The Thing, and Martin Scorsese’s The Departed. Each of these remakes found an approach that made the source material more effective on film, or expanded or modernized the story, or approached it from a different angle. Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, nominated for a total of 7 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Director, makes slight changes here and there to the original and none of them help in any way. The 1957 Broadway musical and 1961 movie version updated the story of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet to the present day (at the time), moved the setting to a then blue collar, multiracial neighborhood in Manhattan, and injected the story with a youthful, lively energy by making it a musical and casting young people as the leads (the first film version of Romeo and Juliet to cast young people in the title roles wouldn't happen until 1968). It may feel dated or classic now, but it also feels very of its moment.

This version keeps the story in late 1950’s Manhattan with the only real update being smoothing over the more uncomfortable racial aspects of the original. Actual Latin actors play the Latin characters and are given more screen time and background. The Upper West Side is shown in the process of being demolished to make way for Lincoln Center (the opening scene of the original movie was filmed where my alma mater, Fordham University Lincoln Center, now stands). The white gang, the Jets, and the Puerto Rican gang, the Sharks, are both the victims of gentrification, but this isn’t really explored beyond signs for demolition and new construction and a protest against evictions in the background.  

One night, Maria (Rachel Zegler) sees Tony (Ansel Elgort) across the dance floor and they meet behind behind the bleachers where he happens to be, seemingly lurking. They kiss and their fates are sealed. Unfortunately Zegler and Elgort don’t have much chemistry which is not good for a Romeo and Juliet adaptation. Scenes with Tony and Maria, even the balcony number, aren’t very compelling and that is when my focus began to wander. The less time between when the lovers meet and when they are married, symbolically or actually, the better. Otherwise, they might go on a boring date to the Cloisters museum and you would wonder why Maria wants to even be around this incredibly dull young man. Ansel Elgort is stiff as a board (I totally unintentionally spelled that “bored'' the first time) in nearly every scene. His lack of charm and charisma nearly sink the whole film, but everything else works well enough to keep the movie afloat. It helps that the real stars of the movie are the songs and dancing. 

Rachel Zegler gives a good performance as Maria but is overshadowed by the more interesting characters: Bernardo (David Alvarez), her brother and leader of the Sharks, and her best friend, Anita (Ariana DeBose, in a standout, Oscar nominated performance). Tony’s hotheaded friend, Riff , is not a very complex character but he is an exciting one thanks to a great performance by Mike Faist. Rita Moreno, who won an Oscar for playing Anita in the original, is cast as the owner of the store where Tony works. Her presence is always welcome (whether she was in the original version of something or not) and she can’t help but be good, but the film seems to rely on her to lend it credibility.  

The cinematography by Janusz Kaminski is dazzling and uses lens flair and faux spotlights with great frequency but also to great effect. The production design and costumes are also great and eye catching, as you might expect. All have received Oscar nominations. The “rumble” scene in a salt warehouse is an exciting scene from start to finish that makes great use of all three elements. 

It took me a while to catch on that the order of songs had been changed and also who sings them. In the original, Riff and the Jets sing “Gee, Officer Krupke”, a song mocking the policeman always harassing them, directly to Officer Krupke, which is a pretty daring and defiant thing to do to a cop. Here, the Jets, sans Riff, sing it while waiting around in lock up after Officer Krupke has left. Tony is given more songs to sing which is a mistake. After the "rumble" scene there are only two songs, both of which are downbeat, and the movie really loses steam. These changes feel arbitrary and detrimental to the songs’ effectiveness and the flow of the story. It turns out that the creators of the original West Side Story thought out which order would make the songs most effective and found the best way. 

Is this version of West Side Story bad? No. Is it good? I suppose. I guess changing the order of the songs was one of the only ways this version could distinguish itself from the original. The sensibilities about race and gender and the acting styles have changed, but nothing else is really different. This is still the same story from 1957 that spoke to that era. A version of the story from Bernardo or Anita’s perspective or more directly dealing with gentrification or modern racial dynamics would mean the story would change. New songs would be required. If the plot or time period or setting were significantly changed then it wouldn’t be West Side Story. Spielberg and company set out to do West Side Story and that’s what they did.

P.S.

There is another movie musical from 2021 based on a Broadway show about a Hispanic/Latin neighborhood in Manhattan undergoing changes like gentrification with charming, lively characters dealing with these changes while also trying to live their idea of the American dream...and none of the characters are even in a gang or wield a knife. It is In the Heights, relatable and moving no matter your background or location, and it is the best movie of 2021. 

Nominees: Steven Spielberg, Kristie Macosko Krieger, producers

Director: Steven Speilberg

Screenplay: Tony Kushner; based on the stage play, book by Arthur Laurents

Cast: Ansel Elgort, Rachel Zegler, Ariana DeBose, Rita Moreno

Release Date: December 10, 2021

Production Companies: Amblin Entertainment, TSG Entertainment

Distributor: 20th Century Studios

Total Nominations: 7, including Best Picture

Other Nominations: Supporting Actress-Ariana DeBose; Director-Steven Spielberg; Cinematography-Janusz Kaminski; Costume Design-Paul Tazewell; Production Design-Adam Stockhausen (production design), Rena DeAngelo (set decoration); Sound-Tod A. Maitland, Gary Rydstrom, Brian Chumney, Andy Nelson, Shawn Murphy

13 Nights of Shocktober: The Fly (1958)

by A.J.

This is my favorite time of year, second only to Christmas. Autumn has arrived, the weather is cooling down, and October becomes the month-long celebration of scary movies called Shocktober. So, in the days leading up Halloween I’ll be posting some scary movie recommendations to help you celebrate Shocktober.

Night 6: Creature Feature Night

“They wouldn't harm anything, not even a fly.”

The Fly (1958)

The 1950’s saw the rise of the science fiction genre as the framework to tell both adventure stories and horror stories. Concerns brought on by the Atomic Age and sudden advances in science and technology manifested themselves on screen with stories about mad scientists, man-made monsters, and the unintended consequences of science run amok. Given its premise and its more famous, and grotesque, remake, the original version of The Fly, released in 1958, may not be the sci-fi/horror movie you would expect.

The premise is certainly schlock B-movie material, but the screenplay by Shogun author James Clavell and solid performances from the cast give this movie just enough depth to make it a step above a hokey exploitation picture. The story of a brilliant scientist that accidentally merges his body with a housefly while experimenting with teleportation checks all the boxes of a 1950’s sci-fi/horror, but this movie also works as a drama and presents itself as a mystery. The film opens with the body of a scientist, Andre Delambre (Al Hedison), being discovered in a metal factory he owns. His head and left arm were crushed in a metal press. His wife, Helene (Patricia Owens), says she murdered him but was only following his final wish. Andre’s brother, François (Vincent Price) and a police inspector listen to her tell her story.

Most of the movie is of Andre and Helene’s happy, idyllic homelife with their son. Andre is a good husband and father and an ambitious, hardworking scientist. He is nowhere close to being like the mad scientists that were common in sci-fi movies of 1950’s. The movie invests so much in Andre that it is more tragic than thrilling when he is transformed into a fly-man creature. Hedison does a good job in human form, but when he loses the ability to speak, he uses exaggerated body language to communicate and goes a bit over the top. Patricia Owens gives a great and believable performance that is the emotional center of the movie. Vincent Price is a supporting player here and does an excellent job playing the kind and caring brother of Andre.

The Fly plays like a slow burn to a big reveal. You can see that reveal coming from several miles away, but it still feels like a shocking moment. This is by no means a gross film in terms of special effects, but because the subject involves flies, which nearly every person finds repulsive, it has an icky feel. Even with dated special effects, the shock value of The Fly still works. When Vincent Price finally finds the fly with a human head and arm, it is still a creepy and disturbing sight.

The Fly became an influential film thanks in large part to its two big reveals. It would become a common pop culture reference (even parodied in The Simpsons' Halloween special Treehouse of Horror VIII) and be remade with great success in 1986 by David Cronenberg. In Joe Dante’s 1993 film Matinee, the fictional B-movie promoter played by John Goodman is debuting a film called MANT, about a half-man half-ant creature. I put off watching this version of The Fly for a long time because I wasn’t expecting much more than a hokey drive-in movie. After finally watching it earlier this year, I can see why this film stood apart from others in the genre and has stuck around for so long.

Best Pictures #53: 2018 Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee: A Star is Born

by A.J.

Best Pictures #53: 2018 Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee

A Star is Born

“We’re Far From the Shallow Now”

I was skeptical when I saw the trailer for A Star is Born; it seemed like just a big budget vanity project for Bradley Cooper who stars, co-writes, directs, and sings. When I finally saw A Star is Born, I was more than pleasantly surprised. Before the credits rolled, this film had me so thoroughly entertained and moved, I knew this was the kind of experience I hope to have (and so rarely get) when I go to the movies.

This is the fourth version of A Star is Born. The previous versions were made in 1937 with Janet Gaynor and Fredric March, 1954 with Judy Garland and James Mason, and 1976 with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson. In 2018, Bradley Cooper plays Jackson Maine, an alt-country singer-songwriter who can still pack auditoriums but is deep into alcoholism and substance abuse. One night, at what Jackson is too drunk to realize is a drag bar, he meets a talented young waitress and singer named Ally played by Lady Gaga. He immediately recognizes her talent, invites her to his next concert, drags her out on stage to sing the song she sang for him the night before, and overnight, yes, a star is born.

The music in A Star is Born is good enough to justify the success of the fictional musicians. Jackson Maine’s songs are just the right blend of country and rock to have mass appeal. The break out hit from the soundtrack is “Shallow” sung by both Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. It would be a complete and utter shock if it did not win the Oscar for Best Original Song. As a performer, Lady Gaga is famous for her over the top and outlandish theatrics that for me always distracted from her voice and music, which I quite enjoy. Here, her voice and skills as a songwriter are front and center. As an actress, she, unsurprisingly, has a great screen presence and proves that she is not just a musician trying to be a movie star. She is the emotional center of A Star is Born. We believe and never question her love and loyalty for Jackson despite his alcoholism. Lady Gaga's nomination for Best Actress is well earned. 

Bradley Cooper plays one of the most believable drunks I’ve seen on screen. When playing an alcoholic any actor or actress has the temptation to go for big showy scenes of sloppy behavior. Cooper, wisely, and more accurately, plays Jackson as someone that is a little drunk all the time. The people closest to Jackson as aren't worried about him flying off the handle as they are about keeping him on his feet. He remembers that alcohol is a depressant, so his outbursts are as sleepy as they are soul crushing and regrettably memorable. Sam Elliott turns in a great performance, of course, as Jackson’s older brother and is nominated for Best Supporting Actor. I found a particular delight in watching Andrew Dice Clay play Ally’s father because he is playing a character we so rarely see on film, a believable loving and supportive father.  

A Star is Born has picked up 8 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, but shockingly Cooper did not receive a Best Director nomination. Retelling A Star is Born was a passion project for Cooper; he held on to the project until he was the right age to play Jackson Maine. Finding a compelling and engaging way to tell a story that has been told three times before is no easy feat. I watched all 3 previous versions recently and it is amazing how A Star is Born 2018 hits so many of the same beats, and even has the some of the same dialogue as the previous versions but does not feel like a tired rehash. The approach Cooper the director and cinematographer Matthew Libatique take toward the material makes every scene look and feel fresh even as we move down a familiar path. 

A Star is Born is something almost nonexistent today: a movie for grown-ups from a major studio. This film does not condescend to its audience and allows its characters to behave to like real people dealing with serious problems. This is a sentimental picture but that sentiment is earned. Jackson and Ally’s romance is believable because of the hard valleys we see them experience as well as the peaks. A darkness looms over Jackson, but Ally does what she can for him, and for herself, because that’s what you do for someone you love. A Star is Born works as love story, a drama, a fantasy and cautionary tale of stardom, and a story about substance abuse all wrapped up in a soundtrack of great music. Even if you know where the story is going it is so well executed that every moment and every emotion is still gripping and affecting. There may be another A Star is Born made 20 years from now, but I think this one will remain as the stand out.

Nominees: Bill Gerber, Bradley Cooper and Lynette Howell Taylor, producers

Director: Bradley Cooper

Screenplay: Eric Roth and Bradley Cooper & Will Fetters; based on A Star is Born by William A. Wellman and Robert Carson

Cast: Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga, Sam Elliott

Production Companies: Warner Bros. Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, Live Nation Productions, Gerber Pictures, Peters Entertainment, Joint Effort

Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures

Release Date: October 5^th, 2018

Total Nominations: 8, including Best Picture

Other Nominations: Actor-Bradley Cooper; Actress-Lady Gaga; Supporting Actor-Sam Elliott; Adapted Screenplay-Eric Roth, Bradley Cooper, Will Fetters; Cinematography-Matthew Libatique; Original Song-Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando, Andrew Wyatt for "Shallow"; Sound Mixing-Tom Ozanich, Dean A. Zupancic, Jason Ruder, Steven Morrow

Total Recall Review

by A.J.

The irony of this year’s Total Recall being produced by a company called Original Film is not lost on me. The 1990 version of the film, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and directed by Paul Verhoeven, and the 2012 version are based on a Phillip K. Dick short story called We Can Remember It For You Wholesale. The story concerns a clerk, bored with his life, who goes to a company to get the memory of an exciting trip to Mars implanted in his memory. We Can Remember It For You Wholesale is concise, explanation heavy, and has a twist ending like an old Twilight Zone episode.

In a moment of audience participation with the confused main character Quaid, you get the distinct feeling that you’ve seen this movie before, even if you haven't seen the original. Each film version  has its own idea of how to expand on the short story, unfortunately 2012’s Total Recall seems to be so concerned with not being influenced by the original that, except for some winks and nods, it mostly borrows from every other sci-fi and action movie from the past 30 years: floating cars from The Fifth Element, fighting style from The Bourne Identity, cityscapes of Blade Runner and Minority Report, a weightless action scene from Inception, even a little bit of The Matrix.

The biggest difference between the two films is that this one does not go to Mars. Mars is mentioned in passing (one of those winks). In the world of this Total Recall, the earth has been scorched by chemical warfare and the only inhabitable locations are The Colony (Australia) and the United Federation of Britain (Britain… I think, the movie isn’t too good about distinguishing location despite showing us a map at the beginning). Colin Farrell plays Quaid, an assembly line worker who longs for something more than his life of routine. He, like most of the public in this movie, commutes from The Colony to UFB via an elevator through the center of the earth. This tunnel is demonized by a rebel organization as a symbol of the oppression of The Colony under Britain led by Chancellor Cohaagen.

After a trip to the fake memory company, Rekall, which here is like a seedy opium den but was a respectable business in the earlier film, Quaid finds himself being pursued by robot police machines and his wife who is really a government agent. But maybe this is all just part of the memory adventure he bought from Rekall? This movie doesn’t seem too concerned with that question. It doesn’t seemed too concerned with anything other than sci-fi action, which is in itself pretty good. But why should I care? Quaid’s resistance contact played by Jessica Biel doesn’t seem too concerned about Quaid and neither does anyone else except for his wife (Kate Beckinsale) who has the singular goal of killing him. In the original, Quaid was easy to sympathize with and feel for; so many characters cared about him. Even Cohaagen cared about Quaid since they were friends before Quaid joined the resistance and he hoped they could be friends again.

It’s hard not to compare a remake to the original, and that’s not how you should critique a movie. But it’s especially hard not to when the original was so good at what is set out to do and holds up very well. In the 1990 movie, the Earth scenes were shot in Mexico City, the time was the discernible near future where there were TV screens in your wall, full body X-rays at public transportation hubs, video phones everywhere, TV ads on the subway… you get the drift. The future-scape of the new version is CGI, of course, but it is also such a “standard” vision of the future that it is forgettable and dull. Everything in the future is shades of gray and other dark, muted colors. With the original you could read the plot anyway you wanted and it worked: whether you thought it was all real, or just a dream Quaid purchased. The 1990 Total Recall was a thrilling adventure. The new one is an unrelenting chase, and when it is over not much different than before. Think for a moment and ask yourself, which would you rather pay for?