Oscars Nominees Reviews
- Nour Mahgoub
- Jan 26, 2016
- 7 min read
In the wake of 2016th Oscar Nominations, it is that time of the year again! We stay in bed where we only move out of it to either use the bathroom or get something to eat. We watch one movie after another before the most awaited event of the year: THE OSCARS! This year my best friend and I made a list of most of the Oscar nominated movies and challenged ourselves to watch all of them before the actual event. So, here is what I think of each movie (NO SPOILERS!):
I have to admit, the first thing that drew my attention to the movie was the collaboration of Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper again. Ever since Silver Lining Playbook, everyone has been shipping them together on the screen. Although they haven’t shared as many scenes as I had hoped, their collaboration was admirable! Anyway, the story line has been repeated before and the ending was expected as well. But, Jennifer did show a little bit of Katniss in her role. By that, I mean the angry-Katniss-defending-her-rights-by-using-all-the-cards-on-the-table was there in the movie. That attitude in those scenes, though, won me over. The movie was mainly about Jennifer so both Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro did not appear much or have big roles, but their acting was, of course, perfection (as Chandler Bing would say)! I honestly did not expect the movie to be so good and I generally enjoyed it.
Before I comment on the movie itself, I have to say that Eddie Redmayne makes one hell of a genuinely beautiful woman! I might have had a girl crush on him/her during the whole movie. The movie was inspired by a true story which is, truly, an enlightenment in itself. The movie had me captivated from the very first minute to the very end. I experienced all the feels; the laughter, the happiness, the excitement, the confusion, the fear, the worry, the sadness and the love. Eddie Redmayne outdid himself! His acting was beyond genius. At points, he literally was a better woman than most women are. He was that good! I find it funny, though, that he was filmed in a wheelchair (having quite similar facial expressions) in both of his great movies: The Theory of Everything and The Danish Girl. Anyway, the movie exceeded my expectations and so did Eddie! He definitely deserves to be nominated for an Oscar. Possibly even win the second one!
First of all, whatever I say won’t do the movie justice. So you must watch the movie yourself even before Leonardo Dicaprio finally wins an Oscar! Secondly, you must have a heart of steal and an empty stomach before you watch it. I had both of my hands covering my eyes during most of the movie! The movie was brilliant but it was horrific, brutal, gruesome and all other similar words in the dictionary. It might be the weirdest movie I have ever watched, yet one of the greatest. Leonardo Dicaprio did not speak many words throughout the whole movie, but his eyes, groans, grunts and body spoke for him. I think The Revenant is Dicaprio’s greatest movie, yet. Although it was disturbing at times, I generally enjoyed it.
I have to say that this movie was way better than I expected! I wouldn’t have watched it if it weren’t been nominated for the Oscars, as I normally don’t like Biography/History based movies. The movie was all about the storyline; focusing on a big scandal of child abuse in Boston back in the day. It is a movie that has opened my eyes to a crime that I would have never thought even existed, or even how massive it actually was! The movie did not depend much on the acting skills as it focused instead on the detailed process of conducting a big news article and the case itself. Although it is not my genre to watch, I am glad I watched it. It was an eye-opener!
I expected the movie to be as great as Interstellar, but maybe no movie ever will come close to its level of greatness! I felt like the general idea was repeated and the storyline was predictable. However, I did love the smart ideas they came up with to survive the hostile planet Mars. I loved how they paid attention to the details; Matt Damon’s change of appearance as time passed by on Mars. The movie was interesting to watch. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time!
If you’re not into Sci-Fi movies like me then don’t expect your eyes to be glued to the screen till you’re 30 minutes into the movie! The Sci-Fi part was only about the alien-like humans, but the movie was purely action based. I felt that the movie was a video game brought to life! My heart was pounding during most of the movie, it was intense. I have enjoyed Tom Hardy in that movie more than in The Revenant. I have enjoyed Charlize Theron and Nicholas Hoult in their roles as well. The movie did not depend on the acting skills as it mainly depended on the graphics and the action, which were brilliant! I believe it is one of the best action movies out there.
I normally don’t understand sophisticated movies that require an advanced level of thinking. I just google the explanation of the movie when the movie ends. The Big Short was about the significant financial crisis of the American economy that took place a while ago. That is all I got from the 2 hours and 10 minutes long movie! The entire movie went straight over my head, and I didn’t even bother understanding it. I have just finished watching it a few minutes ago therefore as I’m typing this, I feel like my brain is about to explode from all the deep thinking during the whole movie-time. I didn’t get the story itself but apparently it discusses an important issue in the history of economy so chapeau?! However, I did enjoy the sight of Brad Pitt, Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling and Steve Carell in one movie. There were a couple of familiar faces in there too which made it a bit more interesting. If you ask me who stole the spotlight in that movie, I’d say Steve Carell. He excelled himself! The role couldn’t have fit him any better!
I have added and removed this movie off my list so many times as neither the poster nor the actors looked appealing to me. However, I eventually decided to watch it and I am so glad I did! It is one of the most heartrending, yet, heartwarming movies I have ever watched. I loved how the movie mainly focused on the child, his innocence and a raw view of life through his eyes. I also loved how the movie brought to light finding joy in the little things. The child, Jacob Tremblay, made me experience all the feelings that he experienced in the movie; the happiness, the sadness, the love, the hate, the confusion, the anger, the fear, the innocence and the guilt. He made me believe it all so for that I take my hat off to him! It is a movie that I will forever enjoy watching.
The movie was nice to watch. Some might even categorize it as a feel-good movie. It was calming somehow, probably because they all spoke in a low voice the whole time (haha). I did expect more from the movie, though. I felt like the ending was too quick for me; I needed to see more of her future (you’ll get what I mean when you watch it). Also, I don’t think that the movie is that great to compete against the other Oscar nominated movies. However, the acting was great. It is generally a good movie to watch.
One thing I am happy about is, that I now know the meaning behind the movie name (you’ll have to watch the movie to understand it). Another thing I am happy about is, that the movie was very vintage (which is normal because supposedly it took place in the 50s). Personally, I think this is the second best movie for Tom Hanks after You’ve Got Mail. To those of you who have a different opinion, let’s agree to disagree! His acting was seriously great. It felt natural too. The storyline was truly engaging. I would have never known about the great Russian/US spies exchange or the parties involved if it weren’t for the movie. Considering that I wasn’t excited to watch it at first, I genuinely enjoyed the movie.
If you have watched the Breaking Bad series, you’d know how great of an actor Bryan Cranston is. As I expected, Bryan Cranston nailed his role! He, again, made me believe that his character was who he really was. I mean for a while, I forgot that it was all just acting and I believed that that was his family, his real job and his story. Bryan Cranston is amazingly enjoyable to watch. Need I say more?! I liked the story and how they narrated the life of Dalton Trumbo. There were moments when my eyes were glued to the screen, wanting to know what would happen next. I don’t think there is anything about the movie I would want to change. It is simply perfect just the way it is!
Now that I’m done, can I just say how glad I am that I finally finished watching these Oscars-nominated movies?! Most of the movies, if not all, were doubtlessly enlightening! Although the movies were a minimum of 2 hours long, which was very tiring at times, I’ve enjoyed every single one of them. For those of you who haven’t seen the movies yet, what have you been waiting for?! Get some inspiration from these reviews and get started! For those of you who did, I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did and let me know what you think!
Now, if it were up to me to call the shots, the following would be my picks of Oscar winners:
Actor in a Supporting Role: Tom Hardy in The Revenant Actress in a Supporting Role: Alicia Vikander in The Danish Girl Actor in a Leading Role: I’m torn between Leonardo Dicaprio in The Revenant and Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl. Actress in a Leading Role: Jennifer Lawrence in Joy Best Picture: This is another tough decision to make. I’d either give the Oscar to Spotlight or to Room. Both movies were discussing important matters, and both were different than any other movie I have watched.
I really don’t know how one does evaluate the following categories, but google gave me an idea. So, the following list of Oscar winners is just my humble opinion:
Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki in The Revenant Costume Design: Sandy Powell in Carol Directing: George Miller in Mad Max: Fury Road Writing (Adapted Screenplay): Emma Donoghue in Room Writing (Original Screenplay): Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy in Spotlight
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