Category Archives: Oscar Awards

7 DAYS OF OSCAR COUNTDOWN ~ DAY 3 ~ BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

02/28/2018 Peggy Marie 1 Comment

We are only on Day Three of the ‘SEVEN DAYS OF OSCARS’ countdown and already we are at ‘Best Supporting Actress’. You know that magical time of year where once again, I give a countdown of my top Oscar categories- who I think will win – and what my pick would be – as those two choices sometimes differ.

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
NOMINEES

MARY J. BLIGE
Mudbound
Just flat out no.

ALLISON JANNEY ~ MY PICK/WINNER
I, Tonya
As if we couldn’t love Ms. Janney anymore – she comes out with the crazy, over-the-top role playing an actual real person, who is only mean, but funny. Hands down best performance.

LESLEY MANVILLE
Phantom Thread
okay now honesty gets the best of me here and I can say I haven’t seen this yet – Will be doing so this week so I can’t fairly judge this performance…yet.

LAURIE METCALF
Lady Bird
Laurie Metcalf was the best thing about this movie and I wouldn’t be mad if the Academy granted it to her.

OCTAVIA SPENCER
The Shape of Water
Before I saw I, Tonya or Lady Bird, my pick would have been Octavia. To me, she is always a standout in any movie she is in. I can love that she got nominated once again.

@pegsatthemovies

Oscar Awards

7 DAYS OF OSCAR COUNTDOWN ~ DAY 2 ~ BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

02/27/2018 Peggy Marie 2 Comments

We are only on Day Two of the ‘SEVEN DAYS OF OSCARS’ countdown and already we are at ‘Best Supporting Actor’. You know that magical time of year where once again, I give a countdown of my top Oscar categories- who I think will win – and what my pick would be – as those two choices sometimes differ.

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
NOMINEES

WILLEM DAFOE
The Florida Project
As much as I do love most of Dafoe’s work – and did like this movie – it just wasn’t a ‘love’ for me.

WOODY HARRELSON
Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri
Woody was good in this film. It was a classic, good Woody and I wouldn’t be mad if he won.

RICHARD JENKINS
The Shape of Water
I was give or take here.

CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER
All the Money in the World
Unfortunately I’ve not seen this film, so have missed the performance. It happens.

SAM ROCKWELL ~ MY PICK/WINNER
Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri
And of course you knew if you follow me anywhere how much I loved this performance. While Rockwell’s career has probably had more misses than hits, McDonagh definitely knows how to bring out the hits in him.

Oscar Awards

COUNTDOWN: 7 DAYS OF OSCAR ~ DAY 1 ~ BEST SCREENPLAYS: ADAPTED & ORIGINAL

02/26/2018 Peggy Marie Leave a comment

Well here we are! The ‘SEVEN DAYS OF OSCARS’ are back. You know that magical time of year where once again, I give a countdown of my top Oscar categories- who I think will win – and what my pick would be – as those two choices sometimes differ. This year I’m starting off gently with the writing categories or “Best Adapted Screenplay” & “Best Original Screenplay”

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)
NOMINEES

CALL ME BY YOUR NAME – WINNER
Screenplay by James Ivory
I think I would be best served by reading the book on this one, as I didn’t love the film.

THE DISASTER ARTIST
Screenplay by Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber
A fun romp this was, but not a winner for me.

LOGAN
Screenplay by Scott Frank & James Mangold and Michael Green; Story by James Mangold
I really enjoyed this movie and it would be very nice to see the last film of this franchise win something like this. But it won’t.

MOLLY’S GAME – MY PICK
Written for the screen by Aaron Sorkin
We all know Aaron Sorkin can write TV – and now I know he can write a film also.

MUDBOUND
Screenplay by Virgil Williams and Dee Rees
Not my favourite film nor can I imagine if it follows suit of the book, would I care for it either. The parts about the U.S = real, the parts about Europe = not so much.

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)
NOMINEES

THE BIG SICK
Written by Emily V. Gordon & Kumail Nanjiani
Cute script/movie

GET OUT
Written by Jordan Peele
While I commend this first write of a decent film, it just wouldn’t be my pick, but it’s a very possible winner.

LADY BIRD
Written by Greta Gerwig
Another decently done script. But I can only give it a like.

THE SHAPE OF WATER
Screenplay by Guillermo del Toro & Vanessa Taylor; Story by Guillermo del Toro
Completely stunning story. Where these ideas come from is from a truly brilliant mind.

THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI ~ MY PICK//WINNER
Written by Martin McDonagh
McDonagh said in his interview that years ago, was driving somewhere in rural US and saw a billboard that while he can’t remember what it said, noted that it stuck in his mind to the point where he wrote a story about it.

Comedy, Crime, Dark Comedy, Drama, Dramady, Movie Reviews, Movies, Oscar Awards

REVIEW: “THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI” (2017) Fox Searchlight

11/28/2017 Peggy Marie 7 Comments

Step right up Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell and please just accept your Oscar’s for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor already. Yes, truly they are that good and that’s how I feel. And hey, throw in a Best Picture nod while you’re at it please!!!

This wonderfully dark comedy featuring a brash, outspoken and very funny McDormand in the lead role as Mildred Hayes, a divorcee from Ebbing, Missouri and let me tell you, Mildred is one extremely pissed woman at her local Police Department. Most especially Sherriff Willougby (Woody Harrelson), and she is not afraid to let everyone know this as she rents out 3 billboards on the outskirts of town at $5000 a month from Red Welby (Caleb Landry Jones). The way Mildred see’s it is it’s been seven months since her teenage daughter Angela (Kathyrn Newton) was raped, murdered and set ablaze on a quiet stretch of country road, and yet still no arrests have been made or suspects identified. Mildred and many others in the town, feel as the local Sherriff’s dept. are “too busy torturing black folk”. And she’s right as Officer Jason Dixon (Sam Rockwell) has been investigated for doing just that. Sheriff Willoughby however, doesn’t much like being publicly mocked by billboards that read: “Still No Arrests?” “How Come, Chief Willoughby?” and “Raped While Dying.”
And the story that unfolds before you is one that will capture every emotion you thought you never had. This is a hard -edged drama, but with enough sarcastic comedy in it to somehow keep it funny through a dark subject throughout the film. This film is a brilliant piece of storytelling that somehow has stories within that all fit together in the end in a 360 degree type circle.

McDormand is simply superb as the mother whose anger is just part of her problems in life. She breaks this character down inch by inch in front of us in such detail you are sure not to forget her anytime soon. Rockwell – who let’s face it, can be very ‘hit or miss’ with his performances, here he is so crazy good and volcanically funny that you want to almost applaud whenever he shows up, as he somehow he makes Dixon both horrendous and humane – sometimes both in a same breath – it is truly a tremendous performance. Harrelson is wonderful, yet sarcastic, a bit vulgar and yet even in the face of death, funny. Peter Dinklage as James, the town’s only ‘small person’, Lucas Hedges in another fine performance as Mildred’s son Robbie and John Hawkes as the ex-husband, truly round up a great supporting cast. The only true problem I had any of this cast was with Harrelson’s wife Penelope (Samara Weaving) as the being 1/2 his age part wasn’t the only blur, but how in the world is an Australian somehow in this little backwoods town of Ebbing, Missouri. Besides that, it truly is a flawless picture by Martin McDonagh and not only my favourite film of the year so far, but hopefully a shoe-in for a couple of those Oscars!

Grade: A
@pegsatthemovies

Media Screening Review: Monday, November 6, 2017 ~ Courtesy of Fox Searchlight
“THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI” is now playing nationwide // International release in Jan 2018

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FINAL DAY: COUNTDOWN TO THE OSCARS ~ “BEST PICTURE”

02/26/2017 Peggy Marie 6 Comments

WE ARE HERE!!! The final day of my Oscar Countdown and I’ve saved the biggest and best for last. While this is a very good slate of films, and most of them deserve to be here, for the first time ever, I don’t have a picture that I truly ‘LOVED’ this year in this category as Nocturnal Animals wasn’t nominated. I liked them all, again, some more than others, and while I still have a pick – there is no one clear choice for me. That and my pick has no chance of winning whatsoever. So with that being said…I always hope for a few fun upsets!

BEST PICTURE

Arrival
While I really enjoyed this film, one of the best Sci-Fi movies I’ve seen, but can I roll with it for best picture? nah, but it is worth a watch, especially if you like this genre. It also has a very relevent message for this day and age of politics that we now live in. It shows that hate for something or someone different, really doesn’t need to be. Truthfully right now, I would trust an alien more than the circus clown act we have in charge at the moment.

Fences
While I liked this film at points, on other points it just lagged or went to fast as they literally took every single word from the play and put it into the film. I get it, you don’t want to mess with the original sometimes, but in this case, trimming it down some would have been beneficial and the movie suffered as a result of not doing so.

Hacksaw Ridge
Let’s face it, the first 45 minutes of this was an absolute cheese-fest. The remainder – sort of a gore-fest. And while it did good at the points of making you flip-flop on what you wanted that main character to do, it also gave us some Brits & Aussies doing terrible attempts at southern accents.

Hell or High Water
While it’s good to see a film be remembered from earlier in the year, and I liked the film, it just really never struck a chord with me as award material when watching.

Hidden Figures
I enjoyed this film a lot and it was about time something was done and made about these three fantastic women and what they contributed to our NASA space program in the 60’s. It had some big ups and a few downs with the tone of it all.

La La Land – WINNER
With an opening scene that I just loved and so well done, you would think the rest of the film was going to be just as good. It’s not. Mind you it’s a good watch, but far from a great one and just a little to far-fetched, cutsey perfect for me. But hey, WHIPLASH was so damn good and was what a jazz story could be, that well, I guess I’ll give a groan when this wins, but I can’t hate on it completely.

Lion – MY PICK
While far far from a perfect film, the first half delivers big and is terrific, but it’s second half drags a lot until you get to the last 10 minutes or so. Again, I’m not in love with it. Having a great post Q & A with Dev Patel and first time director Garth Davis probably helped me some, but it did move me as a wonderful story of hope. And with that, I picked it even though I know it has absolutely no chance of winning.

Manchester by the Sea
For me, the film isn’t terrible – but honestly, I had no idea what as happening in the first 20-30 minutes. You just knew the guy was angry, but no clue as to why. It took 2 hrs. to get to the point and those 2 hrs. seemed like many more at times.

Moonlight
While watching this film, I couldn’t help thinking I’ve seen this story before..and I have – noting the fact it was done much better on the ‘The Wire’ and I think I would have liked to see three episodes of that again vs. this film. It was more than a tad inconsistent, with the first two thirds much better than the last third, and I was distracted by having characters played by multiple actors who looked nothing alike. That being said, it’s a good film considering the shoe-string budget it was made on.

@pegsatthemovies
Thanks all for taking the time to give this a read. Let me know your thoughts on if you agree or disagree with my picks. Don’t forget to give this page a follow or a follow on twitter as well @pegsatthemovies. Cheers!

1960's, Biography, Crime Thriller, Drama, Home Invasion, Independent Feature, Movie Reviews, Movies, Music, Musical, Oscar Awards, political, Thriller

DAY 4: COUNTDOWN TO THE OSCARS ~ “BEST ACTRESS”

02/24/2017 Peggy Marie 1 Comment

It’s the 4th day of the Countdown and we are at none other than Best Actress..

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Isabelle Huppert, Elle – MY PICK
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a performance as bold as this one. Huppert simply blew me away in one of the probably the oddest roles I think I’ve ever seen portrayed. I’ve never seen anything like it and probably never will again. Sadly, she won’t win for this piece of brillance.

Ruth Negga, Loving
While she was fairly one-note, but engaging enough here, I really only started to like this performance so much once she started speaking and really putting forth as the first 30+ min she just really never said anything. I just can’t put forth an award pick for that.

Natalie Portman, Jackie
While I think I enjoyed this film more than some did as it just got to me a little emotionally than I thought it would, she did go ‘caricature’ at times with it. While she was a front-runner for some time, I don’t think she even comes close to Huppert.

Emma Stone, La La Land – WINNER
Yeah – I like Emma but this is really just another cutsey performance to me. Let’s face it, her singing/dancing parts aren’t all that good, but the ‘auditions’ parts were really good. That’s really all there is to it.

Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins
Am I’m surprised Meryl Streep even got a nomination, no even though it’s almost annoying at this point, because even though the whole movie was a huge let-down, we all really do love her. And yes, I think she solidified her nomination when she gave that speech at the Golden Globes which was quite epic, but this award isn’t about best speeches.

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DAY 3 ~ COUNTDOWN TO THE OSCARS ~ “BEST DIRECTOR”

02/23/2017 Peggy Marie 1 Comment

DAY 3 of my Countdown to the Oscars and it’s BEST DIRECTOR time. A tough one for me as Tom Ford/Nocturnal Animals would have been my pick here – but sadly, not nominated. So here we are with my thoughts of who the winner will be, and usually I would have my pick for whom I might like it to be, but I just don’t really have a personal frontrunner here.

DIRECTING

Arrival, Denis Villeneuve
While I thought this movie was one of the best Sci-Fi films I’d seen in sometime, there were points where it lagged so slowly and could easily have been cut by a good 20 minutes if not more.

Hacksaw Ridge, Mel Gibson
I decided not to go with Hacksaw Ridge, and not because of anything to do with Mel Gibson’s personal problems — though while never forgiven or forgotten, I do think he’s a different person now and a very talented director and I wish him well. For me it was more the cheesy-ness of the first 45-minutes of this picture and the bad accents.

La La Land, Damien Chazelle – WINNER
While again, this wasn’t my favourite movie – to much sappy for me, but I so loved what he did with Whiplash and how he should have won for that, that it was forgivable. Plus he’s probably going to win.

Manchester by the Sea, Kenneth Lonergan
While I found this film in and of itself to be rather plodding, Lonergan did make everything click together finally at the end, though slowly..veerry slowly.

Moonlight, Barry Jenkins
It wasn’t my favourite film of the year as I just felt like I’d seen this story before and done better on The Wire. While Jenkins did a really good job on a shoestring budget, the movie’s three parts aren’t as connected as they could have been.

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DAY 2 ~ COUNTDOWN TO THE OSCARS ~ “BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR”

02/22/2017 Peggy Marie 1 Comment

Day 2 of the countdown ~ Probably for me at least, the hardest category to judge as it’s just filled to the brim of fantastic performances and I wish they could all win. And remember, this is a category known for going to the most random of choices.
Reminder: I’m giving who I think the winner will be and what would be my pick.

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Mahershala Ali, Moonlight – WINNER
While I wasn’t the films biggest fan, if I had to pick a part that I liked, it was the first segment with this guy in it. But I don’t think his character was that developed — I mean, he’s this great guy, and then all of a sudden he just disappears. I missed the grit of his character throughout the rest of the film.

Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water
While I might not have seen awards coming for this movie, Bridges came through on this performance in a big way. Jeff makes it look easy but, boy, what he does is not easy.

Lucas Hedges, Manchester by the Sea
If I was going to pick a performance from this film that I truly liked, it was Hedges. Although he was good here played his characters strengths and weaknesses well, it just misses being at the level of great…barely though. Keep an eye on this kid, he will be back in award categories to come.

Dev Patel, Lion
Again, we have a strong contender here. While playing an almost separate character from his child-self, it was quite seamless how he brought it all together at the end.

Michael Shannon, Nocturnal Animals – MY PICK
Another truly mind-blowing performance by Shannon. Why this man doesn’t already have an Oscar on his shelf is just not comprehendable.

Thanks all for taking the time to give this a read. Let me know your thoughts on if you agree or disagree with my picks. Don’t forget to give this blog a follow or a follow on twitter as well @pegsatthemovies. Cheers!

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DAY 1 ~ COUNTDOWN TO THE OSCARS ~ BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

02/22/2017 Peggy Marie Leave a comment

Well, Well, Well.. here we are!! At that time of year once again where I give a countdown of my top Oscar categories. And though I’ve seen all the films presented this year, I will only be doing the top 6 categories due to a bit of a late start with the long holiday weekend we had and being deluged with rain. First up ~ Best Supporting Actress. I’m giving who I think the winner will be and what would be my pick. You might agree or even better, you might disagree 🙂
So with that..I give you Day 1 of #peggyatthemovies Oscar picks. Cheers!

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Viola Davis, Fences – WINNER
Let’s be honest here, she shouldn’t even be in this category, she should be in BEST ACTRESS.. So even though my pick is someone else, she is highly deserving of an award..just in a different category.

Naomie Harris, Moonlight
Liked her performance – just didn’t love it. Definitely worthy of a nom tho.

Nicole Kidman, Lion
Same here with Nicole, liked it – just didn’t love it and wasn’t all that different from everything else I’ve seen her do

Octavia Spencer, Hidden Figures – MY PICK
Now I called this when I saw the film back in November. The whole movie is wonderful with all really good performances and Octavia being the highlight of the three, she takes it here for me. She has been and is my only and clear choice from moment one.

Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea
Really, a blink of eye – seven minutes total on screen. And while the last scene with her and Affleck is the scene of the film.. still.

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REVIEW: “HIDDEN FIGURES” (2016) 20th Century Fox

12/24/2016 Peggy Marie 1 Comment

Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe), are more intelligent as children than most. But sadly, they have the wrong skin color for America of the 1960s, so educational opportunities aren’t as readily available to them as to most. And luckily for all of us, they don’t let it stop them.

“HIDDEN FIGURES” – written & directed by Theodore Melfi, is based on the true events of these three women’s accomplishments of beating the odds in a time when those odds were almost insurmountable. Although all three are working at NASA, they are widely under-ultilized, stuck in a mundane employee-temp circle with other African-American women. It is only when the ‘space-race’ heats up and NASA is concerned with the fact that Russia might beat us to manned space travel that they even get considered and their abilities are brought to light. But it is still a long journey to get from the temp pool to the point of where now-famed astronaut John Glenn (Glen Powell) had her double-check the numbers against a ‘new’ computer machine before his now-legendary orbit around the earth.

The film does do well in summarizing the story and making the period of the early 60’s space-race look exciting. Melfi succeeds in revealing the perspective of the people who made it possible for a human being to be brought into an orbit were chiefly physicists and, above all, mathematicians. Making it truly special is the fact that three of these essential figures were not only women, but African-American women. In a time where different races were still strictly separated in everything from the bathrooms, to yes, even the coffee pot and how they had to fight not only to assert themselves into the circles of white, male-dominated NASA, but also with the colour of their skin.

In addition, we have a decent supporting cast with Kirsten Dunst as Vivian Mitchell, head of the white secretarial pool and chief scientist, Al Harrison (Kevin Costner), who while blind to all the bias at first, gradually begins to notice Johnson’s intelligence and how she is being treated by her white, male co-workers and steps up to the plate. Jim Parsons, Mahershala Ali, Aldis Hodge, Olek Krupa just to name a few, are great additions to the supporting cast.

Performances are all above par here and not being Costner’s biggest fan, he comes off very well here in one of what is surely one of his more likeable performances. Hands down winner for me though is Octavia Spencer, who not only steals the show, along with hopefully not only a nomination, but a win from this performance.

Finally, do I think some liberties might have been taken here with the story-line or some of the characters, most likely, and it’s in these spots that the film lags, but it is also very simple to just look up history and see this is accurate in the frame of what these women did at/for NASA and what they went on to do in leading the way for so many to follow is even more impressive.

HIDDEN FIGURES is emotionally stirring cinema and should leave a lasting impression on viewers.

Grade: B
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Media Review Screening: Monday, November 21, 2016 ~ Courtesy of 20th Century Fox
In Limited Release: Sunday, December 25, 2016
NATIONWIDE RELEASE: Friday, January 6, 2017

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