Dogs Bark

The Duke Sequestered - - Oscars 2021

Yeah, I know . . . I didn't go out on a limb this year but since it's never been a prediction, I can say without Monday morning shaming that I was pretty pleased with the Academy's judgement. Nomadland, Mrs. Cohn, and Chloé Zhao all deserved their honors, tho' I thought Viola Davis was superb. Felt the same way about Hopkins over Boseman, so I was not disappointed again. And I really liked Daniel Kaluuya as Chairman Fred. My most loyal followers will remember I championed Zhao's 2017 film, The Rider; however, I didn't expect her meteoric rise. Nice also to see Ann Roth honored for her costuming. Not sure I'll still be employable at 89! Trivia question . . . she has dressed one famous girlfriend of Oscar in 14 features. Also, Sound Of Metal winning the sound design award was much more deserved than ironic. I didn't like the ceremony. If it was to be safer and more intimate, a better location should have been found, maybe the Roosevelt or any hotel venue. What was interesting is the completely different cast of characters. We seem to be at another changing of the guard, where some of our favorite war horses just seem to be not answering the bell. Good, if it means more inclusion but I'm not ready to go all In Memoriam to a lot of old, white men and women. We can all just get along.

You May Already Be A Revolutionary - - Judas and the Black Messiah (2021, USA, Color, 126 min) - - 20 April 2021

Recommended. It was interesting to watch this film the night of the George Floyd murder verdict. The contrast between that police violence and the assassination of Black Panther Party leader, Fred Hampton, is worth consideration. Supposedly, the FBI doesn't execute Black political leaders anymore and lunatic/racist J. Edgar Hoover (Martin Sheen, Apocalypse Now) is good and dead. Definite progress. Best Picture nominated Judas and the Black Messiah considers informant Bill O’Neal’s infiltration of the Illinois Black Panther Party. Hampton’s charisma is excellently recreated by Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out!) who - - incongruously - - is nominated as a supporting player. Kaluuya gives Hampton a bimodal temperament, alternately inflammatory and contemplative.  Jesse Plemons (The Irishman), O’Neal’s FBI handler, does banality of evil better than anyone.  LaKeith Stanfield, also Oscar-nominated, is great as O’Neal . . . with a skittery doom and self-loathing. Director Shaka King (Newlyweeds) cooks the tension, then vents it naturally in well-staged gun battles.

Pinball - - Sound Of Metal (2019, USA, Color, 120 min) - - 7 April 2021

Recommended. Approaching Sound Of Metal with an emphasis on the preposition seems a common mistake. Although Ruben (Riz Ahmed, Nightcrawler) is a drummer for a metal band, that fact soon becomes irrelevant. It’s his entry into the world of deafness that is the central story of this remarkable movie. As huge numbers of Covid sufferers lose their sense of smell, they learn that our reality is dependent upon how we experience the world. Ruben encounters a teacher of quiet reality in Joe (Oscar and tyro nominee, Paul Raci), who dismisses Ruben’s sense of loss and advises, “Serenity is no longer wishing you had a different past.” Good advice.  Director Darius Marder (also a newbie and Oscar nom) and sound editor Nicolas Becker (Arrival)  mimics The Father by simulating the feel of hearing loss. The challenge is doing this without distraction. They succeed and this is an intense - - and ear-opening - - movie.