On The Basis Of Sex

A big screen biopic that doesn't do RBG any justice.

On The Basic Of Sex is a biopic based on the life and early legal case of the extraordinary Ruth Bader Ginsburg, directed by Mimi Jones of TV's The Leftovers, Shameless and ER. It's a big story suitable for the big screen, but unfortunately this treatment performs like an old-fashioned TV movie of the week. 

I'm not talking HBO or Netflix either; this film has the depth and grit of a Hallmark or Lifetime movie where backdrops are dreamy and conflicts come together tidily. Every one of Ruth's (Felicity Jones) sweaters is new and perfectly fitted, household items such as a typewriter sparkle without a hint of ink smudge and every tidy room was worth taking in. When the dialogue got too schmaltzy to bear, at least I was able focus on how perfectly pressed her husband Martin Ginsburg's (Armie Hammer) shirts were.

It's not just the script and the direction. The supporting roles are all over the place too. Sam Waterson (Law & Order) does not help this film feel any less like a TV movie, but at least he doesn't think he's in a Broadway production. Halfway through the film, an over-the-top Kathy Bates shows up to play a completely fictional character. Justin Theroux (The Leftovers) may just be the only one who felt like he lived in this era.

Somewhere in this Basis of Sex & The City episode lies one of the most fascinating legal cases of the last Century. This is too big of a story for such a sub-par treatment. When a fire alarm went off during the screening I attended and required that we empty the theater for a few minutes, not everyone chose to return. Maybe it will be OK on TV later.

In a nutshell: Stream the inspiring, in-depth 2018 documentary RBG instead.

Award potential: None.

The Ten Buck Review: Not worth ten bucks.

Vice

“What do we believe in?”

Aught-era movie The Big Short, directed by Adam McKay and starring Christian Bale and Steve Carell, was my favorite movie of 2015. Vice, directed by Adam McKay and starring Christian Bale and Steve Carrell, is not my favorite film of 2018 — but it is a lot of fun.

McKay's talent for simplifying complex subjects and presenting them in an entertaining way works here for most of the film. The full life story of Dick Cheney (Bale) is told with the use of graphics, news clips and fourth wall conversations. I leaned in for most, but unlike The Big Short (with more likeable characters), two hours with Cheney becomes exhausting. 

You'll know the American history milestones presented here, but how much of it you connect to Cheney depends on how much you were paying attention and how far you now believe his unchecked power went. Vice certainly presents an opinion.

Vice also presents a strong solid cast playing Lynne Cheney (Amy Adams), Donald Rumsfeld (Carell), George W. Bush (Sam Rockwell) and Colin Powell (Tyler Perry). Rockwell, who disappears into his character, steals every scene and ups the entertainment value of this film, but Perry's star appearance is disruptive and distracting.

Cheney is probably the most influential American politician in modern history that we don't really know much about. You'll probably feel the same after seeing this film.

In a nutshell: A big, funny movie about Dick Cheney, ironically short of heart. McKay's humorous touch to serious history works well until the final arc, which is crueler and darker. 

Award potential: Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay are very likely. Expect acting nominations for Christian Bale, Amy Adams and Sam Rockwell who steals every scene. Bale and Adams are front runners but it's too soon to reward last year's winner Rockwell again. Although she's consistently one of the best actresses of the decade, I'm not convinced that Amy Adams will finally win an Oscar (or Globe or SAG) for a wife-of-the-subject role. She just doesn't have that big moment that Oscar voters like to reward. I wish that she's rewarded for something stronger and in the Best Actress category. The film should do well in the Golden Globes Comedy/Musical category and at the SAG actor and ensemble awards.

The ten buck review: Worth ten bucks.

Golden Globes - Who's the favourite to win?

Historically, the Hollywood Foreign Press is kinda weird and all-over-the-place; Working Girl, Mrs. Doubtfire and The Hangover have actually won Best Motion Picture Comedy/Musical, and The Martian won despite not being a comedy or very good. 

But rest easy, The Ten Buck Review has an 82% correct prediction rate that could help you win your awards pool (or at least look really darn smart during the telecast). Who are the favourites? Here's what's gonna happen:

Best Motion Picture — Drama

Black Panther
BlacKkKlansman
Bohemian Rhapsody
If Beale Street Could Talk
A Star Is Born

Winner: A Star Is Born

Spoiler: BlacKkKlansman

Best Actress in a Motion Picture — Drama

Glenn Close, The Wife
Lady Gaga, A Star Is Born
Nicole Kidman, Destroyer
Melissa McCarthy, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Rosamund Pike, A Private War

Winner: Lady Gaga

Spoiler: Glenn Close (15-time nominee, 2 wins for television, Oscars front runner)

Best Actor in a Motion Picture — Drama

Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born
Willem Dafoe, At Eternity’s Gate
Lucas Hedges, Boy Erased
Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody
John David Washington, BlacKkKlansman

Winner: Rami Malek

Spoiler: Bradley Cooper

Best Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy

Crazy Rich Asians
The Favourite
Green Book
Mary Poppins Returns
Vice

Winner: The Favourite

Spoiler: Green Book

Best Actress in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy

Emily Blunt, Mary Poppins Returns
Olivia Colman, The Favourite
Elsie Fisher, Eighth Grade
Charlize Theron, Tully
Constance Wu, Crazy Rich Asians

Winner: Olivia Colman

Spoiler: Emily Blunt

Best Actor in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy

Christian Bale, Vice
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mary Poppins Returns
Viggo Mortensen, Green Book
Robert Redford, The Old Man & the Gun
John C. Reilly, Stan & Ollie

Winner: Christian Bale

Spoiler: Viggo Mortensen

Best Actress in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture

Amy Adams, Vice
Claire Foy, First Man
Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk
Emma Stone, The Favourite
Rachel Weisz, The Favourite

Winner: Regina King

Spoiler: Amy Adams

Best Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture

Mahershala Ali, Green Book
Timothée Chalamet, Beautiful Boy
Adam Driver, BlacKkKlansman
Richard E. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Sam Rockwell, Vice

Winner: Richard E. Grant

Spoiler: Mahershala Ali

Best Director — Motion Picture

Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born
Alfonso Cuarón, Roma
Peter Farrelly, Green Book
Spike Lee, BlacKkKlansman
Adam McKay, Vice

Winner: Alfonso Cuarón

Spoiler: Bradley Cooper

Best Screenplay — Motion Picture

Alfonso Cuarón, Roma
Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara, The Favourite
Barry Jenkins, If Beale Street Could Talk
Adam McKay, Vice
Peter Farrelly, Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie, Green Book

Winner: The Favourite

Spoiler: Vice

Best Motion Picture — Animated

Incredibles 2
Isle of Dogs
Mirai
Ralph Breaks the Internet
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Winner: Isle of Dogs

Spoiler: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Best Motion Picture — Foreign Language

Capernaum
Girl
Never Look Away
Roma
Shoplifters

Winner: Roma

Spoiler: Shoplifters

Best Original Score — Motion Picture

Marco Beltrami, A Quiet Place
Alexandre Desplat, Isle of Dogs
Ludwig Goransson, Black Panther
Justin Hurwitz, First Man
Marc Shaiman, Mary Poppins Returns

Winner: First Man

Spoiler: Black Panther

Best Original Song — Motion Picture

All the Stars, Black Panther (Kendrick Lamar, Anthony Tiffith, Mark Spears, Solana Rowe, Al Shuckburgh)

Girl in the Movies, Dumplin' (Dolly Parton and Linda Perry)
Requiem for a Private War, A Private War (Annie Lennox)
Revelation, Boy Erased (Troye Silvan, Jonsi, Jon Thor Birgisson, Brett McLaughlin)
Shallow, A Star Is Born (Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando, Andrew Wyatt)

Winner: Shallow

Spoiler: All the Stars

Mary Queen of Scots

It doesn’t end well.

The story of Mary Stuart, who left France for her native Scotland in 1561 to take her place on the throne and simultaneously threaten the throne of Elizabeth I, is filled with deceit, lust, religion, power plays and double-crosses. Everything you want in a royal treatment — almost.

Compared to gushy Elizabeth (1998), the film proves too small. Compared to the The Favourite, the recent, inventive, rollicking take on Queen Anne, it seems quite old fashioned. So, it's a film that is neither grand nor bad, simply a solid period piece with few surprises, including the obvious last scene.

What does earn your ten bucks is Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie as Mary and Elizabeth. They are each sensational in their roles of 16th Century frenemies. It's a blast to see history through their performances.

In a December when a dozen of the year’s best films are on screen, and despite the luscious, cinematic shots of Scotland, this film is not as big as the story — something just seems missing. For this, I’d look to first-time film director Josie Roarke who comes from the national theatre/playhouse world. A pretty strong debut, but it's just not the movie of the year I'd hoped for.

In a nutshell: It may not be one of the year’s ten best, but it's worth ten bucks.

Award potential: Potential Academy Award nominations for Best Actress Saoirse Ronan, Best Supporting Actress Margo Robbie and Best Costume for designer Alexandra Byrne (Elizabeth: Golden Age). 

The historically inaccurate meeting of the two Queens ( Eyes will roll where heads should have) should keep it out of the Best Screenplay category as well as Best Picture. Leave that stuff for on stage theatre, folks.

The ten buck review: Worth ten bucks.

Roma

Run to Roma in the theaters — or watch it at home?

Roma, the number one best film of 2018 according to Time magazine, The New York Times, Rolling Stone and countless others, was released in theaters this week. Somewhat surprising and definitely reflective of the times, Roma will debut on your home Netflix the following Friday, December 14.

This scheduling begs a tricky question: Should “the best film of the year” be seen at home or in the theater?

Your decision should take a few items into account including the director — and your screen at home. Writer, director and cinematographer Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity, Y Tu Mamá También, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) has assembled a stunning film with meticulously shot images and precise sound design that may lose some impact on a laptop with headphones, but should screen well on home theater screens with a quality home theater audio system. The wonder of this film is in the small details, so you’ll need either a theater screen or a home screen that delivers.

In favor of watching at home, I should note that Roma is an intimate and personal story, told from the point of view of Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio), a 1970s housekeeper to a middle class family in Mexico City. Similar to a Richard Linklater (Boyhood, Before Sunrise) film, there is very little plot. It’s a story told through the senses and a series of moments in life. Items that are usually in the background are in the foreground here — not unlike the 1970s housekeeper experience.

I would also factor in your ability to watch a black and white film — in Spanish — at home. I didn’t love Roma above all pictures this year, but I felt as if I was invited to see a moment in time in a world I won’t soon forget. Don’t miss out on this if you’re apt to multitask or snooze on the couch.

The decision? If you live a city with art-house theaters, have a MoviePass and want to fully enjoy one of the strongest movies of the year, then the effort to experience Roma in the theater will surely pay off. If the holidays have cut into your free time, the quantity of quality movies in the theater in December have cut into your budget, you're iffy on art-house foreign films in general, or you just can’t wait, I believe watching it at home will be rewarding as well.

In a nutshell: The only poor choice is to miss out on Roma completely. 

Award potential: Did not qualify for Golden Globe Best Picture and doesn't fit the model for the SAG Best Ensemble award, but is a front runner for Oscars Best Picture and Best Foreign Language Film — unless the Netflix association has a backlash. 

Yalitza Aparicio is on many Best Actress prediction lists, but it's a competitive year to reward a non-showy newcomer in a Spanish-speaking film. She may get overlooked with both Oscars and SAG.

Roma has already won both the L.A. critics and New York Film Critics Best Picture awards, BIFA's Best International Independent Film award and the prestigious Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.

The Ten Buck Review: Worth ten bucks — in the theater or towards a monthly Netflix subscription.

2019 Golden Globes — who gets nominated tomorrow?

The SAG awards match Oscars' selections more often than the Golden Globes, yet the inexplicable, kooky Hollywood Foreign Press Association's awards get all of our attention.

The 90 members of the HFPA have just one overlap with the 9,000 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Oscars). Yet, somehow a Golden Globe nod provides a positive impact on both Academy voters and Oscars campaigns. An omission tomorrow could hurt a film on the border, such as First Man, Eight Grade or Mary Poppins Returns.

That said, here's what's going to happen tomorrow:

Best Picture, Drama
A Star is Born
BlacKkKlansman 
Bohemian Rhapsody 
If Beale Street Could Talk
Black Panther

In the past, subpar films like Matt Damon's The Martian will enter the Comedy/Musical category to secure a slot. However, this year the race for one of the five drama slots are going to be more, well, dramatic. 

Bohemian Rhapsody, A Star Is Born, Blakkklansman and Can You Ever Forgive Me?, despite their obvious musical or comedy elements, have each been submitted (by their respective studio) in the drama category. The HFPA may vote however they want. 

Most predictions have First Man in the top five but I think this group may be wowed less by an artful, solemn treatment of an American astronaut and more by a glossy celebration of an international rockstar, so I bumped up the Queen biopic. Roma is not eligible.

Spoiler: First Man
Shocker: Melissa McCarthy’s Can You Ever Forgive Me?
 
  
Best Picture, Comedy or Musical
Eighth Grade
The Favourite
Green Book
Mary Poppins Returns
Vice
 
The romantic film of the year, Crazy Rich Asians, is at the top of most GG prediction lists but it’s light on comedy and musical. I’ve replaced it with  Green Book which is peaking at nomination time
Spoiler: Crazy Rich Asians
Shocker: The well reviewed, kiddie sequel Paddington 2     


Best Actress, Drama 
Yalitza Aparicio, Roma
 Glenn Close, The Wife
Lady Gaga, A Star is Born
Melissa McCarthy, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Saoirse Ronan, Mary Queen of Scots

Spoiler: Nicole Kidman, Destroyer
Shocker: Julia Roberts, Ben is Back or Maggie Gyllenhaal,The Kindergarten Teacher or Toni Colette, Hereditary


 
Best Actor, Drama
Bradley Cooper, A Star is Born
Ethan Hawke, First Reformed
Rami Malek, Bohemian RhapsodyI
Hugh Jackman, The Front Runner
Ryan Gosling, First Man
 
Spoiler: Steve Carell, Beautiful Boy
Shocker: John David Washington, BlacKkKlansman or Willem Dafoe, Eternity’s Gate or Lucas Hedges, Boy Erased



Best Actress (Comedy or Musical)
Emily Blunt, Mary Poppins Returns
Olivia Colman, The Favourite
Elsie Fisher, Eighth Grade
Kathryn Hahn, Private Life
Constance Wu, Crazy Rich Asians
 
Shocker: Voters placing Melissa McCarthy, from Can You Ever Forgive Me? in this category instead


Best Actor (Comedy or Musical)
Christian Bale, Vice
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mary Poppins ReturnsViggo Mortensen, Green Book
Robert Redford, The Old Man and the Gun
Ryan Reynolds, Deadpool 2

Shocker: Henry Golding,Crazy Rich Asians, or Nick Robinson Love, Simon


Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, Vice
Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk
Emma Stone, The Favourite
Rachel Weisz, The Favourite
Michelle Yeoh, Crazy Rich Asians  
 
Spoiler: Nicole Kidman, Boy Erased
Shocker: Margot Robbie, Mary Queen of Scots


Best Supporting Actor
Mahershala Ali, Green Book
Timothée Chalamet, Beautiful Boy
Richard E. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Sam Elliott, A Star is Born
Michael B. Jordan, Black Panther 

Spoiler: Sam Rockwell, Vice
Shocker: Nicholas Hoult, The Favourite or Adam Driver, BlacKkKlansman

Five films to see before 2019

After a year of struggling to make my MoviePass pay off with a slim choice of quality films, more than a dozen Oscars-friendly films suddenly dropped into the most wonderfully busy time of year. There's no way to see them all, so I thought I'd point out a few favorites that are definitely ten buck worthy.
 
The Best Picture Front Runners
Black Panther, The Favourite, Green Book, Roma and A Star Is Born are the five films on every respected Oscars prediction list. 

Roma opens in theaters on December 5, but moves to Netflix (TV) on December 21 so I'll eliminate that theater visit, followed by removing Black Panther which is available on Netflix now. I favor the bawdy The Favourite (opens November 30) over the pandering Green Book, but A Star Is Born has a magical touch that makes it a must see. Star will be eligible for almost every category and should tally a titanic-sized 13 or 14 nominations. Don't miss it on the big screen.

Recommendation 1: A Star Is Born  

The Melodramas
Boy Erased, Beautiful Boy and Ben is Back are all quality, family dramas featuring a parent and child working through difficult situations, but boy, oh boy it will be a blue Christmas if you watch all three.

Timothee Chalamet and Steve Carrell's father/son story in Beautiful Boy and Julia Roberts and Lucas Hedges' mother/son film Ben Is Back (opens December 8) will gather the most acting nominations, but we've all seen the alcoholism story before and know how it ends. If I had to choose just one of these tissue-necessary dramas, Nicole Kidman and Lucas Hedges' conversion therapy drama Boy Erased, the one of these that is the least likely to get acting nominations, offers a more unique and hopeful story for the holidays.
 
Recommendation 2: Boy Erased
 
 
The Best Picture Contenders 
These films are vying for a slot in the Oscars Best Picture race: All Is True, BlacKKKlansman, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, First Man, Mary Queen of Scots, Mule and Vice.
 
I must confess I haven't seen All Is True, Mary or Vice, and while I respected the artsy gusto of First Man I think it has a Houston-sized problem with matching subject and tone. 

That leaves BlacKKKlansman and Can You Ever Forgive Me?, two dramedies that I fully enjoyed. Melissa McCarthy creates one of the best film characters of the year and I'd hate for anyone to miss it. 

Recommendation 3: Can You Ever Forgive Me?  


Films You Can Stream Tonight
December is a busy time to hit the theater, but these Academy Award eligible films are available on your TV: Black Panther, BlacKKKlansman, Crazy Rich Asians, Eight Grade, A Quiet Place plus the documentaries RGB and Won't You Be My Neighbor. All great choices, but I'd pick the one that pairs best with wrapping presents.

Recommendation 4: Crazy Rich Asians

 
Music-Based Crowd Pleasers
Everyone should see the first hour of A Star Is Born and the last 20 minutes of Bohemian Rhapsody in the theater. Mary Poppins Returns should be a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious time at the theater as well. 

I've already picked A Star Is Born, and Mary Poppins Returns won't be flying out of theaters until January, so I can narrow your December choice to the Freddie Mercury biopic because it will, it will rock you.

Recommendation 5: Bohemian Rhapsody 


The Ten Buck Review: All worth ten bucks.