Captain Marvel

A blast in the past.

 

Confession: I never cared for the superhuman Captain Marvel comic book character. If you're my age, Captain Marvel was more commonly the name for Shazam! — and if you really knew comics there was a male Captain Marvel and a Ms. Marvel too. 

I didn't care for the trailer for this new movie either, with scenes of Brie Larson (Room) flying and shooting fire mashed up with images of her flying and shooting fire. But when Avengers: Infinity War ended on a cliffhanger with a pager message to Captain Marvel as the solitary beam of hope, suddenly everyone cared about Captain Marvel, including me.
 
Captain Marvel the character cleverly lands on earth in a '90s Blockbuster store. Captain Marvel the movie lands in a point in 21st Century history where no one watches a stand alone superhero movie, we're all watching serials. Nothing about the trailer or the comic brought me to the theater, but my investment in the Marvel Universe story line did.

As a contribution to the series, the film works well. Oscar-winner Brie Larson is a wonderful woman addition to the Marvel Universe and it's a blast to see her interact with a young Nick Fury. When you see a 1995 Samuel Jackson in a boxy car, it sparks Pulp Fiction vibes. It's all digital manipulation of course, but seamlessly done. I had a blast seeing the "world's first superhero" set the stage for everything we know about the Avengers now.
 
As a stand alone movie, there's not much that will warrant a repeat watching. Oscar nominees Annette Bening (American Beauty) and Jude Law (Cold Mountain, Grand Budapest Hotel) have thankless roles and everyone seems to think if they deliver their lines deadpan it might add more depth to the story. Ben Mendelsohn, however, finds the sweet spot of dramatic interest and humor for most of the film, until some questionable choices steer the movie to a 1990's Star Trek: Next Generation corny TV vibe. Perhaps it was appropriate for a movie set in the 1990's. 

I did enjoy the retro touch overall, including a string of girl rocker nineties music, but ultimately it's difficult to recommend this as a film that stands on its own. Who am I kidding though, you're going anyway and you'll be as happy as I was to discover the mid-credit scene that sets up the next one, Avengers: End Game. Thank you, next.

In a nutshell: A fairly entertaining distraction until the the Avengers return in seven weeks.  

Award potential: None.   

The Ten Buck Review: Worth ten bucks for fans of the Marvel Universe serial. Not worth ten bucks on its own.

Win Your Oscars Pool - stats for every category

It's been one of the kookiest years in the Academy's history, and that's before the host-less program has even aired. How on Wakanda can one predict how their members will vote? That’s why we’re here with our stat-tastic predictions.
 
Win the Best Director category
Go with whoever won the Director’s Guild of America award. Those winners have matched 64 times in the past 71 years. And the Oscar goes to: Alfonso Cuaron for Roma.

Win the Best Cinematography category
Does The Favourite have an angle on the black and white beauty of Roma or Cold War?
When you look at the last six years, this honor has gone to the same film that won BAFTA's Best Director — every time. The British Film Academy Film Awards (BAFTA), which awarded The Favourite in most every other category, went with Roma here. Oscars will too.

Win the Best Animated Feature Film category
Nine out of thirteen PGA-winning animated films also won this Academy Award. Bad news for Incredibles 2 and Isle of Dogs. And the Oscar goes to the deserving Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse.

Win the Best Foreign Language Film category
It’s a two-horse race with Netflix’s Roma (Mexico) versus Amazon’s Cold War (Poland). Will voters reward Cold War here, assuming a Best Picture win for Roma? The safest bet is that every voter with Netflix (everyone) has at least seen Roma, the likely winner here.

Win the Best Adapted Screenplay category
The USC Scripter Awards, which has accurately predicted this category for the last seven years, awarded Leave No Trace, perhaps rewarding an overlooked gem that was snubbed in Oscars nominations? Looking for some better direction this year, the WGA award went to Can You Ever Forgive Me?, your statistical front runner and potential Oscar winner. 

I think you have to ignore the stats in categories where an unrecognized legend is in the running. Having zero competitive Oscars to Spike Lee’s name, Academy voters are sure to do the right thing here — BlacKkKlansman upsets.

Win the Best Original Screenplay category
Britian's BAFTA picked The Favourite. Of course they did. The winner in this category most closely resembles the Writers Guild of America's winner, but they honored Eighth Grade, a film not nominated here. Limited stats point to The Favourite, but this may be a place to reward Green Book, a film more likely to resonate in the U.S.. I'll go with stats and pick The Favourite in a tight race.
 
Win the Best Actor/Actress/Supporting Actor/Supporting Actress categories
The SAG voters are all actors and are the largest block of voters for the Academy Awards.
In the past ten years:
90% of the SAG winners also took home the Oscar for Best Actor
80% of the SAG winners also took home the Oscar for Best Actress
90% of the SAG winners also took home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor
80% of the SAG winners also took home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress


The Best Supporting Actress stat will dip further next year because winner Emily Blunt was not nominated for Oscar and Oscar nominee Regina King wasn’t nominated for SAG. Which means: Rami Malek, Glenn Close, Mahershala Ali and Regina King are your likely winners.

Win the Best Music (Original Song) category
Ooh-la-la. Lady Gaga does indeed go home with an Oscar on Sunday —for Shallow from A Star Is Born. Streisand won in this category for Evergreen from 1978’s A Star is Born. Judy Garland’s The Man That Got Away, from the 1954 A Star Is Born, lost to Frank Sinatra’s Three Coins In The Fountain so it's not a sure thing. Kendrick Lamar’s Grammy-nominated Black Panther song is the one that would upset, but he's not even working the voter crowd and promoting it.

Win the Best Music (Original Score) category
My turntable would choose If Beale Street Could Talk. However, this award most often aligns with the BAFTA Award for Best Film Music, which honored A Star Is Born — not nominated here. This is a close race with Terrence Blanchard's  BlackKkKlansman score and Black Panther. I think the large group of voters will go with the one s connected to a Grammy-winning score and nominated album, Black Panther.

Win the Best Sound Editing category
This category rewards “most aesthetic” sound design and the creating of sound effects. Whatever,the loudest movie always takes Best Sound Editing, period. Speed, Pearl Harbor, Mad Max, Zero Dark Thirty, The Dark Knight, King Kong, T2, Bourne Ultimatum and Arrival have all won Oscars in this category. Bohemian Rhapsody took BAFTA, but my ears are still ringing from underdog First Man.

Win the Best Sound Mixing category
This category rewards most euphonic sound mixing, and often varies from the Best Sound Editing award. Whiplash, Les Miserables, Dreamgirls, Ray and Chicago are among past winners. That's a lot of music-driven winners. Plus, the CAS Award-winner often matches this award and they liked the music of Queen. Day-oh! Sounds like Bohemian Rhapsody to me.

Win the Best Film Editing category
Best Film Editing winners don’t always align with Best Picture winners. (Dunkirk, Hacksaw Ridge, Mad Max, Whiplash and Gravity are the past five winners). BAFTA editing winner Vice has an edge but it's similar and not as good as 2016 nominee-but-not-editing-winner The Big Short. The American Cinema Editors (ACE) award, The Eddie, has gone on to win Oscars in 11 of the last 15 years. Stats point to the zippy, flashy bio of Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody.

Win the Best Production Design category
This award, renamed from “Best Art Direction” in 2012, has only aligned with Best Picture four times since 2000. One might assume The Favourite to be the favorite; the past five years the winner of Art Director's Guild period film category went on to win this one. It rewarded The Favourite in that category and Black Panther in the Fantasy Film category.

The winner of this category often aligns with either the Critic’s Choice award which awarded Black Panther, or with the BAFTA Awards which chose The Favourite. For a tiebreaker, add in the energetic new diverse voters and one film gets the edge. And the Oscar goes to: Hannah Beachler, the first African American to be nominated in the category and to win — for Black Panther.

Win the Best Makeup and Hairstyling category
Realistic age transformations such as Gary Oldman-to-Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour win last year are the best bet. And the Oscar goes to: Christian Bale’s transformation in Vice.

Win the Best Costume Design category
Period pieces such as The Favourite and Mary Queen of Scots almost always (21/26) beat modern and fantasy ones, but this might be a year off trend. People want to see this winner: Three time nominee Ruth E. Carter (Malcolm X, Amistad) for Black Panther in a close call over Sandy Powell who created costumes for two nominees in this category, The Favourite and Mary Poppins Returns. She's won for The Young Victoria, The Aviator and Shakespeare in Love. 
 

Win the Best Visual Effects category
A nominee that also has a Best Picture nomination will always win in this category, but that’s not an option this year so we must look to the VES Awards. For eight of the past fourteen years, the winner for Outstanding VFX has gone on to win the Oscar. First Man may be more prestigious but I bet the Oscar goes to the VES winner, another superhero film: Avengers: Infinity War.
 
Win the Best Documentary category (Feature)
It's a year full of popular topics and films, so the jury's not out with Free Solo and RBG in the mix. RBG boasts a women duo of seasoned documentarians. Free Solo presents a wife and husband documentarian (and previously nominated) team that climbed (with tools) alongside their freesoloing subject — wow, it's a close one. I'd go with the one most everyone saw on home, rental or CNN — RBG.

Win the Best Animated Short Film category
Beginning just three years ago, ALL members of the Academy (not just category peers) can pick the winners of: Best Documentary Feature, Best Documentary Short, Best Animated Short Subject and Best Live Action Short Subject. That means everyone from actors to musicians will have a say, so dumb it down a bit when making your picks

Bao,from Pixar, is the story of a mother suffering from empty nest syndrome who makes a baozi dumpling that comes to life as a boy. It was released with the Incredibles 2 this summer.Sounds like they wrapped this one up!

Win the Best Documentary Short category  
It's a category filled with heavy films. Period. End of Sentence aims to fight the stigma of menstruation across cultures. In its advantage? It airs on Netflix.
 
Win the Best Live Action Short Film category
An elderly woman who confronts her own long-repressed romantic feelings for another woman in the film Marguerite. It's done well at shorts film festivals and it's the most lighthearted of the bunch and may be worth your prediction. In a category without stats, I'm going with Skin, featuring a neo-Nazi who starts life anew. It's the choice that has been buying full-page trade ads and is getting the full film treatment next.
 
Win the show’s-running-time tiebreaker.
In 2002, the show ran four hours and 23 minutes. Whew! The Academy has loudly promised to come in at three hours. I’d bet on exactly three hours.

Here are the timings for the past ten years:
2009: 3 hours, 30 minutes
2010: 3 hours, 37 minutes
2011: 3 hours, 15 minutes
2012: 3 hours, 14 minutes
2013: 3 hours, 35 minutes
2014: 3 hours, 30 minutes
2015: 3 hours, 43 minutes
2016: 3 hours, 37 minutes
2017: 3 hours, 49 minutes
2018: 3 hours, 53 minutes 


Win the tiebreaker: Which film will win the most awards? And how many?
There are a lot of opportunities to spread the love. Bohemian Rhapsody should take three or maybe four, but I predict a solid four wins for Roma.

Win the Best Picture category
I saved the biggest (and toughest) category for last because we're going to have to narrow down ten almost-equal contenders. I hope the music doesn't cut me off before I finish.

1. We know that past films without an editing nomination don’t often win the best prize. That would narrow the field to just Bohemian Rhapsody, BlacKkKlansman, Green Book, The Favorite and Vice. Bohemian Rhapsody and The Favourite failed to earnd DGA or PGA nominations, so remove those two.

2. But I don't think you can count out Roma and A Star Is Born. No film in the past 10 years has won the best picture Oscar without being nominated by both the Directors Guild and BAFTA; and Oscar winners have a history of being nominated for one of the Writers Guild's two top prizes. Counting just those who have DG and BAFTA noms, we now have five: A Star Is Born, BlacKkKlansman, Green Book, Roma and Vice.

3. The Globes don't help us narrow these. Despite having double the chance of predicting the Oscars, only 50 percent of Globe winners in the best drama (Bohemian Rhapsody) and best musical/comedy (Green Book) categories have gone on to victory with the Academy. 50/50 odds for Green Book.

Vice not winning a Globe for Screenplay or film in the slighter Comedy film category nor winning Best Actor or Best Supporting Actress SAG has removed this film from discussion. Plus, its divisive. It'd remove Vice. We now have four: A Star Is Born, BlacKkKlansman, Green Book and Roma.

4. For nine of the last eleven years, the Producers Guild’s choice for Best Picture went on to claim the top prize at the Oscars. 20 of the past 29 years have done the same. Good news for PGA winner Green Book. 

The stats are lining up for Green Book, however those awards came before some recent bad press for the director and for the film's authenticity. The Best Picture Oscar race is now determined by a preferential ballot on which members are asked to rank their top five nominees, so I think Green Book's reign is over.

5. That leaves three, each with an equal shot to win. A comeback and a nod for director-snubbed Bradley Cooper for A Star Is Born? (Did you see him on Oprah?) A long-deserved award to Spike Lee from a new diverse group of voters that honor BlacKkKlansman?  Or will it be a nod to the most stunning cinematic visual treat of the year, ironically by Netflix — Roma? Or will a win for Best Director and Best Foreign Film be enough reward? It's so close, I'm going with Roma. Go with your gut on this one folks, stats only go so far.

Good luck with your Oscars pool everyone!

Free Solo

Gripping to a fault. Free solo climbing is a form of climbing where the individual performs without using any ropes, harnesses or other sane protective equipment. This thriller of a documentary features Alex Honnold, the greatest surviving free soloist with over one thousand solitary ascents to his credit. "Surviving" is the key word in a sport that requires the climber to jam fingers and toes into the tiniest of cracks and hope that the wind stays neutral and a bird doesn't come nearby. "Irrational" and "crazy" are other words that come to mind.
 
Honnold has set his sites on free soloing El Capitan in Yosemite National Park and his preparation and eventual attempt is captured with breath-taking camera angles of the climb. This is combined with intimate close ups of his personal life that include not only his family and spousal relationships but also a brain scan that may partially explain his obsession with climbing large objects without help. Yes, he actually does have his head examined, and the result is compelling — and quite telling.
 
The husband and Wife team of Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhely have received an Oscar-nomination for Best Documeuntary Feature Film for this gem that may soon soar to new heights with a surprise win.
 
But the real drama is on screen. Will Honnold's soul be set free by free soloing? I won't spoil the story, but I will recommend that you go on this journey asap.

In a nutshell: More thrilling than any recent Star Wars film, Free Solo is a must-see.

Award potential: It's already nominated for the Best Documentary Feature Academy Award. If you're looking for an upset to help you win your Oscars pool, the directors and heroic crew that skillfully captured this climb may just rock this category and upset the stellar but grounded RBG.
 
The Ten Buck Review: Worth ten bucks.

This year's Oscars is going to be super

It’s unfortunate that Stan Lee passed just before this year’s Oscars. The 2019 show will be the one where the Academy finally recognizes its superheroes in top categories. We're not talking DC here, all three awarded superheroes will be Marvel ones. And I’m not counting Bradley Cooper, voice of Rocket Raccoon, because he's not going home with any.

Avengers assemble! It's sure to be the most marvelous Oscars shows in history. Here are the three heroes to congratulate.

And the Oscar goes to Black Panther (1,2 or 7 of them)
Best Production Design, renamed from “Best Art Direction” in 2012, often aligns with the Critic’s Choice award which awarded Black Panther earlier this year. It’s neck-and-neck with The Favourite for Best Costume Designer too. And there is some serious spoiler potential for Best Song, Best Score, Sound Editing, Best Costume and even Best Picture. Looks like Wakanda forever!

 

And the Oscar goes to Spiderman
Nine out of thirteen Producers Guild Award-winning animated films also won the Academy Award for Best Animated Film. Good news for the innovative, excellent Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse.
 

And the Oscar goes to The Avengers
For eight of the past fourteen years, the VES winner for Outstanding VFX has gone on to win the Oscar for Best Visual Effects. It's a good bet this year's Oscar goes to their winner, Avengers: Infinity War which kind of has every Marvel superhero known to man in its cast. 

And no Oscar goes to The Incredible Hulk
Sorry Hulk, no Oscar, smash it out.

Cold War

A cold war romance that simmers.

Director Pael Palikoski's follow up to Academy Award Best Foreign Film winner Ida (2013) is a star-crossed romance. In Cold War, musician Wiktor (Tomasz Kot) discovers singer Zula (Joanna Kulig), falls madly in love and a Polish star is born. 

The traditional Polish songs Zula sings are in danger of being lost in post WWII times under Soviet rule. When their successful show is told to create "a strong number about the leader of the world proletariat," Wiktor and Zula's future choices set the full story in motion. As a country is clinging to its identity, we see these two struggle to stay true to their own. It's a love story that spans decades of change, and it's a love story for the ages.

In a nutshell: Stunning black and white cinema. A dynamo actress. Jazzy torch songs. A brisk 89 minute romance. Cold War is the perfect film to heat up your winter.
 
Award potential: Cold War scored Oscars nominations for Best Director (bumping Bradley Cooper's A Star Is Born), and Best Foreign Film. Both of those awards will likely go to Roma.
 
The Ten Buck Review: Worth ten bucks.

2019 Oscars nominations - who are the favourites?

Why wake up early Tuesday morning when you can get a good look at the favourites now? WIthout, ahem, touting The Ten Buck Review's 83% accuracy rate too many times, the likely nominees are:

Best Picture
BlacKkKlansman
Black Panther
Bohemian Rhapsody  
The Favourite  
Green Book 
If Beale Street Could Talk   
Roma
A Star Is Born
Vice    

Spoiler: First Man
Surprise: Eighth Grade

 
Best Director 
Alfonso Cuaron, Roma
Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born
Yorgos Lanthimos, The Favourite
Spike Lee, BlacKkKlansman
Adam McKay, Vice 

Spoiler: Green Book's Peter Farrelly, a previous front runner who had negative press voting week and a mixed reception to his Golden Globe speech. 
Surprise: Barry Jenkins, If Beale Street Could Talk 

 
Best Actor 
Christian Bale, Vice 
Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born 
William Dafoe, Eternity's Gate
Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody  
Viggo Mortensen, Green Book   

Spoiler: John David Washington, BlacKkKlansman 
Surprise: Ethan Hawke, First Reformed 



Best Actress 
Yalitza Aparicio, Roma
Glenn Close, The Wife
Lady Gaga, A Star Is Born
Olivia Colman, The Favourite
Melissa McCarthy, Can You Ever Forgive Me?


Spoiler: Emily Blunt, Mary Poppins Returns

 
Best Supporting Actor 
Mahershala Ali, Green Book
Timothee Chalamet, Beautiful Boy  
Adam Driver, BlacKkKlansman
Sam Elliott, A Star Is Born 
Richard E. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
 
Spoiler: Sam Rockwell, Vice 
Surprise: Michael B. Jordan, Black Panther


Best Supporting Actress 
Amy Adams, Vice
Emily Blunt, A Quiet Place 
Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk  
Emma Stone, The Favourite
Rachel Weisz, The Favourite

Spoiler: Claire Foy, First Man  
Surprise: Margot Robbie, Mary Queen of Scots or Roma




Best Adapted Screenplay
BlacKkKlansman 
Black Panther
Can You Ever Forgive Me? 
If Beale Street Could Talk  
A Star Is Born 

Spoiler: Leave No Trace
Surprise: First Man

   
Best Original Screenplay 
Eighth Grade
The Favourite 
Green Book 
Roma
Vice

Spoiler: First Reformed

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

Spoiler: Early Main
Surprise: Smallfoot


Best Documentary Feature 
Free Solo 
Minding the Gap
RBG
Three Identical Strangers 
Won't You Be My Neighbor? 

Spoiler: Shirkers

 

Best Cinematography 
Cold War 
The Favourite 
First Man 
Roma 
A Star Is Born

Spoiler: Black Panther
Surprise: Bohemian Rhapsody 


Best Costume Design 
Black Panther
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
The Favourite (Sandy Powell)
Mary Poppins Returns (Sandy Powell)
Mary Queen of Scots 

Spoiler: Bohemian Rhapsody
Surprise: Crazy Rich Asians

 
Best Film Editing 
Bohemian Rhapsody
First Man 
Roma
A Star Is Born 
Vice

Spoiler:  The Favourite 
Surprise: A Quiet Place

 
Best Makeup and Hairstyling 
Bohemian Rhapsody
Mary Queen of Scots
Vice

Spoiler:  Stan & Ollie
Spoiler: Black Panther 

 
Best Original Score 
A Quiet Place
BlackKklansman
First Man 
If Beale Street Could Talk
Isle of Dogs 

Spoiler: Black Panther
Surprise: Mary Poppins Returns

 
Best Original Song 
All the Stars, Black Panther, Performed by Kendrick Lamar and SZA 
Girl in the Movies, Dumplin’, Performed by Dolly Parton 
I'll Fight, RBG, Performed by Jennifer Hudson  
Shallow, A Star Is Born, Performed by Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga 
Trip A Little Light Fantastic, Mary Poppins Returns, Performed by Emily Blunt and Lin-Manuel Miranda 

Spoiler: The Place Where Lost Things Go, Mary Poppins Returns, Performed by Emily Blunt


Best Production Design 
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald 
The Favourite 
First Man
Mary Poppins Returns
Roma 

Spoiler: Black Panther
Surprise: Bohemian Rhapsody

 
Best Sound Editing 
A Quiet Place 
Black Panther
First Man
Mission: Impossible — Fallout
Roma  

Spoiler: Bohemian Rhapsody
Surprise: Ready Player One



Best Sound Mixing 
Bohemian Rhapsody
First Man
A Quiet Place 
Roma
A Star Is Born
 
Spoiler: Bohemian Rhapsody
Surprise: Mary Poppins Returns 
 

Best Visual Effects 
Avengers: Infinity War
Black Panther
First Man
Mary Poppins Returns
Ready Player One 

Spoiler: Solo: A Star Wars Story
Surprise: Welcome to Marwen

Eighth Grade

Gucci!

Writer-director Bo Burnham's coming-of-age story is the movie dreams are made of. That is, if your dreams often take you back to the the awkward and insecure time spent as a thirteen-year old eighth grader. Yeeks! What's my locker combination?
 
The film opens with the part charming, part annoying Kayla (Elsie Fisher) who has been awarded the dubious honor of "Most Quiet" at the end of middle school, and the audience is invited to follow her as she finds herself, loses herself, finds friends and makes a lot of YouTube videos in between.

I can't say that I ever wanted to return to eighth grade, especially in the honest and realistic way this film does, but it is worth it to see how Kayla deals with what life throws her way, including her relationship with her father. It's one of the most charming films of 2018.
 
In a nutshell: An awkward visit to middle school that earns an A+ for comedy.
 
Award potential: Eighth Grade is an unlikely Best Picture nominee unless the Academy shuns popular favorites such as Black Panther and Bohemian Rhapsody with some more original and elevated choices such as First Man, Cold War or this. 

Elsie Fischer, who voiced young Agnes in the Despicable Me movies, is a breakout star however it's a top tier year in the Best Actress category with no room for an ingenue.
 
The Ten Buck Review: Worth ten bucks.