The French Dispatch

Wes Anderson’s (Rushmore, Moonrise Kingdom, The Royal Tenenbaums, Isle of Dogs) tenth feature is a love letter to one of his lifelong passions, reading New Yorker stories. Anderson, who has bound copies since his teen years, once bought a full collection of bound New Yorker magazines. That likely explains why such a talented director went so wrong with The French Dispatch.

Framed as three articles in a final issue of the fictional French Dispatch Sunday supplement, this is an anthology film that might have worked as a bingeable 6-part streamer but does not as a film. The quiet magazine setup does not hold enough intrigue to hold audience interest — especially as the title cards set up the disappointing news that this is going to be a collection of unconnected short stories with no destination in sight.

The sites, however, are intoxicatingly bold and full of visual delights and the stars are top favorites. Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Christolph Waltz, William Dafoe, Ed Norton, Saoirse Ronan, Jason Schwartzman, Angelika Huston, Henry Winkler and more. Unfortunately, as each title card cued another story, I simply wanted to know how many short stories there are going to be, and when this might end.

The first story, featuring Benicio Del Toro, Adrien Brody, Tilda Swinton, Lea Seydoux and others is a gem, fully realized. The second, featuring Frances McDormand (this year’s Oscar Best Actress winner) and Timothee Chalamet (hot off Dune’s success this past weekend) requires patience as does the third story. While every frame is beautifully crafted, I can’t recommend this film.

In a nutshell: Apparently, watching the New Yorker come to life is a meandering journey.

Award potential: Unlike The Grand Budapest Hotel, we won’t see this one in the list of Best Picture nominees but Anderson is always a nomination contender for Best Production Design (the old Art Direction category) and potentially Best Costume.

Where to watch: In theaters now. 

The Ten Buck Review: Not worth ten bucks.

The Eyes of Tammy Faye

These eyes. 

There is only one reason to see this film — Jessica Chastain as Tammy Faye Baker. She lights up every screen moment she’s in.

The meandering film makes the mistake of telling their full life story. Although it’s a wild journey, a better film would have chosen a single point in time to focus on.

The film, directed by Michael Showalter (The Big Sick) is seen through the eyes of Tammy Faye. We see the story of Jim (Andrew Garfield) and Tammy Faye Baker's rise from Bible College to leaders of PTL as well as their heavily publicized fall from Grace. While it is amazing and unbelievable that this happened in front of everyone else’s eyes, the long chronological journey threatens to make this film a TV movie.

The film borders on exploring some powerful thoughts about the delicate role of religion and the benefits of mass media, but it never really gets there.

But then there’s Jessica Chastain playing someone you can’t turn away from — a real-life caricature. And it’s totally worth seeing.

In a nutshell: You just can makeup this stuff up. An amazing story told just OK.

Award potential. Nominations for Best Actress only. It’s all Tammy Faye. The other characters never generate any interest, despite being mesmerizing characters themselves (Jerry Falwell, Jim Baker, Pat Robinson).

Where to watch: In theaters now.

The Ten Buck Review: Tammy Faye is a site to see. Worth ten bucks.

Stillwater

I may be one of few people who didn't follow the actual story of Amanda Knox. I typically don't gravitate to that type of news story, so I'm not the main audience for this film either. That said, the one thing I knew about her case had a large effect on how I viewed it — knowing that this is a fictional telling of that story.

Stillwater is based on the case of Oklahoma-native Knox who was famously convicted of a murder in Italy and spent four years in prison before an appeals court overturned her sentence. You know that part already, right? The film follows her father (Matt Damon) and his attempt to clear her name and find the person who killed her roommate (although in the film, the victim is now her lover). Oh, and the Dad never solved the case in real life. And the core surprises in the film never happened either. Neither did that other thing that I can't reveal but derails the film. Also, the romance didn't happen.

I could defend many and most historical films that take creative license to tell a cinematic story. We don't know what was really said behind the walls of The Crown. There was no Jack and Rose on the Titanic. But for me, this is too recent to tell such a wild tale.

If none of that was true, this would be a solid thriller that is better than any recent Liam Neeson revenge flick. It's directed at a high cinematic level by Tom McCarthy (Spotlight, Visitor) and well above the quality of other summer films. I just can't recommend the whole package.

In a nutshell: Irresponsible concept. Expertly done. Next time, just write a fictional tale.

Award potential: Damon will be mentioned in the Best Acor slot until winter when there are more options. I'm not a fan of Matt Damon and how he grins and begs viewers to think he's awesome, but in an understated role where he plays a guy that people realize is not at all awesome at what he does, he's winning at that role. 

Where to watch: In theaters now.

The Ten Buck Review: Not worth your ten bucks.

Annette

Visionary French director Leos Carax (Holy Motors) teamed up with cult-art pop group Sparks to create an ambitious musical that is more David Lynch than Damien Chazelle. 

Adam Driver (BlackKlansman, Marriage Story), Marion Cotillard (La Vie en rose) and Simon Helberg (Florence Foster Jenkins, Big Bang Theory) play the key roles in a tortured love story that is so downbeat, dark, and surreal you never once care about the characters.

Anyone who saw Edgar Wright's documentary The Sparks Brothers will instantly be disappointed as their desire to make a movie figured prominently in that documentary — a flick that is certainly more worth your time than this meandering experiment. I doubt there is much demand in 2021 for a two-hour and twenty-minute musical bummer. 

Even those who love alt-film and the avant-garde will likely squirm. I'd rather listen to "Baby Shark" for two hours than a repeat of "So May We Start.”

In a nutshell: Musical miss or mess? Probably the biggest of both in 2021.

Award potential: Despite being the premier film at Cannes and taking Best Director for many amazing scenes, Annette will not be mentioned during award season.

Where to find it: In theaters now. Available on Amazon Prime August 20, 2021.

The Ten Buck Review: Not worth ten bucks.

Zola

Truth is stranger than fiction.

With a few exceptions, most “books are better than the movie.” So, what happens when a famously followed tweet storm becomes a Hollywood film?

In 2015, Hooters waitress and part-time stripper A’Ziah King tweeted a series of increasingly insane updates on her adventure to Florida to earn quick cash with another stripper she recently met. The girls’ trip (they are named Zola and Stephanie here) quickly goes downhill involving all the things you’ll find in the stereotypical stripper story — except somehow this isn’t your typical take.

The script, which mirrors the tweets in tone and content, was written by Tony-nominated playwright Jeremy O. Harris together with director Janicza Bravo (Lemon). Tweet-originator A’Ziah King is executive producer and collaborator on the film.

Credit each author’s ability to be in the middle of the story while somehow looking at it from afar, rolling eyes. and making us cackle at how crazy each situation is. Plus, major credit for big and small laughs go to Taylour Paige's (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) subtly-rewarding performance — and Riley Keough's over-the-top-with-extensions performance.

The film works at a brisk pace and totally works as both Friday night entertainment and affirmation of the power of a female gaze. While it arrives on TVs soon, much will be missed by not watching this in the theater. I got an extra kick out of the communal reaction to the eye rolls, some cover-your-eyes NSW moments, and the subtle performance of Paige — including a moment where she takes cleaning products to the pole.

In a nutshell: See it in the theater; don’t take the whole family.

Award potential: It will be included in some early lists for movie, actors, and screenplay as it’s one of few strong films at this point in the year. I don’t expect to hear any buzz nomination time next February — its best bet is adapted screenplay.

Where to find it: In theaters now and on-demand Friday, July 23.

The Ten Buck Review: Worth ten bucks.

 

EUROVISION SONG CONTEST: The Story Of Fire Saga

 

I thought Will Ferrell's transition from SNL to the big screen in Old School (2003) and Anchorman (2004) was seamless. I own a copy of Stepbrothers (2008), a perfect buddy comedy. After that, it's been downhill until 2020's aptly titled non-comedy Downhill. He's put out dozens of concept movies in search of one single laugh. He's Sherlock! An ice dancer! A basketball semi-pro! A cop! A racecar driver!

I really thought the one thing you could count on to be non-funny is a thin comedy sketch, genre concept movie with Will Ferrell involved. 

Even less funny are music videos that are supposed to be a parody. That's how this film starts. I can't believe I loved this film about an Icelandic couple competing in The Eurovision Song Contest, an actual American Idol-style song competition that once put Abba on the map.

Ferrell plays Lars Erickssong, a long-haired clueless dreamer who with Sigrit Ericksdottir (Rachel McAdams), makes up the band Fire Saga. I know, I know, it sounds horrible. But the pratfalls are undeniably funny, the songs are a hoot, and the story progresses to a heartfelt finale.

I was tricked into watching the film to discover why its song was the frontrunner for Academy Award for Best Original Song. Lucky me.

In a nutshell: All the elements of a bad film are here, but it's a lot of fun and a great Netflix night. You'll probably add "Ja Ja Ding Dong" to your playlists too.

Award potential: "Husavik" was frontrunner for Oscars' Best Original Song, losing to H.E.R.'s "Fight for You" from Judas and the Black Messiah

Where to find it: Netflix

The Ten Buck Review: Worth ten bucks.

Win your Oscars office pool with stat-tastic help

With most films being viewed at home in 2020, it's a unique year for Oscars so we’re gonna need some math to help your Oscar office pool. Here's how to win:

Win the Best Director category
The Academy has been hoping to have its second woman winner sooner than later. The top two nominees should provide that. Go with whoever won the Director’s Guild of America award. Those winners have matched in all but seven of a whopping 72 years. And the Oscar goes to: Nomadland's director Chloé Zhao

Win the Best Cinematography category
The cinematographer's award (ASC) is a good one to watch. They announced their winner at the time of this writing —Erik Messerschmidt for Mank. But for or six of the last eight years, this award has gone hand-in-hand with Best Director (likely Nomadland). The British Film Academy Film Awards (BAFTA), a broader group, already chose Nomadland. You should too.

Win the Best Foreign Feature Film category
Five stunning films are nominated, but only one of them is also nominated for another award and it has all the buzz — Best Director Thomas Vinterberg's Danish film, Another Round.

Win the Best Adapted Screenplay category
The respected Writers Guild (WGA) did not have Nomadland or The Father as eligible options and chose Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. (I know.) Britain's BAFTA chose The Father (of course they did). The USC Scripter Awards, which has accurately predicted this category for 8 of the last 11 years, chose Nomadland.
The math is 50/50 here, Nomadland has been the frontrunner, but it may be a place to reward The Father.

Win the Best Original Screenplay category
The winner category most often parallels the WGA’s winner, Promising Young Woman, which also won at BAFTA. A repeat at Oscars seems promising.

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. Their picks align with Oscar more than any other. This means we'll be celebrating most diverse collection of winners in Oscars history: Chadwick Boseman, Viola Davis, Daniel Kaluuya and Yuh-jung Youn should polish their speeches now.

Win the Best Animated Feature Film category
Eleven out of fifteen PGA-winning animated films also won the Animated Feature Academy Award, and it was true of last year’s winner Toy Story 4. They chose the obvious choice, Soul. The Annie Award/BAFTA combo is huge. Since BAFTA introduced the Animated Feature award, they’ve predicted the winner in thirteen of the past fifteen years. Get ready for a Soul winner of all three.

Win the Best Music (Original Song) category
There’s not a lot of math for this category, just remember that all members (not just musicians) vote in this category. No song has more relevance to its film than "Husavik" (Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga) and it has a lot of attention, but H.E.R. is having an awards streak and her "Fight for You" from Judas and the Black Messiah may get noticed too. I suspect most voters have heard the Hamilton crooner and "Speak Now" from One Night in Miami.

Win the Best Music (Original Score) category
NIN's Trent Reznor and Jon Batiste are nominated for the top two frontrunners, Mank and Soul. This award most often aligns with the BAFTA Award for Best Film Music, which honored Soul. It took the Golden Globe too. The Oscar goes to Soul and the guy from Nine Inch Nails.

Win the Best Sound category
Sound Editing has always gone to the loudest, ear-ringing war film or action film and Sound Mixing rewarded the most euphonic sound mixing and would often award craft details in movies such as Fast and the Furious.

All that is history, the two have been combined into one award and the math starts fresh. Good thing there's a slam dunk choice and a film that uses sound to put viewers into the world of a man losing his hearing. Drumroll please....it's Sound of Metal.

Win the Best Editing category
While it's a different discipline, for the last seven years, the film editors have aligned with Best Sound. Your safest bet is Sound of Metal, but this is another place The Father could sneak in. Your best call on if you think voters actually watched this film about dementia.

Win the Best Production Design category
This award, renamed from “Best Art Direction” in 2012, doesn’t usually match Best Picture (4 times since 2000). The winner of this category often aligns with the winner of Art Director's Guild Award. The AGAs went to Tenet (Fantasy), Mank (Period) and Da Five Bloods (Contemporary), which is not nominated at Oscars. This looks like the place the Academy could reward the highly respected Mank.

Win the Best Costume Design category
100+-year-old period pieces (Emma) almost always beat fantasy (Pinocchio) ones. But this year we have some younger periods to mess up the math (Mank, Ma Rainey, Mulan). Look to the BAFTAs who ignored Ma Rainey (including Boseman and Davis) in all categories except one. The Oscar goes to Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.

Win the Best Makeup and Hairstyling category
The Oscar goes to Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.

Win the Best Visual Effects category
Since the VES Awards launched in 2002, the winner of its top film category has gone on to score the Best Visual Effects Oscar in 10 of the 18 years. They chose The Midnight Sky. But, the VES and the Oscars have differed in each of the past three years with the Oscar going to the more premier film. BAFTA chose Tenet, a divisive but more widely seen film. Tenet is divisive so I'd give the edge to The Midnight Sky.

Win the Best Documentary Feature category (Feature)
I used to suggest that the most widely accessible film always wins and usually said a Netflix film. This year, two are on Netflix, two on Amazon, and one on Hulu. Well, that doesn't doesn't help. I'm going with the one that has been around the longest and has the broadest appeal. Go with The Octopus Teacher.

Win the Best Animated Short Film category
If Anything Happens I Love You is on a whole different level of both story and animation inspiration.

Win the Best Documentary Short category
Go with heralded A Love Song for Latasha

Win the Best Live Action Short Film category
The Oscar goes to Two Distant Strangers. Repeat.

Win the show’s running-time tiebreaker.
In 2002, the show ran four hours and 23 minutes. Whew! With limited time during covid-19 protocol years, I expect they will want to keep the ceremony moving.

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
2019: 3 hours, 23 minutes
2020: 3 hours, 36 minutes

Tiebreaker question: Which film will win the most awards?
Mank has the most nominations at 10 but should be the biggest loser with just one or two wins (Production Design and maybe Cinematorgrahy). Nomadland is on track for three big ones (Picture, Director, Cinematography, Screenplay) but is vulnerable. Ma Rainey is your better bet to win four — it's a front runner in its four categories.

Win the Best Picture category
I saved the biggest (and toughest) category for last because we're going to have to narrow down nine 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 eliminates Minari, Judas, and Mank

2. No film in the past 11 years has won the best picture Oscar without being nominated by both the Directors Guild and BAFTA, so let’s take out The Father and Sound of Metal.

3. At this point, I’d normally eliminate any without a screenplay nomination. But our final three all have that.

1. Nomadland
2. Promising Young Woman
3. The Trial of the Chicago 7

4. The Globes (Nomadland) and SAG (The Trial of the Chicago Seven) don’t align consistently, but it’s rare when a film doesn’t win at least one of three options. Let's take out Promising Young Woman.The Critics Choice chose Nomadland (70% alignment with Oscars). For nine of the last twelve years, the Producers Guild’s choice for Best Picture went on to claim the top prize at the Oscars. They did not match last year. They chose Nomadland. For 11 out of 15 years, the picture that won both PGA and Golden Globe took the Oscar too. Expect last year when that stat lost. They also both chose Nomadland this year.

The math is clear on Nomadland. But every year since the tiered voting took over, films that have been in the lead most of the season are upset and it feels that way again. But, if you're betting money, you can't bet on a shocker. Nomadland is the one to beat. 

Good luck with your Oscars pool everyone!