Morning Coffee (9/13/16)

My friend and boss Maureen Johnson has a new politics podcast! With the @MayorEmanuel guy!

Big news: "Based on the NCAA's commitment to fairness and inclusion, the Association will relocate all seven previously awarded championship events from North Carolina during the 2016-17 academic year. The NCAA Board of Governors made this decision because of the cumulative actions taken by the state concerning civil rights protections."

"Now imagine if Mitt Romney had run exactly Mitt Romney’s campaign but then suddenly in mid-September went on television and called Elizabeth Warren Pocahontas for no reason. It would have been huge."

This from Ta-Nehisi Coates is important, about how accusing anyone of bigotry is seen as unforgivable even when it's factually accurate: How Breitbart Conquered the Media

Fascinating and appalling: Inside the Federal Bureau Of Way Too Many Guns

"Elections are always imperfect, and infused with personality, tribal loyalties, and blind party affiliations as much as substance. But there's usually some substance."

Black Teachers Matter

This survey of women in tech has some interesting stuff even aside from the politics - I would not have guessed that Asian women hold the smallest percentage of leadership roles and Hispanic women the largest.

Awesome: D.C. will hide once-banned books throughout the city this month

I like Reese Witherspoon and Mindy Kaling but I'm dubious of them in these particular roles in A Wrinkle in Time.

Morning Coffee (2/29/16)

WHEW. The Oscars are over; I am delighted and thrilled that Spotlight won best picture. Here are my picks and predictions, with links to my thoughts on the 45 nominated films I managed to see.

Me elsewhere: The week's TV news.

I couldn't decide what part of Rebecca Traister's NY Mag cover story on the political power of single women to quote, so you should probably read the whole thing and also the book from which it was excerpted.

This this this this this: America loves women like Hillary Clinton – as long as they’re not asking for a promotion

We've lost sight of how wildly irresponsible the Republican tax plans are

I love that this was a specifically planned journalistic trap and not just a one-off coincidence: How We Fooled Donald Trump Into Retweeting Benito Mussolini

Well. People say the Islamic State is using a fruit-flavored drink as fake blood in its videos

To Men I Love, About Men Who Scare Me

This is so important: Bridging a Digital Divide That Leaves Schoolchildren Behind

"Ultimately, what Sanders does after he exits will reveal if the movement was about him or us."

"While it's true Rubio needs to defeat Kasich, Sen. Ted Cruz, and Dr. Ben Carson — whom the email accused of being horcruxes — to get the nomination, it is extremely unlikely that Trump has actually embedded pieces of his soul in their bodies."

Extremely Sad Boys In Fancy Dress In Western Art History

Oscar Project 2016: My Picks

Well, here we go. I wound up seeing 45 of the 56 nominated movies; I saw everything in 20 of the 24 categories. Here's what I think can and should win in each category, with additional comments where necessary. Click on the name of each nominated movie to read my thoughts.

Best Picture: The Big Short, Bridge of Spies, Brooklyn, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Martian, The Revenant, Room, Spotlight
What should win: Spotlight
What will win: The Revenant
Note: I would have nominated Creed in this category, probably in place of Bridge of Spies, though Spotlight would still be my pick to win.

Actor in a Leading Role: The Danish Girl, The Martian, The Revenant, Steve Jobs, Trumbo
Who should win: Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs)
Who will win: Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant)
Note: Michael B. Jordan (Creed) should have been nominated and probably should have won.

Actress in a Leading Role: 45 Years, Brooklyn, Carol, Joy, Room
Who should win: Brie Larson (Room), though I'd also be happy with Ronan or Rampling.
Who will win: Brie Larson (Room)

Actor in a Supporting Role: The Big Short, Bridge of Spies, Creed, The Revenant, Spotlight
Who should win: Mark Ruffalo (Spotlight), though Mark Rylance was also great. Mark R-something, whichever.
Who will win: Sylvester Stallone (Creed)

Actress in a Supporting Role: Carol, The Danish Girl, The Hateful Eight, Spotlight, Steve Jobs
Who should win: Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl)
Who will win: Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl)

Animated Feature Film: Anomalisa, Boy and the World, Inside Out, Shaun the Sheep Movie, When Marnie Came Home
What should win: Anomalisa
What will win: Inside Out
Note: Sorry, Animated Features, I'm just not that into you. Boy and the World was hard to find and I just didn't get to renting the other two. Of the two I saw, though, I thought Anomalisa was much better, though everyone in the world seems to have liked Inside Out way more than I did.

Cinematography: Carol, The Hateful Eight, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Revenant, Sicario
What should win: The Hateful Eight
What will win: The Revenant

Costume Design: Carol, Cinderella, The Danish Girl, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Revenant
What should win: Cinderella
What will win: Cinderella
Note: I would have nominated Brooklyn and Crimson Peak in this category, and given it to Crimson Peak.

Directing: The Big Short, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Revenant, Room, Spotlight
What should win: Spotlight
What will win: The Revenant

Documentary (Feature): Amy, Cartel Land, The Look of Silence, What Happened, Miss Simone?, Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom
What should win: Winter on Fire
What will win: Amy
Note: This is the category that I'm saddest about not finishing - these were all pretty readily available to stream, so I put them off while I tried to catch harder-to-find things in the theaters, and then ran out of time. I liked Winter on Fire, but having seen only one thing in the category, I don't have a strong preference.

Documentary (Short Subject): Body Team 12, Chau, beyond the Lines, Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah, A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness, Last Day of Freedom
What should win: A Girl in the River (or Last Day of Freedom as a fairly close second choice)
What will win: Body Team 12

Film Editing: The Big Short, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Revenant, Spotlight, Star Wars: The Force Awakens
What should win: Spotlight
What will win: Mad Max: Fury Road

Foreign Language Film: Embrace of the Serpent, Mustang, Son of Saul, Theeb, A War
What should win: Mustang, though I really loved A War too.
What will win: Son of Saul
Note: Unfortunately, neither Theeb nor Embrace of the Serpent have opened anywhere in my area yet, so I couldn't see them.

Makeup and Hairstyling: The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Revenant
What should win: Mad Max: Fury Road
What will win: Mad Max: Fury Road

Music (Original Score): Bridge of Spies, Carol, The Hateful Eight, Sicario, Star Wars: The Force Awakens
What should win: The Hateful Eight
What will win: The Hateful Eight

Music (Original Song): Fifty Shades of Grey, The Hunting Ground, Racing Extinction, Spectre, Youth
What should win: Racing Extinction
What will win: The Hunting Ground
Note: This is another category I didn't manage to finish, but luckily, you can listen to all the songs online. Honestly, I wasn't wild about any of them. I kind of want Fifty Shades of Grey to win just to mess with people.

Production Design: Bridge of Spies, The Danish Girl, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Martian, The Revenant
What should win: The Martian
What will win: Mad Max: Fury Road
Note: Crimson Peak and Carol should have been nominated here, and Crimson Peak should have won.

Short Film (Animated): Bear Story, Prologue, Sanjay's Super Team, We Can't Live without Cosmos, World of Tomorrow
What should win: World of Tomorrow, though I keep vacillating between that and Bear Story.
What will win: Sanjay's Super Team

Short Film (Live Action): Ave Maria, Day One, Everything Will Be Okay, Shok, Stutterer
What should win: Everything Will Be Okay
What will win: Shok

Sound Editing: Mad Max: Fury Road, The Martian, The Revenant, Sicario, Star Wars: The Force Awakens
What should win: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
What will win: Mad Max: Fury Road

Sound Mixing: Bridge of Spies, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Martian, The Revenant, Star Wars: The Force Awakens
What should win: The Martian
What will win: Mad Max: Fury Road

Visual Effects: Ex Machina, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Martian, The Revenant, Star Wars: The Force Awakens
What should win: I'm torn between Ex Machina and The Martian.
What will win: Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Writing (Adapted Screenplay): The Big Short, Brooklyn, Carol, The Martian, Room
What should win: The Martian
What will win: The Big Short
Note: FWIW, I've read the source material for Brooklyn, The Martian, and Room, so I have a more complete opinion about them.

Writing (Original Screenplay): Bridge of Spies, Ex Machina, Inside Out, Spotlight, Straight Outta Compton
What should win: Spotlight
What will win: Spotlight

Oscar Project 2016: Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom

Movie: Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom

This documentary about the revolution in Ukraine did a great job of combining on-the-ground footage with enough context and informational aids (especially maps) to give a good overview of the situation for viewers who weren't familiar with all the particulars. It was both sad and inspirational, and had some really great visuals.

Availability: Streaming on Netflix.

Nominated in:

Documentary (Feature): I didn't have time to see any of the others so I can't compare, but I thought this was very good and deserving of recognition.

Oscar Project 2016: The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared

Movie: The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared

This Swedish comedy was the kind of movie that makes me think "I get why people like this, but it's just not my cup of tea at all." It also made me think "Ugh, I hate comedy." So. Fair warning.

Availability: Streaming on Amazon Prime.

Nominated in:

Makeup and Hairstyling: That said, it did a very good job with old age makeup, so. I couldn't really object.

Morning Coffee (2/28/16)

Happy Oscar Day! We're going with themed links today.

ICYMI, I posted about several movies yesterday: A War, Straight Outta Compton, A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness, Last Day of Freedom, Chau, beyond the Lines, Body Team 12, Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah

I don't agree with all these choices, but there's a lot of interesting stuff here: Who Will Win, And Who Should Win, At This Year’s Oscars

Take a look at Todd VanDerWerff's rankings, too.

Oscars 2016: why The Revenant is favored to win Best Picture

What It’s Really Like to Work in Hollywood* (*If you’re not a straight white man.)

Leonardo DiCaprio Hasn't Acted in a Movie Directed by a Woman in 2 Decades

What Does the Academy Value in a Black Performance?

Important historical perspective: #OscarsSoWhite, #ForSoLong

Boston Globe Reporter Sacha Pfeiffer: How Hollywood Got ‘Spotlight’ Right

And here's Marty Baron's take.

This is why it’s so hard to host the Academy Awards

Oscar Project 2016: A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness

Movie: A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness

This tells the story of a young Pakistani woman who survives an attempted "honor killing" and then has to rebuild her life and decide whether to legally "forgive" the father and uncle who shot her. It's heartbreaking, and the young woman at the center of it is just breathtakingly strong. Her rare circumstances gave the filmmakers a chance to examine the issue from angles not often explored, and the way they got the perpetrators and others to just bluntly admit their guilt and justifications was powerful and frightening.

Availability: Head this way to learn how/where to see the shorts.

Nominated in:

Documentary (Short Subject): Yes. It's informative and moving and does an admirable job of going deep into the cultural forces around honor killings.

Oscar Project 2016: Last Day of Freedom

Movie: Last Day of Freedom

This is an animated documentary, which surprised me but, I thought, wound up working very, very well. It's about a Vietnam vet with PTSD and other mental health issues who ends up killing someone and getting the death penalty, and it's told very movingly from the point of view of the brother who tried to help him - and who wound up turning him in.

Availability: Head this way to learn how/where to see the shorts.

Nominated in:

Documentary (Short Subject): Fascinating and original in form and very important in subject, so absolutely award-worthy.

Oscar Project 2016: Chau, beyond the Lines

Movie: Chau, beyond the Lines

This tells the story of a Vietnamese boy severely disabled by Agent Orange and his quest to become an artist and an independent adult, and through his story does a good job of illustrating the lasting effects of Agent Orange on the Vietnamese population. Tragic and life-affirming all at once.

Availability: Head this way to learn how/where to see the shorts.

Nominated in:

Documentary (Short Subject): Not my first choice, but very interesting and moving and I wouldn't be sad if it won.

Oscar Project 2016: Body Team 12

Movie: Body Team 12

This was an interesting but very short look at a Red Cross team fighting Ebola in Liberia, and I loved that it focused on the one female member of the team and had such a strong but matter-of-fact feminist message. Unfortunately, it was so short that it felt like a very superficial overview rather than a complete film.

Availability: Head this way to learn how/where to see the shorts.

Nominated in:

Documentary (Short Subject): This was good (and dealt with something important) but just too short to get into the issue with sufficient depth or detail.

Oscar Project 2016: Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah

Movie: Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah

This short, about the making of Shoah, was interesting and well-made but felt more like bonus content that should go with Shoah itself - or, to stand on its own, a more thorough introduction to the movie was needed. Also, the people at the beginning talking about how terrible Lanzmann was were intriguing, and then that whole thread was pretty much just dropped. But this did make me interested in seeing Shoah itself.

Availability: Head this way to learn how/where to see the shorts.

Nominated in:

Documentary (Short Subject): Nah. Just didn't think it held up well enough on its own, especially given the much stronger nominees in this category.

Oscar Project 2016: Straight Outta Compton

Movie: Straight Outta Compton

I came to this with only the vaguest of ideas of who these people were and quite enjoyed it anyway, which is a sign of its strength. (And not knowing much meant I was genuinely surprised by some of the big plot points, which I assume most viewers were not.) I was a little confused by some of the particulars, but I thought the movie did an excellent job of showing the importance of the characters to the development of the genre and to culture in general.

Availability: Available for digital purchase or rental.

Nominated in:

Writing (Original Screenplay): I'm slightly torn because I do think it could have done a bit more to establish the facts for audience members who weren't familiar with the players and story - but maybe they (I) were not really the target audience so it doesn't matter. The writing was quite good otherwise and it's certainly deserving.

Oscar Project 2016: A War

Movie: A War

This Danish film about a soldier and his men in Afghanistan and his wife and children back home did everything I wanted Day One to do as far as digging into the nuances and ambiguities of war and its effects on everyone involved. (But then, it had a lot more time to do so, and I'm really not making a direct comparison between the two.) The war scenes, home front scenes, and courtroom scenes were all equally compelling, and I was completely pulled into Claus and Maria's story even while legitimately torn about Claus's legal situation. I loved the complexities that this set up and the way it ended in a way that felt real and satisfying while providing no easy answers. And lead Pilou Asbaek is, as always, a magnetic presence.

Availability: In a few theaters.

Nominated in:

Foreign Language Film: Sure. It was well-written (so far as I could tell from subtitles), well-acted, and took a nuanced look at hot-button current events while also focusing on interesting, complex, sympathetic characters.

Oscar Project 2016: Everything Will Be Okay

Movie: Everything Will Be Okay

This German short starts off as a family drama and turns into a thriller so gradually that it's completely horrifying and thoroughly compelling. The lead performances are great, especially young newcomer Julia Pointner, whose character's instinctive understanding of psychological complexity is what makes this all work emotionally and keeps the adult protagonist from just seeming like a monster. (Someone please cast Pointner and Jacob Tremblay in something where they get to play with puppies and eat ice cream all day. These kids deserve a break.)

Availability: Head this way to learn how/where to see the shorts.

Nominated in:

Short Film (Live Action): Yes. It was really great and packed so much plot and character development into a short time without ever feeling rushed or like it was doing too much.

Oscar Project 2016: Day One

Movie: Day One

Day One is an intense film about an interpreter working for the American Army in Afghanistan and her eventful first day on the job. It was well-made but just felt too pat to me - look how terrible war is! And it is, and that's important, but there are so many more questions that could have been examined especially in this specific context of Afghan-American women in the military and all the cultural complexities there, so I was disappointed that it didn't - probably didn't have time to - do much with those. (Also, the beginning reminded me of nothing so much as the China Beach pilot, which could have added nuance but came across as more just disjointed.) All that said, lead Layla Alizada gave a great performance, as did Jesse Luken in a quiet but important role.

Availability: Head this way to learn how/where to see the shorts.

Nominated in:

Short Film (Live Action): I'd say that Layla Alizada's performance was award-worthy, but I'm not convinced about the film as a whole.

Oscar Project 2016: Shok

Movie: Shok

This short tragedy revolves around the friendship of two young boys during the war in Kosovo. It's extremely grim but has its moments of humor, and it's gripping and emotionally resonant. The young actors, especially, did a great job.

Availability: Head this way to learn how/where to see the shorts.

Nominated in:

Short Film (Live Action): This would be a fine choice. It's well-acted and tells a complete, moving, important story in a short run time.

Oscar Project 2016: We Can't Live without Cosmos

Movie: We Can't Live without Cosmos

This Russian animated film about two cosmonauts training together for years was funny and moving and had a charmingly simple animation style. But at the end it suddenly became magical realism, and there is really no better way to turn me off than to suddenly become magical realism - both in that it doesn't do much for me in general and that in this case I thought it undercut a lot of the meaningful emotional moments of the rest of the film.

Availability: Head this way to learn how/where to see the shorts.

Nominated in:

Short Film (Animated): Nah. The end really ruined it for me.

Oscar Project 2016: Ave Maria

Movie: Ave Maria

Believe it or not, this film about an Israeli Jewish settler family crashing (literally, with their car) into a silent Catholic convent in the West Bank is by far the lightest and funniest of this year's live shorts. It was entertaining but pretty superficial in what could have been a nuanced portrayal of how living in a place with such religious tensions affects daily life.

Availability: Head this way to learn how/where to see the shorts.

Nominated in:

Short Film (Live Action): Enh. It was fine and amusing but not up to the caliber of some of the others.

Oscar Project 2016: The Big Short

Movie: The Big Short

I mostly enjoyed The Big Short, and I thought it did a good job of making a complicated big economic issue interesting and explicable. I'm of two minds about the various gimmicks they used to get there, though. I thought they were distracting and took some of the power out of the story. But at the same time, I'm not sure there was another good way to explain the concepts that honestly needed to be explained. And when I said this to my dad, he said he thought the gimmicks were perfectly appropriate for a movie about fraud, which is . . . also a good point.

Availability: In some theaters, and also available for digital purchase or rental.

Nominated in:

Best Picture: It's not my choice, but I wouldn't be wildly upset if it won. It was interesting and ambitious and well-made and dealt with important issues.

Actor in a Supporting Role: Until a few days ago, I honestly thought Bale was nominated for Lead Actor. So. Huh. I thought he did a very good job here, staying just this side of caricature.

Directing: Sure. It had a very strong point of view and a lot going on and seemed well-directed.

Film Editing: Yes, some very interesting decisions there; clearly a lot of attention was paid to the editing. (I first typoed "intention", but that too, really - the choices felt very intentional.)

Writing (Adapted Screenplay): Yeah, okay, I wouldn't be upset. It turned a non-fiction book into a narrative that often felt like fiction (in a storytelling sense) while scrupulously pointing out when it strayed from facts. As I mentioned, I'm of mixed feelings about some of the narrative gimmicks it used, but they may have been the best way to make the whole thing work.

Oscar Project 2016: Bear Story

Movie: Bear Story

A bear tells his life story through a mechanical diorama he shows to children (well, cubs) and it is completely charming and enthralling and heartbreaking. Seriously. The animation is gorgeous and intricate, too.

Availability: Head this way to learn how/where to see the shorts.

Nominated in:

Short Film (Animated): Yes. Interesting, imaginative animation and a complete, moving story.