This year I bought a pass to attend a movie marathon with Regal Cinemas to see all the Best Picture nominees. Thus far I’ve seen 4 of the 9 nominees, with plans to see at least two more. The other three were either movies I had no interest in, or the show times just didn’t fit with my scheduler.
I talked a few women from my neighborhood book club into doing it with me, and we have all really enjoyed it. CootieGirl has also enjoyed it, as I got her a festival pass as well.
The first movie we saw was "La La Land," which I thoroughly enjoyed due to my love of old musicals. I also adore Emma Stone and would watch her read a phone book, so that helps. It was a very fun movie, but I’ll admit that I was surprised it was nominated for Best Picture. It’s definitely a movie that is out of the box from typical movies today, but had I seen it before it was ever nominated, I’m not sure it would have been one of the ones I’d pick. I can’t help but think that if the Oscars only allowed 5 movies, as it used to do, La La Land would not have made the cut.
Next up was "Hidden Figures," which I LOVED. Seriously – I loved it so much I might go see it again. It was THAT GOOD. The movie is a biographical story about three black women who worked as math "computers" for NASA back in the 1960s, and the cast was stellar, the story was amazingly inspirational, and it was just a really well done movie. Definitely one of the best of the year and the nomination is well-deserved.
We did a double feature that same day, so after Hidden Figures we stuck around to watch "Hacksaw Ridge," which was another inspirational based-on-a-true-story movie. Mel Gibson directed this brutal story of a man who fought in the Pacific during WWII as a conscientious objector (refusing to carry a gun) while serving as a medic. So glad this man’s story was told, and told so well. After seeing it, "Hacksaw" and "Hidden" were tied for which one was better. Such different movies, but both so powerful and moving in their own way.
On Tuesday night we saw "Lion" starring Dev Patel. Admittedly, I knew very little about the movie going in, but this is the one that made me cry. It’s the story of a little boy in India who gets lost at a train station and ends up riding a train 1,000 miles away from his village. He tries to figure out to get back home, but ends up being a street urchin. After a few months he is dumped into an orphanage and eventually adopted by a couple in Australia. Twenty-five years later, he launches into an attempt to find out where he is from, and find his family. Gut-wrenching movie, and the one that made me cry. Definitely deserves to be nominated and created a 3-way tie in my head for which should win best picture.
Tomorrow and Sunday CootieGirl and I will be heading back to the theater to see "Fences" with Denzel Washington, and "Arrival" with Amy Adams. The three we will not be seeing are "Manchester by the Sea," "Moonlight" and "Hell or High Water." As I said, I either had no interest ("Manchester") or the times didn’t fit my schedule ("Moonlight" and "High Water").
It has been a lot of fun doing this marathon (although expensive due to all the food my daughter keeps buying at the full-service theater), and my book club ladies have already said that they want to do this every year.
