Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Adapted Screenplay 2018

The Contenders:

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
BlacKkKlansman (winner)
Can You Ever Forgive Me?
If Beale Street Could Talk
A Star is Born

Done for Now?

Film: Jojo Rabbit
Format: DVD from NetFlix on basement television.

I’ve been saying for some time that I’m about done with my Oscar lists, and I think I’m about as done as I can be. Of the nine movies I haven’t seen, most are missing, fragmentary, or exist only in some cinematic vault on the other side of the country. Oh, I might watch the scraps that remain of those I can, but I think I’m done with full movies on these lists until the next Oscars…whenever that might be. So here I am, essentially done, and just in time for the next update to the 1001 Movies list.

So, I saved Jojo Rabbit for “last” for no reason other than that I didn’t want a complete slog to end this part of this journey. Jojo Rabbit is at least partially a comedy. It’s a pitch black comedy, surely, but a comedy nonetheless. Our hapless hero is Johannes “Jojo” Betzler (Roman Griffin Davis) a 10-year-old German kid in the last days of World War II. Jojo is a completely indoctrinated member of the Hitler Youth and a fervent Nazi, but doesn’t really have a clear understanding of the party’s doctrines. Jojo’s imaginary friend is a goofy and childlike Hitler stand-in (played by director Taika Waititi) who gives unclear advice to Jojo.

Hugh Laurie Not Included

Film: House (1986)
Format: Streaming video from Tubi TV on the new internet machine.

People’s careers are funny things. In 1985 or 1986 (depending on the website you check), the movie House was released. This is not the bizarre Japanese movie Hausu nor the television show starring Hugh Laurie. This is more or less a straight horror movie, although there’s a great deal of comedy here. It’s also a movie that has a rather surprising television pedigree. It stars William Katt, who a few years previously had starred in “The Greatest American Hero.” In smaller roles, it has Richard Moll from “Night Court” and George Wendt from Cheers.

There’s a lot here that isn’t really explained that well. The basic story is that horror author Roger Cobb (Katt) has retreated to the house of his aunt where he grew up. His aunt hanged herself in the house previously and while Cobb was expected to sell the house, he’s decided instead to use the house as a base of operations for his next book. That book is planned to be not another horror novel, but the story of his experiences in Vietnam. Not only is he having difficulty with getting anything started on the book, but he’s also having some odd experiences in the house itself.

Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Actress 1936

The Contenders:

Luise Rainer: The Great Ziegfeld (winner)
Carole Lombard: My Man Godfrey
Norma Shearer: Romeo and Juliet
Irene Dunne: Theodora Goes Wild
Gladys George: Valiant is the Word for Carrie

Possible Changes...and a Favor

I'm nearing the end of the Oscars list--I have 10 movies I haven't seen on the list now, and of those, nine are either missing or are virtually unavailable. I'm also close to the end of the "Oscar Got It Wrong" posts. I do have a direction I want to take those in the near future. To do so, though, I'm going to need some help.

On Letterboxd, I have a list of films that have been recommended to me. It's actually a little more and a little less than that. The list is of films that were recommended that were not on any of the lists I have pursued on this blog. There are a few others that I have seen, but have not watched in years, so there isn't a review of them on my Letterboxd page.

The rest of the movies on this massive list (it's close to 900 titles) are movies I haven't seen that have been specifically recommended in conjunction with the Oscar Got It Wrong posts. If you recommended something for (say) 1996 Best Picture that I haven't seen, it's on this list. I'm putting the finishing touches on it now, but I wanted to get this posted today. The list is in order by year of release, and alphabetical within a given year.

So what I need is any additional recommendations you have. I've been compiling this full list for the last few days (hence the lack of activity here). I want serious suggestions--don't offer up Birdemic: Shock and Terror because you want me to watch it (and I already have, so there's that). You can recommend movies that are considered not very good as long as they are movies that you genuinely like. Have a heart here, folks--the list is already close to 900 movies.

Anyway, here's Wonderwall...er...the list.

Asylum Seeker

Film: Shutter Island
Format: DVD from personal collection on basement television.

It’s worth remembering sometimes that Martin Scorsese finally won a Best Director Oscar for a movie that was a remake. I say this because Shutter Island feels very much like a remake. It’s not; it’s based on a Dennis Lehane novel, but it genuinely feels like a remake of another film. I’ll get to that under a spoiler tag in a bit. I don’t want to spoil this (or the other movie) for anyone who has only seen one of them.

It’s also worth saying that being Martin Scorsese will have some particular perks beyond being an acclaimed film director. For instance, you’ll get your choice of anyone you want to work with. This film features performances by Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Max von Sydow, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams, Patricia Clarkson, Elias Koteas, Emily Mortimer, Jackie Earle Haley, Ted Levine, and John Carroll Lynch. It’s one of those movies that makes you wonder why there isn’t an Oscar for best ensemble cast.

Have a Heart!

Films: My Bloody Valentine (2009)
Format: Streaming video from Tubi TV on the new internet machine.

It’s not too long into the remake of My Bloody Valentine that you figure out this was a movie made for 3D. We learn about a mine collapse in 1997 in a small mining town. Six men are trapped, but when the rescue team arrives at the scene, there is only one man, a comatose Harry Warden (Richard John Walters), still alive. The other five men clearly didn’t die in the cave-in. They were brutally murdered by Warden with a pick axe specifically to conserve oxygen.

One year later, Warden wakes up from his coma and slaughters most of the hospital staff, leaving a calling card of a human heart in a candy heart. He then heads back to the mine where a group of young people are having a party (this is very much the plot of the original film). It’s here that we learn this was a 3D movie. One partygoer plays a prank and then is killed by Harry Warden hitting him in the head with his pick. The victim’s eye is what comes out of the screen at us. It’s a good taste of what is to come.