FWIS3

One thing I do like about the streaming revolution is when a list of the Oscar nominated films comes out, it turns out we have access to several of them without going to an obscure movie theater (or often not even have that option if you missed when the movie came out). Started this weekend with C.O.D.A., on Apple TV, which is about the hearing child of deaf parents who wants to be a singer, and takes place in Gloucester, Massachusetts so always a +1 from me when you can be all "hey I know that lighthouse!"

Anyway, I don't think the plot itself has any groundbreaking twists in it (pretty much all the notes of "young girl trying to make her way in the world"), but I do think the movie is worth checking out because all the deaf actors in it are awesome (gal is also incidentally a great singer). The father got nominated for best supporting actor and I very much hope he gets it because he was so wonderful in his role (I guess the mom already is the only deaf actor to have an Oscar for a role in the 80s? gotta check that out). So yeah, check it out if you have Apple TV.

Otherwise, we do have to check out The Power of the Dog bc it's on Netflix so why not, but everyone I've heard who watched it said they didn't like it and you wait 2.5 hours for the movie to start, which isn't really a great selling point to me. And West Side Story I always liked as a musical, and is gonna be on HBO in a bit, so will check it out when it does. Finally, not a best picture nominee but I saw Spencer is on Hulu so will check out for Kirsten Stewart's Diana, to tide me over until the next season of the Crown.

I'm not usually a movie person but The Power of the Dog is one I think I'll have to see.

Oh yes! And I saw Licorice Pizza in the theater last month. My husband liked it better than me- a coming of age in 70s LA film, but more a slice of life over actual plot one if that makes sense.

We went to a theatre for the first time in 2 years on Christmas day and saw Licorice Pizza. Still not sure what it was about or if I liked it. But it was good to be at a movie eating popcorn!
Regarding the OP, my sister used to love to see all of the movies on the nomination list. It was a bit more difficult back in the day when you had to go to the video store.

So, Coda won best picture. I've gotta say, it was a good movie, but it didn't fully make sense to me as the winner.

Did manage to see Power of the Dog this weekend before the awards happened, and it was ok but perhaps a bit overrated. Like, you'd assume it's navel-grazing enough for an Oscar (as that seems to be the standard these days), but interesting enough to check out.

That said, there were no films this year that really struck me as truly exceptional. I wonder if it's just not been that easy with the pandemic to get those movies made, I can't imagine a lot of crazy movies got greenlit during the pandemic and now we're in the glut of that.