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Fury: Moviemaking with a Vengeance

For a brief moment it appeared as if Fury would make some noise in the lackluster Oscar race, but for whatever reason critical support has waned behind it. Allow me a brief defense of the movie: it does for war movies in the 2010s what The Walking Dead does for television or what Saving Private Ryan did in 1998 by depicting a gruesomely honest view of the savagery of war. Like most great war movies (Zero Dark Thirty comes immediately to mind) it is both pro- and anti-war at the same time. The zinging of bullets and lighting of explosions and shots fired seemed almost surreal and have been described by an Iraq War veteran to me as extremely realistic.

Still, it is fair to say that Fury does not break any new ground on the broader scale of war movies - the messages it sends have been examined at length before. Although I would think they are worth reexamining ever so often, it is perhaps the case that critics and audiences alike were looking for something more different than the Band-of-Brothers, everything can go wrong style that Fury exhibits. Fair enough but, like Lone Survivor last year, I expect Fury to score at least a couple of nominations in the technical categories, and hopefully a lot of future at home viewings.

Potential Nominations: Visual Effects, Cinematography, Sound, Sound Mixing

Birdman: The Flight of Keaton Continues

After seeing this movie at the New York Film Festival, I spoke positively of its merits and Oscar chances. Audience and broader critical review have confirmed my suspicion: this movie is here to stay. I remain of the view that this movie is too challenging, too complex (not unlike Interstellar) to appeal to the generic Oscar voter. But, in a “weak year” as some are labeling this race, anything can happen.

Or perhaps I’m simply drinking the Kool-Aid of Iñárritu’s mind-bending analysis of age, inspiration, aspiration, and even betrayal in Birdman. Like Bob Fosse did before him in All That Jazz, Iñárritu explores the obsessive mind of the creative performer in fascinatingly introspective and bizarre ways. And while the allegories and analogies are not subtle, the trajectory of the plot is decidedly non-obvious. The viewer is challenged at every turn. The cinematography and editing are also notable, and the movie will be strong with the acting and writing branches. Overall, frankly, this is the movie that has the most support across the Academy and, against my better judgment, I would call it one the current front runners for Best Picture.

All of that, of course, will change very soon.

Potential Nominations: Picture, Director, Actor (Keaton), Supporting Actor (Norton), Screenplay, Editing, Visual Effects, Make-Up

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