Bombshell

Bombshell (Jay Roach, 2019)

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Rating: Q=6, P=5 / Average OJ

Scale 1=2, Scale 2=4, Scale 3=3, Scale 4=2

Based on True Events, Sexual Harassment, Scandal, Politics, Journalism, Drama

I remember when Gretchen Carlson and later Megyn Kelly and others sued Roger Ailes. I was disgusted and, unfortunately, not surprised that such behavior and misconduct is still happening in our world. The whole world of Fox News is incomprehensible, to me, so this film was fascinating and made me think even more about it all. Great performances by Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, and especially Margot Robbie.

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Oscar Dash 2021: The Results

And the winner is...Nomadland! Can't wait to see this film when I can.

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Ammonite

Ammonite (Francis Lee, 2020)

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Rating: Q=6, P=4 / Average OJ

Scale 1=3, Scale 2=3, Scale 3=2, Scale 4=2

Romance, Complex Relationships, Paleontology, 1800s

This is more than a story about the fossil hunter and scientist Mary Anning--it is a story about intelligent, interesting, and lonely women during a time when women were not valued for their minds or skills. And when their dreams and desires were dismissed. It is a quietly intense romance, a view into how it feels to be trapped or to be forced to suppress your will and desire. Beautiful and poignant film.

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Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (George C. Wolfe, 2020)

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Rating: Q=7, P=5 / Can't Get Enough

Scale 1=3, Scale 2=4, Scale 3=3, Scale 4=2

Biopic, Based on Play, 1920s, Race, Blues

This adaptation of August Wilson's play is powerful in so many ways. Incredibly moving performances by Chadwick Boseman and Viola Davis--wow. Boseman's last performance of his life is haunting and, as Odie Henderson writes in his review, transcendent.

This is a story about a very specific time and place--the summer of 1927 in a Chicago recording studio. It is about Ma Rainey and her band. It is about a young Black composer who wants to lead his own band. It is a tragic tale of struggle, defeat, and the painful realities that faced Black musicians of the day.

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