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theoscarsproject · 2 days

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May 2024 Movie Challenge

Mother's Day s this month. Watch any movie where motherhood is a central theme.

Cannes Film Festival is also this month. Watch any movie that has won the festival's major award, the Palme D'Or.

Criterion has recently launched a 24/7 streaming channel. Watch one of the movies they've aired so far.

Furiosa comes out this month. Watch a car movie! Some suggestions.

Watch a movie where a character is out of their usual environment or a fish out of water. Some suggestions (but there are a lot more than this around!)

It's Free Comic Book Day this month! Watch a movie adapted from a comic book or manga.

Watch a movie where the justice system is involved (courtroom drama, prison drama, crime drama, etc.)

May is apparently mystery month. Watch a mystery film. Some suggestions.

It's Spring in the Northern Hemisphere and Autumn in the Southern. Watch a movie that embodies either season. Some suggestions for Spring and Autumn.

Watch a film with a character's name in the title i.e. Rebecca, Dr. Dolittle, Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris.

#a little reminder i also run this for anyone interested!#challenge for may is up now for anyone interested in setting themselves some movie watch goals for next month :-)

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theoscarsproject · 9 days

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Working Girl (1988). When a secretary's idea is stolen by her boss, she seizes an opportunity to steal it back by pretending she has her boss' job.

Deeeelightful. This is just seriously so much fun and emboldened with great comedic performances, strong writing, and a romance that's as much about self-love as it is about falling in love. Really special little 80s romcom with a stellar cast. 7/10.

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theoscarsproject · 10 days

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Tequila Sunrise (1988). A former L.A. drug dealer tries to go straight but his past and his underworld connections bring him into the focus of the DEA, the Mexican feds and the Mexican drug cartels.

Part erotic thriller, part sundrenched neo-noir, this ultimately shallow but sorta-fun movie isn't a bad way to spend a Friday night. The love triangle falls a little flat, but it's pretty impossible to deny that Michelle Pfeiffer, Kurt Russell and Mel Gibson (and Raul Julia!) didn't know how to fill the screen in their golden eras, and Robert Towne knew it enough to hang the movie off their talent. 6/10.

#tequila sunrise #1988 #oscars 61 #nom: cinematography #robert towne #mel gibson #michelle pfeiffer #kurt russell #raul julia #jt walsh #america #american #thriller #drugs #romance #love triangle #6/10

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theoscarsproject · 11 days

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The Accidental Tourist (1988). An emotionally distant writer of travel guides must carry on with his life after his son is killed and his marriage crumbles.

Not even Geena Davis or Kathleen Turner can save this one. A film about a man sleepwalking through life that feels like the filmmakers were sleepwalking while making it. It's low energy to a fault, and it's weirdly devoid of any chemistry for what is effectively a movie about a love triangle. The scenes with William Hurt and the kid though are pretty cute. 4/10.

#the accidental tourist #1988 #Oscars 61 #nom: best picture #nom: supporting actress #won: supporting actress #nom: adapted screenplay #nom: score #america #american #grief #romance #father-son #mother-son #love triangle #4/10

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theoscarsproject · 12 days

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The Milagro Beanfield War (1988). The accidental breakdown of an irrigation valve launches a hot confrontation between the mainly Latino farmers in a tiny New Mexico town and the real estate developers and politicians determined to acquire their land for a golf resort.

This is a weird little one. A David vs Goliath story with the residents of a small town in New Mexico left fighting off developers who'd turn the land into a golf resort. It's part Western, part class drama, part borderline-slapstick comedy, which makes it feel a little all over the place. It has its moments though, and there's some nice cinematography at points. 5/10.

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theoscarsproject · 13 days

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Pelle the Conqueror (1987). When his wife dies, Lasse takes his 12-year-old son, Pelle, from their home in Sweden to Denmark in search of a better life.

I wasn't entirely sure what to expect when I put this on - the name certainly carries certain connotations after all - but the haunting, harrowing story of a father and son who become indentured servants in Denmark while fleeing poverty in Sweden certainly wasn't it. What a moving film, and what a staggering pair of performances from Pelle Hvenegaard and Max von Sydow. This isn't always an easy watch, but it's an exceptionally well-made film that doesn't so much dwell on the darkness but rather explores how darkness can be shared, the load lightened and a path through it found. Really great film. 8/10.

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theoscarsproject · 14 days

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A Handful of Dust (1988). The wife's affair and a death in the family hasten the demise of an upper-class English marriage.

The great performances, particularly the one from Kristin Scott Thomas, are really what carry this stiff-upper-lip melodrama about a splintering marriage. It teeters uneasily into misogyny with how harshly it seeks to punish it's adulterous heroine and enshrine it's noble gentleman, but there's also a pulsing emotion that underscores it that keeps you there. An interesting film, albeit a flawed one. 7/10.

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theoscarsproject · 20 days

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Cry Freedom (1987). South African journalist Donald Woods is forced to flee the country after attempting to investigate the death in custody of his friend, the Black anti-Apartheid activist Steve Biko.

The strength of this film really hinges on Denzel Washington's charisma, and you feel that when the story deviates from him in its (long) second half. Kevin Kline is a good actor, but as the movie pulls further and further away from its own politics and purpose and becomes what's effectively an escape film, you really feel the disconnect between its two halves. A shame, because it has its moments and the chapter of history it seeks to explore is one not so often told. 5/10.

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theoscarsproject · 21 days

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Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years/Bridge to Freedom 1965 (1987). A documentary about the American Civil Rights Movement from 1952 to 1965.

The amount of footage and access this compelling, nuanced and informative documentary has on the Civil Rights Movement in America makes it feel like essential viewing. Really, really good, and not afraid to explore the challenges and conflicts that arise in a group with the same ultimate goal but different contexts and ideas on how to get there. 8/10.

#eyes on the prize #1987 #documentary #henry hampton #coretta scott king #martin luther king jr #julian bond #1965 #american #america #civil rights #nom: documentary #8/10

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theoscarsproject · 22 days

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Matewan (1987). A labor union organizer comes to an embattled mining community brutally and violently dominated and harassed by the mining company.

Movies about American unions, particularly American unions in coal country, are remarkably common, but few manage the level of grit, honesty and hope that Matewan does. What a great film! Really drums home the resilience of this community and the challenges of unifying workers when those at the top are all too willing to exploit differences of race, gender and class in order to divide. Just a great, well-made film. 8/10.

#matewan #1987 #Oscars 60 #Nom: Cinematography #john sayles #chris cooper #james earl jones #mary mcdonnell #will oldham #america #american #strike #union #mining #1920s #8/10

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theoscarsproject · 1 month

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Maurice (1987). Two English school chums find themselves falling in love at Cambridge. To regain his place in society, Clive gives up Maurice and marries. While staying with Clive and his wife, Maurice discovers romance in the arms of the gamekeeper Alec.

Can anyone direct sensuality like James Ivory? God, this is so, so good, just breathless with its own sprawling passion and it's alternating need to repress and experience and sometimes, eventually, to share too. Ivory's firing on all cylinders here, both as a director and a writer, and he brings out the best in a pretty stellar cast. This might just be my favourite Hugh Grant role? Just - - yes! Cinema! 9/10.

#maurice #1987 #Oscars 60 #nom: costume #james ivory #e.m. forster #Kit Hesketh-Harvey #james wilby #rupert graves #hugh grant #denholm elliott #england #english #1910s #romance #lgbt #9/10

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theoscarsproject · 1 month

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The Ten Year Lunch: The Algonquin Round Table (1987). Surely one of the most profound and outrageous influences on the times following World War I, was the group of a dozen or so taste-makers who lunched together at New York City's Algonquin Hotel.

It feels like there's a great TV series in here somewhere as the eclecticness of the characters and the genuinely pretty fascinating lives of these writers plays out, but it doesn't quite come together in this patchy, thinly made documentary. A bummer because there's something pretty delightful about a group of talented trendsetters and commentators meeting daily for lunch throughout the Jazz Age. 4/10.

#the ten year lunch #the algonquin round table #1987 #Oscars 60 #nom: documentary #won: documentary #Aviva Slesin #peter foges #documentary #jazz age #world war i #media #4/10

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theoscarsproject · 1 month

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The Whales of August (1987). Two aged sisters reflect on life and the past during a late summer day in Maine.

As many of the other reviewers have said, it's really the cast that makes this film worth the watch. Getting to see Bette Davis, Lillian Gish, Vincent Price and Ann Southern chew scenery when they're all 70+ is pretty close to magic, I just wish the material gave them a little more to work with. 7/10.

#the whales of august #1987 #Oscars 60 #Nom: Supporting Actress #Lindsay Anderson #david berry #bette davis #lillian gish #ann sothern #vincent price #sisterhood #romance #aging #america #american #7/10

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theoscarsproject · 1 month

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A Stitch for Time (1987). A group of women from a small town influence national public policy and foreign relations. To this end, they employ their quilt-making.

A little thin on the ground, which is a shame because there's a lot to interrogate and explore here about the impact conflict has on women and the dismissal of women's work and labour by western powers. The American women at the heart of it do come across as naive, but also as hard working, committed and purposeful, and it would've been nice to have gotten to know them better. 5/10.

#a stitch for time #1987 #Oscars 60 #nom: documentary #nigel noble #america #american #russia #peace #craft #5/10

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theoscarsproject · 1 month

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Radio Days (1987). A nostalgic look at radio's golden age focusing on one ordinary family and the various performers in the medium.

Perhaps a little less inspired than The Purple Rose of Cairo, but oozing with the same level of warmth and love for an artform. This is a less cynical film too in many ways, and the focus on this community during warfare and loss is really affecting (and honestly, a little unlike Woody Allen, who's movies tend to centre on the individual within, as opposed to the community as a whole). Just a really lovely film. 8/10.

#radio days #1987 #Oscars 60 #nom: original screenplay #nom: art direction #woody allen #mia farrow #Dianne Wiest #wallace shawn #seth green #1930s #1940s #radio #world war ii #father-son #mother-son #coming of age #8/10

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theoscarsproject · 1 month

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The Dead (1987). Gabriel Conroy and wife Gretta attend an early January dinner with friends at the home of his spinster aunts, an evening which results in an epiphany for both of them.

One of my favourite things about John Huston as a director is his ability to create a sense of lived-in intimacy between characters who sometimes don't particularly like each other, and that's really on show here. From all the warmth and bickering and petty grievances of the dinner party, to the powerfully affecting final act in Gabriel and Greta's bedroom. It just oozes a tenderness and empathy for these characters and their experiences, and its in that atmosphere I think that the movie really sings. The story's slight, but the emotions are big, and Anjelica Huston under her father's direction is a bit of magic. 8/10.

#the dead #1987 #Oscars 60 #Nom: adapted screenplay #nom: costume #john huston #james joyce #tony huston #anjelica huston #donal mccann #helena carroll #kate o'toole #ireland #irish #grief #family #8/10

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theoscarsproject · 1 month

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Dark Eyes (1987). An Italian tells his story of love to a Russian. In a series of flashbacks, Romano Patroni leaves his wife to visit a spa where he falls in love with a Russian woman. He returns to Italy resolved to leave his wife and marry his love.

Beautifully shot, and navigates the tonal shifts between humorous absurdism and tragic lost love incredibly well. Still, it never quite pulled me in, and the pacing felt off to me, although I'm not sure if I can entirely pinpoint why. A sumptuous period piece, but one that leaves something to be desired. 7/10.

#dark eyes #1987 #Oscars 60 #Nom: Actor #Oci ciornie #Nikita Mikhalkov #Aleksandr Adabashyan #Suso Cecchi D'Amico #anton chekhov #marcello mastroianni #Marthe Keller #Elena Safonova #romance #russia #italy #italian #russian #period #7/10

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