Amanda's Picks

In preparation for the 96th Academy Awards (March 10, 7 pm on ABC) and my annual Should Win/Will Win column in our next issue, I have been catching up with a couple of the major contenders and a non-contender I just happened to be in the mood to see. 

Poor Things: 4 out of 5 Stars

 

Poor Things
Snagging 11 nominations, Poor Things (Rated R for strong sexual content) is a head-shaking eye-popping movie that is like nothing else you will see this year. If it’s too late to catch it in the theater, watch on the biggest TV in your house. Seriously, if you even try to watch this on your phone or tablet, I will never forgive you. 

Emma Stone is the only competition for Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon) in the Best Actress race. Stone, who won an Oscar for La La Land, is a force as Bella, the creation of Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). The doctor wants to keep Bella inside and safe, but she meets Dunan Wedder (Mark Ruffalo), your typical cad and bounder. He whisks her away on an adventure and then instantly regrets his decision as Bella grows into a curious, informed sexually-liberated free spirit. 

Director Yorgos Lanthimos earns the label “visionary” as the production design, costumes and music absolutely transport you to another world and are all deserving of their Oscar nods. Yes, it’s over the top at times, with too much going on and characters coming and going a bit quickly but Stone grounds the film and keeps the viewer emotionally involved. Poor Things is Bella’s story and it’s a fascinating story indeed.

American Fiction: 5 out of 5 Stars

 

American Fiction (R for language) has already won the award for “Film That Most Surpassed Amanda’s Expectations.” I saw this in the theaters but it is now available on Amazon Prime. 

Faithful readers know that I have experienced many an unsatisfactory cinema experience because of a bad screenplay and contrived plot. American Fiction has a brilliant (and Oscar-nominated) screenplay. It’s thoughtful, clever, emotional, funny, twisty, and delivers a couple of killer punches. 

The always fabulous Jeffrey Wright plays Thelonious “Monk” Ellison, a respected but stubborn professor and author who is struggling to produce a follow-up success to his debut novel.. Frustrated and facing a financial and family crisis, Monk gets an idea to write a “more authentic” book on the black experience under the assumed identity of an ex-con and wouldn’t you know it becomes a hit, making him part of a scene he is on the record as despising. 

American Fiction is primarily a satire on the publishing business and race relations, but it is also about family and relationships. Wright, one of the most underrated actors of our time, is perfect as the haughty, self-possessed intellectual facing a significant moral dilemma. Sterling K. Brown, beloved by many as Randall on This is Us, is terrific as his brother, a surgeon with his own issues, Tracee Ellis Ross, Leslie Uggams and Erika Alexander are all excellent in supporting roles. But the real star here is writer and first-time film director Cord Jefferson, who could teach more experienced directors a thing or two about brevity and restraint. I loved this movie so much it gets my first 5* rating of the year. 

Dumb Money

 

Taking a break from awards material, we watched 2023’s Dumb Money (R) about the recent GameStop stock saga. Be prepared to relive the early days of the Coronavirus epidemic, masks and all, as it plays a big part in Dumb Money. 

Stuck at home with a lot of time on their hands and often facing financial hardship, a record number of people became involved with online investing. Keith Gill, known online as Roaring Kitty (Paul Dano) believes that Wall Street is undervaluing and ruining his beloved GameStop retail store. He buys stock to stick it to the bad guys and convinces many, many other regular folk to join him. Their investment made the stock rise in value so much that every news outlet and talk show started covering the story. Meanwhile, wealthy hedge fund managers like Gabe Plotkin (Seth Rogan) are caught off guard by the amateurs they call “dumb money.” 

This is when the goings-on get a bit complicated with short sales, hedge fund bailouts and investment app shenanigans. Standouts in the large cast include Pete Davidson, America Ferrera and Vincent D’Onofrio. Director Craig Gillespie (I, Tonya) isn’t quite as successful at making a complicated financial event entertaining as Director Adam McKay was in 2015’s The Big Short. However, I caught myself yelling at the struggling nurse and put-upon store clerk to SELL SELL.