A Wrap-Up of the 2019-2020 Oscar Season

Janelle Monae

At long last, the Oscar season is over. And much quicker than usual this year. That is why it feels absolutely strange to be saying goodbye already. It feels like there should be another few weeks for people to catch up on Oscar nominees, hold a conversation about why Jojo Rabbit was the dark horse Best Picture winner some expected it to be. It's one of the joys/frustrations that are lost to this adapted schedule, but in some ways, it's for the best. Where some years feel interminable, lasting so long that one can't help but resent half of the nominees, this one feels like a blip. Maybe it's something that the lower-than-average viewer ratings would suggest. Still, it was an interesting year existing in "The New Academy," where a new generation is rising and the definition of a winner is changing slowly. Was it the best year? It wasn't the worst. It was somewhere in the middle, where there's a need for change, but is exciting for making bold wins that proved just how great cinema has been. 

Review: "Harriet" Only Gets So Far With Conventional Story

Scene from Harriet (2019)

There's no biopic that has as much pressure to live up to as director Kasi Lemmons' Harriet. It's likely that those who have been in a history class anytime over the past 100 years will know the achievements of Harriet Tubman, even vaguely. She is a prime figure in the success of The Underground Railroad, and that's just the start to something more exciting and empowering about her story. There's so much ground to cover to the point that it's impossible to fathom why it took until 2019 for Tubman to receive the biopic treatment. Harriet is a film that has to be something for everybody as a result, being neither too salacious for those discovering her story nor too sentimental and false. Where does one possibly go with this material for a first outing? The answer is somewhere safe in the middle, producing a film that is satisfying but lacks any urgency that will revive Tubman's legacy to a new generation.

Nothing But the Best: "Moonlight" (2016)

Scene from Moonlight

Welcome to the series Nothing But the Best in which I chronicle all of the Academy Award Best Picture winners as they celebrate their anniversaries. Instead of going in chronological order, this series will be presented on each film's anniversary and will feature personal opinions as well as facts regarding its legacy and behind the scenes information. The goal is to create an in depth essay for each film while looking not only how the medium progressed, but how the film is integral to pop culture. In some cases, it will be easy. Others not so much. Without further ado, let's start the show.

Review: "Hidden Figures" Turns NASA History Into a Feel Good Movie

Scene from Hidden Figures

Despite taking place 65 years ago, director Theodore Melfi's Hidden Figures is a film that feels prescient to 2016. It comes through in every line of dialogue that states its themes a little too obviously. This isn't specifically a story of how women and blacks were seen as second-class citizens in America at the time, but more of a symbolic gesture of why society shouldn't underestimate the potential that each member brings to the table. The story of NASA is one that's very clear - with this particular story even being told better in The Right Stuff - but the goal of Hidden Figures is to show a side that hasn't been explored before. The ending may be the familiar triumphant period piece fluff, but what Melfi has created is an endearing portrait of teamwork and how every voice counts, no matter what they look like.

Review: "Moonlight" Embraces the Complex Beauty of Black Lives in Exciting New Ways

Scene from Moonlight

Director Barry Jenkins has produced something magnificent with his latest film Moonlight. In an era where cutting edge cinema is often spoken about in a technical sense, he has found a way to explore it in a spiritual sense. With a story that spans three key periods of a black man's life, he has found a new and exciting way to explore the black experience through an art house gaze. With limited exception, the story of Chiron is one that is personal and captures a beauty rarely seen in American cinema. The film's title refers to the way that black skin shines in the moonlight. To say the least, few have captured it as beautifully and artfully as Jenkins has, leading to the question as to why that is. It may only be a small piece of the bigger puzzle, but it is evidence that black lives can be beautiful, even in dire circumstances.

"Moonlight" Becomes a Box Office Hit with the Highest Per Screen Average of 2016

Scene from Moonlight

If you're one of the loyal Oscar fans, you'll know why you should be keeping an eye out for director Barry Jenkin's Moonlight. The film currently holds a 99% on critics aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes and has been slowly hyped up as one of the first films to warrant Oscar buzz during this Fall season. While other films based around black culture (The Birth of a Nation) seemed to come and go without much notice, Moonlight will at least be around for a short while thanks to its impressive feat. After opening this past weekend, it is currently the highest box office debut on a per screen average not only for the week or month, but for 2016 in general.