Because we are old (kids grown) and have plenty of time, my husband and I try to see all the Best Picture nominees before the Academy Awards broadcast in March.
So far, we’ve seen 7 of the 10. Here are my quick (very unprofessional) reviews.
ANORA – Haven’t seen it yet
A COMPLETE UNKNOWN – I really liked it! I thought Ed Norton and Timothée Chalamet were fantastic as Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan. I have always liked folk music, so the history of the social justice grounding of the movement was interesting to me. My husband, who is more of a punk/hardcore guy, thought it was a bit boring and melodramatic.
THE BRUTALIST – Really good. It’s actually worth sitting in a movie theater for 3.5 hours to see this epic film. (There is an intermission to get up and stretch your legs.) Adrian Brody is fantastic. It’s a think piece. And worth seeing on the big screen for the Carrera (Italy) scenes alone. It will give you something to talk about at dinner. Brutalist style architecture is currently on Trump’s enemies list, so it’s au courant as well. If The Brutalist wins Best Picture, I’ll be OK with it.
CONCLAVE – I already posted about this film. We both liked it. Ralph Fiennes is terrific as the Head Cardinal in charge of overseeing the weird, secretive process the Catholic Church uses to pick a new pope. The scenes of Rome at night and the interior of the Vatican were my favorite parts. Isabella Rossellini plays a woman with the no real power (it’s the Catholic Church after all) but she plays her small part convincingly. I don’t really think it should win Best Picture, but who knows…
DUNE: PART TWO – Neither of us liked it. It’s long and boring and not our genre. In my opinion this movie is for younger people. All effects, no heart.
EMILIA PÉREZ – Really good! And so unusual. My husband said it was the only musical he’s ever truly liked. They don’t burst into big voice belting, but just kind of quietly sing/talk at key moments. It’s very effective. I actually wish we’d seen it on a big screen rather than on TV. There are a lot of dark scenes in Mexico City that would’ve been cool to see in a big dark theater. Women play all the major roles, so it passes the Bechdel Test with flying colors. I’m definitely OK with this one winning Best Picture.
I’M STILL HERE – Haven’t seen it yet
NICKEL BOYS – Haven’t seen it yet
THE SUBSTANCE – This is a horror movie people! Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley are fantastic, but I had to close my eyes a LOT. It’s “body horror” so a lot of gross stuff happens. If you’re OK with that, it’s worth seeing. There are a whole lot of women (including some I know and love) who put tremendous effort and money into defying nature with Botox and fillers, crazy face and body treatments, and actual scalpel surgeries. It’s a window into this mentality that goes completely off the rails as the movie progresses. Not Best Picture material, but worth streaming. (Also, tidbit for GenXers: Margaret Qualley is Andy McDowell’s daughter! She’s gorgeous like her mom, but in a completely different way.)
WICKED – I’ve already posted about Wicked. I loved it! It probably won’t win Best Picture because it was a huge blockbuster, but it probably should because it brought so much enjoyment, just like Barbie did last year. As previously mentioned, my husband doesn’t like musicals and even he said Wicked was “good.” From the moment Ariana Grande dropped down into Oz (a land of gingers) in a pink soap bubble carriage, I was all in.
Boston City Hall is the most well-known example of Brutalist architecture in Massachusetts.
My husband and I are very different. In fact, we’re almost complete opposites. He likes a lot of things that I will never ever be into like weightlifting in gyms, football and other contact sports like rugby, and hardcore (punk) music. I like a lot of things that he will never ever be into like singing in choirs, going to musicals, and swimming.
For many years, we just kind of did our own thing. I went to the beach with friends, while he stayed home and went to the gym…
But if you’re going to stay married to one person for your entire adult life, you must come up with at least a few shared activities, especially after your kids fly the coop, or you will have absolutely nothing interesting to talk about!
One of the things we both like to do is go to art museums. We have memberships at a few local museums and we go to their major exhibitions. Yesterday was the Georgia O’Keefe and Henry Moore exhibit at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts.
It was an interesting idea. They took two artists who worked in different mediums (a painter and a sculptor) in the same time period (early 20th century) and put them side by side. The idea was to see how they were grappling with similar themes in their work, especially nature and tension/balance between shapes, and appreciate how they influenced each other.
The galleries were quite crowded (a great sign for art museums!), but that made it a bit difficult to fully consider the interplay between the two artists. Still, I think I got the idea.
This gallery, with a large Moore sculpture in the foreground and O’Keefe paintings on the walls, shows what the curators were going for with this exhibit.
My husband liked the Moore sculptures best. Me? I just love those famous Georgia O’Keefe flower paintings. As many times as I’ve seen them reproduced as prints and posters, the originals are so nuanced and gorgeous. What can I say? I like flowers and pretty colors. (They sort of reminded me of the Northern Lights.)
And then, for something completely different, we took a stroll through a Salvador Dalí exhibit. The famous Spanish surrealist was truly an extraordinary painter. Interestingly, he was a contemporary of Moore and O’Keefe. All three lived through World War II—an event so monumental no artist was unaffected by it.
The Three Ages (Old Age, Adolescence and Infancy) by Dalí, 1940. If you look closely, each section of the painting is a double image (i.e. the left side is a standing, stooped figure and also an old man’s face). “This painting revisits Dalí’s most famous composition, The Persistence of Memory, which by the early 1950s had become emblematic not only of Dalí, but also of the Surrealism movement. Here Dali once again places melting watches in a barren landscape, but now the context is the post-war atomic age. An elaborate grid of bricks recedes toward the distant horizon, the boxy shapes becoming missile-like forms. Typical of the artist, the picture’s meaning is ambiguous, though very much of the nuclear era.”
Boston skyline with Leader Bank Pavilion (aka Harborlights) on the far left
And…darkness
Completed in 2003, the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge (on the right side of photo) was named to honor the late Lenny Zakim’s civil rights and race relations work in Boston.Back in the dock at Rowe’s Wharf, the huge flag seemed symbolic. It was the final night of the epic 2024 Democratic National Convention. Kamala Harris was accepting our party’s nomination later that night.
“And, so, on behalf of the people, on behalf of every American, regardless of party, race, gender or the language your grandmother speaks. On behalf of my mother, and everyone who has ever set out on their own unlikely journey. On behalf of Americans like the people I grew up with — people who work hard, chase their dreams and look out for one another. On behalf of everyone whose story could only be written in the greatest nation on Earth, I accept your nomination to be president of the United States of America.”
~Vice President Kamala D. Harris, Democratic National Convention, August 22, 2024
Last night I was on a boat, in my pearls & chucks, with a bunch of people who didn’t seem to care that history was about to be made. We saw some lovely views of Boston.
Thank goodness I made it home in time to see her speech live.
I truly felt like I was experiencing history in the making. I mean, come ON. She was phenomenal. Many tears were shed.
How could any American not choose Kamala Harris to lead the United States forward over the alternative—whose name does not even deserve to be in the same sentence as hers.
I am beyond excited that my granddaughter will be arriving into this new world, filled with hope and possibility.
Here I am earlier in the day yesterday with people who do care, very much, about what happened last night. We were thrilled to have a special guest with us. Funny, she didn’t seem nervous at all about the huge speech she was about to give.
“And to be clear, my entire career, I’ve only had one client: the people.” ~Kamala D. Harris, Democratic National Convention, 2024
Remember how ready we were to get those first Covid vaccines the minute they came out? We were so so sick of staying at home!
Well, as someone who worked in an educational setting, I was eligible a bit earlier than some. I could get a vaccine, but I had to go to Boston Medical Center to get it. BMC is located deep in Boston’s South End and is known for serving vulnerable populations, low-income individuals, immigrants, and those without insurance. For many years, there was a massive homeless encampment known as “Mass and Cass” just a block or so from BMC. Hard drugs were openly bought, sold, and used at Mass and Cass.
Tents and makeshift shelters near Mass & Cass (the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard) Photo by Jim Davis/Boston Globe
Anyway, I got my first Covid vax at BMC and then just wanted to get out of that area ASAP. On the way back to my car, a very thin, desperate-looking woman approached me and asked for money. She said she needed it for food. I gave her a $20. That was all I had. She was extremely grateful. She turned the bill over in her hand, like she couldn’t believe it was an actual twenty.
I’m not sure what motivated that. Pity, yes. Selfish desire to be left alone (just let me get back to my car lady) Kindness? I don’t know. Is it kind to give money to a junkie? What if that $20 enabled her to overdose? A better person might’ve tried to walk her back into the hospital and get her some real help.
Sometimes a one-nighter in your own area can be fun. I haven’t spent much time in Boston since I left my job, so it’s good to be back in the city.
The view of Cambridge from Boston’s Back Bay. The Charles River is reflecting the pink fireworks. That glowing dome on the left side of the horizon is M.I.T.
Happy Birthday to all Americans. We are 248 years old today. Long may we run. 🇺🇸
What are the most important things needed to live a good life?
I think books, music and art make life worth living, once basic needs (food, shelter, safety) are met.
I got to go to an art show by a dear old friend from college last night. It is her first gallery show. In college, she was a double major in art history and religion. For decades, she’s worked as a museum educator and administrator.
She always had an artist’s eye and soul. We studied abroad in Italy at the same time and traveled together on our fall break. A fellow blogger’s post about the city of Bergamo (Italy) reminded me of that trip. We went to Bergamo, Parma, Verona, Venice, and Milan.
Her artwork involves deconstructing everyday packaging and reassembling in very cool ways.
A large piece by Julie Bernson on display at Gallery Kayafas in Boston
Julie taking a photo atop the Duomo in Milan in 1985.
I’m not typically someone to not say something. I will speak-up when needed. I trust my instincts.
For example, when an ambulance (with no siren or lights in use) nearly ran over a woman in a Boston crosswalk, I made a mental note of the name of the ambulance company (which was from a different part of the state), called the main office, and got the driver in trouble. Another time a FedEx driver (a complete stranger) beckoned my young son to his truck when he was walking by himself and asked him to carry a package up the driveway. I got that guy in trouble too.
Being a native-born Masshole who participated in the hellish Boston commute for decades, I’ve also been involved in my fair share of road rage flare-ups. I’m quick to flip the bird to the deserving. I’ve been involved in one or two shouting matches with other drivers while sitting at traffic lights.
One time two young men with a Harvard window sticker cut me off dramatically on a winding thoroughfare, only to end-up at the exact same ATM as me minutes later. I went up to them and said, “Did they teach you to drive like that at Harvard?”
The only times I remember regretting not saying something are when I couldn’t think of a comeback fast enough. I hate that.
Ponytail Harvard guy from “Good Will Hunting”
Click here to watch the best comeback in the film.
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