Oscar on the Oscars - Episode I: Unsung Gems Breaking down the big snubs from the Academy’s nominations
Oscar Kim Bauman Living Arts Editor As we approach the 92nd Academy Awards, I’ll be sharing my thoughts in this trilogy of articles on the last year of films and the awards show with which I share my name. For the first installment, I want to highlight some of the year’s best films which were overlooked by the Academy’s nominations. As to not get bogged down in negativity, I won’t propose who ought to not have been nominated; instead I will argue that these five exceptional films were at least equally deserving. At the top of my list of snubs is “Booksmart,” the directorial debut from Olivia Wilde. Its a tale of two high school seniors (Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein) attempting to escape their antisocial image by attending a series of increasingly wild parties the night before graduation. The film successfully threaded the needle between being emotionally resonant and laugh-out-loud funny.
A teenage-focused comedy released in the spring, “Booksmart” was always a long shot for awards season, even with its critical acclaim. Despite this, it is disheartening to see such a well-crafted film go entirely ignored. Additionally, nominations for “Booksmart” could have injected a needed dose of female talent into the overwhelmingly male field of nominees. Despite this lack of recognition, “Booksmart”s Dever and Feldstein, with any luck, have promising careers ahead of them following their star turns in “Booksmart,” and I look forward to seeing more films from Wilde. Another film which has received a shocking lack of recognition from the Academy is “Uncut Gems,” a tense crime thriller from directorial duo and brothers Josh and Benny Safdie. The film tells the tale of Howard Ratner, a gamblingaddicted jeweler in New York City whose attempts to pay off his debts to loan sharks end up getting him in increasingly dire straits. Beyond
elevating the Safdie brothers into the cinematic mainstream, “Uncut Gems” marked a return to critical success for Sandler for his engrossing portrayal of the slimy, charismatic Ratner. Ultimately, everything that made “Uncut Gems” a success -- its chaotic, grimy, nail-bitingly tense mood, and its casting of the critically-reviled Sandler in the lead role -- may have been its downfall, making it too unusual to be considered an “Oscar movie.” According to a recent New York Post article, at least one anonymous Academy member refused to vote for Sandler, saying he lacked “respect” for the Academy due to a joke Sandler made that he would make a movie that was “so bad on purpose just to make you all pay” were he to be snubbed. For ignoring a film as exciting as “Uncut Gems,” the Academy just might really deserve Sandler’s punishment. “Ad Astra,” which I reviewed in
OSCARS PG. 4
A Release from Eminem that Nobody Could Predict Malcolm Jacob Scarlet Staff Fans of both old-school and modern hip-hop will be pleased to hear that Eminem’s latest album is now available for listening. “Music to Be Murdered By” was recorded throughout most of 2019, and it was released on January 17, starting off 2020 strong for the genre. Much like with his previous album, “Kamikaze,” Eminem gave close to no indication that he was about to put out a new release, and the news is a surprise to listeners. It quickly created discussion among enthusiasts and debate over the meaning of the lyrics. What can be said about the guy that hasn’t been said before? Eminem is a household name whether you enjoy his style or not. He started performing alongside hip hop legends such as Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, and over the years has made music with a wide array of greats such as Rihanna, 50 Cent and The Weeknd. His name has become synonymous with rap in many ways. Most people know at least one Eminem song, showing how much his career has permeated through many corners of the world of en-
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The Scarlet
jan. 31, 2020
tertainment. Even if you don’t know his music by heart, you may recognize the remarkable speed of his rhymes (he reached 101 words in 16 seconds in “Rap God”), or perhaps memes such as the famous “Mom’s spaghetti” line taken from “Lose Yourself.” “Music to Be Murdered By” is Eminem’s eleventh studio album. It has a total of 20 tracks, so fans will have plenty of new songs to enjoy. For one, there are some interesting collaborations. “Those Kinda Nights” recruits Ed Sheeran for the chorus, adding to the already impressive list of talented people that Eminem has worked with. “Leaving Heaven” was made with help from Skylar Grey, whose powerful voice compliments the distorted melody and simple, thundering percussion. At the same time, the solo tracks carry their own just as strongly; check out the melancholy piano in “Darkness” and the unique hip hop beat used in “Farewell.” In a genre saturated with copy-and-paste beats, this is a welcome change. And then there’s the elephant in the room; or, rather, the monster. “Godzilla,” as it’s called, is one that multiple news outlets have
been talking about eagerly. It features verses from late rapper Juice WRLD, who passed away from an accidental overdose in December, making this his first posthumous track. What really makes it special are the verses towards the end of the recording. Remember Eminem’s unbelievable speed mentioned before? Well “Godzilla,” at one point clocks in at 224 words in 31 seconds, and is actually said to surpass Mathers’ 2013 “Rap God” in speed. Some are saying this feat is worthy of the Guinness Book of World Records, though the people who collect these records have not officially confirmed this. Many listeners have enjoyed “Music to Be Murdered By” in the last week, though some critics have been more critical. Listen to it for yourself if you are curious, and chances are you will find something you like. And with twenty songs, we have more than enough to hold us over until Mathers thinks up something new, whenever that may be. If we’ve learned anything, it’s that nobody knows what Eminem will do next or when it will happen.
Cats: The World’s Horniest Genital-Free Movie Raina Carfaro Scarlet Staff I know, I know! I’m sure that you have heard lots of horrible things about this movie, like that it has no plot, terrible effects, and awful dancers, but that’s all wrong! The dancers aren’t that terrible! The dancers do the best they can with the highly unnerving choreography they were given. Andrew Lloyd Webber was notoriously hopped up on cocaine while writing the original stage musical, and apparently, the production team of this movie was, too. I went into the movie theater excited and terrified for the journey that lay before me. To my glee and no one’s surprise, the theater was completely empty. To simplify “Cats”’s senseless plot, the story is about cats in our human world competing against one another for the chance to be reborn into a new life. They are reborn by going into a hot air balloon into space, where they then dissolve into thin air. From the moment the movie started to the minute it ended, I swear I didn’t blink. My eyes felt like they were being pried open by the hands of God, forcing me to watch furry Jason Derulo writhe around and thrust on the floor. For a movie rated PG, it comes off as extremely sexual the entire time. The actors slink about like cats and attempt to be as graceful as they can in hopes that they might cling to whatever dignity they have left. In spite of the actors’ clear efforts, the skintight suits and constant rubbing against one another invokes other images that are far less familyfriendly. It would somehow be less sensual for the cats to just kiss instead of bringing their faces very close and grind necks whilst purring. Even the scale of the movie is unnerving. The actors are supposed to be around the size of real cats, but the scale changes throughout the movie. At points, the cats look like they’re around the size of large dogs and at another point, they look as small as mice. And the mice! The mice featured in a scene are CGI-ed children, and worse still are the cockroaches who sing and dance
and have human faces. They are eaten in a disturbing manner by Rebel Wilson’s cat, who is turned into a fat joke. Most of the featured characters have a song to themselves which is common for ensemble musicals, but for a film interpretation, they did it all wrong. Films have far more freedom than stage shows, and can physically move the setting of the scene with ease. They used this freedom too much in the movie to the point where each song felt like it was from a different movie. The simplistic plot is made to be enhanced by the performers, not effects, and the rapid change of location made the film hard to follow. The producers leaned on the big names in the cast to bring in people, but they forgot that the most important part of “Cats” is having competent performers with huge stage presence. The show comes alive because of its hard-working actors, not because of gimmicks and Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift is a singer and no more. She doesn’t have the stage presence or acting abilities to match even Idris Elba’s energy on stage, and though her performance sounds nice, it is soulless. This is the fatal mistake, because the success of “Cats” relies almost entirely on soul. The original stage show is filled with charming elements, like gorgeous handmade suits and sets designed to make the actors look like the real size of cats. The show stole audiences’ hearts by whisking them away to a story done with Broadway flair, where the importance of the plot was overshadowed by the extraordinary dancers and the magic of theatre. This movie, in an attempt to modernize the show for a film audience, ended up neutering the original’s charm and removing the factors that made it the longest-running musical on Broadway. I am listening to the music from the movie as I write this, and despite its shortcomings, I can’t help but sing along. This is because, just like the scene of Idris Elba perched naked atop a statue, the lyrics have been seared into my brain. Forever.