Moonlight (2016)

Academy Awards, USA 2017

Won Oscar	Best Motion Picture of the Year Dede Gardner Jeremy Kleiner Adele Romanski Dede Gardner became the first woman to win Best Picture twice.
	Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role Mahershala Ali
	Best Adapted Screenplay Barry Jenkins (screenplay) Tarell Alvin McCraney (story)
Nominated Oscar	Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role Naomie Harris
	Best Achievement in Directing Barry Jenkins
	Best Achievement in Cinematography James Laxton
	Best Achievement in Film Editing Joi McMillon Nat Sanders Joi McMillon became the first African American female to be nominated for Best Film Editing
	Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score) Nicholas Britell

A24
Directed by Barry Jenkins
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Lionsgate)

A Miami  youth lives alone with his drug-addicted mother in a housing project. He is befriended by her drug dealer who becomes a replacement father figure. As a teenager, the boy is bullied and beaten by classmates for being gay. His mother takes money from him for drugs and his father figure has since died. He has his first homosexual encounter on a beach. As a young adult, he has fled to Atlanta and become a drug dealer himself. One day he gets a phone call from the man he first met on the beach, and travels back to Miami to meet him. Pretentiously filmed melodrama filled with homoerotic imagery of muscular black men. It tries but mostly fails to break stereotypes. The swirling, floating camerawork distracts from rather than adds to the story. Disappointing.

Lion (2016)

Academy Awards, USA 2017

Nominated Oscar	Best Motion Picture of the Year Iain Canning Angie Fielder Emile Sherman
	Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role Dev Patel
	Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role Nicole Kidman
	Best Adapted Screenplay Luke Davies
	Best Achievement in Cinematography Greig Fraser
	Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score) Dustin O'Halloran Volker Bertelmann

The Weinstein Company
Directed by Garth Davis
My rating: 3.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Lionsgate)

A young boy is separated from his brother at a train station, then wakes up on an empty cross country train that brings him to Calcutta. Not knowing where he is, or where he came from, he survives on the streets around the train station. He is taken in by a friendly woman, only to run away when he senses her boyfriend is up to no good. On the streets again, he eventually ends up at state run orphanage for "lost children". Unable to recall enough information to get him home, he is adopted by a friendly Australian couple. Twenty years pass and as a young adult in Australia he begins to have flashbacks of his childhood in India. Using Google Earth, he is able to locate his home and travels there for a reunion with his family. Beautifully filmed debut from director Gart Davis packs an emotional wallop: from the harrowing experiences of the lost young boy on the rough streets of Calcutta to the final reunion, this is going to leave most people in tears. Incredibly, based on a true story.

Toni Erdmann (2016)

Academy Awards, USA 2017

Nominated Oscar

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year Germany

Sony Pictures Classics
Directed by Maren Ade
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Sony)

A middle aged man in Germany pays a surprise visit to his daughter in Bucharest, Romania. She is busy with her corporate job trying to convince an oil executive to outsource some work. Feeling ignored, the father spontaneously adopts an alter identity at a party as the "life coach" of the oil executive. Once started, he is unable to stop the ruse, even if it is damaging to his daughter's chances of getting the contract. At first she is appalled at his conduct, but gradually comes to accept it for what it is: an attempt to connect with her on a personal level. The viewer takes a similar journey. It works on multiple levels: as comedy it is frequently hilarious; as drama it examines the strained relationship between an aging father and his grown daughter; and it has much to say about how women are treated in corporations and the emptiness of that lifestyle. Sandra Hüller and Peter Simonischek are excellent in the lead roles.

The Little Mermaid (1989)

Academy Awards, USA 1990

Won Oscar	Best Music, Original Song Alan Menken (music) Howard Ashman (lyrics) For the song "Under the Sea"
	Best Music, Original Score Alan Menken
Nominated Oscar	Best Music, Original Song Alan Menken (music) Howard Ashman (lyrics) For the song "Kiss the Girl"

Buena Vista Pictures
Directed by Ron Clements and John Musker
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Disney)

A teenage mermaid obsessed with human culture eventually falls in love with a man she saves from a shipwreck. She makes a bargain with a sea witch to become human so she can be with him, little realizing that the witch wants the powerful trident of her father the king. After three days as a human, she returns to mermaid form and is heartbroken to leave her newfound love. Imprisoned by the sea witch, her father is tricked into taking her place, giving full power to the witch as a result. It is up to the human to defeat the witch and win back the mermaid amidst a chaotic ocean storm. Hugely successful film for Disney set the stage for the resurgence of its animated films in the 1990s. However, it is really nothing more than teenage melodrama interspersed with Broadway-style songs and comic relief from anthropomorphic sea creatures.

Fences (2016)

Academy Awards, USA 2017

Won Oscar	Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role Viola Davis
Nominated Oscar	Best Motion Picture of the Year Todd Black Scott Rudin Denzel Washington
	Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role Denzel Washington
	Best Adapted Screenplay August Wilson Posthumous nomination. Wilson completed the screenplay before his death in 2005.

Paramount Pictures
Directed by Denzel Washington
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Paramount)

Pittsburgh sanitation worker Denzel Washington lives paycheck to paycheck with his wife Viola Davis in a run down house. Apparently happy despite their situation, he laments the missed opportunities of his younger days as a talented baseball player denied advancement by the color of his skin. Hoping to avoid the same fate for his son, he refuses to let him go to college on a sports scholarship, eventually getting him kicked off the baseball team. Their disagreements become violent at times. Later, he drops a bombshell on his wife that he has fathered another child. She reluctantly agrees to raise her as her own daughter when the mother dies, but shuns Washington for the rest of their life together. Years later, the family gathers for his funeral and recall the paths their lives have taken. Based on the play by August Wilson, this is stagey and dialogue heavy. It is not, however, without its rewards, and is extremely well acted.

Hell or High Water (2016)

Academy Awards, USA 2017

Nominated Oscar	Best Motion Picture of the Year Carla Hacken Julie Yorn
	Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role Jeff Bridges
	Best Original Screenplay Taylor Sheridan
	Best Achievement in Film Editing Jake Roberts

CBS Films
Directed by David Mackenzie
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Lionsgate)

Two brothers rob banks in west Texas to pay off the mortgage of their recently deceased mother. They are pursued by two Texas Rangers, including Jeff Bridges who is approaching retirement. He and his buddy act as a sort of comic relief to the hectic robberies of the two brothers. They eventually make a mistake and are pursued by locals with guns in pickup trucks. In the ensuing standoff one of the Rangers is shot and killed, but the other one manages to pick off the brother with a long range rifle. However, the other brother escapes and eventually settles down. Years later there is a tense meeting between the two of them to end the film. The brothers are motivated by the depressed economics of west Texas where banks are the enemy of the people. However, the locals don't hesitate to pick up arms when the banks are robbed, even if they are secretly rooting for the bad guys. Jeff Bridges can do this kind of character in his sleep. Entertaining but hardly essential.

La La Land (2016)

Academy Awards, USA 2017

Won Oscar	Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role Emma Stone
	Best Achievement in Directing Damien Chazelle At 32 years, 38 days of age, Damien Chazelle became the youngest winner of Best Director
	Best Achievement in Cinematography Linus Sandgren
	Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score) Justin Hurwitz
	Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song) Justin Hurwitz (music) Benj Pasek (lyrics) Justin Paul (lyrics) Song: "City of Stars"
	Best Achievement in Production Design David Wasco (production design) Sandy Reynolds-Wasco (set decoration)
Nominated Oscar	Best Motion Picture of the Year Fred Berger Jordan Horowitz Marc Platt
	Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role Ryan Gosling
	Best Original Screenplay Damien Chazelle
	Best Achievement in Film Editing Tom Cross
	Best Achievement in Costume Design Mary Zophres
	Best Achievement in Sound Mixing Andy Nelson Ai-Ling Lee Steven Morrow
	Best Achievement in Sound Editing Ai-Ling Lee Mildred Iatrou
	Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song) Justin Hurwitz (music) Benj Pasek (lyrics) Justin Paul (lyrics) Song: "Audition (The Fools Who Dream)"

Summit Entertainment
Directed by Damien Chazelle
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Lionsgate)

Aspiring actress Emma Stone meets aspiring jazz pianist Ryan Gosling in a series of coincidences in Los Angeles. Despite Gosling feigning disinterest, she persists and they fall in love. They encourage each other to pursue their dreams, she writes a one-woman play while he tours with a popular band. After her play flops, she confronts him about his success playing music he doesn't really believe in, and they have a falling out. Later, he convinces her to respond to one final audition, which ultimately leads to her stardom. Old MGM musicals are updated for the 21st century, but its the same old formula. Spectacular to look at, maybe, but the songs are bland and the plot entirely predictable, even with two endings.

Manchester by the Sea (2016)

Academy Awards, USA 2017

Won Oscar	Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role Casey Affleck
	Best Original Screenplay Kenneth Lonergan
Nominated Oscar	Best Motion Picture of the Year Lauren Beck Matt Damon Kimberly Steward Chris Moore Kevin J. Walsh
	Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role Lucas Hedges
	Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role Michelle Williams
	Best Achievement in Directing Kenneth Lonergan

Roadside Attractions
Directed by Kenneth Lonergan
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Lionsgate)

Anti-social janitor Casey Affleck becomes the unlikely guardian of his teenage nephew after the sudden death of his brother. They live together waiting for the spring so the ground will thaw enough to bury the brother. Affleck feels his troubled past, including a tragic accident which caused the death of his children, leaves him unfit to be the boy's parent. Despite being quite good at it, he manages to convince his other brother to adopt the boy and he returns to his lonely life. Depressing story of a broken man, anchored by Affleck's stone-faced performance. The sexual antics of his teenage nephew get a bit tiresome after awhile. Despite these shortcomings, the film does stick with you long afterwards.

Resisting Enemy Interrogation (1944)

Academy Awards, USA 1945

Nominated Oscar

Best Documentary, Features

United States Army Air Forces
Directed by Bernhard Vorhaus
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(YouTube)

Fictionalized account of downed American flyers captured by Germans who try to trick them into giving important military information. One is wined and dined by German pilots who use small talk to try to get him to say something. In another scene, a pilot laid up in the hospital falls for his pretty German nurse who tricks him into filling out a fake Red Cross form. In the end, Lloyd Nolan speaks directly to the camera, and to the enlisted men watching this training film during WWII, all the mistakes that were made.

Rio 2 (2014)

Twentieth Century Fox
Directed by  Carlos Saldanha
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Fox)

A family of rare blue macaws are living like humans in a Rio apartment. They learn that there may be others of their kind in the Amazon, and set out to help find them. The father has trouble adjusting to life in the wild, but his wife is exhilarated by the return to her home, especially when she finds her long lost father and childhood sweetheart. They must all learn to get along when the flock is threatened by loggers clearing the jungle. Colorful animated story gets bogged down in songs and dancing, all of which will date it badly in a few years time.

Hacksaw Ridge (2016)

Academy Awards, USA 2017

Won Oscar	Best Achievement in Film Editing John Gilbert
	Best Achievement in Sound Mixing Kevin O'Connell Andy Wright Robert Mackenzie Peter Grace
Nominated Oscar	Best Motion Picture of the Year Bill Mechanic David Permut
	Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role Andrew Garfield
	Best Achievement in Directing Mel Gibson
	Best Achievement in Sound Editing Robert Mackenzie Andy Wright

Summit Entertainment
Directed by Mel Gibson
My rating: 3.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Lionsgate)

A boy grows up in a Virginia household with a drunken, violent father, scarred by his experiences in WWI. He saves his mother from getting shot during an argument, and almost kills his brother in another, both leaving him with an intense revulsion to violence in general and guns in particular. When WWII breaks out, he feels compelled to enlist, but refuses to kill or carry a rifle. Instead, he wants to be a combat medic and conscientious objector. His commanders try to get him kicked out for psychiatric reasons, but when that fails his fellow recruits beat him up. He sticks with it and is sent to fight in the Battle of Okinawa, one of the bloodiest conflicts in WWII. After surviving the initial onslaught, he proves his bravery by retrieving wounded soldiers on the battlefield, earning the respect of everyone in his unit. Mel Gibson has created some of the most visceral battle scenes ever to appear in a film. It is unflinchingly graphic and almost hyper-realistic. It is both the film's greatest strength and greatest weakness. Andrew Garfield is perfectly cast as the reluctant hero.

Bolt (2008)

Academy Awards, USA 2009

Nominated Oscar

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year Chris Williams Byron Howard

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Directed by Chris Williams and Byron Howard
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Disney)

A girl and her dog are stars in an action TV series. This fact is hidden from the dog, who believes he really has superpowers. One day he escapes from his trailer on the set and ends up being mailed to New York City. He gradually begins to learn that he does not have superpowers. He befriends and alley cat and they set out across the country to reunite with his owner. They have various misadventures along the way, but importantly the cat teaches him what it means to be a real dog. They eventually reach Hollywood, where he thinks his owner rejects him, but a fire in the studio gives him an opportunity to prove otherwise. A good variation on the old Disney boy and his dog plot, but comes dangerously close to breaking the unwritten rule of unconditional love between the two as well as the one that the dog never dies. There is, of course, a happy ending.

Pinocchio (1940)

Academy Awards, USA 1941

Won Oscar	Best Music, Original Song Leigh Harline (music) Ned Washington (lyrics) For the song "When You Wish Upon a Star"
	Best Music, Original Score Leigh Harline Paul J. Smith Ned Washington

RKO Radio Pictures
Directed by Ben Sharpsteen and Hamilton Luske
My rating: 4 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Disney)

Wood craftsman Geppetto wishes that his latest marionette creation Pinocchio was a real boy to end his loneliness. A "Blue Fairy" visits during the night and grants his wish. On his way to school the next morning, the living puppet is approached by a couple of scoundrels who convince him to perform for a local sideshow. A huge success, the owner of the show locks him up for the night, but the Blue Fairy sets him free. However, before he can get home he meets the same two scoundrels who convince him to take a "vacation" to Pleasure Island. It turns out to be anything but, and Pinocchio is almost turned into a donkey and sold as a slave. He manages to escape and gets home, only to discover Geppetto has gone in search of him and ended up in the belly of a whale. Pinocchio sets off to find him and set him free, leading to a spectacular finale against Monstro the whale. Disney's second animated feature after Snow White is another eye-popping animated masterpiece that has not dated at all. It works on multiple levels: the music, story and characters all combine to transform a simple morality tale into a timeless classic.

Hidden Figures (2016)

Academy Awards, USA 2017

Nominated Oscar	Best Motion Picture of the Year Peter Chernin Donna Gigliotti Theodore Melfi Jenno Topping Pharrell Williams
	Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role Octavia Spencer
	Best Adapted Screenplay Allison Schroeder Theodore Melfi

Twentieth Century Fox
Directed by Theodore Melfi
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Fox)

A group of female African-Americans work for NASA as human computers. Prominent among them for her natural abilities in math is Katherine Gobel, played by Taraji P. Henson, who is tapped by director Kevin Costner for the main engineering group working on the first manned flight in orbit. She helps them solve a series of problems and proves critical to the mission. Since this is set in Virginia in the early 1960s, she must also overcome racial inequalities, including a long trip to find a segregated restroom. Polished presentation of an important and largely forgotten episode in the history of manned spaceflight. However, minor characters tend to be stereotypes and the music occasionally forgets that it is the early 60s.

Arrival (2016)

Academy Awards, USA 2017

Won Oscar	Best Achievement in Sound Editing Sylvain Bellemare
Nominated Oscar	Best Motion Picture of the Year Shawn Levy Dan Levine Aaron Ryder David Linde
	Best Achievement in Directing Denis Villeneuve
	Best Adapted Screenplay Eric Heisserer
	Best Achievement in Cinematography Bradford Young
	Best Achievement in Film Editing Joe Walker
	Best Achievement in Sound Mixing Bernard Gariépy Strobl Claude La Haye
	Best Achievement in Production Design Patrice Vermette (production design) Paul Hotte (set decoration)

Paramount Pictures
Directed by Denis Villeneuve
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Paramount)

Giant alien spaceships park themselves in 12 locations across the globe. In Montana, the US military enlists a linguist and a physicist to make contact with them. Inside the ship, the giant creatures, nicknamed hectapods because they have seven legs, display complicated patterns on the barrier separating them from the humans. Amy Adams, the linguist, eventually is able to decipher them, but a misunderstanding over one word, "weapon" versus "tool", sends the military into a panic, including the Chinese who issue an ultimatum to the aliens. The "tool" ends up being their language, which allows those who can understand it to travel in time. Amy does this via flashbacks, and flashforwards, which gives her the information necessary to convince the military not to attack, but also some unwanted personal information which threatens to change her life. It's this last bit that requires a stretch for the viewer, and threatens to undermine via melodramatics the more intriguing sci-fi angle. Score by Johan Johannsson adds immensely to the mood.

Robin Hood (1973)

Academy Awards, USA 1974

Nominated Oscar

Best Music, Original Song George Bruns (music) Floyd Huddleston (lyrics) For the song "Love".

Buena Vista
Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Disney)

Robin Hood and Little John, here a fox and a bear, rob from the rich and give to the poor in the oppressed town of Nottingham. They are ruled by Prince John, a tiger, who pinches every penny from them via taxes. When he is targeted by the two outlaws himself, he cooks up a plan to catch and imprison them at an archery tournament. They initially elude him by disguises, but they are exposed and Robin Hood is caught. His friends and sweetheart Maid Marian must find a way to save him. Enjoyable fluff from Disney, if a bit overplotted, with catchy songs.