If I Were an Academy Member: David Mumpower

By David Mumpower

February 27, 2016

Everyone hates the teacher's pet.

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5) Spotlight

I’m a bit long in the tooth. I remember the days when cable television and print media were the foundations of investigative journalism. Before websites prioritized traffic and virality over quality of content, stories such as this one were status quo, not rare exceptions. Perhaps that’s why Spotlight is so bittersweet to me. I knew going in that the harsh subject matter would infuriate me. The church’s worst indiscretions are not the acts themselves, the ones they’ve judiciously looked the other way rather than acknowledge. It’s the cover-ups once they become painfully aware of the failings of the people who work in God’s name that make me want to bite people’s faces off.

Spotlight claims the perfect name for its story. Ostensibly, it’s the name of the investigative journalism arm of The Boston Globe. In execution, it’s the illumination of the shadowy secrets the church tried to hide for decades, the ones that led to the molestation of hundreds (if not thousands) of innocent children. This movie is the perfect procedural. The only reasons why it’s not higher on my list are that A) this is a great group of Best Picture nominees and B) it is a bit paint-by-numbers, although that’s a reflection of the story itself rather than any flaws with the film.

6) The Revenant

This is the first film on the list that I did not rank in my top 10 for the year. That’s not to say The Revenant is a bad film. Far from it, the movie offers a trio of terrific performances from Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, and Domhnall Gleeson. It’s also an atmospheric period piece that does a wonderful job of drawing the viewer into the proceedings. I always found the trailers silly, so I was pleasantly surprised by the overall quality of the film. I just didn’t respond to it the way that so many viewers have. It’s a well told, well performed story that I have no interest of watching ever again. Since I’m someone who does a lot of repeat viewing, that’s a huge strike against it.

7) Brooklyn

My main complaint about Brooklyn is its simplicity. It's a movie almost wholly lacking in conflict. The lead actress, Saoirse Ronan, delivers a marvelously measured performance. It'd be much better if she were given more depth of story, though. The central "drama" in Brooklyn is which of two wonderful places and which of two amazing men she'll pick. It's the equivalent of choosing between nirvana and paradise. Oh, the horror! I thought we'd left this kind of pointless teen angst behind when the Twilight Saga finally finished.

I should warn you that if you know Brooklyn's the highest rated of the Best Picture nominees on Rotten Tomatoes, you're setting yourself up for disappointment. It's not that kind of film. A common complain about videogames is that they put players on a rail, not allowing any true choices. The game plays the same no matter what. The same is true of Brooklyn. What you see is what you're going to get for 100 minutes. A clever bit of symmetry relays the entire outcome of the movie inside the first 15 minutes. I quite like that part of it, but it negates any element of surprise, as does the film title itself.

Brooklyn is a minor story told well, also offering several wonderful performances by supporting actresses, a rarity in Hollywood these days. So, it deserves special commendation for that. I just didn't warm to Brooklyn enough to fall in love with it, though. In the end, it was neck and neck with the next film for worst Best Picture nominee. Of course, that just means it's solid. The Best Picture category this year has ridiculous quality at the top and depth at the bottom.




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8) Room

Being the worst film on this list is far from an insult. This isn’t a situation like American Hustle or American Sniper where I felt like the Academy nominated a garbage film. Instead, I view Room as two very different movies jammed together in quality.

Since a lot of people still haven’t seen Room, I want to avoid spoilers here. What I’ll say is that there’s a transitional point in the movie. Up until then, I’m all-in on the story, the concept, and the execution. From that moment on, the film loses so much that I consider one of the subplots among the worst ideas in 2015 cinema.

Effectively, the first half of Room gets an A, maybe even an A+. The second half is somewhere in the C to D range. So, it’s like a B to B- overall. I’d still recommend it since there is legitimate greatness at times, and Brie Larson deserves every ounce of acclaim she receives. I simply would’ve liked it more as an 80-minute movie than a 120-minute one.


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