Reflections

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Happy Death Day 2U

THE GIST: Just when she thought she had it all figured out, a college student is thrown into a new time loop. This time, figuring out how to stop it is only half the challenge.

Well, wasn't this a nice surprise! The rare sequel that actually improves upon the original, Happy Death Day 2U starts out with the familiar premise only to turn the tables on us, and keeps twisting itself just when you think you know what's going to happen next.

Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard, and Phi Vu are back as the familiar trio of students, which is good because their chemistry is already established, so they hit the ground running.

THE BOTTOM LINE: It would certainly be better to have seen Happy Death Day before watching the sequel, since it's referenced here and there, but Happy Death Day 2U is certainly enjoyable on its own.

Grade: 7

Happy Death Day

THE GIST: A college student wakes up on the day of her murder over and over again. She needs to figure out who is trying to kill her in order to break the loop.

Happy Death Day doesn't take itself too seriously, even expressly referencing Groundhog Day towards the end, but this is probably its main strength.

The story might be quite predictable in its premise, but there are a couple interesting twists that keep you engaged. The final reveal, I did not see coming.

THE BOTTOM LINE: There's no gore but it's a bit scary at times. Overall, it's a fun little divertissement.

Grade: 6

Inside Llewyn Davis

THE GIST: Llewyn Davis is a penniless folk singer struggling to break through in the music business. Crashing at a rotating roster of friends' houses, all the while going to any random gig available, he deals with the speed bumps life throws at him.

The more Coen brothers' movies I watch, the more I become a fan of their aesthetic and their quirky storytelling.

Inside Llewyn Davis is a very simple story told with a light but caring touch. All the characters are interesting in their own way, some to a point where you wish the camera had lingered on them a bit longer.

Oscar Isaac gives a great performance (who knew he could sing so well!!), but so do Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake, Adam Driver, Ethan Phillips, Robin Bartlett, Garrett Hedlund, F. Murray Abraham, and of course John Goodman.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Whether it's the music, the performances, or the peculiar story, this film is definitely worth your time.

Grade: 8

Cold War (Zimna Wojna)

THE GIST: While selecting artists for a new troupe, a music director falls for a young woman. When the chance presents itself to flee communist Poland for a new life in Paris, he tries to convince her to follow him.

Cold War's director, Pawel Pawlikowski, received a Best Director Oscar nomination for his work here, and frankly I'm a bit surprised. I understand the Cinematography nod (and the Foreign Language one), but not direction, especially when there were better filmmakers to choose from.

Joanna Kulig and Tomasz Kot do a very nice job of looking dejected for their country's conditions and smitten with one another. The question is whether their efforts generate enough interest, and judging from the snoring I could hear coming from the closest occupied seat near me in the theater, it's a tossup.

THE BOTTOM LINE: This is one of those highbrow movies tailored to cinephiles that tend to leave a lot of people scratching their heads. I would not recommend it unless you're into this kind of film.However, it's not a bad movie either, and it's crafted with plenty of care.

Grade: 5

Brushes

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Together

I love "stolen" moments like these.

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How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

THE GIST: Hiccup and his band of ragtags keep rescuing captured dragons and bringing them back to Berk, their home, which is now overrun with them. Fed up, a group of dragon trappers engage the services of a notorious dragon slayer, who thought he had killed all the Night Fury dragons and is therefore interested in slaying Toothless. Hiccup's trusted friend, however, is apparently not the last Night Fury...

How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World completes a planned trilogy in the series, although given their success, is this really the end for Hiccup and Co.?

The animation straddles a fine line between impressive photorealism for the natural world (the ocean particularly looks like the real thing) and a more cartoonish appearance for the characters.

I found all the Dragon movies to be very well written in terms of dealing with more mature topics, like love and loss, in a very sensible way that even little kids can understand. This time around our hero has to grow up and let go, which turns out to be quite heartwrenching.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Definitely recommended for the fans and for families with little ones, who will be enthralled even if they haven't seen the previous chapters. You might have to dry a few tears by the time the credits roll.

Grade: 8

The 91st Academy Awards - The Winners - Updated with Analysis

Here is the official list of the winners at this year's Oscars ceremony, which in the end I was able to watch live!

Update: Last night's ceremony went off without a hitch, but also lacked pizzazz in my opinion. I think the absence of a host hurt the telecast even though they succeeded in keeping its run time to just over 3 hours. This was the first time I watched it without a host (it only happened once before, intentionally) and if anything it made me realize how important that figure is.

The host is the cohesive element, the only one that keeps coming back from beginning to end. It's not just the opening monologue, although that can certainly set the tone for the show. It's almost like having a knowledgeable guide keeping you company during a trip.

The reason I only watched the SAG awards ceremony once is precisely because it was a total bore. Beginning to end it was just presenter-winner-speech, presenter-winner-speech,over and over and over again. I don't even recall whether or not they have a host, but it's not a spectacle.

The Academy Awards usually put on a fabulous show, bedazzled with musical numbers, comedy, and maybe some drama, occasionally punctuated by notes of somberness. There was none of that last night, as keeping the pace seemed like the only goal. Queen, with Adam Lambert at the vocals, opened the show with a thundering medley of their greatest hits, and it was great, but that was the end of all the spectacle.

Sure, we were treated to renditions of 4 out of the 5 Best Original Song nominees, but little else felt exciting. And while I'm on the topic, why wasn't "All the Stars" performed? From all the talk about how groundbreaking Black Panther's impressive nominations haul was, you'd have thought Kendrick Lamar wouldn't have passed on the opportunity to showcase his talent to the Academy and a pretty substantial worldwide audience. So what went wrong there?

So instead of a host we got an invisible voice announcing whomever was going to walk onstage next. Alas, the producers made the unfortunate choice of starting out that parade with uber funny ladies Maya Rudolph, Tina Fey, and Amy Poehler, who seemed to be launching into the familiar opening monologue only to dash our hopes that they had been secretly engaged to host the show. Given Fey and Poehler's previous widely successful experience as hosts of the Golden Globes, it would have been a welcome surprise.

Not that the many presenters didn't do a good job, I just personally didn't like the choice and hope it doesn't become the new normal.

Anyway, here's my rundown of the night's winners and what not:

• Best Documentary Short/Animated Short/Live Action Short: No comment; I didn't see any of them.
• Best Achievement in Visual Effects: So glad First Man took home the prize as the other nominees likely relied much more heavily on CGI then more old fashioned techniques, even though nowadays that's really hard to tell. Still, First Man is a good movie that unfortunately didn't get more love from the Academy, so I'm glad it at least got some gold.
• Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling: The unbelievable work these artists did in transforming the handsome Christian Bale into that pustule of Dick Cheney in Vice unarguably deserved the highest of accolades.
• The winners' acceptance speech, however, was embarrassing and the absolute worst of the night. If they wanted to make sure they all talked, then have three copies of the speech, rehearse ahead of time, and carry some bloody reading glasses! I couldn't believe how badly they mangled their time onstage, especially considering how incensed everyone always is at the winners' long winded and boring "thank you" speeches. Thank gods they cut their mike!
• Best Achievement in Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, and Editing: Bohemian Rhapsody triumphed here and with Maleck's subsequent win ended up with the biggest single tally of the night. I was under the impression that all the movie's songs featured Freddie Mercury's unparalleled vocals, but then I learned that they were actually a merging of Mercury's and Maleck's, which makes a win in the Sound categories even more deserved.
• Best Achievement in Production Design, Costume Design, and Original Score: Black Panther snatched all three and I have no complaints. The scores for Panther, BlacKkKlansman, and If Beale Street Could Talk were the best for me, but considering the many and varied African musical elements Ludwig Göransson interwove in the texture of his work, his win is justified. As for the other two categories, I'm content that the effort that went into creating a whole nation, comprising five different tribes with their customs and traditions, from scratch was recognized.
• Melissa McCarthy and Brian Tyree Henry were terrific in their presenting skit. Totally hilarious!!
• Production designer Hannah Beachler's speech was incredibly touching and rousing.
• Costume designer Ruth E. Carter's speech was fierce!
• Best Foreign Language Film of the Year and Cinematography: Roma was the front runner in both categories, so there was no surprise here. Of note, Alfonso Cuarón has now become the first director ever to win an Oscar for cinematography.
• Best Documentary Feature: I actually saw Free Solo and enjoyed it, even though the outcome was well known and it ran a bit too long.
• Best Animated Feature Film: So happy that Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse took this award. That movie is a marvel and certainly the most original of the bunch (full disclosure, I still haven't seen Mirai no Mirai).
• Best Original Song: A Star Is Born's Shallow is one of the best film songs ever written, and the wondrous performance of Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper onstage last night proved it once and for all.
• Jennifer Hudson's rendition of Diane Warren's "I'll Fight" was roof raising, and I love her voice, but sometimes I wish she held back a bit rather than always shooting for the highest and longest notes.
• What a nice surprise it was when Bette Midler was announced to perform "The Place Where Lost Things Go"!! And obviously she was lovely.
• Best Adapted Screenplay: BlacKkKlansman only took home one Oscar, which is a pity for such a great movie, but fortunately it was one of the most coveted ones. Furthermore, Spike Lee can finally say he won a competitive Oscar after working so hard and for so long in Hollywood, and his speech hit all the right notes.
• Best Original Screenplay: One of the three Oscars that Green Book took home last night. I really enjoyed this movie, so I was pleased, even though I was rooting for either The Favourite or First Reformed.
• Best Achievement in Directing: Roma's Alfonso Cuarón was a shoo-in here, so if he hadn't won it would have been a HUGE upset. Of the five nominees I thought the most deserving was Spike Lee, but he didn't really stand a chance.
• Cuarón has now won two Best Director Oscars in just six years, while his Mexican friends Guillermo del Toro and Alejandro González Iñárritu have won three more (one the former and two the latter). Think about that for a second: five of the last six Oscars in this category have gone to Mexico!
• Best Supporting Actress: The lovely Regina King had been the front runner for the majority of awards season, so this was no surprise. She was visibly shaken and gave a nice speech, and her gown was gorgeous. This was the only win for If Beale Street Could Talk.
• I would have liked to have seen either of The Favourite actresses win, even though they've both already won previously, or perennial loser Amy Adams, but that's not because I didn't think King didn't deserve it. Anything but.
• Best Supporting Actor: Mahershala Ali for Green Book was such an announced win here that there was no suspense.
• I kind of wish Richard E. Grant had won, simply because he did such a fantastic job in Can You Ever Forgive Me? and Ali had won this very same category just two years ago. Still, he is such a great actor, no one can really say he didn't deserve it.
• Rather, my only complaint would be, Why was he nominated in this category instead of Lead Actor, with Viggo Mortensen, since they share virtually the same amount of screen time? The most logical explanation is that they feared such a pairing would have split the vote (likely what happened to Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone), and neither would have won. And that doesn't sound fair to me.
• Best Lead Actress: This was one of the two biggest upsets of the night. Glenn Close, who now has seven nominations and zero wins, was the odds-on favorite to finally grab a long coveted Oscar, but it just wasn't meant to be. Olivia Colman's name was called and my jaw dropped in shock, even though I felt tremendous joy for her. She obviously was as surprised as everyone and hadn't even prepared a speech, just in case. As a result, her time onstage ended up being one of the best things of the night. This was the only win for The Favourite.
• I would have liked to have seen Close win because she was terrific in The Wife and it was long overdue, and given her age, this might have been the last chance to award her. However, I honestly think Colman's was the best performance of the year among the nominees, so I'm at peace.
• Frankly, as much as I like Lady Gaga, her performance was so overrated that I would have been happier with any of the other four winning this category, especially since she had already won an Oscar for Best Song.
• Best Lead Actor: Rami Malek was phenomenal as Freddy Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody, but so was Christian Bale in Vice. For me it's a tough choice because Malek's role was showier but Bale's work felt even more authentic. At any rate, I really enjoyed his speech for the message of inclusivity.
• Best Picture: When Green Book was named the winner of the top award of the year, I was over the moon. I saw all the nominees and honestly Roma, the front runner and perennial winner in every competition, was the most boring and overrated of them all. I would have loved to see either The Favourite or BlacKkKlansman win, but the only one with a shred of hope was Green Book. I can understand the controversies surrounding it, but I thought it was well made and had a very good message overall.
• Is it just me or Angela Bassett always looks like a queen?
• I had heard that the show's producers had decided to buck the tradition of having the four acting winners from the previous year present the awards to this year's winners in order to save time. That was appalling news made only more bizarre by the decision to instead use the previous four in pairs to award only the lead categories. How does that make any sense??! Sometimes I really wish I had been in their meetings to hear the logic behind such decisions.
• I can understand asking Kacey Musgraves to introduce the Country song or civil rights icon John Lewis to introduce Green Book's clip, but why was Serena Williams asked to be a presenter?

In closing, the best part of the ceremony was the atmosphere of inclusivity that permeated most of the proceedings. There were a lot of firsts, a lot of minorities, and a lot of women getting recognized that simply wouldn't have just a few years back. It honestly feels like the Academy's efforts to diversify its membership after the #OscarsSoWhite controversy are paying off.

So that's it for me, now on to a new slew of movies that will contend for next year's prizes!

Best Motion Picture of the Year

Green Book

A Star Is Born
BlacKkKlansman
Black Panther
Bohemian Rhapsody
The Favourite
Roma
Vice

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody

Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born
Christian Bale, Vice
Viggo Mortensen, Green Book
Willem Dafoe, At Eternity's Gate

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

Olivia Colman, The Favourite

Glenn Close, The Wife
Lady Gaga, A Star Is Born
Melissa McCarthy, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Yalitza Aparicio, Roma

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

Mahershala Ali, Green Book

Adam Driver, BlacKkKlansman
Richard E. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Sam Elliott, A Star Is Born
Sam Rockwell, Vice

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk

Amy Adams, Vice
Emma Stone, The Favourite
Marina de Tavira, Roma
Rachel Weisz, The Favourite

Best Achievement in Directing

Alfonso Cuarón, Roma

Adam McKay, Vice
Pawel Pawlikowski, Zimna wojna
Spike Lee, BlacKkKlansman
Yorgos Lanthimos, The Favourite

Best Original Screenplay

Nick Vallelonga, Brian Hayes Currie, Peter Farrelly, Green Book

Paul Schrader, First Reformed
Alfonso Cuarón, Roma
Deborah Davis, Tony McNamara, The Favourite
Adam McKay, Vice

Best Adapted Screenplay

Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott, Spike Lee, BlacKkKlansman

Eric Roth, Bradley Cooper, Will Fetters, A Star Is Born
Nicole Holofcener, Jeff Whitty, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Barry Jenkins, If Beale Street Could Talk
Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score)

Ludwig Göransson, Black Panther

Terence Blanchard, BlacKkKlansman
Nicholas Britell, If Beale Street Could Talk
Alexandre Desplat, Isle of Dogs
Marc Shaiman, Mary Poppins Returns

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song)

Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando, Andrew Wyatt, "Shallow" A Star Is Born

Sounwave, Kendrick Lamar, Anthony Tiffith, SZA, "All the Stars" Black Panther
Marc Shaiman, Scott Wittman, "The Place Where Lost Things Go" Mary Poppins Returns
Diane Warren, "I'll Fight" RBG
David Rawlings, Gillian Welch, "When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings" The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

Best Animated Feature Film

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Incredibles 2
Isle of Dogs
Mirai no Mirai
Ralph Breaks the Internet

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year

Roma

Capharnaüm
Manbiki kazoku
Werk ohne Autor
Zimna wojna

Best Documentary Feature

Free Solo

Hale County This Morning, This Evening
Kinder des Kalifats
Minding the Gap
RBG

Best Achievement in Cinematography

Roma

A Star Is Born
The Favourite
Werk ohne Autor
Zimna wojna

Best Achievement in Film Editing

Bohemian Rhapsody

BlacKkKlansman
Green Book
The Favourite
Vice

Best Achievement in Production Design

Black Panther

First Man
Mary Poppins Returns
Roma
The Favourite

Best Achievement in Costume Design

Black Panther

Mary Poppins Returns
Mary Queen of Scots
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
The Favourite

Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling

Vice

Gräns
Mary Queen of Scots

Best Achievement in Sound Mixing

Bohemian Rhapsody

A Star Is Born
Black Panther
First Man
Roma

Best Achievement in Sound Editing

Bohemian Rhapsody

A Quiet Place
Black Panther
First Man
Roma

Best Achievement in Visual Effects

First Man

Avengers: Infinity War
Christopher Robin
Ready Player One
Solo: A Star Wars Story

Best Documentary Short Subject

Period. End of Sentence.

A Night at the Garden
Black Sheep
End Game
Lifeboat

Best Animated Short Film

Bao

Animal Behaviour
Late Afternoon
One Small Step
Weekends

Best Live Action Short Film

Skin

Detainment
Fauve
Madre
Marguerite

Gone but not Forgotten

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The Prodigy

THE GIST: Young Miles displays an intelligence out of the ordinary, but his occasional fits of violence and puzzling behavior start to worry his parents. A school psychologist puts his mother in contact with an expert on reincarnation.

The Prodigy doesn't break any ground as far as the "possessed kid" genre goes, but Jackson Robert Scott sure turns in a prodigious performance.

Taylor Schilling as Miles' mother is very good, and Peter Mooney and Colm Feore are good supporting players.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Aside from a few original points, The Prodigy can be quite predictable, but if you're just looking for a few good scares, it'll do.

Grade: 6

Paris, Texas

The Gist: Missing for four years, Travis Henderson wanders out of the Texas desert seemingly shell shocked. When his brother picks him up to take him back to California, he starts the long journey to reconnect with his life, his family, and society at large. It won't be easy to make sense of all the mysteries surrounding his disappearance and that of his son's mother.

Wim Wenders directed Harry Dean Stanton in what is likely his career's best performance. Nastassja Kinski and Dean Stockwell are pretty good too and little Hunter Carson showed promise even though he didn't do much else after this movie.

Honestly, for me the best part of Paris, Texas was the cinematography. What a wonderfully captivating landscape.

The Bottom Line: I found the story at the center of the movie interesting and well told, but I wouldn't recommend this unless you have the patience to sit through a movie that takes its time to get to the point.

Grade: 7

Alita: Battle Angel

The Gist: Scavenging for usable parts in a dump, a surgeon stumbles upon a maimed but still living cyborg. He outfits her with a new body and names her Alita when she reveals that she has no memories of her past. When a powerful figure wants her captured and then killed, she goes on a quest to find out who she is.

Alita: Battle Angel originated in a Japanese manga book that caught the attention of James Cameron, who started developing it into a feature until he moved on to his Avatar sequels, handing Alita over to Robert Rodriguez. Cameron is still listed as both writer and producer and his hand is visible in the attention to detail and the eye-popping visual effects.

Indeed, visually Alita is undeniably a treat, which certainly makes it worth a trip to see it on the big screen, but as far as the story is concerned, it hardly leaves a mark.

I won't give the ending away, of course, but I will remark that I was a bit taken aback.

The Bottom Line: From the box office returns, it looks like future installments of Alita are virtually guaranteed, and you won't be disappointed if you're just looking for some light fare fun, but I was left wanting more from this first ride.

Grade: 7

The First Purge

The Gist: Amid rampant social unrest brought about by income inequality and widespread dissatisfaction, a new political party, the NFFA (New Founding Fathers of America) conquers power. Their plan to improve society is a dry-run of some academic's experimental idea in the New York neighborhood of Staten Island: suspend all laws for a period of 12 hours to allow citizens to release their inhibitions. The reasoning is that by being temporarily allowed to purge one's rage in a "controlled" fashion, self-control will prevail the rest of the year and generally improve behavior, outlook, and society at large.

After three fairly successful installments in the franchise (one, two, three), an origin story showing how we got here seems warranted. The First Purge wisely, if only slightly, tones down the firepower sophistication, likely due to this happening earlier in the timeline and it being the first time out for purgers. But fret not! Scares and tension abound!

What the movie unfortunately lacks is really interesting characters. My guess is that they tried to set up too many angles, with each requiring its own set of characters, which overloaded the plot. Needing a fair amount of action, scares, setups and explanations and what not, everything ends up being a bit too rushed and contrived.

The Bottom Line: I think showing how the purge originated (and degenerated) was smart and likely enough for fans of the franchise. However, the audience by now knows what to expect, and The First Purge offers little in terms of new and compelling reasons to add new chapters in the future. Still, it makes for a few more good scares.

Grade: 5

The Purge: Election Year

The Gist: The opposition against the Purge is growing and a leading candidate for President has promised its repeal, if elected. This makes her a clear threat to the new order and a primary target on Purge night.

Frank Grillo is back as head of security for presidential candidate Elizabeth Mitchell, two good actors who readily elevate the third chapter in the rather successful Purge franchise.

This time the stakes are actually higher because the dark forces behind the Purge are exposed and threatened. We also see how the infamous night has taken on a sort of religious fervor that borders on cultish among the elites.

The Bottom Line: I have to admit that I’ve come to really like the Purge franchise, in a guilty pleasure sort of way. Each chapter delivers a good amount of terror for the fans of the genre and the political/ethical/moral messages behind them certainly push one to think about the possibilities. Given the unthinkable age we live in, as far as the current occupant of the White House goes, and mass shootings becoming routine, could something like this not ever become reality?

Grade: 6

The Purge: Anarchy

The Gist: It’s that time again in America, when for 12 hours all citizens are invited to purge their worst instincts, unencumbered by the threat of legal repercussions. A few strangers band together to improve their chances of making it through the night alive.

The Purge: Anarchy, sequel to The Purge, follows the same script of its predecessor. Countless purgers are off to indulge their worst instincts while a few unfortunate targets try to make it out alive. Frank Grillo (strong, broody, and determined) plays the hero and his quest for revenge pushes the action forward while constantly trying to avoid the many speed bumps found along the way.

Amid the scares and carnage, the first chapter successfully delivered a lesson about income inequality, primarily by showing how much more likely to survive the night the rich would be versus those without the means to protect themselves, either by hiding inside a safe refuge or through plenty of firepower.

Anarchy relies move heavily on action and death, but a character is introduced towards the end who lays out his theory about the Purge being nothing but a ploy by the government to cull the rolls of the needy (be it poor, unemployed, or sick). A form of population control, if you will, carried out by the populace itself on behalf of the elites.

The Bottom Line: I won’t try to persuade anyone that this is “quality entertainment,” but if you like horror movies, this won’t disappoint, and the displays of social norms’ breakdowns are certainly jarring. Also, it actually improves upon the first movie in the franchise.

Grade: 6

In Memoriam

Opportunity, Mars Rover (2004-2019)

After hundreds of attempts by NASA's engineers to try to recover Opportunity, after a global dust storm rendered it inoperable last June, they finally had to say goodbye:

"For more than a decade, Opportunity has been an icon in the field of planetary exploration, teaching us about Mars' ancient past as a wet, potentially habitable planet and revealing uncharted Martian landscapes," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. "Whatever loss we feel now must be tempered with the knowledge that the legacy of Opportunity continues, both on the surface of Mars with the Curiosity rover and InSight lander and in the clean rooms of [NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory], where the upcoming Mars 2020 rover is taking shape."

"Oppy," as the rover is affectionately known, has well outlasted her original 90-day mission. Instead, the rover has persisted for 15 years, sending back incredible data and photos from Mars to help uncover the Red Planet's secrets.

Opportunity found hematite at its landing site: little round things all over the ground that looked like blueberries. These features form in water, a definitive sign to NASA that liquid water had been on the surface of Mars.

Opportunity was expected to travel 1,100 yards over 90 days on Mars. Instead, it traveled 28 miles.

Opportunity's mission has led to many discoveries about the Red Planet, but perhaps the most exciting was when the rover found evidence that Mars once had water and supported conditions for sustaining microbial life.

"From the get-go, Opportunity delivered on our search for evidence regarding water," said Steve Squyres, principal investigator of the rovers' science payload at Cornell University. "And when you combine the discoveries of Opportunity and Spirit, they showed us that ancient Mars was a very different place from Mars today, which is a cold, dry, desolate world. But if you look to its ancient past, you find compelling evidence for liquid water below the surface and liquid water at the surface."

Source CNN.

Jupiter Up Close and Personal

Saturn might have the rings, but with its gorgeous colors, Jupiter has always been my favorite planet (apart from Earth of course).

Now, thanks to Juno, we can enjoy the most spectacular views of it yet.



From NASA:

Watch Juno zoom past Jupiter again. NASA's robotic spacecraft Juno is continuing on its 53-day, highly-elongated orbits around our Solar System's largest planet. The featured video is from perijove 16, the sixteenth time that Juno has passed near Jupiter since it arrived in mid-2016. Each perijove passes near a slightly different part of Jupiter's cloud tops.
[...]
As Juno reaches its closest view -- from about 3,500 kilometers over Jupiter's cloud tops -- the spacecraft captures the great planet in tremendous detail.

Insect Species Future Looks Grim

A massive loss of insect populations is underway. That would spell trouble for crops pollination as well as for predators that rely on them for food.

From a new report from CNN:

"Insect populations are declining precipitously worldwide due to pesticide use and other factors, with a potentially "catastrophic" effect on the planet, a study has warned.

More than 40% of insect species could become extinct in the next few decades, according to the "Worldwide decline of the entomofauna: A review of its drivers" report, published in the journal Biological Conservation.

Insect biomass is declining by a staggering 2.5% a year, a rate that indicates widespread extinctions within a century, the report found.

In addition to the 40% at risk of dying out, a third of species are endangered -- numbers that could cause the collapse of the planet's ecosystems with a devastating impact on life on Earth.
[...]
The repercussions of insect extinction would be "catastrophic to say the least," according to the report, as insects have been at "the structural and functional base of many of the world's ecosystems since their rise ... almost 400 million years ago."

Key causes of the decline included "habitat loss and conversion to intensive agriculture and urbanization," pollution, particularly from pesticides and fertilizers, as well as biological factors, such as "pathogens and introduced species" and climate change.
[...]
Species that rely on insects as their food source -- and the predators higher up the food chain which eat those species -- were likely to suffer from these declines, according to the scientists. The pollination of both crops and wild plants would also be affected, along with nutrient cycling in the soil.

Indeed, "ecosystem services provided by wild insects have been estimated at $57 billion annually in the USA," according to an earlier study.

Some 80% of wild plants use insects for pollination while 60% of birds rely on insects as a food source, according to the study. Sands said an immediate danger of the insect decline was the loss of insectivorous birds, and the risk of larger birds turning from eating insects to eating each other.

Much more at the source.

Polar Bears Are Running Out of Territory

Climate change deniers would like you to believe that everything is fine out there and there's nothing to worry about. Unless, of course, you're a polar bear.

From CNN:

Parents in a remote Russian archipelago are scared to send their children to school after a "mass invasion" of polar bears into residential areas, state news agency TASS reported.

Novaya Zemlya, located off Russia's northeastern arctic coast, has been swarmed by dozens of polar bears since December. The region's largest settlement, Belushya Guba, with a population of about 2,500 people, has reported more than 50 sightings.
[...]
Polar bears are increasingly coming into contact with humans as climate change reduces their sea-ice habitats, forcing them on land for longer periods of time.

"Polar bears are reliant on seals for food and seals rely on sea ice. Global warming is melting the ice so it has a chain reaction on how polar bears can survive," Liz Greengrass, a director at UK animal conservation charity Born Free Foundation told CNN in 2018.

In Memoriam

Albert Finney (May 09, 1936 - Feb 07, 2019)

 

Nominated for 5 Academy Awards during an illustrious career, Mr. Finney was a classically trained thespian at ease both in the theater, on television, and on the big screen.

His final movie was Skyfall, but he crafted indelible roles in the Bourne movies, Ocean's Twelve, Big Fish, Erin Brockovich, Murder on the Orient Express, and Tom Jones.

The 91st Academy Awards - The Nominees

This year's Oscar ceremony is scheduled for February 24, 2019, and it will be the first one without a host since 1989, after the Academy failed to secure a new host when Kevin Hart dropped out of presenter duties following a heated controversy over some old homophobic statements.

I will not be watching the ceremony for the first time in maybe 35 years due to the fact that we joined the ranks of the so-called "cord cutters," that is those who decided to get rid of their cable boxes in order to stop paying absurd amounts of money for a service that was barely used.

It does sadden me a bit, because I've always loved watching the Oscar ceremony, but due to the many changes the producers decided to make (chiefly, handing out the technical awards during commercial breaks in order to save time, essentially declaring those categories all but irrelevant), maybe it's for the best. I certainly enjoy the savings...

Anyway, here are this year's nominees:

Best Motion Picture of the Year

A Star Is Born
BlacKkKlansman
Black Panther
Bohemian Rhapsody
Green Book
Roma
The Favourite
Vice

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born
Christian Bale, Vice
Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody
Viggo Mortensen, Green Book
Willem Dafoe, At Eternity's Gate

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

Glenn Close, The Wife
Lady Gaga, A Star Is Born
Melissa McCarthy, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Olivia Colman, The Favourite
Yalitza Aparicio, Roma

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

Adam Driver, BlacKkKlansman
Mahershala Ali, Green Book
Richard E. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Sam Elliott, A Star Is Born
Sam Rockwell, Vice

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

Amy Adams, Vice
Emma Stone, The Favourite
Marina de Tavira, Roma
Rachel Weisz, The Favourite
Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk

Best Achievement in Directing

Adam McKay, Vice
Alfonso Cuarón, Roma
Pawel Pawlikowski, Zimna wojna
Spike Lee, BlacKkKlansman
Yorgos Lanthimos, The Favourite

Best Original Screenplay

Paul Schrader, First Reformed
Nick Vallelonga, Brian Hayes Currie, Peter Farrelly, Green Book
Alfonso Cuarón, Roma
Deborah Davis, Tony McNamara, The Favourite
Adam McKay, Vice

Best Adapted Screenplay

Eric Roth, Bradley Cooper, Will Fetters, A Star Is Born
Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott, Spike Lee, BlacKkKlansman
Nicole Holofcener, Jeff Whitty, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Barry Jenkins, If Beale Street Could Talk
Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score)

Terence Blanchard, BlacKkKlansman
Ludwig Göransson, Black Panther
Nicholas Britell, If Beale Street Could Talk
Alexandre Desplat, Isle of Dogs
Marc Shaiman, Mary Poppins Returns

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song)

Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando, Andrew Wyatt, "Shallow" A Star Is Born
Sounwave, Kendrick Lamar, Anthony Tiffith, SZA, "All the Stars" Black Panther
Marc Shaiman, Scott Wittman, "The Place Where Lost Things Go" Mary Poppins Returns
Diane Warren, "I'll Fight" RBG
David Rawlings, Gillian Welch, "When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings" The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

Best Animated Feature Film

Incredibles 2
Isle of Dogs
Mirai no Mirai
Ralph Breaks the Internet
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year

Capharnaüm
Manbiki kazoku
Roma
Werk ohne Autor
Zimna wojna

Best Documentary Feature

Free Solo
Hale County This Morning, This Evening
Kinder des Kalifats
Minding the Gap
RBG

Best Achievement in Cinematography

A Star Is Born
Roma
The Favourite
Werk ohne Autor
Zimna wojna

Best Achievement in Film Editing

BlacKkKlansman
Bohemian Rhapsody
Green Book
The Favourite
Vice

Best Achievement in Production Design

Black Panther
First Man
Mary Poppins Returns
Roma
The Favourite

Best Achievement in Costume Design

Black Panther
Mary Poppins Returns
Mary Queen of Scots
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
The Favourite

Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling

Gräns
Mary Queen of Scots
Vice

Best Achievement in Sound Mixing

A Star Is Born
Black Panther
Bohemian Rhapsody
First Man
Roma

Best Achievement in Sound Editing

A Quiet Place
Black Panther
Bohemian Rhapsody
First Man
Roma

Best Achievement in Visual Effects

Avengers: Infinity War
Christopher Robin
First Man
Ready Player One
Solo: A Star Wars Story

Best Documentary Short Subject

A Night at the Garden
Black Sheep
End Game
Lifeboat
Period. End of Sentence.

Best Animated Short Film

Animal Behaviour
Bao
Late Afternoon
One Small Step
Weekends

Best Live Action Short Film

Detainment
Fauve
Madre
Marguerite
Skin

A Lunar Eclipse

This is the best video I've ever found of a lunar eclipse. I love how well it shows what happens and what it looks like from different perspectives.

Enjoy:


Total Lunar Eclipse 2018.Jul.28. from kwon, o chul on Vimeo.

2019 Golden Globe Awards - The Winners

The ceremony took place on January 6, 2019. I'm adding this info here in order to keep a record of it in my blog:

Best Motion Picture - Drama

Bohemian Rhapsody

A Star Is Born
BlacKkKlansman
Black Panther
If Beale Street Could Talk

Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy

Green Book

Crazy Rich Asians
Mary Poppins Returns
The Favourite
Vice

Best Motion Picture - Animated

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Incredibles 2
Isle of Dogs
Mirai no Mirai
Ralph Breaks the Internet

Best Motion Picture - Foreign Language

Roma

Capharnaüm
Girl
Manbiki kazoku
Werk ohne Autor

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama

Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody

Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born
John David Washington, BlacKkKlansman
Lucas Hedges, Boy Erased
Willem Dafoe, At Eternity's Gate

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama

Glenn Close, The Wife

Lady Gaga, A Star Is Born
Melissa McCarthy, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Nicole Kidman, Destroyer
Rosamund Pike, A Private War

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy

Christian Bale, Vice

John C. Reilly, Stan & Ollie
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mary Poppins Returns
Robert Redford, The Old Man & the Gun
Viggo Mortensen, Green Book

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy

Olivia Colman, The Favourite

Charlize Theron, Tully
Constance Wu, Crazy Rich Asians
Elsie Fisher, Eighth Grade
Emily Blunt, Mary Poppins Returns

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

Mahershala Ali, Green Book

Adam Driver, BlacKkKlansman
Richard E. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Sam Rockwell, Vice
Timothée Chalamet, Beautiful Boy

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk

Amy Adams, Vice
Claire Foy, First Man
Emma Stone, The Favourite
Rachel Weisz, The Favourite

Best Director - Motion Picture

Alfonso Cuarón, Roma

Adam McKay, Vice
Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born
Peter Farrelly, Green Book
Spike Lee, BlacKkKlansman

Best Screenplay - Motion Picture

Nick Vallelonga, Brian Hayes Currie, Peter Farrelly, Green Book

Barry Jenkins, If Beale Street Could Talk
Alfonso Cuarón, Roma
Deborah Davis, Tony McNamara, The Favourite
Adam McKay, Vice

Best Original Song - Motion Picture

Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando, Andrew Wyatt, "Shallow" A Star Is Born

Annie Lennox, "Requiem for A Private War" A Private War
Kendrick Lamar, Anthony Tiffith, Sounwave, SZA, Al Shux, "All the Stars" Black Panther
Jon Thor Birgisson, Troye Sivan, Brett McLaughlin, "Revelation" Boy Erased
Dolly Parton, Linda Perry, "Girl in the Movies" Dumplin'

Best Original Score - Motion Picture

Justin Hurwitz, First Man

Marco Beltrami, A Quiet Place
Ludwig Göransson, Black Panther
Alexandre Desplat, Isle of Dogs
Marc Shaiman, Mary Poppins Returns

Best Television Series - Drama

The Americans

Bodyguard
Homecoming
Killing Eve
Pose

Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy

The Kominsky Method

Barry
Kidding
The Good Place
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Best Television Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

American Crime Story

A Very English Scandal
Escape at Dannemora
Sharp Objects
The Alienist

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama

Richard Madden, Bodyguard

Billy Porter, Pose
Jason Bateman, Ozark
Matthew Rhys, The Americans
Stephan James, Homecoming

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama

Sandra Oh, Killing Eve

Caitriona Balfe, Outlander
Elisabeth Moss, The Handmaid's Tale
Julia Roberts, Homecoming
Keri Russell, The Americans

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy

Michael Douglas, The Kominsky Method

Bill Hader, Barry
Donald Glover, Atlanta
Jim Carrey, Kidding
Sacha Baron Cohen, Who Is America?

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy

Rachel Brosnahan, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Alison Brie, GLOW
Candice Bergen, Murphy Brown
Debra Messing, Will & Grace
Kristen Bell, The Good Place

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Ben Whishaw, A Very English Scandal

Alan Arkin, The Kominsky Method
Edgar Ramírez, American Crime Story
Henry Winkler, Barry
Kieran Culkin, Succession

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Patricia Clarkson, Sharp Objects

Alex Borstein, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Penélope Cruz, American Crime Story
Thandie Newton, Westworld
Yvonne Strahovski, The Handmaid's Tale

Best Performance by an Actor in a Limited Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television

Darren Criss, American Crime Story

Antonio Banderas, Genius
Benedict Cumberbatch, Patrick Melrose
Daniel Brühl, The Alienist
Hugh Grant, A Very English Scandal

Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television

Patricia Arquette, Escape at Dannemora

Amy Adams, Sharp Objects
Connie Britton, Dirty John
Laura Dern, The Tale
Regina King, Seven Seconds

A New Paradigm for Masculinity

Gillette unveiled a new campaign ad highlighting a less toxic type of masculinity, whose standards have left many men incapable of relating to other men or accepting diversity, effectively shackling them:

In Memoriam

Bernardo Bertolucci (16 March 1941 – 26 November 2018)

He was the famed Italian director of The Last Emperor, one of my favorite films of all time, for which he won the Best Director and Best Screenplay Oscars. He was nominated for 2 others in his illustrious career.

He was also renown for Last Tango in Paris, 1900, The Sheltering Sky, Little Buddha, The Conformist, and The Dreamers.

In Memoriam

Stan Lee (December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018)

This is the man primarily responsible for bringing to life a roster of superheros adored the world over. His most famous creation is Spider-Man, but he also created (together with artist Jack Kirby) the Fantastic Four, Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, the X-Men, and Doctor Strange, among others.

I wasn't a reader of the comics those characters originated in, but I got to know and love them from the countless movies they inspired in the past couple of decades.

Mr. Lee was a brilliant artist with a seemingly endless creativity whose passing leaves a hole that just cannot be filled.

R.I.P.

In Memoriam

Aretha Franklin (March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018)

Known the world over as the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin was one of my favorite singers, gifted with an unmistakable and unforgettable voice that never failed to move me.

I had the good fortune to go see her in March of 2018 in what proved to be her last tour. In spite of her age and illness, which forced her to take a prolonged break during the show, she was still mesmerizing and a commanding presence on stage.

Her legacy as a singer and civil rights activist will live on forever.

Goodbye Aretha.