travsd

Verdicts on the 2021 Oscar Nominees

Well, here’s one unexpected positive outcome of the Covid-19 epidemic: for the first time in decades I’ve seen nearly all of the films nominated in major Oscar categories. This is naturally because the movies have been available via streaming services. I go to the cinema very seldom any more even when there isn’t a raging pandemic. Although I must say, this also happens to be a rare modern year when the nominees all seem worthy (and appealing to my tastes personally), Bill Maher’s snarky adolescent gripes nothwithstanding. I also want to celebrate the presence of so many theatre artists and properties represented here, stage actors, stage directors, playwrights, and the like. Huzzah for the sock and buskin!

Anyway, as it happens I’ve written about most of this year’s nominated films; follow the links below for my reviews.

Nomadland (Best Picture, Director, Actress, Adapted Screenplay)

Promising Young Woman (Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, Actress)

Mank (Best Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actress)

Judas and the Black Messiah (Best Picture, Screenplay, Supporting Actor [2 noms])

Sound of Metal (Best Picture, Actor, Screenplay, Supporting Actor)

The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Best Picture, Screenplay, Supporting Actor) mentioned here and here

Another Round (Best Director, Best International Picture)

One Night in Miami… (Best Adapted Screenplay, Supporting Actor)

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Best Actor, Actress)

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (Best Adapted Screenplay, Supporting Actress)

Pieces of a Woman (Best Actress)

The United States vs. Billie Holiday (Best Actress)

Hillbilly Elegy (Best Supporting Actress)

I’ve not yet seen The Father or Minari, hence no judgment or theories here about winners. Overall this was a damn good year for the liveliest art, as far as I’m concerned, May the best maniacs win!

Published by travsd

Writer and performer Trav S.D. (www.travsd.com) is best known for his books "No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous" (2005) and "Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube" (2013). He has written for the NY Times, the Village Voice, American Theatre, Time Out NY, Reason, the Villager and numerous other publications. Trav has been in the vanguard of New York’s vaudeville and burlesque scenes since 1995 when he launched his company Mountebanks, presenting hundreds of acts ranging from Todd Robbins to Dirty Martini to Tammy Faye Starlite to the Flying Karamazov Brothers. He has directed his own plays, revues and solo pieces at such venues as Joe’s Pub, La Mama, HERE, Dixon Place, Theater for the New City, the Ohio Theatre, the Brick, and 6 separate shows in the NY International Fringe Festival. In 2014 he produced and directed the smash-hit "I’ll Say She Is", the first ever revival of the Marx Brothers hit 1924 Broadway show in the NY International Fringe Festival.