But, because Mr. X and I vote for the Screen Actors Guild awards, we’ve received screeners, both physical and digital, and we also have many of the nominated movies on our way-too-many streaming services. We have a really big TV and surround sound, so our home system comes close to emulating the movie theatre experience. It’s definitely not the same, (and the popcorn isn\u2019t as delicious,) but it’s waaaay safer, so it\u2019s good enough; health always comes first.<\/p>\n So here are my brief reviews of the *first crop.\u00a0 Each one of them has at least one nomination, (often erroneously, in my opinion,) by at least one organization, mostly Oscars, SAGs, and Golden Globes. *[Note: Everything Everywhere All at Once<\/em> is soooo awful that I decided to give it it’s very own review, in the upcoming week-end spot. So please keep an eye out for it. I promise–it’s a doozy!]<\/p>\n Elvis.<\/p><\/div>\n Elvis<\/strong><\/em>\u2014I kept putting off seeing this one, but I couldn\u2019t figure out why. I still can\u2019t. It\u2019s interesting enough, and Austin Butler is excellent, but I’ve never really cared about Elvis, and I absolutely detest<\/em> how they shot so much of the film, with a lot of quick cuts. And as the confusing fast cuts kept going,\u00a0it hit me\u2014I\u2019m not a fan of Baz Luhrmann’s work! He did this same thing with\u00a0Moulin Rouge<\/em>, which I also hated, although I couldn\u2019t put my finger on why at the time.<\/p>\n And don’t get me started on Tom Hanks’ dreadful portrayal of Elvis’ manager, Colonel Tom Parker! It absolutely stunk-out the joint!!! What the heck was that weird accent he was doing?! I watched videos of the real<\/em> Parker after I saw the film, and he didn’t even come close to talking like that! But seeing \u201cParker\u201d did bring up one great personal memory for me. Producer Steve Binder helped produce Elvis’ TV special that renewed his career, which they show in the film, even though Tom Hanks’s character keeps calling him \u201cBindle\u201d instead of \u201cBinder. \u201d I found that confusing, so I looked him up, just to be sure. And Steve is indeed the producer who brought me in for a meeting to further my career when I was doing my TV show all those years ago. I’ve always regretted that when Steve asked me to bring him \u201ca project to produce\u201d for me, I never did. When I saw him a couple of years later, and told him of my regret, he said, \u201cLife isn’t over yet.\u201d So maybe I ought to get cracking on it already!!!<\/p>\n Brendon Fraser in his “fat suit” in The Whale, and…<\/p><\/div>\n Back to my review of Elvis<\/em>, which is: very sad story, excellent portrayal of an icon, good music, and a last few minutes where Austin Butler earns all his nominations.<\/p>\n The Whale<\/em><\/strong>\u2014I think most viewers aren\u2019t aware that this was a\u00a0play<\/em>\u00a0first, about a decade earlier than the release of the film version. That\u2019s most likely why all the action takes place in just one or two rooms.<\/p>\n …Brendon Fraser with his own tubby bod in The Affair in 2014.<\/p><\/div>\n As for star Brendon Fraser, (who definitely deserves all the accolades and nominations he\u2019s accumulated for it,) I love how everyone\u2019s going, \u201cWow, he played a fat<\/em> guy!\u201d Has everyone forgotten how awful he looked on\u00a0The Affair<\/em>, just about ten years ago? He had already lost his heartthrob status because of it. When I first heard of his casting as an obese man in\u00a0this<\/em>\u00a0film, I actually thought it meant just Brendon without<\/em> a fat suit. But back to the movie itself\u2014it\u2019s very worth seeing, but oh so depressing, especially if you\u2019re hefty yourself. So sad.<\/p>\n The Good Nurse.<\/p><\/div>\n The Good Nurse<\/em><\/strong>\u2014Knowing the subject matter of this film, (a patient-killing nurse,) I wanted to reject it myself. But Eddie Redmayne, who plays the nurse, is nominated for a SAG Award, so, because I believe in voting only after you\u2019ve seen\u00a0every<\/em>\u00a0performance, I forced myself to watch it. And I was rewarded with an interesting film with two wonderful performances, the second being from Jessica Chastain. [Note: I\u2019ve been torturing myself about if I should vote for Brendon Fraser or Eddie Redmayne, and just this second I realized that Eddie is up for\u00a0Supporting<\/em>\u00a0Actor, not Lead<\/em> Actor, as Brendon is!\u00a0 How is that even possible?!]<\/p>\n Blonde.<\/p><\/div>\n Blonde<\/em><\/strong>\u2014This one is unwatchable. Blonde<\/em> is one of the\u00a0very<\/em>\u00a0few movies I couldn’t get through, ever<\/em>; I finally had to stop watching after about a half hour, although I wanted to quit from the second Ana de Armas uttered one sentence!!! Ana is a beautiful girl in her own right, but she\u2019s certainly no Marilyn Monroe. And her totally undisguised Cuban accent makes the whole thing laughable. It would be like my<\/em> Brooklyn-born self trying to play Grace Kelly without changing my speech!<\/p>\n![\"At_the_Movies_2009\"](\"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/At_the_Movies_2009.jpg\")
<\/a>Covid is still out there, and I have zero desire to sit amongst unmasked, and possibly\u00a0unvaxxed<\/em>, people under any circumstances, even when the screening hosts bribe us with the moviemakers speaking after the film, or (much more hard to resist,) free concessions, or the pi\u00e8ce de r\u00e9sistance\u2014a post-screening reception!!! [Note: That one screening I\u00a0did<\/em>\u00a0go to required proof of vaccinations, and masks for the duration! And it was in a very big theatre, so we could sit far enough away from the other attendees.]<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>