Belfast, Drive My Car, Dune & the rest of the Best Picture Deep Dives

One day left until the Oscars and the drama is heating up. Rachel Zegler wasn't invited, despite starring in a Best Picture nominee, but after internet outcry, they've now asked her to present at the ceremony. Also presenting... Shaun White and Tony Hawk? Who knows what this ceremony is going to look like... but as we're waiting and wondering, we're talking more about the Best Picture nominees! And if you're making your own ballot, check your inbox tomorrow for our winner predictions! 

Don't Look Up

William: I saw a test screening of Don't Look Up. It was the uncompleted version of the movie that's shown to an audience to get their reaction. After you watch, you fill out a questionnaire that is long and in-depth and asks about every character and your thoughts on what you liked and didn't like. And then me and Sam were chosen to go on to focus group that went even more in depth. Sam and I saw this unfinished version and then the expectation was that [the final version] could be different or very much the same. There were differences but overall it was the same movie but almost not as good and I don’t know if that’s because we saw it already or because they sucked some of the jokes out of it. We felt it was so much funnier the first time and there were definitely jokes missing. Something was lost. We really liked it after the test screening.
Annie: Do you think... because the last two years have made me really think about how much the way you watch a movie impacts your viewing experience. Do you think part of it was the excitement of watching at the test screening?
William: At the test screening, they want everyone to be happy. They’re going above and beyond to make sure everyone is in this great state of mind going into it. You want the baseline to be happy because if the movie is bad you don’t want the outside experience to impact it. It was a full audience. We were all laughing together and applauding together. It was in a big theater. It was quite an experience. It was exciting! But there was still some life sucked out of the finished version of the movie. It's hard to pinpoint because I saw the test screening months earlier. This one feels weird to talk about because I have two different experiences watching mostly the same movie. What did you think?
Annie: I think the movie was way too long. An hour into it, I'm enjoying the movie. I thought the performances were solid. I thought Leo DiCaprio was really great. I always like Jennifer Lawrence. Then we had to pause for some reason, and I looked at the time left on the screen, and I couldn't believe there was another hour-and-a-half left of the movie... As it went on, it lost momentum. So by the time the movie was over, I felt like my head was spinning. I think the point they're making is incredibly important and valid. I think the way the movie ended was very beautiful and moving. But at the end of it all, there was just so much happening and so many people.
William: Yes. And you're sometimes surprised you're even still following some of the characters... you think they'll only have one scene and then you see them in scenes by themselves.
Annie: When I think of the movie, I feel dizzy and overwhelmed.
William: Yeah, it's sad. I had such a high after watching the test screening. I thought it could be my favorite movie of the year. And watching the completed movie, I was going 'oh, that's the movie I liked so much?' And I can't believe that it's just from rewatching it. I think must more much be different that I'm not remembering. Maybe I just forgave it the first time because I thought so much of it was going to be cut out.
Annie: When comparing it to another Adam McKay movie... The Big Short is such a good movie. Everything about it feels tight, even though it's a similar runtime.
William: Yeah, I could have easily seen Don't Look Up miss Best Picture. But some people love it. They call it the modern-day Dr. Strangelove.
Don't Look Up is nominated for Film Editing, Original Score, Original Screenplay and Best Picture. You can watch the movie streaming on Netflix now.
 

Belfast

William: When I watched Belfast [in October], the hype was high. Before I saw it, I assumed it was going to win Best Picture. I saw it during the Chicago International Film Festival with Kenneth Branagh there, and he gave a speech before it, so it felt very emotional because it's semi-autobiographical about his life. But then I was watching it, I felt disappointed only because my expectations were so high. It wasn't because I disliked it or didn't think it was good. It didn't live up to this idea of what I thought the movie was going to be. I still think it's very good.
Annie: That makes sense. I feel like I had a similar thing with it too. Not that you overhyped it... but knowing this whole backstory about it from you, I thought I was going to really love it. I enjoyed it and I liked it. But this is the movie when I go through my count of what I've seen, I keep forgetting. It hasn't stuck with me in a lasting way. I enjoyed it but I expected more from it. 
William: I know, it's weird.
Annie: I feel like my favorite part of the movie was Jude Hill. I thought he was outstanding, so it's funny to see these nominations for the grandparents... who played a good role in the story, but didn't do anything particularly nomination-worthy. It's funny the way the movie is being recognized.
William: That's a good way to put it. It feels like the people in it the least are the two people who got nominated! This is an ensemble cast. You're following the family. It's a little too cute of a movie, in a way. I think it could have gone further with what it was going for, but it always stayed focused on the kid in the situations.
Annie: The way I interpreted that was Kenneth Branagh making a choice to do that. He shot the movie from the perspective of a kid, especially some of those fight sequences. They aren't realistic, but they're fantastical from a memory. While I agree it was cuter than I was expecting, I thought that was the vision of the movie. How do you think it will do on Sunday?
William: I think what the Academy is recognizing is Kenneth Branagh. Will it win anything? I don't know. I think it's up in the air.
Annie: Probably screenplay is his best shot.
William: Yeah, if they want to award this movie, I think they'll want to give [an award] to Kenneth Branagh [who wrote the screenplay].
Annie: I like the scene of them watching Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
William: I liked the Everlasting Love scene.
Annie: I loved that scene. That scene doesn't make any sense but I love it. Again, that's another scene I think is supposed to be from a child's perspective.
William: Maybe they didn't make that clear enough.
Annie: If I hadn't talked to you about the movie before, I don't know if I would have watched it that way. Maybe they should have leaned into it more, because it really helped frame the movie for me. Like you telling me, Kenneth Branagh wanted the parents to look like movie starts, because as a kid, he thought his parents were movie stars. That framed how I watched the movie.
William: And the angles! It's shot from the angle of a child too.
Belfast is nominated for Actor in a Supporting Role (Ciarán Hinds), Actress in a Supporting Role (Judi Dench), Directing, Original Song, Sound, Original Screenplay and Best Picture. You can rent Belfast now on a variety of streaming services.
 

Drive My Car

Annie: I really enjoyed this movie. I didn't know much going in. I knew the two-sentence synopsis. I watched this over the course of three nights [it's three hours long], so it was very broken up. But I really enjoyed watching it that way! I felt like I was reading a book, because it was so dialogue driven, not much is going on. It felt very cozy. It was evening and it felt like I was going to read my book for an hour before going to bed.
William: I really enjoyed it as well. I did watch it in one sitting. I was just so invested in what was going on. Not a ton really happens, but there was something so captivating about it. I don't know if it was the direction and the performances working well together. I don't know, but I really, really enjoyed it. It's very simple, but it's talking about such a deep and complicated topic. I don't even know what I would tell people it's about!
Annie: They also spend a ton of time setting the scene. I think it's 30 to 40 minutes before...
William: Before the title cards! It was almost like the prologue.
Annie: There are different parts to it along the way.
William: It's in different languages. No one knows one hundred percent of what is being said at all times without the subtitles, because it features several different languages [English, Chinese, Tagalog, Japanese, and Korean Sign Language]. Everyone has to follow along in a different way.
Annie: I really liked it. I thought Hidetoshi Nishijima was great. I think he should have gotten a Best Actor nomination. Over Javier Bardem for sure!
William: The Academy doesn't do subtle. They don't reward subtle performances, and the performance in Drive My Car is subtle. He's giving looks!
​Drive My Car is nominated for Directing, International Film Feature, Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture. It's available to stream on HBO Max. 
 

Licorice Pizza

Annie: I did not like this movie. I think if you took out the entire script and plot and replaced it with a different script and plot, I would have liked it. Do you know what I mean? I liked the style and the cast. I thought Alana Haim was great. I really enjoy Bradley Cooper. But I hated the script. And I knew I was never going to get past the creepy age gap, and it was way more central than I was anticipating and it was really upsetting to me on both ends.
William: What's weird too is that the Gary Valentine part is based off a real kid. But all of the girl stuff is made up! ... No one's motives for literally anything make sense. Why is anyone doing anything in the movie? I don't disagree with a single thing you said...but there was just something about it...
Annie: I think that's what made me so upset. It could have been a great movie. That was the most frustrating thing.
William: Yes, you could have kept so much of the same movie, if you just took out any aspect of her being into him.
Annie: Yes! You could have still had all of the adventure stuff, and the Bradley Cooper scene, and all of these moments, and it would have been a much better movie. I think this movie got nominations because it's Paul Thomas Anderson. And there are so many genuinely good, not creepy movies that are completely overlooked.
Licorice Pizza is nominated for Directing, Original Screenplay and Best Picture. It's available to rent on various streaming services.
 

Dune

Annie: I don't have much to say about this... it was very fine. They did a good job with the world building and the affects and the visuals. But in terms of the plot and characters, I didn't care that much. It wasn't my type of sci-fi adventure. It wasn't very fun.
William: It's a weird thing, because it's part one.
Annie: And it felt like that.
William: But couldn't it have just been the first hour of the full movie? It's tricky because they're trying to tell the story from the book and do it in two parts. I almost feel like it wasn't very audience-friendly. Anyone going in with no idea what it was.. maybe people feel that way about other movies like Star Wars, but I feel like those are more audience friendly.
Annie: I agree. I pulled up Wikipedia at one point to read the synopsis while watching, not to look ahead, but to be sure I was understanding what was going on and the different characters and what they wanted.
William: I saw it in IMAX, so that's what I enjoyed about the experience. Visually it was stunning. I'd never seen a real movie in IMAX, I'd only seen nature ones on field trips. But that was where my enjoyment stopped. Every time I felt like I started to get invested, it ended and it became boring again.
Dune is nominated for Cinematography, Costume Design, Film Editing, Makeup and Hairstyling, Original Score, Best Picture, Production Design, Visual Effects, Sound and Adapted Screenplay. Dune is available to stream on HBO Max.