Oscar Nominees

 Yesterday, I watched two of the movies nominated for this years Best Picture at the Academy Awards, Elvis and Everything, Everywhere, All At Once. 

Of course, Elvis has been done in various versions over the past decades, and this one is as good as any other, I suppose, putting the stress on trends and interests and attitudes that happen to be in vogue at the moment, as has been the case with all Elvis movie efforts. I feel like they exaggerated a bit where it comes to Elvis' enduring popularity near the end of his career. To be sure, he was EVERYTHING when I was very young--my brother and I used to wait for his songs to play on the radio, and we had several of his 45 rpm records--but by the the time the late 60s came around, Elvis was pretty much a has been, except perhaps in Las Vegas. The 60s music and the whole 60s era counterculture had pretty much eclipsed poor Elvis, and he had even become a bit pitiful in his tight, glittering costumes. This movie pretty much glosses over the descent into alcohol, drugs, and paranoia. That's not the Elvis we want to see now. So, is it worthy of the Best Picture award? I think not. An engaging flick, but nothing very much out of the ordinary. 

On the other hand, I found Everything, Everywhere, All At Once an absolutely delightful science fiction/comedy flick that manages to skate seamlessly, and often hilariously, through a dizzying maze of genres. It is next to impossible to describe this film, so I won't even try--other than to say that what you think it might be in the beginning is what it turns out to be in the end, only better because of the middle. It had me laughing out loud, and also crying. I really still don't now how they pulled this amazingness off, which is what makes it more than deserving of the Best Picture of the Year Award. 

Oh, I may as well add that I also watched as much of Avatar Whatever as I could tolerate, then turned it off. Should not be on any list of best movies, of the year or even the week.