Comments on the Oscars, along with The Movie Gourmet’s 2025 Oscar Dinner

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Photo caption: The Movie Gourmet’s 2025 Oscar Dinner.

The Dinner

Every year, The Wife and I watch the Oscars while enjoying a meal inspired by the Best Picture nominees. Usually, there’s one dish or beverage from each of the nominated movies; here are the 2024 Oscar Dinner and the 2023 Oscar Dinner as examples.

But we just couldn’t contrive an elaborate meal from this year’s nominees. There just weren’t memorable food scenes in A Complete Unknown, Wicked or Conclave. The fancy dinner parties in The Brutalist were pivotal scenes, but it’s not clear what they were serving, nor was it memorable what Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley were taking out of their fridge in The Substance. We had already echoed the giant sandworms of an earlier Dune movie (wih gummy worms on a bed of rice) and didn’t care to duplicate that. The one great 2024 food scene was in Anora, when Annie (Mikey Madison) scarfed the burger in the diner with the Russian/Armenian goons; that is the best Gal-Devours-Burger scene since Peggy Cummins in Gun Crazy.

So this year, we’re just celebrating the movies with movie food. We’ve got the fountain drinks, popcorn and movie candy, and we’re getting our protein from nachos and hot dogs. The very idea of multiplex hot dogs would make me gag, but I remember that the sadly departed Landmark Embarcadero in San Francisco, served Nathan’s All-Beef hot dogs, and that’s what we’re going with here.

The Academy Awards

And how about the Oscars themselves? The lead story is that the nominations were pretty solid. For the second straight year, there weren’t any gross miscarriages of justice in snubs or undeserved recognition. Either Anora or The Brutalist would deserve Best Picture and ither Timothy Chalamet or Adrien Brody would deserve Best Actor. Kieran Culkin was always a lock for the Best Supporting Actor, but the others guys all deserved to be nominated. It was fun to have such a wide-open race for Best Actress, without a clear frontrunner and this clearly being the only chance at an Oscar for Demi Moore, Karla Sofia Gascon and Fernanda Torres.

I had been thinking about the Best Actor award, where Adrien Brody had been the frontrunner for months, as the star in this year’s most ambitious, epic, intentionally arty movie – An Important Movie. Brody gave a wonderful performance as a guy who came into the story drained of his resilience; Brody played a guy weathering big lows and big highs, without ever controlling his destiny. To my mind, Timothy Chalamet had the tougher assignment – to play a character so odd, so prickly, so witty and so ambitious. Yeah, Dylan was a genius at age 20, but he was so obsessed about songwriting, so reverential about Woody Guthrie and yet so self-confident when there wasn’t any objective evidence to support him until people like Pete Seeger and Joan Baez heard his work. Chalamet captures all of of Dylan’s complications and gives us a believable impersonation of an icon, too. IMO Chalamet had the best performance. But Brody was excellent, and he gave a heartfelt acceptance speech.

FWIW I’ve had Anora as the #1 film on my running list of the Best Movies of 2024 since the week it released in October.

The Show

The best moments of the telecast were:

  • The opening We Love LA segment followed by Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo and their beautiful renditions of home-themed songs. Sentimental? Sure, but very fitting as an acknowledgement of the fire disasters on the industry and the community.
  • Conan O’Brien’s claim to interrupt overlong acceptance speeches, not with music, but with John Lithgow looking disappointed. Very funny.

The Oscar producers actually improved two areas that have been pet peeves of mine. First, they condensed the presentation of the Best Song nominees, and excised the tiresome full performances of the five songs. Finally!

Second, recent changes to the In Memoriam segment (always my favorite part of the show) had been sucking out the emotional impact. This year, it helped to show examples of the decedents’ work in the background of their portraits.

But there’s no reason for this show to drag to three hours and 46 minutes, and it would generate more viewer engagement if an hour shorter. Examples of time wasting abounded tonight: the silly Adam Sandler gag, O’Briens’s “time waste“ musical number, professional firefighters delivering jokes from the writers room, and the inexplicable medley of James Bond songs. I think it’s time to move the animated, live action and documentary shorts off the live telecast, too.

Still, I’m a sucker for the Oscars. I’ll be watching next year, too.

Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Gene Hackman in THE CONVERSATION

This week on The Movie Gourmet – a new review of Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius) plus my First Look at Cinequest.

I’ve finished my coverage of the Slamdance Film Festival, which continues on-line. Through March 7, you can watch Slamdance films at home on the Slamdance Channel: Here’s my wrap-up coverage of Slamdance:

REMEMBRANCE

Gene Hackman was one of the greatest screen actors of all time, justifiably best known for his searingly original Popeye Doyle in The French Connection. When we examine Hackman’s body of work, it’s striking that he delivered indelible performances in multiple movies in each of four decades: the 1960s (Bonnie and Clyde, The Gypsy Moths, Downhill Racer), the 1970s (The Conversation, Night Moves, Young Frankenstein), the 1980s (Hoosiers, Mississippi Burning, BAT*21, The Package) and the 1990s (Unforgiven, Get Shorty). Who else has accomplished that – Jimmy Stewart and very few others? My favorite Gene Hackman performance bar none – will always be as the dogged, and then obsessive, Harry Caul in The Conversation.

CURRENT MOVIES

WATCH AT HOME

From my Best Movies of 2024:

  • Anora: human spirit vs the oligarchs. In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
  • The Bikeriders: they ride, drink and fight, and yet we care. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
  • Hit Man: who knew self-invention could be so fun? Netflix.
  • Challengers: three people and their desire. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
  • La Chimera: six genres for the price of one.  Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
  • In the Summers: they mature, he evolves. Amazon.
  • The Substance: the thinking woman’s Faust, if you can take the body horror. MUBI (free), Amazon, AppleTV.
  • Ghostlight: a family saves itself, in iambic pentameter. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango (included).
  • The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed: is she going to be a loser? Amazon, AppleTV, Hulu.
  • Love Lies Bleeding: obsessions and impulses collide. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
  • I Saw the TV Glow: brimming with originality. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.

ON TV

William Powell and Carole Lombard in MY MAN GODFREY

On March 2, Turner Classic Movies is airing the timeless and fantastic comedy, My Man Godfrey (1936). An assembly of eccentric, oblivious, venal and utterly spoiled characters make up a rich Park Avenue family and their hangers-on during the Depression. The kooky daughter (Carole Lombard) brings home a homeless guy (William Powell) to serve as their butler. The contrast between the dignified butler and his wacky employers results in a brilliant screwball comedy that masks searing social criticism that is still sharply relevant today. The wonderful character actor Eugene Pallette (who looked and sounded like a bullfrog in a tuxedo) plays the family’s patriarch, and he’s keenly aware that his wife and kids are completely nuts.

I feel strongly about this 89-year-old movie, which I first saw when it was only 36-years-old. We talk about screwball comedy, but this is the gold standard. And we need to remember the comic genius of Carole Lombard, who died supporting the war against fascism when she was only 33.

First look at Cinequest

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Photo caption: Naomi Watts and Bill Murray in THE FRIEND, the closing night film nd Cinequest. Courtesy of Bleecker Street.

Cinequest, Silicon Valley’s own major film festival, returns March 11-24 to downtown San Jose, with screenings at the California Theatre, the Hammer Theater and 3Below. Selected films from the program then move to to Cinequest’s virtual platform, Cinejoy, March 23-30.

Highlights of the 2025 Cinequest include:

  • 110 world and US premieres and many directorial debuts.
  • Films from 45 countries, including from Italy, Russia, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, China, India, Vietnam, Iran, Serbia, Korea, Kenya, Switezerland and the United Kingdom.
  • New movies with Naomi Watt, Bill Murray, Glenn Close, Patricia Clarkson, David Straithern, Gillian Anderson, Walton Goggins, Paul Walter Hauser, Lou Diamond Phillips, Constance Wu, Ken Jeong, Carla Gugino and Jon Heder. 
  • A personal appearance by film star Gillian Anderson  (The X-Files, The Crown), who will receive an award and present her latest film, The Salt Path.
  • Directors Scott McGehee and David Siegel make very few films but they’re superb (The Deep End, Montana Story); they’re contributing their latest to Cinequest – The Friend, starring Bill Murray and Naomi Watts.
  • Two films of local historical interest: American Agitators (about famed organizer Fred Ross mentoring Cesar Chavez in San Jose) and A Little Fellow The Legacy of A.P. Gianni (about the founder of Bank of Italy/Bank of America – his first branch still stands in San Jose, three blocks from Cinequest).
  • Cinequest’s Silent Cinema Event will present F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu (the seminal 1922 Dracula film, starring the scary Max Schenk) accompanied by master organist Dennis James on the historic California Theatre’s Mighty Wurlitzer.
  • And, at Cinequest, it’s easy to meet the filmmakers.

At Cinequest, you can get a festival pass for as little as $199 (a ten-pack for $110), and you can get individual tickets as well. The prices have not been raised SINCE 2019!) Take a look at the entire program, the schedule and the passes and tickets

I’ll be rigorously covering Cinequest for the fourteenth straight year with features and movie recommendations. I usually screen (and write about) over twenty Cinequest films from around the world. Bookmark my CINEQUEST 2025 page, with links to all my coverage (links on the individual movies will start to go live on Sunday, March 9.

SLY LIVES! (AKA THE BURDEN OF BLACK GENIUS): rise, fall and legacy of a groundbreaking prodigy

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Photo caption: Sly Stone in SLY LIVES! (AKA THE BURDEN OF BLACK GENIUS). Courtesy of Hulu.

Questlove’s insightful documentary Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius) traces the rise, fall and legacy of the groundbreaking musician Sly Stone (birth name Sylvester Stewart) of Sly and the Family Stone. It’s the remarkable story of a prodigy

Sly led and wrote the songs for Sly and the Family Stone, startlingly innovative as both a multi-racial and a multi-gender band. It’s too easy to use the label psychedelic soul (although it does fit Sly and the Family Stone’s music); but, Sly was an original and a genre-buster, whose music blurred (or erased) the lines between rock, R&B, funk, soul and pop.

The term prodigy also gets thrown around, but I didn’t know (until I watched Sly Lives!), that Sly was working as a songwriter, producer and D-jay as a TEENAGER, already moving the needle on Bay Area music culture during its most fertile period.

Sly Lives! also gives us file footage showing Sly to be articulate and charming, with the gift of being quick-witted even while stoned. But then came the heavier drugs, sabotaging his career with a pattern of concert no shows and walkouts that have persisted thru at least 2007. His productivity essentially ended in 1974. All members of Sly and the Family Stone were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993. Sly is alive today at age 81.

This is an exceptionally well-sourced fil. Besides lots of previously obscure archival material from before Sly’s stardom, we get plenty of footage of Sly in interviews and performances back in the day. Perspective comes from the band member themselves, Sly’s ex-wife and his former partner, and a slew of experts in the music industry,

Questlove asks his interviewees about black genius (and seems to confound them). There’s no question Sly was a musical genius. I think that Questlove is emphasizing the word burden in his subtitle – suggesting that having to achieve while battling institutional racism finally sapped Sly of his resilience.

Questlove also reminds us that Sly’s creativity peaked during one of our most turbulent periods – the MLK and RFK assassinations, urban riots and the political evolution from Civil Rights to Black Power. The Black Panther Party suggested that Sly bankroll them personally.

Questlove, who was three years old at the time of Sly’s last hit in 1974, is widely known as the band leader of The Roots on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and the producer for many recording artists, including Common, Jay-Z, John Legend Al Green and Elvis Costello. He is a musicologist and a historian of Black music and Black culture. In his directorial debut as a filmmaker, he won the Best Doc Oscar for Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised). (The Movie Gourmet predicted that Oscar BTW.)

I loved this nugget from the film – band members celebrated their first big paycheck by acquiring signature dogs. Not cars, jewelry or exotic vacations – dogs.

Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius) is streaming on Hulu.

FOUL EVIL DEEDS: from not so bad to worse

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Photo caption: Alexander Perkins in Richard Hunter’s FOUL EVIL DEEDS. Courtesy of Slamdance.

The deadpan anthology FOUL EVIL DEEDS depicts a range of aberrant human behavior, most of it darkly funny. The deeds themselves arise from a wide variety of root causes:

  • a couple’s social clumsiness;
  • a loner’s inner rage;
  • some kids’ youthful stupidity;
  • one guy’s uncommon sexual need;
  • an otherwise upstanding dog-walker’s entitlement;
  • and one man filled with deep-seated, sociopathic evil.

The threads are woven together into a wry, clever and very cynical movie that veers to the misanthropic. The segment about a neighbor’s cat could have been written by Larry David about George Costanza.

Writer-director Richard Hunter’s debut feature is consciously an art film; Hunter says he is influenced by the work of Ulrich Seidl, Michael Haneke and Roy Andersson, and it shows. It’s a slow burn, and the audience wonders, why is that guy checking out the remote wooded wetland? (Hint: he’s looking to coverup a future evil deed.)

Hunter seems to be measuring human behavior by its impact on others. Some might still consider an unconventional sexual practice to be a “sin”, but it’s entirely victimless (and isn’t even illegal). In another thread, what is intended as a harmless practical joke becomes tragic.

Alexander Perkins is excellent as a man with anger management issues that he can’t shake. As a consequence, he is grinding his teeth through workaday drudgery, and he’s mad about that, too. Does he have a path out of his situation, or he just going to stew until he explodes? There’s only one person who he can talk to (Oengus MacNamara in an unexpectedly riveting performance).

I think that FOUL EVIL DEEDS is likely to secure US arthouse distribution. FOUL EVIL DEEDS It premiered at Locarno, and I screened FOUL EVIL DEEDS for its North American premiere at Slamdance.

Through March 7, 2025, you can stream FOUL EVIL DEEEDS on the Slamdance Slamdance Channel. A 2025 Slamdance Film Festival Virtual Pass, which brings you FOUL EVIL DEEDS and almost all of my Slamdance recommendations, only costs $50.

MEMORIES OF LOVE RETURNED: moments preserved

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Photo caption: MEMORIES OF LOVE RETURNED. Courtesy of Slamdance.

The fine documentary Memories of Love Returned is the result of an accidental meeting. On a 2002 trip to his native Uganda, actor Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine (Treme, The Chi, The Lincoln Lawyer) happened upon a rural studio portrait photographer named Kibaate. Over a span of decades, Kibaate had documented everyday people over decades in thousands of portrait, many of them stunningly evocative. Mwine helped Kibaate preserve his body of work, and, after Kibaate’s death 20 years later, organized a public showcase of Kibaate’s collection.

The revelation of the unknown Kibaate as an artistic genius, is a compelling enough story, but the exhibition prompts a complicated and sometimes awkward exploration of Kibaate’s siring a prodigious number of children with a bevy of surviving mothers. The filmmaker’s own health and family story takes Memories of Love Returned seamlessly into another direction, topped off by Kibaate’s documentation of Ugandan LGBTQ culture.

Memories of Love Returned is the second documentary feature directed by Mwine. Executive-produced by Steven Soderberrgh, the film has been piling up awards from film festivals. I screened Memories of Love Returned for Slamdance.

Through March 7, 2025, you can stream Memories of Love Returned on the Slamdance Slamdance Channel. A 2025 Slamdance Film Festival Virtual Pass, which brings you Memories of Love Returned and almost all of my Slamdance recommendations, only costs $50.

STOLEN KINGDOM: true crime with nerds

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A scene from STOLEN KINGDOM. Courtesy of Slamdance.

The documentary Stolen Kingdom uncovers a series of offbeat pastimes and their bizarre convergence. Of course, we’re already aware of Disney fans and collectors. Stolen Kingdom also reveals the world of urban explorers, who trespass into closed and abandoned buildings. They’re enjoying the thrill of being where they’re not supposed to be and gawking at what the public isn’t supposed to see.

In Stolen Kingdom, we meet people who sneak into closed theme park attractions and even some daredevils who jump off the rides while operating and mosey around backstage(see photo above). Those folks can be tempted by the black market in Disneyana. As the behavior escalates from pranks to larceny, we know that somebody’s going to get in big trouble, Centering on the theft of an obsolete animatron, Stolen Kingdom takes on the guise of a true crime story, but with the very nerdiest criminals.

A scene from STOLEN KINGDOM. Courtesy of Slamdance.

Stolen Kingdom is one of those documentaries about our fellow humans that make us shake our heads.

Stolen Kingdom is the first feature for director Joshua Bailey. I screened Stolen Kingdom for Slamdance, a week after its world premiere at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival.

Through March 7, 2025, you can stream Stolen Kingdom on the Slamdance Slamdance Channel. A 2025 Slamdance Film Festival Virtual Pass, which brings you Stolen Kingdom and almost all of my Slamdance recommendations, only costs $50.

PORTAL TO HELL: Faust at the laundromat

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Photo caption: Trey Holland and Romina D’Ugo in Woody Bess’ PORTAL TO HELL. Courtesy of Portal to Hell LLC.

In the witty, dark comedy, Portal to Hell, a hangdog bill collector named Dunn (get it?) discovers a portal to hell, replete with hellfire and brimstone, in his local laundromat. Dunn, with best of intentions, strikes a bargain with its proprietor. Dunn is too nice for his wretched job, but just what is he capable of? And how about the insipid pop band who sings your least favorite earworm – who wouldn’t want to consign THEM to hell? 

Portal to Hell considers the question, what is a good person? but never too seriously. This is an imaginative, comic triumph for writer/director/cinematographer Woody Bess. Bess has a gift for the deadpan and the absurd.

Trey Holland is excellent as the continually perplexed Dunn, sapped of resilience by a personal loss. So is Romina D’Ugo as the reluctant authority figure at the laundromat. Lauded actor Keith David is perfect as Dunn’s cranky neighbor, ever assessing the younger generation with a critical eye. The great Richard Kind soars as a workaday (but crafty) demon.

This is a very funny movie. I screened Portal to Hell for its world premiere at Slamdance, where I predicted it to be the biggest crowd-pleaser at the fest.

CORONER TO THE STARS: too transparent?

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Photo caption: Dr. Thomas Noguchi in CORONER TO THE STARS. Courtesy of Slamdance.

The absorbing biodoc Coroner to the Stars tells the story of Dr. Thomas Noguchi, the former Los Angeles County Chief Medical Examiner and his bouts with fame (or infamy). His LA County jurisdiction meant that he was responsible for conducting the autopsies of a striking collection of celebrities, including Marilyn Monroe, William Holden, Natalie Wood, John Belushi and the Manson Family’s murder victims. Noguchi was also responsible for making his reports public – and therein lies the rub.

The public is fascinated by the details of celebrity deaths, and the news media eagerly panders to that need, however prurient or ghoulish. Official records in California, including coroner’s reports, are public. Noguchi did not shy away from the media spotlight, which triggered controversy. He was clearly fulfilling his legal duty, but did he enjoy it too much? Was he a publicity hound? Can an official be transparent without being unseemly? Indeed, Coroner to the Star’s tag line is Fame kills.

Writer-director Ben Hethcoat and Keita Ideno, in the first feature for both, present an extraordinarily well-sourced, credible and insightful documentary. Noguchi is still alive at age 98 and appears in the film to speak for himself.

Noguchi’s work (and style) stepped on some influential toes – the families and friends of the deceased, the major Hollywood studios and bureaucratic/political foes. Whenever he came under attack, the subtext was his race and the public perception and acceptance of Asian-Americans. Noguchi was a post-war immigrant who didn’t experience the Japanese-American internment during WW II, but Japanese-Americans traumatized by the camps would organize to defend LA’s highest ranking Japanese-American official.

Noguchi was also an internationally recognized pioneer in forensic science. Coroner to the Stars reveals his determination, in the RFK autopsy, to avoid the mistakes that resulted in the continuing, unresolved contention about the JFK assassination. Coroner to the Stars, without sensationalizing it, also touches on a key finding of the RFK forensic evidence.

Rock-solid in its exploration of race, science and history, Coroner to the Stars thoughtfully considers the challenge of acting professionally with what is sensational. I screened Coroner to the Stars for its world premiere at Slamdance.

Through March 7, 2025, you can stream Coroner to the Stars on the Slamdance Slamdance Channel. A 2025 Slamdance Film Festival Virtual Pass, which brings you Coroner to the Stars and almost all of my Slamdance recommendations, only costs $50.

Dr. Thomas Noguchi (right) in CORONER TO THE STARS. Courtesy of Slamdance.

BANR: weaving together the lucid and the confused

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Sui Li and Baoqing Li in BANR. Courtesy of ShangJia Picture Film Culture.

The star in Banr is writer/director/editor Erica Xia-Hou’s innovative storytelling – in her first feature film. An elderly husband (Sui Li) is struggling to hold on to his wife (Baoqing Li) as she sinks into Alzheimer’s, with the support of their adult daughter (Xia-Hou herself). That main story is told in a cinéma vérité documentary style, but that’s just what the husband and daughter see in their lucidity. Those segments are interwoven with fragments of the wife’s memory and her delusions and dreams. In depicting the most ordinary daily activities, Xia-Hou keeps us continually off-guard by shifting the points of view between the clear-eyed and the muddled. 

With the exception of herself, Xia-Hou used all non-professional actors. Like Sean Baker at his best, she’s directed exemplary performances from her leads, both first-timers. As the wife, Baoqing Li becomes ever more confused, but is radiant when a cherished memory pops up.

Baoqing Li in BANR. Courtesy of ShangJia Picture Film Culture.

As the husband, Sui Li throws all his deep-seated love and his stubbornness into fighting his wife’s memory loss, and then in caregiving. We know, and his daughter wisely advises him, that his efforts are unsustainable, but he obstinately muddles on, until the progression of her condition gives him no other choice. His performance is fully committed and heartbreaking.

This may be Erica Xia-Hou’s directorial debut, but she has a substantial body of work as an actress, screenwriter, editor and art director in the Chinese film industry, after studying dance, broadcasting and acting at three Chinese universities. She co-wrote and acted in the Jackie Chan sci-fi action film Bleeding Steel. She will co-star with Tony Leung and  Olga Kurylenko in the upcoming action thriller Fox Hunt, which she also co-wrote and edited.

What’s with the film’s title? Banr is companion in Mandarin, and many older Chinese couples affectionately refer to each other as Lao Banr, meaning old companion.

Banr is an immersive film, filled with humanity, and an important directorial debut. I screened Banr for its world premiere at Slamdance, where it was one of my Must See picks.

Through March 7, 2025, you can stream Banr on the Slamdance Slamdance Channel. A 2025 Slamdance Film Festival Virtual Pass, which brings you Banr and almost all of my Slamdance recommendations, only costs $50.

Sui Li in BANR. Courtesy of ShangJia Picture Film Culture.