Reel Corner - January 2022

And the Winner is...?

ReelCorner0221
January 2022 Issue
Reel Corner by Donne Paine

And the Winner is...?

January through March the chatter about film is all about awards. It’s time to start talking about the 2022 Oscars. The major fall film festivals—Venice, Telluride and Toronto—have all had their starry red carpets and introduced us to some of this year’s contenders.

After an awkward ceremony last year shaped by Covid, this year the Academy Awards promise to be back in full swing, despite the lingering of that pesky pandemic. While the March 27, 2022, ceremony is still months away, the conversation has already begun. Though everybody has their own opinions on the matter, here are films The Reel Corner thinks will be in the running for Best Picture.

BELFAST - PG-13
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Cast: Jamie Dornan, Caitriona Balfe, Judi Dench
A semi-autobiographical film which chronicles the life of a workingclass family and their young son’s childhood during the tumult of the late 1960’s in the Northern Ireland capitol.

C’MON C’MON - R
Director: Mike Mills
Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Woody Norman, Gaby Hoffmann
Joaquin Phoenix plays a radio journalist who cares for his nephew when his sister must go help her struggling ex. It’s a sweet on-the-road movie about future, family and childhood.

DON’T LOOK UP - R
Director: Adam McKay
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Rob Morgan, Jonah Hill
A meteor is coming to Earth and no one seems to care in this incredibly star-studded comedy. Two low-level astronomers must go on a giant media tour to warn mankind of an approaching comet that will destroy the planet earth.

HOUSE OF GUCCI - R
Director: Ridley Scott
Cast: Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, JaredLeto, Al Pacino
Inspired by the family behind the Gucci empire, this film chronicles ambitious Patrizia Reggiani, who marries into the Gucci family and ultimately has her husband murdered.

KING RICHARD - PG-13
Director: Reinaldo Marcus Green
Cast: Will Smith, Aunjanue Ellis, Jon Bernthal
A look at Serena and Venus Williams’ ascension to tennis stardom through the prism of their demanding father, Richard.

LICORICE PIZZA - R
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Cast: Alana Haim, Cooper Hoffman, Sean Penn, Maya Rudolph
Director Paul Thomas Anderson heads back to his beloved San Fernando Valley with the story of two teenagers falling in love as the entertainment industry swirls around them.

THE LOST DAUGHTER - R
Director: Maggie Gyllenhaal
Cast: Olivia Colman, Dakota Johnson, Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal
A woman (Colman) is flooded with memories of her own children while watching a young mother (Johnson) during a beach vacation.

NIGHTMARE ALLEY - R

Director: Guillermo Del Toro
Cast: Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Toni Collette
A noir based on the 1946 novel about a mentalist who gets in over his head.

THE POWER OF THE DOG - R
Director: Jane Campion
Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Jesse Plemons
Toxic masculinity in 1920s Montana is perpetuated by a cowboy with secrets of his own. The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, is Hollywood’s most prestigious and artistic award in the film industry. Since 1927, nominees and winners have been selected by members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).

Seventeen branches are presented within the almost 10,000-person membership. The branches are actors, associates, casting directors, cinematographers, costume designers, directors, documentary, executives, film editors, makeup and hairstylists, marketing and public relations, members at large, music, producers, production design, short films and feature animation, sound, visual effects and writers.

References: www.imdb.com, www.variety.com, www.goldderby.com, www.awardswatch.com


ReelCorner 1219 Donne
Donne Paine, film enthusiast, once lived around the corner from the Orson Welles Theater in Cambridge Massachusetts, where her strong interest in films, especially independent ones, began. Supporter of the arts, especially films, she travels to local and national film festivals, including Sundance, Toronto and Tribeca. There is nothing like seeing a film on the big screen. She encourages film-goers to support Hilton Head local theaters; Coligny Theater, Park Plaza Theater and Northridge. To support her habit of frequent movie going, Donne is a travel medicine nurse consultant. See you at the movies!

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