The 93rd Oscars Recap

*Hello! This was originally written on April 26 the day after the Oscars but due to life, I didn’t have time to post it until now but by this point, I think you have come to expect this from me, So, sit back and enjoy!

Mr. Bee


Hello and welcome,



Last night The Oscars took place so let’s get right to it.


The ceremony was held at Union Station in LA Instead of the Dolby Theatre, and the show was just Okay. I liked the atmosphere and the opening was fantastic, making it feel like an opening of a 1970s movie. Unfortunately, it went down from there. The show did not have a host again which is not normally a problem if there are some good comedy bits throughout, but this year the 1st comedic bit did not come until about 90 mins to 2 hrs in when the DJ went around to different nominees and asking if the song he played was nominated, won, or none of the above. The other comedic piece was Harrison Ford reading old Blade Runner reviews. Both bits were meh, in my opinion, and a host may have made the show a little more entertaining (as long as it was not Franco and Hathaway). There were no clips of the nominees (except for Feature Categories). To give the producers the benefit of the doubt, they were probably appealing to the die-hard fans (like me) who have already seen most of the movies. However, clip reels would have made the show more visually appealing. 

Now for the ending, the producers decided to present Best Picture 3rd to last, making the best actor be last, which I assume was set up the ending with a Chadwick Boseman tribute; however, it was Anthony Hopkins who won but was not present. (Hopkins did give a belated acceptance speech the next morning). The visibly uninterested Joaquin Phoenix just stood there, accepted the award on Hopkins behalf and the DJ simply said good night which was rather anti-climatic.

A word to the producers, You never plan awards shows based on what may happen, because if your prediction is wrong you may end up with a messy night like this. The culmination of the night should always be the Best Picture and not having it as the finale is the equivalent of having the presidential debates after the election (to be fair, I would not mind seeing what that would look like).


There are a few things I did like about the ceremony such as not cutting people off in their acceptance speech. I really liked it that they put the Honorary Awards back in the actual Oscar ceremony. I hope that this is not a pandemic special and they will remain in the show for next year and not go back to being presented in a non-televised ceremony in November. the Producers said that it would feel like a movie, but apart from the opening, it did not. Instead, it felt like a private dinner party that we were not invited to but somehow we got a recording of. This is not the worst Oscars I have seen, the Franco and Hathaway year still takes the cake. this one was just ok. Now let's get to the winners.



Best Picture: Nomadland

Not a big surprise, but judging by the nominees I have seen, I think The Trial of the Chicago 7 (which got 0 wins) is the better movie, Nomadland is not bad.



Best Actor: Anthony Hopkins for The Father

This was one of the biggest surprises of the night. I have not seen The Father so I cannot judge his win. Anthony Hopkins now has 2 Oscars Hopkins probably won by enough people thinking that they were doing a throw-away vote (a vote of passion) for him.



Best Actress: Frances McDormand for Nomadland

Not a big surprise for me. Frances McDormand who now has 3 Oscars (4 due to Best Picture wins).



Best Supporting Actor: Daniel Kaluuya for Judas and the Black Messiah

Not a big surprise, however, he gave one of the weirdest acceptance speeches of the Night, to say the least


Best Supporting Actress: Youn Yuh-jung for Minari

Not a big surprise and Youn Yuh-jung gave one of the best acceptance speeches of the night.


Best Director: Chloé Zhao for Nomadland

Making history as 2and Woman and the 1st Woman of color to win Best Director


Best Animated Feature: Soul

Not a big surprise and well deserved



Best Adapted Screenplay: The Father

Not a big surprise



Best Original Screenplay: Promising Young Woman


Not a big surprise but I do think The Trial of the Chicago 7 had the better Screenplay. I am not a big fan of Promising Young Woman.



Thank you everyone for following me for my 6th year covering award season. To the Academy, If you want a Host Next year, I am available, I can also produce and write the show (oh, and decide all Winners and nominees)



Goodnight, and Bee Happy!™

Mr.Bee 

 copyright 2021 Bradley Entertainment All rights belong to Mr. Bee and if anybody breaks this copyright they will have to spend ten years as my personal slave, and thanks for your understanding.  

image courtesy of  AMPAS

Propaganda Court case 2 Cartoon All Stars To the Rescue

Mr.Bee's 2021 Oscar predictions

The 2021 BAFTAs

                                       

   

Last weekend The British Academy Film Awards were held, like most things in this pandemic, virtual but it was one of the better virtual award shows.  I still think the Emmys were the best one out of the bunch, but BAFTA did not do a bad job either, as they probably had the Least Amount of technical difficulties. The ceremony was hosted by Edith Bowman and Dermot O'Leary (at least for the broadcast on BBC America) and they were just okay, not bad but not good. Now let's get to the winners 

Best Picture: Nomadland  

Nomadland is looking like a lock for the Oscar, but keep in mind that the BAFTAs and the Oscars have not matched for Best Picture since 12 Years a Slave back in 2014. In case you are interested, the movies that may overcome Nomadland will probably be The Trial of the Chicago 7,

Minari and Promising Young Woman (which won best British film) but if I had to put money on it I would say Nomadland  

Best Actor: Anthony Hopkins for  The Father 

This was the biggest surprise of the night but it is still very likely that Chadwick Boseman will win the Oscar, however, I can not say he is a lock anymore. 

Best Actress: Frances McDormand for Nomadland

This is one of the closest races of the season. Every nominee for the Oscar has a shot at winning but your three front runners are Frances McDormand, Viola Davis, and Carey Mulligan with Andra Day and Vanessa Kirby as your dark horses, but I think McDormand has a slight lead. 

Best Supporting Actor: Daniel Kaluuya for Judas and the Black Messiah 

He is totally a lock for the Oscars. 

Best Supporting Actress: Youn Yuh-jung for Minari

 

I  think she is going to win the Oscar but there's a 30% chance that Maria Bakalova or Glenn Close get the Oscar 

Best Director: Chloé Zhao for Nomadland

  

This race is over - she is going to win the Oscar 

Best Animated Feature: Soul 

Now a shoo-in to take home Oscar gold  

Best Adapted Screenplay: The Father

 

I’m thinking that this will win Oscar gold but there's a 45% chance that Borat (which won at The Writers Guild) or Nomadland could take it

Best Original Screenplay: Promising Young Woman

 

That is your winner but there still is a 25% chance that The Trial of the Chicago 7 may take it.

Thank you for reading.  If you want more awards season coverage I will recommend that you check out In The Mind Of Mr.Bee on my Facebook page.

Goodnight, and Bee Happy!™

Mr.Bee

 copyright 2021 Bradley Entertainment All rights belong to Mr. Bee and if anybody breaks this copyright they will have to spend ten years as my personal slave, and thanks for your understanding.  

image courtesy of BAFTA

2021 SAG Awards

Hello, and welcome to my award season coverage. A little delayed, But I'm back to keep you up to date on who/what may win an Oscar on April 25th. So, with that out of the way, let's Begin


The Screen Actors Guild Award (aka SAG Awards) aired last night. My opinion on the ceremony, To be honest, was 1 step above the Golden Globes press conference during the 2008 writers’ strike. The ceremony was only an hour-long pre-recorded zoom session which was too condensed for my liking and rendering the acceptance speeches too short to leave an impact. I have no idea why they did not do a 90-minute ceremony.


Let's get to Winners Best Supporting Actor which was won by Daniel Kaluuya for Judas and the Black Messiah he is now a lock for the Oscar. 

Best Actor was won by the late Chadwick Boseman for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom who is now a lock for the Oscar. 

Best Supporting Actress was won by youn yuh-jung, for Minari could very well give her a win for an Oscar but I'm thinking that Maria Bakalova for Borat Subsequent Moviefilm or maybe Glenn Close for Hillbilly Elegy, as a makeup Award, (Glenn Close may win an Oscar and a Razzie for the same performance! How is that for the record books?) I'm waiting to see what BAFTA will do but Close is not a nominee at BAFTA.

 Best Actress was won by Viola Davis for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom it is now a 3-way race for the Oscar between Viola Davis, Frances McDormand for Nomadland, and Carey Mulligan for Promising Young Woman.


Best Ensemble win was won by The Trial of the Chicago 7 and this category is SAG’s equivalent for Best Picture. However, I have my doubts that Trial of the Chicago 7 will win Best Picture at the Oscars for one very important reason: Trial of the Chicago 7 does not have a Directing nomination and only 5 movies in the 90+ year history of the Oscars have won without a Directing nomination (Wings(1929), Grand Hotel (1932), Driving Miss Daisy (1990) Argo (2013) Green Book (2019)) Now given the fact that the last two are only 6 years apart you could argue that maybe winning without a directing nomination is not as uncommon as it used to be. As of now, I predict that Nomadland will win, but on that note, Nomadland was not nominated for Best Ensemble at SAG which is also rare for a win as only 3 movies in the 20+year history of SAG have accomplished this. Those that have accomplished the win for best picture without the SAG Ensemble nomination are Braveheart (1996), The Shape of Water (2018), and Green Book (2019). This year only 2 nominations match between SAG Ensemble and Best Picture which is equally rare.

Thank you,

Goodnight, and Bee Happy!™
Mr.Bee 

 copyright 2021 Bradley Entertainment All rights belong to Mr. Bee and if anybody breaks this copyright they will have to spend ten years as my personal slave, and thanks for your understanding.  

image courtesy of SAG-AFTRA

The Prom Mr. Bee’s Review

The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run Mr. Bee’s Review

Hello and welcome,

Some of my long-time readers may remember one of my earliest reviews was on the last Spongebob movie (Sponge out of water). Without repeating myself too much, I am or was a big Spongebob fan, but somewhere in the late 2000’s I gradually lost interest (at least in the new ones that is), with that out of the way let's begin.

Background

To be honest, I don’t have much in terms of background for this movie but it will give me time to talk about Paramount’s odd release strategy.

This movie was supposed to be released in May of last year but was obviously pushed back because of the little thing called the pandemic. Somewhere between its original release date and its new one in August Paramount decided to cancel the theatrical release and decided to go PVOD (premium video on demand). It was, however, still released theatrically in Canada in August then it was sold to Netflix internationally and Netflix released it around November. Between the Canadian box office and the Netflix sale, the movie turned a profit for Paramount. We in the U.S. finally got the movie this month and we have a choice of either paying $20 for a 48-hour rental or just subscribing to Paramount Plus. Paramount’s release strategy is the equivalent of throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks (On a side note, have any of you reading this decided to pay $20 instead of subscribing to Paramount Plus for almost half the price).

Plot

King Poseidon is using snail slime to make his face look younger but all the snails are running out of slime. King Poseidon then issues a decree that anyone that can get him a snail will be given a reward. Plankton sells Gary to King Poseidon as a way to get rid of Spongebob so he can get the Krabby Patty formula. Spongebob and Patrick go on a mission to save Gary.

Opinion

Let’s start with the positive. The animation in CGI takes a little bit to get used to (at least for me), but they have managed to translate the 2D characters to CGI fairly well which is a lot more than I can say about some other movies. Obviously, the original voice cast does an excellent job as usual and the newcomers do a good job. The humor can be a little hit-or-miss but when they hit they hit hard. 

Now to the negative. It is becoming apparent that almost every time I watch a new Spongebob that the franchise is running out of steam and this movie is, unfortunately, no exception. For example, the plot for this movie seems like a rehash of the plot for the first movie (The Spongebob Movie). Now granted there are differences throughout and this movie does break from the similarities in the third act, where surprisingly it gets a little bit better. This movie is a clear advertisement for the Kamp Koral spinoff show, where the characters meet at summer camp as children. This brings me to another minor criticism and that is there are obvious continuity errors such as completely rewriting how the characters met and having the King of the Seagoing from Roman mythology (Neptune) to Greek mythology (Poseidon). 

Overall this movie is just okay. If you are a Spongebob fan, it might be worth watching at least once. My rating is 3 out of 5 stars. I would also like to point out that Paramount Plus is also streaming all of the Spongebob episodes which in my opinion is worth more of your time (depending on what season you watch of course). 

Goodnight, and Bee Happy!™

Mr.Bee

copyright 2021 Bradley Entertainment All rights belong to Mr. Bee and if anybody breaks this copyright they will have to spend ten years as my personal slave, and thanks for your understanding.  

 images courtesy of  ViacomCBS Inc. and mango Bollywood respectively.