Reel life: My take on the 2019 Oscar nominations

Although I'm a major movie buff, it's a rare year when I've seen all the Best Picture nominees before the Oscar nods are announced. That was the case for 2018-2019, though, and I saw them all on the big screen. Here are my brief impressions of the nominations announced today.

Black Panther: Great storytelling and the year's best ensemble cast. It's gratifying to see a superhero/fantasy film finally make the cut. I saw this with Tom at a packed Rose Theatre in Port Townsend--the only one of the nominees we saw together, on our last real weekend getaway. It was actually our second choice that day; we'd been hoping to get tickets to the documentary California Typewriter playing at the Rose's tiny Starlight Room, but it was sold out. We agreed we were happy it worked out that way. This is the only Best Picture nominee that came out before Tom died in June. I'll miss watching the Oscars with him this year.

BlacKkKlansman: Lots of stylish and suspenseful fun, with an unexpectedly but appropriately sobering end. So glad to see Spike Lee get a directing nod and Adam Driver land the acting nomination he should have had for Paterson. I saw this with my daughter Natalie in Boise at the Edwards 21 on a 100+ plus degree August day that was made for sitting in a cool theater.

Bohemian Rhapsody: Really? It was enjoyable and definitely a crowd-pleaser, with moviegoers rating it far higher than the critics. I'm not sure how it slipped into the Best Picture ranks, though. I saw Bohemian Rhapsody twice, first at Regal Thornton Creek in Seattle with the gimmicky ScreenX treatment (admittedly a good fit for this movie) and again with Natalie at the big Edwards in Boise.

The Favourite: Yorgos Lanthimos' aggressively weird world view is about 180 degrees from my own, and I hated The Lobster--but I have to admit his latest mindbender belongs in the running for Best Pic. (I'll be pissed if it wins, though.) Olivia Colman's Best Actress nomination is deserved, and Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz seemed to have the time of their lives. I saw this at the AMC Oak Tree in Seattle.

Green Book:  I liked this a lot, though--as with Bohemian Rhapsody--I'm a little surprised to see it crack the Best Picture ranks. Viggo Mortensen showed great range for his second Best Actor nomination in three years, though this wasn't the equal of his astounding turn in Captain Fantastic. Mahershala Ali was such a presence, rising far above supporting status, so it is good to see his nomination. I saw this with my brother Jeff and his husband Kevin at the Metreon in San Francisco.

Roma: Hands down my favorite movie of the year, gorgeous to look at, with an engrossing story and packed with memorable characters--though none as luminous as Yalitza Aparicio's Cleo. I am absolutely thrilled to see Roma get a Best Picture nod; I thought it'd be relegated to the Best Foreign Film category, where it actually is nominated, too. I've seen Roma twice at the Landmark Crest in Shoreline, one of a few places where it's had a theatrical release, and I may get back for a third viewing before it leaves. Viva Mexico, in all its beauty and complexity, and thank you Alfonso Cuaron.

A Star is Born: As manipulative as Roma is meditative, this movie ripped me to shreds in the best way. Bradley Cooper knew what he wanted to do and he did it very well. It'll be fun to watch where Lady Gaga goes from here as an actress (though I'd have given her nomination for this to Thomasin McKenzie, in Leave No Trace). I saw A Star is Born alone at Regal Thornton Creek not so long after Tom passed away, thus its emotional punch--but I think it would stand up as strong on another viewing

Vice: I really loved The Big Short, eagerly awaited this, and finally saw it Sunday at the Mountlake Terrace Cinebarre. Christian Bale is so good depicting Dick Cheney from his misspent youth to his Machiavellian prime, and Vice makes a compelling argument that Cheney was an even more destructive force to democracy than the current occupant of the White House. It's a sledgehammer of a movie, but director Adam McKay's creativity and several great performances (Amy Adams and Sam Rockwell are super, too) earn it a Best Picture nod.

What's going to win? I have no idea, but I'll be cheering for Roma, which soars above the rest of the nominees for its artistry and humanity. And on those grounds, I'd be happy with a Black Panther win, too.

A few more notes:

What a great crop of animated features we had this year. I found Incredibles 2, Isle of Dogs, and especially Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse all fantastic fun.

I just saw If Beale Street Could Talk the other day and am a bit surprised to see it get only a few nominations. Its cinematography was especially lovely.

The year's most overlooked feature was the understated, little-seen Leave No Trace, which suffered from a summer not-so-wide release. Ben Foster and Thomasin McKenzie were brilliant as a father and daughter onscreen together in nearly every scene, and--although I haven't seen the Best Director-nominated Cold War (Pawel Pawlikowski), I wonder whether his nod--or actually anyone's but Cuaron's--could have gone to Debra Granik. As usual, women filmmakers have a rough time getting noticed by Oscar voters. This was a Best Picture candidate in my book and may have made the cut had it come out in the fall.

Also, how did Won't You Be My Neighbor? miss out for Best Documentary? I need to get busy with the documentary nods--RBG is the only one I've seen--but it's hard to believe they're all better than this timely and gentle film about the life of Fred Rogers.

Breaking up with Amazon Prime

Today would have been my Amazon Prime anniversary, but I decided a few weeks ago--before news of Jeff and MacKenzie's divorce--that I'd pull the plug on this romance.

The truth is, I've long been ambivalent about the company that has transformed the way Americans shop, not to mention the metro region I've called home for the past five years. Yet over the past few years, life circumstances and Amazon's crazy convenience led me to use it more than I would have liked. It was time to say goodbye.

Of course, I had some prep work to do. My most important task was downloading a few hundred of the thousands of digital photos I'd stored on Amazon. I also spent the last few days revisiting several dozen episodes of Mozart in the Jungle, easily my favorite TV series of the past 20 years. This is as close as I've ever come to a binge.

I'm completely immune to Alexa's charms. I prefer Spotify and TuneIn for streaming music and podcasts. I don't even order enough stuff from Amazon to make Prime's free shipping worthwhile. It turns out the one thing I ordered more than once last year--filters for my cold-brew coffee system--I could actually get direct from the manufacturer for less than half the cost I'd paid on Amazon, and with cheap shipping, too. I'll also try to remember that there's really no such thing as free shipping, not in monetary terms nor in ecological impact. If I can buy something at a local store and take a walk, too, that's the best use of my time and money.

Amazon started a quarter-century ago as a cool way to order books. It's more expensive to buy at my local indie store, but I want to support my neighbors. I've also discovered another wonderful online source for used books: Better World Books, which is serious about promoting global literacy and curbing its environmental impact. (Honestly, though, I mostly borrow books these days, either from my wonderful local libraries or the Little Free Library boxes that dot Seattle and many other towns.)

I'm sure I'll continue to use Amazon off and on, but I'm also guessing that my savings will go beyond the $119 annual Prime fee as I return to being more thoughtful and intentional about what I buy and where I buy it.