Better Late than Never on the Average Film "Fences", and the Incredible Artist Viola Davis

Yesterday I watched the movie "Fences".

It was a very good movie. I understand that. But, I was not wowed, with one exception. I understand it is hard to take a play and adapt it for the movie screen. "Fences" was one monologue after another. The monologues and performances were great, but after the first hour, I got kind of bored with the constant single shot and 5 minutes of straight dialogue from one of the main actors. Denzel Washington was tremendous as the main character, Troy. He is always great, and this was no exception. Everyone else in the movie, his children and the side characters, they were just fine. None of them wowed me, but I never thought their parts should have been cut.

The lone exception was Viola Davis. She was phenomenal. She was/is a powerhouse actor. She owned every single scene she was in. She was, by far, the best thing about this movie. I could not take my eyes off her when she was in screen. Her monologues were the best. Her performance out shined everyone else, including Denzel. The final scene, where she talks to her son, was as powerful a scene that I have ever seen in a period drama. She was amazing.

I did some research after watching the movie and came upon the fact that she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress. She won, as she should have, but supporting actress? Give me a god damn break. She was just as much the lead in this movie as Denzel was. I know Washington directed the movie, and he was doing the play, but Davis was an equal star. I don't know who was up for Best Actress in the most recent Oscars, but the fact that Davis had to be put in the Supporting category is ridiculous. She was easily the best actress from all the nominated movies that I have seen thus far. I HAD to watch every scene she was in. I stopped everything else I might have been doing to watch her performance. The same cannot be said for anyone else in "Fences". I watched the movie intently, but when Davis wasn't on screen, I'd let my mind drift, check email, or just lay down. But, the moment Davis came back on screen, I sat straight up, put my phone down and focused.

I know Davis won the Oscar, but I still feel like she is underrated and not as appreciated as she deserves. She is pretty much good in everything she is in, and in "Fences", she was the best actor on screen. I mean, I would have given Denzel best actor over Casey Affleck, but Davis would have won it over anyone last year. I do not care who was up for Best Actress, Viola Davis out acted them all by a mile with her role in "Fences". I cannot wait to see what she does next, and I hope she starts to get her due as the wonderful actor that she is. She is great on the Shonda Rimes show, "How to Get Away with Murder", she has been great in bit roles here and there, but she was masterful in "Fences".

My hat goes off to the wonderful Viola Davis.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He just remembered who won the Best Actress Award this year. It was Emma Stone for either "Hawaii" or "White People: The Musical". Way to go Oscars.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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Ty Does not Watch the Dumb Oscars, but He still Has Some Thoughts

I said I'd have a follow up to RD's Oscars piece today, and I'm a man of my word. I'll get to other stuff later in the week.

First off, I totally agreed with pretty much all of RD's thoughts on all the categories. I don't really care about the sound stuff and the shorts. Don't get me wrong, those things are very important to movies, but I do not think the movie going public truly, really cares about those awards. I was very happy to see "Zootopia" win best animated movie. I very much liked the message and the animation and the story. It was a very well deserved win. I was so pumped that Masherala Ali won best supporting actor for "Moonlight". Ali is a wonderful actor, I loved him in "Luke Cage", and though I haven't watched "Moonlight" yet, I plan on seeing it tomorrow, I'm sure he is tremendous and well deserving. And "OJ: Made in America" is a must watch, and it won the award for documentary feature. These were my favorite things about the 2017 Oscars.

All the other stuff, save for Best Picture was predictable. The movie that won Best Foreign Language was a shoo in from what I read. Denzel Washington should have won Best Actor, but the academy gave it to a terrible, mean person, Casey Affleck. I felt real bad for Brie Larson, the presenter, because she does so much charity for victims of abuse, having to give him the award. Denzel is also a masterful actor. Viola Davis was more than deserving. This award was a long time coming.

Then we have "La La Land". As I said, I fully agreed with RD that the academy was going to reward a movie about white struggling jazz musicians, dancers and actors. That movie should have been called "Oscar Bait". And, for the most part, it won everything it was nominated for. I have no intention of watching this movie. I like the director, Damien Chazelle, I loved "Whiplash", but "La La Land" did nothing for me with the trailers. It's not my cup of tea. But, Chazelle won for directing, Emma Stone won for Best Actress and a few, not all, of the technical awards it was nominated in. I have nothing against this movie or the actors. I have made it wildly known my love for Ryan Gosling. I think Emma Stone is wonderful. I already said I love Chazelle's work with a movie like "Whiplash". But I was so excited when I read that "Moonlight" beat it out for Best Picture.

I've read and seen all the stuff that happened last night, with announcing the wrong winner. All that stuff just goes to show that EVERYONE expected "La La Land" to win, even Warren Beatty. But, for a movie like "Moonlight" to take the main prize, especially in this f'ed up political climate right now, makes me so in incredibly and irrationally happy. I haven't even watched it yet, but I'm so, so stoked that it won. This is a big deal for independent movies, which I love, and I'm filled with joy that "Moonlight" and Ali took home major prizes.

One more quick thing, screw the academy for not even nominating "Deadpool". The Golden Globes, and basically every other major awards show at least gave it a nod, but the academy decided movies like "Nocturnal Animals", "Arrival" (ed note: This film is is terrible) or "Hacksaw Ridge" were more deserving. Just give it a nod. You can nominate up to 10 movies, and "Deadpool" was most definitely one of the 10 best of 2016. The academy missed out on a big opportunity, but at least they cashed in a big opportunity with "Moonlight" last night.

Congrats to everyone involved with all the good movies and performances, it was a well deserved, great night for the people involved. Also, I heard that Jimmy Kimmel did a fine job as host, which I expected. Those are my takes on the 2017 Oscars.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He gave up on the Oscars when the best movie of the year, "Hunt for the Wilderpeople" received a non-record zero nominations. The Oscars are dumb. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.

SeedSing's Dumb Predictions for the Dumb Oscars: 2017 Edition

It is time for the 89th Academy Awards, and I have a few dumb things I need to get off my chest.

Last year we complained about how idiotic and pointless the Academy Awards have become. The night's top prize did not go to a movie beloved by audiences and critics alike (Mad Max: Fury Road). The Best Picture statue was given to Spotlight, a movie I bet 99 out of 100 people randomly surveyed would say they have never seen. That does not mean Spotlight is a bad movie, it is quite good actually, it just shows that the Academy Awards have no idea what movies are timeless, and truly the best films of the year. People remember Brokeback Mountain as a culturally important, and incredibly great film, while we all remember Crash as the terrible film the Oscars thought was a better movie than Brokeback Mountain. The Artist, The King's Speech, How Green Was My Valley, are forgotten footnotes who only come up in trivia questions, while classics like The Social Network, The Dark Knight, and Citizen Kane are films that get regularly listed as some of the greatest of all time. Even fairly good movies like Dances with Wolves, Shakespeare in Love, and Chicago are hated by people because those films "stole" Oscars that should have gone to Goodfellas, Saving Private Ryan, and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. In short, the Oscars are dumb, and have been dumb for a very long time.

With that being said, why would SeedSing even do predictions for the Oscars. Because, dammit, we still love to watch movies. We also love to complain when our favorites are not honored. Complaining is awesome. The Oscars are the most watched awards show on television because movies represent the highest form of art in our American society. Movie stars are our royalty, movies are our mythology, and the Oscars bring it all together. 

Now presenting the SeedSing predictions for the 2017 Academy Awards.

Best Picture

When the Oscars expanded the field for Best Picture, the intent was to have more audience friendly mainstream movies make the filed. That has not happened. Deadpool should be in the list of 2017 Best Picture contenders, but it is not. The Academy decided that movies like Lion, Hacksaw Ridge, Manchester by the Sea, Fences and Hell or High Water could sit and lose and not excite any new viewers. 

Almost everyone thinks that La La Land will win the big prize, and why not. La La Land is a brave risk taking film that is about a white jazz musician, a white actress in LA, and uses classic Hollywood musicals as it's inspiration. How in the hell is that movie not going to win Best Picture. The producers should have just called the movie The 2017 Award Winner for Best Picture. There has never been a movie so focused grouped to what the Oscars award like La La Land. It exists to win the Oscar.

Some think that audience favorite Hidden Figures or indie success Moonlight may be an upset winner for the big statue, but that will not happen. The inclusion, and hope, for these films is just the Academy throwing a bone to the #OscarsSoWhite crowd. A win by either of these films would be justified, but La La Land is the brave tale of white people playing jazz and trying to make it Hollywood. The response to #OscarsSoWhite will be to give the whitest movie the biggest prize. La La Land is going to be 2017's Best Picture winner.

Personal note. My early pick for the Best Picture was going to be Arrival. Everything I heard about this movie made it sound like a better, modern, version of Contact. I was all in.

After I saw Arrival, I take any love back from that movie. It is terrible and incredibly stupid. Do not watch Arrival. 

Best Actor

Casey Affleck or Denzel Washington will win this award. The other contenders should practice their gracious clapping after they lose. Casey Affleck was a shoe in for Manchester by the Sea, and then some alleged disturbing allegations from his past started to make the news. The entertainment tried to keep it quite, but the reports kept on coming. Denzel Washington in Fences became the defacto safe pick for people who would not vote for Affleck. Denzel Washington will win.

Another personal thought. If Denzel was accused of what Affleck allegedly has done, Mr. Washington's career in movies would be over. Make your own conclusions to why this is.

Best Actress

Another two person race.

In one corner you have french actress Isabelle Huppert in Elle. She has already won a bunch of awards, is a legend in the business, and is almost universally considered to have given the best performance of the year.

Unfortunately in corner two we have young Emma Stone playing the struggling actress in La La Land. She wins the Oscar

Yet another personal thought. Elle is directed by Paul Verhoeven. I love Verhoeven films like Robocop, Total Recall, and Starship Troopers. Elle is not like any of those movies. 

Best Supporting Actor

This is the only category where any of the nominees could win. Mahershala Ali from Moonlight has won most of the early awards, and this may be the best award the beloved Moonlight will win all night.

Best Supporting Actress

Viola Davis in Fences. No question.

Other Awards

Best Director - It would be awesome to see Barry Jenkins from Moonlight win and make history, but Damien Chazelle directed the film about the white hero of jazz in LA. Chazelle will win.

Best Original Screenplay - The Lobster is inspired insanity, but it is not about struggling attractive white people in LA. La La Land wins.  

Best Adapted Screenplay - Anything except Arrival. Please.

Best Animated Featured Film - Enjoyable remedial meditation on racism that is Zootopia will win. The Batman Lego Movie better damn well win this award next year. I know it will not and I am already irrationally pissed. 

The other categories, also known as the speeches you will fast forward through - La La Land will win any category it is in. Just please do not let Arrival win anything. It's sound, design, and cinematography was great, but the actual movie is so bad I do not want it to be an Oscar winner. Please.

Rant over. That is how the 89th Academy Awards are going to shake out from the SeedSing perspective. I will leave everyone with one more prediction. Jimmy Kimmell should do a good job, I hope. Enjoy the show.

RD

RD Kulik is the Head Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Did you like Arrival? How could you, it is terrible. I mean what was the point? I can talk my way to time travel? Why is their gravity different? Do the heptapods ever wear pants?   Come tell us.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.