"Carol" was beautifully shot and acted, but I thought it was a bit dull. I felt really sleepy midway through it.
Controversial film critic and evangelical Christian gay black man (I wrote those qualifiers because I think it adds to his mystique...like a mix of identities adding together to give us a really weird, almost contrarian perspective in film criticism) said "lesbians have never been more boring" when reviewing
Carol. I have to re-watch
Carol, but it was a movie I respected more than I actually liked. AND I loved
Far from Heaven and his version of
Mildred Pierce.
I do think Rooney Mara's nomination is probably one of the most egregious cases of category fraud I've seen. I know it may not be on the same level as Tatum O'Neil's or a few other examples, but she really was the heart and center of that movie.
I sort of wish Vikander was nominated for
Ex Machina rather than
The Danish Girl just because the first film is a lot more off-beat and cooler choice for the Academy, but their list is crazy conservative compared to what they could have nominated (
Tangerine for example). But I had no doubt she'd be nominated for
Danish Girl (either for Lead or Supporting) because the old men of the Academy love it when females play supportive and loyal wives/partners who help their men with their journey (even if they struggle with staying that way). That explains Helena Bonham Carter's nomination for that non-role in
The King's Speech and the love for Felicity Jones in
The Theory of Everything and even, to a smaller extent, Keira Knightley's nomination for
The Imitation Game.
I'm loving the love for
Brooklyn but even I admit it plays very well into Academy's sensibilities, though I think my love for it was all in the execution and how downplayed and lyrical that whole movie was.
