October Recap

So October is a wrap! As I was cobbling together my last-minute Doof Warrior costume in time for last night's frivolities, I figured now was the best time to start taking note of how the 2015-16 Oscar race is shaping up.

I realize that for many, the September festival circuit is the official kick-off of awards season. But for those of us without press credentials or travel time to burn, October is when we actually get to see the buzzy titles we've been reading about for a month or more. And this October was chalk full of them.

Review - Prometheus

Off to probe the farthest corner of the galaxy for the origins of humanity flies the spacecraft Prometheus in Ridley Scott's ambitious prequel to the Alien franchise he himself spawned 33 years ago. That original classic is revered for being both a grade-A creature feature and a legit science fiction with strong thematic undertones, but while Prometheus reaches for the same proverbial stars (much like the ancient pictograms that lead our inquisitive scientists on their voyage), its philosophical quandaries and narrative ambiguities are as vexing as they are thought-provoking.

Noomi Rapace (sans dragon tattoo) headlines as Dr. Elizabeth Shaw, who theorizes that the aforementioned pictograms – discovered in the art of different civilizations the world over – are evidence that humans were created by something beyond our world. “Engineers” is the term she and her husband (Logan Marshall-Green) coin for our hypothetical creators, and their thesis is enough to convince optimistically superstitious trillionaire Peter Weyland to finance an interplanetary mission to literally meet our maker. Anyone who's seen even one of the previous Alien films knows that going into space in search of answers is seldom a good idea, and indeed, this entry proceeds to follow many of the same beats as its predecessors. We are introduced to a mostly expendable crew of characters, including one synthetic personality, the robotic David, played with calibrated nuance by Michael Fassbender, the clear standout of the cast. Naturally, there's enough mistrust and hidden agendas to pique our suspicion until the bad stuff starts happening to these curious cats.

Sunday Top Ten - People who need an Oscar... IMMEDIATELY

It's been great to take a nice long break from any Oscar-related discussion. It's mostly a source of negative energy, but I think I've had a sufficient layoff from my awards bitterness to survive an Oscary list. I'll try to put together an Oscar list with a more positive theme one of these days, but this week I'm drawing attention to those poor individuals who, for no good reason, have been unfairly slighted by the Academy a few too many times.

It shouldn't bother me as much as it does. After all, the brilliant work of these people speaks for itself. A rational person shouldn't need the Academy to validate one's admiration of these artists by bestowing on them the title of Academy-Award-winner. But the Oscars are hardly rational themselves, and they certainly bring out the irrational in me. Here, in my irrational opinion, are the ten (or more) people, still working at the top of their game, who need an Oscar IMMEDIATELY.