An Ear For An Era: 2016

Remember 2016? Sure you do. It was so recent. Yet so long ago.

A tense time, a sad time, a time with a few breaks from the sad tension...

We did go to Universal Studios and the Simpsons area they have there. That was great. And we went to Germany, which was legendarily great. In January, we took a short vacation to Florida and an even shorter two-night cruise to the Bahamas. It was on that cruise ship when we found out that David Bowie had died.

And that just kind of kicked off the year that would be 2016.

Blackstar by Bowie is about as great a swan song as any artist has delivered. It has the sounds of a restless artist putting everything out there in a final purge of energy. A scream, not a sigh. Jazz and industrial and rock and whatever words you use when you describe Bowie's career in full. It's all there. And yet, there was probably more in there lost to the afterlife. The last song is called "I Can't Give Everything Away." Even so, he gave more than most any artist in our lives. I can't say enough even though I've said nothing. Bowie.

David Bowie "I Can't Give Everything Away"

Iggy Pop recorded an album with Josh Homme called Post Pop Depression. It was great and inventive and I spent much of the year worrying he would join his compatriots in the afterlife. Especially since last time I saw him live (I can't believe I have seen him three times!) he talked a bit about probably not being much longer for this world. But he continues. And Post Pop Depression is an awesome album. But even that album title!

Savages are a kind of direct descendent of Iggy Pop's post punk innovations, and their second album Adore Life is super engaging and makes me want to go to 1979 in Germany or something.

I feel like people didn't freak out enough about Emily's D+Evolution by Esperanza Spalding. I know it got some rave reviews, which was why I decided to give it a shot when it eventually hit the $5 bin. But I just finally listened to it now and wow. This is so much. It's funky, it's post punk, it's so much in addition to the "jazz" label. Not that jazz has limitations. But as much as I heard she was branching out or whatever, I did not expect this. I need to listen to it more times.

Freetown Sound by Blood Orange was another great singular vision of high creativity. Usually something with as many guests as this would feel a bit scattered, but this was a clear statement and so of the times in 2016 (and today, it's only 2 years later after all, things don't change that fast...).

Another respite from the challenges of living in 2016 was Welcome the Worms by Bleached. Pop punk in the true sense of the word is the catchiest music to me. And no song was in my head in 2016 as much as "Wednesday Night Melody."

Bleached "Wednesday Night Melody"

And back to sadness of losing great artists. Do I write about Charles Bradley here? He lived until 2017 which puts him outside the class of 2016, but he put out his final album Changes that year and it was really something. Screaming eagle indeed, his voice was unrivaled in its passion.

Perhaps my favorite album of 2016 (there were two frontrunners and I'm going to go ahead and exercise my right to not pick a #1) was created by someone who is fortunately still around, but an exploration of loss in the wake of an unspeakable tragedy. I'm speaking of Skeleton Tree by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. Every song on the album gives me deep feelings of love, loss, dread, and a little bit of hope. It is a masterwork. If Cave were someone besides Nick Cave, it would be a career defining album. But his catalog is so vast and incredible that I can't even attempt to quantify that. But in a year like 2016, this was (potentially tied for) the greatest thing an artist could release.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds "Girl in Amber"

Leonard Cohen had already teased the idea of dying when he was promoting You Want It Darker, but it was still a shock when he departed shortly after its release. But he went in the way of Johnny Cash, with a string of late career masterpieces on the way out (only Cohen stuck with original compositions the whole way through). You Want It Darker was everything you want from the master. Funny, reflective, intelligent, and yes, darker.

Hip hop in 2016 was kind of amazing. To briefly shift gears from the people we lost in 2016, there were great hip hop albums by Chance the Rapper, Aesop Rock, and De La Soul. Particularly De La Soul. ...And The Anonymous Nobody was a great comeback/re-introduction/modernization of a classic crew.

And then there was Danny Brown. Atrocity Exhibition is an album that I hesitate to call a hip hop album because to my ears the only thing that makes it hip hop is the rapping. The music itself is a combination of post punk and industrial and electronic and all sorts of influences.

And Run The Jewels, that's always good. RTJ3 came out on Christmas or something like that, so it basically counts as 2016.

But of course the other best album of 2016 was a reunion and a farewell and a wake for a fallen artist. Phife Dawg of A Tribe Called Quest left this world but not before recording We Got It From Here...Thank You 4 Your Service. Furious but hopeful, pushing boundaries in a way that evokes their classic 90s output while still sounding fresh, it's almost like a debut album in how much energy and purpose it has. This is not the album 2016 deserves, but it's the album we need after a year like 2016.

A Tribe Called Quest "We The People"

And I also have to mention...
Prince. Technically no 2016 music so all I can say is thank you for your service.
Sharon Jones. (She had a posthumous 2017 album though, so we'll talk about her next time)

Other Things:

• The Falcon - Gather Up The Chaps. The kind of sort of maturity of the latest Lawrence Arms album kind of sort of reflects onto this album but also not. I like The Falcon.
• Open Mike Eagle - Hella Personal Film Festival. Continuing to evolve and be great.
• ANOHNI sang a lot about drones and death and destruction on Hopelessness. A beautiful and sad album reminding us that Obama was still deeply flawed, which can be a hard thing to fathom now in 2018.
• Midwest Farmer's Daughter by Margo Price is beautiful, yes it is. Artists like this are why I can never write off "modern country music." 
• Kendrick Lamar's untitled throwaways are gold!
• Santigold's album 99 Cents was kind of a stark contrast to the general bummer of 2016 with some positivity and fun. It was good to have a break.
• case/lang/veirs was a great reminder of this Neko Case fan of how great K.D. Lang is.
• Sam Beam and Jesca Hoop put out a collaborative album and I liked it like I like both of them. Great complementary voices!
• Frank Ocean doesn't belong down here but I don't have time to write about Blonde enough. I really need to listen to it a bunch more times anyway.
• Kool Keith had a pretty great comeback in 2016 with Feature Magnetic.
• I quite liked Hypercaffium Spazzinate by The Descendents. 
• Dan P's music is really good for playing for my son.
• Avalanches returned! It was lots of fun! Danny Brown works well for their style.
• Bon Iver went off the deep end (in a great way) with 22, A Million.
• This:

Mac McCaughan "Happy New Year (Prince Can't Die Again)"

Next Time:
2017 shall be the last one of these, it would appear. Not soon enough, as it's near impossible to find time to write this and update playlists with a newborn around. 2017 was the year of...stuff. I think it broke the '7 narrative I've been building in this thing. I think 2016 was better. I still need to work out what the highlights actually were though.

Oscar Hopes & Predictions 2016

Hello, Dear Readers!

I'm going to act like I have a big fan base of readers. Whoever reads this, thanks for reading this!

I almost didn't do this but I was then tasked by a friend to do it, so I might as well get my thoughts out there. The thing with this year's Oscars, aside from all the other things with this year's Oscars, is that I just finally got through basically all of the major films two nights ago. So with the big thing happening tomorrow, there's not much time and if you wanted to read thinkpieces about them then you've already had plenty of chances elsewhere. No matter. If you're reading this you're probably my friend and you probably just want my specific perspective on them.

First, here is what I have NOT seen:
Trumbo, The Danish Girl, 45 Years, Joy, Creed, three of the animated features (Shaun the Sheep Movie, Boy & The World, When Marnie Was There), Cinderella, Winter on Fire, Cartel Land, ALL of the shorts (though I'm considering using my Google rewards monies to watch the live action and most of the animated shorts tonight and/or tomorrow...), any of the foreign language films aside from Mustang, The 100-Year-Old Man..., and any of the movies with just songs nominated (but I listened to the songs, just now!).

So I'll go from the bottom up, based on the order they appear on the official webpage. One of these years I'll update my spreadsheet to be in the order they are presented in for the actual show!

Writing (Original Screenplay)

Nominees: Bridge of Spies (Coen Brothers!), Spotlight, Ex Machina, Inside Out, Straight Outta Compton
Hopes: I would be quite happy if Ex Machina won. Just the whole story is so well told, so logical yet I didn't see the very logical ending coming. Just a great movie overall and I want it to win something. All of the nominees are very good movies though.
Predictions: I'm going Spotlight. And I won't be the least bit upset about it.

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

Nominees: The Martian, The Big Short, Room, Carol, Brooklyn
Hopes: I'm going Carol. Since it was snubbed in the best picture and director races, it should get something and the writing was beautiful. I can't speak to how well it was adapted from its source material, but the final product came out so wonderfully.
Predictions: The Big Short because I think everybody loved it. Plus it did a great job of simplifying a complicated subject matter that it was very important that everyone understood.

Visual Effects

Nominees: Mad Max: Fury Road, The Revenant, Ex Machina, The Martian, Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Hopes: How can you not go with Mad Max? All the amazing practical effects, the whole look is a big part of what made the movie so special.
Predictions: Mad Max all the way.

Sound Mixing

Nominees: Bridge of Spies, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Martian, The Revenant, Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Hopes: Sticking with Mad Max for all of the technical awards.
Predictions: The Revenant. No real reason.

Sound Editing

Nominees: The Martian, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Revenant, Sicario
Hopes: Mad Max
Predictions: Mad Max. I don't know. Maybe it should be my prediction for both sound ones. So the past several years since I started keeping track, EVERY TIME there is ONE difference between the two sound categories. As if they are just trying to prove that they are different.

Live Action/Animated/Documentary Shorts

I'm just sitting this one out for now. Unless I happen to see them. I did see there was a Don Hertzfeldt one for animated, so let's just go with that one.

Best Song

Nominees: "Simple Song #3," "Til It Happens to You," "Manta Ray," "Earned It," "Writing's On the Wall" 
Hopes: As a longtime Antony & The Johnsons fan who didn't keep up and didn't even know she was now ANOHNI, I'm going to hope for this longshot to pull through. "Manta Ray."
Predictions: Gotta go Gaga, "Til It Happens to You." I just listened to all the songs and that is a powerful one. The kind that wins these kinds of things.

Original Score

Nominees: Bridge of Spies, Sicario, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Hateful Eight, Carol
Hopes: As I think about it some more, I think Carol had the most striking score.
Predictions: One of the two veterans probably. I'm going to say Ennio Morricone for The Hateful Eight because he is legendary.

Makeup & Hairstyling

Nominees: The Revenant, The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window, Mad Max: Fury Road
Hopes: As cool as Leo's beard was, Mad Max baby.
Predictions: Mad Max baby.

Foreign Language Film

Nominees: A War, Son of Saul, Embrace of the Serpent, Theeb, Mustang
Hopes: Since Mustang is the only one I saw, I'll go with that one. I saw it at the Denver Film Festival and it was a definite highlight. Just a great film. Of course, I'd have to see others to see if I am justified in this opinion!
Predictions: No idea. I think I heard Embrace of the Serpent was great, so I'll go with that one. Last minute edit: Son of Saul is that holocaust movie, it's totally going to win.

Film Editing

Nominees: The Reventant, Spotlight, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Big Short
Hopes: Sticking with Mad Max. I think I want it to just dominate! But the fact that it remained coherent for an entire feature-length car chase scene means it was edited super awesomely.
Predictions: The Big Short because editing had such a crucial role in this film. It was disjointed yet somehow coherent.

Documentary Feature

Nominees: Amy, The Look of Silence, Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom, Cartel Land, What Happened, Miss Simone?
Hopes: The Look of Silence. Just the audacity of this film. Just the human face it put on genocide. Just the restraint shown by the protagonist and filmmaker when confronting these monsters. The sadness. The needing to forgive, not the need of the perpetrators, but the need of the victims to be able to forgive these people. It was so powerful and left me with a lot to think about. Possibly even greater than its companion piece the (similarly nominated, didn't win) The Act of Killing.
Predictions: Amy all the way. Those music documentaries always win. I'm picking this over the Nina Simone one because it was just so heartbreaking and also a great commercial success.

Directing

Nominees: George Miller for Mad Max: Fury Road, Adam McKay for The Big Short, Lenny Abrahamson for Room, Alexandro G. Inarritu for The Revenant, Tom McCarthy for Spotlight
Hopes: Listen, all of these movies were great in their own ways. But if we're talking director as an auteur, as the uncompromising visionary, I can't vote for anyone but George Miller. Mad Max was a singular vision if I've ever seen one.
Predictions: It could be anyone. I'm going with Tom McCarthy for Spotlight just because directing is often associated with working with actors and the actors in Spotlight all did such a terrific job.

Costume Design

Nominees: Carol, Cinderella, The Danish Girl, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Revenant
Hopes: I kind of loved the outfits in Carol. I think it's because I am so into 50s fashion. I don't know. But Rooney Mara's clothing was pretty great.
Predictions: The Danish Girl just because. I never know with this costume stuff!

Production Design

Nominees: The Revenant, The Danish Girl, The Martian, Bridge of Spies, Mad Max: Fury Road
Hopes: Are you kidding? Mad Max was just one big exercise in production design!
Predictions: The Martian because hey, Mars!

Cinematography

Nominees: The Hateful Eight, Carol, The Revenant, Sicario, Mad Max: Fury Road
Hopes: Pretty hopeless at this point until he works on another huge Oscar contender prestige production, but can Roger Deakins please please please win for Sicario? Every time I see one of his films, it is abundantly clear that he is far and away the best DP in the business. All the cool tricks he comes up with in silhouette, camera movement, smoke/fog, etc.
Predictions: Robert Richardson for The Hateful Eight. Because it was pretty damn cool looking in 70mm. Colorado is a beautiful state!

Animated Feature

Nominees: Shaun the Sheep Movie, Anomalisa, Inside Out, Boy & The World, When Marnie Was There
Hopes: I don't really have hope for Anomalisa but I want it to win. I'm a Kaufman lifer. I know it's not going to win. And as my friend said, it's "lesser Kaufman." But even lesser Kaufman leaves you with a lot to think about and this was a really cool minor story about a short lived anomaly. Pretty beautiful in its simplicity with just a few tricks thrown in there that you could only do effectively with animation.
Predictions: Inside Out. And that's perfectly fine. One of the best Pixar movies yet, and that is really saying something. Pretty much a lock though.

Supporting Actress

Nominees: Rachel McAdams for Spotlight, Rooney Mara for Carol, Jennifer Jason Leigh for The Hateful Eight, Kate Winslet for Steve Jobs, Alicia Vikander for The Danish Girl
Hopes: Jennifer Jason Leigh! Big fan, and she was great. I'd also like to note however that Rooney Mara was so great in Carol and could have been considered the lead of that movie.
Predictions: I hear they are going crazy over Alicia Vikander, so let's say her. I didn't see The Danish Girl but she was great in Ex Machina this year!

Supporting Actor

Nominees: Sylvester Stallone for Creed, Tom Hardy for The Revenant, Mark Rylance for Bridge of Spies, Mark Ruffalo for Spotlight, Christian Bale for The Big Short
Hopes: I liked Mark Rylance so much in Bridge of Spies. Such a great subtle performance that made such a likeable character, which was crucial (as my friend pointed out, the movie just wouldn't have worked if his character wasn't likeable).
Predictions: Hollywood loves a comeback story, so Sylvester Stallone it is! Creed is also the one nominee in this category that I didn't see.

Lead Actress

Nominees: Brie Larson for Room, Charlotte Rampling for 45 Years, Cate Blanchett for Carol, Saoirse Ronan for Brooklyn, Jennifer Lawrence for Joy
Hopes: Man, this is one stacked field this year. I only saw three of them, but they were fantastic performances. But I think the most heartbreaking performance was by Brie Larson in Room. Even as kind of a support player to the child (that kid was amazing too!), she did such a beautiful job as someone just doing the best she can for her son under extremely horrendous circumstances.
Predictions: I was originally going to say Cate Blanchett (even though Rooney Mara probably had a stronger performance in that film), but I'm just going to put all my eggs in the Brie Larson room.

Lead Actor

Nominees: Bryan Cranston for Trumbo, Matt Damon for The Martian, Leonardo DiCaprio for The Revenant, Michael Fassbender for Steve Jobs, Eddie Redmayne for The Danish Girl
Hopes: This field seems pretty weak by comparison. Everyone did their usual good work (just assuming with Cranston & Redmayne), so Leonardo DiCaprio going above and beyond kind of makes sense to me. He did pretty well.
Predictions: Leonardo DiCaprio and his grunting and limping. Duh.

Best Picture

Nominees: The Big Short, Bridge of Spies, Brooklyn, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Martian, The Revenant, Room, Spotlight
Hopes: I'm going to just rank them because I want to say something about each of them.
1. Mad Max: Fury Road. As I said before, this is the one. The fact that a silly action movie with badass guitar flamethrowers is even my top pick speaks to the astonishing feat that this film was. Wow.
2. Room. Not only was the acting phenomenal, it managed the incredible feat of making a movie about being stuck in a shed somewhat uplifting, it showed the perspective of a child growing up in that shed (the whole world as far as he knew), and it just made me cry.
3. Spotlight. Because of all the great performances and the portrayal of journalism...I don't know, it was just intense.
4. The Big Short. There is no good guy. It is an important film for people to see and understand. It is infuriating but necessary. And just enough funny.
5. Brooklyn. A very pleasant film and I didn't mention her in the acting category but Saoirse Ronan just carried the whole film. A good portrayal of immigrants that we all can relate to, because almost all of us in this country are descendents of immigrants. Look like you know where you're going.
6. The Martian. A pretty astonishing tale of survival. Matt Damon was so charismatic and brought so much to what would have been a pretty bleak movie. Cool science too!
7. The Revenant. A pretty astonishing tale of survival. What keeps you alive? I feel like I kind of hate on this movie more than I should. I just think the director is overrated and after finally seeing this movie that it was also kind of overrated. I found myself bored at times, maybe I just wasn't in the right space for it. Still, lots of great performances, some very intense action sequences, some great cinematography, a good package.
8. Bridge of Spies. I don't like putting this on the bottom because I liked it quite a bit. But all eight of these were quite good. I just felt like this was Steven Spielberg doing his thing, which is very competent (even expert) directing, and everyone doing a very competent job (even expert, in the case of Mark Rylance), and putting together a quite good movie. Just not the best picture of the year.
Prediction: The Revenant. It seems pretty unstoppable at this point. I'd be pleasantly surprised if one of the others wins though.

So I guess I'll see how happy/psychic I am this year! I don't have the best record with these things.


And finally, my general comment about the Academy Awards: There are always going to be snubs, horror will rarely if ever get any recognition, and there is a huge problem with the lack of diversity. Kubrick never won except for visual effects. Hitchcock never won. The best films out there are often completely unrecognized by critics and the academy alike. See Dope, It Follows, and Liza the Fox Fairy for some of my personal favorites of 2015 that received no nominations. Watch Tangerine (I didn't see it but it seems essential). And if Carol had been nominated for best picture it'd probably be at #3 on my list up there. Anyway, I'm saying all that to make a point. The Academy Awards are important to me in spite of all that. For one, they tend to be quite good movies and I always make a point to try to see as many as I can. It's my excuse to see more movies. And the nominated movies play at strip malls and the like. Which means more people than usual are seeing these artistic movies by artistic people. Sure, they could see them and more at art houses, and they should. But they don't. So this is a fairly reliable support system for smart cinema. Yes, they all have studio support pushing for them to get nominations, rather than being an organic thing, but the end product is still generally a victory for quality cinema.