A Danish Girl in Compton

Jennifer Jason Leigh in The Hateful Eight

I am just going to throw this out there, the critics and all of the awards shows really have it all wrong when it comes to amazing films. In January, I was able to get to the cinema and see the Danish Girl. Besides the acting, the movie is a stunning piece of visual art. The scenery shot in Denmark is gorgeous and while the Paris scenes were shot in Brussels, the Belle Epoque architecture and decor is amazing. I was hoping that Eddie Redmayne would actually win the oscar and pulling off the Tom Hanks double whammy. Hanks in the early 90s won back to back best actor Oscars of Philadelphia and Forrest Gump. Sadly he didn’t take home the statue this year. Instead he lost to DiCaprio in The Revenant which personally, I think was an ok movie and a ok role. Redmayne was 100 times better as Einar/Lili. I keep forgetting that Lili was Einar many times throughout the film. 

Alicia & Eddie as Gerda & Lili in The Danish Girl

The champion of that film was most certainly Alicia Vikander’s portrayal of artist Gerda Wegener (Einar’s wife). Not familiar with the actresses name, she was also the lead robot in Ex Machina. Thankfully she did walk home with the Oscar that night, she had a big year last year, besides Mechina, Danish Girl, she also stared in Man From U.N.C.L.E. and Burnt. She did manage to win the Screen Actors Award but not the Golden Globe for playing Gerda.

The Danish Girl was a pretty strong contender for Best Picture, but sadly the Academy didn’t agree. It didn’t even make it into the top 8 for the year. I call bullshit. I’ve now watched 6 of the top 8 movies, I got bored of The Room, Bridge of Spies was entertaining but not riveting and The Big Short had too many peeps with big egos which squashed it’s potential. There were two movies that belonged on that list. First was The Hateful Eight, a perfect glimpse into the wild west, crafted by the master of graphic storytelling, Quinten Tarantino. His ability to form the perfect cast is amazing, this is hands down one of my top 3 Jennifer Jason Leigh films. One suggestion before watching the movie, don’t look up who is in the movie.

The second movie is Straight Out of Compton. Clem and I held off on seeing the film for a few weeks of receiving it and it was well worth the wait. While the cast is just filled with unknowns, the script for the film is completely fluid. I think it deserved to be in that top eight list. The girls went over to Grandma’s house for a sleepover the night we watched it and Lochlan, Dad and I watched the movie. Of course Lochlan was watching something else. I will make one suggestion, if you lived through the 90’s, don’t look for all the little details left out or omitted. Like Dr. Dre painting himself as the good boy of group.