The Sea Beast (2022)

This is not one of the more esteemed or discussed Best Animated Feature nominees for the year. I gave it priority over the other two I hadn't seen only because it's streaming on Netflix. I figured if nothing else, it's a DreamWorks-esque story of sympathy for a giant mythical animal.

In an alternate version of the 17th century, sailors from what I assume to be the British Empire have made a name for themselves as sea monster hunters. The crew of Captain Crow (Jared Harris), in fact, has been idolized in books within their time. Nevertheless, their royal sponsors (Jim Carter and Doon Mackichan) plan to sunset their ship, the Inevitable, in favor of a new one under an admiral (Dan Stevens), unless they kill the notorious Red Bluster before he does. Antics in their next attempt lead to adventurous orphaned preteen stowaway Maisie (Zaris-Angel Hator) and Crow's next choice for captain, Jacob (Karl Urban), getting lost at sea with the intended target, whom Maisie calls "Red" and identifies as female. Maisie reevaluates what she thought she knew about sea beasts; Jacob is more gradual about it. Crow, meanwhile, had sworn vengeance on Red long before this bet, so he'll go to lengths even his loyal first mate (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) deems dishonorable.

Drive My Car (2021)

This Japanese film does not include the Beatles song, which really wouldn't fit the dramatic tenor. Instead, it's based on a Haruki Murakami short story by the same title. How a 40-pager plus bits of two others in the collection made the basis for a 179-minute feature is beyond me, but the latter was too esteemed for me to pass up.

In the late 2010s, middle-aged Yūsuke Kafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima) doesn't want to act on stage ever again due to emotional issues regarding his late wife, Oto (Reika Kirishima). Nevertheless, his past as the star of Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya gets him tapped to direct another production thereof. One condition of the arrangement is that he not drive himself, given his glaucoma. He reluctantly accepts young woman Misaki Watari (Tōko Miura) as his chauffeur and lets her hear him go over lines in his car with a recording of Oto. Young actor Kōji Takatsuki (Masaki Okada) is surprised when Yūsuke casts him as Vanya. Imagine his surprise if he'd known that Yūsuke caught him committing adultery with Oto.

Elvis (2022)

Making a bio about anyone this prominent is practically asking for trouble. It might tell us nothing new or fudge well-known facts. Considering Baz Luhrman's penchant for anachronisms, I fully expected the latter. Still, he must have done something right -- if only not getting in the way too much -- for his flick to garner eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture.

If there's one way this stands out from most musician biopics, it's the first-person narration by the musician's manager, honorary Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks). He discovers Elvis Presley (Austin Butler) when the latter has become a local sensation, young enough to require contract signatures from his parents (Helen Thomson and Richard Roxburgh). The partnership spells a lot of fame and income, but the two lock horns a lot. Tom seems to mean well when he demands that Elvis dial back the popular yet controversial elements, not so much when he won't let Elvis tour overseas because Tom immigrated illegally and has to make up gambling debts with Vegas performances.

Promising Young Woman (2020)

You can understand why I might not give this higher priority among the 2020 Best Picture nominees: A woman's life-changing trauma kicks off the story. Netflix is cagey about it, but as I suspected, the trauma is rape. Mercifully for us, we get no visuals of the event, which happens several years before the opening.

In modern Ohio, Cassie (Carrie Mulligan) has dropped out of med school after in-crowder Al (Chris Lowell) raped her then-drunk friend Nina in front of party guests and still didn't face any consequences from the law or the school. Nina has since died, possibly of suicide. Cassie's way of honoring Nina's memory is to play drunk at bars to lure men into taking advantage of her and then shock them with sudden sober behavior. By chance, she reconnects with classmate Ryan (Bo Burnham), who says that Al is engaged. Cassie begins a more targeted campaign of vengeance, but she needs time to decide how to feel about awkwardly seductive Ryan.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)

The writers of this Marvel Cinematic Universe entry had their work cut out for them with the passing of Chadwick Boseman. I'm not surprised that the general reception has been middling. Still, I've enjoyed superhero flicks with lower ratings, and this one has and is in the running for a lot of awards. I decided to stream it in between my viewings of pictures that don't promise much fun.

A year after her son dies of an unspecified illness, Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett, up for an Oscar) has not kept his promise of sharing Wakanda's seemingly unmatched tech with the rest of the world, because national governments aren't exactly proving themselves trustworthy. Brilliant MIT undergrad Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) develops a vibranium detector, and U.S. operatives use it to find some in the sea -- only to get massacred by aquatic mutants from an even more secretive and xenophobic kingdom, Talokan. The Talokan king, familiarly known as Namor (Tenoch Huerta), demands that Wakanda capture Riri for him or face his wrath. Not keen on his idea of justice, Princess Shuri (Letitia Wright) and General Okoye (Danai Gurira) set out to protect Riri. It becomes clear that Namor plans war against surface dwellers around the world but perceives enough commonality to offer an alliance with Wakanda. Shuri strongly disagrees with his campaign, but she has her own anger issues to work through soon enough.

The Father (2020)

Continuing to catch up on recent Oscar nominees. If Nomadland had been as I feared, I'd make a point not to watch this one next, because it promised to be a bit drearier than most of the competition, in a year with only dramas up for Best Picture.

In what might be the present era, elderly Brit Anthony (Anthony Hopkins) feels sure he can take care of himself. He doesn't welcome any assistants hired by his daughter Anne (Olivia Colman). At his most hostile and paranoid, he accuses them of theft and her of looking for an excuse to move him into a nursing home so she can claim his property. I'm a little surprised he doesn't accuse Anne of gaslighting, because he becomes increasingly confused about the apartment, whom to expect there, and what people have and have not told him. Anne also grows in stress, almost to the point of insanity, and her husband (Rufus Sewell) is less patient still.