Oscar Film Journal: The Substance (2024)

Welcome to another Oscar Film Journal entry here at Enuffa.com!  Time for a wacky one....

Today I'll be talking about the outrageous body horror/black comedy film The Substance, written and directed by French filmmaker Coralie Fargeat.  This often funny, often nauseatingly disgusting social commentary stars Demi Moore as an aging former movie star turned TV fitness host Elisabeth Sparkle.  Elisabeth has just turned fifty and is informed by her producer Harvey (a gleefully slimy Dennis Quaid) that she's being forced into retirement and replaced by a younger model.  She then learns of a new miracle medical breakthrough that allows an older person to become "a more perfect version" of themselves on a weekly part-time basis.  Elisabeth then assumes the mantle of "Sue" (a glowing Margaret Qualley) and lands the TV fitness host gig, but things start to go awry when Sue doesn't want to go back to being Elisabeth.  More plot details I will not spoil here, as it's best to know as little as possible.

Oscar Film Journal: Dead End (1937)

Time for another entry in the Oscar Film Journal, here at Enuffa.com!  Still chipping away at the catalogue of Best Picture nominees....

Today's entry is the 1937 crime drama Dead End, based on the 1935 play of the same name.  Dead End was helmed by acclaimed director William Wyler (Ben-Hur, The Best Years of Our Lives) and stars Sylvia Sidney (who you might remember as Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis's chain-smoking caseworker in Beetlejuice), Joel McCrea, and a young-ish Humphrey Bogart.  The story all takes place in a run-down Manhattan tenement neighborhood, at a time when wealthy developers were beginning to take advantage of the view of the East River and building ritzy high-rises right next to poor riverfront property.  Drina (Sidney) and Dave (McCrea) are lifelong friends who clearly have feelings for each other, but Dave has been seeing well-to-do neighbor Kay, who is also attached to a rich fellow.  Drina's brother Tommy is part of a juvenile street gang involved in petty crime and bullying, but she dreams of getting out.  An old acquaintance of Dave's shows up after a long absence, Hugh "Baby Face" Martin (Bogart), and we find out he's wanted for multiple murders and has been on the run for years, having changed his name and gotten plastic surgery.  Martin is back in town to visit an old flame in the hopes of taking her on the road with him.

Oscar Film Journal: Conclave (2024)

Welcome to another entry in the Oscar Film Journal - hey this one's a current nominee!

The Pope dies.  The Dean of the College of Cardinals must oversee the election of a new Pope, and somehow remain impartial and sequestered with the other Cardinals, while also taking into account any information that might disqualify a particular candidate, including dirty secrets the previous Pope may have kept hidden.  Such is the dilemma facing Thomas Lawrence in Edward Berger's followup to his superb All Quiet on the Western Front, a mystery thriller entitled Conclave, starring Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow and Isabella Rossellini.

Oscar Film Journal: Wicked (2024)

Welcome to another entry in the Oscar Film Journal, here at Enuffa.com!  We have another current nominee for ya!

Today it's the smash-hit from last Thanksgiving season, the much-anticipated film version of the smash-hit Broadway show Wicked!  Or Wicked: Part 1, more accurately.  Yes, the FIRST ACT of the two-and-a-half-hour stage show was stretched out to 160 minutes for the screen.  Jesus, Hollywood, do ya not believe in editing rooms anymore??

Anyway, this Wizard of Oz prequel was directed by John M. Chu of Crazy Rich Asians and In the Heights fame, and stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande as the two main characters, Elphaba Thropp (or The Wicked Witch of the West as she would later be known) and Glinda the Good Witch of the North.  But of course this film takes place before either of them earned their famous monikers, when they were just students at Shiz University ("This school is the shiz!").  Galinda Upland as she was known then was a well-to-do, popular, entitled young woman, while Elphaba was an outcast of modest means, gifted in magic but isolated from her peers due to her green skin (one of two very on-the-nose metaphors in this film).  One of the school's prominent professors (Michelle Yeoh) takes an interest in Elphaba and thinks she shows enough promise to meet the celebrated Wizard (Jeff Goldbum, playing Jeff Goldblum).  This sparks jealousy from Galinda, who has been assigned against her will as Elphaba's roommate.  The two have an Odd Couple-esque relationship before finally becoming friends, and Galinda comes to support Elphaba's visit to the Emerald City.  But all is not what it seems....

WWE Royal Rumble 2025 Review: Jey Uso Yeets the Odds

The 38th WWE Royal Rumble is in the books, and it was a solid show, better than it's been in a handful of years anyway.  There wasn't anything great on the show I didn't think, but nothing bad either.  Picking a best match and worst match is tough because everything was in the 3.5 to 4 star range.  I had some gripes about some things but we'll get to that.  It was definitely too long a show, that's for sure.  Four hours and eighteen minutes is a long time for any PPV.

The show kicked off with the women's Rumble, and I think this was the most fun match for me.  Despite less star power than the men's, this match had a lot of exciting young talent, many of them from NXT, and the match cut a good pace that kept everything moving.  Iyo Sky, Ivy Nile, Lash Legend, Jordynne Grace, and Stephanie Vaquer all looked very good.  Nia Jax got to be the Kane of this match and eliminate 9 women.  I was surprised Becky Lynch didn't return, but instead we got Alexa Bliss.  As expected Charlotte Flair ended up winning, last eliminating Roxanne Perez of all people.  Also Iyo, Roxanne and Liv Morgan all beat Bayley's record from last year, which as I said in my preview has gotten out of hand.  If you keep breaking the longevity record it becomes pretty meaningless.  They certainly didn't need to do it three times in this one match.  Both Rumbles went excessively long, this one at 70 minutes.  But it looks like Tiffany vs. Charlotte for Mania most likely, unless the plan is a rubber match with Rhea Ripley.  ***3/4