Honey, at least the Tom Cruise movie made it

Here we go again. Another slate of Oscar nominations and the general public are left scratching their heads wondering what the heck are these movies and who the hell has seen them? Even I, deeply into film and of the independent variety that make up most of the tiles, haven’t seen most of them. For Best Picture I’ve seen The Banshees of Inisherin (fun, dark Irish humor but overrated), Triangle of Sadness (something of a con job) and The Fabelmans (self-indulgent and somewhat overrated). I would like to see many more but living in Windsor, well... I’m dying (actually, a bad pun) to see Bill Nighy (Best Actor) in Living though I recently caught the Japanese 1952 original Ikiru (Akira Kurosawa) which was sad and sentimental; will Living, uh, live up to it? Ditto for one my favourite contemporary actresses – scratch, she IS my favourite – Cate Blanchett (Best Actress) (pictured) in Tar. I’ve never been an Elvis fan so any piece of art even remotely related to Mister tacky Shades and Sideburns (oh oh, I’m creating enemies) won’t find me a fan, despite the artistic merit. I still don’t understand why Aftersun (Paul Mescal, Best Actor) which I’ve seen, attracts the plaudits it does. It’s a very competently made first feature by Charlotte Wells, sweet and sentimental but, sorry, not a lot more. I am still looking forward to seeing The Whale (Brendan Fraser, Best Actor; Hong Chau, Best Supporting Actress) and it apparently is coming soon to my local theatre, the  Cine Albéniz, a wonderful art house in Málaga, Spain, near where I’m wintering. Much is being made of Michelle Williams (Best Actress) in The Fabelmans. She’s a wonderful actress but I saw nothing outstanding about the performance. I haven’t even seen Tar and I bet Blanchett has her beat by miles. I can’t believe Ruben Ostlund (Triangle of Sadness) is up for Best Director. Having made respected and probing films like Force Majeure (2014) and The Square (2017) he embarrassed himself with this.  I’m sure All Quiet on the Western Front (Best Picture) is deserving of great accolades. But having read the book in high school (one of the best books I’ve ever read) and being tired of war – all wars – I’m not inclined to see it. I don’t know where to even begin to see Everything Everywhere All at Once (various nominations). I’ve never heard of To Leslie (Andrea Riseborough, Best Actress) or Causeway (Brian Tyree Henry, Supporting Actor). But at least the masses were represented to some degree – Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Angela Bassett, Supporting Actress), Avatar: The Way of Water (Best Picture) and Top Gun: Maverick (Best Picture). If it was a peoples’ choice award I know which would win – that starring Mister Scientology and wannabe fighter pilot himself, Tom Cruise. My choice for Best Picture? Tar, and I haven't even seen it. Ha.

The real Casablanca

I arrived in Casablanca the other day on a two-week odyssey of Morocco. Yes, I know it’s the touristy thing to do. But I succumbed (wouldn’t you?). And besides, I can say I’m doing it for research for my film blog. That is, that I checked out the current day facsimile to Rick's Café Américain in the 1942 movie directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. I'm speaking of Casablanca, of course, in my book one of the top three movies of all time. The current facsimilie is called Rick’s Café and it's run by a former American diplomat. Trouble was it was closed (open for lunch, dinner and Sunday night jazz). But there’s a dress code – “business casual” – and

clothing including more casual attire not allowed. So I have to console myself with just seeing the outside of the place. It’s very well kept, as per photo below, and does indeed resemble the real thing in the film, even if the movie was filed on a Hollywood backlot. As the Lonely Planet travel guide states, the film “wonderfully evoked” the city……Walking around Casablanca (pop. 3.3 million) there is evidence of the city’s once glory days of cinemas. Near the medina where I’m staying, in the heart of

downtown, is the Cinema Rif, a 1950s era one-screen classic. Fandango listed M3GAN (Gerard Johnstone) screening there. But when I walked in and asked I was told there are no ‘Anglais’ films, including this creepy one, showing. The lobby has a wonderful installation of vintage projectors. But these vintage cinemas – I came across one other, Cinema Rialto, and what appeared to be signs only for a few other cinemas - Cinema Ritz, Cinema Empire and Cinema ABC. According to Lonely Planet the country's “cinephiles have begun to fear for Morocco’s movie palaces.” Thirty

years ago there were 250 cinemas, in 2010, 30. Only five per cent of the population goes to theatres. Cinema Rif reopened in 2006 screening independent films and documentaries. Regardless, Casablanca and Morocco have long served as settings for a myriad films, from David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia (1962) to Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Sheltering Sky (1990) to Mideast war stand-ins such as Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down (2001) and Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper (2015). But, with apologies to Bogart’s line to Bergman in the ultimate classic, “we’ll always have Casablanca.”