Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the 2021 Academy Award Movie nominees…

Stumbled on this while killing some time online and found it absolutely fascinating.

Sports superstar/writer/actor Kareem Abdul-Jabbar offers his take on the three films which seem the favorites to take the ”Best Picture” award for 2021 releases… and -SPOILERS- he finds them wanting…

The 3 Most Disappointing Films of 2021 Are Best Picture Nominees!

Not to spoil the article, but the three films he’s referring to are The Power of the Dog, Don’t Look Up, and Nightmare Alley.

Full disclosure: I have seen none of these films, though I had the opportunity, thanks to the various streaming services, to see the lot of ’em.

But what Abdul-Jabbar writes I find fascinating. Don’t Look Up certainly has its fans… and detractors, and the most common criticisms I found were reflected in what was written in Abdul-Jabbar’s article. I’m hot and cold on director Guillermo Del Toro and it seemed like Nightmare Alley was also a film people were split on. I love the visuals of all of Del Toro’s films -the man certainly knows how to film a scene!- but the stories he tells can be underwhelming, at least to me. Further to this, Del Toro has a tendency to make every scene/sequence look like something big and climactic and, unfortunately, by the time we reach the movie’s end, all those highs dilute the strength of the climax.

As for The Power of the Dog, that seems to be yet another film that has its fans and detractors. Those who don’t like the film really don’t like it, while those who do are big fans.

Again, I haven’t seen any of these films, despite having the opportunity to do so with each, and I don’t know if I ever will. I have so many films I want to catch up on and so little time!

Regardless, if you’ve seen the films -or even if you haven’t- the article and the insights provided by Mr. Abdul-Jabbar are fascinating.