Tell It Like a Woman

Watched it to check boxes on nomination nods, otherwise would have never even heard of it. And with good reason.

Seven badly written stories (some barely ok, others just painfully awful), mostly stereotypical and melodramatic, devoid of emotional weight. By the time it's finally over, there isn't one memorable scene, line or character.

It's insane it can now claim to be an Oscar-nominated movie, especially when compared to remarkable films (Nope, Northman, Woman King) which were completely snubbed by the Academy this year, but here we are. Alas, not even perennial nominee Diane Warren is able to save this tragedy, since 'Applause' is as bland as cellophane, better suited to a High School Music sequel that no one asked for.

I just wonder what the hell were Jennifer Hudson and Marcia Gay Harden thinking...

There was a big hoop-de-doo this year because no woman was nominated in the Best Direction category - THIS IS ONE OF THE REASONS WHY!!! This is absolutely a waste of time. Documentary-like, the stories are boring, some creepy, most meaningless. A total waste of time and talent (?). I paid $4.99 to watch this on Amazon and am seriously considering asking for my money back. There is nothing entertaining about this. The is nothing "great" or even "good" about this picture - it's normal. The acting is "normal" no standouts. The behind the camera personal perform their jobs - there is nothing out of the ordinary about this. In short - wait til the film is available on a free service - don't waste your money on it.

I didn't think the film was awful, I just think some of the messaging was unclear and some stories fell short of meaning and direction. The first story that dealt with mental health and drug addiction was based on a true story and was well acted, in my opinion. If you know anything about this topic, you'll know there will be plenty of drama, that's a given. The other stories, some also based on actual events, were delivered adequately enough, as I remembered most of the stories long after the film was over. I thought the worst was the last story, which was animated, I didn't think it was a good fit.

I did like the song "Applause" which was nominated for an Oscar however, my pick is RRR's Naatu Naatu.

Wow, this mess of a... feature presentation (one hesitates to call it a film) plays like a screening at a mid-level shorts festival where organizers slapped together two hours worth of Shorts ranging from okay-ish (the Indian one) to embarrassingly on-the-nose (e.g. The Jennifer Hudson one). That screening (the one you might just be walking out of at that hypothetical festival) might be called Women's Voices or something like that, but that's really all they have in common. Annoyingly, if the idea was to represent a female experience, said experience is based all in cliché and narrow views of what female subjectivity can be. You get: woman as mothers, as occupied with housework, as victims of abuse, as having mental health issues (several times), as beauty-obsessed. That's all you could come up with? Feminists would say: thanks for nothing.

And at this point, I think the Academy is actively trolling poor Diane Warren by handing her Oscar nomination after nomination for mediocre songs written for poor movies, never with any chance of winning.

No pun intended - as you can see by the ratings, some would have liked if this never got made. Now I don't fully agree with that sentiment. But I understand that most had issues with this movie that consists of a lot of shorter stories compiled (and combined) to make a feature length movie out of.

The very first one already seems out of place. Quite the overacting and really way too out there. The talent assembled would suggest that this could have been something really good. Not sure where it went wrong - and some topics are really worthy our time ... and yet this never really has any spark ... any connection with the viewer. Well most of them - which is a shame. I guess if you watch it as something experimental, it might work ... but promoting it with all the names ... I reckon wrong expectations have been sparked ... I don't think it is as bad as the vote suggest, but overall it does remain quite messy .. not in a good sense.