Anticipated ‘Nomadland’ on Hulu
With the Golden Globe Awards scheduled for Feb. 28, awards-season chatter has begun. Few films have inspired as much anticipation as the 2020 road film “Nomadland,” starring Frances McDormand (“Fargo”) as a woman who loses her job and her house in a recession and embarks on a trip across the country in her modest van. A film festival favorite, “Nomadland” releases in theaters today as well as on Hulu.
Hollywood and Oscar have a long tradition of recognizing and rewarding road movies. The 1934 Frank Capra comedy “It Happened One Night” won Oscars for best picture, director, actor, actress and adapted screenplay.
A generation later, the 1969 motorcycle adventure “Easy Rider” was hailed as a revolution in filmmaking. Arguably, the greatest upset in Oscar history was when Art Carney beat Al Pacino (“The Godfather Part II”) to win best actor for “Harry and Tonto,” a road movie about a displaced New Yorker and his cat. The 1991 feminist odyssey “Thelma and Louise” (9:45 p.m., TCM, TV-14) was arguably the most talked-about movie of its time.
Veteran actor Richard Farnsworth received a best actor Oscar nomination for the 1999 drama “The Straight Story,” about a Midwestern man who commandeers his riding mower to cross several state lines to visit his ailing brother (Harry Dean Stanton). The powerful film was an unlikely collaboration between Disney and “Blue Velvet” director David Lynch.
Also released by Disney (Touchstone), the 2000 musical comedy adventure “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” even cites Homer’s “The Odyssey” as its source material. Co-directed by Joel Coen, Frances McDormand’s husband.
› Apple TV+ debuts the second season of its ambitious science fiction/ alternative history series “For All Mankind.” In this elaborate fantasy, the USSR beats America to the moon, sparking a space race that continues well beyond the 1960s.
Blending scripted performances with a deft use of news footage, Season 2 jumps ahead to another decade and begins with clips of President Reagan recommitting the United States to grand missions. This puts Mission Control under the control of the Defense Department. A third season of “For All Mankind” has already been given the green light.
› Netflix begins streaming the 2020 satire “I Care a Lot.” Rosamund Pike portrays Marla, a swindler who targets elderly people and convinces them that they have been declared mentally incompetent and placed under her guardianship. She takes on more than she can handle when her latest victim (Dianne Wiest) turns out to have very powerful (and dangerous) friends.