CODA

It's hard to argue with the fact that CODA is a heartwarming and inclusive film about a family of fishers. Sian Heder's cast of legitimately deaf actors (Marlee Matlin, Troy Kotsur and Daniel Durant) gel well with the only hearing member of their family (Emelia Jones). As for Heder's story, it's a well-worn one about strife between people who truly love each other, despite the disputes. You also can't argue with the fact that the critics liked CODA. It's nice and it's safe. But that's the problem. When a movie wins the Oscar for Best Picture, it really should be a lot more remarkable than this is. It's not even the best picture in recent years about this subject. Sound Of Metal and the short documentary Audible are just plain better. So while you can't hate CODA, we failed to see why so many loved it as much as they did. Anyway, fire up our 447th Ellises' Analysis to hear us grade a nice movie on a steep curve, but order a batch of Sparkplug Coffee too. They'll give you a 20% discount if you plug in our promo code ("top100project"). Oh, and tweet us (@moviefiend51 and @bevellisellis) while also taking a gander at Ryan's sports film podcast (Scoring At The Movies).