I've really enjoyed the diversity of this year's Oscar best picture nominees. I've been lucky to have seen all of the 10 films, including 4 in the last week. I rated most of these films highly because of the depth of character complexity - sometimes relating to real people, other times - beautiful creations that are three dimensional. Most are wonderful cinematic productions and a feast for the eyes that create a rich visual background for super storytelling. But, I'm sorry, Oppenheimer should not win. No one would be unhappy if The Holdovers won and some may dare to say Poor Things is worthy of the top prize.
Best to worst:
- Poor Things
- The Holdovers
- Anatomy of a Fall
- Killers of the Flower Moon
- Past Lives
- Maestro
- American Fiction
- Oppenheimer
- Barbie
- The Zone of Interest
Poor Things
Loved it. Like what - the chaos of Moulin Rouge + the artistry of Wes Anderson + the poetry of a Woody Allen character? Stunning visuals. Superb performances - Emma Stone is my pick for Oscar’s best actress. Loved the dance scene, and the scene on deck of the ship, and Paris, and the end. Beautiful adaptation of the book that I assume was a master class in imagination - my pick for Oscar's adapted screenplay. As it says “a fantastical tale” but one with lots of lessons for humans wandering this crazy blue orb. Mark Ruffalo is my pick for Oscar’s best supporting actor. 9/10.
The Holdovers
Anatomy of a Fall
Killers of the Flower Moon
Superb movie making, cinematography, sound, costume, soundtrack and directing. Martin Scorsese is my pick for Oscar’s best director. A very powerful story. I loved DeNiro’s jail cell words about people will forget. It was long but massive actors can keep your attention. DiCaprio was superb - completely convincing portrayal of a tragic? slow-minded fool. I sadly didn’t know it was based on a true story. Superb cast with a few interesting cast members from the music world that I missed: Jason Isbell as Bill Smith, Peter Yorn as Acie Kirby and Jack White. 8/10
Past Lives
Cinematic visions galore. Loved the tone and mood. A simple, familiar story made more acute by the cultural (and language) differences. Carefully acted on a delicate edge of sensitivity. More artistic than I expected - in a wonderful welcome way. 8/10
Maestro
The scene in the cathedral was one of my favourites of the year - breathtaking. Cooper completely transformed for this role and gave us a beautiful memory of a music lover - Bradley Cooper is my pick for Oscar’s best actor. Mulligan’s performance was also superb - perhaps creating the best duo performance of the Oscar year. The revelation of complex characters always creates a great movie for me. 7/10
American Fiction
I came out thinking it was a decent movie but not Oscar worthy. Then my wife explained what the movie was really about. It was meta. Then it became brilliant. But I missed it. I was the internal audience. 7/10
Oppenheimer
Torn on this one. Acting was superb - Downey Jr. was dazzling. Cinematography was great. But it was massively complex with so many characters. Important from a historical point of view. 7/10
Barbie
Fun, but way too silly to have any chance of making a serious point. Musical bits were cringe worthy. I’m man enough to admit I had to look up the meaning of patriarchy. Loved McKinnon’s whackiness. BUT, it's my pick for Oscar's best song. 6/10.
The Zone of Interest
A strange film and hard-going - I don’t really understand why it’s nominated. I did appreciate the cinematography, its premise and some shocking scenes. Just hours before watching it, I'd seen Sandra Hüller in Anatomy of a Fall - I didn't know she was also in this film -I recognized her quite quickly. The cut to a scene from today was perhaps its most concrete element and made the point. 5/10
