I found 2024 to be a disappointing year for "best" picture nominees. Among my very conservative friend group, I'm considered to be the most liberal of conservatives. I've even been called a RINO. I actually consider myself down the middle, especially on most DEI or WOKE issues. I think the academy clearly has a "type" of movie they like to reward, often the more weighty and socially conscious art style films. Who hasn't heard, or said, "now that's an Oscar type movie"?!?! I don't really have an issue with certain themes being deemed more "worthy" than others. Although, I would certainly like to see more of the non-types, like big budget, summer blockbuster action movies, along with comedies, animation, and even horror, getting more recognition. I do see signs of this trend slowly changing, maybe because there are now up to 10 nominees, instead of 5, which used to be the max. My issue this year, is that some movies seem to be rewarded for the mere concept or theme of the film, then for the actual quality of the movie.
As always, I'll review the top movies nominated, in the order I would rank them, best to worst. I enjoyed the top three, maybe four, far more than the rest. The bottom three could have come in any order. I disliked them all for different reasons. In the end, I tried to rank them on the elements I did like, more than what I didn't.
There were a few movies this year that I think were worth watching, that the Academy overlooked, or more likely weren't "Oscar types". My recommendations this year are a bit more "edgy" or darker than usual. While I'm not exactly a fan of horror, "Strange Darling" and "Longlegs" fall into that genre. "Strange Darling" is a unique take on a serial killer, both in style and substance. "Longlegs" felt like a mix of "Silence of the Lambs" with the mysticism of season one, of HBO's, "True Detective". For a fun, there is a slightly crazy movie, set in Belfast, called "Kneecap", that I recommend. It's based on a true story about a rap group trying to save and legitimize the Irish language. Finally, if you were born in the 60's, and consider yourself a "Saturday Night Live" fan, the movie "Saturday Night" is worth seeing. The film primarily follows Lorne Michaels as he endeavors, against all odds, to get the firsts episode of SNL on the air.
1) A COMPLETE UNKNOWN: I can't say I'm a big Bob Dylan fan, but I do respect him and his accomplishments. That being said, "A Complete Unknown" was the most complete and most entertaining movie of the year. The film chronicles the rise of Dylan, from a vagabond, 19-year-old, folk singer and song writer to a world-renowned icon. Timothee Chalamet's performance is simply spectacular, and I'll be rooting for him to win the best lead actor Oscar. I believe he's the best actor of his generation, and the next De Niro or DiCaprio. His commitment to the role, his obvious research, not to mention his live musical performances, are truly to be admired! Dylan arrives in NY where he meets, and is mentored by Pete Seeger, an established Folk music star, played brilliantly by Ed Norton. Dylan becomes romantically involved with Sylvie, played by Elle Fanning, and eventually teams up professionally and romantically with Joan Baez, wonderfully portrayed by relative unknown Monica Barbaro, who I'm also rooting for to win an Oscar, although she's considered a long shot. There is a palpable beauty and authenticity to the look and sound of this movie. Dylan has always been somewhat of an enigma, often charming and just as often cranky or downright nasty. That definitely comes through. The man won a Nobel Prize but didn't even go to the awards ceremony to accept. In the end, I was totally captivated and thoroughly entertained. What higher praise......
2) DUNE: PART TWO: Timothee Chalamet part 2! Ordinarily I'm drawn to actor driven films. Give me a strong performance and great writing over spectacular visuals, or thrilling action. Dune may be the exception to this preference. The performances by this star-studded cast.... Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, to name a few...... were as good as you'd expect. However, it's the visual beauty, the effects, the CGI, the action, and the sheer entertainment value that make this movie special. I suspect the credit mostly goes to the writer and director, Denis Villeneuve. I'm not sure I fully appreciated how beautiful the first Dune was, but it's unmistakable in Part 2. Maybe this is a continuation of the trend to reward more popular "non-Oscar types".
3) ANORA: Mikey Madison plays the titular Anora, an Uzbek American, Brookly native, hard edged, sex worker. She gives a no holds barred, brazen, fearless, utterly committed, performance, for which she appropriately received a best actress nomination. I hope she wins. She seduces, and becomes seduced by, Vanya, the son of a Russian oligarch. He hires Anora for a week of partying and sex. The week of fun evolves into a love affair, and they impulsively elope to Las Vegas. Naturally, his parents aren't pleased and insist on an annulment. Oscar nominated Yura Borisov, is Igor, an enforcer, who's tasked with keeping an eye on Anora and protecting Vanya. His performance is the anchor to the film and what gives it heart. Overall, it is a very fun, and funny, movie, with a lot to like. I was thoroughly entertained. I did have issues, once again, with the 2:20 run time, and several scenes I found unnecessary, as they didn't further the story, were unbelievable, or simply too long. For example, there is a sequence in a diner, a prolonged search for a missing Vanya, and a tow truck incident that fall into the unnecessary, too long, and unbelievable category, respectively. I also felt the film lost some of its momentum when Vanya's stereotypical and poorly acted parents enter the film. Although, the very end was unexpected and riveting.
4) CONCLAVE: This is the definition of an actor driven film. Ralph Fiennes single handedly drives this movie and is solely responsible for its acclaim. There are several other excellent performances, but they exist only to enhance Ralph Fiennes. The beloved pope has died, and Cardinal Lawrence (Fiennes) is charged with organizing the Conclave, the event by which a new pope is elected. 118 Cardinals from the world over, descend on the Vatican, for this secret and sacred process. Cardinal Lawrence must wrangle egos, deal with questionable motives, in-fighting, and deception, all while trying to be true to the church's teaching, and the wishes of the recently deceased pope. The writing and performances are Oscar worthy. It's a very strong film, with a similar feel as "Two Popes", from 2020, which earned two best actor nominations, lead and supporting. However, I felt the ending was rushed and unsatisfying. As my brother likes to say, "it didn't stick the landing", and therefore gets significant deductions.
5) THE BRUTALIST: Everything in this movie is excellent. The acting, the writing, the direction, and the cinematography, are all top shelf. Adrian Brody plays Laszlo Toth, in this based on a true story, epic. He's a renowned architect who, as a Jew, flees war torn Europe, to start anew in America. He works menial jobs, until given his big break by Harrison Lee Van Buren, a wealthy businessman, played beautifully by Guy Pearce, who I've been critical of in the past (Memento not withstanding). While all the individual pieces are excellent, the film suffers from being nearly 3 and a half hours long and consequently from being slow paced, or boring. Laszlo has substance abuse and fidelity "issues", which, while being important to defining his nature, are alluded to more than depicted on film. There is a significant train derailment, which is shown from a drone perspective. The view from above shows a train driving in to a foggy cloud, followed by a bright flash, and that's it. For this tragically long movie, these felt like missed opportunities for some sorely needed action. Laszlo's character also doesn't seem to evolve much during the 3.5 hours. He's kind of a dick early and remains one late. The movie reminds me a little of my review of "Killers of the Flower Moon", a film in which I liked everything, but thought it too long and ultimately boring.
6) NICKEL BOYS: This movie was hard to review, and hard to decide where to place on this list. I understand why the film was nominated, being very much "Oscar-type". However, for me, it was just too artsy, by a lot. This type of movie makes me feel like I should be taking notes or need to check the Cliff Notes after watching. Our protagonist, Elwood Curtis, played primarily by Ethan Herisse, is a black high schooler, growing up in the racist American south, of the early 1960s. Although innocent of any crime, he ends up in an abusive reform school in Florida. There he's befriended by Turner, also wonderfully played by Brandon Wilson. The film is beautifully written, shot and acted. However, the events are nonlinear, jumping around in the timeline. It's sometimes viewed from first person, sometimes second. One scene is shown twice, from two different viewpoints. There is a mule, and a recurrent alligator, which I'm sure symbolize something important, that I didn't quite get. There is considerable violence, but it's never quite shown, just alluded to, or shown in the aftermath. These are clearly directorial choices. To me, these issues made the movie feel disjointed and made it difficult to fully immerse myself. I think my favorite part was a short, but gripping, scene, in a bar, near the end of the film, in which an older Elwood bumps in a prior fellow "inmate", played by Trey Perkins. I think Perkins was overlooked for a supporting actor nod. In the end, I did enjoy it. I understand and respect that someone would cherish this movie, but for my taste, still a little too artsy.
7) WICKED: Much like last year's "Barbie", I'm quite certain that the target audience for this movie wasn't 60-year-old white guys. Naturally. there was a lot of singing and dancing, much of which I did enjoy. Ariana Grande was "fine" as Galinda (Good Witch) but Cynthia Erivo was extraordinary as Elphaba (Bad Witch). At 2:40 it was far too long, especially considering it's only Part 1. Visually it was only okay, and the entire film felt a little too preachy and "WOKE". I'm sure this appealed to the theater-kid crowd, but it wasn't really for me. I'd say it's pretty much what you'd expect, just longer.
8) THE SUBSTANCE: My feelings about this movie are similar to those I had about "Everything, Everywhere All at Once". So many people I respect raved about this film, but I didn't care for it all that much. Demi Moore is Elisabeth, a beloved, Jane Fonda type, exercise guru, with a successful television show. She's aging and is being pushed out by Harvey, the show's producer, played by Dennis Quaid. She's to be replaced by the younger, hotter, Sue, played expertly by Margaret Qualley. Elisabeth is turned on to the possibility of getting injections of a mysterious "substance" which will preserve her youth and career. The willingness to pay any price, or take any risk, for youth and beauty just didn't feel all the unique or original. The set up, during the first half of the movie felt very "on the nose" and predictable. Yes, there are some excellent scenes with beautiful visual and performance choices, just not enough. The second half, after having accepted and injected the substance, simply became too chaotic, inconsistent, and unbelieve for me. I saw the film in an art house type theater. During a late, very violent scene, when audiences were supposed to shocked and horrified, my audience was quite literally giggling at the absurdity. In another late scene, a now grotesquely deformed Elisabeth, could barely move her legs, but in a following scene she's shown agilely sprinting down a hallway. These types of scenes pulled me out of the "flow" of the film, and I found myself checking my watch frequently to see "how much longer".
9) EMILIA PEREZ: Another musical I didn't fully get. This movie has been controversial but did receive 13 Oscar nominations, among the most ever, by any film. The somewhat preposterous premise is that Manitas (Karla Sofia Gascon), a cartel leader, hires Rita (Zoe Saldana), a lawyer, to arrange for him to undergo a sex-change operation and to create a new identity, for him to start a new life as a woman. Some of the musical numbers are quite lovely, but the performances, the pacing, and the overall entertainment value was lacking, in my opinion. Although, I have to admit I enjoyed it more than I expected to. I've never mentioned other reviews, but I do frequent IMDB quite often. The Metascore (cumulative critics review score) was a mere 70, and it's IMDB rating (cumulative user score) was a dreadful 5.5. I'm not sure how this poorly received film, by critics and audiences alike, deserved the honor of being one of the most nominated films ever. While this is very much an Oscar-type, and a front runner, it's just not that great.
10) I'M STILL HERE: This foreign language film is another "based on true story". In 1971 former Brazilian congressman, Rubens Paiva, was taken from his home by the military, which had overtaken the government and the country. Eunice (Fernanda Torres), his wife, and his kids, are left to their own devices, awaiting his return. The film primarily chronicles Eunice's endeavor to discover what's happened to him, and how to move on in his absence. At some point, along with one of her daughters, she is also taken by the military, imprisoned and interrogated, but only for a relatively short while. This movie had plenty of opportunity to be dramatic, or more interesting and entertaining, but it failed on all counts, in my humble opinion. The first hour, or so, is primarily the family going about typical family business. Much of the first act is intermittently shot in a shaky handheld camera style, which after a while I found annoying and distracting. Rubens is shown, in his office, or on the phone, but what exactly he's up to isn't made clear. Once he's taken, we never see his character again, although, it's assumed, and later confirmed, that he's been tortured and killed. There is no physical violence shown, beyond a black-out hood being placed, showers denied, and repetitive looking through mug shots. I never quite felt the distress nor tension I'm sure they were hoping to convey. At the risk of a "spoiler", in the last act, decades later, Eunice receives notice that a much-desired death certificate has been issued. There is much jubilation along with media attention. For whatever reason, prior to the notification, the desire for a death certificate is never even mentioned or hinted at. Therefore, there is no anticipation and no shared jubilation from the audience, when it's finally received. I didn't care for the photography, the pacing, nor the acting, despite 3 significant nominations and much critical acclaim. Ultimately, it's 2 hours and 17 minutes of nothing much happening.
As always, I welcome any opinions, in agreement or disagreement. Tell me what other movies, in your opinion, should have been nominated or should be seen.
