In the immortal words of New York Times film critic Manohla Dargis, “Let’s acknowledge that the Oscars are bullshit and we hate them.”
And yet many of us can’t help loving them as well, not only for the pageantry of the ceremony itself but also for the validation we feel when our favorite movies win. Best Picture is the most prestigious laurel, of course, and for every deserved winner (Oppenheimer) is an eyebrow-raiser that ages like milk (Green Book). This year’s nominees represent one of the stronger fields in recent years, with none of the likely winners likely to elicit controversy (knock on wood).
The smart money appears to be on One Battle After Another taking home the top prize, with Sinners gaining just enough momentum in recent weeks to give Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest a run for its money. If you’d like to catch up before the show on Sunday, avail yourself of my ranking of all 10 Best Picture nominees in descending order of how much I enjoyed them.
Yorgos Lanthimos is among our most consistently excellent — and out-there — filmmakers, and the fact that Bugonia tops this list while only being his fourth or fifth best movie kind of says it all. As entertaining as it is distressing, this story of an obsessed conspiracy theorist (Jesse Plemons) kidnapping a high-profile CEO (Emma Stone) because he believes her to be an alien hellbent on destroying the planet is frightening in its plausibility — and thrilling in its vision of a man going down a rabbit hole he might never escape. (Peacock)
No one makes big-budget studio pictures like Ryan Coogler, whose ability to turn boxing, superhero, and now vampire movies into vehicles for equally big ideas is nearly unparalleled. Michael B. Jordan, who’s starred in four of Coogler’s five films, is at his best in the role of twin brothers who are about to have a very long night fending off the undead. In breaking the all-time Oscar record with 16 nominations, Sinners is the kind of movie the Academy dreams of: a mass-appeal blockbuster that will persuade casual viewers to tune in and inspire deserved rounds of applause every time it wins an award. (HBO Max)
One of the year’s most pleasant surprises wasn’t how good Train Dreams was — anyone who read the Denis Johnson novella it’s based on knew to expect great things — but how much love it’s received throughout awards season. Small movies like this tend to be overlooked by the Academy, and the fact that it wasn’t feels like a prize in and of itself. (Netflix)
It’s rare for an international filmmaker to be welcomed into the Hollywood fold without diluting or dumbing down the qualities that earned them acclaim in the first place, but Joachim Trier has done so with equally rare — and distinctly Scandinavian — elegance. A quartet of superlative performances from Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, and Elle Fanning (all of whom received nominations of their own) anchor and enliven the proceedings, which explore the healing power of art in decidedly unsentimental fashion. (Rent or buy)
Timothée Chalamet’s press tour hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing, but that doesn’t make his performance — or the movie itself — less worthy of being celebrated. As close to a crowdpleaser as either Safdie brother is ever likely to make, this ping-pong period piece (try saying that as fast as Marty can swing a paddle) is frenetic without being anxiety-inducing and uniquely compelling in its approach to the sports biopic. (Rent or buy)
It’s alive, and no one could have brought it back to life quite like Guillermo del Toro. It’s clear from every frame of Frankenstein that this is the movie he’s always wanted to make, a passion project that manages to be true to the spirit of the original while also being distinctly his own creation. It helps that Jacob Elordi’s interpretation of the monster is especially tragic and sympathetic, but what most electrifies this creature feature is its maker’s one-of-a-kind sensibility. (Netflix)
Kleber Mendonça Filho’s characteristically playful take on the espionage thriller could go home empty-handed on Oscar night and still rank among the most internationally successful Brazilian films ever made. For good reason: The Secret Agent is darkly funny and twisty in its plotting, with leading man Wagner Moura more than earning his status as the first Brazilian or South American to land a Best Actor nomination. It’s unlikely to take home the top prize, but a Best International Feature win wouldn’t be surprising — or, if it can inch past Sentimental Value, undeserved — in the slightest. (Hulu)
The tearjerking power of the climax is undeniable, but it also feels a little contrived once you’re done wiping your eyes. The rest of Chloé Zhao’s adaptation of the novel about Shakespeare writing Hamlet in the wake of his son’s tragic death is moving but meandering, one of those not-quite-great movies I found myself admiring more than loving. (Peacock)
Paul Thomas Anderson is almost certain to finally be crowned Best Director for his latest opus, which is also the Best Picture frontrunner. I won’t begrudge either win, even though I long ago accepted that PTA’s movies are, for the most part, simply not my cup of tea. (HBO Max)
One of these things is not like the other. F1 was perfectly enjoyable, but the fact that the final nominee was speculated to be the vastly superior It Was Just an Accident makes the racing drama’s inclusion especially conspicuous. At least there’s comfort to be had in the fact that it has approximately zero chance of crossing the finish line first. (Apple TV+)
