I had a lot of fun ranking the best picture nominees a few years ago, so I figured why not give it another go and see just what Hollywood thinks the best movies of last year were. As usual, there are some glaring omissions; the wonderful Talk To Me is nowhere to be seen and the masterpiece of Godzilla Minus One is disappointingly absent, but none of that is shocking. Those aside, let’s go through the rest of the list and see what made the list and where I would put them in the rankings!
10 ) Maestro – How did this get a Best Picture nomination? Maestro assumes you are 1) Already familiar with Leonard Bernstein 2) Deeply invested in his romantic situations 3) Will be impressed enough by Bradley Cooper’s performance that you don’t notice that the rest of the movie is kind of a mess. None of those applied to me. I assume someone on the Academy’s board was a huge Leonard Bernstein fan and leave it at that.
9) Barbie – I’m one of the few and proud who did the Barbenheimer double feature, and it was an awesome experience! I’ll get to Oppenheimer in a moment but Barbie surprised me with how funny, creative, and bold it was – especially considering it is a movie based on a doll. There are problems with it, things that don’t work, but it’s got more heart than I would have expected and it does have a lot of relevant things to say. Any movie that opens with a 2001: A Space Odyssey reference deserves a gold star.
8) The Holdovers – This is a great example of a movie that could have turned out significantly worse with a run of the mill director. The Holdovers has a great cast and plenty of funny and emotional moments to liven up what could have been bland and predictable. The Holdovers is a good movie that I would recommend, but it doesn’t approach the level of special that a Best Picture nominee would need to contend for the top spot.
7) Anatomy of a Fall – Impeccably well shot and acted drama about the aftermath of a deadly fall. There’s a lot of great social commentary here about how people get their lives dissected when put on trial, which reminded me of The Stranger in a good way. I kind of wanted more from the third act but overall this was a quality film with great courtroom drama.
6) Killers of the Flower Moon – This may just be a personal problem, but I’m a little tired of 3hr+ tales of gangsters doing gangstery things, looking at you The Irishman. Trying to remove that, Killers of the Flower Moon is otherwise great. Every shot is gorgeous, the performances are mostly impeccable, it concerns a topic that needs to be talked about more, and I’m happy that this movie was made and the success it has seen. I have a lot of nitpicks, but at the end of the day this is a pretty impressive achievement.
5) Poor Things – I wanted to love Poor Things more than I did. All the pieces are here, but they don’t add up for me, and at the end I was left wanting more than it could offer. The performances are amazing, if Emma Stone doesn’t win Best Actress I’m flipping a table, the visual design is phenomenal, and there is plenty of humor and whimsy to be had, but the simplicity of the overall messages fall flat. It feels like there’s something I’m not seeing that everybody else is seeing, and sometimes I guess that’s just art. Still a great watch though.
4) American Fiction – Calling art ‘interesting’ is usually a backhanded compliment, but when I say this movie is ‘interesting’ I mean it in the most flattering way possible. American Fiction toys with the audience like a cat playing with its dinner; it makes you think in a way that most movies don’t have the guts to ask you to. With razor sharp wit and thematic elements that will leave you thinking long after the runtime is over, American Fiction is one of the best satires I have ever seen.
3) The Zone of Interest – This goes hard. Horrors lurk at the borders of every scene and the sound design alone made this a haunting experience. This manages to subvert a lot of Holocaust movie tropes while also reinforcing the existence of the casual cruelty which makes such events possible, even today. An important reminder about the humanity of people who do terrible things and how no one is the villain in their own story. Real downer though.
2/1) Past Lives – Past Lives came out of nowhere, grabbed me by the collar, and screamed “LOOK AT THIS PERFECT DEBUT FILM”. Shockingly real, human, joyous, tragic, optimistic, and dour all at once, Past Lives weaves an unforgettable tale about human connection told in a masterfully understated way. Overflowing with the language of cinema, crisp editing, purposeful cinematography and staging, and incredible characters, Past Lives is a top contender for Best Picture.
1/2) Oppenheimer – I have been critical of Christopher Nolan before, I’m not in love with his interpretation of Batman and I maintain Inception is a nonsensical waste of a good premise. Oppenheimer has converted me. A masterful take on one of the most important events of the 20th century, Oppenheimer boasts an incredible cast delivering career defining performances with an excessively skilled cinematography and score. Completely earns its 3hour+ runtime and every moment feels necessary. Just wow.
It was extremely difficult ranking Past Lives and Oppenheimer as these movies are so incredibly different. I’m going back and forth in my head even now as to whether or not Past Lives deserves the top spot or if Oppenheimer is still my favorite of this list, which is why I’ve added the helpful dual rankings for those two films. Sometimes Past Lives is better, sometimes Oppenheimer is better, both are incredible movies and represent two completely different styles of filmmaking. In my mind, it’s completely between Past Lives and Oppenheimer for what is going to win Best Picture, and if either do, I’d be satisfied. But we all know what really deserves Best Picture…
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