Well, it’s been a minute since I’ve done one of these – but as with every year I have endeavoured to watch all of the Academy Awards Best Picture nominees. I managed to get through six and a half out of ten of them. I’ll get around to Avatar eventually (seriously, over three hours is just self-indulgent and there is no way I’m doing that in a theatre), and Women Talking is next on my list. But chances I’ll see All Quiet on the Western Front are slim to none, because as we all know, war movies = colossal bore. Here’s the rest, followed by a handful of others I caught recently which didn’t get a nomination.
Movies (Best Piccy Noms)
- Tár
This was all about Blanchett – fantastic as always. And the rest of the cast lifted her presence on screen even further – with the bounce of a nervous knee or the compulsive click of a pen keeping a sense of icy fear in the air around her. The environment too keeps tension in the air – the cold concrete of her home, the metronome ticking like a clock counting down to her fate. The themes were timely – whether one can, or should, separate the art from the artist.
That explosive climax on stage was terrific – although the epilogue felt a little more comedic and against the grain of the tone already set by the rest of the film. - The Banshees of Inisherin
Tell ya what, I love an Irish accent, and this has plenty of them. Farrell and Gleeson may be the best cast pairing in this whole list – both characters feel very real. A melancholy dark comedy about friendship and loneliness. Everyone in this film is lonely – the only difference is how it is dealt with. I really enjoyed this. - Everything Everywhere All at Once
Easily the most inventive and creative movie on this list, and I expected nothing less of Daniels. I wasn’t crazy about the narrative, but the style and cast more than made up for it. Get ready for this to be copied a billion times until it’s no longer fresh. This one will probably win, and as good as some of the others here were – I think this is the most well deserved. It’s current, it’s unique, it’ll be studied for years to come. Daniels have come a long way, and it’s terrific they’ve been able to make a film as wild as their music videos, which has found both financial and critical returns – all without dumbing it down. - Triangle of Sadness
Each act of Triangle plays out like a miniature film of its own. The first was excruciating. One thing I can not stand watching on screen is couples fighting. The subject of the fight doesn’t even matter, it’s more painful than a horror movie to me. But I got through it. The second act is where things get wild and hilarious, and it’s best to just lose yourself in the moment (although it’s not for those with a weak stomach). The sight of a squeegee on the window mid-storm said it all for me. The “Lord of the Flies” third act flips things on their head, but much like flipping an hourglass, we find things to be familiar again soon enough.
The themes of class and gender roles were not subtle at all, and the whole thing is really disjointed and doesn’t really flow together – but I enjoyed it nonetheless. - Top Gun Maverick
It does what it says on the tin, and to be honest, this is how I like my popcorn movies these days – beautifully shot action, simple stakes, low investment story, and zero to mild character development. It’s cheesy as hell, but that suits the tone.
One thing though, this is not worthy of a best picture nomination – I get that the Academy is trying to appear “relevant” by adding movies like this and Avatar in the mix, but it misses the point. Those movies win at the box office – and that’s fine. But they are different beasts. Popular does not always equate to best. Some movies can do both, but this ain’t one. - The Fabelmans
Christ, the first hour of this was a chore. I’ve long thought I could have happily grown up in the 1960s, with my adolescence in the 1970s. Many of the things I love are from this era. But holy hell, if I found myself in the saccharine 1950s world painted by the first hour of this movie, I would probably lose my damn mind before Kennedy even got into the White House.
But I persisted and watched through to the end. It was fine, but there is truly no reason this story needed to be told. I gained nothing from it. It was Spielberg making a pointless movie loosely about himself, like an Ouroboros eating its own tail, simply because he could. - Elvis
This is the “half” a movie I referred to above, as I wasn’t able to get to the end. Frankly, it’s a miracle I gave it a shot to begin with given my distaste for Luhrmann’s tired style. Austin Butler’s performance was easily the best aspect of this. Hanks was plain awful and cartoonish. And it failed at the one thing required of any good musical bio-pic – the music. The musical treatments were horrible. Luhrmann persists with mash-ups like it’s still 2006, and his compulsion to mix in modern beats with the old tunes results in the opposite effect to which I presume he was striving to achieve. It makes it look dated – some real “how do you do, fellow kids?” energy from Baz here.
Movies (Non Noms)
- The Menu
I loved this. Ralph Fiennes is incredible, Anya Taylor-Joy is captivating, and Nicholas Hoult hilarious. I knew nothing about it going in and was all the better off for it. It builds and unravels at a steady pace, with the temperature turned up with each loud clap of Fiennes’ chef. It plays out with similar class-based themes to Triangle (above) and Infinity Pool (below) – and given the state of the world, I suspect this to be a continuing thematic trend for years to come. - Infinity Pool
Trippy as hell, this is definitely not for everyone – you’ll likely either love it or hate it. I fell into the former category and embraced its insanity. Brandon Cronenberg’s direction is terrific – be it the off-putting slow rolls of the camera at the start, or the creepy use of light later in the film. Skarsgard gives one of his better performances, and Mia Goth keeps carving out that “terrifyingly alluring” lane for herself in Hollywood. The plot too was right up my alley, but the less said there the better. - Decision to Leave
A Korean romantic mystery, where the mystery is a little obvious from a mile off, but the chemistry between the leads really leaps off the screen as they fall into the perils of romantic blindness. It runs a little long but it’s well worth a look if you’re into that kind of thing. - The Whale
I’m not crying, you’re crying. This is all about Brendan Fraser and Sadie Sink. Both are terrific and bounce right off each other. There’s little meat on the bones of the story, and some of the overt emphasis on food felt unnecessary, but the emotional weight is where this movie shines. The 4:3 aspect ratio was a clever choice to keep the audience tightly enclosed in that apartment too.
Also, the work done on Fraser is incredible. It deserves to win for best makeup and hairstyling.
