2022 Best Picture Nominees

I’m skipping ahead to 2022 because I haven’t seen all of the 2021 nominees yet. This is not a great crop. Some watchable movies, but only one I’d really recommend. Worst to first: 

West Side Story – I couldn’t make it through 30 minutes. Grade: Incomplete (or F) 

Drive My Car – I’m sure plenty gets lost in translation when trying to convey sparse emotional dialogue through subtitles, but that didn’t make this any less boring. And not only was it boring, but it clocked in at a lean three hours. Grade: C- 

Dune – Are we supposed to have some background knowledge going in? This wasn’t bad, probably had a big budget, but I wasn’t quite motivated to dive into this world and I’m sure I’ll have forgotten everything eight years from now when the sequel comes out. Grade: B- 

The Power of the Dog – Not exactly enjoyable, borderline uncomfortable, but memorable in a searing sort of way. Grade: B- 

Licorice Pizza – I struggled to believe the male lead was 15. The sideplots/characters/scenes were more interesting than the plot itself (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.) Grade: B 

Belfast – The opening shot of idyllic, dense, city life was right up my alley. Filming in black and white is a cop-out, but I appreciated the rare peek at relationships during The Troubles. Grade: B 

Nightmare Alley – A bit disturbing, but different. Grade: B 

Don’t Look Up – Speaking of disturbing, but at least this was funny. And a rare nominated film that takes place in the present day. Grade: B+ 

King Richard – If you only knew Richard Williams from Will Smith’s portrayal, you’d think this movie should have focused more on how he discovered a time machine and travelled forward from eighteenth century Louisiana territory to 1990’s California. But despite the overdone accent and other embellishments, the Williams’s sisters’ story is so inspirational that you could film me sitting in a chair for a half-hour explaining what I know about them and I think it would get a B-, so, Grade: B+ 

CODA – This is actually CODA’s second best picture nomination. Its first was in 1997 when it starred Matt Damon and was called Good Will Hunting. Ok, they’re different. Grade: A

2020 Oscar Nominees

No complete duds this year. 

Jojo Rabbit – Tricky to judge. It was laugh-out-loud funny at times, but holocaust-era comedies probably require some balancing that one this didn’t quite pull off. Grade: B-

1917 – Amazing filmmaking. Pretty good score too. But Birdman pulled some of the same tricks a few years ago (without the scale, but with a much better story and acting) which shouldn’t take away from this, but does. Grade: B 

Marriage Story – Solid if you’re in the mood for this sort of thing. Opened with some well thought out writing, but turned a lot of improvisational acting, which, for the most part, seemed to work. Adam Driver is fun to watch in anything. Grade: B+ 

Ford v Ferrari – My main gripe was that we were forced to endure a bit too much of the invented-Ford-boardroom-villain. An entertaining film, and Miles was an interesting character. Grade: B+ 

Joker – I wasn’t expecting to like this, but Joaquin Phoenix was great. Grade: B+ 

Parasite – Back-to-back wealth inequality films. Humor can get a tad diminished in subtitles, but still good. Grade: B+ 

The Irishman – We watched it in three sittings, could have done it in two. I’m curious what percentage watched it in one. And it never felt dull. There’s a reason these actors are famous, and it’s on display here. Grade: A- 

Uncut Gems – This should have been nominated. Unique story, and Adam Sandler was great. Grade: A- 

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – Great acting, plus that Tarantino way of being slow but gripping the entire way through. (I'll leave out my lone gripe.) Grade: A- 

Little Women – I haven’t read the book or seen any of the film versions, and wasn’t expecting to like this, but I thought it was great. Grade: A 

American Factory – As good a take as I’ve seen on globalism and trade. (It won best documentary.) Grade: A+

2019 Oscar Nominees

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Weaker than average crop, but here goes, worst to first:

Black Panther – Interesting premise, but got silly—bloodshed seemed avoidable. They probably could have talked through their problems rather than engage in more black-on-black violence. Maybe I’m just too old for this. Grade: C+

Vice – Christian Bale was amazing as Cheney, and Steve Carrel was hilarious as Rumsfeld. It had some great scenes, but few revelations. Grade: B-

Bohemian Rhapsody – Entertaining, but full of inaccuracies. They took the formula for a rock star bio-pic, plugged in a few details from Mercury’s life, and overdramatized the rest. Grade: B-

Green Book – Great acting, good story, but I’ve seen a lot of ‘white hero in the face of racism tales’, and so have you. That shouldn’t take away from the story, but, Grade: B

Roma –This was borderline-boring at times, and I think filming in black and white is a cop out, but ultimately it was unique and memorable. Grade: B

The Favourite – I had no idea what to expect, and was pleasantly surprised by its humour. Grade: B+

Blackkklansman – I enjoyed it, and from what I read after, it is faithful to the real story. Grade: A-

A Star is Born – I didn’t realize this was the 8,000^th remake, but it’s the first I’ve seen. I suppose you can argue it follows the rockstar biopic formula too, but at least it didn’t pretend to be a true story, and was contemporary, and had good original songs, and great directing—I especially loved the opening scene. Grade: A

2018 Oscar Nominees

Worst to first:

Darkest Hour – So if Churchill hadn’t taken that subway ride, the British would have surrendered to the Nazis? Or perhaps a different passenger could have convinced him that surrender was the more prudent course of action?

Grade: C

Three Billboards – Tried to craft some multidimensional characters, but eh,

Grade: C+

The Shape of Water – Good writing, acting, score, and cinematography, but a truly ridiculous story.

Grade: B-

Dunkirk – Second movie of the year about the evacuation at Dunkirk. More of an edge-of-your-seat experience than Darkest Hour—which was more of a sleep inducing experience.

Grade: B

The Post – First half nearly put me to asleep, but the story was ultimately moving.

Grade: B

Call Me by Your Name – I’m torn. A touching father-to-son monologue on homosexuality, interesting characters, and a peek into the Italian countryside of the early 80’s, but also one of the most gratuitous scenes I’ve ever seen. The protagonist wasn’t surrounded by homophobes and didn’t suffer as much as his brethren in Brokeback Mountain and Moonlight, which, I suppose, adds a new dynamic to the critically acclaimed homosexual canon, so if you enjoyed those, this might be a logical next step.

Grade: B

Ladybird – Funny at times, good acting, touches on a lot topics, and for a guy like me it was an informative peek into white culture.

Grade: B+

*The Big Sick – Not nominated, but better than a lot of these. Obviously I’m a sucker for south Asian immigrant stories.

Grade: A-

Phantom Thread – I expected this to be the most boring of all, but ended up liking it a lot. Maybe Daniel Day Lewis really is the world's best actor.

Grade: A

Get Out – Highly original, can’t put this one in a genre.

Grade: A+

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2017 Best Picture Nominees

As usual, I’ll list them worst to first.

Hacksaw Ridge – If you’re looking for gore, bump this to the top. A couple of the long, bloody battle scenes featured deaths creative enough to make me laugh out loud, but I wouldn’t have objected to some more backstory. The real story is incredible, and the film conveys a lot of it, but the writing was bland and there was a lot of cheesy embellishing that made this boring and predictable.

Grade – C+

Hidden Figures – The feel-good tearjerker of the year. Based on an inspirational true story with plenty of exaggerated racism to create more tension. And there’s only so much you can do with math montages. Great story, ok writing.

Grade – B-

Fences – Brains wasted by racism in Hidden Figures; brawn wasted by racism in Fences. This was like the novel you didn’t enjoy reading, but left an impression. Maybe I’m being too critical. If another actor did what Denzel Washington did, I would probably be amazed, but he does this every time--and Viola Davis was amazing. Cindy said it felt too playish—we later learned it was adapted from a play. When you’re making a film, use the power of film, take us places; if you’re going to stay in his backyard for two hours, the dialogue better be incredible—which it wasn’t.

Grade – B-

Arrival – The thought provoker of the group. I imagine it is difficult to convey this type of science in a two-hour film, but they did enough to make it interesting.

Grade – B

Lion – Finished in less than two hours, but could have used at least another 20 minutes of backstory on his family life and relationship. Rooney Mara was great. (Nicole Kidman was too.) Good enough, but could have been much better.

Grade – B

LaLa Land – Halfway through I began thinking it felt like Whiplash, turns out it's the same writer. Same theme. Great directing; the opening scene is borderline showoff-y. Finale was great. But I didn’t really care much for the music.

Grade – B

Manchester By The Sea – Deserves a cinematography award in addition to the acting awards it probably won. This was a memorable story with writing that captured subtleties often overlooked.

Grade – B+

Moonlight – Powerful story, strong acting. Enjoyed the look into the less glamorous parts of Miami.

Grade – B+

Hell or High Water – Funny, visceral, scenic, political yet apolitical. Great score. A serious film that made me laugh out loud at least a half-dozen times.

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Grade – A

2016 Best Picture Nominees

This blog is alive and well.

I’ve included Oscars and Golden Globes. Low standard deviation this year. No complete duds, but not as strong at the top either.

Carol – A lot of ideas packed into this one, yet so many dramatic pauses.

Grade: B-

The Martian – I can’t tell whether I’m being too hard on it because it didn’t replicate the book, or too easy on it because I can’t separate it from the book. I’ll err on the side of being critical because Kapoor was played by a black man and Mindy Park was played by a white woman, which is ridiculous, if not outright racist. Visually impressive, but eh.

Grade: B-

Brooklyn – Interesting glimpses into the period, dull at times, not great writing, maybe not even good writing, but a tidy enough take on the joys and fears of starting over.

Grade: B-

Big Short – Good enough to watch, but like The Martian, the book was so much more complete. The film leaves out key players—I don’t think AIG was even mentioned—and makes Goldman Sachs look dumber than they were. I’d even recommend the NPR Planet Money special as a shorter and more comprehensive summary of the housing crash, but if you want it dramatized, this is entertaining, and still fairly informative, albeit incomplete and mildly deceptive.

Grade: B

Bridge of Spies – Humanizes aspects that we don’t often see, clichéd at times when it didn’t need to be—probably to pay for those big name actors. An enjoyable watch nevertheless.

Grade: B+

Mad Max: Fury Road – If you like action, it probably doesn’t get any better than this. I can’t imagine the budget. (I googled it, it doesn’t even rank in the top 100 budgets of all time—or the top 50 inflation adjusted.) (I’ve only seen 3 of the top 50 (Titanic [3], Avatar [11], The Dark Knight [46].)

Grade: B+

The Revenant – If you appreciate directing, this might be the one for you. Incredible long takes and amazing scenery, and I’m sure they overcame all kinds of crazy challenges trying to shoot this in the elements using only natural light. In terms of plot, I preferred it the first time around when it was called Gladiator, but that said, it was still good enough to keep us up later than we normally stay up.

Grade: B++

Room – I had no idea what this was going to be about and was pleasantly surprised by the range of emotions it took me through.

Grade: A-

Spotlight – A testament to the role of local newspapers and maybe a final rallying cry that we all need to be paying subscribers or else investigations like this will cease and we’ll all turn into brainwashed idiots who watch cable news. As far as the story itself, I didn’t find it particularly gripping except for a few of the ancillary characters. I’m guessing the movie’s excessive hype is due to the fact that almost all professional reviewers work for newspapers, and this movie is essentially a plea to keep newspapers alive—which is a critically important topic.

Grade: A-

Extra:

Café Society – After Magic in the Moonlight and Irrational Man, I was beginning to fear that Woody Allen was done. But Café Society, while not in his top two tiers, was watchable (in part because of great acting and beautiful cinematography.) The writing was downright lazy at times, but Allen might still have something in the tank.

Grade: B