@Nepia said in Movie review thread...:
Completed my watch of the Best Picture nominees, so here's my ranking of them from worst to best.
10 . Maestro: I tried to continue watching this after discussing it with @Victor-Meldrew but I couldn't get more than 10 minutes into my rewatch. It's just not very good.
9 . American Fiction: Aside from Maestro I enjoyed every other movie in the list but some more than others. This was one of the less than others, it started off really well but kind of faltered a bit in the end. I think it needed to lean more into it's central conceit (mild spoiler coming) of an author pretending to be "street".
8 . The Holdovers: This was an amiable movie by a good director, and thankfully Paul Giamatti didn't do his whisper voice very often. A crotchety old teacher is left in charge of the few kids left over Xmas at a fancy pants boarding. Bonding happens.
7 . Killers of the Flower Moon: Again a good movie, by a great director, but there's no way he deserved a best director nomination for this. It was serviceable by his standards but unlike most of his movies I think other directors could have directed it just as well. Led me to the book which I enjoyed more than the movie.
6 . Zone of Interest: The best holocaust movie since Schindler's List (that's a weird thing to write). Oddly enough it kind of doesn't have an overarching narrative, something I'd normally find annoying. Tells a bit of the story of the outside life of the Hoess the Auschwitz commander and his family.
5 . Poor Things: Fairly bonkers movie with lots of Emma Stone nudity ... but she shouldn't have won best actress. It's a play the autistic/mentally handicapped person style role that Oscar likes, but Lily Gladstone in Killers was superb in an understated and "real role". Anyway, still a good fun film, very black comedy in an alternate steampunk style world.
4 . Anatomy of a Fall: A French film, a German actress (who was also the lead female in Zone of Interest), and filmed in a mix of French and English. Interesting look at the French style of court (judges directly questioning the accused and witnesses etc) and I'm not sure it is better then ours.
3 . Past Lives: Two old Korean friends who haven't seen each other in year catch up in New York (she lives there with her husband and he is visiting) and drama happens, but not really.
2 . Barbie: The Barbieheimer one-two punch. Good to see a weird comedy-drama based on a doll get nominated. Greta Gerwig should have had Scorcese's best director nod though.
1 . Oppenheimer: The Oscars and I agree, yay. I'm not sure if this is Nolan's best movie (I'm still partial to Memento) but it's definitely Oscar worthy and the best film I saw last year. I'd quite like to see him make some more grounded stuff. Tenet tends to pale in comparison to this movie.
About halfway through this list
9 American Fiction. Enjoyed it.
8 The Holdovers. Couldn't get on with it. Bailed after 30 mins.
5 Poor Things. Rubbish. Could only stomach 20 mins.
2 Barbie. Decent. Should be nowhere near the Oscars.
4 Anatomy of a Fall. Excellent. Snoop the dog is a better actor than most in the above.
This film then daylight to the others. The 24-hr above the Arctic Circle Summer daylight.