I don’t usually pay attention to award shows (especially the Oscars) because in the age of social media, if anything crazy happens I can just refresh my feed and see it instantly. I also find award shows to be quite boring. Somehow, they manage to stretch maybe six awards into a two-hour period, and I know I’ll be able to see who won the next day anyway, so what’s the point?
This year, however, I decided to “challenge” myself and watch all the movies that are nominated for Best Picture. I know there are people who watch all the Oscar nominated films, but I figured 10 would be a good start for me considering there is 50 total this year and I’m a busy girl.
Now I won’t lie, I got a late start to this challenge because in theory watching 10 movies should be nothing, but when you wait until two weeks before it starts looking a bit hairy (honestly if I wasn’t writing this article I probably would’ve only ended up watching Frankenstein and saying I’ll try again next year). But nevertheless, I persisted and watched all seven of the films that were available on streaming. I’m sincerely sorry to any Sentimental Value, The Secret Agent, and Marty Supreme stans out there but I didn’t end up getting to them, but if they ever hit streaming, I promise I will watch them. I’m not sure how they would’ve affected my ranking, but I love my top three so much I’m not terribly sad about missing them right now. And considering the actual academy voters don’t watch all of the nominated films when that’s their literal job, I feel pretty good about myself.
Before we dive into my ranking, I just want to put out there that I’m not a cinephile by any means and I enjoy pretty much any movie I watch so if this list is awful, I am so sorry.
7. Bugonia
Bugonia stans please look away because I hated this movie. It got a one and half star from me on Letterboxd which is a rarity because, like I said, I’m not a harsh critic but oh my god this movie deserved it. This was my first Yorgos Lanthimos film and probably my last because it was so boring. From watching the trailer, it looked like a movie a might enjoy, but boy was I wrong. Not much happens in this almost two-hour long movie and I just wanted it to end. I have a fine attention span, but I was itching to go on my phone while watching because I just didn’t care about what was happening on my screen. A lot of reviews called this a slow burn where the last 30-ish minutes is when it really picks up. While I agree, I was so over the movie by the time the insane stuff started happening I didn’t even care. I thought the performances were good (Jesse Plemons really knew how to play a man that pissed me off) but I’ve truly never been happier for a movie to be over.
6. One Battle After Another
One of the Oscar darlings this year that I put off watching until the very end because I wasn’t really interested in it. All I heard about this movie was that it was really good and that it was about a dad trying to get his daughter back, and that synopsis wasn’t really doing it for me. After watching it though I can say that people were underselling this movie by a mile because there is so much going, I can see why so many people are obsessed with it. For me though, I felt it kind of dragged in some places. I did really like how outwardly political it is and how it touches on what it means to be a part of a revolution. It has some funny moments, and I really enjoyed the performance Leonardo DiCaprio was putting on. I’m obsessed with how good the score was and, dare I say, it’s on par with the score from Challengers. It’s not one I’d necessarily rewatch, but I think it’s definitely getting the flowers it deserves.
5. Frankenstein
Unfortunately, I am a book purist that thought this was just ok. I think if I hadn’t read the book (and loved it) I would’ve had so much more fun watching this but there were so many changes that kept taking me out of the movie because they didn’t happen in the book. And while Guillermo Del Toro kept the overall story, there were parts of the story that he either took out or added that just didn’t make this great. Maybe we can just blame Netflix for that. A lot of the characterizations were changed too, and not to age shame but why was everyone so old! I did think that it was visually stunning, possibly the best-looking film on this list. And Jacob Elordi’s creature was so well done, he encapsulated the child-like wonder, that I loved so much about the book, perfectly and he was practically unrecognizable as the creature which is major props to the makeup department. And maybe if I rewatch it knowing what I’m getting into I might enjoy it a bit more.
4. Hamnet
Jessie f*cking Buckley everyone.
I was nervous going into this because I heard it was extremely sad and figured I was going to be wreck, but it’s so good. Buckley pretty much steals the show with her performance; she’s doing things in this movie that are on another level. You can feel her character, Agnes’, grief and pain. Her acting is so raw and if she doesn’t walk away with that Best Actress award the Academy is insane. Paul Mescal is also great, but I won’t lie his little hoop kept distracting me because why does William Shakespeare have a slutty little earring? Like could he not take it out? The only reason its lower on my list is because it does have some slower parts that lost me but overall, this movie is phenomenal.
3. F1
Ok, I might be losing you right now because who in their right mind would put F1 in their top three when it shouldn’t even be on this list, but bear with me because I never said I had good taste.
Everyone’s been calling this a dad movie that snuck on to this list, but you want to know what else it is, a damn good time. I wasn’t expecting to love this movie as much as I do but frankly, I’m obsessed and I want to rewatch it 10 more times. Say what you want but it’s so fun. The soundtrack is great, and I really enjoyed both Brad Pitt and Damson Idris’ performances. It felt like I was watching a live action Cars movie. And while I do agree that amongst the rest of the movies on this list it doesn’t exactly fit, I don’t think that should take away from the fact that it’s still a good movie. It’s a classic summer movie and sometimes you don’t need to be sobbing while watching a movie and that’s perfectly acceptable.
2. Sinners
I mean, what can I say that hasn’t already been said about this movie. I fully believe this is a once-in-a-lifetime film. It’s original and it’s got something to say. Every single performance is top tier, and I love the addition of musicality to it. The scene where Sammie sings “I Lied To You” is genuinely life changing. This is the kind of movie people will be talking about for years to come.
1. Train dreams
If I was picking Best Picture, this is my choice, and honestly, it’s probably for the best that I’m not because I think everyone either didn’t watch this movie or hated it. This movie is beautiful. Its cinematography is unmatched, and although it’s slow and quiet, it packs a punch emotionally. Who would’ve thought a movie following a logger in the early 1900s would be so impactful? It’s another movie about grief and parenthood (which I’m realizing is a big theme amongst these movies), life in general, and how we keep moving even when it hurts. I think everyone should at least give this movie a try, it’s one I plan on revisiting even though I know it’ll hurt.
My favorite line from the movie: “Beautiful, ain’t it? All of it. Every bit of it.”
To the other three Train Dreams stans, I see you and I get you.
This little project ended up being really fun, a lot of these movies aren’t ones I would’ve watched otherwise, and it’s definitely going to become a yearly tradition. I’m intrigued to see how the award show plays out. And because I know Train Dreams isn’t getting that Oscar, I’m fully in on the Sinners sweep.