For the past five years, I have made it a challenge for myself to watch all the Oscar Best Picture nominated movies. This challenge has had a lot of surprising benefits. I found that I have been watching more movies that I most likely would not have watched otherwise. Movies like Belfast (2021) and one of my all-time favorite films, Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022), were films I discovered from this Oscar gauntlet. Additionally, I have watched many foreign films, which have broadened my cinematic intake and, ultimately, my worldview. Basically, if you take anything away from my predictions and silly reviews, take away that watching the Best Picture-nominated movies is a great hobby. It forces you to take time away from school, academic stress, and your phone to decompress with a film. I can not recommend it more.
The Gauntlet
After watching all 10 of the movies nominated for best picture, here is my ranking of films I enjoyed the most to least:
- One Battle After Another
- Sentimental Value
- Sinners
- Hamnet
- Bogonia
- Marty Supreme
- Train Dreams
- The Secret Agent
- Frankenstein
- F1: The Movie
This was such a great year for movies, and this list really reflects that. The top three, One Battle After Another, Sentimental Value, and Sinners, are movies I still think about daily and, to me, are some of the best films that have come out in the past 10 years. High accolades, I know.
Some movies left me heartbroken, like Hamnet and Train Dreams. Some were amazing watching experiences, like Marty Supreme and Bogonia. Others that I did not enjoy as much still entertained me or made me mad (the F1 movie on Apple TV was such a TikTok movie, I do not know how to explain it any other way). Many of these movies had themes about how we grieve, how we fight injustice, how we capture aliens, or make a monster. They pushed boundaries, had massive box office attendance, and movies like The Secret Agent and Train Dreams reminded me why I do this challenge every year: if it weren’t for this, I most likely wouldn’t have put them on.
Recommending one from the list is hard to do, but if you’re looking for a movie to reflect on your past, watch Sentimental Value; if you’re looking to sob uncontrollably until it hurts watch Hamnet (but don’t say I didn’t warn you), and if you want to listen to almost three hours of ping pong noises watch Marty Supreme (just joking, it was a very funny, entertaining movie).
The Big Winner: Best Picture
For me, the race is against two contenders: Ryan Coolger’s Sinners and Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, which, in my book (or my Letterboxed), were both five-star movies.
SINNERS
The biggest takeaway I have from Sinners is that it was the best movie-watching experience I have had all year. When I saw Sinners in a sold-out theater, my friends and I couldn’t even sit next to each other. Everyone around me at the movie loved it, and that is why Sinners is so special. It’s a movie about vampires and music with strong messages of anti-racism, cultural discrimination, community, and love. I have yet to meet someone who did not like it.
Ryan Coogler’s direction was phenomenal, and the performances by Michael B. Jordan and Miles Caton stood out, but the whole cast was truly amazing. I went into Sinners with no knowledge, no expectation, but just the music through time scene alone deserves every Oscar ever. Sinners is a blockbuster movie, while One Battle After Another is not considered one, and for that reason, I think Sinners is more of a digestible movie for the casual moviegoer. I left Sinners feeling like, years from now, we will still discuss the movie and the culture it was released in, which can be seen as a bigger achievement than any award given. However, if I were going to venture, I still think One Battle After Another has a better shot of taking home the gold.
One Battle after Another
I saw this movie in the cinema the week before Thanksgiving break, and I loved it so much that over break I went to see it again with my dad. To preface, I am a big Paul Thomas Anderson fan. I was actually introduced to him as a director when I watched his 2021 film Licorice Pizza, which was also nominated for Best Picture. But to me, this movie is one of his best. One Battle After Another follows a group of revolutionaries, focusing on Bob, a father who, with his daughter Willa, fights to understand the actions of their past and escape from their nemesis. Even while watching the film the second time, I was so entertained, my heart was racing. Even though I do think it is not as digestible as Sinners, I still think any audience member can understand that it is an overall well-made film.
However, I would not be surprised if it went either way. Last year, Anora winning best picture was a surprise to me, but such a pleasant surprise because Anora was one of my favorite movies that Oscar season. Whatever way the Oscar falls, I will be happy. Additionally, there is always a chance that something totally surprises me.
Possible Upset
Marty Supreme was, controversially, a let-down for me. It wasn’t that it didn’t live up to my expectations – I’m not quite sure I even knew what I was going to watch when I walked into the cinema on Christmas day. Unfortunately, I just couldn’t get into it. Sequences in the film were hilarious, and performances were great, but it was trying to make so many connections to bigger societal problems that it was unable, in my opinion, to make any real argument. Entertainment-wise, it was great, and it seems to have gotten a lot of critical acclaim since it was released; therefore, possibly, this could be a surprise winner, but it wasn’t one of my favorites from this award season.
Furthermore, Hamnet was an absolutely beautiful film about why art is so important, proving that making and watching art helps people heal. Again, I went into Hamnet without having any knowledge of what I was about to watch. It was heartbreaking. Again, in my opinion, this film could surprise come March 15; it is now in the hands of the Academy.
The Oscars are live on Sunday, March 15, at 7:00 p.m. I recommend a watch, even if you have seen one, none, or all of the nominated movies. The Best Picture is only one category that will get recognized, but for me, it is like my Super Bowl. Without a doubt, award show season is my favorite season, and as it comes to an end, I reflect on the fact that the Oscar movies surprise me every year. I am very thankful for the Oscars and cannot wait for Sunday!