Happy Oscar Day! For the first time, the Oscars are
going to be available to stream live on Hulu, which means I can watch the
Oscars in my own home instead of mooching off a friend’s or family’s TV for the
first time in like ten years! You have no idea how excited I am about
this! As I look over my top ten list, I'm seeing a theme. The theme
is "fun"! I feel like many of the films I loved from this year
was good old fashion fun! Let's get to it
10. Inside Out 2
Such a cute, feel good family film! I would expect nothing less from Pixar. They really nailed those awkward, insecure
tween years. Riley is growing up, and
now that she’s hit puberty, four new emotions have been added inside her head:
Ennui, Embarrassment, Envy, and of course Anxiety. When Riley finds out her two best friends
will be going to a different school the next year, she is flooded with these
new emotions, and she doesn’t know how to cope or process her feelings. I think I like the first Inside Out a little
better, but this one is really great.
9. A Different Man
I thought this was the movie that Sebastian Stan was
nominated for, and I was shocked when I found out it wasn’t! He’s so good in this! He’s good in The Apprentice too but this one
really blew me away. He plays Edward, a severely
deformed man who participates in a new medical procedure that makes his deformed
face literally shed away, revealing a handsome man! Edward always believed that his unhappy life
was due to his looks, so the minute he became a different man, he changed his
name, his career, and his lifestyle. But
his new life soon collides with his old life, and we begin to wonder if it was
actually Edward’s old face that was holding him back, or was it Edward’s
attitude? I loved the dark tone of this
film and the brilliant way it illustrated Edward’s spiraling decent into
madness. Sebastian Stan may have been
nominated for The Apprentice, but I thought his performance in this movie was
way more impressive!
8. Sing Sing
I know Colman Domingo has been around for years, but I
first noticed him in Rustin. And then
Euphoria. And now Sing Sing. What a powerful performance! To be honest, I’m not super excited by the
Best Actor race this year, mostly because I haven’t seen a lot of the films, but
Colman Domingo is my pick, even though I’m certain he won’t win. His performance in Sing Sing was so affective
and heartbreaking. Sing Sing tells the
story of the RTA (Rehabilitation Through the Arts) program - a real program for
incarcerated individuals. Colman’s
character, Divine G, is in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. While inside, he is very involved with the
theater program where he acts, writes, and mentors the other inmates. It’s a very tender and moving film with great
performances. Some of the actors were
real former inmates who participated in the RTA program, which gave the film a
rawness and authenticity. I cried at the
end. Of course I did.
7. A Real Pain
Kieran Culkin has it in the bag and he deserves it! Honestly, he’s kind of playing a poor version
of his Succession character, and I’m here for it. He plays obnoxious-yet-loveable-asshole so
well! I loved the simplicity of this film. The whole conflict of the film is the
relationship between cousins David and Benji, who go on a trip to Poland to reconnect
with their Jewish heritage and visit their late grandmother’s childhood home. During this trip, you pick up on the fact
that these cousins used to be close as kids but grew apart as they became
adults and lead very different lives. It
becomes clear that Benji (Kieran’s character) was really hurt by the distance between
them and has struggled in his life since.
The tension between the two cousins ebbs and flows through the film,
much like tensions in real families. *Possible
spoilers ahead!* What I found super
interesting about this movie is that nothing is really resolved or changed at
the end of the film. In most films like
this, when two characters have issues in the beginning, they usually solve them
by the end, and maybe they don’t become best friends, but the relationship
changes for the better. In A Real Pain,
however, you get the feeling that David and Benji will continue on with their separate
lives and be just as distant as before their trip. And isn’t that how real life really is?
6. Emilia Perez
When I pressed play to watch Emilia Perez on Netflix, I had
zero idea what the movie was about. ZERO! I didn’t know it was directed by a French
person, was in Spanish, and took place in Mexico. I didn’t know it was about a transgender woman.
I didn’t even know it was a
musical! I literally knew nothing! And I was so into it! It took me on a roller coaster ride! I didn’t know where the story was going from
one minute to the next. It was highly
entertaining and kept me on my toes from beginning to end! So imagine my surprise when I looked up the
film after I finished it to find nothing but hate and negative reactions! The complaints about the movie are likely
justified. I’m not Mexican, nor am I
transgender, so I can’t speak to the criticisms related to the portrayal of
Mexico and transgenders. All I can say is that I really liked the movie, for better
or worse! I think Zoe Saldana is going
to win tonight, and I think she deserves it!
5. Fly Me to the Moon
So this is where the “fun” theme comes into play. Fly Me to the Moon is nothing groundbreaking,
nor is it winning any awards. But it’s
so cute and a lot of fun! I was not
expecting to like this movie as much as I did, but I had a blissful smile on my
face the whole time watching it. It’s
about the woman who ran the marketing campaign for the moon landing in the 1960’s. I don’t know how much of the story is real
(probably not much) but it was a very cute idea. Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum have great
chemistry and they looked like they were having fun making the movie. Plus, the fashion was fabulous!
4. The Fall Guy
More fun! The Fall
Guy is just pure, unadulterated, hilarious, action-packed fun! It’s a love letter to stunt performers and I
think it does a great job of showing what a difficult job stunt work is, and how
underappreciated it is. Ryan Gosling
never disappoints, and he is just as funny and charming as ever in this
movie. He has fantastic chemistry with
Emily Blunt, who is equally funny and charming.
The Fall Guy is extremely entertaining and is of course jam packed with
stunts, car chases, and explosions (oh my!)!
3. Deadpool & Wolverine
And the fun continues!
Deadpool was worth the hype. This
is exactly like the other Deadpool movies in that it is extremely self-aware,
and breaks the fourth wall constantly, making *wink wink* references to the studio,
the Marvel franchise, and even the actors’ personal lives. It’s almost too much, at times requiring the
audience to know things some people may not know (such as Ben Affleck played
Daredevil and Jennifer Garner played Elektra, and that they were once married;
or that Chris Evans played both Captain America and Johnny Storm; or that a
Gambit movie had been stuck in production hell for years, for some examples). I shamelessly do keep up with some celebrity
gossip and industry news, so I think I caught most of the inside jokes, but I
am inclined to believe that if you didn’t know pop culture, you would be lost
watching Deadpool & Wolverine. So in
a way, Deadpool & Wolverine was really made for the fans, for the folks who
are “in the know” about Comicon subject matter.
And for that, it was actually quite a brave thing the filmmakers pulled
off.
2. The Substance
Genius. Absolute genius. I am not generally a
fan of body horror, but The Substance wasn't body horror for the sake of being
shocking (although some of it was shocking!), it had a very clear point of view.
The seemingly gratuitous nudity and extreme gory violence wasn't gratuitous at
all. It was all for the sake of making a point. A very feminist
point about the objectification and exploitation of women's bodies. I love Demi Moore, she’s my 90’s Queen Goddess,
and I am so happy that she’s finally receiving her flowers. She is incredible in The Substance, and my
pick for Best Actress. I also want
Coralie Fargeat to win for Best Director.
This movie could have easily gone off the rails and turned into
something really bad, but under Coralie Fargeat’s masterful hands, it doesn’t! Everything about this movie works, and every
single choice, no matter how outrageous or vile, was made very consciously and deliberately. It’s a brilliant film.
1. Anora
I fucking LOOOOOVED Anora. LOVED IT! And I
didn't expect it to gain so much momentum these past few weeks! I thought
it was going to be this little film I loved but no one else saw or cared
about. But no! People love this movie, and it might actually win
Best Picture tonight! Not only that, Mikey Madison, who plays Anora, might
even win Best Actress too! And I would not be upset about that because
she was fantastic! Sean Baker has a good chance of winning Best Director
- I also wouldn't be upset about that. (Although I am rooting for Coralie
Fargeat). I've been a fan of Sean Baker since Tangerine,
which was #1 on my list the year that movie came out. He kills it again!
Anora has been
described as a Cinderella story, but it’s more like Pretty Woman because Ani
(aka Anora) is a sex worker who was paid $15k by Ivan, the son of Russian
oligarchs, to be his girlfriend for a week.
They have a whirlwind romance that culminates in a Vegas wedding. But when the Russian family finds out, they lose
their shit, and send Ivan’s godfather Toros and two thug henchmen to force Ani
and Ivan to annul the marriage. Ani
refuses to agree to the annulment, but Ivan flees the scene. They spend the rest of the night trying to find
Ivan, and during their never ending adventure, Toros tries to convince Ani that
Ivan is just a kid and has no intention of staying married. As tough and independent as Ani is, she’s
also incredibly naive and dare I say kinda stupid to believe that the marriage
was real, and that she would eventually be accepted into Ivan’s rich and
powerful family and live this fairy tale life; and in a way, I found that to be
weirdly sweet. Because it shows that all
Ani really wants is what’s severely lacking in her life: love and a genuine connection
with another human being.
Enter Igor. Okay so I know Kieran Culkin is going to win,
but if it was up to me, I would give it to Yura Borisov, who plays one of the
thug henchmen, Igor. He makes this
film. He is the heart and soul, and his
scenes with Mikey Madison are the best scenes in the film, and maybe the best
scenes I’ve seen in any movie in a while.
Igor is the only one who shows Ani any kindness or ounce of respect, and
he also seems to be the only one who recognizes that Ani is actually truly hurt
by the whole situation. He doesn’t talk
much in the film, but he speaks volumes with just a look. I fell in love with Igor. And I fell in love with the film.
My thoughts on the rest of the Best Picture nominees:
A Complete Unknown – Didn’t see it
Conclave – At the SAG Awards, Kristen Bell called
Conclave “Gossip Girl 2.0” and I couldn’t agree more.
Nickle Boys – Didn’t see it; but I did read the
book, and the book is good.
I'm Still Here – Didn’t see it
Dune Part 2 – Very well made, impressive special
effects, awesome costumes and set design, but not my cup of tea.
Wicked – Of course I liked it! But I gotta admit I like the stage musical
better.
The Brutalist – Didn’t see it
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