Welcome to this special edition of "Ranked", where I'm ranking this year's Best Picture nominees from worst to best.
10.Maestro:
An immediate entry into the try-hard Oscar Bait Hall of Fame that would be completely worthless if it weren't shot so beautifully by Matthew Libatique and edited so crisply by Michelle Tesoro. Both Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan have never been more painful to watch on screen as they try to artificially manufacture awards show clips for 2 hours in this brutal slog of a biopic that is allegedly designed to be an ode to the love composer Leonard Bernstein and his wife Felicia shared for each other. It's a fucking travesty that this laughable stinker was able to land 7 Oscar nominations while stuff like All of Us Strangers, The Iron Claw and Priscilla got shut out entirely.
Grade: D+
9.The Zone of Interest:
Jonathan Glazer deserves credit for making an abstract film that portrays the evil of fascism in the most banal way possible. However, The Zone of Interest would've been significantly more effective as a short since it makes its point in the first 30 minutes and then repeats itself over the next hour or so as it continues to show its Nazi protagonists going about their normal domestic life right on the figurative doorstep of Auschwitz without even a passing acknowledgment of the atrocities they're committing.
Grade: C
8.Oppenheimer:
It's going to become a lot more fashionable to call Oppenheimer overrated once it wins Best Picture on Sunday, but for now, I'm on an island. Don't get me wrong, it's a good movie that features some stunning moments (the gym scene, the Trinity Test, the oval office meeting between Harry Truman and Oppenheimer) a great lead performance from Cillian Murphy and the reliably stunning technical elements that you've come to expect from a Christopher Nolan movie. I was just never totally gripped by it as the film contains several narrative rough patches (primarily when it focuses on Robert Downey Jr.'s Lewis Strauss) that are further exacerbated by the freneticism that is baked into its non-linear narrative structure and bizarre scenes (depressed alcoholic Kitty Oppenheimer showing perfect recall of events when she snaps at the attorney running her husband's security clearance renewal hearing that showed me that Nolan is lucky enough to have never had anyone close to him battle the disease, the "I Am Become Death, Destroyer of Worlds" tease during the sex scene between Oppenheimer and Jean Tatlock, the Marvel-esque namedrop of JFK near the end of the film) that took me completely out of the movie.
Grade: B
7.American Fiction:
As a satire of people's expectations for black art and what "black art" means to the people that are creating it, American Fiction is terrific. As a family drama about a middle-aged author (Jeffrey Wright) who reluctantly returns home to Massachusetts after being fired from his teaching job at a Los Angeles college and is subsequently forced to examine the shaky relationships he has with his mother (Leslie Uggams) and siblings (Sterling K. Brown, Tracee Ellis Ross) that inspired his move to the West Coast, it's far less successful as it emotional beats are far too heavily rooted in unconvincing melodrama. Flaws with the dramatic side of the film aside, writer/director Cord Jefferson-who makes his feature debut here-show off enough potential as a filmmaker to get excited about his future in the industry and the performances from Wright and Brown are stellar pieces of work that are fully deserving of the recognition they received from the Academy.
Grade: B
6.Anatomy of a Fall:
Anatomy of a Fall is a borderline great legal drama that I feel is both made and held back by its decision to use the ambiguity-filled dissection of a marriage to let the viewer decide whether a man (Samuel Theis) jumped off the balcony of his home or was pushed from it by his wife (Sandra Hueller). But my favorite thing about Anatomy of a Fall is that it's at the center of the funniest narrative of Oscar season that more people should be aware of. To briefly sum up the situation, the French Best International Feature committee shocked a lot of people around the world by selecting the Juliette Binoche-led romantic drama The Taste of Things over Anatomy of a Fall as the country's official submission for the Oscars. The Taste of Things ultimately failed to secure a nomination and as its inclusion in the Best Picture field proves, Anatomy of a Fall would've almost certainly earned France their first Best International Feature win since 1993-which is a continued source of tremendous shame in the cinema capital of the world. If this hilarious debacle isn't enough to inspire some form of dramatic reshuffling of the French Best International Feature committee, I don't know if there's anything in the world that possibly could.
Grade: B
5.Killers of the Flower Moon:
While not every creative choice here worked for me, I still believe that Killers of the Flower Moon is the best movie Scorsese has made since Shutter Island, if not The Departed. The handling of the Osage murders is not only gripping and enraging in its portrayal of William Hale's (Robert De Niro in one of the finest turns of his storied career) insidious long con plan to seize control of the tribe's immense oil wealth, but extremely respectful of their way of life and the permanent damage this string of calculated killings did to their community. On top of that, the film features a triumphant final score from the late Robbie Robertson, a devastating lead performance from Lily Gladstone that will hopefully cement her as a Hollywood mainstay for the rest of her career and some of the most assured, confident direction of Scorsese's career.
Grade: B+
4.Past Lives:
Something about Past Lives being Celine Song's first film just doesn't quite compute. Like how do you make something so smart, achingly romantic and quietly devastating on your first crack at doing something that's as difficult as making a movie?!? Cute observations aside, this movie is seriously fantastic, and I hope more people will elect to seek it out now that it's streaming on Showtime/Paramount+.
Grade: B+
3.The Holdovers:
Alexander Payne washed the stink of Downsizing off him in the most defiant way possible by not only returning to form, but making what just might be the best movie he's ever made. Through its sharp scripting, efficient pacing and an incredible trio of lead performances from Paul Giamatti, Da'Vine Joy Randolph and newcomer Dominic Sessa, The Holdovers is able to tell a beautiful, emotionally varied story about three broken people brought together by having nowhere to go for the holidays and the unlikely bond they build through their shared grief.
Grade: A
2.Barbie:
Removing Barbie from the gloriously vibrant atmosphere of an opening weekend screening does a little bit of damage to its quality. That being said, it's still an extremely funny, bold movie with a ton of great performances from its massive ensemble cast (Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Kate McKinnon, Issa Rae, Will Ferrell, Michael Cera, Rhea Perlman, America Ferrera, Ariana Greenblatt, Alexandra Shipp) quotable dialogue and well fleshed-out ideas about things like gender roles, sexism and CEO's of major corporations being complete buffoons.
Grade: A
1.Poor Things:
A second viewing last weekend only further unlocked my love for this weird little gem of a movie. Yorgos Lanthimos' singularity as a filmmaker is on total display here as he crafts an enthralling fantastical tale of one woman's rocky road to discovering her purpose and self-worth in the face of all of the men that wish to control her destiny. Emma Stone shows off her rare versatility as a performer with her stunning lead performance as the rapidly evolving heroine Bella Baxter, the supporting cast (Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef, Kathryn Hunter, Jerod Carmichael, Suzy Bemba, Hannah Schygulla, Christopher Abbott) does an outstanding job of helping shape the many turns Bella makes on her journey to liberation and Tony McNamara's razor-sharp script is the perfect mix of comedy, eccentricity and tragedy.
Grade: A
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