And the 2024 Oscar Goes To...

Yup, another year has passed and I'm back with my Oscar hot takes. Barbenheimer was the cinematic event of 2023, but we still live in a patriarchy, so the wrong movie seems to be nabbing all the kudos during awards season. Le sigh. Follow along for more feminist ranting below!

Best Picture: Overall, this is a solid list of films, featuring powerful stories, tremendous performances, and a real range of genres. My personal pick for the Best Picture of 2023? Past Lives, hands down. That movie made me feel more feelings than I had felt in eons. It has zero chance of winning Best Picture this year, which is a real shame, but I'm glad it at least nabbed a nomination. My pick for runner-up is a tie between Barbie and The Holdovers, two movies that I absolutely loved, that both feature comical performances but oh so much soul. And who also owe a great deal to their wonderful production design - one is very pink and vibrant, the other is capturing New England in the middle of a blizzard, and it's all perfect for telling a story about humans and/or dolls and their everyday struggles. American Fiction and Anatomy of a Fall are tied for third place - one is an insane and incisive comedy, the other is a moody French courtroom drama. They couldn't be more different from each other, but they both were wildly unique and entertaining and had me glued to the screen. Then we have Poor Things and The Zone of Interest, again, two wildly different movies, but both of which tell extremely compelling stories. These are good movies, and they have been feted by critics, but while they certainly had interesting moments and featured some brilliant feats of storytelling, production design, and sound design, neither film was consistent throughout the entire runtime, and I would find my attention wavering at various points. And then finally we have Maestro, Oppenheimer, and Killers of the Flower Moon, a trio that I would categorize as "important" pictures directed by white male "auteurs." Maestro was probably the most entertaining of the three, but maybe that was because I could watch it leisurely at home on Netflix and revel in some of its funnier moments and flourishes. Oppenheimer held some interest for me as a former scientist, but lost me with its moral ambiguity and extreme maleness. Yet, somehow, it is the frontrunner to win this award, which I find tremendously annoying. And Killers of the Flower Moon? Sigh. I don't care how much you tell me that it is centering Native American stories. It is still mostly just about white men exploiting Native Americans and that's a hard pass from me. Especially if you're going to tell that story for an interminable three and a half hours. 

Best Director: So, in a year where three of the Best Picture nominees were directed by women, we still only nominated one woman for Best Director? Cool. Cool, cool, cool. As such, I am rooting for Justine Triet to win for Anatomy of a Fall, but the chance of that happening is 0%. I would have loved for Celine Song or Greta Gerwig to pick up the statuette for Past Lives or Barbie, but that is not to be. Instead, it seems like Christopher Nolan might have the edge for Oppenheimer, which...fine. Not because I liked this movie, but because I have loved his previous movies, and he has never won Best Director in the past. So this is more of a lifetime achievement award. I certainly don't think Martin Scorsese needs another Oscar for Killers of the Flowers Moon. Yorgos Lanthimos and Jonathan Glazer have both done creative and inspiring work in Poor Things and The Zone of Interest so I wouldn't be mad if they won, but again, I didn't particularly love those movies. As far as I'm concerned, none of these nominees are my pick for Best Director this year, so bah humbug.

Best Actress: Lily Gladstone seems to be a lock for Killers of the Flower Moon, and while I hated that movie, I can't fault her performance in it, so I am down to hand her the award. I do think Sandra Huller was masterful in Anatomy of a Fall, having to act in three languages and be insanely ambiguous throughout so you are always questioning her motives. Plus she was also in The Zone of Interest, delivering a chilling performance as a Nazi - what a year she has had. Emma Stone was incredible in Poor Things, delivering a full-body performance that relied on her speech and physicality to convey the evolution and growth of the protagonist. Annette Bening was great in Nyad, and Carey Mulligan was fine in Maestro. Overall, a wonderfully strong category, but Gladstone's going to win and make history, and that will be great.

Best Actor: Cillian Murphy has this locked for Oppenheimer, and much like Nolan, I'm willing to go along with this as more of a lifetime achievement award. He does fine work in this film, so even if I didn't like the movie, I can't fault the actor. Personally, I would love to see Jeffrey Wright win for American Fiction, but at least he finally got a nomination. Likewise with Colman Domingo, who has been popping up in everything lately and seems fated to win an Oscar in the very near future. He was wonderful in Rustin, but he will not be able to stop the Oppenheimer express. Paul Giamatti also delivers an absolutely brilliant performance in The Holdovers - again, this is a strong category, but the frontrunner is running away with it.

Best Supporting Actress: Da'Vine Joy Randolph is going to win for The Holdovers, and I am 100% on board. She is phenomenal in that movie - I keep thinking back to one wordless scene she has with her sister that manages to convey an entire relationship within a few seconds. I'm very glad America Ferrera was nominated for her epic monologue in Barbie, and both Danielle Brooks and Jodie Foster delivered searing performances in The Color Purple and Nyad respectively, so I was happy to see them get recognized. I love Emily Blunt, but her role in Oppenheimer certainly wasn't anything to write home about, so good for her, but also, *shrug.* Let's go Da'Vine!

Best Supporting Actor: Robert Downey Jr. appears to be the foregone conclusion here for Oppenheimer. For the life of me, I cannot tell you why. Every year, people rally around some film or performance that I find so perplexing, and this category is the one where I find myself most confused. Why would you award Downey or Robert De Niro for Killers of the Flower Moon, when you could be giving a statue to Sterling K. Brown for his engaging work in American Fiction, or Ryan Gosling for playing a freakin' Ken doll? Mark Ruffalo was decidedly weird in Poor Things and I wouldn't say he was "acting" so much as he was hamming it up, so I'll pass on that. This category is just a mystery to me. I will be scheduling my bathroom break for when they hand it out.

Best Original Screenplay: I dearly hope Celine Song wins for Past Lives. But Justine Triet and Arthur Harari seem more likely for Anatomy of a Fall. Which is fair, but still. Justice for Past Lives! I wouldn't be mad by a win for David Hemingson for The Holdovers, but I'll pass on Maestro and May December. That's all I have to say about that. 

Best Adapted Screenplay: This category is WILD. It is ridiculous that Barbie is nominated here when it's one of the most Original movies I've seen, but that's the wild and wacky Oscars for you. I would love for Greta Gerwig to take home a statue for this screenplay, but I have no idea who is going to win here - the current favorite appears to be Cord Jefferson for American Fiction, which I absolutely cannot quibble about. Obviously, I am not rooting for Oppenheimer, and I am lukewarm on Poor Things and The Zone of Interest. So I am certainly looking forward to seeing who gets this award on Sunday night, because it might be the only one where I'm genuinely surprised and delighted. 

That's all for the major categories. A Best Sound win for The Zone of Interest would be cool as that's the only movie where I actually paid attention to the Sound Design, and I would love for Barbie to at least get some love for Best Costume Design and Best Production Design. It has been a rather staid run-up to the event, with all the same people nabbing the awards over and over again, so this promises to be a rather boring ceremony. I'll be hoping for some lovely speeches from deserving winners, but I wouldn't say no to some spectacular upset where suddenly Barbie and Past Lives end up beating out Oppenheimer for everything. Hey, if there's one thing Barbie taught me, it's that a girl can dream.