It's Oscar Time!

My thoughts on the nominees and my ideas for new categories

If you’ve been reading this newsletter for any length of time, you know I love the Oscars. Do I respect the Oscars? Do I think they’re always right? Do I even think they’re important? No, no, and probably not. But it turns out that isn’t a prerequisite for loving something with your whole heart. I really intended to watch every nominee this year and I could’ve made it happen, but I lost steam and went back to watching melodramas from the 1930s. In a meditation this morning I was supposed to picture, like, a glowing ember inside of me that symbolized my true self I could always return to, and that’s kind of how I feel about the me that watches 1930s melodramas. She’s always in there, waiting for me to return to my base state after I get done watching a few new movies.

Anyway. I always love recapping my thoughts on the Oscars, even if Dakota Johnson isn’t involved even tangentially this year (she will be eventually…mark my words…). I think I got the closest I ever have to watching all the nominees, and I am going to try to watch them all even if it doesn’t happen until after the ceremony. So here are my thoughts on the Oscar nominations, in order from least favorite to most favorite:

Oppenheimer

Watched: At home on a library DVD

It feels rude to list this as my least favorite because I didn’t even finish it! I checked it out from the library back in December, watched about half an hour of it, then had to return it because the hold list was 300 people long and I truly could not commit to watching this during the Christmas season. I promised myself that I would come back to it once it was on Peacock (Peacock!!! Bane of my existence!!) but has that happened? I must be honest and tell you that no, it has not. I actually do love that this film has so many weird actors in it. I mean, sure, you all know about Josh Hartnett but I love seeing David Krumholtz in anything (his best role? Neal Schweiber’s brother, which is kind of an iykyk). In general I like films about this time period so I think I might like it once I finish it, but we’ll see if that happens! Remember how Christopher Nolan got insulted while he was on his Peloton? I love that story. He took it well!

Barbie

Watched: With Jen at an AMC theater that was honestly kind of falling apart!

Putting Barbie so low in my ranking makes it seem like I didn’t like it, which isn’t the case! I really enjoyed it. But I can’t handle any more discourse (which seems as if it has mercifully passed us by now). From the uproar about Greta Gerwig not getting a director nomination, I assumed she’d never had one, but she did get nominated for Lady Bird (I wasn’t watching movies or the Oscars that year). Barbie made me laugh a lot!

Past Lives

Watched: By myself at an AMC theater with a very, very large popcorn

This is a film that I think was actually not served by getting a nomination, because it meant that a lot of people watched it with outsized expectations. If you’re coming into this expecting, say, a dramatic love triangle…you’re gonna be disappointed. There’s no drama! This is Nothing Happens Cinema at its best. Instead of romantic intrigue, it’s a quiet meditation on nostalgia and loss, which is actually my favorite kind of movie. The “love triangle,” if you can call it that, is more of a…life triangle? I’ll repeat my theory about the purpose of love triangles, which is that they are never really about the choice between two men…they’re about the choice between two lives. And what Past Lives does is focus entirely on the subtext and downplay the romance. You can never really live two lives, and you can never go back and change things. And even if you’re happy with where you ended up, you can still feel real grief over what might have been. I loved this film.

The Holdovers

Watched: With Alex and Lauren at Cobble Hill Cinemas

This was my perfect viewing experience. What else is there to say, this movie rules. There’s been a lot of talk about how this looks like a 70s film, which I appreciate, but I really liked how it felt like an older movie. Hard to explain but you know it when you see it! If Da’Vine Joy Randolph doesn’t win I’m gonna riot. Before this the only thing I’d seen her in was her thankless role on Only Murders (all she gets to do there is get mad at Martin Short). Also…I love Paul Giamatti. It’s a big family joke that my dad recently called him Paul Giamommy.

Killers of the Flower Moon

Watched: At home on Apple TV, over the course of two days

I have to admit that before this, I’d only seen three Martin Scorsese movies: Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, After Hours, and Shutter Island. And those aren’t even the big ones! It’s embarrassing! I was a little apprehensive about this one, but I shouldn’t have been because I loved every second of it. I mean, it was horrifying. But every performance was so good. It shouldn’t have been any shorter, no matter what anyone says. I’m standing outside Martin Scorsese’s door with a sign that says “To me, your film is perfect.” I will say, though, that there hasn’t been enough conversation about the fact that PETE YORN is in this film. Alex texted me right after he saw it and said “There’s a cameo that only you’ll care about.” And boy was he right…I cared. I’ve spent so much time wondering how this happened. The other musician roles made sense, but how did Pete Yorn get involved? Is Martin Scorsese a fan? Is he jamming out to musicforthemorningafter? So many questions, and I’ll probably never get answers.

What Scorsese should I watch next? I have a lot to catch up on.

The Zone of Interest

Watched: By myself (with a packed theater) at The Gateway

This is my favorite because it’s the movie I can’t stop thinking about. While Killers of the Flower Moon managed to inject the slightest bit of levity into a very dark topic (mostly in the way of Robert DeNiro’s performance), there is absolutely no lightness anywhere in The Zone of Interest. It’s dark all the way through. I can understand why someone would hesitate to watch this movie, but I’m so, so glad I saw it on a big screen. I hate to make this newsletter mostly rebuttals of reviews I don’t agree with (lol, but unfortunately when it comes to the Oscars I DO think I’m right all the time! I don’t love this about myself but it’s true!), but I got SO MAD when Pop Culture Happy Hour mentioned this bad Manohla Dargis review. The first sentence is “What is the point of ‘The Zone of Interest’?” Not to get too in the weeds here, but…what is the point of any film? Like, we’re not writing an essay here on themes. We are not in the seventh grade!!! She called it vacuous. Excuse me. This is such an ungenerous read, one that feels like it’s pointedly not engaging with the film as presented and instead comparing it to other films. Usually I enjoy reading film criticism, even and especially when I don’t agree with it, but not in this case. I still think that the ending was so good, and ultimately I think that Jonathan Glazer doesn’t care about bad reviews. Let’s just hope he doesn’t have a Peloton.

Still to watch: Poor Things (but it will be streaming soon so maybe I’ll be able to watch it before the ceremony, American Fiction (I didn’t make it to the theater, but it’s about publishing so of course I want to see it), Anatomy of a Fall (I’m sure I’m going to like this) and Maestro (I’m watching it now! Unsure how I feel!)

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As usual, many films were left out of the Oscar nominations, and so here are the movies I would honor if I was in charge. Note that I have to create a few categories in order to do so.

Weirdest Guy: John Magaro. Definitely a weird guy in Showing Up. On first glance he might seen less weird in Past Lives, but remember that he wrote a book called Boner.

Best Example of Nothing Happens Cinema: Showing Up. I loved this movie!

Best Movie That was Kind of Dark and Weird but Maybe In a Fun Way?: Eileen. I still don’t know if this movie was “good” but I do know I’m still thinking about parts of it. I was surprised! Occasionally horrified! And sometimes even confused by Anne Hathaway’s accent!

Okay But He Actually Should Have Been Nominated For Best Supporting Actor: Charles Melton in May/December. Listen, you either instinctively get Todd Haynes on a gut level or you don’t. And unfortunately the Academy doesn’t! I thought that what Charles Melton was doing here was deceptively simple and also really tricky. Being blank but evoking emotion from the audience is hard, especially when the tone is as weird as it is here. This was my personal best picture of the year, but ultimately No One Asked me.

Lifetime Achievement for Best Use of a Reversible Denim/Carhartt jacket: Bill Pullman in While You Were Sleeping. Every year I ask the Academy to recognize this achievement, and every year I’m denied.

Worth noting that the jacket is still alive, well, and (presumably) looking good.

That’s it for this week! The Oscars are on Sunday night and I’m so excited. I’d love to hear which nominee was your favorite, and maybe we can collect some signatures or something to finally get Bill Pullman’s jacket the recognition it deserves. Something to think about. See you soon. xo