donny
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Post by donny on Feb 29, 2024 12:43:24 GMT -5
Need to catch up on the horror section.
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Dracula
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Post by Dracula on Mar 1, 2024 8:10:58 GMT -5
Best DocumentaryI wouldn’t call this a weak year for documentaries but it is a weak year for documentaries actually getting released in a timely manner. It feels like there were a lot of docs that got some good notes out of festivals that never really showed up anywhere. Of the forty or so documentaries I saw this year a whole lot of them were middling efforts produced by streaming services rather than the more high minded stuff that get awards, but there was still some cream that rose to the top and I’m pretty happy with my final five. 20 Days in Mariupol: 20 Days in Mariupol is probably the least elegant and planned out of the documentaries here, and in a lot of ways that would have to be the case, in fact a lot of what’s interesting about it is its on the ground immediacy. As the title implies it just chronicles 20 days journalist Mstyslav Chernov spent in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol and we see the most striking footage he shot edited together to get an idea of the on the ground chaos of the situation. The film includes some moderately graphic footage and is not necessarily for the faint of heart, but it’s an important document of the havoc that Putin’s invasion is causing.
Four Daughters: The documentary Four Daughters brings us to Tunisia and looks at the story of the Hamrouni family, who when we’re introduced to them consists of only a mother and her two youngest daughters and over the course of the film we learn what happened to their eldest daughters and how they got to that point. To do this director Kaouther Ben Hania brought in a pair of actresses to play those older daughters in a series of re-enactments, which serve less as a presentation of facts than as a sort of therapy tool and as a launching pad to interview the remaining daughters about the events in question. Despite the title it’s the mother that proves to be the most fascinating figure in it, whose conflicted feelings about modernity verses tradition are an endlessly fascinating throughline.
Kokomo City: Of the five nominees here Kokomo City is by far the most stylish. Shot in an inky high contrast black and white, the film interviews four black trans sex workers about their lives and the various joys and challenges of their lifestyles. While the film is certainly not blind to the dangers posed by these women (in fact one of the four was tragically killed not long after the film was made) it doesn’t wallow in this or focus on it to the exclusion of everything else. The movie isn’t very long and might have overstayed its welcome a bit if it kept going but as it stands it a really nice dip into this world and is a journey worth going on.
The Mission: A National Geographic production presently streaming on Disney+ and Hulu, The Mission is likely the biggest budget and most mainstream of the nominees here but it doesn’t feel particularly compromised because of this. The film tells the story of John Allen Chau, an evangelical Christian in his early twenties who devised a crazy plan to illegally sail to a remote island with an un-contacted indigenous tribe on it in order to proselytize to them and was killed by arrows shortly after landing. The film looks at the warped culture that led him to this point and also the dark history of the kind of harm that’s been done over the years through people with similar intentions.
To Kill a Tiger: Credit where it’s due, pretty much the only reason this India set documentary was on my radar was that it earned a surprise nomination at the Academy Awards. As it turns out that nomination was deserved as this is a fascinating look at how issues of feminism and rape culture play out in the third world as we watch a family in a remote village navigate the challenges of seeking justice for the gang rape of a thirteen year old girl in the face of some shockingly retrograde views expressed by the rest of the village, which seems to want to shove the incident under the rug. Along the way the filmmakers battle with the ethics of making a movie about this subject and the hostility those same villagers end up directing towards them. And the Golden Stake goes to…Four DaughtersKaouther Ben Hania is a filmmaker I primarily knew for her scripted film The Man Who Sold His Skin, which was a surprise nominee in the Best International Film category at the Oscars. That movie didn’t do much for me but this one suggests that documentary is a much better medium for her because with this movie she kind of casually comes up with a new and different format for these movies and has also come across a story that’s both fascinating on a human level and also revealing about the politics of both the Arab world and other cultures around the world.
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Dracula
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Post by Dracula on Mar 2, 2024 9:59:40 GMT -5
Top Ten Time, will spread this across over the day
10. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Directed by: Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson Written by: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Dave Callaham Based on: Characters from Marvel Comics Starring: Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Oscar Isaac, Issa Rae, Brian Tyree Henry, Lauren Vélez, Jake Johnson, and Jason Schwartzman Distributor: Columbia Pictures Country: USA Language: English Rating: PG Running Time: 140 minutes Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Format: Animation Date released: 6/2/2023 Date seen: 6/1/2023 Worldwide Box Office Gross: $691 million # of Oscar nominations: 1 (Best Animated Feature) # of Golden Stake Nominations: 7 (Best Fight Scene, Best Chase Scene, Best Score, Best Villain, Best Cameo, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Action Movie) # of Golden Stakes Won: 1 (Best Chase Scene) The original Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse didn’t make my top ten back in 2018 and actually wasn’t particularly close to doing so because I had some issues. I have warmed up a bit to that one but still don’t feel any particular regret about leaving it off. This sequel on the other hand easily made the list and may well have been higher up in the rankings if not for it’s cliffhanger ending that gives me a little pause and leaves me wanting to see if they can stick the landing with the third film and solidify the trilogy’s legacy. It would have been easy for the filmmakers involved to have simply delivered more of the same with this follow-up, and in some ways they do, but from a filmmaking perspective they’ve actually changed up the film’s style for the better and are working with a lot more confidence this time around. It’s a movie that in many ways feels more mature than its predecessor but does it without throwing away any of the humor that made that first movie work and it also manages to be a nerdy Easter-Egg-O-Rama without being cringe about it. It’s an accomplishment that’s all the more impressive in that it feels like a wildly successful superhero movie released right in the middle of a year where that genre seems to be collapsing and pulls it off while reveling in the “multiverse” elements that seem to be sinking its competitors. |
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PG Cooper
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Post by PG Cooper on Mar 2, 2024 10:33:51 GMT -5
I suppose that shouldn't be surprising given how represented it's been throughout the Stakes. But I am surprised. Then again, maybe I'm just harbouring resentment for the teenagers I had to yell at in my screening lmao.
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Dracula
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Post by Dracula on Mar 2, 2024 10:40:50 GMT -5
I suppose that shouldn't be surprising given how represented it's been throughout the Stakes. But I am surprised. Then again, maybe I'm just harbouring resentment for the teenagers I had to yell at in my screening lmao. I mean, if it weren't such a good movie you wouldn't have been as mad at the teenagers. |
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Post by PG Cooper on Mar 2, 2024 10:44:57 GMT -5
I suppose that shouldn't be surprising given how represented it's been throughout the Stakes. But I am surprised. Then again, maybe I'm just harbouring resentment for the teenagers I had to yell at in my screening lmao. I mean, if it weren't such a good movie you wouldn't have been as mad at the teenagers. Idk I'm pretty angry in general. |
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Post by Dracula on Mar 2, 2024 10:52:22 GMT -5
9. Skinamarink  Directed by: Kyle Edward Ball Written by: Kyle Edward Ball Starring: Lucas Paul, Dali Rose Tetreault, Ross Paul, and Jaime Hill Distributor: IFC Midnight Country: Canada Language: English Rating: Not Rated Running Time: 100 Minutes Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Format: Digital Date released: 1/13/2023 Date seen: 10/4/2023 Worldwide Box Office Gross: $2.1 million # of Oscar nominations: None # of Golden Stake Nominations: 2 (Best Sound Design and Best Horror Movie) # of Golden Stakes Won: 2 (Best Sound Design and Best Horror Movie) Skinamarink is the only of the movies on my top ten this year that I didn’t see in theaters, which is ironic because it’s probably the movie of the bunch that is most dramatically diminished from being watched outside of the claustrophobia of a movie theater forcing you to pay attention and get lost in the environment it creates. This is possibly the most experimental movie I’ve ever put on one of my top ten lists although most of the “experiments” its running are things that have already been tried at a smaller scale in the form of short films and online videos. Specifically this is kind of like the culmination of a decade of online analog horror and “creepypasta” brought to the screen in the most ambitious way possible. It’s a movie that’s no plot and all vibes, something that operates on even more of a dream logic than the works of David Lynch or Dario Argento and pretty much eschews conventional narrative entirely but does so very effectively. I had a handful of different choices to put into this ninth slot (having predetermined slot ten) including some movies I suspect I’ll be revisiting more often than this but I ultimately decided to be bold and go with the movie that felt like it was doing something new and could be the start of something going forward instead of the “safer” choices that were also out there. |
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IanTheCool
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Post by IanTheCool on Mar 2, 2024 11:18:00 GMT -5
I suppose that shouldn't be surprising given how represented it's been throughout the Stakes. But I am surprised. Then again, maybe I'm just harbouring resentment for the teenagers I had to yell at in my screening lmao. You didnt yell. You were probably like "um, excuse me, if you would be ever so kind and try to be a little quieter?" |
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Dracula
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Post by Dracula on Mar 2, 2024 11:38:31 GMT -5
8. The Teacher’s Lounge  Directed by: İlker Çatak Written by: İlker Çatak and Johannes Duncker Starring: Leonie Benesch, Leonard Stettnisch, Eva Löbau, Michael Klammer, Rafael Stachowiak, and Anne-Kathrin Gummich Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics Country: Germany Language: German Rating: PG-13 Running Time: 98 Minutes Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1 Format: Digital Date released: 12/25/2023 Date seen: 1/21/2024 Worldwide Box Office Gross: $2.7 Million # of Oscar nominations: 1 (Best International Film) # of Golden Stake Nominations: 2 (Actress and Original Screenplay) # of Golden Stakes Won: None The Teacher’s Lounge is pretty much the last movie I saw for consideration for this list and as such I do maybe worry that recency bias is getting to me at least a little but as of right now it definitely stands out as one of the year’s strongest works. The film is ostensibly a movie about a middle school teacher who finds her class spiraling out of control after she accuses a woman who’s a co-worker and the parent of one of the kids in her class of having engaged in a series of thefts around the school. Looked at just on that level the film is a fascinating human story which feels like it authentically replicates both classroom dynamics and the way in which people can find themselves punished for standing up for themselves. But there’s more going on below the surface here. The movie is clearly trying to use the classroom as something of a stand-in for wider societal dynamics with school discipline and office politics as a proxy for the justice system and the ways in which power and the ways in which power and authority can be elusive and things like the school paper reflecting the ways in which the media can miss the bigger picture in their quest for drama and scandal. I even see something kind of Trumpian in the way the accused co-worker and her son essentially abuse the interest their opponents have in due process and use shameless denial in the face of accusations in order to divide people to their own ends. But it doesn’t need to be looked at as a pat or specific allegory for its depths to be recognized and its open ending is kind of chilling in how the audience is given no reassurance that order can be re-established. |
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PG Cooper
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Post by PG Cooper on Mar 2, 2024 12:01:11 GMT -5
I suppose that shouldn't be surprising given how represented it's been throughout the Stakes. But I am surprised. Then again, maybe I'm just harbouring resentment for the teenagers I had to yell at in my screening lmao. You didnt yell. You were probably like "um, excuse me, if you would be ever so kind and try to be a little quieter?" Naw I yelled at them to shut up. Also shocked and very happy I'm not the only one with Skinamarink in my top 10. |
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PhantomKnight
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Post by PhantomKnight on Mar 2, 2024 12:03:42 GMT -5
Happy to see Spiderverse on here. But too low, if you ask me lol.
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Dracula
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Post by Dracula on Mar 2, 2024 12:27:46 GMT -5
7. The Eight Mountains  Directed by: Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch Written by: Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch Based on: The novel “Le Otto Montagne” Paolo Cognetti Starring: Luca Marinelli, Alessandro Borghi, Lupo Barbiero, Andrea Palma, Cristiano Sassella, Francesco Palombelli, Filippo Timi, Elena Lietti, Elisabetta Mazzullo, and Surakshya Panta Distributor: Janus Films Country: Belgium/Italy Language: Italian Rating: Not Rated Running Time: 147 Minutes Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1 Format: Digital Date released: 4/28/2023 Date seen: 5/13/2023 Worldwide Box Office Gross: $11.3 million # of Oscar nominations: None # of Golden Stake Nominations: 2 (Adapted Screenplay and Under-Appreciated) # of Golden Stakes Won: 1 (Under-Appreciated) The Eight Mountains was a 2022 film in most of Europe but a 2023 movie in North America, which likely has to do with why it hasn’t really been discussed by much of anyone come year end: a lot of people think the time to talk about it has passed. But that’s unfortunate because this movie has a lot going for it. It’s this really engrossing movie about two childhood friends living in a small town in the Italian Alps who drift into and out of one another’s lives over the course of several years. Central of all of this are a series of trips the two make up into the mountains both as children and during a key point in their lives when they build a log cabin in the mountains as a sort of ambitious project that becomes a bonding experience. These sections in the mountain come with some really gorgeous scenery rendered beautifully by the film’s Academy Ratio cinematography. It is not, however, an entirely happy story. The two friends eventually find themselves taking different roads in life and one of them starts going into some dark places later in life. That section and its examination of undiagnosed depression and toxic masculine lifestyle standards make the film topical in some ways, but it’s never an “issue movie” and it’s ultimate a very personal story, the kind that may well be based on the real experiences of the author who wrote the initial novel this was based on. |
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PG Cooper
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Post by PG Cooper on Mar 2, 2024 12:30:13 GMT -5
Nice. Didn't crack my top ten but was definitely a contender.
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Dracula
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Post by Dracula on Mar 2, 2024 13:17:02 GMT -5
6. Asteroid City  Directed by: Wes Anderson Written by: Wes Anderson Starring: Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton, Jeffrey Wright, Bryan Cranston, Tom Hanks, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Liev Schreiber, Maya Hawke, Steve Carell, Matt Dillon, Hong Chau, Willem Dafoe, Margot Robbie, and Jeff Goldblum Distributor: Focus Features Country: USA Language: English Rating: PG-13 Running Time: 105 Minutes Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Format: 35mm Date released: 6/16/2023 Date seen: 6/12/2023 Worldwide Box Office Gross: $54 million # of Oscar nominations: None # of Golden Stake Nominations: 8 (Musical Performance, Art Direction, Soundtrack, Cameo, Actor, Line of Dialogue, Original Screenplay, and Comedy) # of Golden Stakes Won: None
The discourse around Asteroid City disappointed me. I heard a lot of people respond to this movie by saying it was “just Wes Anderson doing his thing” or “going back to the well” or “getting mired in set decoration” which are all complaints I could maybe understand being made about his last film The French Dispatch but they’re completely wrongheaded when applied to Asteroid City which to my eyes is plainly his most substantive and experimental film since… well, maybe since ever. Yes, on the surface you’ve got all the typical hallmarks of a Wes Anderson movie and they’re as meticulous and as enjoyable as ever, but they’re in service of this rather uniquely structured story within a story which is both deeply emotional in its dissection of grief and loss and also rather existential in what it has to say about how one goes about living in a complicated world that’s difficult to comprehend. But again, if you don’t want to dive into that you’ve still got this immaculately executed Wes Anderson comedy filled with interesting star turns and well-timed dry humor. We’re privileged to be living at the same time an auteur as fascinating as Wes Anderson is working and we shouldn’t take him for granted just because he so regularly delivers strong work to us. |
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Post by PG Cooper on Mar 2, 2024 13:22:07 GMT -5
"Can't believe Wes is just doing the same old thing of making immaculately constructed singular films which seamlessly blend gutbusting comedy with genuine pathos while also providing a showcase for dozens of name actors in a style that is equal parts playful and precise. Ugh. Why can't he make a movie that look like everyone else's?"
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Dracula
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Post by Dracula on Mar 2, 2024 13:39:19 GMT -5
Have to run some errands now, back to post the top five this afternoon/evening.
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Post by Doomsday on Mar 2, 2024 14:11:16 GMT -5
Have to run some errands now, back to post the top five this afternoon/evening.  |
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Dracula
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Post by Dracula on Mar 2, 2024 15:39:13 GMT -5
5. The Zone of Interest  Directed by: Jonathan Glazer Written by: Jonathan Glazer Based on: The novel “The Zone of Interest” by Martin Amis Starring: Christian Friedel, Sandra Hüller, Ralph Herforth, Daniel Holzberg, Sascha Maaz, and Freya Kreutzkam Distributor: A24 Country: United Kingdom Language: German/Polish Rating: PG-13 Running Time: 105 Minutes Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Format: Digital Date released: 12/15/2023 Date seen: 1/8/2023 Worldwide Box Office Gross: $9.1 million # of Oscar nominations: 5 (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best International Feature, and Best Sound) # of Golden Stake Nominations: 3 (Sound Design, Adapted Screenplay, Trailer) # of Golden Stakes Won: 1 (Trailer) The Zone of Interest is one of those movies that makes this whole exercise of “ranking” movies in a top ten list feel kind of silly. On one hand I feel like the statement the movie is making is a profound all-timer; it presents a topic as important as the Holocaust in a new way while also having a lot to say about what it means to be complicit in the evils around us. The very idea behind the movie is more than enough to make it among the most noteworthy of the year. On the other hand, it’s certainly not an “enjoyable” experience in the way that the films I’ve ranked above it are and its filmmaking is almost intentionally restrained in a way that doesn’t exactly line it up to show off bravura skill behind the camera. The film uses many of the same tools that Jonathon Glazer previously used in movies like Under the Skin but uses them to a more serious end and it’s in many ways the exact right project for Glazer to apply his icy tone too. I’m not sure how often I’ll revisit this movie, I don’t really “like” it in the same way I usually “like” the movies I give praise to including the ones that are dark and disturbing but my respect for it is immense. |
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Post by Dracula on Mar 2, 2024 16:27:30 GMT -5
4. The Boy and the Heron  Directed by: Hayao Miyazaki Written by: Hayao Miyazaki Starring: Soma Santoki, Masaki Suda, Aimyon, Yoshino Kimura, Shōhei Hino, Ko Shibasaki, and Takuya Kimura Distributor: Gkids Country: Japan Language: Japanese Rating: PG-13 Running Time: 124 Minutes Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Format: Animation Date released: 12/8/2023 Date seen: 12/4/2023 Worldwide Box Office Gross: $166.3 million # of Oscar nominations: 1 (Best Animated Feature) # of Golden Stake Nominations: 1 (Best Score) # of Golden Stakes Won: None Before this year only two animated movies had ever made one of my top ten lists (Waltz With Bashir and Soul) and this year that number doubles as this is the second animated movie to make the list this year. This would also be the first anime movie to make a list although Hayao Miyazaki’s work has always felt a bit removed from the world of anime even though it’s undeniably working with the same basic style you’d associate with that form. I kind of think I may have done this movie a disservice over the course of the Golden Stakes this year having not really found a lot of categories for this to fit into. What can I say, these categories aren’t very friendly to animation, but perhaps the bigger “problem” is just that Miyazaki makes movies that can’t easily be put into boxes and that may be especially true about this one, which is pretty trippy but without being formless or inaccessible. There are certainly ideas behind the film and many have read it either an allegory for the founding of Ghibli, about his eventual retirement from that company, or perhaps as some sort of message to his son. Maybe I’ll parse all that out some day, but for the time being I’m mostly just celebrating this movie as one last chance to bear witness to Miyazaki’s mastery of his form. Being around when he puts out one more major work is quite the privilege and one I’m not going to overlook. |
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Post by Dracula on Mar 2, 2024 17:16:39 GMT -5
3. Poor Things  Directed by: Yorgos Lanthimos Written by: Tony McNamara Based on: “Poor Things” by Alasdair Gray Starring: Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef, Christopher Abbott, and Jerrod Carmichael Distributor: Searchlight Pictures Country: United States Language: English Rating: R Running Time: 142 Minutes Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 Format: 35mm Date released: 12/8/2023 Date seen: 12/21/2023 Worldwide Box Office Gross: $90.3 million # of Oscar nominations: 11 (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Score, Best Production Design, Best Makeup, and Best Costumes) # of Golden Stake Nominations: 8 (Makeup, Art Direction, Score, Supporting Actor, Actress, Line of Dialogue, Adapted Screenplay, and Comedy) # of Golden Stakes Won: 2 (Actress and Comedy) As of this writing, Poor Things has made almost a hundred million dollars at the worldwide box office. If, after I watched Yorgos Lanthimos’ breakthrough film Dogtooth you had told me that this director would reach anything resembling that kind of commercial success without compromising his creative visions I wouldn’t have believed it and yet here we are. Poor Things represents what Lanthimos can do when given a moderately large budget and is able to build a world defined by elaborate sets and makeup in addition to strange behavior on the part of the world’s inhabitants. It also showcases an absolutely fearless performance by Emma Stone, solidifying her as one of the most well rounded movie stars of her generation. The movie also manages to take potentially very disturbing and off-putting subject matter and threads the needle just perfectly to make it all come off correctly and does so in a way that perfectly fits Lanthimos’ usual theme of questioning and challenging societal norms rather than going along with them. It’s just a whole series of creative decisions that could have easily derailed the whole endeavor but instead jive just perfectly in a way that’s very impressive. |
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Post by Dracula on Mar 2, 2024 18:36:16 GMT -5
2. Past Lives  Directed by: Celine Song Written by: Celine Song Starring: Greta Lee, Teo Yoo, and John Magaro Distributor: A24 Country: USA Language: English/Korean Rating: PG-13 Running Time: 106 Minutes Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Format: 35mm Date released: 6/2/2023 Date seen: 6/17/2023 Worldwide Box Office Gross: $24.8 million # of Oscar nominations: 2 (Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay) # of Golden Stake Nominations: 4 (Editing, Supporting Actor, Actress, and Original Screenplay) # of Golden Stakes Won: 1 (Original Screenplay) Past Lives is very much this year’s big Sundance success story and has been in the background of film discourse all year as a result and I worry that it’s been taken somewhat for granted by year-end because it’s been around for so long, but make no mistake this is personal indie filmmaking at its finest. It presents what is plainly a very personal story, but does so in a way that doesn’t feel self-indulgent or narcissistic and in doing so presents one of the most clear minded and unsentimental stories of the modern immigrant experience and also looks at a fascinating little love triangle. In fact it does something I wasn’t entirely sure American cinema was capable of doing in this day and age: present a story about mature people resolving an emotional entanglement like rational adults. Watching the movie you can see a dozen very stupid roads it could have gone down but Celine Song manages to dodge every single pitfall with incredible dexterity. I’m not sure what Song’s future holds as she starts working on material beyond her own life’s story but I’m very excited to see what her future holds because she’s pretty much hit a home run at her first time up to bat. 1. Oppenheimer  Directed by: Christopher Nolan Written by: Christopher Nolan Based on: The biography “American Prometheus” by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin Starring: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Matt Damon, Josh Hartnett, Casey Affleck, Rami Malek, and Kenneth Branagh Distributor: Universal Country: USA Language: English Rating: R Running Time: 180 Minutes Aspect Ratio: 2.20:1 (Variable) Format: IMAX/70mm Date released: 7/21/2023 Date seen: 7/20/2023 Worldwide Box Office Gross: $960 million # of Oscar nominations: 13 (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Art Direction, Best Score, Best Sound, Best Makeup, and Best Costumes) # of Golden Stake Nominations: 9 (Set-Piece, Sound Design, Score, Editing, Supporting Actress, Supporting Actor, Actor, Ensemble, and Adapted Screenplay) # of Golden Stakes Won: 6 (Set-Piece, Score, Editing, Actor, Ensemble, and Adapted Screenplay) Extra! Extra! Read all about it! In shocking turn of events the millennial film bro liked the Christopher Nolan movie. Look, this is a boring and anticlimactic choice. For half the year I was hoping something great would come along so I wouldn’t be ending the year with such a “basic” choice, but I like what I like. I’m reminded of the film year of 1962, which gave us such eclectic and important works of world cinema as Jules and Jim, Harakiri, Cleo from 5 to 7, Winter Light, Ivan's Childhood, and The Exterminating Angel and yet in my eyes the best movie of the whole year is still plainly the epic Hollywood biopic Lawrence of Arabia and it isn’t even that close. That’s not to say that Oppenheimer is as good as that classic (or that its competition is even close to as good as the other classics I named) but it is to say that there’s something to be said about movies that use the tools of accessible mainstream cinema to their fullest extent which transcends even the most innovative and novel of what cinema has to offer. And calling Oppenheimer some kind of Hollywood epic is also misleading; it’s not some kind of war movie with a cast of thousands or even some kind of showcase for elaborate period details. Instead it’s a movie that leans into Nolan’s major strengths: engaging story structure, bombastic visual presentations, and probing themes about people placed into extreme and stressful situations. The history that the film looks at still feels relevant in this time of increase global tensions and the rise of ominous, potentially world changing technologies, and increasingly petty partisan politics. It’s just such a complete overall package in the way few movies and especially few movies on this scale ever are and like Nolan’s film’s so often do it perfectly sticks the landing. |
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Neverending
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Post by Neverending on Mar 2, 2024 18:42:28 GMT -5
Doomsday’s and frankyt’s kids gonna look back on this and say, “wow, y’all really hated Barbie, eh?”
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PG Cooper
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And those who tasted the bite of his sword named him...The DOOM Slayer
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Post by PG Cooper on Mar 2, 2024 18:50:02 GMT -5
Stellar list with the right number one. Boring or not, it fucking owns. The '62 comparison is a good one.
Great work as always. These are always a blast to read and keep up with.
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Dracula
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Post by Dracula on Mar 2, 2024 19:20:49 GMT -5
Doomsday ’s and frankyt ’s kids gonna look back on this and say, “wow, y’all really hated Barbie, eh?” You're allowed to like something without putting it in your top ten. A lot of people who only see four movies a year don't seem to understand this but you should know better. |
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PhantomKnight
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Post by PhantomKnight on Mar 2, 2024 19:21:12 GMT -5
I personally don't agree with Poor Things, Asteroid City or The Zone of Interest -- though I still admire/respect the latter -- but I'm glad to see Oppenheimer at number one, and still another enjoyable year of these awards yet again.
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