Why aren't movies as good as they use to be? There are probably numerous think pieces on this, but I have a few ideas. The main one is that huge franchises are killing the industry. The biggest movies of the year are all franchise movies. You have to go down to #6 on the list of highest domestic box office earners to find a stand-alone film. And it's Death on the Nile, which A) sucked and B) will soon be disqualified from this category, as it already has a sequel planned. So it seems like the days of the solid stand-alone movie are essentially over. Which is not to say there's no good content out there - it's just that what was once a good idea for a movie is now developed into a ten-episode series on one of the streaming services.
That leaves us with a list of ten Best Picture nominees that are either franchise movies (Avatar: The Way of Water and Top Gun: Maverick), or small, esoteric indie pictures (everything else). In the year 1980, the fourth highest grossing movie was Kramer vs. Kramer. And that tells you everything you need to know about how the industry has changed. In the year 2023, that movie is probably either a Netflix series or a critically acclaimed indie movie that almost no one sees.
Still a combination of obsession and FOMO drives me to watch as many of the Oscar nominees as I can. This year, I watched all ten Best Picture nominees. Here are my rankings. (Spoiler alerts for all.)
#10 - Triangle of Sadness
What was this movie actually trying to say? It was a satire of the super-wealthy, but I'm not sure what it said about them, beyond that they are out of touch, oblivious, and entitled. Everything this movie tried to do, White Lotus did better. Part of the problem was a lack of cohesion. The movie intermittently follows a couple (a model and a social media influencer, both of whose names I forget), but it doesn't seem to care all that much about them, and neither did I. A few strange and interesting scenes stand out: the rich Russian lady demanding that the cruise attendant take a swim (heck of a performance by that cruise attendant, by the way), the drinking game between Woody Harrelson and the Russian Guy, the donkey scene. (Actually, I could have done without the donkey scene.) But mostly, this is an extremely messy movie with a lot of gratuitous puking, and nothing much to say.
#9 - Women Talking
Too drab. Too talky. Too many characters. The color in this movie is so washed out, it looks black and white. I get that it's a stylistic choice to illustrate the drab lives of these Mennonite women living in a remote settlement, but it makes for a downright oppressive viewing experience. No one can accuse this movie of false advertising: there are indeed a lot of women talking here. Like Twelve Angry Men, one of my all-time favorites, the entire film is composed of people arguing with each other in a single location. So why did I like Twelve Angry Men so much more? Not sure, to be honest, but I know I did. I will say the central question - Should the women respond to an epidemic of sexual assaults by leaving, confronting the men or remaining silent? - was actually pretty compelling. I only wished I was watching a play or reading a novel instead of watching this movie.
#8 - Avatar: the Way of Water
I wrote about this one right after I saw it and I don't have much to add. Avatar is a visually stunning, immersive experience, but in the end it's also a three-hour epic about blue aliens. I didn't hate it, but I was happy when it ended.
Side note: if we're going to nominate franchise movies for Best Picture, can we give them better titles? Enough with the two-part titles with colons in the middle. Just call it Avatar II or call it The Way or Water. The sequel to Star Wars was Empire Strikes Back, and no one seemed to have any trouble remembering what franchise it was part of.
#7 - Everything, Everywhere, All at Once
I swing wildly back and forth on this one. On the one hand, you have to applaud the deep creativity. This movie is audicious and bizarre, downright insane, and just bursting with ideas. Racacconie. Hot dog fingers. The Everything Bagel of Nihilism. Even if you don't love this movie - and I didn't - you have to at least appreciate it. That said... It's a sensory assault that sometimes thrilled me, sometimes alienated me, and sometimes made me feel like I was a million years old and that cinema itself had passed me by. Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer a movie that slows down and lets me soak it in, rather than grabbing me by the shirt collar. But man, these filmmakers have got some guts. I get what the fuss is about, even if it isn't totally my thing.
#6 - Elvis
Speaking of hyperactive movies that won't let you chill. Damn, Baz Luhrman... calm down. All of his movies are frenetic and over-directed, so I wasn't surprised that Elvis was consistent with his style. The movie eventually calms down a little, but the first hour or so needs to take a Xanex. It has to be said there's an amazing Austin Butler performance at the center of this movie. Tom Hanks, in heavy makeup, using a heavy accent as Colonel Tom Parker worked for me less. The last half hour or so, which uses the first line of Elvis' song "Suspicious Minds" as sort of a mantra, is pretty haunting. The big "woke" talking point here is that the film glosses over Elvis' pillaging of black artists. I'm sure there are think pieces that comment intelligently on that issue, but I don't have much to say about it.
#5 - TAR
Another one I'm torn on. Both the character and the movie could be so pretentious and offputting. Who starts a movie with full five-minute credits, followed by a full New Yorker interview? But despite some really slow stretches, there's a really interesting story here. By the second act, I found myself caught up in Lydia Tar's inevitable downfall. What was finally going to take her down? How would her fall from grace play out? How would she react to being "cancelled"? Everyone seems to be talking about the masterclass scene, which was great, but I find myself turning over that ending, in which she's conducting video game music somewhere in Southeast Asia. I can't say I loved TAR - I'd love to have seen a cut that was about a half hour shorter - but there's a compelling story in here, and of course an incredible Cate Blanchett performance.
#4 - The Fabelmans
I didn't love it, but I definitely liked it. The family stuff was compelling. Everyone has been praising Michelle Williams for his performance as Stephen's (sorry... Sammy's) mother, but I found a little of that character went a long way. I was actually more interested in Paul Dano's performance as the father, who didn't encourage Sammy's pursuit of the arts, but managed to come off as supportive and sympathetic anyway. Plus, it was kind of fun to see Dano dial it back a little. This is the guy who made his bones playing Eli Sunday, the weird kid in Little Miss Sunshine, and the Riddler, remember. The movie-making scenes were great - especially young Sammy directing his buddies in a homemade war film.
#3 - All Quiet on the Western Front
DUH DUH DUHHHHH!!! Seriously, what an incredible score. It's three notes and it's absolutely chilling. This is on the short list of the most visceral, terrifying war movies ever made, almost (but not quite) as good as 1917, which came out just a few years ago. The jaw-dropping battle scenes demand to be seen on the big screen - which makes it sort of a shame that the movie was released on Netflix. My colleague in the history department pointed out to me that it's unlikely a single WWI soldier would have had such a tumultuous and action-packed war experience: this guy does just about everything a soldier could have done in that war. He's the Forrest Gump of German soldiers. Fair point, but it didn't affect my experience. Nor does the fact that this film is only loosely based on the famous novel by Remarque. It's riveting - and of all the nominees, the one I most want to see again as soon as possible.
#2 - Top Gun: Maverick
My wife likes to remind me that she was the one who got me to see Top Gun: Maverick in theaters. That's true. I have no real connection to the original Top Gun, which I think is super corny, and had no interest in seeing the sequel. But it hung around in theaters, and word of mouth kept building, and then awards season hype started building, and it finally wore my down. Damn, I'm glad I saw this one in the theaters. It was a total thrill ride. (You were right again, Honey.) Tom Cruise is as charismatic as ever - and I'm generally not even a big Cruise fan. Jennifer Connelly is gorgeous and appealing. Miles Teller is a total movie star, and evokes the spirit of Anthony Edwards in an almost uncanny way. I don't care at all about high-speed planes. Doesn't matter. The plot, especially the bit about Tom Cruise breaking Mach Ten, is patently ridiculous. Who cares? When a movie is this fun, you just give yourself over to it without overthinking things. Oh, and the Iceman scene might have been the best single scene in any movie this year. Don't @ me, as the kids say.
#1 - The Banshees of Inisherin
Do I need to leave some great piece of art behind in order to feel I've lived a worthwhile life? Or is it enough to simply spend my time hanging out with friends at the pub? And do I need to cut off a finger or two in order to feel something? The questions at the heart of Banshees are ones I think about a lot. (Well, except for the last one.) And that's probably why this movie landed with me. Farrell and Gleeson are brilliant in this anti-buddy movie, just as they were in In Bruges, which I also loved. And the overhead shots of the Irish countryside are green and brilliant - until they turn dark and creepy. Banshees actually reminded me most of one of my favorite movies, The Last Picture Show, another story about simple people doomed to live out their days in a remote, provincial place. Both of them left me sad, and unsettled, and haunted.
