The Oscars at Our House 2025

Has Hollywood lost its way?

Once again, Mrs D and I have endeavored to see as many Best Picture nominees as possible, given availability and other constraints. We’ve been doing this now for over 20 years. When we started there were still only five nominees. Since 2009, it’s been ten, and this year we saw eight, and I’ll say again, the Academy never should’ve increased the limit. Not just because it’s hard for fans to see them all, but because some of these movies are simply not worthy of the honor. Especially this year!

Still, it’s Oscar time and it’s a tradition here! Pick your favorites, put on your tuxedoes and sparkly gowns (or in our case, your comfiest PJs), kick back with some soda and butter-soaked popcorn, wow or hiss the latest red carpet fashions, jeer or cheer the awkward, fawning interviews, predict the winners, pat yourself on the back when you’re right and blame woke Hollywood when you’re wrong!

Anyway, for what it’s worth, here’s what I thought…

Anora - A tale of stupid people doing terrible things stupidly. A whole lot of yelling and screwing failed to make this movie interesting. The nearly feral, selfish youth, the servile, bickering and bumbling Armenians, the contemptible ultra-rich Russians, the ‘dancer’ who accepts payment for sex but insists she’s not a hooker. The constant f-bombs. It all seemed over the top—grasping for gritty realism but approaching absurdity. So what.

The Brutalist - A worthy subject, an intriguing and complicated lead character masterfully brought to life by a supremely talented star, an epic arc of struggle and redemption, a span of decades and locations wonderfully rendered visually and in historical references. And yet, I fell asleep. Had to finish the movie the next day. It’s brutally long and slow. Three and a half hours! Couldn’t trim even a half hour out of that? Come on.

A Complete Unknown - Mrs D and I agreed this was easily and by far the best picture of the nominees we saw. I’m not sure it will stand the test of time as a ‘great’ movie, but it was full of great acting. Timothée Chalamet should win best actor for his amazing and mesmerizing recreation of Dylan’s musical performance and presence. Co-stars Monica Barbaro and Edward Norton should win their categories for the same reasons. The evocation of the time period through set design and other techniques was immersive and entertaining. Of the best-pic noms we’ve seen, this is the only one I’m sure I will watch again.

Conclave - I really liked this movie at first. It seemed like a taut, understated political intrigue, with a behind-the-scenes glimpse of a hidden world—the election of a new pope. But I felt let down by the wild twist at the end. Not being a fan of the Catholic Church, I kind of enjoyed the irony of it, but I found the details strained credibility as presented. By chance I had just read an article about the many possible combinations of chromosomes that occur naturally in humans. So I didn’t doubt that, but it seemed so unlikely the person in question would have ever risen to a high position in the Catholic Church, or that any real circumstance could have resulted in the ending of this film. I just didn’t buy it.

Dune Part Two - I read the book so many years ago that I remembered nothing of it. We saw Part One last year and were a bit lost throughout. So, we watched a couple YouTube summary videos, but then we still watched Part One before pushing play on Part Two. We both thought the investment of time paid off. It helped us sink into the films, with their long list of characters and multiple story threads. I’d rank this as the second best of the nominees. Stunning visuals and the kind of classic, epic storytelling that reminds me of Tolkien or Star Wars.

Emilia Pérez - Lots of negative talk about the star of this one—whatever. I’d like to see it, but I don’t have Netflix right now and my wallet is already suffering from subscription fatigue.

I’m Still Here - The trailer for this one looks really interesting, but the film has not been released for streaming as of this date.

Nickel Boys - I’m not sure if the sheer volume of artsy techniques and effects (or affects?) were always in service of the storytelling in this film. It felt overwrought. All the weird shot angles, the square formatting, the ringing headache soundtrack, the time jumping and the gimmicky point of view thing, especially those back of head shots—I found it interesting but distracting, and wondered if anyone in Hollywood can just tell a story anymore.

The Substance - I’m honestly not sure if it’s a comedy gone wrong or a drama gone wrong, but boy did it suck! If it had a point it was made in the first ten minutes and then beat to death for two more hours, and in the most gruesome fashion imaginable. Jesus, how is this nominated for anything?! How did it even get made?! It’s a perfect example of why many people say Hollywood has lost the ability to make great movies.

Wicked - Loved the book! Never saw the play. The movie did not capture the wonder and delight I remember feeling at the ingenuity and thoughtfulness of the book. The set design and effects were impressive, the vocal talent at times astounding. But I couldn’t help feeling like I was watching a bad episode of Glee with all the cliché mean girl vs. Cinderella stuff. Also, a musical ought to leave you humming or singing a chorus or two on your way out the door. Think: If I Were a Rich Man, Papa Can You Hear Me, I Feel Pretty, Don’t Rain on My Parade, on and on. Wicked is more like sung dialogue but not one catchy, hummable tune. Meh.

Honorable Shoutout

A Real Pain - Should have been nominated. Thoughtful and thought provoking, just funny enough to lighten the weight of the relationships on view, among the characters themselves but also between the characters and the history they are interfacing with. And extremely well played by both Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin, making these characters feel real and their oddball behavior believable.

Something to Think About

After the news of the great Gene Hackman’s death, Roy Sr, Mrs D and I all watched Unforgiven the other night, and enjoyed it immensely even though we’ve all seen it more than twice. Everything a Best Picture winner ought to be and then some. Not one of the 2024 movies even comes close.