Thanks to streaming and not having to work, I’ve had an opportunity to view a lot more films than in previous years. This includes some short films, short documentaries, and two international films. Here are my thoughts on a number of categories.
The best film I saw last year was Thirteen Lives about the Thai cave rescues with Ron Howard as the director. Colin Farrel, who is nominated in the best actor category for The Banshees of Inisherin, was great in that movie as well. I reviewed it on this site. I’ve seen eight of the ten movies nominated for best picture. I know the front-runner is Everything Everywhere All at Once, but I’m not a fan of that movie. Of the films that I did see, Avatar is my pick. The last thirty minutes of that film contain some of the best action sequences that I’ve seen in any film.
My pick for Best Actor is Austin Butler for his portrayal of Elvis. I only saw two of the best actress-nominated films. I will say that Michelle Williams had one standout scene in The Fablemans. It takes place in a closet. Her son, a young Steven Spielberg, has her watch a rough cut of a family vacation video in which he captures his mom in compromising situations with a family friend. If she wins, it will be because of that scene.
I can’t comment on the best Director category because I’ve only seen three of the films and neither of them was worthy of a nomination in my mind.
My pick for Best Documentary is Navalny. I hope it wins if for no other reason than to piss off Putin. The world would be a better place if Navalny was running Russia instead of the psychopath in charge now.
I was able to see four of the five documentary short films. They were all good. My pick is The Martha Mitchell Effect, an example of what one determined individual can accomplish.
Leave a Reply