The Snubby Awards: 2024 Oscars

It's that time again: The Snubby Awards!  For those of you who don't know, the Snubby Awards take a look at all of the Best Picture nominees from a given year and determine if the best film won or if another was snubbed.  If that's the case, they win the coveted Snubby Award!



This time we'll be taking a look at the 2024 Oscars, which was a overall great selection of movies.  All of them were good to amazing and I got something out of all of them.  The nominees were: American Fiction, Anatomy of a Fall, Barbie, The Holdovers, Killers of the Flower Moon, Maestro, Past Lives, Poor Things, and The Zone of Interest with the winner being Oppenheimer.  Did Oppenheimer deserve to win or did another movie get snubbed?  Let's find out!


#10. Past Lives



The story of two childhood friends who grow apart and meet again years later, this is a very contemplative movie about what could have been.  This is a sad, but sweet movie that makes one a bit existential.  That aspect of the movie and the acting are the highlights of the film.  I don't have much more to say about Past Lives beyond that.  This type of movie generally isn't my cup of tea, but I liked this one enough.  I just got the point of the film pretty quickly and the movie doesn't have too much else to say.

 7/10: Good 


#9. The Zone of Interest



This movie mostly takes place at the house of the commander of Auschwitz, which is literally right next to the concentration camp itself.  It follows Rudolf Höss and his family as they live a mostly mundane life with horror and death happening right next door.  This movie is so mundane it's almost boring, but that's the entire point.  Virtually nothing interesting is happening on screen, it's all in the background or off-screen and we only hear the screams and gunshots, but never see them.  It's a movie that shows that the perpetrators of evil aren't cartoonishly-evil villains.  They're people who live mostly ordinary and boring lives who simply follow orders or are too apathetic or selfish to care about the suffering of others.  It's a movie that has aged incredibly well in only a year.  It's an unpleasent experience, to say the least, and I never need to watch this movie again, but The Zone of Interest succeeds in its goal and I give it high praise for that.  This is one everyone should watch once.

 8/10: Really Good 


#8. Maestro



I'm not a biopic guy.  It's rare that I find them interesting and they often aren't very accurate, which makes me like them less.  I was not looking forward to Maestro.  Music isn't really a subject I have a lot of interest in, so there wasn't much for me to engage with on paper.  Howerver, I did really enjoy this movie thanks to the excellent performances from Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan.  The focus of this film wasn't so much on Leonard Bernstein's musical career, but more on his relationship with his wife, Felicia Montealegre.  The drama between them made this much more interesting than the typical biopic.  It didn't completely engage me all the time, but the performances and the cinematography are both excellent and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. 

 8/10: Really Good 


#7. Killer of the Flower Moon



The brutal true story of the Osage Indian Murders, which boils down to a group of white men murdering people in order to get oil land.  This is a pretty horrific watch and will destroy even more of your faith in humanity.  It's a very long movie at 206 minutes and it definitely could have been trimmed down, but the performances are fantastic and the story is heartbreaking.  This a movie that will break you down and doesn't pull its punches, and I'm glad it doesn't.  This is such a dark chapter in human history that it shouldn't hold back.

 9/10: Great 


#6. Anatomy of a Fall



I really like Law & Order.  Crime investigation stories and legal stories really interest me.   That's basically what this movie is.  Someone dies and the movie is about figuring out what happened and the trial that follows it.  It's a simple story done very well.  The acting is superb across the board with Sandra Hüller really bringing it with a wide-ranging performance.  There are some very extended scenes that just take place in the courtroom.  They go on for a long time, but they don't stop being engaging.  Ultiamtely, this feels like a damn great episode of Law & Order, which works for me!

 9/10: Great 


#5. Barbie



This was the 3rd time I've watched Barbie and I like this film more and more every time I watch.  It follows a Barbie doll and a Ken doll that travel to the real world and the result is simply insane.  The first time I watched Barbie, I felt like I couldn't comprehend the madness of the film, so I'm glad I've gotten to see this a few times.  This a movie with a lot to say, particularly about gender.  And although it can be a bit all over the place, that message is very powerful.  Plus we get all the buffoonery that is the Ken characters.  The Ken Battle and song is simply peak cinema.  This is a thoroughly entertaining and wholly engaging film with excellent performances from everyone involved, but Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling absolutely kill it with their performances.

 9/10: Great 


#4. The Holdovers



The story of Christmas Break at a boarding school and the group of students that are stuck there with a very grumpy chaperone.  The Holdovers is a very cozy movie and the perfect film to watch around Christmas time.  It has a very old-fashioned and nostalgic style and a very moving story.  Paul Giamatti is perfect as the grumpy, old teacher, but this is another movie with an excellent cast.  There aren't a ton of Christmas movies I would say I'm a fan of, but The Holdovers is one of them.  It's simply a nice movie and we don't get too many of those as of late.

 9/10: Great 


#3. Poor Things



Poor Things follows a young woman who is brought to life via a brain transplant and sets off to explore the world.  This is another absolutely insane film that I adore.  Emma Stone is perfect in the role of Bella.  I think she 100% deserved her Best Actress win because she gets to do so much with the character.  We get to see this character grow up in front of us, but Stone gets to play her the whole time.  That's not to mention the other zany characters we encounter over the course of this film.  It's a unique and memorable bunch with Mark Ruffalo having one of my favorite performances of the year.  His absurd accent matches his absurd performance and I love watching Bella put him in his place.  The 3rd act is a little too long, but the movie is a beautiful and unhinged journey and I love it.

 9/10: Great 

And now for the Top 2 Movies in no particular order.


American Fiction



This dramedy follows an African-American writer and professor who gets fed up with the success of stereotypical "Black" books and writes an obvious satire of one, only for it to be a huge hit.  This is one of the funniest movies I've seen in a long time.  I'm a huge fan of satire and this movie hits the satirical elements perfectly.  I was laughing my ass off at how absurd this movie feels at times, but that doesn't stop it from hitting the emotional beats.  Jeffrey Wright gives an elite performance and I love watching his character wade through so much bullshit.  I was laughing so hard I had to pause the movie at one point.  It has one of the funniest lines of dialogue I've ever heard in my life and the movie has a perfect ending.  Several perfect endings, even!  

10/10: Amazing 


Oppenheimer



A biopic that examines the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer as he helps develop the first nuclear weapons during World War II and the subsequent fallout.  If I'm going to watch a biopic, one way to get me interested is having Christopher Nolan direct.  Plus World War II and the Manhattan Project are areas of interest for me.  Nolan gives us masterpiece in video and audio form.  This is a beautiful film that is also a nightmare at times.  The ensemble cast is outstanding and even minor characters have an impact.  Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr. are the standouts and both do amazing work.  My biggest compliment I have to the movie is the pacing.  This is a three hour movie and it doesn't feel like it at all.  I've seen it twice now and both times it flew by.  It's just so interesting to watch that I actually wanted more.  I think this could have been a full 4 hours and I still would be engaged the whole time.  I don't think Oppenheimer is my favorite Nolan film.  That honor still belongs to Inception, but Oppenheimer is certainly in the conversation.

10/10: Amazing 


  And the Snubby Award goes to...!



American Fiction!  This one might be a bit of an upset, but I love satire and American Fiction just worked for me on a level I wasn't expecting.  I loved both movies a lot and it was a tough call, but I gave it to American Fiction, which ended up being my favorite movie of 2024.  I'm not upset that Oppenheimer won Best Picture by any means, but I do prefer American Fiction because of how hard it made me laugh.  It has a brilliant ending and one of the funniest moments I've ever seen in a film.




Next time we'll be looking at the 1998 Oscars.  Did Titanic deserve to win or did another movie get snubbed?  Stay tuned!



 




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