Best Picture Rundown #98

 Best Picture Rundown #98

Hello and welcome to Cinema Wellman. I am your host, David, and tonight is the night! The 98th Academy Awards ceremony will be held this very night, and even though I won’t watch it, I’m ALWAYS interested in the results. 

If you’re a regular visitor to Cinema Wellman, you know that we revealed the rest of our ballot during our last episode which we posted yesterday. If you watched that you know who we cast our votes for (the Academy doesn't let us actually vote, of course) in 23 of the now 24 categories.

All of our choices have been revealed except for Best Picture, which means it’s time for our annual Cinema Wellman Best Picture Rundown.

All ten (10) films (which once again is FIVE TOO MANY) will be ranked during today’s episode.

Once again, my choices are NOT predictions. Predicting award winners is a fool’s errand. All of my Oscar picks and this ranking is based solely on my opinions. 

And from what I’ve read this “season,” my opinions are going to be WAY OFF, but that’s all good with me. 

I’m pretty sure I’ll have my lowest number of winners in recent years because I wasn’t a big fan of a couple of the favorites.

It’s an underdog year for me. 

So here are the ten nominees for the 98th Best Picture Oscar followed by Cinema Wellman’s rankings.

I’ll begin by introducing each film with the number of Oscar nominations and the usual info I usually throw at you when talking about a film. 

And then, we’ll rank them #10-#1. 

Bugonia - 4 Oscar Nominations

R/118 min./IMDb: 7.4/directed by Yorgos Lanthimos

IMDb: “Two conspiracy-obsessed young men kidnap the high-powered CEO of a major company, convinced that she is an alien intent on destroying planet Earth.”

F1: The Movie - 4 Oscar Nominations

PG-13/155 min./IMDb: 7.6/directed by Joseph Kosinski

IMDb: “A Formula One driver comes out of retirement to mentor and team up with a younger driver.”

Frankenstein - 9 Oscar Nominations

R/149 min./IMDb: 7.4/directed by Guillermo del Toro

IMDb: “Dr. Victor Frankenstein, a brilliant but egotistical scientist, brings a creature to life in a monstrous experiment that ultimately leads to the undoing of both the creator and his tragic creation.”

Hamnet - 8 Oscar Nominations

PG-13/125 min./IMDb: 7.9/directed by Chloe Zhao

IMDb: “After losing their son Hamnet to plague, Agnes and William Shakespeare grapple with grief in 16th-century England. A healer, Agnes must find strength to care for her surviving children while processing her devastating loss.”

Marty Supreme - 9 Oscar Nominations

R/149 min./IMDb: 7.8/directed by Josh Safdie

IMDb: “Marty Mauser, a young man with a dream no one respects, goes to hell and back in pursuit of greatness.”

One Battle After Another - 13 Oscar Nominations

R/161 min./IMDb: 7.7/directed by Paul Thomas Anderson

IMDb: “When their enemy resurfaces after 16 years, a group of ex-revolutionaries reunite to rescue the daughter of one of their own.”

The Secret Agent (Brazil) - 4 Oscar Nominations

R/161 min./IMDb: 7.3/directed by Kleber Mendonca Filho

IMDb: “In 1977, a technology expert flees from a mysterious past and returns to his hometown of Recife in search of peace. He soon realizes that the city is far from being the refuge he seeks.”

Sentimental Value (Norway) - 9 Oscar Nominations

R/133 min./IMDb: 7.8/directed by Joachim Trier

IMDb: “An intimate exploration of family, memories, and the reconciliatory power of art.”

Sinners - A RECORD 16 Oscar Nominations

R/137 min./IMDb: 7.5/directed by Ryan Coogler

IMDb: “Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back.”

Train Dreams - 4 Oscar Nominations

PG-13/102 min./IMDb: 7.5/directed by Clint Bentley

IMDb: “Based on Denis Johnson’s beloved novella, Train Dreams is the moving portrait of Robert Granier, a logger and railroad worker who leads a life of unexpected depth and beauty in the rapidly changing America of the early 20th Century.”

There are your 10 (too many!) nominees, and here are Cinema Wellman’s rankings of those ten:

#10: Marty Supreme

If you watched yesterday’s episode you know that I have no use for Timothee Chalamet. I didn’t rate this, or any of these 10 nominees, as a bomb, but I really didn’t enjoy Marty Supreme at all. I found the title character obnoxious and egotistical (which I’m sure was the goal), and I was rooting for him to fail from the start. I had very little interest in this, and I saw it after Wonka Jr. made his anti-opera/ballet comments, and then I actually had to pay $20 to rent it. So, this is definitely #10, and more proof that I could never be a film critic. 

#9: One Battle After Another

Cinema Wellman voted for: Teyana Taylor - Supporting Actress

I’m very hit or miss with the films of director Paul Thomas Anderson, and this one was a miss. Sean Penn’s character weirded me out way too much and became a distraction, and I may be tiring of Leonardo DiCaprio a bit. This also reminded me of other movies that are trying to be Tarantino movies. I realize Anderson is a better director than that, but it still felt that way.

#8: The Secret Agent

I enjoyed the overall feel of this Brazilian film which at times had me thinking I was watching a documentary. It reminded me of Costa-Gavras’ political thrillers as well. An added treat for me is that there are also more than a couple references to JAWS, and you know how I feel about that.

#7: F1

Cinema Wellman voted for: Film Editing, Sound

I saw F1 so long ago now that it’s not very fresh in my mind at all. Except, of course, for what I thought was exceptional film editing and sound, which explains my votes for it in those categories. I enjoyed F1, but I definitely enjoy live races much more.

#6: Sentimental Value

I’m sure there are differences between the average Norwegian family and the average American family, but there are some commonalities that exist regardless of the two countries being compared. I was interested in Sentimental Value because it’s a movie about a movie, and I was drawn to the relationship Stellan Skarsgard’s character has with his two adult daughters. I have two adult daughters, but I’m not a famous film director who casts one of them in a film that depicts events too close to home for a dysfunctional family. I found this quite compelling and well acted.

#5: Hamnet

Cinema Wellman voted for: Costume Design, Original Score, Casting

As I mentioned in our Oscar ballot episode, Jessie Buckley is amazing in this film about a woman dealing with the death of her child. I recently saw Buckley in a short that will make March’s best list, and I’m very excited to see her in The Bride! Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Frankenstein tale set in 1930s Chicago. I’m a big fan of Jessie Buckley, and she was the centerpiece in this film that I enjoyed because William Shakespeare really wasn’t the focus of it. Paul Mescal was great as Will, but he was definitely a supporting character.

#4: Train Dreams

Cinema Wellman voted for: Cinematography

The Pacific Northwest is a beautiful area of our country, and parts of it remain virtually untouched today allowing the beauty of nature to flourish. It’s difficult trying to imagine it during the early part of the 20th century when things weren’t nearly as chaotic or built up or complicated. Director Clint Bentley brings this world for us so we don’t need to imagine it. Beautifully shot by Adolpho Veloso in Washington state, Train Dreams has a hypnotic quality to it as we follow Joel Edgerton’s character’s life in a world that is quickly changing around him. I think this a movie critics would describe as "atmospheric."

#3: Sinners

Cinema Wellman voted for: Original Screenplay, Visual Effects, Michael B. Jordan - Actor, Ryan Coogler - Director

I had already seen Sinners when it set the record for the most Academy Award nominations for a movie with a total of 16, and my first thought was, “Why?” I honestly didn’t think that much of it. I thought it was too long, too ambitious, and I thought it didn’t know what kind of movie it wanted to be. Thinking I must have been wrong, I watched it again, and it turns out I was kind of wrong! Turns out that I really wasn’t in the mood for it and didn’t give it a proper chance during my first screening. Upon second viewing, I enjoyed it much, much more. It’s still a bit too long for me, but I now appreciate what director Ryan Coogler was attempting, and applaud his ambition. I’m curious to see how many of the 16 Oscars it takes home tonight. Those big numbers don’t always pay off. Six films in Oscar history went into the night with 10+ nominations and walked out with ZERO! No way that’s happening to Sinners, but those big numbers of nominations don’t always pan out. 

#2: Bugonia

Every time I think of this film in the future I will curse my left index finger and blame myself for ruining it for me. I’m a huge fan of director Yorgos Lanthimos, and I think both Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons are fantastic. Then I read the premise, and I was all in! After the Oscar nominations were announced I started the studio computer one day and that annoying wall of Microsoft crap showed up as usual. Most of the time I don’t even look, but I saw something about Stone’s Oscar nomination making history so I foolishly clicked on it and the twist of the movie was given away in THE VERY FIRST SENTENCE!!!! I’d say this is an example of shoddy journalism, but calling that internet shit “journalism” is an insult to journalism. So I watched Bugonia knowing the answer from the start, and I STILL really liked it which is a testament to Lanthimos, Stone, and Plemons. I also think the end of this film is brilliant. 

#1: Frankenstein

Cinema Wellman voted for: Jacob Elordi - Supporting Actor, Makeup & Hairstyling, Adapted Screenplay, Production Design

I feel I don’t need to add much to what I’ve already said about this film. I already spoke about it when it was part of a “Best of” list before the Oscar nominations came out, and then I heaped more praise on it during our Oscar ballot episode where it earned four of our votes. It may not win any of them, but it’s still my favorite film on this year’s Best Picture list. Guillermo del Toro really can do no wrong in my book, and when you can give me a Frankenstein story I love and it’s my 16th different Frankenstein movie? I’ll see anything you make! Amazing!

Well, that is a wrap from here at Cinema Wellman as we ranked this year’s 10 (too many!) Best Picture nominees!

If you’re tuning in tonight, enjoy! 

I’ll be watching ballet and listening to opera instead.

We hope you join us next time for a Cinema Wellman March Madness Special! Just in time for the tournament, we have some basketball movies for you to shoot for!

Until then, take care.