Scarecrow

In Scarecrow, the 1973 comedy-drama directed by Jerry Schatzberg that tied for the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film at the Cannes Film Festival, audiences are witness to a masterclass in acting from its two stars: Gene Hackman and Al Pacino, just as both were beginning to skyrocket. Hackman had just won the Oscar for The French Connection, and Pacino was in between the first two Godfather films. Those other films are more renowned today, but their performances here might be their most underappreciated work. 

There is a lot of physical work here right from the get-go by Hackman and Pacino, especially as the latter does some jumping jacks and acts like a monkey; the former at one point puts on a strip show in a bar to the applause of the others. It's all practically vaudevillian. Fitting neatly into the New Hollywood era of films like Midnight Cowboy, Easy Rider, and Five Easy Pieces, Hackman plays a man of ambition but bad impulses named Max; Pacino plays a wanderer named Francis (who's nicknamed "Lion"). They meet on the road waiting to hitchhike, and, despite some resistance from Max, decide to team up on Max's odyssey to Pittsburgh, where he hopes to open his own car wash. Why it has to be all the way in Pittsburgh, he won't say. 

Max does not need a narrator to describe him—he sums himself up succinctly yet accurately. According to him, he's the meanest son of a bitch alive—he doesn't trust anybody, and he doesn't love anybody. He's also a bit of a bully, "very practical but dumb." One of the few outsider observations that could be made about him is that he makes one bad decision after another and never stops to realize when he's gone too far, all the while refusing to admit the problems he finds himself in are often self-inflicted. In short, he blames everyone but himself, and he is vulnerable but overly masculine; much of this comes across in subtle looks Hackman gives. 

Lion is the polar opposite, but opposites often attract, don't they? He's boyish in the best ways but irresponsible in the worst. A former sailor, he requests a stop in Detroit so he can see his wife and child, whom he has abandoned. He hopes to present his son a lamp as a gift, which is an odd gift for a young child. These details are important—the state of Lion's hat, for example, says an awful lot about him and his socioeconomic status. It's not like the costume choices do the heavy lifting, but they augment what the two actors are trying to say about these two struggling men they're portraying. 

What is Scarecrow really about? One could argue that it spares the didacticism of counter-culture road films in favor of a simple story of male friendship. Max is aggressive, while Francis is sensitive. This dichotomy drives much of the emotional reaction of the film. There's no competition from each other; by the end of the film, it is more than obvious that they really need each other. 

The great acting, however, compensates for the film's flaws, namely how it kind of rambles, especially in the second half, before it ends with a gut punch. While one might interpret the film's meandering structure as reflecting the rootlessness of its protagonists, it ultimately feels more like a flaw than a feature, undermining the impact of these two performances. I wondered whether the two nicknames in the film (Scarecrow and Lion) had anything to do with The Wizard of Oz, yet I could not come up with any solid conclusion about such symbolism. 

On a sadder, final note, it must be said that Scarecrow serves as a potent reminder of the exceptional talent of Gene Hackman. His death in February at the age of 95 was a tragic loss for cinema.

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Take Out

Have you ever given much thought to the average deliveryman? I confess, I haven't, except if I'm frustrated when they can't find my apartment and are calling or if they didn't just leave the food at the door like I requested on the app. Delivery workers are an invisible workforce behind the convenience of food delivery apps. 

Yet, as research by Xingchen Hao shows, the work intensity of takeaway riders is extremely high. Their work is not only stressful but dangerous. Just last month, a delivery driver for a Chinese restaurant in neighboring Connecticut was shot and killed, and two years ago, an Uber Eats driver was dismembered in what police called a "demonic" murder.

These dangers and stress are thoroughly explored in the 2004 film Take Out, written and directed by Shih-Ching Tsou and Sean Baker, about a typical-yet-untypical day in the life of a New York Chinese restaurant delivery man. It's a powerful, practically unfiltered critique of the treatment of workers and immigrants, visualizing how systemic vulnerabilities impact undocumented workers in ways few other films have done. 

Take Out takes place in New York, where it's raining a lot and probably quite humid, which might explain some of the acne flare-ups on the face of a man named Ming. Ming, played by Charles Jang, is an undocumented worker delivering take-out Chinese food to countless people in upper Manhattan. It's a dangerous job, no doubt, hustling back and forth on a bicycle through all that rain in the thick of New York City's traffic, and one's cinematic internal barometer is primed for something profoundly wrong to happen to Ming. How could it not? 

The films of writer, director, editor, and producer Baker, who made history earlier this month by becoming the first person to win four Oscars for the same movie, often focus on the powerless. In his three most recent films (Tangerine, The Florida Project, and Anora), these characters have been sex workers. With his third film, Take Out (which is more of a documentary-style work of realism), Baker and his team focus on a perfect example of those without power: undocumented workers. In this case, the protagonist has essentially no power, which explains just about every predicament he is in, every decision he makes, and every possible consequence facing him. The details of the state of Ming's cramped kitchen, which he shares with other presumably undocumented immigrants and needs repairs, provide the viewer with sufficient information about his living conditions—it's an indictment of a system that exploits workers and offers them few protections. With such a detail, the filmmakers don't need to spell out for the viewers why he is powerless against a variety of vultures; it speaks for itself.

Ming is a worker who finds himself in several exceptionalities, not simply related to his economic or immigration status. Ming owes a lot of money to those who smuggled him out of China and into the United States. Invading his home, they assault him, take a thousand dollars, and demand that he pay the remaining eight hundred by the end of the day. Ming has no other choice but to work like hell at work that day, and fortunately for him, his charismatic co-worker Young (Jeng-Hua) has offered to let him take most of the deliveries for the day so he can collect most of the tip money. He never seems to thank those who help him financially, perhaps because he's embarrassed. He also can't understand the chit-chat (or complaints) the customers are providing as they pay.

Most of the customers exhibit different shades of rudeness. One of them is frequent-Baker collaborator Karren Karagulian, who has been in all of Baker's films since then, in a role as an insolent customer whose name in the credits is "Chicken or beef." (It's worth also pointing out now that Jang, who is actually of Korean descent but learned Chinese while studying in Taiwan and is not a professional actor—he was working for Google at the time—appeared in last year's Anora as the Las Vegas casino manager whom Mark Eydelshteyn berates.) One can tell that much of the dialogue is not scripted, like just about all of the lines belonging to Wang-Thye Lee, who is the manager and cashier of the restaurant and the mother figure for the men working at the shop. The background noise of the workers in restaurant, her banter with the customers, and the camera work all elevate the feeling of organized chaos in this world, and the handheld camera helps us feel like we're flies on the greasy walls. According to a New York Times article, the restaurant where Take Out was filmed was closed not long after filming had completed, and the filmmakers weren't able to find Ms. Lee afterward. 

Films like Tangerine and Anora may be more fun than Take Out, but the latter's documentary-like realism removes any narrative artifice, plunging the viewer into Ming's plight without excessive melodrama. Likewise, the editing is a lot more simplistic than in something like Anora (one of the categories for which Baker won an Oscar), and the repetitious nature of Ming's deliveries may feel taxing to the average viewer, but imagine how laborious it feels for Ming? 

What is most noteworthy about the film is how Tsou and Baker are able to efficiently utilize a budget of only $3,000 and present a potent case for why (at the very least), workers in this kind of economy deserve an immense level of respect, safety protocols, protection, and fair wages than practically any other sort of medium could. I hope I will heed what surely is their intent by at the very least not getting irritated if my food is delayed. Take Out is not simply about the day of your average delivery worker—it's a critical illumination of labor injustices and why audiences should be outraged by them.

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The General

Any fans of trains and their usage in cinema can surely appreciate a film like The General, the 1926 silent comedy starring Buster Keaton. Co-directed by Clyde Bruckman (a frequent collaborator of Keaton's), The General, once dismissed by audiences and critics alike, is good, old-fashioned (yet problematic) fun.

Keaton is the handsome Johnnie, who (the title tells us) has two loves in his life: his train and his girl, Annabelle Lee (Marion Mack). But with Fort Sumter being fired on and the war beginning, it's time to enlist and impress his girl. However, Annabelle is so pro-war that she doesn't want to speak with Johnnie again until he's in uniform. Johnnie really doesn't want to enlist, but because of his profession as a train engineer, he is denied, as he is considered more valuable to the South as an engineer than as a soldier. He tries again, but fails. "If you lose this war, don't blame me!" he tells them.

Some time passes, and Union spies, led by Captain Anderson (Glen Cavender), steal a train called The General in order to burn the railroad tracks, thus hindering the Confederates from being able to send reinforcements. Annabelle is captured by them. While washing his hands, Johnnie sees what has happened and chases after them, first on foot, then by handcar, then on a large bicycle before finally commanding a train singlehandedly in pursuit. Fearing that they are greatly outnumbered, the Yankees do not stop to fight. It's long into the chase before they realize they're being trailed by just one man.

For better or worse, this movie is all about Keaton's Johnnie and the battle of the dueling trains. Most of the actors aren't given anything to do, including Mack, who retired from acting two years later and started a career in real estate in California. Starting in 1970, however, she started being interviewed about her experience on the film and attended screenings of The General after renewed interest in the film. Buster Keaton died four years earlier in 1966.

As amusing and stirring as The General is, the most unfortunate decision by Keaton and his team is the gentle treatment they gave the Confederates. Why did Keaton create a film that glorifies the Confederates as heroes? This question was explored in Kristin Hunt's fascinating article titled "What Drove Buster Keaton to Try a Civil War Comedy"? Keaton, according to Hunt, had numerous reasons to make the film not extol the very people who betrayed the country in order to preserve slavery: He was the son of two Yankee parents in Kansas (unlike Birth of a Nation director D.W. Griffith, whose father was a Confederate colonel), and the source material was written by a Union veteran (William Pittenger), so the heroes in the event that the film is loosely based on ("The Great Locomotive Chase") were the Yankees. So why did he change the heroes from the Yankees to the Confederates? It's not entirely clear, but it may have been due to the enormous popularity of the racist group called the United Daughters of the Confederacy, which was at its peak of its campaign erecting monuments to the Confederacy and promoting "Lost Cause" mythology around the country.

The General might not be as frightening as The Birth of a Nation or as cringe-worthy as Gone With the Wind in its depictions of slavers, but its message is clear. It is the one palpable discomfort in watching the film nearly one hundred years later, as the country grapples with systemic racism and is in a years-long process of tearing down these statues. Beyond that, The General features a romantic and simplistic view of the Civil War. Fortunately, though, much of the non-political stuff works, even today, and it's usually an exciting feature. Even amateur film fans would be able to recognize its influence on later action-comedy films featuring train chases, like Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Back to the Future III.

As a performer, Keaton is at the top of his game. He's incredibly agile and energetic in the film, constantly running back and forth and hurling giant logs of wood off and on the train like a clumsy yet resourceful action hero, constantly finding ways to outmaneuver his opponents. The numerous stunts make it seem like it was a miracle Keaton and others weren't injured on set. Many of the practical effects are a marvel to watch, even if it's simply Keaton throwing a giant train-track block of wood onto another just time to before his train collides with it.

Given its exciting nature, it is curious that the film wasn't a bigger hit at the time. Most of the reviews compared it unfavorably to Keaton's previous work, and the film entered the public domain in 1955 after United Artists decided not to renew the copyright. Perhaps the comedy was simply too soon; only about sixty years had passed since the end of the Civil War. (That's a smaller time gap than the time that has passed between now and the end of World War II.) Robert Sherwood put it this way: "Someone should have told Buster that it is difficult to derive laughter from the sight of men being killed in battle." This remains true today, with some of the battle humor coming across as somewhat morbid. Maybe the wounds of the Civil War hadn't healed for many audience members and critics. Today, after sixty years of being rediscovered treasure, its embrace of Confederates may cost it its place in cinematic history yet again.  

This review was originally published at the Public Domain Film Review on August 10, 2020.

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All 50 2025 Oscar-Nominated Movies Ranked

From afar, the Oscar-nominated films of 2025 present a world in disarray. From the exploration by parasitic patrons of those below them in The Brutalist to similar eat-the-rich, us-versus-them narratives of Anora to tragedies featured in the documentaries (like institutional abuse of indigenous people and the genocidal wars in Ukraine and Palestine), these are bleak stories, to say the least. Bleak or not, a lot of these movies feature the questioning of explanations about how things ought to be, explanations we usually and happily swallow. Even Wicked is about a topsy-turvy universe in which everything you thought was an established consensus is simply not what it seems. 

Later on, I'll write about how Roger Ebert's rule that "no good movie is too long, all bad movies not short enough" is not one I agree with. However, he had another great idea, that no good movie is depressing—all bad movies are depressing. Wicked is about so many bad things, yet it's also an unforgettable musical experience. Films like Sing Sing and Anora will also stay with me for a long time; indeed, these are some of the best films of the year. Despite the pessimistic tone of these movies, I'm happy to write that I liked most of the fifty films nominated for Oscars this year. (About seventy-six percent, to be more exact.) There were definitely a few I thought were quite overrated, but that's life. 

In terms of making predictions for this year's winners, I'd say it's a lot harder than last year, when just about anyone could make a safe bet on Oppenheimer winning anything it was nominated for. This year, there are horse races everywhere. Adrien Brody in The Brutalist might be the favorite to win a second Oscar (though hopefully he'll keep his hands and lips to himself this year, should he win), but Timothée Chalamet's turn as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown could score an upset. Wicked was seen as the populist choice for the big prize, but it hasn't won much this season (confusingly losing the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Musical—Comedy or Musical to Emilia Pérez and only scoring a surprise win for Best Director at the Critics' Choice Award for Jon M. Chu). Speaking of Emilia Pérez, it started to lose steam with a drip-drip of controversies (though some of them were unwarranted). Still, it seems like the Oscar for Supporting Actress is Zoe Saldaña's to lose. As for Supporting Actor, the same could be said for Kieran Culkin in A Real Pain. (Spoiler alert: I don't think either of them are the best in those categories.) As for Best Picture, a consensus seems to have finally emerged, and I hope it does indeed win.

50. The Six Triple Eight

Music (Original Song) ("The Journey"; Music and Lyric by Diane Warren)

Once in a while, Netflix releases a film that seems to be a formidable challenge to get through. Two years ago, it was the Oscar-nominated Blonde, a histrionic vexation of a biographical film about Marilyn Monroe. In addition to His Three Daughters (an overrated bore that took me a week to get through), The Six Triple Eight is one such film from Netflix last year. To be clear, The Six Triple Eight, the story of an all-Black, all female battalion in World War II, is a worthwhile, important story (especially because the almost impossible task they had went unrecognized for so many decades), and there are moments that shine. But in the hands of producer and director Tyler Perry (himself an Oscar recipient), the weak acting and dialogue make the film difficult to recommend. As for its sole Oscar nomination, it is for Diane Warren, her sixteenth nomination for Best Song. Warren is an iconic songwriter, having won a Grammy, an Emmy, a Critics' Choice Movie Award, two Golden Globes, and a Hollywood Walk of Fame star; she even finally received an Oscar at the 2022 Governors Awards, presented to her by Cher. Winning a competitive Oscar, however, has eluded her. You could certainly make the case that she should have won at least one Oscar by now (perhaps for songs like "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now," "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing," and "Til It Happens to You"), but there are many that you will forget the second it finishes. "The Journey," the song from The Six Triple Eight, is certainly in the latter category. 

49. Maria

Cinematography (Ed Lachman)

I don't think I've seen many movies quite as boring as Maria. Maria (also distributed by Netflix), starring Angelina Jolie as opera singer Maria Callas, is the third part of director Pablo Larraín's trilogy about famous women (with the other two being the superior Jackie in 2016 and Spencer in 2021). Larraín's recent outings, like Maria and the 2023 horror El Conde, have been dull duds. Maria has the same DNA as Jackie and Spencer, but none of the intrigue. It is a film that takes itself way too seriously, and I didn't like anything about it.  

48. Gladiator II

Costume Design (Jantry Yates and Dave Crossman)

When ranking ninety of the Best Picture winners six years ago, I put the 2000 epic Gladiator at number forty-six, calling it kind of dumb but also enjoyable with uninspiring dialogue, top-notch action sequences, and mostly convincing visual effects. Nearly a quarter-century later, director Ridley Scott and his team brought audiences a sequel that is considerably more simple-minded and beyond boring. The visual effects are more prevalent here but also futile, especially those goofy-looking monkeys and sharks the gladiators fight. Gladiator II features an impressive cast (Paul Mescal, Pedro Pescal, Joseph Quinn, and Denzel Washington, as well as returning cast members Connie Nielsen and Derek Jacobi), and yet they all appear to either phone it in or do a tremendous amount of overacting. Needless to say, I was much more entertained by the Saturday Night Live musical spoof of it.

47. Memoir of a Snail

Animated Feature Film (Adam Elliot and Liz Kearney)

I didn't care much for Mary and Max when I saw it all those years ago, and I didn't care much of Memoir of a Snail, either. Both are written, produced, and directed by Australian animator Adam Elliot. I commend Elliot and his team for their animation style, and of course we all know the painstaking effort that goes into making a stop-motion animated film, but an A-for-effort doesn't mean it's a good movie. There definitely is an audience for the animated flicks directed by Elliot, but I am evidently not one of them. 

46. Emilia Pérez

Actress in a Leading Role (Karla Sofía Gascón), Actress in a Supporting Role (Zoe Saldaña), Directing (Jacques Audiard), International Feature Film (France), Makeup and Hairstyling (Julia Floch Carbonel, Emmanuel Janvier, and Jean-Christophe Spadaccini), Music (Original Score) (Clémont Ducol and Camille), Music (Original Song) ("El Mal") (Music by Ducol and Camille; Lyric by Docul, Camille, and Audiard), Music (Original Song) ("Mi Camino") (Music and Lyric by Ducol and Camille), Sound (Erwan Kerzanet, Aymeric Devoldère, Maxence Dussère, Cyril Holtz, and Niels Barletta), Writing (Adapted Screenplay) (Screenplay by Audiard; In collaboration with Thomas Bidegain, Léa Mysius, and Nicolas Livecchi), Best Picture (Pascal Caucheteux and Audiard) 

Even without the controversy and resolute backlash online, I don't know why Emilia Pérez ever garnered so much praise from publications like Sight and Sound except that it's a periodic reminder that they are often full of crap. Emilia Pérez is an idea that does possess a small iota of cleverness to it, but it is not executed well at all. The title character herself (played by Karla Sofía Gascón) isn't particularly interesting, and most of the acting other than that of Zoe Saldaña is not very good, either. None of the songs (including the two nominated for Oscars) is memorable. Why has this movie been showered with awards when a film like All We Imagine as Light (one of the best films of last year) didn't receive a single nomination?

45. Nickel Boys

Writing (Adapted Screenplay) (RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes), Best Picture (Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, and Barnes)

I appreciate the big swings director RaMell Ross, co-writer Joslyn Barnes, and cinematographer Jomo Fray took in avoiding tropes involved with films about systematic abuse and racism and to try something new, largely through the use of point-of-view cinematography (which I, like many, found distracting). The result is a film, adapted from Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer-winner 2019 novel, that is seen through the eyes of its two main characters (two boys in a highly abusive, segregated reform school in Florida). Yet even with these variations, the film is ultimately nondescript and one of the big cinematic disappointments of last year. That being said, this is also a very important subject matter, and I'm happy it has done well.

44. A Real Pain

Actor in a Supporting Role (Kieran Culkin), Writing (Original Screenplay) (Jesse Eisenberg)

I imagine most people my age probably have memories of Kieran Culkin in the following ways: nostalgic recollections of him as Fuller in the Home Alone movies, then a long gap followed by his starring role as a teenager in Igby Goes Down, then another long gap before his Emmy and Golden Globe-winning performance as Roman Roy in Succession. He's superb in that show, especially the final season (in which he was ironically nominated for Actor in a Leading Role, whereas in A Real Pain, a movie in which he is in almost every scene, he is nominated for Actor in a Supporting Role), but the wonder kind of fades away when you see him giving interviews or speeches and realizes...he's kind of just like Roman (just not evil). In this film (written by, directed by, and co-starring Jesse Eisenberg), he walks, talks, and acts again just like Roman (but again, not evil). I am happy for Eisenberg, though, as one can tell that A Real Pain, about two Jewish cousins on a pilgrimage to Poland, is an important subject matter and a passion project of his that he has pulled off. However, I cannot say it was a film I was very impressed by.

43. A Different Man 

Makeup and Hairstyling (Mike Marino, David Presto, and Crystal Jurado)

The David Lynch-esque thriller (and comedy?) A Different Man may serve as a nice companion piece to the somewhat similar The Substance. Both are about characters yearning for some sort of medical miracle drug to make them look prettier, yet the unintended consequences are devastating. Both also feature exceptional performances (in the case of A Different Man, it's Sebastian Stan and Adam Pearson). However, what doesn't work in The Substance really doesn't work in A Different Man. In essence, once the transformation takes place, the story becomes less interesting with each passing minute, and whatever themes are attempted in this extremely bewildering tale are almost impenetrable, though that might really be up many viewers' alleys. It ultimately did not work for me. 

42. Inside Out 2

Animated Feature Film (Kelsey Mann and Mark Nielsen)

Inside Out is an exceptional film that borders on the masterpiece territory where other Pixar films (namely Toy Story, Finding Nemo, WALL-E, and Up) reside, winning in this category nine years ago and becoming one of the best films of the previous decade, visualizing everything Pixar Studios can be capable of. The long-awaited sequel, however, is one of the most disappointing and overrated films of last year, not nearly as humorous, provocative, or emotionally engaging as its predecessor. I don't understand the acclaim behind Inside Out 2. 

41. Wander to Wonder

Animated Short Film (Nina Gantz and Stienette Bosklopper)

Wander to Wonder is a peculiar short film about three miniature actors (Mary, Billybud, and Fumbleton) who starred in a low-budget, Mr. Roger's Neighborhood-style TV show for children until their creator died, leaving them abandoned in his studio to rot away and yearn for their past. Morbid to the point where it's almost disturbing, Wander to Wonder demonstrates the painstaking efforts of the Dutch animator and director Nina Gantz and her team, but it's a short film one will likely forget not long after viewing it. Still, it has its fans: Wander to Wonder won the BAFTA in this category a few weeks ago. 

40. The Brutalist

Actor in a Leading Role (Adrien Brody), Actor in a Supporting Role (Guy Pearce), Actress in a Supporting Role (Felicity Jones), Cinematography (Lol Crawley), Directing (Brady Corbet), Film Editing (David Jancso), Music (Original Score) (Daniel Blumberg), Production Design (Production Design: Judy Becker; Set Decoration: Patricia Cuccia), Writing (Original Screenplay) (Corbet and Mona Fastvold), Best Picture (Nick Gordon, Brian Young, Andrew Morrison, D.J. Gugenheim, and Corbet)

I've never agreed with Roger Ebert's argument that no good movie is too long. The three-and-a-half-hour film The Brutalist, about a Holocaust survivor from Hungary played by Adrien Brody building a life in the United States, has a decent first half, with innovative cinematography, music, and even opening credits. After the intermission, things drastically fall apart. There is no justification for this film being this long. It's not like other epics (like last year's Killers of the Flower Moon) that somehow make a lengthy ordeal feel like it's over in no time. Unfortunately, The Brutalist falls very short in its attempts to replicate previous movies' success.

39. In the Shadow of the Cypress

Animated Short Film (Shirin Sohani and Hossein Molayemi)

As a work of animation, the Iranian film In the Shadow of the Cypress is a wondrous film, exploring in minimalist fashion themes like post-traumatic stress, anger, and hopelessness. This animated short looks like a series of wonderfully enigmatic paintings, but as a story, I was less intrigued by it than I'm sure others will be. It's mystifying, but overly so, so much so that one likely faces the possibility of dozing off away from the screen instead of being engaged with any exploration of human circumstances.  

38. Better Man

Visual Effects (Luke Millar, David Clayton, Keith Herft, and Peter Stubbs)

My complaints about the biographical films of famous musicians following the same hackneyed pattern seemed to be answered when Better Man, about Robbie Williams, featured him as a CGI ape (for a reason that you can try and figure out on your own if you really want to). If you like the music of Williams, this will be a fun, two-hour escapist adventure. If you've always been more of an Oasis fan, perhaps it's best to give this one a pass. 

37. The Girl with the Needle

International Feature Film (Denmark)

When people think of the horror genre, they likely have images of demons, ghosts, knife-wielding murderers, and aliens dance through their heads. The Girl with the Needle is a psychological horror film that features no such things, and yet it will likely find its way crawling under your skin. It's a disturbing film—almost to the point where one must say that many should avoid it. In short, it's one of the most unsettling movies I've seen in some time, all while avoiding the gratuitousness of other, more conventional horror flicks. Its gorgeous cinematography and intriguing acting are noteworthy, but it is unlikely to be Denmark's fifth Oscar win in this category. 

36. Alien: Romulus

Visual Effects (Eric Barba, Nelson Sepulveda-Fauser, Daniel Macarin, and Shane Mahan)

Alien: Romulus is the latest film in this long-running franchise, but at this point, it feels like the xenomorph is getting dull. To be clear, Alien: Romulus, directed by Fede Álvarez, is good fun at times, and the painstaking effort that went into it surely is worthy of acclaim. However, it is also obnoxiously sprinkled with so many Easter eggs from various other Alien movies that it eventually starts to feel rather gimmicky. One wonders why they don't just finish Ridley Scott's David trilogy instead of aiming for overt nostalgia.  

35. Anuja

Live Action Short Film (Adam J. Graves and Suchitra Mattai)

Like a lot of films about India, Anuja, directed by Adam J. Graves, is a film that feels a lot like outsiders looking in. Films by Indians (like the Oscar-winning RRR and the film that was robbed of any nominations this year, All We Imagine As Light) that are popular among non-Indians have largely avoided these pitfalls. That being said, Anuja, about a young genius torn between continuing to work in a garments factory and pursuing education, is a commendable short film, especially because of its non-trained cast (namely Sajda Pathan and Ananya Shanbhag). Perhaps because the film is on Netflix, perhaps because Mindy Kaling and Priyanka Chopra Jonas are producers, and perhaps because it shines a light on multiple problems voters probably care about (like child labor and the schooling of girls), Anuja could be considered the frontrunner in this category.

34. Beautiful Men 

Animated Short Film (Nicholas Keppens and Brecht Van Elslande)

Living in Istanbul, one sees lots of men with pinkish spots on their head, especially at the airport. The first time I saw a guy like that, I thought he had a tattoo. Then I noticed a few other guys who also had it, and I thought they were in a rock group. It took me a while to figure out they were all Europeans (I think) heading out of Turkey after a hair transplant that was more affordable than it would be back home. Beautiful Men is about three Dutch brothers on a trip to Istanbul for such a transplant when the trip goes a bit awry, inflaming their diffidence and testing their patience. The animation presents their situation as almost unearthly, so it's wonderful to watch, though its enigmatic nature may turn many off. 

33. Nosferatu

Cinematography (Jarin Blaschke, Costume Design (Linda Muir), Makeup and Hairstyling (David White, Traci Loader, and Suzanne Stokes-Munton), Production Design (Production Design: Craig Lathrop; Set Decoration: Beatrice Brentnerová)

Would I be a bad person if I thought all three major versions of this famous Dracula rip-off—the original 1922 film directed by F.W. Murnau, the 1979 remake directed by Werner Herzog, and this newest adaptation directed by Robert Eggers—were all just okay? If anything, this new Nosferatu doesn't do enough to distinguish itself from all the other Nosferatu/Dracula movies we've had over the past century. Okay is not bad, so this film, a seductive, atmospheric work by filmmakers with a drive to create art that is gorgeous to look at, is a recommendable one, especially its four richly deserved nominations. Bill Skarsgård, in particular, shines yet again in another unrecognizable horror performance. Other than that, however, I was hoping Nosferatu would be as unforgettable as other Eggers flicks like The Witch; it regrettably is not. 

32. I'm Not a Robot
Live Action Short Film (Victoria Warmerdam and Trent)

The Dutch science fiction short I'm Not a Robot is the latest anomalous European short to be nominated for an Oscar in the live action short category. It's what the New Yorker (its distributor) labels on its YouTube channel a "surreal identity crisis," and if you prefer to watch it with as little information beforehand (as you should), then that it is all you need to know for now. If you prefer a bit of a spoiler, read on. It's the story of a woman working in an office who slowly is coming to the realization that she might be a robot. I don't have too many complaints about the film other than to say that while it's a neat short film, I wonder if it would have been more effective as a short story in the written form or expanded into some kind of series to further explore the moral complexities it briefly teases.  

31. Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl

Animated Feature Film (Nick Park, Merlin Crossingham, and Richard Beek)

This is the first Wallace & Gromit film since A Matter of Loaf and Death and the first full-length Wallace & Gromit film since The Curse of the Wererabbit way back in 2005, when it won the Oscar in this category. Despite its exciting and evocative score by Lorne Balfe and Julian Nott, the antics of our two title characters, and a return of a famous nemesis, Vengeance Most Fowl is unlikely to repeat that success due in large part to tough competition from The Wild Robot and Flow. Even if it weren't for those two films, Vengeance Most Fowl shouldn't win. Even though it's only around eighty minutes, it feels like it drags on a bit too long, all the while relying a bit too much on those funny-sounding robotic gnomes for gags. Still, those who are charmed by these two protagonists will be delighted yet again; children especially will.  

30. Yuck! 

Animated Short Film (Loïc Espuche and Juliette Marquet)

Yuck! is a cute tale of children being disgusted by all their surrounding adults kissing while also starting to develop interest in the act itself. Every time characters face the urge to kiss, their lips suddenly illuminate with a potent pink hue. This is a terrible inconvenience to the two young kids who want to kiss but are petrified of being made fun of over it. Yuck! is a sweet yet simple film that might recall all sorts of memories from camping to first kisses.

29. Magic Candies

Animated Short Film (Daisuke Nishio and Takashi Washio)

Magic Candies, an animated short produced by Japan's Toei Animation, is an adorable film about a young boy named Dong-Dong (voiced by Haruto Shima) who discovers that each of the candies in his bag give him the ability to talk to things as varied as his pet dog and his dead grandmother. Magic Candies is a charming and satisfying (sometimes forgettable) tale, and it's the only film I've seen that has made me think twice about the inner feelings of a sofa.

28. Elton John: Never Too Late

Music (Original Song) ("Never Too Late"; music and lyrics by Elton John, Brandi Carlile, Andrew Watt, and Bernie Taupin)

Much of Elton John's story (his tough upbringing, his drug abuse, his writing partnership with Bernie Taupin, etc.) are covered in this documentary about the highs and lows of his famous life, but they also were in Rocketman, the 2019 biographical film about Sir Elton in which the duo won an Oscar for Original Song. Still, Elton John: Never Too Late is a must-see for any fan of his, who will revel in all the songs they'll hear. The classics you've always heard of the radio are there ("Saturday Night's All Right," "The Bitch Is Back, and "Levon," among many others) as are the ones that you should've heard a lot more (like "Curtains," "Mona Lisa and Mad Hatters," and "Funeral For a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding"). As for this Oscar-nominated song ("Never Too Late") it's fairly mediocre. I've listened to all of his songs and ranked my favorite of them, but needless to say I'm not sure if I'll add it to the list.

27. The Apprentice

Actor in a Leading Role (Sebastian Stan), Actor in a Supporting Role (Jeremy Strong)

Now that the country is going through a nauseating case of déjà vu with everyone's favorite fascist being omnipresent yet again, many might not be thrilled to tune in to an origin story of him about a time long before he was wearing orange makeup and staging coups. In The Apprentice (an almost lazy name), Trump is played by Sebastian Stan in one of his two talked-about performances of last year. Here, we see a 70s-era Trump under the tutelage of the controversial lawyer Roy Cohn (played by Jeremy Strong), who teaches him his dark arts of victory no matter what the cost. Stan and Strong do an effective job portraying these famous men without making it sound like they're in a Saturday Night Live sketch; Stan in particular does enough of Trump's odd eccentric mannerisms while avoiding the hyperbole. That being said, Trump is teflon at this point, and it feels like a movie this damning still comes across as tame. 

26. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

Visual Effects (Erik Winquist, Stephen Unterfranz, Paul Story, and Rodney Burke)

Ever since the final appearance of Andy Serkis's Caesar in 2017's War for the Planet of the Apes, it seemed like the famous franchise (which has been with us since 1968) would finally be approaching its end. I, for one, was not craving yet another film of talking apes. Yet despite a shaky start, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes eventually picks up steam, with the highlight of the film being Kevin Durand's appearance as the villainous Proximus Caesar, especially as he yells what a wonderful day it is to his cult members. However, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is likely to have less staying power than the previous trilogy, but if the Academy keeps nominating them, critics keep admiring them, and they continue making millions of dollars for 20th Century Studios, these films won't stop anytime soon.  

25. Black Box Diaries

Documentary Feature Film (Shiori Itō, Eric Nyari, and Hanna Aqvilin)

Those who are constantly in awe of Japan may be disappointed to be reminded that it is not a perfect country. Japan's gender index gap, for example, is ranked at 125 out of 146 nations, and the vast majority of sexual assaults in the country go unreported, with fewer criminal convictions. Black Box Diaries is a Japanese documentary (which has, disappointingly, still not been shown in Japan, though some might argue it's because of the controversies outlined in this BBC article) directed by and featuring Shiori Itō, a journalist whose accusations of rape against a prominent journalist and friend of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe became the face of the Me Too movement in Japan. The details of the attack and the expected backlash she faces from society may make it too disturbing to watch, but it is an important film, one that will hopefully help change attitudes in Japan should it ever be released there.

24. Death by Numbers

Documentary Short Film (Kim A. Snyder and Janique L. Robillard)

Despite gun violence falling from its pandemic-era surge for a third year in a row, thousands of people continue to die each year in the United States from guns. Death by Numbers is a powerful reminder of one of the most shocking gun massacres in history: the Parkland high school shooting in 2018. Death by Numbers, directed and produced by Kim A. Snyder, explores the aftermath of the shooting by focusing on the trial. (In the spirit of the film, which etches out the killer's face every time he is shown in court—likely to help prevent the glorification he sought—his name will not be mentioned here.) Most of our time is spent with Sam Fuentes, a survivor of the attack, who bravely faces him in court. It would be nice to see this topic explored even further in a full-length documentary. 

23. Porcelain War 

Documentary Feature Film (Brendan Bollomo, Slava Leontyev, Aniela Sidorska, and Paula DuPre'Pesmen)

As Ukraine passes its third anniversary of Russia's criminal invasion and war (a war in which Ukraine appears to be losing), many Americans may have tuned out—that is, until Trump and Vance's rude dressing down of Zelensky before the cameras this past Friday. Like previous Oscar-nominated documentaries on this subject (such as 20 Days in Mariupol and A House Made of Splinters), this is a visceral examination of the horrors of war seen through the eyes of everyday people. In this case, most of the footage was shot by locals, mainly two artists involved in resisting Russia's encroachment. You will witness a lot expected trauma: buildings destroyed, families separated, pets abandoned, and dead bodies. Yet you will also witness the spirit of the Ukrainian people, summarized by one of the artists featured in the film as being similar to porcelain—easy to break but impossible to destroy. 

22. The Only Girl in the Orchestra

Documentary Short Film (Molly O'Brien and Lisa Remington)

The Only Girl in the Orchestra, directed by Molly O'Brien, focuses on the remarkable career of O'Brien's aunt, Orin O'Brien, the first woman to join the New York Philharmonic way back in 1968. Despite being the daughter of Hollywood stars George O'Brien and Marguerite Churchill, she repeatedly claims that she shunned the spotlight, and so her role as a double bassist fit her personality perfectly, as she embraced the role of a supporting part. The most charming scenes are the ones in which O'Brien enthusiastically teaches her many students (who probably pay a fortune to be taught by her). While some viewers who are not musicologists may find the film a bit dry, its universal themes and the charm of Orin O'Brien (as well as her trailblazing career) make the film very recommendable. 

21. Sugarcane

Documentary Feature Film (Julian Brave NoiseCat, Emily Kassie, and Kellen Quinn)

If you're a fan of the former Secretary of Interior and New Mexico gubernatorial candidate Deb Haaland, who became the first (and only) Native American cabinet member, you owe a lot to the activist Julian Brave NoiseCat, whose hard work helped secure her nomination. Here, NoiseCat and co-director Emily Kassie explore the tragedy of the Canadian Indian residential school system and the generational trauma it proliferated. NoiseCat also explores his own family history, as his father at one point attended one of those schools. Sugarcane (like the other four nominees in this category) is depressing but worthy of its nomination.

20. The Seed of the Sacred Fig

International Feature Film (Germany)

Those who were paying attention to the horrifying stories of Iran's brutal crackdown of the 2022-2023 protests in response to the death of Mahsa Amini may have seen the footage from cell phones (which are featured prominently in The Seed of the Sacred Fig, which was filmed in secret by director Mohammad Rasoulof, who fled Iran and now lives in Europe). What they may have missed was the division the situation caused in families. Viewers of The Seed of the Sacred Fig are witness to how the fallout tears one family in particular apart. It's not a perfect film; I had mixed feelings on how the third act goes full-on The Shining, and it at times felt shaky. I also am not sure I would say I felt as intrigued by it as I did recent films by other Iranian directors like Panah Panahi, Jafar Panahi, and Asghar Farhadi. Still, The Seed of the Sacred Fig is a well-made, powerful indictment against a brutal, theocratic regime. 

19. Flow

Animated Feature Film (Gints Zilbalodis, Matis Kaža, Ron Dyens, and Gregory Zalcman), International Feature Film (Latvia)

Wikipedia tells us that the psychological concept of flow is the "melting together of action and consciousness," which is an apt explanation for the Latvian animated film of the same name in which a cat struggles to survive the elements of a mass flooding. Beyond that, a lot of what we see is a bit metaphorical, and so viewers will have to do their best to figure out the meaning, but it's still neat to look at, especially the effects by 3D computer graphics software Blender. Even non-cat lovers will find themselves rooting for this brave feline and his other friends (a labrador, a secretarybird, a capybara, and a lemur) as they struggle in the elements in a story that may remind many of Life of Pi. 

18. The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent

Live Action Short Film (Nebojša Slijepčević and Danijel Pek)

The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent, the Croatian film directed by Nebojša Slijepčević, is the shortest film of this year's nominees at thirteen minutes. Those thirteen minutes, however, really make an impression. Based on the true story of the Štrpci massacre in 1993 in which the Serbian White Eagles paramilitary group kidnapped and massacred eighteen Muslims and one Croat from a train from Belgrade to Bar, the film's avoidance of melodrama to demonstrate the banality of evil and how sometimes bad things happen whether or not good men do anything is stirring.

17. September 5

Writing (Original Screenplay) (Moritz Binder, Tim Fehlbaum; Co-Written by Alex David)

Chronicling ABC's live coverage of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre and starring Peter Sarsgaard, John Magaro, Ben Chaplin, and Leonie Benesch, September 5 features a script that one can tell was thoroughly researched. Like Spotlight a decade before it, there are a few melodramatic moments of guys yelling about journalistic integrity, but ultimately it allows its actors to behave in a naturalistic way, though their acting and dialogue stand out more than the film as a whole.  

16. I Am Ready, Warden

Documentary Short Film (Smriti Mundhra and Maya Gnyp)

I Am Ready, Warden is another fantastic documentary from MTV Documentary Films. This documentary is about John Henry Ramirez, a former marine who brutally murdered a Corpus Christi convenience store worker in 2004. While delicately avoiding didacticism about the contentious topic of capital punishment in the United States (something a slight majority of Americans still favor, though it's down from a record high of eighty percent in 1994), your feelings on the topic would be supported by the different points of view presented, including Ramirez (who admitted his crime and asked for the death penalty), his Christian mentor, the district attorney, and the son of his victim. One way or another, it's a film I would recommend.

15. I'm Still Here

International Feature Film (Brazil), Actress in a Leading Role (Fernanda Torres), Best Picture (Maria Carlota Bruno and Rodrigo Teixeira)

I'm Still Here harrowingly demonstrates how dictatorships can destroy families in a calm, almost normalized way. Adapted from the memoir of Marcelo Rubens Paiva (who is played here as a boy by Guilherme Silveira and as an adult by Antonio Saboia) about what the military dictatorship of Brazil did to his parents—Eunice (Oscar-nominated Fernanda Torres) and former Congressman Rubens—I'm Still Here survived an unsuccessful protest by the Bolsonarist far-right, becoming a huge hit in Brazil and the biggest box-office success since the COVID-19 pandemic. (An older Paiva in 2014 is played by Torres' mother, Fernanda Montenegro, who is considered by many to be the greatest Brazilian actress of all time, and who was the first Brazilian to be nominated for the Best Actress Oscar.) As good as Fernanda Torres is in I'm Still Here, the film would have benefited from trimming its epilogue that goes on too long, but it's a recommendable film nonetheless, especially for these times when democracy appears to be on the decline. 

14. No Other Land

Documentary Feature Film (Basel Adra, Slava Leontyev, Hamdan Ballal, and Yuval Abraham)

No Other Land, like the other nominees in the Documentary Feature Film category, will either make you feel nauseated, mad as hell, or both. Focusing on two activists in Masafer Yatta (the Palestinian Basel Adra and the Israeli Yuval Abraham) as they document consistent expulsions of Palestinians from their land and escalating settler violence (of which there have been nearly two thousand since October 2023), viewers will be witness to IDF and settler thugs demolishing houses and schools, stealing generators, and shooting Palestinians. Most of the time, we also witness the bravery of those resisting, especially that of Adra and Abraham. It's also worth pointing out that their group had no prior experience in documentary filmmaking before this project, making their efforts all the more impressive.   

13. Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat

Documentary Feature Film (Johan Grimonprez, Daan Milius, and Rémi Grellety)

Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat is a damning and epic video essay condemning the brutal history of the United Nations' actions in Congo and other African nations just after independence, namely Belgium. The figures (some of whom are still glorified in the West) who come across in the harshest light are people like U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower, CIA Director Allen Dulles, UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld, and Belgian King Baudouin. The film is a bit too praiseworthy of some bad actors in history, like Cuban leader Fidel Castro, but it should be required viewing for everyone given the ongoing conflict in Congo and the role Western, neo-colonial nations have played there, and the attention to detail, research, and effective use of archival footage and jazz music by director Johan Grimonprez is commendable. Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat, like the other four nominees in this category, certainly preach to the choir (that is, progressives who will probably agree with their conclusions), but regardless of your ideology (or whether or not you think you have one), you really should see these five films.

12. A Lien

Live Action Short Film (Sam Cutler-Kreutz and David Cutler-Kreutz)

The timeliest film on this list is most likely A Lien, an emotionally charged work that feels very eerily prescient given the climate about immigration in the U.S. About a married couple's nightmarish attempt to get a green card, the film might not have a broad fan club, as Donald Trump, the most antagonist U.S. leader toward Latinos in history, won the last election with forty-two percent of the Latino vote (a record for a Republican). No Trump voter would view what happens to the family in this film sympathetically, because none of them have shown any sympathy for any of Trump's victims. Thus, the film, while potent, lacks making an impact with a broad audience, though the left-leaning Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences may be aching to send a message by picking this one. Regardless of the politics, it's a heart-pounding experience viewing it.

11. The Substance

Makeup and Hairstyling (Pierre-Olivier Persin, Stéphanie Guillon, and Marilyne Scarselli), Writing (Original Screenplay) (Coraline Fargeat), Actress in a Leading Role (Demi Moore), Best Picture

First of all, I share everyone's dismay at Margaret Qualley not being nominated and how it was one of the Academy's most boneheaded decisions this year. As for Demi Moore (who is nominated and who probably is the frontrunner), it's a great performance, and it would really be something for the Academy to actually award an actor for her work in a horror film. (Other than Kathy Bates in Misery and Jodie Foster in The Silence of the Lambs, no actress has won an Oscar for a horror movie.) The makeup effects by Pierre-Olivier Persin, Stéphanie Guillon, and Marilyne Scarselli are also superb and will likely win. Like many of the best horror films, this one features an allegory that really resonated with many viewers, particularly women. But while the allegory of the film is a potent one, the second half is unfortunately duller than the first half. That being said, The Substance is a body horror movie that will be talked about for decades.

10. Dune: Part II

Cinematography (Greig Fraser), Production Design (Production Design: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Shane Vieau), Sound (Gareth John, Richard King, Ron Bartlett, and Doug Hemphill), Sound (Paul Lambert, Stephen James, Rhys Salcombe, and Gerd Nefzer), Best Picture (Mary Parent, Cale Boyter, Tanya Lapointe, and Denis Villeneuve)

I wrote three years ago that Dune was the first film I had seen in the cinema since the COVID-19 pandemic started, and I was unfortunately disappointed. Dune: Part II likely deserves to win most (or all) of the technical awards it is nominated for, especially the visual effects; not many films look as gorgeous as these. Even audience members who don't like these two films have to hand it to director Denis Villeneuve and his team for pulling something like this off. It's certainly a lengthy film, but it never had me frequently glancing at my watch like I did during the first one, and I actually left the theater intrigued to see where the third installment would take these characters in this science fiction epic. In short, Dune: Part II deserves its awards for its technical achievement (especially for visual effects, which are mesmerizing), but I wouldn't call it one of the year's best. Fortunately, I liked it more than I thought I would.

9. A Complete Unknown 

Actor in a Leading Role (Timothée Chalamet), Actor in a Supporting Role (Edward Norton), Actress in a Supporting Role (Monica Barbaro), Costume Design (Arianne Phillips), Directing (James Mangold), Sound (Tod A. Maitland, Donald Sylvester, Ted Caplan, Paul Massey, and David Giammarco), Writing (Adapted Screenplay) (Mangold and Jay Cocks), Best Picture (Fred Berger, Mangold, and Alex Heineman)

A Complete Unknown mostly avoids some of the pitfalls of other biographical films of great men in 20th-century music by only focusing on the early years of Bob Dylan's historic career. (He's also not a CGI ape.) In A Complete Unknown, it's when he was the icon of folk music before eventually turning his disciples rabid once he brought out an electric guitar. (These are the highest the stakes get, but the "Dylan goes electric" moment was indeed controversial.) It seems that the years of giving Oscars to whomever could do an accurate impersonation of a famous person (especially if they could sing) may finally have ended, as (despite how fantastic they are in the film) actors Timothée Chalamet as Dylan, Edward Norton as Pete Seeger, and Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez are not currently favored to win here, although Chalamet did just win the SAG award (and gave quite a polarizing speech). Still, Chalamet does as well as any sounding like Dylan, and his singing is pretty good, too.

8. Conclave

Actor in a Leading Role (Ralph Fiennes), Actress in a Supporting Role (Isabella Rossellini), Costume Design (Lisy Christl), Film Editing (Nick Emerson), Music (Original Score) (Volker Bertelmann), Production Design (Production Design: Suzie Davies; Set Decoration: Cynthia Sleiter), Writing (Adapted Screenplay) (Peter Straughan), Best Picture (Tessa Ross, Juliette Howell, and Michael A. Jackman)

Even though Conclave is not the best film on this list, it is the film that (for whatever reason) I have thought the most about since viewing it. Perhaps it was because I was raised Catholic, perhaps it is because I find the ritual of the politicking of the cardinals peculiar but fascinating (at least in this narrative form). Perhaps it's because of its hypnotic score by Oscar-winner Volker Bertelmann. Ultimately, I liked what just about everyone else liked about it: its mysteriousness, its costumes, its twists, its characters, and its actors (particularly Ralph Fiennes and John Lithgow). Pope Francis is probably nearing the end of his papacy, and while Conclave is simply a group of artists' best guess as to what goes on behind those Vatican walls, we can all expect similar fragmentation regarding ideology and geography during the next conclave. 

7. Instruments of a Beating Heart

Documentary Short Film (Ema Ryan Yamazaki and Eric Nyari)

The corny title aside, Instruments of a Beating Heart is a charming film that follows a group of first graders in a Tokyo elementary school. The young student we spend the most time with is Ayame, and surely every audience member will root and cheer for her as she tries to overcome the obstacle of getting the beats right in her school's performance of "Ode to Joy." This might not seem like a tall order for many adult viewers, but it's a herculean task for these young ones, with high stakes never ending. To conclude, I know it's best to avoid these kinds of unnecessary anecdotes, but for me personally, the film brought back a lot of pleasant memories of teaching in a Japanese elementary school five years ago. 

6. Incident

Documentary Short Film (Bill Morrison and Jamie Kelven)

Directed and edited by Bill Morrison, Incident brilliantly juxtaposes various bodycam and surveillance footage from a fateful day in 2018 in which police officer Dillan Halley shot and killed Harith "Snoop" Augustus in broad daylight in Chicago. For those who don't glorify the police at all costs (while simultaneously cheering the pardoning of those who physically attack them), watching the film will make their blood boil. For those who always give the police the benefit of the doubt, I can only say what I always say about a film like this: You owe it to yourself to see it. Incident does as effective a job as a documentary can to powerfully demonstrate that institutions (like the police) are not as holy as they seem, and they can indeed sometimes be the most dangerous part of a neighborhood.

5. The Last Ranger

Live Action Short Film (Cindy Lee and Darwin Shaw)

The Last Ranger really packs a whomping punch in just under thirty minutes. The South African film directed by Cindy Lee is about rangers protecting rhinos from poachers. Unfortunately (and oddly enough, fortunately), the film is inspired by real events. It may come across as a little heavy-handed, but the film's strengths more than make up for this. Those strengths include its acting, direction, script, and certainly its goals. It is my favorite of the live-action shorts by a mile.

4. The Wild Robot

Animated Feature Film (Chris Sanders and Jeff Hermann), Music (Original Score) (Kris Bowers), Sound (Ryan Thom, Brian Chumney, Gary A. Rizzo, and Jeff Lefferts)

I don't know if The Wild Robot will win the Oscar for Animated Feature Film, but I do know that it was my favorite animated film I saw last year. It's the sweetest and most sentimental of the films nominated this year, and it's apparently also the only film at this year's Oscars to pass the Climate Reality Check's test measuring climate visibility, and given that we just passed the hottest year on record (again), that makes it all the more worth recommending. It might also help push the film past its main competitor, Flow. There are other reasons to adore a film like The Wild Robot. One of them is the terrific voice acting of Lupita Nyong'o, who demonstrates yet again her extraordinary talent at voices.   

3. Sing Sing

Actor in a Supporting Role (Coleman Domingo), Music (Original Song) ("Like a Bird"; Music and Lyric by Abraham Alexander and Adrian Quesada)

As great as the SAG-winning cast of Conclave is with all of its theatricality and partially letting the costumes do much of the work, I think the best acting from a cast overall was Sing Sing (which was not nominated for Cast in a Motion Picture). Sing Sing, about a theater program in the Sing Sing prison, features remarkable performances by Coleman Domingo, Clarence "Divine Eye" Maclin, Paul Raci, and a whole host of non-trained formerly incarcerated men who are alumni of the Rehabilitation Through the Arts program and who play themselves. Actually, as phenomenal as Domingo is (and he's surely much better than he was in last nominated performance last year in Rustin), it's obvious that he is acting, whereas the others' non-trained realities grant the film undeniable veritas. Anyone with any memory and appreciation of theater, in particular, will likely adore the film. 

2. Wicked 

Actress in a Leading Role (Cynthia Erivo), Actress in a Supporting Role (Ariana Grande), Costume Design (Paul Tazewell), Film Editing (Myron Kerstein), Makeup and Hairstyling (Frances Hannon, Laura Blout, and Sarah Nuth), Music (Original Score) (John Powell and Stephen Schwartz), Production Design (Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales), Sound (Simon Hayes, Nancy Nugent Title, Jack Dolman, Andy Nelson, and John Marquis), Best Picture (Marc Platt)

My flex in this article is that I saw the original Broadway production of Wicked twenty years ago...and was disappointed by it. Thus, I entered the cinema feeling apprehensive about this adaptation, and the first ten minutes or so seemed to validate my trepidation. However, my fears ultimately did not come to fruition, as I mostly found the film (particularly that final twenty minutes or so) exhilarating (as did basically everyone who saw it). Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda are pitch-perfect in this tale that turns The Wizard of Oz upside down and wonders if these two rival witches were ever actually friends. They would probably both get my vote if I were a member of the Academy. I don't know why they are not considered the frontrunners. Who else can sing like them?

1. Anora

Actor in a Supporting Role (Yura Borisov), Actress in a Leading Role (Mikey Madison), Directing (Sean Baker), Film Editing (Baker), Writing (Original Screenplay) (Baker), Best Picture (Baker, Alex Coco, Samantha Quan)

Anora is the best film of last year, unquestionably. Winning the Palme d'Or at last year's Cannes Film Festival as well as Best Picture at the Critics' Choice Awards, the Producers Guild of America Award for Best Theatrical Motion Picture, the Director's Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing, and three Independent Spirit Awards, it is the latest triumph from Sean Baker, a filmmaker who seems, at this point, incapable of making a bad film. (A true auteur, Baker serves as a producer, director, writer, and editor of Anora.) Mikey Madison in the title role of an exotic dancer who apparently finds herself living the Cinderella story is incomparable, and the three awful humans she's up against in the third act (indeed, they are the villains of the century) are formidable. The spoiled brat of the villainous trifecta is Ivan, played by Mark Eydelshteyn (whom everyone thinks of as Russia's Timothée Chalamet). As good as Yura Borisov is in this film, I was disappointed that neither Eydelshteyn nor frequent Baker-collaborator Karren Karagulian (as the movie's clumsier version of Winston Wolf) were discussed much this awards season. Anyway, it seems that as many of the movie's competitors have faltered this awards season, Anora has slowly gained momentum, deservedly so. It was the best film of 2024 and surely one of the best of the decade. What a rare treat it would be if the Academy actually chose the best film of the year for Best Picture.

Dedicated to Jessica.

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A Complete Unknown

"I bargained for salvation, and she gave me a lethal dose."
Bob Dylan ("Shelter from the Storm")

Modern-day biographical films about musicians often embrace a "great man theory" of music. That is, like the great man theory approach to history, in which some believe we can understand who we are through the examination of "great men" (powerful, transformational individuals—usually men—who were immensely talented), in biographical films, music can be understood by the contributions of a few exceptionally talented and famous individuals. Unfortunately, this great man approach has become hackneyed. Yes, it's impressive to watch Joaquin Phoenix become Johnny Cash or Jamie Foxx become Ray Charles, but both films (though fine) were so predictable that they became low-hanging fruit for a parody like Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. 

Some films (like Love and Mercy or Rocketman) have tried to be slightly different to avoid those pitfalls, and they mostly worked (though neither are great films), which brings me to A Complete Unknown, the James Mangold-directed film about the early years of Bob Dylan's career. A Complete Unknown doesn't try to rock the boat, though it simultaneously evades a check-the-box approach to these kinds of stories. We do see the story of young Bob Dylan, a great man of music (arguably the greatest—no other musician has an Oscar, ten Grammys, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, a Pulitzer, and even the Nobel Prize), and we see Timothée Chalamet deliver yet another fantastic performance in which he looks and sounds just like him. Yet fortunately for us (and perhaps mainly because it's Bob Dylan and not a musician whose life was a little more destructive), there are no scenes of him struggling with drug addiction, no scene where he gets so rich and famous that he abuses people, and no inevitable fall and glorious comeback. The biggest conflict in this movie seems to be him wanting to play an electric guitar at a folk festival.

That moment, of course, is not a simple footnote (for some reason) but a moment contentious enough that it has its own Wikipedia page and has frequently been cited as one of the most controversial music moments in history. Mangold is a talented enough director that he keeps these moments intriguing, even if you know what's coming, and with an active camera that flies up and back to show us the practically rabid folk fans throwing things at Dylan and calling him Judas, all the while he's unfazed by it in the most Bob Dylan way, Mangold and his cinematographer Phedon Papamichael would make Martin Scorsese proud.

It's not simply Mangold and Papamichael who deserve credit for such a feat. Much of A Complete Unknown is a compelling watch because of its actors, especially Edward Norton as Pete Seeger, Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez, and of course Chalamet as Dylan. Chalamat in particular seems to be perfectly incapable of bad acting; in just this past year, he was the star of both A Complete Unknown and Dune: Part II, and the two films collectively have thirteen Oscar nominations this year. The last time Chalamet was nominated was seven years ago for Call Me by Your Name, and one could certainly make an argument that he should have won then. (He lost to a much more theatrical and make-up-intense Gary Oldman in Darkest Hour.) 

Anyway, in A Complete Unknown, Chalamet, Norton, and Barbaro are all worthy of their nominations due to their very impressive singing and instrumental skills. Chalamet in particular gets that unique sound of Dylan's (what Jason Kelly described as a pinched Okie sound that mimicked Woody Guthrie's) and makes it all look easy. When he sings to a hospitalized Guthrie (played in the film by Scoot McNairy), it's moving in a sentimental way when someone meets their hero and it goes just the way it should; when he plays in the studio, his voice varies between reserved and liberated (based on the character's growing comfort and musical evolution). And maybe it was all in my head, but given that he's smoking in virtually every scene, it seems like he was able to incorporate the impact smoking has on the human voice in a way that doesn't come across as painfully obvious and forced (like Bradley Cooper was as Leonard Bernstein in Maestro). But Barbaro and Norton sure can sing, too, and the most charming scene in the film (or at least the one that doesn't involve Bob Dylan) is when Norton as Seeger leads his audience in a joyful rendition of "Wimoweh." 

Based on Elijah Wald's 2015 book Dylan Goes Electric!, A Complete Unknown avoids some of the aforementioned pitfalls of the typical biographical film about the great men of music by just focusing on Dylan's rise from 1961 to 1965. It's all a very romantic view of a struggling musician; when we first meet Dylan, he's crossing over into New York from New Jersey in the back of a stranger's car, jotting away in his notebook some notes for songs. He does it again the morning after spending a night in the home of folk hero Pete Seeger's home. Heavily promoted by Seeger as the man who can bring folk music to the masses, Dylan struggles to break through, but once he does, the rest is history. He sings at the 1963 March on Washington, courts Joan Baez (Barbaro), becomes the voice of a generation, and struggles with accepting his new-found fame.

Dylan enthusiasts whose favorite Dylan period is those early years will likely be thrilled with what they hear. A lot of those beloved tunes are included: "Highway 61 Revisited," "Mr. Tambourine Man," Girl from the North Country," "Blowin' in the Wind," "It Ain't Me, Babe," "Maggie's Farm," "Song to Woody," "Like a Rolling Stone," and others are all there. Whether or not this film has much appeal to audience members who are not Dylan fans or musicologists or anything like that is something I'm not sure I can answer. Still, it has grossed about $100 million since it was released last December, and it has eight Oscar nominations, though (despite a superb performance by Chalamet) it is the underdog in just about all of them. One way or the other, it is a recommendable watch.

My favorite Bob Dylan songs:

Note: This list was compiled in 2020 during the pandemic. I suspect the order would be slightly different if I were to devote more time to reorganizing it these days.

50. Jokerman
49. With God on Our Side

48. Bob Dylan's 115th Dream

47. Song to Woody

46. Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands

45. Heart of Mine

44. Saved

43. Billy 1

42. Love Minus Zero/No Limit

41. Mozambique

40. Main Title Theme (Billy) 

39. Tangled Up in Blue

38. Shelter from the Storm

37. House of the Risin' Sun

36. Outlaw Blues

35. Baby, Let Me Follow You Down

34. Ballad of Hollis Brown

33. I Want You

32. Maggie's Farm

31. Buckets of Rain

30. Shot of Love

29. All I Really Want to Do

28. Queen Jane Approximately

27. From a Buick 6

26. Masters of War

25. Wigwam

24. Girl from a North Country

23. Subterranean Homesick Blues

22. Ballad of a Thing Man

21. Visions of Johanna

20. Forever Young

19. Things Have Changed

18. The Man in Me

17. If Not for You

16. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues

15. Hurricane

14. It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Lot to Cry

13. Highway 61 Revisited 

12. Desolation Row

11. Tombstone Blues

10. It Ain't Me, Babe

9. Mr. Tambourine Man

8. Blowin' in the Wind

7. The Mighty Quinn

6. Lay, Lady, Lay

5. All Along the Watchtower 

4. Rainy Day Woman #12 & 35

3. Knockin' on Heaven's Door

2. Like a Rolling Stone

1. The Times They Are A-Changin' 

Honorable Mentions: Chimes of Freedom, Emotionally Yours, Make You Feel My Love, Tweeter and the Monkey Man, Highlands, When the Deal Goes Down, Black Rider

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Saturday Night

The past fifty years have been an incredibly rapid rise and sustained run for Lorne Michaels, the man who went from juggling a thousand different problems in the hour running up to his iconic show's debut to telling Taylor Swift that he doesn't negotiate with terrorists as he tossed popcorn into his mouth after she demanded his staff cut a sketch making fun of her. Among the following problems Saturday Night Live creator and executive producer Michaels was dealing with way back in 1975 (according to last year's Saturday Night about the run-up to the first-ever episode of what was then called Saturday Night) are the following: the runtime was too long, his host (George Carlin, played here by Matthew Rhys) was snorting cocaine and angry about the sketches he was supposed to appear in, his actors were fighting (and one, John Belushi, played by Matt Wood, wouldn't even sign his contract), the network executives (mainly in the form of David Tebet, played by Willem Dafoe) were breathing down his neck hoping he failed, and even Johnny Carson (voiced here by Jeff Witzke) was making threatening phone calls warning him not to get ahead of himself. "It's my fucking network, it's my fucking night" the late-night icon hisses at him. Needless to say, this last one is one of the film's exaggerations.

Saturday Night, exaggerated or not, can all seem like a lionizing official portrait of the Canadian most Americans have adored for fifty years (or more like forty-five, since he had nothing to do with the show from 1981-1984), but who can blame director Jason Reitman and co-writer Gil Kenan? Just think of all the show has done: It has survived five very different decades through evolving beliefs about comedic taste (winning eighty-four Emmy Awards and three Peabody Awards along the way), it has implanted catchphrases into our collective pop culture minds and practically broken political stars (to the point where now, surely most Americans think that Sarah Palin actually said she could see Russia from her house), and it has launched the movie careers of dozens of stars. Ten years ago, just before the fortieth-anniversary show, Rolling Stone released their comprehensive list of all of the cast members in the show's history ranked (with Season 11 cast member Robert Downey Jr. coming in dead last). Just look at some of the names in the top twenty: future Senator Al Franken (played in Saturday Night by Taylor Gray), Maya Rudolph, Adam Sandler, Chris Farley, Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, Will Ferrell, Dana Carvey, Chevy Chase, Gilda Radner, Amy Poehler, Phil Hartman, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Mike Myers, Tina Fey, Eddie Murphy (who, it should be pointed out, was a star during the Dick Ebersol years, not the Michaels years), and John Belushi. Lorne Michaels deserves all the praise by this point.

The story of the very early days of the show have been told to death at this point between various NBC specials and the highly recommendable oral history Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live, and yet the anecdotes in the film still feel fresh. They're all there, like stand-up comedian and future cast member Billy Crystal fretting about the potential cutting of his number, Andy Kaufman's post-modern "Mighty Mouse" lip-sync, Jim Henson's muppets (the worst part of those early episodes—I don't think the audience laughed even once), and Chase's dreams of bigger things. (It's worth noting that both Kaufman and Henson are portrayed in very amusing performances by Nicholas Braun.) If you really know your SNL history, though, you also will know which ones they are exaggerating in the movie, like the physical fight between Chase and Belushi. Though there was a rivalry between the two, the real legendary fistfight actually broke out the following season between host Chevy Chase and the man who replaced him: Bill Murray.    

Opening with the cast members' auditions (that is, the actors playing them), we meet the original players: Aykroyd (Dylan O'Brien), Belushi, Chase (Cory Michael Smith), Jane Curtain (Kim Matula), Garrett Morris (Lamorne Morris), Laraine Newman (Emily Fairn), and Radner (Ella Hunt). Lorne Michaels is played by Gabriel Labelle, whom you may have seen in The Fabelmans. Despite all the problems, Michaels can rely on the support of fellow producer Dick Ebersol (who ran the show in the early Eighties after Michaels had briefly left and who is played here by Cooper Hoffman) and Rosie Shuster, a writer for the show and then-wife of Michaels, who is played by Rachel Sennott. Also appearing in the film is Jon Baptise, who plays Billy Preston and who also scored the film. 

The long takes, the rapid dialogue, the multiple storylines, and the high stakes can make the whole thing feel like it's from Aaron Sorkin, but Reitman and his team make it work. This is chiefly because it's so fun to watch the actors, especially J.K. Simmons as Milton Berle, a legend of NBC past (and present, circa the 1970s, I guess) who shows up and taunts those he views as beneath him, like Chase, who can't seem to not pick a fight with anyone around him. (Pretty true; read the aforementioned tell-all book and/or anything ever written or said about Chevy Chase.) 

As for the other actors, the ones portraying the Not Ready for Primetime Players do an effective job of portraying those iconic figures without appearing to be a, well, SNL impersonation. Smith captures Chases's charm and comedic timing but also his arrogance and impertinence; Lamorne Morris demonstrates the exceptional talent of Garrett Morris (no relation) while feeling distant from his younger (and white) cast mates; and Wood, while showing us all those eyebrow raises and animalistic chaos, still gets across to the audience that this man was a superstar who unfortunately was destined for tragedy. The best performance, however, is the lead, LaBelle, who looks and sounds the least like the person he's playing among the cast but whose sincerity and drive really make one want to root for the debut show's inevitable success. Like George Lucas on the set of Star Wars, he's the captain of something truly great that apparently only he can see. As one crew member (Robert Wuhl as the director Dave Wilson) mockingly tells him, "I think I can speak for the entire crew when I say that this is exactly where we want to be on Saturday night!" In the script by Reitman and Kenan, everybody (for the most part) has something to do; it's not simply the Lorne Michaels Show. For example, Aykroyd wants a more specific type of gun for the sketch he's in, Belushi doesn't want to wear the bee suit, and Jim Henson can't understand why everyone is putting his muppets into compromising (and violent) positions. This is all with just an hour or so to go.   

One likely problem is that while it's a fun watch, it's not particularly funny. There are a few decent one-liners that may make one chuckle, but that's it. This is ironic given that it's about one of the funniest shows of all time. It also will not have the staying power of Saturday Night Live. On a budget of about $30 million, it didn't make even half of that at the box office last year, despite it being a film about a show heading into a highly anticipated fiftieth anniversary (which is only a few hours away as of this writing). Still, it's a must for those who have any memories of the show, especially those who were around in 1975 to see it from the beginning. For younger viewers who know it mainly for its viral moments (like "Black Jeopardy with Tom Hanks" or "Sean Spicer's Press Conference"), it could serve as proper education for anyone who doesn't have time for a lengthy oral history or a Vulture subscription. 

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