Oscar movies

By chance, this year I’m doing a lot of Oscars coverage. Most of these movies I didn’t love, wouldn’t have watched were I not a film critic, although at least in some cases, I admire the artists. So just read my essays below & avoid the movies; or if you’ve seen any of them, at least you get the compensations of understanding for your suffering. It wasn’t a good year; most of it is forgettable, not to say instantly forgotten; the audience didn’t even bother, the box office is catastrophically low, far below the pre-COVID era; the death of cinema is accordingly ongoing, as your faithful correspondent has regularly announced.

Still, there’s quite a bit to enjoy, as far as talent goes, & a lot to learn about the madness of liberal elites. Unlike last year, it’s not wall-to-wall feminism; there’s nothing transgender, either. But the decadence is ongoing: Better artists than last year—Paul Thomas Anderson, Josh Safdie—are self-destructing, or at least failing, which is a sad sight. This year’s will be the 98th Oscars & it looks like, by the centennial anniversary, the awards will be a complete joke. All the signs of corruption are there—movies or moviemakers getting enormous numbers of nominations, for example. It’s like the military—too many generals & admirals, so you can’t win wars anymore; or academia, where everyone gets As. Elite institutions self-destructing invariably congratulate themselves. Here goes:

One Battle After Another, the year’s Oscar movie, by Paul Thomas Anderson, the only major artist nominated this year.

Blue moon, the actor’s treat, a Lorenz Hart biopic full of Broadway nostalgia by Richard Linklater.

Hamnet, the pagan feminist manifesto, organizing a kind of human sacrifice, that is, attempting to destroy Shakespeare, by feminist darling Chloe Zhao.

Marty Supreme, the other Oscar movie, by aspiring artist Josh Safdie. A mid-c. picaresque that seems entirely aimed at the younger audience, in a uniquely bleak landscape, so far as men are concerned.

The Smashing Machine, the alternative to Oscar movies, by Benny Safdie. A movie about MMA, 21st c. American fighting men. Quite interesting, but not great. (The Safdies are another couple sundered by COVID, really sad. The Coens were the big victim, though.)

Frankenstein, the anti-tech, anti-male visual treat revisionism (the monster is the good guy, Frankenstein is the real monster), by liberal darling Guillermo del Toro. This may be a more feminist movie than the openly feminist movie!