Oscar Awards 2024

The USA’s Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is about to host the annual Oscar Awards. These are the movies that I watched and can comment on.

1. Oppenheimer (8★★★★★★★★): Probably the biggest winner of the night, it deserves. The 3 part story of the titular character tells the background story of the atomic bomb creation. Downey Jr and Murphy are both good. It drags a bit but is brings both information and entertainment.
2. Society of the Snow (8★★★★★★★★): A gripping remake that skillfully balances tension, hope, joy, and despair. Captures the essence of survival. Had the crash occurred in the Alps with English-speaking characters, it would be a strong contender for Best Film.
3. The Holdovers (8★★★★★★★★): My personal pick for best actor and best movie.
4. Barbie (6★★★★★★): Overly self-absorbed and self-promotional, lacking subtlety, and with an LoTR’s unnecessarily long ending. More meta than Matrix 4.
5. Maestro (6★★★★★★): Cooper conducts well, but orchestra plays flat. Great acting & visuals (B&W to color thru time), but story drags on irrelevant details, like the Jewish origin. Makeup steals the show.

Animations

1. Nimona (9★★★★★★★★★): A hilarious, fast-paced adventure featuring a diverse cast. Tackles themes of inclusion, acceptance, and LGBTQIA+ with wit and depth. A standout choice for the Animation category.
2. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (8★★★★★★★★): Very good sequel of the amazingly good first entry. The artistic value is on the roof.
3. Elemental (5★★★★★): This time Pixar won’t take the golden statuette. Visually unpleasing with oversaturated colors all the time. The protagonist’s forced villainy. Except the excellent water family (that almost steals the show), all characters are boring and unidimensional.