Last year in movies + Oscar discussion, maybe?

[MrCalavera]

Since Academy Awards Ceremony starts tomorrow March 27th, i wanted to start a little thread about passing year in film.
My plan to drop reviews of stuff i have seen so far didn't pan out, so i'll post a brief list of Best to Worst movies i've seen last year, and from last year(and a bit of this year too):

1. Licorice Pizza
2. Dune: Part One
3. Malignant
4. Minari
5. No Time To Die
6. The Green Knight
7. The Suicide Squad
8. The Matrix: Resurrections
9. F9
10. Godzilla vs. Kong
11. The Mitchells vs. The Machines
12. Raya and The Last Dragon
13. House of Gucci

First, hardly controversial pick; Licorice Pizza is PTA in high form.
In many ways(structure) felt like i'm watching "Once Upon A Hollywood", but with less director's self-fellating.
Next, Dune - 2nd place is me giving a bit of a benefit to something like a First Act of a standard movie, because i trust Villeneuve to deliver with Pt. 2. And it's a stunning sci-fi spectacle besides.
Malignant is something many would describe as "guilty pleasure". Not me though. I believe it to be very deliberately crafted, delicious, prime horror shlock.

On the other side of the spectrum though: House of Gucci - Scott haven't dissapoint me like that since Robin Hood. Dreadfull movie.

So, what have you seen this(last) passing year? Anything from my list? Any Oscar types? Or can you hardly muster any interest for these awards - not even when it's typing for discussion sake?

EDIT: So since i'm stupid, i thought Oscars were starting a whole month earlier. Fixed now.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

My Top 5
Licorice Pizza
No Sudden Move
Dune
Val
Power of the Dog

Great
The French Dispatch
Belfast
West Side Story
Last Night in Soho
Rifkin's Festival
The Last Duel
Cry Macho
Nightmare Alley

Pretty good
The Little Things
The Many Saints of Newark
The Suicide Squad
A Quiet Place Part II
Those Who Wish Me Dead
The Lost Daughter
Nobody
Batman: The Long Halloween Part I & II

Ok
The Tender Bar
The Guilty
Being the Ricardos
Stowaway
Godzilla vs Kong
Shang-Chi
Free Guy
House of Gucci

Less than ok
Matrix 4
Eternals
Don't Look Up
Coming 2 America
Mortal Kombat
Escape Room: Tournament of Champions
Blood Red Sky
The Map of Tiny Perfect Things
The Tomorrow War
The Voyeurs (only reason this doesn't suck is Sydney Sweeney)

Suck
Malignant
Demonic
Venom 2
Jolt
Army of the Dead
Without Remorse
The Woman in the Window
Spiral

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Man do you guys actually note down the movies you watch? I can't even remember the movies I watched last month.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Man do you guys actually note down the movies you watch? I can't even remember the movies I watched last month.

Yup, in an Excel document.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Yup, in an Excel document.

Interesting. I've never thought to do such a thing. Maybe I should, just for fun.

 

[Gordon_4]

Well, I’m hardly an expert on film but here’s my picks:

1. Dune; best film of the year for me no contest.
2. Rebuild of Evangelion 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon a Time; yes that is its full title, yes it’s exactly as weird as you’d expect but by the end I cried happy tears.
3. Eternals; controversial I’m sure but I really enjoyed this big ensemble piece from the House that Blade built - and it helped vindicated an opinion I held about Angelina Jolie.
4. Shang Chi; a perfectly good and straight forward Marvel movie with a bit of Hong Kong lite martial arts flavour. More Shang, Katie and Wong please.
5. No Time to Die; it’s interesting to see a James Bond movie that has an ending for the character that cannot be walked back. Craig may not have had an even field for all his outings but his good ones were really good and I’m now realising just how lucky we are to have had him play Bond.
6. Spider-Man: No Way Home; an excellent movie but also a cautionary tale about fans asking for what they want because they just might get it. Big props to Andrew Garfield for making his big scene really resonate; I don’t even like his movies and I was impressed by him here.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

5. No Time to Die; it’s interesting to see a James Bond movie that has an ending for the character that cannot be walked back. Craig may not have had an even field for all his outings but his good ones were really good and I’m now realising just how lucky we are to have had him play Bond.

I don't think anyone really had any hope for this movie, but it blew every expectation out of the water. The only thing I can detract from it is that several themes have been already been done in his previous movies. They really need to stop hiring actors for Bond and expecting them to play the character for more than a decade. I can only imagine how we would have viewed his tenure as Bond if they had trimmed all the fat off (aka around 2 movies worth).

 

[Gordon_4]

I don't think anyone really had any hope for this movie, but it blew every expectation out of the water. The only thing I can detract from it is that several themes have been already been done in his previous movies. They really need to stop hiring actors for Bond and expecting them to play the character for more than a decade. I can only imagine how we would have viewed his tenure as Bond if they had trimmed all the fat off (aka around 2 movies worth).

Honestly the only one I’d call do-over on is Spectre, and maybe keep Ana de Armis in all of No Time to Die. And I’d also add a movie that’s purely James and Felix doing their thing so their relationship is built up a bit.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Honestly the only one I’d call do-over on is Spectre, and maybe keep Ana de Armis in all of No Time to Die. And I’d also add a movie that’s purely James and Felix doing their thing so their relationship is built up a bit.

Spectre is 1 out of the 2. I'd collapse Skyfall and Quantum into one movie.

 

[Agema]

I don't watch enough new releases to make much comment.

But I though The Power of The Dog was very good, sort of thing that's Oscar Territory. Dune might grab some technical accomplishment gongs, but I struggle to see it as a contender in the big categories. I liked The French Dispatch but it's just too typical quiky Wes Anderson to make much impact on Hollywood Awards ceremonies. I guess The Green Knight is available for this year's Oscars although it feels like it was released ages ago - I think it was an intricate, thoughtful and well-made, and deserves recognition. I've seen a few other bits and bobs like No Time To Die, but I can't see them significantly troubling awards ceremonies.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

One of my pet peeves is when people see a list of Oscar-nominated films, declare that "all moves sucked this year," and snobbily pretend to not care (but still care).

But, man, this year.... sucks, IMO. I feel comfortable saying that because I don't actually normally say this. This will be the first year I don't actively try to watch as many Oscar-nominated movies as I can.

Specifically I am dismayed by how many movies are just about real people, and not particularly interesting people. Tammy Faye Backer? The guy who wrote Rent? Lucille Ball and Ricky Ricardo? The WIlliams sisters...' father?!

One biopic or historical drama or two, ok, but it's so much now, just watching celebrities impersonate celebrities.

The one movie I was excited for was Drive My Car because I was hoping like Parasite or Minari, a foreign-language movie that outshines the American or British same-ol'. But man is that movie self-indulgent boring artiste navel-gazing.

I'm gonna check out Belfast and CODA out of curiosity.

 

[BrawlMan]

I honestly don't care. The Oscar means nothing to me.

 

[MrCalavera]

Man do you guys actually note down the movies you watch? I can't even remember the movies I watched last month.

Nope, but this is just the movies, barring three, that a) came out this year b) i saw in the theaters. I'd probably need a spreadsheet to keep track of everything i watch yearly.

5. No Time to Die; it’s interesting to see a James Bond movie that has an ending for the character that cannot be walked back. Craig may not have had an even field for all his outings but his good ones were really good and I’m now realising just how lucky we are to have had him play Bond.

Agreed. 3 out of 5 isn't bad at all.

I guess The Green Knight is available for this year's Oscars although it feels like it was released ages ago - I think it was an intricate, thoughtful and well-made, and deserves recognition.

It is, and yet it got completely snubbed - 0 noms. Which is mind boggling. I didn't even like Green Knight that much, and i wrote about it, but there's stuff there(Costume Design! Production!) that deserves recognition.

 

[Xprimentyl]

Great
The French Dispatch
Belfast
West Side Story
Last Night in Soho
Rifkin's Festival
The Last Duel
Cry Macho
Nightmare Alley

Wait, you thought Cry Macho was "great?" I thought that film was terrible. Would you mind explaining what you feel makes it "great?" I tried searching and it doesn't appear you mentioned it in the "Film You Watched" thread.