my picks for tonight’s 97th Academy Awards (the Oscars for 2024’s films) (winners indicated)
I correctly guessed 12 out of the 23 categories, which is exactly as well as I did last year. (Five of my “should win”s did win!) At least I’m consistent.
Felicity Jones
The Brutalist movie review: red, white, and brutal
Stark and unsentimental, as stubborn and as challenging as its protagonist, and as monumental as his works. Adrien Brody’s performance is extraordinary, full of flinty anger and palpable melancholy.
movies by or about women opening US/Can Dec 06
Jessica Hausner directs and writes, with Géraldine Bajard, Little Joe, starring Emily Beecham; more… [This post is for Patreon patrons only for the first month.]
movies by or about women opening UK/Ire Nov 04–08
Felicity Jones costars in The Aeronauts; more… [This post is for Patreon patrons only for the first month.]
movies by or about women opening UK/Ire Feb 22
Mimi Leder directs On the Basis of Sex, starring Felicity Jones as US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg; more… [This post is for Patreon patrons only for the first month.]
On the Basis of Sex movie review: Notorious RBG’s origin story
Coasts on the awesomeness of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in a way unadventurous if solidly crowd-pleasing. But the depiction of her incredibly supportive marriage to a feminist man is intensely satisfying.
movies by or about women opening US/Can Dec 17-Jan 04
It’s Christmas for movies about women! Women-centered Mary Queen of Scots, The Favourite, Second Act, and Bumblebee all open wide over the holidays. Amazing.
A Monster Calls movie review: the monster is within us all
A fairy tale of the Grimm sort: no happy ending, no heroes or villains, just hard truths about life and human nature. Important, beautiful, heartbreaking.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story movie review: the high price of hope
There’s genuine fun here, but the humor is cynical, the heroics are tinged with regret, and it’s all delivered with a cold smack of — yes — political relevance.
Inferno movie review: let’s run through the museum!
Completely absurd, ultimately pointless, but also gloriously goofy: a Nancy Drew mystery with Scooby-Doo overtones and a thin veneer of bookishness.
