Ranking The Oscars 2022 Best Picture Candidates

Last year, I spoke about how, initially, the nominees for Best Picture seemed pretty solid, but the opportunity to watch all of them proved to be lackluster. This year was kind of the opposite. At first, the nominees seemed very… we’ll say “odd” to me. Then, after viewing most of them, I’ve come around on them more than last year’s batch. It’s more consistently solid, though perhaps not entirely sensational.

Note that I said I saw most of them this year. Unlike last year, I did not have the same opportunity to see every nominee. As of writing, I have not seen Licorice Pizza (which, to me, seems like the frontrunner), CODA, or Belfast. As such, they will not appear on this list. Should that ruin this ranking for you, by all means, close the tab.

As frequent readers are aware, I did view a few Best Picture nominees during my currently continuing March of the Movies block, so I will simply link to those reviews for extended thoughts. All other extended thoughts on individual films will have links to their parent sources. (I believe I have reviews for all of them somewhere.)

And if, for whatever reason, you with to see prior years’ rankings, you can see my 2018, 2019, and 2020 lists before this one. (The 2021 list is linked in the first two words.)

Continue reading “Ranking The Oscars 2022 Best Picture Candidates”

Ranking The Oscars 2021 Best Picture Candidates (+ Some Extras)

Something nice happened this year. Due to the graciousness of a dear friend of mine, I was able to watch every film nominated for Best Picture this year. That marks the first time in this blog’s far-too-long history that I managed to do so, despite my best efforts (being frugal can be limiting). As such, expect a much longer ranking post this year, as I also managed to squeeze in a couple extra films nominated for other awards I’d like to discuss.

Continue reading “Ranking The Oscars 2021 Best Picture Candidates (+ Some Extras)”

Ranking the Oscars 2020 Best Picture Candidates

oscars 2020 cover

This is historically the part where I provide a disclaimer that I haven’t seen every film nominated for Best Picture. That will not change today… however, I have seen nearly all of them. Only Ford v Ferrari is left unwatched, mostly because I think it looks boring. Apologies to those that adored it, but cars and people who like cars are not my preferred subject matter. (Don’t ever invite me to watch Fast & Furious.) Continue reading “Ranking the Oscars 2020 Best Picture Candidates”

Ranking the Oscars 2019 Best Picture Candidates

oscars 2019 1

One thing to clarify before I get going:

I have only seen six of the eight films nominated for Best Picture this year, with Vice and BlackKklansman being those out of the picture. I do not typically see every film nominated on a yearly basis, but I do try to watch as many as I can so long as they don’t feel like overinflated goop (interpret that as you may). Continue reading “Ranking the Oscars 2019 Best Picture Candidates”

Ranking the Oscars 2018 Best Picture Candidates

oscars 1

Two things to clarify:

  1. I have not seen all films nominated—only five of nine. This post will only chronicle those five. I may see Get Out and Call Me By Your Name at some point, and if so, I may edit this list. But for now, it will only be a top five.
  2. I don’t normally care for Award ceremonies and the like, but a friend of mine seems excited for them, so I can’t help but share her enthusiasm. I also enjoy sharing my opinion.

Something else which is interesting to note (perhaps solely to me) is that none of the films I’ve seen that were nominated for the top award garnered more than an 8.5 from me, when three of last year’s nominees received nines (Arrival, Moonlight, La La Land). I could say this year is a down year for top pictures, but I’ve liked those that I’ve seen well enough to feel they should be considered, though are perhaps overrated in the big picture. Without further filibuster, my personal rankings for the five nominations I’ve seen. Continue reading “Ranking the Oscars 2018 Best Picture Candidates”