Every year I make a real effort to see all the Oscar nominated films. I’ve been doing this to a certain extent ever since I was a teenager. My wife and I try and see everything. Everything. We even try and see the movies nominated for best song and best makeup. It means hunting down the shorts in independent and art-house cinemas. For the documentary shorts we had to drive to Salem this year. Cambridge had the animated and live action shorts. There are unforgettable, powerful and beautiful films in these categories.

The best picture category is overrated. Big studio campaigning ensures unworthy films like Wicked and Emilia Perez secure nominations everywhere. Both my wife and I don’t see the appeal of Wicked. It feels like we’re missing something, because a lot of people claim to love this movie. The story was bloated. No one was likable and the acting felt superficial and secondary to set design and costumes. We started watching at 1.25 speed, then 1.5 speed. Not for me, sorry. How the fuck was Ariana Grande nominated for best supporting actress when Trine Dyrholm was out there with an absolute monster performance in The Girl with the Needle?

Emilia Perez wasn’t great either. I think at one point we sped this one up too. It had more potential than Wicked, took more chances but was messy and ultimately not good. It did the Joker 2 thing of jumping into songs as interludes between drama. I could have lived with that if the movie was compelling, but it was not. It didn’t know if it wanted to be a musical, a comedy or a crime drama. It ended up doing none of those things well. This feels like another case of very mediocre art being elevated due to social and culture war agendas.

Those are the two egregious offenders in the category. The rest of the films have merit, but flaws too. There isn’t a standout in the bunch. The Brutalist, Conclave felt and looked like best picture winners, but they just didn’t resonate with me like they should have. Nickel boys and I am Still Here were well done, important stories, but a little too joyless for best picture. That leaves Anora, Dune 2, A Complete Unknown and The Substance as the best 4. If this was truly about what the best movie experience was, it’s probably Dune 2. I think I would vote for The Substance though. Bonkers and awesome. A creative concept executed with precision. Funny, dark and dystopian. Goes off the rails in the final act, but deliberately so.

This year (and as usual) the real gems of the Oscar nominated films are in the International Feature Film category. I already alluded to the standout film here, “The Girl with the Needle”. I walked into this film knowing nothing about it, and was blown away. It is a monster. An unforgettable existential assault. I would pick this as best picture over the other ten nominated films. Even so, I might like another movie in the category even more. “Flow”. This might be my favourite film of the year. The animated movie about the black cat trying to survive in increasingly hostile nature. This movie hurts my heart to think about. It’s even more of an existential assault than The Girl with the Needle. I feel the dread, loss and wordless beauty of Flow deep in the pit of my soul.