After a few years off, I’m back trying to catch some nominees for this year’s Academy Awards before the show on Sunday. Traditionally I have had a love-hate relationship with Oscar films: I want to love them (like the world does), but I find myself lacking appreciation for those movies that get everyone’s votes. This year may not be much of an exception (I’ve even seen all the Best Animated Film noms — a category that I enjoy — but didn’t love any in particular). Nevertheless here is my take on all the nominees that I recently watched (and have not reviewed already) so you can decide to try some for yourselves.

Little Women

Nominated for: Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Costume Design, Best Original Score

This adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s novel brings to screen the story of a family of young middle-class girls growing up in post-Civil-War America. Saoirse Ronan is wonderful in the lead role as the strong-willed sister Jo (but she’s always excellent, isn’t she?). Timothee Chalamet also gave a good performance as neighbour and love interest, Laurie. I had not previously understood his appeal, but after a few of his scenes (especially the ones where he’s energized and emotional, arguing with Jo), I can start to see some of his charm. The middle sister, Amy (played by Florence Pugh) was the most surprising for me. She goes from flighty, willful brat to decisive and confident woman over the course of the film and Pugh impressively inhabits both versions of the character (hence the supporting-actress nom). Finally, Laura Dern (who plays matriarch of the March women) is clearly having a renaissance and it’s nice to see her play the kind of supportive mother that everyone would love to have. While this movie is a fresh and dynamic version of the classic story, I’m glad that they kept the historical backdrop rather than modernizing it or mangling it in some other artless way to serve a modern audience.

Marriage Story

Nominated for: Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score

I initially had no interest in watching this movie about the marriage of an actor (Scarlett Johansson) and a theatre director (Adam Driver) undergoing a divorce. However, since it was on Netflix, it was too convenient to pass up. I don’t think anyone would disagree that a divorce story does not make for fun viewing, and I spent most of the movie finding it difficult to really like or root for any of the characters (maybe that was the point). On top of that, the main characters being in the biz made it feel like more navel-gazing on the part of Hollywood and the acting world (like so many Oscar-bait movies before) that was a bit of a turn-off for me. Nevertheless, the performances in this movie were top-notch; especially the big argument scene (expected in a divorce story), which was hard to watch but incredibly engaging. Adam Driver really deserves his acting nom, in my opinion. Also, the above-mentioned Laura Dern was like a fist in a velvet glove as the divorce attorney for Johansson’s character. I can’t say I enjoyed this movie, but I would recommend it as an impressive piece of drama.

Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood

Nominated for: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Production Design, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing

This one, I don’t get. I am normally a fan of director Quentin Tarantino, and I can definitely see how some of the more Tarantino-esque aspects to this movie made it better, but I cannot say that I enjoyed the majority of this movie. Ostensibly we are following the story of Rick Dalton (played by Leonardo DiCaprio), a fictional actor who found success in 1950s TV westerns, now facing a waning career in 1969 Hollywood. He’s side-kicked by his former stunt-double and good friend Cliff Booth (played by Brad Pitt). I don’t want to summarize much of the plot because in reality the plot really meanders between Rick’s acting jobs, Cliff’s misadventures, and glimpses into the life of Rick’s neighbour, Sharon Tate (the real-life actress, played in this movie by Margot Robbie, married to scandalous real-life director Roman Polanski). The context of this movie is Hollywood in 1969 and there are oodles of cameos from real-life Hollywood characters (played by other actors, naturally). The story is set before my time, and I am not so familiar with Hollywood history that I really connected with the context, so I spent most of the movie trying to figure out what to care about. There were extended scenes of Rick playing a villain in a western movie. Are those scenes just for colour? Do we care about the plot of the movie-within-the-movie? Or is there going to be some parallel drawn between Rick’s life and his character’s? Add to that a few creepy odd encounters with the “Manson Family”, who actually murdered the real Sharon Tate in 1969, and I was squirming in my seat. It wasn’t until the last half-hour of the movie that things started to jell (in that Tarantino-esque way that I mentioned). While I can understand a few of the nominations (especially the ones for designing and visually-recreating that period in Hollywood’s past), but 10 noms seems a bit much. By the end, I didn’t quite hate the movie anymore, but I definitely didn’t love it. I guess it just wasn’t for me.

Parasite

Nominated for: Best Picture, Best Director, Best International Film, Best Original Screenplay, Best Production Design, Best Film Editing

One of those rare non-English movies nominated for a Best Picture award, what’s even more unexpected is that it’s not really an Oscar-bait kind of film (neither epic in scope, nor melodramatic in feel). Instead, this is the twisty and twisted tale of a poor family living in modern Korea who con their way into the lives of a rich family. What starts out as a duplicitous (yet relatively harmless) scheme, gradually spins out of control, heading for disaster. While it’s pretty hard to find any character to genuinely like in this movie (even among the “victims”), it is a very engaging story and both satirical and tender in parts. Though I have seen a number of other films (many of the international films) where some schemes get out of hand as plots twist, I still found this movie to be well-crafted and enthralling; and I was often on the edge of my seat with suspense. If for freshness alone, I think this movie deserves its accolades.

The Two Popes

Nominated for: Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay

Surprisingly, I really enjoyed this movie. It’s also Oscar-bait, much in the vein of The King’s Speech, and The Queen had been a decade ago. Picking a historic event (in this case, the 2013 resignation of Pope Benedict XVI and transfer of papal power to Pope Francis) that maybe sounds like dry news and showing us behind the hypothetical curtains — dramatizing events and adding emotional brushstrokes to the picture. It turns out, I really like this kind of movie (even though I have very little interest in the lives of popes). Directed by Brazilian Fernando Meirelles, adapted by Anthony McCarten from his own play, this movie is fascinating not only for how it shows some of the inner workings of the Vatican and what it’s like to be Pope; but it also flashes back and draws an interesting picture of both popes, especially Pope Francis’s earlier experiences in Argentina. Though I could not help being reminded of his recent portrayal of the High Sparrow on Game of Thrones, both Jonathan Pryce as Pope Francis and Anthony Hopkins as Pope Benedict are excellent, as always. They definitely deserve their nominations. If the overall marketing of this movie didn’t appeal to you, I suggest that you give it a try anyway (it’s on Netflix, so you’ve probably already paid for it).

Best Animated Film

Of the five nominees in this category (all of which I have seen), the only one to receive a second nomination is also one that I’ve already reviewed. Toy Story 4 was also nominated for Best Original Song. Though I enjoyed and admired the visual achievement of each of these movies, I don’t think any of them stand out as being classics or winners above the others. Klaus is a retelling of the Santa Claus origin story but adding a protagonist who is a spoiled rich young man sent by his father to manage a remote post office to learn some real-world values. The fish-out-of-water gets to know the locals (who happen to be in the midst of a blood feud) and makes a difference, especially once he joins forces with a reclusive curmudgeon who has a white beard and a penchant for making toys for kids. The animation and storytelling is good and it’s got some nice voice talent (including Jason Schwartzman, J.K. Simmons, and Rashida Jones), but just doesn’t live up to the best of Disney/Pixar.

Missing Link is also well made (with some great voices like Hugh Jackman, Zach Galifianakis, Zoey Saldana, Emma Thompson, and Stephen Fry). It tells the story of a sasquatch, discovered by a British explorer, and their quest to find others of his (the sasquatch’s) kind. It’s a Laika film, so it’s got that stop-motion kind of look, and some quirky, dry humour. It’s a charming film (even if you watch it on the plane, like I did) but the story also feels too familiar and cliche. On the contrary, I Lost My Body is very original. A French-made film, it follows both the story of a severed hand that escapes from a lab and ventures across the city, seeking out the rest of its body; and the story of an orphaned young man named Naoufel who falls in love with a girl he delivers pizza to. The animation style is both vividly realistic and simplified as outlines with little texture or shading. I’d love to see a making-of feature for this film to learn how the animators managed so many of the moving backdrops and real-world elements that we’d take for granted in a live-action movie. The animation is subtle, but also really amazing. There’s a relaxed moodiness to this movie (not to mention the magical realism of the hand story) that fits well with the animation. While I don’t quite understand the ending, it’s the most creative and ambitious nominee in the category. In a year of few standouts, maybe that should give I Lost My Body the Oscar.

While the abundance of movies on Netflix getting nominations made it easier for me to partake (and I didn’t even get around to watching The Irishman — ‘cos it’s a 3.5-hour-long mob movie, man!), I also really like the variety of styles and subjects represented by nominees. I don’t have any clear favourites to root for on Sunday, but I have happily found a renewed interest in Oscar movies overall.