A Year of Films, Thought-Provoking to Dulling: Ranking of the 2024 Best Picture Oscar Nominees

For years I’ve made it a goal to sit down and watch every Best Picture nominee, and every year I get pretty close but fail with one or two. But this year I made it a point to sit down and watch every single one.

So here I am, 22 hours and 52 minutes later, with the ranking of the 2024 Best Picture Oscar Nominees as someone whose credibility is an in-progress digital media degree.

Spoilers Ahead

10. Maestro (1 ½ stars)

Last on this list is Bradley Cooper’s most recent directorial endeavor, which is based on the life of musical protégée, Leonard Bernstein, and his wife Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein.

As much of a fan of Bernstein’s music as I am, especially the West Side Story (1961) soundtrack, this movie falls short in not having a compelling focus. The relationship between Felicia and Leonard is told from a very detached and even apathetic point of view, making it a dull and disinteresting watch.

9. Barbie (2 ½ stars)

This summer box office hit about the beloved plastic doll entering the real world was my chosen film to review for last year’s Orientation Issue. 

This was a film that I went into with a lot of excitement, however, left truly disappointed. I can appreciate the messages that this film was trying to portray; however, this film turned into more of a commercial for Mattel rather than a movie that adds to the conversation of feminism.

8. American Fiction (2 ½ stars)

When Thelonious “Monk” Ellison, a fiction writer, finds himself playing into racial stereotypes in order to get published, he struggles morally in grappling with his choice. Certain parts of this film had me laughing out loud and some scenes, such as when Monk was writing the novel, and the characters came to life I felt were extremely clever. 

However, it overall was an unmemorable film that attempted to cover a lot of ground and, similar to “Barbie,” didn’t add much to the conversations around racism and stereotyping.

7. Killers of the Flower Moon (2 ½ stars)

A scheming and power-hungry tycoon, William Hale, enlists in his nephew Ernest Burkhart to steal money from members of the indigenous Osage tribe. This film followed a truly interesting and devastating story; however, it was told from a point of view I personally found little interest in hearing from. 

This film also comes in at three and a half hours, and rather than focusing on the Osage point of view during this time, specifically, Mollie Burkhart, whose character I found fascinating and motivated, it follows Ernest and William who were disinteresting.

6. Oppenheimer (3 stars)

Following the story of the creation of the atomic bomb during WWII, this movie was one full of spectacle. The film itself had stunning acting and fascinating theming surrounding the ideas around social versus personal morality. 

The pacing, however, felt inconsistent. Certain moments seemed to whiz by, relying on exposition that was delivered too quickly to be ingested, while others were bogged down to a halted pace making you wonder how much there was still runtime left in this three-hour picture.

5. Anatomy of a Fall (3 ½ stars)

A troubled marriage comes to a shocking end when the husband is found dead outside their home, leaving the wife as the prime suspect. This film was unlike a lot of others in this list, as it didn’t rely on crazy effects or high production values. It resided primarily in two locations — the home and the courtroom, yet was still riveting and suspenseful. 

Certain aspects of this film did feel slow, and the ending was a bit anticlimactic; however, the theming of choice-making being based purely on the decision itself rather than on finding the full truth was something that still has me pondering.

4. The Holdovers (4 stars)

An outcast’s united story of a professor, a student, and a cook having to stay behind at a boarding school over winter break. What starts as a simple enough plot, quickly becomes a coming-of-age exploration and a deep dive into how we make connections. 

While this wasn’t the most groundbreaking film, it was a heartfelt and uplifting story that I immediately added to my holiday rotation.

3. Zone of Interest (4 stars)

A WWII story that explores the perspective not often focused on, a family whose father is the commandant of Auschwitz. Being someone who is often so story-driven, this film surprised me with how much of an impact the score, cinematography, and direction left on me. 

At the conclusion of this film, the main character is descending a set of stairs, literally and figuratively purging out every last bit of humanity he has left before cutting to shots of Auschwitz in the modern day. It then ends with him fully descending into darkness, making this one of the most impactful scenes I’ve seen in a film. 

While the story itself was at times a bit unfocused, I felt it could have been trimmed down to get to that final impactful beat quicker.

2. Poor Things (4 ½ stars)

An unconventional scientist decides to bring a woman who has committed suicide back to life but to do so, he uses the brain of the woman’s unborn child. The summary itself is filled with a lot to unpack and easily could have been a convoluted and confusing plot; however, it was instead a powerful and intriguing look at what it means to experience life through a pure and unfiltered lens.

I’ll admit that the whimsical and fantasy scenery at times cheapened certain shots, yet the performances and story itself overtook all of this and made this movie one that accomplishes for me what the “Barbie” movie seems to do for so many others.

1. Past Lives (5 stars)

The connections between people and the passing through one another’s lives is the main theme explored in this film. As stated in my review of this film in Issue One, this film truly broke hearts in the best way. 

I originally gave this film four stars; however, I have since given it five since the more I’ve sat with it and revisited scenes, the more appreciation I have for it. I still would’ve loved to see more of it and felt this could have been a trilogy of films. 

But, this was, to say the least, a beautiful story about learning to grow and mature while simultaneously exploring what happens when you reconnect with someone who knows an entirely different version of you. 

The final scene of this film when Nora faces the loss of not only the person she just reconnected with but of the person she once was is still beautifully heartbreaking.