It's not really the point of the title or anything, but one of my favorite things about Triangle of Sadness is its structure, three chapters that had a couple of main characters in common but felt very distinct from each other and each sort of contributed thematically in crucial ways to the whole. It's also an arresting choice because the most acclaimed and award-winning performance in the movie is Dolly de Leon, who's not present in the first chapter, barely seen in the second chapter (closer an extra than a supporting player), and then very important in the third chapter. A lot of people have characterized it as a simplistic "wealth and inequality = bad" satire but I thought it was a pretty thoughtful and rich film (no pun intended) in having a lot to say about money and labor and comfort, with other themes and storylines going on all the while and some really sharp dialogue. Surprisingly, the most broadly comedic interlude with Woody Harrelson was what I thought was the least effective and essential part of the whole movie. And it's sad to know that Charlbi Dean died shortly after making Triangle of Sadness, she's great in it. 

I think The Banshees of Inisherin is still my favorite of the Best Picture nominees at this year's Oscars, but Triangle of Sadness and this are close behind. It felt a little academic at some points, characters sort of representing different ideologies or archetypes very starkly to move the debate forward, but the performances were so good that it still worked, I wish Claire Foy or Jessie Buckley or Sheila McCarthy had gotten an acting nomination. 

I was really happy that this won Best Original Score, the movie was visually stunning but Volker Bertelmann's music really added a different dimension to it. At this point I only want to see a war movie if it's about the horrors of war, and this is really stark and memorable in that respect, was a nice counterbalance to the Top Gun: Maverick nomination. 

As much as I hate to say anything nice about anything from the Shrek cinematic universe, I do like the Puss In Boots movies and this was by far the best one, definitely lived up to the hype. 

This kind of reminds me of The Fifth Element in that the ads looked really garish and stupid but once I sat down to watch it, I mostly liked its stylized, colorful aesthetic and heightened reality, it was a reasonably fun movie with some cool action setpieces. I'm still confused every time I see Aaron Tyler-Johnson in something, though, like this is seriously the would-be superstar being considered to play James Bond? 

I only saw two of this year's Best Documentary Feature nominees (this and Fire of Love) but I was definitely rooting for All That Breathes and was a little disappointed it didn't win. The story of two New Delhi brothers who dedicate their lives to tending to injured birds and nursing them back to health is beautiful and inspiring and the guys are really likable and fun to spend time with. But the movie doesn't pull any punches about the fact that birds are falling from the sky because of the pollution and they feel some hopelessness about helping the birds while the root cause isn't being remedied. 

I absolutely adored the Best Animated Short winner The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse and am glad it won, but I also liked My Year of Dicks, it's a very funny and surprisingly affecting coming of age story. I almost wish it was a feature or series, those 25 minutes went by very quickly. 

I'm glad Hulu started streaming this ahead of their "History of the World: Part II" sequel series, because as much as I grew up on most of the big Mel Brooks classics, this was always a blind spot I'd never seen. And I will say, it hasn't dated as well as a lot of his other '70s and '80s movies, some of it does make me cringe, but I'm glad I finally saw it, even if the famous bits I already knew of ("it's good to be the king," 15 commandments, etc.) were by far the funniest parts. 

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