The Oscars: An Honest Review of the Movies

As Oscar season rolls around and passes by, I thought it would be a good idea to discuss the movies that were nominated and won and whether they are worth watching. There were a lot of movies this year that I was semi-interested in watching, so I chose four of them to review and leave a rating on a scale from one to 10, with 10 being the best.

Emilia Pérez – 7/10

If you don’t know anything about this movie, it’s a musical about a struggling attorney in Mexico City named Rita Mora Castro (Zoe Saldaña), who gets enlisted into helping a drug cartel leader, Juan Del Monte (Karla Sofía Gascón), find a doctor to perform gender-affirming surgery in exchange for a large sum of money. The story continues on with Castro four years later helping Emilia Pérez (Del Monte) reunite with her family.

This movie was definitely better than I thought it would be, as a musical fan the music wasn’t necessarily my favorite except for “El Mal”, but the story was so unique and captivating. Gascón’s character is so dynamic throughout and by the end it becomes a heartwarming film.

A Real Pain – 6/10

This film is about two cousins Benji (Kieran Culkin) and David Kaplan (Jesse Eisenberg) who decide to travel to Poland to see where their grandmother grew up and spend time together. As the trip proceeds the tension between the cousins rises and the audience begins to see the impact of unresolved grief for both men. As you may have guessed, Kieran Culkin, who won Best Supporting Actor, had an incredible performance in this movie.

When you look this movie up online it says it’s a comedy and drama, I think I laughed once during it. If it wasn’t classified as a comedy, I think it would be a good drama. It was fairly solemn in my opinion, Culkin’s character is definitely going through a lot and Eisenberg’s David is so anxious throughout. Overall, I’d probably watch it again with a family member, but not by choice.

Dune: Part Two – 4/10

This movie follows Paul Atreides and his new allyship with Chani and the Fremen. Paul and his mother (Rebecca Ferguson) are navigating this alliance with hopes of seeking revenge on those who have wronged their family. There are also about a hundred other things going on in this movie, which I found very frustrating. There were new characters being introduced every five minutes, which was so confusing and I just found it all a little strange. I could not get into it no matter how much I tried. Also, Timothee Chalamet’s character Paul Atreides treated Chani (Zendaya) terribly the whole entire time.

Anora – 9/10

This film tells the story of Ani or Anora (Mikey Madison) a sex worker in Brooklyn who meets Vanya Zakharov (Mark Eydelshteyn), the son of a Russian oligarch. The two end up marrying and mayhem ensues as Vanya runs away to avoid his family’s response to the marriage.

I really liked this movie! It made me laugh, and it was very different from anything else I’ve ever watched. Ani has such a big personality, and the chaos that follows throughout the whole movie is so entertaining. The ending was not what I would have chosen, but after looking up the director’s idea on what it meant I feel OK with it.

Cassidy Peterson is a Haven sophomore studying pre-pharmacy. You can contact her at thehutchinsoncollegian@gmail.com.

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