A Slow Race

There is no such thing as a year with no good movies in it, just as there is no such thing as a year with no bad movies in it. No matter what year you insist is proof that such a statement is wrong, it’s not difficult to find evidence that, no, there are examples you’ve forgotten or didn’t know. So an observation that it’s not a great year for movies should not be met with counterexamples of good ones. Yes, of course there are good ones. We can all name at least a few. However, there are some years you look back on and think, “Well, that wasn’t a great year for movies.” 2024 has been one of them.

It took me a while to come to this decision. But the Oscars are on Sunday, and I’ve barely seen any of the nominees. What’s more, I’m not worried about it. Oh, I’ll probably see Wicked one way or another, and I’m still hoping to watch Conclave online with a couple of friends, but as for the rest? I kept telling myself I would see The Brutalist in theatres, but I can’t make myself care about a movie that long about an architectural style I hate. As for that other heavily nominated movie, the French one about Mexico, we will not speak of it.

Oh, I know; the Oscars aren’t the world’s greatest indicator of what was happening in any given year. (Though it’s worth noting that franchise movies get fewer nominations than people think.) There are always a lot of quality movies that don’t get nominations at all, to say nothing of the ones that get too few and only in token categories. But I’ve heard of basically nothing where people are universally agreed that it’s a great movie that you shouldn’t sleep on except Hundreds of Beavers, which I believe is a great film that I shouldn’t sleep on.

I’m sure there is at least one animated film from this year better than Flow. There are doubtless literally hundreds better than The Film That Shall Remain Nameless. Because literally hundreds of movies come out every year. And I’m sure we could all have a spirited conversation about replacing three of the Original Song nominees. The nominees are the nominees, and there’s a lot to be said as always about the movies that weren’t nominated. I know that. But hardly any of them are on my “to get around to” list, either.

Yes, A Real Pain is one of those movies we’ll be talking about for years. And Nosferatu is an interesting exercise, if nothing more. I hear Sing Sing is magnificent. And, yes, there’s Anora and The Substance. I’m Still Here and Nickel Boys. And I’d have to be made of stone not to enjoy Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl. But movies like The Apprentice and A Complete Unknown are, I suspect, the sort of movies that, in twenty or thirty years, people will have to look up the plot of to even remember they exist.