In this episode, we wrap up my six-part series on Oscar-nominated films for 2024. Our final category contains my favorite film of the year and the film that is most likely to win significant numbers of awards including Best Picture. I call this category “Troubled Geniuses”

The 96th Annual Academy Awards will be awarded this Sunday, March 10. After this episode, I’m going to take off the rest of the month and will return with new episodes in April. This is been a labor of love but a labor nevertheless.

Hi, This is Chris Young. Welcome to episode 59 of Contemplating Life – Oscar edition.

The 96th Annual Academy Awards will be awarded this Sunday, March 10. This is the last of my series on the Oscar-nominated films for 2024. After this episode, I’m going to take off the rest of the month and will return with new episodes in April. This has been a labor of love but a labor nevertheless.

Our final category contains my favorite film of the year and the film and the film that is most likely to win significant numbers of awards including Best Picture. So, we have saved the best for last. I call this category “Troubled Geniuses”

We begin with Christopher Nolan’s epic movie “Oppenheimer”. It’s the story of J Robert Oppenheimer who led the Manhattan Project to develop the first atomic bomb.

The film is actually two interconnected stories told in parallel. We have the story of Oppenheimer beginning with his career as a young physics student through his development of the atomic bomb and eventually his activism to promote nuclear disarmament. This story is described by a title card as “Fission” which is the term for the splitting of an atom which releases tremendous amounts of energy. This portion of the film is shot in color 70mm IMAX film.

The parallel story is that of Louis Strauss who was a trustee of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton and who later led the Atomic Energy Commission. This portion of the story is described by a title card of “Fusion” which is the process of combining hydrogen atoms into helium also releasing tremendous amounts of energy. It is a process that powers the sun and all of the stars and is the process of the hydrogen bomb that Strauss promoted. This portion of the film told from Strauss’ perspective is shot in black-and-white 70mm IMAX film which was specially produced for this project because no one had ever used black-and-white IMAX before.

The framework of these two stories surrounds hearings regarding the careers of these two men. Oppenheimer appeared for several weeks before a special committee of the Atomic Energy Commission in April and May 1954 as he appealed the revocation of his security clearance.

At the time he was a highly popular public figure for his role in developing the atomic bomb which was credited for ending World War II. Oppenheimer had hoped the development of a weapon as powerful as an atomic bomb would make war unthinkable in the future and would essentially end all wars. He imposed the development of the more powerful hydrogen bomb and was a strong advocate for negotiated arms treaties. This opposition to further atomic weapon development as well as past affiliations with known Communists led to the revocation of his security clearance. The story opens with Oppenheimer, played by Cillian Murphy, testifying before this committee. He chooses to tell his life story so that his work can be understood in proper context. So his portion of the film is told as a flashback as he testifies before the AEC committee.

Strauss is played by Robert Downey, Jr. His portion of the film also centers around a hearing. He is being considered for a position in the Eisenhower administration as Secretary of Commerce in 1958. Strauss testifies before the Senate committee approving his appointment and recounts the story of his feud with Oppenheimer over the development of the hydrogen bomb. His story is told in flashbacks from that hearing.

Although these two stories are told in parallel, clearly this is primarily Oppenheimer’s story. It begins with him as a graduate student in Cambridge where he proved to be clumsy and inapt in the laboratory. At one point, so frustrated with his scientific advisor at Cambridge that he tried to poison him with a poisoned apple. A fictionalized version of this true incident is shown in the film. Fortunately, he’d stopped the man from being poisoned.

Oppenheimer left Cambridge for the University of Göttingen in Germany to study under Max Born; Göttingen was one of the world’s leading centers for theoretical physics. Freed from his inability to perform in the lab, Oppenheimer prospered in theoretical physics. He became an expert in the new field of quantum mechanics and returned to the US to teach quantum theory at Caltech.

His brother Frank, also a physicist, was active in the American Communist Party. Oppenheimer never joined the party but was intrigued by the support of everyday workers and he contributed to programs to help refugees in the Spanish Civil War. Those funds were distributed through the Communist Party. One must understand that the early communist movement in the US was about workers’ rights and other liberal causes but was not yet associated with the kind of dictatorships that developed in Russia, China, and other Communist countries. So, there wasn’t quite the stigma of the Communist Party early on.

Oppenheimer had a relationship with Berkeley activist Jean Tatlock who was active in communist politics. He eventually married Kitty Puening who had also been involved in Communist politics at Berkeley but had renounced communism before she met Oppenheimer. They had an affair and she became pregnant. Kitty’s husband gave her a divorce and she and Oppenheimer were married. They eventually had three children together.

Oppenheimer was recruited by General Leslie Grove to lead a top-secret project to develop an atomic weapon. Grove is brilliantly played by Matt Damon. Grove was well aware of the communist skeletons in Oppenheimer’s closet. In the film, Oppenheimer figures out that Grove was not ignoring his previous communist entanglements but had specifically recruited him in hopes that he could hold those entanglements over his head and control him.

Oppenheimer and his brother Frank loved to roam the deserts of New Mexico and he had always dreamed of finding a way of combining his around of New Mexico with his love for physics. He recommended a location called Los Alamos where the Army would build an entire city complete with homes, schools, churches, and entertainment. Oppenheimer knew that he could not recruit the best scientists in the country unless they could bring their families with them.

The film chronicles some of the difficulties faced in this groundbreaking endeavor of creating a nuclear weapon. There were competing theories on how it should be done and there were early moves to create a hydrogen bomb although to detonate a hydrogen bomb one must use a uranium or plutonium atomic bomb. So they had to build the atomic bomb first anyway.

It’s not a spoiler to say that they did build an atomic bomb.

Oppenheimer then began actively working towards nuclear disarmament and that caused great controversy.

The committee reviewing his security clearance was stacked against him and he never had a chance at winning. During the testimony, it was revealed that he continued to have an affair with Jean Tatlock after he was married to Kitty. Kitty was aware of the affair but the way it was depicted in the hearing is quite explicit. I won’t spoil that for you.

The latter half of the film focuses on Strauss and his Senate hearings as he tries to explain his feud with the popular physicist.

Christopher Nolan is known for his extensive use of IMAX sequences in his previous films such as the Dark Knight Batman trilogy, Inception, Tenet, and Dunkirk. This film was shot almost entirely in IMAX or other 65mm film formats where IMAX would have been impractical.

There was great hype that the film would be shown in IMAX 70mm film in only 30 locations around the world and only 19 of them were in the US. With a three-hour run time, most of these theaters had to install special film platters to hold the 11 miles of film which weighed 600 pounds. The print was shipped to theaters packaged in 53 smaller reels which then had to be carefully spliced together by trained projectionists to produce the giant continuous three-hour print.

There were other digital IMAX and 70mm showings but not in full IMAX. One of those theaters was the IMAX Theatre at the Indiana State Museum at White River Park here in Indianapolis. I was able to see the film in that format at that location.

If you have heard recent episodes of this podcast you know what a huge fan I am of IMAX. You also know that I’m quite a science nerd. You would think that this was the ultimate viewing experience for a geek like me.

While it was an amazing film with a compelling story well written, well acted, well shot, and certainly worthy of its 13 Oscar nominations, overall for me it was no big deal. I go to IMAX or any other theater because I want to get my eyes maxed. I want to see something spectacular and immersive. I want to be taken to places real or fantasy that I could not otherwise go. Except for the actual detonation sequence during the test at Los Alamos, which wasn’t that spectacular by the way, there was nothing about this film that needed to be seen in the theater let alone an IMAX.

The vast majority of the film is people arguing about physics, politics, communism, and extramarital affairs, and none of that needs to be experienced 60 feet tall with state-of-the-art digital surround.

While I am eternally grateful that we have filmmakers like Christopher Nolan, James Cameron, and others who are keeping IMAX alive, this particular film was not a great showcase for the format.

Don’t get me wrong. This is an amazing film. I liked it a lot. It is my third favorite of the year. It deserves all of its nominations. It will likely win a bunch. It’s just not why I spend premium prices and risk my health to see something in IMAX. I quite enjoyed a second viewing streaming on my 23-inch desktop computer monitor. Even viewing it on my roommate’s 55-inch 4k TV wasn’t necessary.

In addition to its Best Picture nomination, Christopher Nolan is nominated as Best Director and has a good shot at winning. He has cleverly crafted a compelling story that dives deep into the minds of two amazing people Oppenheimer and Strauss. These are complex characters with complex motivations who shaped history.

The attention to detail is phenomenal. There are dozens of minor things that only physicists would appreciate. For example, at a social gathering, there is someone in the background playing bongo drums. Only physics nerds know that physicist Richard Feynman was famous for playing those drums. He is never mentioned in the film or identified as Richard Feynman but he is there in the background. Nolan already won directing BAFTA and DGA awards.

Cillian Murphy completely transforms into the character. Anyone who has seen video or photographs of the actual man can appreciate how much he has embodied Oppenheimer and from what I’ve read about the man it’s not just his appearance that he has re-created. He is nominated as Best Lead Actor and is likely to win. It is my second favorite actor performance of the year.

Robert Downey, Jr. gives a chilling performance as the manipulative, conniving Strauss. His nomination for Supporting Actor is well-deserved.

Emily Blunt is consistently interesting as Oppenheimer’s wife Kitty. She is someone who has devoted her life to supporting her husband at great cost and has forgiven him for his extramarital affair. She is constantly encouraging him to fight the forces against him yet when she is called to testify before the committee she struggles to maintain composure in the face of attacks against her. Fighting isn’t as easy as she thought it would be. She is deservedly nominated for a Supporting Actress Oscar and is my third favorite pick in that category.

Is also nominated for the adapted screenplay by Christopher Nolan, Photography, Production Design, and Sound all of which are richly deserved. I have no opinion about the nominations for Musical Score, Makeup and Hair, Costume Design, or Film Editing except to say that the hair and costumes looked period-authentic and the score seemed to heighten the tension in the film.

Its 13 BAFTA nominations included wins for Best Picture, Best Director for Nolan, Lead Actor Murphy, Supporting Actor Downey, Cinematography, Editing, and Musical Score.

Its 8 Golden Globe nominations included wins for Best Drama, Best Director Nolan, Best Actor Murphy, Supporting Actor Downey, and Musical Score.

The Musical Score also won a Grammy for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media.

There were 4 SAG nominations including wins for Murphy, Downey, and Ensemble Cast.

IMDb lists 305 wins and 381 other nominations.

Released in the US in July and produced on an estimated budget of $100 million. It has earned nearly $330 million in the US and Canada and $957 million worldwide.

It is currently still being shown in some theaters although not IMAX. It is available for streaming on Peacock, for rent or purchase on Amazon and YouTube, and for purchase on DVD, Blu-ray, and 4k Blu-ray.

I highly recommend the film although you already have heard my thoughts about seeing it in a theater or on IMAX or 4k.

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Our final film of the year is my favorite of the 10 Best Picture Nominated films. “Maestro” stars Bradley Cooper as legendary composer, conductor, and pianist Leonard Bernstein. While I was impressed with Cillian Murphy totally inhabiting the character of Oppenheimer, it is nothing compared to what Bradley Cooper achieves in his portrayal of this musical legend.

The opening scene shows Bernstein late in life sitting at the piano and being interviewed by a camera crew. He talks nostalgically about his late wife actress Felicia Montealegre who was his inspiration and muse. I had to remind myself that I was watching Bradley Cooper. I’m familiar with Leonard Bernstein from many TV programs and YouTube videos I’ve seen about the great man. It was as if he was brought back to life before my eyes. The hair, makeup, voice, mannerisms, body language, and everything about the man became incarnate in this film.

After seeing the film, I became obsessed with Bernstein and began watching hours and hours of YouTube videos and documentaries about the great genius. With every minute that I watched, I became more and more impressed with Bradley Cooper’s performance.

He is nominated as Best Lead Actor and is by far my favorite performance of the year by anyone male or female.

In addition to the lead role, Cooper also produced, directed, and co-wrote the screenplay all of which were nominated. Consider that he also starred in, produced, directed, and co-wrote the screenplay for his previous film “A Star is Born” which earned nine Oscar nominations. He is proving to be an amazing filmmaker. If he does not win any Oscars this year, it is just a matter of time before he is finally recognized as the top of his craft.

After the opening scene with Bernstein in his late years, it jumps back to the earliest days of his career. He had to fill in as conductor at the last minute without any rehearsal to conduct the New York Philharmonic in Carnegie Hall when guest conductor Bruno Walter fell ill. The next day, a rave review was published on the front page of the New York Times and was picked up by multiple other newspapers. The performance also aired on CBS radio around the country. This rocketed him to instant fame.

Although the film follows his career from that famous debut through his works late in life, it’s not your typical biopic about the career of a genius. The film instead focuses primarily on his relationship with his wife Felicia who is brilliantly played by Carey Mulligan who has earned a Lead Actress Oscar Nomination for the role.

The film is a love story about two extremely passionate people. Like some of the other films we have reviewed, it shows us the price that is paid by those close to driven people. Bernstein had multiple affairs with both women and men. This naturally put great strain on his marriage. He remained totally closeted about his sexuality and when rumors arose about his relationships with men, he flatly denied everything. There was an especially poignant conversation with his daughter in an attempt to spare her feelings.

Cooper uses a variety of cinematic styles to establish the time period being depicted. Early in Bernstein’s career, it was filmed in black-and-white in a traditional 4 x 3 nearly square aspect ratio used by early films. Later in the story, it switches to color but still in that narrow 4 x 3 aspect ratio. These scenes re-create the era much in the same way that “The Holdovers” established its era by its cinematic choices. Only later does the film switch to a widescreen format in full color. While the switch between color and black-and-white was occasionally distracting in Oppenheimer, this progression of film styles in Maestro greatly enhanced the experience and helped set the time frame and the mood of each scene. Except for that opening scene late in his life, the rest of the story is told, chronologically so the shift in cinematic style feels like a natural part of that progression. It is a very effective filmmaking technique.

Bernstein separated from Felicia in 1976 but reunited with her the next year when she developed lung cancer. He put his career on hold canceling many appearances so that he could care for her until her death in June 1978.

The film concludes with a re-creation of Bernstein conducting the London Symphony Orchestra in a famous performance of Gustav Mahler’s Second Symphony “Resurrection” Himat Ely Cathedral in Cambridgeshire, England. Words cannot describe what a magnificent piece of filmmaking and acting appears in this single scene. It is an achievement beyond belief. I’ve seen a video of the actual performance and to say that Cooper has channeled the great maestro is a huge understatement.

The film has been criticized because it glosses over some of Bernstein’s greatest works. For example, the beloved musical “West Side Story” is barely mentioned at all. But as I said at the beginning, this is not your typical biopic. It is the love story between Bernstein and his wife and it tells the story beautifully.

In addition to Best Picture, its seven Oscar nominations include Lead Actor Bradley Cooper, Lead Actress Carrie Mulligan, Screenplay Bradley Cooper and Josh Singer, Cinematography, Sound, and Hair and Makeup all of which are greatly deserved. And yes, for once I do have an opinion about hair and makeup. It was essential to the transformation.

It had 7 BAFTA nominations and 4 Golden Globe nominations as well as SAG nominations for Cooper and Mulligan.

IMDb lists 21 wins and 179 nominations.

Released in December on an estimated budget of $80 million this Netflix production has grossed only $383,000 worldwide but as we have mentioned previously, such box office numbers are meaningless for films that are produced for streaming and have only limited theatrical release.

I have insufficient words to describe how magnificent this film is. Please watch it. Also, check out some of the links in the description which include the film’s Executive Producer Steven Spielberg interviewing director Bradley Cooper about the film. Be sure to see the behind-the-scenes feature which includes interviews with Bernstein’s daughters talking about how much they loved Cooper’s performance. The Bernstein family cooperated in the production of the film. Also, check out my side-by-side comparison of Bradley Cooper and Bernstein both conducting the London Symphony Orchestra at Ely Cathedral. I’ve also linked actual footage of Leonard Bernstein, and if there is not sufficient “West Side Story” for you in this film, check out the documentary I linked which shows Bernstein conducting “West Side Story” for a recording featuring operatic singers playing all of the parts.

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Well folks, that wraps up our detailed look at 14 films nominated for Oscars this year. Let’s recap the entire bunch and I will rank my favorites in order and then tell you who I think will actually win. Keep in mind that although “The Zone of Interest” was difficult to watch and “Poor Things” was sufficiently bizarre that it might not appeal to everyone, I have to say I enjoyed all of these films on some level. There is not a stinker in the bunch.

Counting down to my number one favorite in each of these categories…

Let’s start with adapted screenplays. 5 “The Zone of Interest”, 4 “Poor Things”, 3 “Oppenheimer”, 2 “Barbie”, and my favorite adapted screenplay of the year is “American Fiction” for creating a memorable character and deep satire. I love it even though it doesn’t have a chance. “Oppenheimer” is likely to win but part of me hopes that Greta Gerwig wins for “Barbie”.

For original screenplay. 5 “Past Lives”, 4 “May December”, 3 “Maestro”, 2 “The Holdovers” for its witty charm and clever twists on old tropes, and finally my favorite original screenplay is “Anatomy of a Fall” for that amazing scene in which the husband and wife realistically argue as well as for the clever way it seems to resolve the story yet leaves so many doubts lingering. It’s a phenomenal piece of writing.

Supporting Actress 5 Daniel Brooks – “The Color Purple” in one of only 2 nominations with which I disagreed. 4 America Ferrera – “Barbie”, 3 Emily Blunt – “Oppenheimer”, 2 Da’Vine Joy Randolph – “The Holdovers” who is likely to win and I will not be disappointed if she does. And naturally, my number one pick is… you guessed it… Jodie Foster – “Nyad”. It really is a great performance and not just my obsessive bias for Foster.

Lead Actress I enjoyed all of these performances so consider it nearly a five-way tie. If I had to rank them I would say… 5 Carey Mulligan – “Maestro”, Lily Gladstone – “Killers of the Flower Moon” I moved her from 5th to 4th after reconsidering. She is very likely to win and it will be a close call between her and my 3rd pick Emma Stone – “Poor Things”. My two favorite performances haven’t got a chance but I greatly enjoyed 2 Annette Benning – “Nyad” and was totally blown away by my favorite of the group Sandra Huller – “Anatomy of a Fall”. I plan to look up more of her films. Keep your eyes on her in the future. I expect great things.

Supporting Actor – 5 Ryan Gosling – “Barbie” which is the other nomination that I felt was undeserved even though I found it quite amusing. 4 Sterling K Brown – “American Fiction” which was okay but probably forgettable. 3 Mark Ruffalo – “Poor Things” which had me in stitches at several points. 2 Robert De Niro – “Killers of the Flower Moon” who remains at the top of his form and is a very close second to my favorite in the category Robert Downey, Jr.. – “Oppenheimer” which is likely to win. In fact, I think this is the only one of my favorites that is likely to win. I have to pick a winner sometime don’t I? We’ll see.

We are going to take Lead Actors from the top down this time. As you have just seen, Bradley Cooper – “Maestro” blew me away. I could easily cop out and say it is a four-way tie for 2nd place but if forced to make a choice I would pick 2 Paul Giamatti – “The Holdovers”, 3 Cillian Murphy – “Oppenheimer” who is likely to win, 4 Coleman Domingo – “Rustin”, and 5 Jeffrey Wright – “American Fiction”. All five were phenomenal performances.

For Best Director… I’m a bit disappointed that Bradley Cooper was not nominated but it was really his performance that shined the most. I wouldn’t bump anyone from this list to make room for him or Greta Gerwig. I may have rearranged these from comments made in previous episodes but here is where I stand now. All five of them have done an amazing war this year but if I have to pick it is… 5 Jonathan Glazer – “The Zone of Interest”, 4 Yorgos Lanthimos – “Poor Things”, 3 Christopher Nolan – “Oppenheimer” who is likely to win. 2 Justine Triet – “Anatomy of a Fall” for the choices she made in showing the domestic argument and the overall structure of the courtroom scenes. This leaves us with the Grand Master Martin Scorsese – “Killers of the Flower Moon” who at age 81 still keeps topping himself year after year.

Finally, we come to the Best Picture. Although I might put an asterisk next to a recommendation for a couple of these films, as I said before, there is not a stinker in the bunch. Counting down…

10 “The Zone of Interest”, 9 “Past Lives”, 8 “Barbie”, 7 “Poor Things”, 6 “Killers of the Flower Moon”, 5 “American Fiction“, 4 “The Holdovers”, 3 “Oppenheimer” will likely wi figure n but Barbie might be a dark horse. 2 “Anatomy of a Fall” mostly because of the writing, the lead actress performance by Sandra Hüller and the way it kept me guessing even after the film was over. It was a very entertaining experience. And, as you know, my favorite of the bunch was “Maestro” for reasons previously stated.

Last year I covered 10 films in 3 episodes and I wore myself out editing all of the trailers, still photos, and movie clips into the YouTube version of the podcast. When I finished, I said to myself, “I’m not going to do that in such detail next year. It was too much work.”

Well, so much for that resolution…

This year I did 14 films in six episodes in even more detail. The editing was just as extensive as I tried to get the movie clips and still photos to match up with the narration. On top of that, I did so after three other movie-related episodes. That’s nine episodes in a row that were far more difficult than my usual talking head episodes. I had to throw out my usual schedule of releasing episodes on Monday mornings to get everything done in time for the Oscar ceremony.

I’m totally exhausted but I loved every minute of it.

Who knows what I will do next year? Maybe we will throw in animated animated features which I wanted to watch this year but didn’t have time this year.

I will return with a new episode formed by Patreon supporters on April 1st and the episode will be released to the general public on April 8th

Why do I love movies so much? Because they are all about contemplating life.

I find them to be educational, entertaining, enlightening, and even inspiring.

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You can check out any of my back episodes which are all available where you found this episode. If you have any comments, questions, or other feedback please feel free to comment on any of the platforms where you find this podcast. Tell me what you liked or did not like about these films. What are your picks to win the Oscar this year?

I will see you next week as we continue contemplating life. Until then, fly safe everyone.