Before I get into movies, there was a glorious victor yesterday in the World Baseball Classic. Venezuela beat the USA, 3-2. In a way, it was satisfying after President Donald Trump kidnapped their president, Nicolás Maduro, and bullied our way into their country. Of course 92% Venezuelans expressed gratitude, so perhaps it was a smart move on Trump's part. Next, Cuba? About half of Americans felt that the U.S. intervening in Venezuela would be mostly good, but the majority in January believed that Trump has gone too far with military actions abroad. In a poll taken yesterday, only 1 in 4 Americans supported military force to overthrow Cuba.
The Academy Award Ceremonies were held this past Sunday, and One Battle After Another won the Oscar for best film. I'll summarize my feelings about this movie later. To start, here is an American Film Industry's ranking of the top ten films of all time:
- Citizen Kane (1941)
- Casablanca (1942)
- The Godfather (1972)
- Gone with the Wind (1939)
- Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
- The Wizard of Oz (1939)
- The Graduate (1967)
- On the Waterfront (1954)
- Schindler's List (1993)
- Singin' in the Rain (1952)
I've seen all ten. Interesting that there has been no breakthrough movie to get into this list in a third of a century.
Rotten Tomatoes has a top 300 list, and there are 100-rated films throughout, with #298 The Ladykillers (1955) and #299 Leave No Trace (2018) at 100. The top ten.
| 1. |  97% The Godfather |
| 2. | 100% Seven Samurai |
| 3. | 99% Casablanca |
| 4. | 99% Rear Window |
| 5. | |
| 6. | |
| 7. | 98% Chinatown |
| 8. | 98% Modern Times |
| 9. | |
| 10. | 98% Schindler's List |
I don't remember The Battle of Algiers. It is on HBO Max, so I'll someday soon watch it. By clicking here, you too can see the whole 2-hour film.
The next 40 are:
| 11. | 100% 12 Angry Men |
| 12. | 99% All About Eve |
| 13. | 99% Parasite |
| 14. | 100% Singin' in the Rain |
| 15. | 100% Stop Making Sense |
| 16. | 98% Sunset Boulevard |
| 17. | 100% Toy Story |
| 18. | 99% The Third Man |
| 19. | 100% Toy Story 2 |
| 20. | |
| 21. | |
| 22. | |
| 23. | 100% Cool Hand Luke |
| 24. | |
| 25. | |
| 26. | 100% M |
| 27. | 99% Citizen Kane |
| 28. | |
| 29. | 100% Three Colors: Red |
| 30. | 100% The Decalogue |
| 31. | 99% A Separation |
| 32. | 100% The Kid |
| 33. | |
| 34. | 98% Toy Story 3 |
| 35. | 99% Finding Nemo |
| 36. | |
| 37. | |
| 38. | 97% Sinners |
| 39. | 98% Up |
| 40. | 100% The Wages of Fear |
| 41. | |
| 42. | 97% Spotlight |
| 43. | 99% The Wrestler |
| 44. | |
| 45. | |
| 46. | 97% Psycho |
| 47. | 99% Bicycle Thieves |
| 48. | |
| 49. | 98% The Wizard of Oz |
| 50. | 98% The Father |
I've seen most of them, but not the animated films. I noticed that the 2025 Sinners is at #38 as the only movie from last year. Rated 97/95 by Rotten Tomatoes. Also on HBO Max.
Ten movies were nominated for Oscar Best Picture this year.
- One Battle After Another (Winner)
- Sinners (Ryan Coogler)
- Bugonia (Yorgos Lanthimos)
- Frankenstein (Guillermo del Toro)
- Hamnet (Chloé Zhao)
- Marty Supreme (Josh Safdie)
- The Secret Agent (Kleber Mendonça Filho)
- Sentimental Value (Joachim Trier)
- Train Dreams (Clint Bently)
- F1 (Joseph Kosinski)
So I watched the Academy Award Best Picture, One Battle After Another, on HBO Max.
- Rotten Tomatoes scores of 94/85.
- Produced, written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson.
- Inspired by the 1990 novel, Vineland, by Thomas Pynchon.
- Cast led by Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor and Chase Infiniti.
- Cost around $150 million to make, but has grossed $210 million so far, worldwide.
- Received 13 nominations, and won six Oscars.
- Best Picture.
- Best Director.
- Best Casting (first time so awarded, Cassandra Kulukundis).
Best Supporting Actor (Sean Penn...and he was fabulous)- Best Adapted Screenplay (Paul Thomas Anderson).
- Best Film Editing (Andy Jurgensen).
2 hours and 42 minutes long.- Who was the biological father of Willa? You need to watch the film to find out.
- Teyana Taylor of this film was the person shoved by Security at the Oscar Awards.
- One key character disappeared early in the film, and never returned. Clearly, there is a sequel coming:
I'm like, 'We need to see what Perfidia did in those 16 years.' But Perfidia and Willa need some scenes together. When Willa walked out the door in that last scene, I said, 'Where's she really going? Is she going to free Deandra? Is she going to find her mommy?' I love that it's still hopeful and it's room for a little part two in there somewhere [...] The conversations are very, very real. I want to give everybody confirmation that I [have been] begging PTA to give us that. I'm begging him to give us that.[229]
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