And the winners are:

That’s me on the left.

Good evening and welcome to the 2024 Oscar Rundown for Older Viewers Who Could Not Be Bothered to See Very Many of the Nominated Films. 

Actually, only four: “Barbie,” “Oppenheimer,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” and “The Holdovers.” All were pretty cheap to stream and these days I much prefer the comfort of my living room to any multiplex on the planet. Also, I find the closed captions on my medium-size Samsung work pretty well. That’s not always the case in theaters.

Anyway, the envelopes please:

Least favorite: “Oppenheimer.” The part with the Trinity test was great; the rest of the film was way too talky. 

Most favorite: “The Holdovers” – Funny, poignant and unpredictable. Paul Giamatti. You should check it out.

Least memorable: “Barbie.” Fun while it lasted, but really it’s just a cartoon with a fairly simplistic message. 

Most memorable: “Killers of the Flower Moon.”  Kind of like “Schindler’s List” in that it’s pretty long and you can’t call it entertaining. But it’s an important movie and one of Scorcese’s best.

When the streaming price is right, I’d like to see these other nominees: “Anatomy of a Fall,” “Poor Things,” and “The Zone of Interest.” But I expect the four I’ve already seen will account for most of the actual awards on Oscar night. Or not. Those Academy bastards can be a scheming and perverse bunch.