I enjoyed watching Anora and Dune: Part Two more than this, but those movies are culmination, and ultimately celebrations, of Baker and Villaneuve. I saw bits and pieces of their other films in both of those movies. They've been building towards this scale of filmmaking and success for over a decade. I was, in a way, prepared for both movies.

I wasn't prepared for Nickel Boys. Yes, I've read the book. Yes, I've heard the acclaim. But I wasn't prepared…

We seem to be in an age of lighting, makeup, and effects deficiencies. Studios are cutting corners wherever they can, so Eggers comes along and makes something that looks like THIS...it's hard to give it anything less than a 3.5 or 4. That being the case, I'm not sure if I've ever cared about a script or dialogue less than this movie. It wasn't bad...most of it just didn't register with me at all. Irrelevant, really, unless it came from…