Anora

"Entertaining as hell, yet lands an emotional gut punch at the end. It’s a genre-bending wild ride that gives you rom-com, buddy action comedy, and subdued drama that examines how sex workers are perceived. Mikey Madison is a STAR!"

"This gritty movie is like the Russian storyline version of Pretty Woman. Not family-friendly! "

"This movie has been on my watchlist for a little while now. Mainly because of all the high praise and accolades that people had bestowed upon it. And now I feel duped. Many of the reviewers that I follow and hold in high regard have said that Anora ranked as one of the best movies of 2024. I just don't see it. I even convinced my wife to watch it with me, promising her that it's supposed to be a great movie. We are both still wondering why people loved it so much. It's not a bad movie. It was entertaining, but I wouldn't put it on my top ten list of 2024. In fact it probably wouldn't even have been on my radar at all if it wasn't brought to my attention by the movie reviewers that I follow. The runtime was a little long at about 2 hours and 20 minutes and it did drag at times, but there were a few funny moments and it held my attention throughout. I guess I just expected it to be something greater than it was. 6.5/10"

"This deserved all the accolades. I’m so glad a movie I like won all the awards. That hasn’t happened, for me, in a very long time. I wanted to start asking a lot of why’s and why nots with the story but realized that’s a fools errand. Just sit back and enjoy the absurdness. "

"Well acted with some grit and entertaining shots fired by Mikey Madison’s character . "

"Sean Baker does it best!!!"

"Unpopular opinion here I know but how on earth did this movie win an Oscar? When compared to all the other grand nominated movies, I am truly surprised. "

"Anora definitely deserves accolades for its top tier performances, cinematography, and raw storytelling. As impactful as the movie is, I do have a pet peeve with poorly timed credits though, and am left wondering what the moral to the story is. Despite that, the movie delivered and avoided having the same level of artsy pretentiousness as Triangle of Sadness."

"This is a fantastic film! It essentially plays like a modern day version of Cinderella only to unexpectedly hit a hard dose of reality. I was especially struck by the level of empathy and compassion displayed to all of the characters (especially the main title character). Incredible screenplay and directing complemented by incredible performances. Mikey Madison is nothing short of phenomenal in the lead role, and does an incredible job of making you sympathize a lot for her over the course of the film (I wouldn’t mind seeing her win the Best Actress Oscar for this, which would be very deserving). Also complementing her performance include the likes of Mark Eidelstein, Darya Ekamasova (incredible with limited screen time), Yura Borisov among others. I can totally see why the film is so acclaimed, and it deserves all accolades coming its way. Highly recommended. P. S.: Given that this is the first Sean Baker film I’ve ever seen, this is an incredible introduction to his work, and I can’t wait to dive more into his works (especially THE FLORIDA PROJECT)."

"It was cool. A bit below my expectations (3.8/5). I most of all enjoyed the understated performance by Yura Borisov “Igor” whose character was a nice vacation from the endless yelling and talking over one another by all the other characters. If that film was noticed by the academy, he def deserves the nom. "