Happy Valentine’s Day 2024 everyone. We hope that you’ll be able to celebrate the day of love with your significant other. Boyfriend, girlfriend, spouse, or simply a dear friend. The Feast of Saint Valentine is celebrated annually on February 14th in many parts of the world. And although it originated as a Christian feast day honoring a martyr named Valentine and… The modern significance has morphed into a significant cultural, religious, and commercial celebration of romance and love.
Valentine’s Day is one of those holidays we tend to celebrate each year, and if you’re looking for a nice throwback on our previous articles… You can check some of them out here. And here.
And while we’ve mixed TV show suggestions, movie suggestions, and even video game suggestions the previous years… We’re going to stick strictly to movie suggestions here in 2024.
Valentine’s Day 2024 And The Oscar Favorites 2024
Yup. This time we’re going to recommend some of the better movies that are competing at this year’s Academy Awards. Each of these suggestions is nominated for a bunch of Oscars, and they do contain themes of love, lust, or other signs of care and affection. No, we’re not covering Barbie or Oppenheimer although we did have a review of Barbie in the summer of 2023. You can read it here.
And if you’re interested to know about some of our finest video games, then feel free to head out to IndieGala’s website. You’ll find plenty of great video games that will satisfy even the pickiest pallets.
So, without further ado…
Valentine’s Day 2024: 5 Oscar Picks For Your Valentine
What’s your pick for a great Valentine’s Day 2024 movie? Let us know in the comment section.
Poor Things
Yorgos Lanthimos’s latest piece of work is an absurdist masterpiece set in Victorian London. It has Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo in the leads and both of them got their respective Oscar Nominations. However, the movie is nominated for 11 Oscars in total, and yes. It’s one of the best picks for Valentine’s Day. It’s got romance but also bizarre nature which is very in line with Lanthimos’s work. The plot follows Bella Baxter (played by Stone). A young woman in Victorian London is resurrected by a scientist following her suicide. She embarks on an odyssey of self-discovery but she’ll discover so much more.
Fun fact: Director Yorgos Lanthimos wanted to evoke an Old Hollywood feel by using painted sets. Most of the film was shot on soundstage, but the ballroom scene was shot on location.
Maestro
Maestro is not the only biopic on this list. However, it is unique as the people it portrays on the silver screen. It’s got Bradley Cooper in the lead role (that of Leonard Bernstein) and he’s behind the camera as well. The movie is about the complicated relationship between American composer Leonard Bernstein and his wife Felicia Montealegre. It follows the early days of their relationship, their subsequent marriage, and the troubles that ensued because of Bernstein’s homosexuality. Maestro got 7 Academy Award nominations, and it’s one of the finest movies in Cooper’s filmography. It’s a must-watch.
Fun fact: Steven Spielberg was considering directing the movie, but when Bradley Cooper showed him an early cut of A Star Is Born (2018), Spielberg walked over to Cooper after the “Shallow” scene and said to him, “You’re directing Maestro.
American Fiction
American Fiction is Cord Jefferson’s debut as a director, but it’s a must-watch as well. The movie follows a frustrated novelist-professor who writes an outlandish satire of stereotypical “black” books. Only for it to be mistaken by the liberal elite for serious literature and published to both high sales and critical praise. American Fiction has Jeffrey Wright in one of his finest performances to date and it’s got it all. Comedy, drama, love and hate. American Fiction got 5 Oscar nominations in total, and yes. It’s a staple on our list. If you’re on the lookout for more alternative movies to watch this Valentine’s Day.
Fun fact: Although there’s plenty of jazz on the soundtrack, none of it is by Thelonious Monk, after whom the lead character is nicknamed.
Past Lives
This is a romantic drama perfect for Valentine’s Day 2024. Yes, we thought so too. Oh, and another directorial debut movie as well. This time it’s Celine Song’s first attempt at directing and it’s a truly wonderful piece of art that is also semi-autobiographical. It follows two childhood friends over 24 years while they contemplate the nature of their relationship as they grow apart. And as they’re living different lives. It got 2 Academy Award nominations and it’s a highly recommended pick for this particular day. Not only because it has the incredible Greta Lee in the lead role, but because it’s oh so good of a movie as well.
Fun fact: Both Teo Yoo and Greta Lee previously lived in the East Village of Manhattan where many of the scenes of the film had been shot.
Nyad
The second biopic on this list. Nyad is about swimmer Diana Nyad’s multiple attempts in the early 2010s to swim the Straits of Florida. Peppered with flashbacks to her early life, Nyad is a story about resilience, not giving up, and persistence amid adversity. Not to mention it has Anette Bening and Jodie Foster in the two lead roles, and it’s incredible. Both of the ladies got their Oscar nominations for this role, but Jodie’s nomination is fascinating. It comes nearly 3 decades after her last one. Indeed, the last Oscar nomination for Jodie was in the mid-90s for her performance in Nell. Well, the fans of Jodie are rejoicing because she’s back. And in good form as well.
Fun fact: To prepare for the film, Annette Bening worked with former Olympian Rada Owen for roughly a year, as well as a personal trainer in the gym.
But which movie is your Valentine’s Day 2024 pick?
Tell us all about it. And feel free to tell us how you’re celebrating this day. We’d love to know.
