Frankenstein (2025)

I did see almost all of the Oscar nominees before the awards but have lagged in putting fingers to keyboard. That said, Jack and I were impressed with this powerful and technically complex story of the scientist and the creature he brings to life. Jacob Elordi was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor for playing The Creature, with terrific performances by Oscar Isaac as the scientist Victor Frankenstein, Christoph Waltz as a merchant named Harlander, and Mia Goth in dual roles as Frankenstein's mother and Harlander's niece.

Guillermo del Toro directs from the script he adapted from the original 1818 Mary Shelley novel and was Oscar-nominated for Adapted Screenplay. Wikipedia says that since 1915 there are 480 feature films, 243 short films, 103 TV series, and 413 TV episodes based on that book.

Streaming Alexandre Desplat's Oscar nominated original score on Apple Music is bringing back the mood, since we watched this over seven weeks ago.

Among the movie's overall 89 wins are the Best Makeup Oscar by Mike Hill (there were frequently ten-hour makeup sessions for Elordi), the Production Design Oscar by Tamara Deverell, and the Costume Design Oscar by Kate Hawley. Its 260 other nominations, besides the three named above, include Oscars for Best Picture, Best Cinematography by Dan Lausten, and sound.

I did make a note at the time about realistic wolf puppets. Watch for them! Imdb has a long list of trivia items for those with the time and fascination to read it.

Elordi was last blogged for Priscilla, Isaac for Dune, Waltz for Downsizing, Goth for Emma., Del Toro and Deverell for Nightmare Alley, Desplat for The Piano Lesson, and Lausten for The Color Purple

Both Hill and Hawley have won their first Oscars for this and are making their first appearance in these pages. Hill has done makeup and prosthetics for del Toro's pictures at least twice before, on The Shape of Water and Nightmare Alley. Hawley's nine other features include The Edge of Tomorrow.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics, with an 85% average, aren't quite as animated as their audience's 94. We streamed it on Netflix on March 10.