Little Women (2019)

I saved this for last among 2019 Academy Best Picture nominees because I had already seen the 1994 adaptation twice, albeit long ago. I was not very fond of that one, leaving me of two minds about seeing the reputedly best version.

For those who aren't up on the Louisa May Alcott classic literature, the title characters are four sisters in 1860s Massachusetts, traditionally supposed to spend much of the story as teens (and one briefly a tween) but herein played strictly by twenty-somethings. From oldest to youngest, they are Meg (Emma Watson), Jo (Saoirse Ronan), Beth (Eliza Scanlon), and Amy (Florence Pugh). Jo gets the most focus, being an aspiring author with little regard for contemporary gender expectations, including marriage. More broadly, the sisters struggle with poverty, what with their father (Bob Odenkirk) away at war and neither any of them nor their mother (Laura Dern) in a good position to make money. They also face scarlet fever, a harsh teacher, and jealousy, not least with regard to the generosity and affection of comely male neighbor Laurie (Timothée Chalamet).

Loving Vincent (2017)

This is the first time I've known an animated movie's DVD to show trailers only for non-animations. They don't even look similar in theme or genre. Either the distributor doesn't offer any other animations, or LV is really in a class by itself. I suspect the latter. Not many animations are so geared toward grown-ups (it's PG-13), and absolutely no others have been 100% hand-painted.

It's 1891, about a year after the untimely passing of Vincent van Gogh. His mailman, Joseph, who was also a friend and posed for portraits, has tried and failed to deliver his last letter to his brother, Theo. The protagonist is Joseph's son, Armand, who sees little point in the belated delivery and would rather drink all the time, but he still honors his dad's request. Theo turns out to be dead too, but instead of going straight home, Armand begins a series of interviews to try to figure out why "your loving Vincent," whom he barely knew despite posing in his teens, would commit suicide mere weeks after an optimistic letter -- if it even was a suicide.

Lady Bird (2017)

No, it's not about Claudia Alta Johnson. We never do learn how the protagonist (Saoirse Ronan) chose her nickname, tho I wouldn't be surprised if she, an apparent leftist, meant to honor the Democratic first lady. The important thing is that she refuses to go by her birth name, Christine, because she wants to assert her own identity.

I'd say Lady Bird is above average for 12th-grade rebelliousness, especially by Catholic school standards (she snacks on unconsecrated communion wafers, for example). Fed up with her hometown of Sacramento and California in general, she wants to go to college in New York City. Alas, her family is low on finances, so getting her mom (Laurie Metcalf) to agree is a challenge. In truth, getting her mom to agree on anything is a challenge.

Brooklyn (2015)

I hadn't expected to see this, especially in a theater. The advertising just hadn't grabbed me, if I even knew of it. But when my folks invited me for a Thanksgiving viewing, I thought, "Well, why not? It's popular enough."

In the early '50s, young woman Eilis (Saoirse Ronan) moves from a small Irish town to the titular borough for a prearranged job. It takes her some time to fit in, but a big boost comes when lovable Italian-American Tony (Emory Cohen) courts her and then her boarding housemates help her react appropriately. It looks as though that would be the end of her homesickness, but then some news from Ireland arrives in the second half....