The Apprentice (2024)

Nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor    I have no idea who the target audience for this is.  If you already liked Donald Trump, nothing you see here is going to change your mind, and if you already disliked Trump, you're probably sick of the sight of him and aren't going to watch this.  Content warning:  rape, homophobic slurs, antisemitism

In the late 70s, young real estate heir Donald Trump (Sebastian Stan) wants to move out of his father's (Martin Donovan) shadow so he attaches himself to the coattails of notorious lawyer Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong).  Cohn blackmails, threatens, and blatantly lies his way through the dismissal of a discrimination lawsuit filed against the Trumps, earning Donald's admiration.  But as Trump's fortunes rise, Cohn lives long enough to regret the monster he in part created.

Sebastian Stan is fine in this.  He's basically doing a caricature.  At this point, I don't even think Olivier reborn could make me have an iota of empathy for Donald Trump.  I just don't have it in me and I resent the attempt.  But Jeremy Strong is so good, so good, that I did care a little bit about Roy Fucking Right-Hand-of-McCarthy-Let's-Kill-the-Rosenbergs Cohn.  Which means I am now rooting for him to win Best Supporting Actor.  Sorry, Yuriy.  

Zero reason for this movie to exist.  The good news is that it's not streaming anywhere and it will probably get buried in the next couple of months and we won't hear about it again until ten years from now or when Trump dies.  Whichever is sooner.