This is the thread where we discuss matters pertaining to the detrius that accompanies the "End of the Year in Cinema" -- 2023

The detrius rolls in earlier and earlier each year. I think this is the right note to kick off this year's marathon:

https://www.billboard.com/music/awards/golden-globe-awards-two-new-categories-1235426060/

The Golden Globes announced two new categories on Tuesday (Sept. 26) recognizing cinematic and box office achievement in motion pictures, and best stand-up comedian on television...

“We are proud to recognize the hard work and innovation that goes into making a film that is both a blockbuster and artistically exceptional,” said Helen Hoehne, Golden Globes president.

“The new cinematic and box office achievement award is more than just rewarding the year’s top earning and most viewed motion pictures,” said Tim Gray, Golden Globes executive vice president. “These films have typically not been recognized among industry awards, but they should be.”

Seems a slack year so far but maybe some good stuff will feature later on.

Baffled by the love for Past Lives this year. These "Before Sunrise"-core indie movies are all very suspicious imo

Among other things, it's insane to debut a "best blockbuster" category the year that Barbenheimer are pretty much assured solid best picture runs

I've watched plenty of good'uns this year.

Best of 2023 https://boxd.it/nXsjm

thanks! Showing Up sounds promising. I've missed a ton of stuff this year.

Here's the kinda-sorta official kickoff for detrius season — the Gotham Award nominations:

Best Feature

Passages — Ira Sachs, director; Saïd Ben Saïd, Michel Merkt, producers (MUBI)
Past Lives — Celine Song, director; David Hinojosa, Pamela Koffler, Christine Vachon, producers (A24)
Reality — Tina Satter, director; Brad Becker-Parton, Riva Marker, Greg Nobile, Noah Stahl, producers (HBO Films)
Showing Up — Kelly Reichardt, director; Neil Kopp, Vincent Savino, Anish Savjani, producers (A24)
A Thousand and One — A.V. Rockwell, director; Julia Lebedev, Rishi Rajani, Eddie Vaisman, Lena Waithe, Bred Weston, producers (Focus Features)

Best International Feature

All of Us Strangers — Andrew Haigh, director; Graham Broadbent, Peter Czemin, Sarah Harvey, producers (Searchlight Pictures)
Anatomy of a Fall — Justine Triet, director; Marie-Ange Luciani, David Thion, producers (NEON)
Poor Things — Yorgos Lanthimos, director; Ed Guiney, Yorgos Lanthimos, Andrew Lowe, Emma Stone, producers (Searchlight Pictures)
Tótem — Lila Avilés, director; Lila Avilés, Tatiana Graullera, Louise Riousse, producers (Sideshow/Janus Films)
The Zone of Interest — Jonathan Glazer, director; Ewa Puszczynska, James Wilson, producers (A24)

Best Documentary Feature

20 Days in Mariupol — Mstyslav Chernov, director; Raney Aronson-Rath, Mstyslav Chernov, Derl McCrudden, Michelle Mizner, producers (PBS Distribution)
Against the Tide — Sarvnik Kaur, director; Koval Bhatia, Sarvnik Kaur, producers (Snooker Club Films, A Little Anarky Films)
Apolonia, Apolonia — Lea Glob, director; Sidsel Lønvig Siersted, producer (Danish Documentary Production)
Four Daughters — Kaouther Ben Hania, director; Nadim Cheikhrouha, producer (Kino Lorber)
Our Body — Claire Simon, director; Kristina Larsen, producer (Cinema Guild)

Breakthrough Director Award

Raven Jackson, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt (A24)
Georgia Oakley, Blue Jean (Magnolia Pictures)
Michelle Garza Cervera, Huesera (XYZ Films)
Celine Song, Past Lives (A24)
A.V. Rockwell, A Thousand and One (Focus Features)

Best Screenplay

All of Us Strangers, Andrew Haigh (Searchlight Pictures)
Anatomy of a Fall, Justine Triet, Arthur Harari (NEON)
May December, Samy Burch (Netflix)
R.M.N., Cristian Mungiu (IFC Films)
The Zone of Interest, Jonathan Glazer (A24)

Outstanding Lead Performance

Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Origin (NEON)
Lily Gladstone, The Unknown Country (Music Box Films)
Greta Lee, Past Lives (A24)
Franz Rogowski, Passages (MUBI)
Babetida Sadjo, Our Father, The Devil (Cineverse)
Andrew Scott, All of Us Strangers (Searchlight Pictures)
Cailee Spaeny, Priscilla (A24)
Teyana Taylor, A Thousand and One (Focus Features)
Michelle Williams, Showing Up (A24)
Jeffrey Wright, American Fiction (Orion Pictures / Amazon MGM Studios)

Outstanding Supporting Performance

Juliette Binoche, The Taste of Things (IFC Films)
Penélope Cruz, Ferrari (NEON)
Jamie Foxx, They Cloned Tyrone (Netflix)
Claire Foy, All of Us Strangers (Searchlight Films)
Ryan Gosling, Barbie (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Glenn Howerton, BlackBerry (IFC Films)
Sandra Hüller, The Zone of Interest (A24)
Rachel McAdams, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret (Lionsgate)
Charles Melton, May December (Netflix)
Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers (Focus Features)

Struggling to remember the last time a movie as mainstream as Barbie was ever in the mix for the Gothams (if only just for Gosling's performance)

I pulled my ten best films list from the artforum December print issue and resigned as a contributor. David is a great editor but Penske doesn't care. Such a waste. https://t.co/FwONiqyUue

— amy taubin (@AmyOrNot) October 31, 2023

Hopefully more (John Waters) follow suit to make a statement.

Might this be the year detrius finally ends?

Struggling to remember the last time a movie as mainstream as Barbie was ever in the mix for the Gothams (if only just for Gosling's performance)

So I understand it, a bunch of big studios didn't put their movies up "for consideration," whatever that means in the context of the Gothams. But not Barbie. That movie explicitly went for the nods.

lol this response to Amy's tweet:

How very fashionable of you, Amy. But it's a good thing that David was fired. In All the Beauty and Bloodshed he looked like he was oozing GHB from every pore. Almost as disgusting as the letter he published.

— Monte Burnz (@MystryBurnz) November 1, 2023

oh, that's where I've seen him!

Although the mostly vaporous Pacifiction earned its acclaim last year, I'd consider Benoît Magimel one of the Best Actor contenders because the thing only got distribution a few months ago and on Mubi specifically.

My best actor slate this year would include him but also Andrew Scott and, yes, Jeffrey Wright. Absolutely dreading Bradley Cooper’s clown show

so yes on All Of Us Strangers?

Hard yes, but I’m leaning into my middlebrow years at this point. Plus the story of a gay late-starter was always gonna work on me

Oh, also Jordan Firstman was kind of perfect in Rotting in the Sun, but the last thing I’d want to do is encourage that

European Film Awards nominations, a couple days late...

European Film

ANATOMY OF A FALL (ANATOMIE D’UNE CHUTE) - Directed by Justine Triet (France)
FALLEN LEAVES (KUOLLEET LEHDET) - Directed by Aki Kaurismäki (Finland, Germany)
GREEN BORDER (ZIELONA GRANICA) - Directed by Agnieszka Holland (Poland, France, Czech Republic, Belgium)
ME CAPTAIN (IO CAPITANO) - Directed by Matteo Garrone (Italy, Belgium)
THE ZONE OF INTEREST - Directed by Jonathan Glazer (United Kingdom, Poland, USA)

European Documentary

APOLONIA, APOLONIA - Directed by Lea Glob (Denmark, Poland)
FOUR DAUGHTERS (LES FILLES D’OLFA) - Directed by Kaouther Ben Hania (France, Tunisia, Germany, Saudi Arabia)
MOTHERLAND - Directed by Hanna Badziaka & Alexander Mihalkovich (Sweden, Ukraine, Norway)
ON THE ADAMANT (SUR L’ADAMANT) - Directed by Nicolas Philibert (France, Japan)
SMOKE SAUNA SISTERHOOD (SAVVUSANNA SÕSARAD) - Directed by Anna Hints (Estonia, France, Iceland)

European Director

Justine Triet for ANATOMY OF A FALL
Aki Kaurismäki for FALLEN LEAVES
Agnieszka Holland for GREEN BORDER
Matteo Garrone for ME CAPTAIN
Jonathan Glazer for THE ZONE OF INTEREST

European Actress

Sandra Hüller in ANATOMY OF A FALL
Eka Chavleishvili in BLACKBIRD BLACKBIRD BLACKBERRY
Alma Pöysti in FALLEN LEAVES
Mia McKenna-Bruce in HOW TO HAVE SEX
Leonie Benesch in THE TEACHERS’ LOUNGE
Sandra Hüller in THE ZONE OF INTEREST

European Actor

Thomas Schubert in AFIRE
Jussi Vatanen in FALLEN LEAVES
Josh O’Connor in LA CHIMERA
Mads Mikkelsen in THE PROMISED LAND
Christian Friedel in THE ZONE OF INTEREST

European Screenwriter

Justine Triet & Arthur Harari for ANATOMY OF A FALL
Aki Kaurismäki for FALLEN LEAVES
Maciej Pisuk, Gabriela Łazarkiewicz-Sieczko & Agnieszka Holland for GREEN BORDER
İlker Çatak & Johannes Duncker for THE TEACHERS’ LOUNGE
Jonathan Glazer for THE ZONE OF INTEREST

European Discovery – Prix FIPRESCI

20,000 SPECIES OF BEES (20.000 ESPECIES DE ABEJAS) directed by Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren (Spain)
HOW TO HAVE SEX directed by Molly Manning Walker (United Kingdom, Greece)
LA PALISIADA (ЛЯ ПАЛІСІАДА) directed by Philip Sotnychenko (Ukraine)
SAFE PLACE (SIGURNO MJESTO) directed by Juraj Lerotić (Croatia, Slovenia)
THE QUIET MIGRATION (STILLE LIV) directed by Malene Choi (Denmark)
VINCENT MUST DIE (VINCENT DOIT MOURIR) directed by Stéphan Castang (France)

European Animated Feature Film

A GREYHOUND OF A GIRL directed by Enzo d’Alò
CHICKEN FOR LINDA! directed by Chiara Malta, Sébastien Laudenbach
ROBOT DREAMS directed by Pablo Berger
TEH AMAZING MAURICE directed by Toby Genkel
WHITE PLASTIC SKY directed by Tibor Bánóczki, Sarolta Szabó

European Short Film

27, directed by Flóra Anna Buda
AQUERONTE directed by Manuel Muñoz Rivas
DAYDREAMING SO VIVIDLY ABOUT OUR SPANISH HOLIDAYS directed by Christian Avilés
FLORES DEL OTRO PATIO directed by Jorge Cadena
HARDLY WORKING directed by Susanna Flock, Robin Klengel, Leonhard Müllner, Michael Stumpf

European Film
ANATOMY OF A FALL (ANATOMIE D’UNE CHUTE) - Directed by Justine Triet (France)
FALLEN LEAVES (KUOLLEET LEHDET) - Directed by Aki Kaurismäki (Finland, Germany)
GREEN BORDER (ZIELONA GRANICA) - Directed by Agnieszka Holland (Poland, France, Czech Republic, Belgium)
ME CAPTAIN (IO CAPITANO) - Directed by Matteo Garrone (Italy, Belgium)
THE ZONE OF INTEREST - Directed by Jonathan Glazer (United Kingdom, Poland, USA)

I'm looking forward to all of these films

I didn't dig FALLEN LEAVES as much as everybody else apparently.

But I have a dumb excuse if pressed.

I have a screener on that one and plenty of time this holiday weekend, but there are others in front of it in the queue for me, I'd say

Gotham winners:

Best Feature: Past Lives
Best International Film: Anatomy of a Fall
Best Documentary Film: Four Daughters
Best Leading Performance: Lily Gladstone, Unknown Country
Best Supporting Performance: Charles Melton, May December
Best Screenplay: Anatomy of a Fall
Breakthrough Director: A.V. Rockwell, A Thousand and One

IndieWire's 25 Best Films of 2023https://t.co/PZmZoE1qJ4 pic.twitter.com/X9W1YICqVj

— david ehrlich (@davidehrlich) November 28, 2023

01. Past Lives
02. The Taste of Things
03. Asteroid City
04. The Boy and the Heron
05. May December
06. Poor Things
07. Passages
08. Anatomy of a Fall
09. All of Us Strangers
10. The Zone of Interest
11. A Thousand and One
12. Barbie
13. The Delinquents
14. Oppenheimer
15. Killers of the Flower Moon
16. R.M.N
17. Love Life
18. Pacification
19. Kokomo City
20. La Chimera
21. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
22. Earth Mama
23. Are You There God? It's Me Margaret
24. Godland
25. Beau is Afraid

NYFCC hands their awards out tomorrow btw

It begins (with a layup):

BEST ANIMATED FILM: The Boy and the Heron.

— New York Film Critics Circle (@nyfcc) November 30, 2023

Sandra Hüller mostly earns the praise in Anatomy of a Murder, though Samuel Theis as her clueless husband is as fine.

To say nothing of the kid playing the son, who was equally fine

The kid was fine although I didn’t quite buy the business with the dog towards the end, but that’s more the fault of the screenplay. Huller’s performance was on another level than the rest.

Fabulous dog, though.

I don't think we're supposed to presume that the dog experiment is taken as actual evidence where it matters (i.e. the kid's decision, not the court's estimation). The son seems pretty clearly setting up a plausible structure by which to hang his choices on, to believe his mother

Another layup:

BEST FIRST FILM: Past Lives

— New York Film Critics Circle (@nyfcc) November 30, 2023

Good.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Charles Melton, May December

— New York Film Critics Circle (@nyfcc) November 30, 2023

These are getting decided at a super brisk clip this year:

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Oppenheimer

— New York Film Critics Circle (@nyfcc) November 30, 2023

Downey Jr. looking a little less invincible in supporting actor

The supporting categories are in diametric contrast this year, with the male lineup all but seemingly locked up rn (Downey + Gosling + De Niro + Ruffalo + now Melton), and the female lineup pretty much wide open but for Randolph in The Holdovers.

Yes, very very yes:

BEST NON-FICTION FILM: Menus-Plaisirs — Les Troisgros

— New York Film Critics Circle (@nyfcc) November 30, 2023

(This is only the second time Wiseman's taken this award btw, after In Jackson Heights.)

I didn't know Wiseman had a film out.

It doesn’t seem to have played around here at all, sadly.

I hadn't noticed until recently that Wiseman splits his time between super-democratic institutional ethnographies and behind-the-rope tours of uber-rarified, exclusive enclaves. This is very much the latter.

the female lineup pretty much wide open but for Randolph in The Holdovers

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Da'Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers

— New York Film Critics Circle (@nyfcc) November 30, 2023

I've heard some buzz around Danielle Brooks in The Color Purple being a potential challenger to Randolph, though that'll probably depend on what the overall narrative around the movie turns out to be.

My hunch is The Color Purple is going to be a non-factor until the Golden Globe nominations ... and potentially after as well

BEST SCREENPLAY: May December

— New York Film Critics Circle (@nyfcc) November 30, 2023

Gonna be a bit embarrassing when the Oppenheimer bloc overpowers the rest for the top prize

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM: Anatomy of a Fall

— New York Film Critics Circle (@nyfcc) November 30, 2023

BEST ACTOR: Franz Rogowski, Passages

— New York Film Critics Circle (@nyfcc) November 30, 2023

The happiest surprise acting win since Regina Hall for Support the Girls imo

oh WOW.

I'm happy.

No chance of an Oscar nomination, of course.

The award is for the floral crop top.

Rogowski will win an Oscar a decade from now when he plays Joaquin Phoenix in a biopic.

BEST ACTRESS: Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon

— New York Film Critics Circle (@nyfcc) November 30, 2023

feeling good about putting Killers of the Flower Moon, The Holdovers, and Anatomy of a Fall on my Vulture Movie Fantasy League roster

Oof, classic NYFCC wipeout

BEST DIRECTOR: Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer

— New York Film Critics Circle (@nyfcc) November 30, 2023

BEST FILM: Killers of the Flower Moon

— New York Film Critics Circle (@nyfcc) November 30, 2023

Kill me

I can live with the best film choice as another example of NYFCC just being straight up addicted to Scorsese at this point, but absolutely GTFO with that director pick

Interesting that they voted on Best Picture first but announced it last. Presumably so their vote wouldn't be influenced by the announcement of the other winners?

Final @nyfcc award (though we voted on it first) is best picture to Martin Scorsese’s KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON pic.twitter.com/VyuTsMwlMs

— David Rooney (@DavidCRooney1) November 30, 2023

Easier to spread the wealth that way I guess

I took it to mean that the voters themselves didn't know the result, but I'm not entirely sure how it works.

Calling Oscar races early is very much the ne plus ultra of detrius, but after today, I am pretty comfortable calling Gladstone and Randolph pretty close to locks

De Niro too, with Gosling almost enough if the Academy remembers Kevin Kline won in 1988.

De Niro feels like he's running 4th at this point to me

(Tho certainly less distinguished work has won others their third Oscar)

The question for me in supporting actor is whether Ruffalo and Dafoe both make it in for Poor Things. I can imagine a scenario where Melton wins the most critics' prizes but gets snubbed altogether in favor of Downey, Gosling, DeNiro, Ruffalo, and Dafoe. But I haven't Poor Things, so I don't have a good sense about their relative chances.

*haven't seen Poor Things

Actually, it's De Niro I'm starting to consider being the one Melton knocks out, not Dafoe (who twice in the last five years has gotten an acting nomination that was also the only nomination the film received)

feeling good about putting Killers of the Flower Moon, The Holdovers, and Anatomy of a Fall on my Vulture Movie Fantasy League roster
― jaymc, Thursday, November 30, 2023 12:29 PM (four hours ago)

What's your full list? I have a few major regrets on mine

Cahiers du cinema's top 10:

1. TRENQUE LAUQUEN
2. CLOSE YOUR EYES
3. ANATOMY OF A FALL
4, THE FABELMANS
5. FALLEN LEAVES
6. UNREST
7. DO NOT EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD
8, THE TEMPLE WOODS GANG
9, LAST SUMMER
10. A PRINCE + SHOWING UP

✨ Nº 804 | TOP 2023 DE LA RÉDACTION ✨

Découvrez en avant-première le #Top10 de la rédaction des #cahiersducinema !

👉 Les tops individuels sont à retrouver dans le nº 804, en kiosque le 6 décembre, et déjà disponible en version numérique pour nos abonné·e·s ! pic.twitter.com/dt1JQwZJO5

— Cahiers du Cinéma (@cahierscinema) December 1, 2023

Also, unless I'm missing something, John Waters has joined Amy Taubin and apparently all other film contributors in NOT submitting a top 10 list to Artform, in the wake of the firing of editor-in-chief David Velasco

hmm

@Eric:

Killers of the Flower Moon, The Holdovers, Anatomy of a Fall, Poor Things, American Fiction, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, American Symphony, and 20 Days in Mariupol

Until the last minute, I was considering Oppenheimer / Perfect Days / You Hurt My Feelings instead of KOTFM / Anatomy of a Fall / Eras Tour. Pretty sure I made the right choice.

I made my picks too early, before it was clear the new Waititi was going to be a non-entity across the board (I already knew critics hated it, but y'know, Jojo Rabbit):

• Poor Things
• Rustin
• Barbie
• Past Lives
• Next Goal Wins
• All of Us Strangers
• Ferrari
• The Taste of Things

I didn't realize Close Your Eyes is the new Victor Erice. I may try to catch it during the AFI EU Film Fest going on here this week.

NYT critics share their top 10s:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/01/movies/best-movies-of-2023.html

Manohla Dargis

1. ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ (Martin Scorsese)
2. ‘Oppenheimer’ (Christopher Nolan)
3. ‘Menus-Plaisirs — Les Troisgros’ (Frederick Wiseman)
4. ‘Occupied City’ (Steve McQueen)
5. ‘A Thousand and One’ (A.V. Rockwell)
6. ‘Asteroid City’ (Wes Anderson)
7. ‘May December’ (Todd Haynes)
8. ‘Showing Up’ (Kelly Reichardt)
9. ‘Orlando: My Political Biography’ (Paul B. Preciado)
10. ‘Stonewalling’ (Huang Ji and Ryuji Otsuka)

Ten more: “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt,” “Earth Mama,” “Fallen Leaves,” “Ferrari,” “John Wick: Chapter 4,” “Past Lives” “R.M.N.,” “Scarlet,” “Will-O’-the-Wisp,” “Youth (Spring).”

Alissa Wilkinson

1. ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ (Martin Scorsese)
2. ‘Past Lives’ (Celine Song)
3. ‘The Zone of Interest’ (Jonathan Glazer)
4. ‘Reality’ (Tina Satter)
5. ‘A Still Small Voice’ (Luke Lorentzen)
6. ‘Oppenheimer’ (Christopher Nolan)
7. ‘Smoke Sauna Sisterhood’ (Anna Hints)
8. ‘Godland’ (Hlynur Palmason)
9. ‘The Eternal Memory’ (Maite Alberdi)
10. ‘Menus-Plaisirs — Les Troisgros’ (Frederick Wiseman)

And don’t miss: “Afire” (Christian Petzold), “American Fiction” (Cord Jefferson), “American Symphony” (Matthew Heineman), “Anatomy of a Fall” (Justine Triet), “Anselm” (Wim Wenders), “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” (Kelly Fremon Craig), “Barbie” (Greta Gerwig), “BlackBerry” (Matt Johnson), “Eileen” (William Oldroyd), “Fallen Leaves” (Aki Kaurismaki), “Four Daughters” (Kaouther Ben Hania), “The Holdovers” (Alexander Payne), “May December” (Todd Haynes), “Poor Things” (Yorgos Lanthimos), “Priscilla” (Sofia Coppola), “The Royal Hotel” (Kitty Green), “Showing Up” (Kelly Reichardt), “The Starling Girl” (Laurel Parmet), “The Taste of Things” (Tran Anh Hung), “You Hurt My Feelings” (Nicole Holofcener)

Past Lives was a nice film whose traction has surprised me.

Not me. It's this year's perfectly fine, very safe, minor-key, nothing-wrong-with-it indie ... this year's Aftersun

I like both movies but I found Aftersun much more affecting.

👉 Les tops individuels sont à retrouver dans le nº 804, en kiosque le 6 décembre, et déjà disponible en version numérique pour nos abonné·e·s ! pic.twitter.com/fCb0LE8ig2

— Cahiers du Cinéma (@cahierscinema) December 1, 2023

That's

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GAQRfHXWgAAnpDC.png

Richard Brody's top 20:

01. Killers of the Flower Moon
02. Asteroid City
03. Barbie
04. All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt
05. Showing Up
06. Passages
07. Civic
08. A Thousand and One
09. Earth Mama
10. Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game
11. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar/The Swan/The Rat Catcher/Poison
12. Menus-plaisirs - Les Troisgros
13. Petite Solange
14. Ferrari
15. Orlando, My Political Biography
16. Walk Up
17. Origin
18. Priscilla
19. The Color Purple
20. Our Body

The French fucking LOVED The Fabelmans (rightly):

Les Inrockuptibles' top 20

01. Anatomy of a Fall (Justine Triet)
02. The Fabelmans (Steven Spielberg)
03. Last Summer (Catherine Breillat)
04. The Animal Kingdom (Thomas Cailley)
05. Close Your Eyes (Víctor Erice)
06. Red Island (Robin Campillo)
07. Return to Seoul (Davy Chou)
08. Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell (Phạm Thiên Ân)
09. Tár (Todd Field)
10. Showing Up (Kelly Reichardt)
11. Killers of the Flower Moon (Martin Scorsese)
12. In Our Day (Hong Sang-soo)
13. Aftersun (Charlotte Wells)
14. The Rapture (Iris Kaltenbäck)
15. The Killer (David Fincher)
16. Trenque Lauquen (Laura Citarella)
17. De humani corporis fabrica (Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel)
18. Soul Mates (André Téchiné)
19. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (Christopher McQuarrie)
20. A Brighter Tomorrow (Nanni Moretti)

I guess everyone does 20 now.

Rolling Stone

01. Past Lives
02. The Zone of Interest
03. Killers of the Flower Moon
04. Poor Things
05. Showing Up
06. The Quiet Girl
07. Anatomy of a Fall
08. The Delinquents
09. All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt
10. Barbie
11. American Fiction
12. All of Us Strangers
13. Return to Seoul
14. Beau Is Afraid
15. Skinamarink
16. Passages
17. You Hurt My Feelings
18. Bottoms
19. The Boy and the Heron
20. Oppenheimer

Not me. It's this year's perfectly fine, very safe, minor-key, nothing-wrong-with-it indie ... this year's Aftersun

― active spectator of ecocide and dispossession (Eric H.), F

I didn't find Aftersun safe!

"Safe" wasn't meant to be bad, per se. You Hurt My Feelings, which is uber-safe, is one of my favorites of the year

Adam Nayman (of the Showgirls: It Doesn't Such monograph fame):

https://www.theringer.com/movies/2023/12/5/23988275/best-movies-2023-top-ten

01. Showing Up
02. The Zone of Interest
03. Killers of the Flower Moon
04. May December
05. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret
06. All of Us Strangers
07. The Killer
08. Fallen Leaves
09. The Boy and the Heron
10. Afire and Knock at the Cabin (tie)

But this is really the best part:

Honorable Mention: Oppenheimer
Maybe I’m the problem: While I thought that measured ambivalence was the best response to Christopher Nolan’s billion-dollar biopic, I keep getting told I’m wrong by friends and strangers alike, that Oppenheimer is simply too accomplished—too structurally complex and thematically intricate; too ideologically sober and technically dazzling; too beautifully shot and vividly acted—to leave off any half-decent year-end list. (Some of these suggestions have not been very nice.) As somebody who’s always had mixed feelings about Nolan’s grandiose showmanship, I’ll concede that Oppenheimer represents a considerable achievement, and yet I’m not fully convinced that the film stands for much more than its own ingenious engineering—a monument to a filmmaker whose need to be at the top of the heap provides its own kind of psychodrama.

That's about where I am -- except his narrative gets rickety in the last hour. I wonder if losing his brother as a co-writer is a factor.

Independent Spirit Award nominations

Best Feature
All of Us Strangers
American Fiction
May December
Passages
Past Lives
We Grown Now

Best International Film
Anatomy of a Fall – France
Godland – Denmark, Iceland
Mami Wata – Nigeria
Totem – Mexico
The Zone of Interest – U.K., Poland, U.S.A.

Best Documentary
Bye Bye Tiberias
Four Daughters
Going to Mars
Kokomo City
The Mother of All Lies

Best Director
Andrew Haigh – All of Us Strangers
Todd Haynes – May December
William Oldroyd – Eileen
Celine Song – Past Lives
Ira Sachs – Passages

Best Lead Performance
Jessica Chastain – Memory
Greta Lee – Past Lives
Trace Lysette – Monica
Natalie Portman -May December
Judy Reyes – Birth/Rebirth
Franz Rogowski – Passages
Andrew Scott – All of Us Strangers
Tiana Taylor – A Thousand and One
Jeffrey Wright – American Fiction
Teo Yoo – Past Lives

Best Supporting Performance
Erika Alexander – American Fiction
Sterling K. Brown – American Fiction
Noah Galvin – Theater Camp
Anne Hathaway – Eileen
Glenn Howerton – Blackberry
Marin Ireland – Eileen
Charles Melton – May December
Da’Vine Joy Randolph – The Holdovers
Catalina Saavedra – Rotting in the Sun
Ben Whishaw – Passages

Best Breakthrough Performance
Marshawn Lynch – Bottoms
Atibon Nazaire – Mountains
Tia Nomore – Earth Mama
Dominic Sessa – The Holdovers
Anaita Wali Zada – Fremont

Best Screenplay
American Fiction
Birth/Rebirth
Bottoms
Past Lives
The Holdovers

Best First Screenplay
Chronicles of a Wandering Saint
May December
The Starling Girl
Theater Camp
Upon Entry

Best First Feature
All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt
Chronicles of a Wandering Saint
Earth Mama
A Thousand and One
Upon Entry

John Cassavetes Award
The Artifice Girl
Cadejo Blanco
Fremont
Rotting in the Sun
The Unknown Country

Best Cinematography
All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt
Chronicles of a Wandering Saint
The Holdovers
Monica
We Grown Now

Best Editing
How to Blow Up a Pipeline
Rotting in the Sun
Theater Camp
Upon Entry
We Grown Now

Robert Altman Award
Showing Up

That is an extremely gay (male) best director slate

Happy as I am to see Belton and Brown gaining traction, to nominate Whishaw and not Rogowski is some perverse shit.

They did nominate Rogowski?

Catalina Saavedra – Rotting in the Sun

This is an inspired nomination imo

oh, oops!

I watched Eileen last night: I appreciated its brevity but it had none of the book's strangeness despite Moshfegh as co-scenarist. Unlike Natalie Portman in May-December Anne Hathaway's ability to present herself as an AI version of herself isn't put to shrewd use.

Congrats to Marshawn Lynch on his first ISA nomination.

National Board of Review unambiguously adds to the Scorsese gangpile:

Best Film: Killers of the Flower Moon
Best Director: Martin Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon
Best Actor: Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers
Best Actress: Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon
Best Supporting Actor: Mark Ruffalo, Poor Things
Best Supporting Actress: Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers
Best Original Screenplay: David Hemingson, The Holdovers
Best Adapted Screenplay: Tony McNamara, Poor Things
Breakthrough Performance: Teyana Taylor, A Thousand and One
Best Directorial Debut: Celine Song, Past Lives
Best Animated Feature: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Best International Film: Anatomy of a Fall
Best Documentary: Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie
Best Ensemble: The Iron Claw
Outstanding Achievement in Stunt Artistry: Director Chad Stahelski and Stunt Coordinators Stephen Dunlevy & Scott Rogers, John Wick: Chapter 4
Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography: Rodrigo Prieto, Barbie & Killers of the Flower Moon
NBR Icon Award: Bradley Cooper

Top Films (in alphabetical order):
Barbie
The Boy and the Heron
Ferrari
The Holdovers
The Iron Claw
Maestro
Oppenheimer
Past Lives
Poor Things

Top 5 International Films (in alphabetical order):
La Chimera
Fallen Leaves
The Teachers’ Lounge
Tótem
The Zone of Interest

Top 5 Documentaries (in alphabetical order):
20 Days in Mariupol
32 Sounds
The Eternal Memory
The Pigeon Tunnel
A Still Small Voice

Top 10 Independent Films (in alphabetical order):
All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt
All of Us Strangers
BlackBerry
Earth Mama
Flora and Son
The Persian Version
Scrapper
Showing Up
Theater Camp
A Thousand and One

I’d be interested to know if the RS list is based on points/votes, or the staff just sitting on a Zoom and arranging 20 movies to make a point

Putting Barbie at 10 and Oppenheimer at 20 is kinda on the nose

gaws that NBR list

RS list is just David Fear's own list, is my understanding

Yeah, the Board is year-in, year-out the most detrius-y of the established "big 4" crix groups

I've found this year good to great; this consensus is a garbage bag of mayo.

"We are also thrilled to honor Bradley Cooper with the NBR Icon Award — an equally impressive actor, writer, producer, and director, who brings his passion, artistry, and dedication to everything he does, including his latest beautifully sublime film, ‘Maestro.'”

I mean, that's why it's called "detrius" (sic, for those new to the room)

This beautifully sublime thread.

That Cooper award is absolutely "no notes" perfect

Right up there with the top 8 categories getting split between only 3 films

i find Bradley Cooper impossible to take seriously, maybe i'm being unfair.

i see clips of him in Maestro being particularly "impassioned" while conducting and i just think of

https://media.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExa2hteXNvZmp2NHdmOTJ4ODhvOTY1enV6YmRmOHE4Y2UzdXZ0M3hkZiZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/iuHIqpwpp0gwg/giphy.gif

i find Bradley Cooper impossible to take seriously, maybe i'm being unfair.

― omar little, Wednesday, December 6, 2023 bookmarkflaglink

I watched him on a recent episode of Stephen Colbert, where Colbert was weirdly VERY fawning... like really overdoing it even for a talk-show host trying to make his guest feel comfortable. But the funniest thing about it was how Cooper kept emphasizing how long he's been working on this film - he's been working with a speech coach "every day for 8 hours, for six years"... he's been working with his co-star for five years... and then later in the interview he says they didn't have a script until 4 years ago. Like, this seems like a super inefficient way to prepare for a movie!!

John Waters returns! I hate his #1! He was missed!

https://www.vulture.com/article/john-waters-best-movies-of-2023.html

01. Beau Is Afraid (Ari Aster)
02. A Prince (Pierre Creton)
03. Master Gardener (Paul Schrader)
04. Full Time (Éric Gravel)
05. Last Summer (Catherine Breillat)
06. Sparta (Ulrich Seidl)
07. Fallen Leaves (Aki Kaurismäki)
08. Strange Way of Life (Pedro Almodóvar)
09. Oppenheimer (Christopher Nolan)
10. Do Not Expect Too Much of the End of the World (Radu Jude)

I missed the screening for the Kaurismäki.

Loved it, but I'm Scandinavian so my mileage did NOT vary

Today's dumbest list:

AFI Top 10

American Fiction
Barbie
The Holdovers
Killers of the Flower Moon
Maestro
May December
Oppenheimer
Past Lives
Poor Things
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Too many international films.

Given the context surrounding it, almost shocked to see May December in there, as opposed to like The Color Purple or something

Oscar detrius in the form of the VFX shortlist:

https://variety.com/2023/film/awards/oscars-visual-effects-finalists-rebel-moon-wonka-spider-verse-barbie-1235827647/

“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quanumania” (Marvel Studios)
“Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” (Warner Bros.)
“Barbie” (Warner Bros.)
“The Boys in the Boat” (Amazon MGM Studios)
“The Creator” (20th Century Studios)
“Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” (Paramount Pictures)
“Godzilla: Minus One” (Toho)
“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” (Marvel Studios)
“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” (Walt Disney Pictures)
“Killers of the Flower Moon” (Apple Original Films/Paramount Pictures)
“The Marvels” (Marvel Studios)
“Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” (Paramount Pictures)
“Napoleon” (Apple Original Films/Sony Pictures)
“Nyad” (Netflix)
“Poor Things” (Searchlight Pictures)
“Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire” (Netflix)
“Society of the Snow” (Netflix)
“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” (Sony Pictures)
“Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” (Paramount Pictures)
“Wonka” (Warner Bros.)

Sight and Sound

https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/polls/50-best-films-2023

10. May December
9. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
8. Anatomy of a Fall
7. Passages
6. Barbie
5. Oppenheimer
4. Poor Things
3. Past Lives
2. The Zone of Interest
1. Killers of the Flower Moon

Not a bad list.

I'm definitely getting to "that part of the season." Other than #9, that list feels a bit white noisy to me. We'll see what Film Comment comes up with

I do love seeing Barbenheimer permanently locked in a tie there, tho

Oh, maybe only three of those films at most would make my top 20

I do love that S&S evidently uses ILX film poll rules regarding eligibility. If you wanna list it, go ahead

Chicago does their "too much" thing (nominations, instead of just handing out some damned awards right off the bat):

BEST PICTURE
Barbie
Killers of the Flower Moon
May December
Oppenheimer
Poor Things

BEST DIRECTOR
Greta Gerwig, Barbie
Todd Haynes, May December
Yorgos Lanthimos, Poor Things
Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer
Martin Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon

BEST ACTOR
Leonardo DiCaprio, Killers of the Flower Moon
Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers
Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer
Andrew Scott, All of Us Strangers
Teo Yoo, Past Lives

BEST ACTRESS
Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon
Sandra Huller, Anatomy of a Fall
Natalie Portman, May December
Margot Robbie, Barbie
Emma Stone, Poor Things

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Robert Downey Jr., Oppenheimer
Ryan Gosling, Barbie
Glenn Howerton, Blackberry
Charles Melton, May December
Mark Ruffalo, Poor Things

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Jodie Foster, NYAD
Sandra Huller, The Zone of Interest
Rachel McAdams, Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret
Julianne Moore, May December
Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Anatomy of a Fall by Arthur Harari & Justine Triet
Barbie by Greta Gerwig
The Holdovers by David Hemingson
May December by Samy Burch
Past Lives by Celine Song

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Kelly Fremon Craig
Killers of the Flower Moon by Eric Roth & Martin Scorsese
Oppenheimer by Christopher Nolan
Poor Things by Tony McNamara
The Zone of Interest by Jonathan Glazer

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
The Boy and the Heron
Leo
Robot Dreams
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

BEST DOCUMENTARY
20 Days in Mariupol
Beyond Utopia
Kokomo City
Menus-Plaisirs - Les Troisgros
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Anatomy of a Fall
The Boy and the Heron
Godzilla Minus One
The Teachers’ Lounge
The Zone of Interest

MILOS STEHLIK AWARD FOR BREAKTHROUGH FILMMAKER
Kyle Edward Ball, Skinamarink
Raven Jackson, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt
Cord Jefferson, American Fiction
A.V. Rockwell, A Thousand and One
Celine Song, Past Lives

MOST PROMISING PERFORMER
Abby Ryder Fortson, Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret
Milo Machado Graner, Anatomy of a Fall
Charles Melton, May December
Dominic Sessa, The Holdovers
Teo Yoo, Past Lives

BEST ART DIRECTION/PRODUCTION DESIGN
Asteroid City
Barbie
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Asteroid City, Robert D. Yeoman
Killers of the Flower Moon, Rodrigo Prieto
Oppenheimer, Hoyte Van Hoytema
Poor Things, Robbie Ryan
The Zone of Interest, Lukasz Zal

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Asteroid City, Milena Canonero
Barbie, Jacqueline Durran
Killers of the Flower Moon, Jacqueline West
Poor Things, Holly Waddington
Priscilla, Stacey Battat

BEST EDITING
All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt
John Wick: Chapter 4
Killers of the Flower Moon
Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning – Part One
Oppenheimer

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Barbie, Mark Ronson & Andrew Wyatt
Killers of the Flower Moon, Robbie Robertson
Oppenheimer, Ludwig Goransson
Poor Things, Jerskin Fendrix
The Zone of Interest, Mica Levi

BEST USE OF VISUAL EFFECTS
Barbie
Godzilla Minus One
Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning – Part One
Oppenheimer
Poor Things

Florida does that too, missy.

Sorry to say it, but just hand out the awards

I will say this, if you're gonna nominate All of Us Strangers for only one thing, Chicago got that one thing right

Hey, I'm not the boss. It mean two press releases.

Best Hair -- Paul Mescal
Best Use of Body Fluid -- Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott

Best Hair -- M3GAN

I completely forgot the creepy robot movie even happened

LA and Boston (first runner up of the “not NY/LA/Nat’l Soc” groups imo) are voting today. Boston’s already given its first two awards (music and editing) to KILLER FLOWERS.

Both groups gave best director (and seem poised to give best film) to The Zone of Interest.

and LA loved Huller

LAFCA:

Best Picture: “The Zone of Interest” (A24)

Runner-up: “Oppenheimer” (Universal Pictures)

Best Director: Jonathan Glazer — “The Zone of Interest” (A24)

Runner-up: Yorgos Lanthimos — “Poor Things” (Searchlight Pictures)

Leading Performances: Sandra Hüller, “Anatomy of a Fall” (Neon) and “The Zone of Interest” (A24); Emma Stone, “Poor Things” (Searchlight Pictures)

Runners-up: Andrew Scott, “All of Us Strangers” (Searchlight Pictures); Jeffrey Wright, “American Fiction” (MGM)

Supporting Performances: Rachel McAdams, “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” (Lionsgate); Da’Vine Joy Randolph, “The Holdovers” (Focus Features)

Runners-up: Lily Gladstone, “Killers of the Flower Moon” (Apple Original Films/Paramount Pictures); Ryan Gosling, “Barbie” (Warner Bros.)

Best Screenplay: “All of Us Strangers” (Searchlight Pictures) — Andrew Haigh

Runner-up: “May December” (Netflix) — Samy Burch

Best Cinematography: “Poor Things” (Searchlight Pictures) — Robbie Ryan

Runner-up: “Barbie” (Warner Bros.) and “Killers of the Flower Moon” (Apple Original Films/Paramount Pictures) — Rodrigo Prieto

Best Editing: “Anatomy of a Fall” (Neon) — Laurent Sénéchal

Runner-up: “All of Us Strangers” (Searchlight Pictures) — Jonathan Alberts

Best Production Design: “Barbie” (Warner Bros.) — Sarah Greenwood

Runner-up: “Poor Things” (Searchlight Pictures) — Shona Heath, James Price

Best Music Score: “The Zone of Interest” (A24) — Mica Levi (with special recognition of the contribution of sound designer Johnnie Burn)

Runner-up: “Barbie” (Warner Bros.) — Mark Ronson, Andrew Wyatt

Best Foreign Language: “Anatomy of a Fall” (Neon)

Runner-up: “Tótem”

Best Documentary/Non-Fiction Film: “Menus-Plaisirs – Les Troisgros” (Zipporah Films) — dir. Frederick Wiseman

Runner-up: “The Eternal Memory” (MTV Documentary Films)

Best Animation: “The Boy and the Heron” (GKids)

Runner-up: “Robot Dreams” (Neon)

New Generation Award: Celine Song for “Past Lives” (A24)

Douglas Edwards Experimental Film Prize: “Youth (Spring)” — Wang Bing

Career Achievement Award: Agnieszka Holland

I haven't seen any of these, but the LAFCA awards just look better than the NYFCC awards this year

I don't know - they mostly leaned on films that left me with very mixed feelings (i.e. none I'd call favorites). The Zone of Interest, Oppenheimer, Anatomy of a Fall...

Regardless, I thought it was a pretty solid year, if not spectacular.

It's a wonderful year! And my top twenty will likely only include Anatomy... in that list.

Glad the likes of J3ffr3y W and S4sh4 S will be mega triggered that only women won acting prizes from LA

And now the Golden Globes ... which, while usually the height of detrius, this year at least found room to nomninate Alma Pöysti in Fallen Leaves, which is really cool.

Best Motion Picture, Drama

“Oppenheimer” (Universal Pictures)
“Killers of the Flower Moon” (Apple Original Films/Paramount Pictures)
“Maestro” (Netflix)
“Past Lives” (A24)
“The Zone of Interest” (A24)
“Anatomy of a Fall” (Neon)

Best Picture, Musical or Comedy

“Barbie” (Warner Bros.)
“Poor Things” (Searchlight Pictures)
“American Fiction” (MGM)
“The Holdovers” (Focus Features)
“May December” (Netflix)
“Air” (Amazon MGM Studios)

Best Picture, Non-English Language

“Anatomy of a Fall” (Neon) — France
“Fallen Leaves” (Mubi) — Finland
“Io Capitano” (01 Distribution) — Italy
“Past Lives” (A24) — United States
“Society of the Snow” (Netflix) — Spain
“The Zone of Interest” (A24) — United Kingdom

Best Director, Motion Picture

Bradley Cooper — “Maestro”
Greta Gerwig — “Barbie”
Yorgos Lanthimos — “Poor Things”
Christopher Nolan — “Oppenheimer”
Martin Scorsese — “Killers of the Flower Moon”
Celine Song — “Past Lives”

Best Screenplay, Motion Picture

“Barbie” — Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach
“Poor Things” — Tony McNamara
“Oppenheimer” — Christopher Nolan
“Killers of the Flower Moon” — Eric Roth, Martin Scorsese
“Past Lives” — Celine Song
“Anatomy of a Fall” — Justine Triet, Arthur Harari

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama

Bradley Cooper — “Maestro”
Cillian Murphy — “Oppenheimer”
Leonardo DiCaprio — “Killers of the Flower Moon”
Colman Domingo — “Rustin”
Andrew Scott — “All of Us Strangers”
Barry Keoghan — “Saltburn”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama

Lily Gladstone — “Killers of the Flower Moon”
Carey Mulligan – “Maestro”
Sandra Hüller – “Anatomy of a Fall”
Annette Bening — “Nyad”
Greta Lee — “Past Lives”
Cailee Spaeny — “Priscilla”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy

Fantasia Barrino – “The Color Purple”
Jennifer Lawrence – “No Hard Feelings”
Natalie Portman – “May December”
Alma Pöysti – “Fallen Leaves”
Margot Robbie – “Barbie”
Emma Stone – “Poor Things”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy

Nicolas Cage — “Dream Scenario”
Timothée Chalamet — “Wonka”
Matt Damon — “Air”
Paul Giamatti — “The Holdovers”
Joaquin Phoenix — “Beau Is Afraid”
Jeffrey Wright — “American Fiction”

Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture

Willem Dafoe — “Poor Things”
Robert DeNiro — “Killers of the Flower Moon”
Robert Downey Jr. — “Oppenheimer”
Ryan Gosling — “Barbie”
Charles Melton — “May December”
Mark Ruffalo — “Poor Things”

Best Supporting Actress, Motion Picture

Emily Blunt — “Oppenheimer”
Danielle Brooks — “The Color Purple”
Jodie Foster — “Nyad”
Julianne Moore — “May December”
Rosamund Pike — “Saltburn”
Da’Vine Joy Randolph — “The Holdovers”

Best Original Score, Motion Picture

Ludwig Göransson — “Oppenheimer”
Jerskin Fendrix — “Poor Things”
Robbie Robertson — “Killers of the Flower Moon”
Mica Levi — “The Zone of Interest”
Daniel Pemberton — “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”
Joe Hisaishi — “The Boy and the Heron”

Best Original Song, Motion Picture

“Barbie” — “What Was I Made For?” by Billie Eilish and Finneas
“Barbie” — “Dance the Night” by Caroline Ailin, Dua Lipa, Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt
“She Came to Me” — “Addicted to Romance” by Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa
“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” — “Peaches” by Jack Black, Aaron Horvath, Michael Jelenic, Eric Osmond, and John Spiker
“Barbie” — “I’m Just Ken” by Mark Ronson, Andrew Wyatt
“Rustin” — “Road to Freedom” by Lenny Kravitz

Best Motion Picture, Animated

“The Boy and the Heron” (GKids)
“Elemental” (Disney)
“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” (Sony Pictures)
“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” (Universal Pictures)
“Suzume” (Toho Co.)
“Wish” (Disney)

Cinematic and Box Office Achievement

“Barbie” (Warner Bros.)
“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” (Disney)
“John Wick: Chapter 4” (Lionsgate Films)
“Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One” (Paramount Pictures)
“Oppenheimer” (Universal Pictures)
“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” (Sony Pictures)
“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” (Universal Pictures)
“Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” (AMC Theatres)

Seems like Past Lives benefited from the expansion from 5 to 6 nominees per category.

Not sure about that foreign language nomination, tho

That supporting actor lineup will just not be cracked. Sorry, Glenn Howerton

Air over The Color Purple in best musical/comedy doesn't bode well for the latter's Oscar chances, though I think that could change if TCP does well at the box office.

If box office is robust, all bets are off, but it doesn't seem like the sort of movie that's going to do Greatest Showman numbers.

I'm not getting my hopes unnecessarily up for a best actress Oscar lineup that is majority foreign-language/bilingual

I'm filling out my FFCC ballot as I type.

Glad to see Portman in comedy!

Here we go -- another year when certain tropes in casting Black supporting actresses never get vetoed.

I didn’t remember Wonka is also a musical … so two big splashy year-end musicals fail to make best picture in a category partially designed specifically for them, and Air somehow momentarily escapes its fate as a movie no one remembers three years from now

Here’s Amy Taubin’s yanked-from-Artforum top 10 list;

We're humbled to share Amy Taubin's (@AmyOrNot) Best Films of 2023 list, which was pulled from the December issue of Artforum in protest against the firing of the magazine’s great editor-in-chief David Velasco. https://t.co/AbXrh6pTJZ

— Screen Slate (@ScreenSlate) December 12, 2023

May December is a comedy now? ok

Its own producer called it a funny movie fwiw

Another Artforum cast-off

The decision to retract my list from Artforum and publish it myself wasn't an easy one, but it felt like the right thing to do. And if you ask Artforum about this, they will deny it just to save face

— Charles Bramesco (@intothecrevasse) December 12, 2023

May December is a comedy now? ok

― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Tuesday, December 12, 2023 11:43 AM (twenty-four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yes. I laughed every few minutes

it is simultaneously fucking hilarious and deeply unsettling. just like all of my favorite novels

Yep, which is why I rank it right up there with Safe and Superstar as his best

From the BFI ballots, J.Ro’s top 10

Jonathan Rosenbaum
Critic, USA

Afire (Christian Petzold, Germany)
Barbie (Greta Gerwig, US)
The Daughters of Fire (Pedro Costa, Portugal)
Killers of the Flower Moon (Martin Scorsese, US)
Master Gardener (Paul Schrader, US)
No Bears (Jafar Panahi, Iran)
The Runner (1984) (Amir Naderi, Iran)
Saint Omer (Alice Diop, France)
The Taking (Alexandre O. Philippe, US)
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (Wes Anderson, UK, US)

Alphabetical order. Although we tend to embrace the expedient fiction that all films are created equal, my inability to see the latest Radu Jude feature before the October deadline has to weighed against how much easier it was to get to the Anderson, Gerwig, Schrader, and Scorsese. Money talks – and, indeed, canonises.

Three of those are 2022 releases going with the U.S. theatrical release - maybe there was a belated U.K. release?

(The three being No Bears, the belated theatrical distribution of The Runner, and Saint Omer. All great FWIW.)

Chicago gets right into the middle(brow) of it all:

Best Picture: Killers of the Flower Moon
Best Director: Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer
Best Actor: Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers
Best Actress: Emma Stone, Poor Things
Best Supporting Actor: Charles Melton, May December
Best Supporting Actress: Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers
Best Original Screenplay: Samy Burch, May December
Best Adapted Screenplay: Eric Roth and Martin Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon
Best Animated Feature: The Boy and the Heron
Best Documentary: Kokomo City
Best Foreign Language Film: The Zone of Interest

We have spoken!

http://www.floridafilmcritics.com/2023/12/13/oppenheimer-killers-of-the-flower-moon-past-lives-lead-pack-with-most-nominations/

I only got a few of mine in, guess which

exp It's strange how Chicago really put middlebrow criticism on the map with Siskel & Ebert and yet it was also the home base to some of the very best alternative weekly critics of the past 50 years (maybe even the two best).

That's new - autocorrect turning xxp into exp

Rogowski, McAdams, and Weaver?

Were you among those holding Barbie off at the pass?

it was also the home base to some of the very best alternative weekly critics of the past 50 years (maybe even the two best).

Rosenbaum and ... Kehr?

Dave Kehr, correct - though it's kind of weird he did a stint at the Chicago Tribune while Siskel was still there. Per an interview he did decades later (after Siskel had long passed), I think he said the Trib had a falling out with Siskel over something to do with his TV show and hired Kehr to replace him, only to realize soon after that it was stupid to fire a critic who got the paper priceless advertising/publicity via a popular weekly TV show, so they hired him back as a "columnist" with Kehr in Siskel's old position.

Rogowski, McAdams, and Weaver?

Were you among those holding Barbie off at the pass?

― stephen miller is not your friend (Eric H.)

Barbie wasn't even a factor.

Yes, no, yes.

Critics Choice noms:
https://variety.com/2023/film/awards/critics-choice-nominations-2024-full-list-barbie-1235835620/

Nothing too surprising, other than maybe Saltburn as a best picture nominee.

Saltburn refuses to just die

Those Chicago picks aren't middlebrow.

I like some of those honorees (the ones I've seen at least), but they are absolutely middlebrow. Most big Oscar contenders are.

If Oppenheimer and The Holdovers aren't middlebrow, nothing is

Inspired me to order Dwight MacDonald's Essays Against the American Grain.

Yeah, I think "middlebrow" is sometimes misunderstood as simply middle-of-the-road or bland. But as I undestand it, it's art that appeals to a certain kind of aspirational educated person because it presents itself with a veneer of cultural prestige, even though it is not actually challenging or profound in the way that highbrow art is. It flatters the audience's perception of itself as intelligent and refined. It's often used as a pejorative by critics like MacDonald, but I think it can be useful as a descriptive category regardless of any judgment of quality.

From Classic Hollywood, probably defined by William Wyler and Fred Zinnemann (at its best), or Stanley Kramer (at its not-best).

and today Alexander Payne is the embodiment of it.

Nolan most definitely too, when he leaves genre behind

I didn't think it was a good movie, but I did appreciate Payne's ambition on Downsized - it was just too lacking in nuance, falling back on a lot of stereotypes and betraying a shallow grasp of the various issues it tried to tackle. I really wish he pulled it off. The new one is clearly within his comfort zone - not a bad film at all, to be fair.

Presenting Film Comment's Top 20 Released Films of 2023

Read full film blurbs from FC contributors, critics, and more: https://t.co/IMsZB36vGt pic.twitter.com/H30LivoEnI

— Film Comment Magazine (@FilmComment) December 15, 2023

I don’t agree that Payne is thee most middlebrow director alive but OTOH I’m in no rush to see The Holdovers because I’m averse to most stories about middle-aged academics.

I will check out Barbie on HBO Max during my vacation and report here on whether it’s middlebrow.

At the risk of sounding like Meryl Streep in Manhattan, you could probably come up with an interesting Venn Diagram based on Macdonald's idea of middlebrow and Manny Farber's white-elephant art. Lots of overlap, but not the same. Dances with Wolves: both.* Apocalypse Now: white elephant, but not middlebrow. And Payne's Election is termite art and definitely not middlebrow. The Holdovers: totally middlebrow.

*(He says, never having seen it.)

Some good ballots scattered throughout: https://www.filmcomment.com/best-films-of-2023-individual-ballots/

👀

Richard Brody (critic, The New Yorker)

19. The Color Purple
20. Our Body

And then this one, in its entirety:

Nathan Lee (critic, scholar)

John Wick: Chapter 4

i think the only critic bate movies i've seen this year were Pacifiction (i loved) and Afire (fine, bring back Hoss). I haven't heard of most of these though i did study rogowski's outfit in the stills of that one movie using google image search but that's all i really wanted out of it.

ill probably watch some of them after they're on a richard brody end of list like every other uncle

I've always hate-read OG's year-worst lists, but this year, his biggest swing happens to be for a movie I also hated: https://variety.com/lists/worst-movies-2023/owen-gleiberman-worst-films/

(At least his dumb swipe against the majesty of Magic Mike XXL restores order a bit.)

Sharing Toronto crix only because they're just about the only ones left of the regionals that aren't breaking hard for Oppenheimer:

Best Picture: The Zone of Interest
(RUs: All of Us Strangers & Killers of the Flower Moon)

Best Director: Jonathan Glazer, The Zone of Interest
(RUs: Martin Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon & Justine Triet, Anatomy of a Fall)

Best Lead Performance: Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon & Sandra Hüller, Anatomy of a Fall
(RUs: Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers & Andrew Scott, All of Us Strangers & Emma Stone, Poor Things & Kôji Yakusho, Perfect Days)

Best Supporting Performance: Ryan Gosling, Barbie & Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers
(RUs: Robert De Niro, Killers of the Flower Moon & Robert Downey, Jr., Oppenheimer & Glenn Howerton, BlackBerry & Charles Melton, May December)

Best Original Screenplay: Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach, Barbie
(RUs: Justine Triet and Arthur Harari, Anatomy of a Fall & Celine Song, Past Lives)

Best Adapted Screenplay: Eric Roth and Martin Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon
(RUs: Andrew Haigh, All of Us Strangers & Tony McNamara, Poor Things)

Best Animated Feature: Robot Dreams
(RUs: The Boy and the Heron & Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse)

Allan King Documentary Award: 20 Days in Mariupol
(RUs: The Eternal Memory & Four Daughters & Swan Song)

Best International Feature: Fallen Leaves
(RUs: Anatomy of a Fall & The Zone of Interest)

Best First Feature: Rye Lane
(RUs: American Fiction & Past Lives)

Breakthrough Performance: Teyana Taylor, A Thousand and One
(RUs: Charles Melton, May December & Dominic Sessa, The Holdovers)

Best Performance in a Canadian Film: Glenn Howerton, BlackBerry
(RUs: Jay Baruchel, BlackBerry & Théodore Pellerin, Solo)

Rogers Best Canadian Film nominees: BlackBerry, Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person, and Solo
Rogers Best Documentary Award nominees: Rojek, Someone Lives Here, and Swan Song

Stay tuned

I def am … for the International Cinephile Society’s picks in February

The Film Stage list is eccentric - Holdovers shouldn’t be in the top 50, let alone top 10.

https://thefilmstage.com/the-film-stages-top-50-films-of-2023/

I do love it when Afire reaches the upper tier

Past Lives held up very well for me the second time. I hope it gets AA nominations for film, director, script, and both leads. But does it have a chance at even one? Do films like that still get the consolation script nomination?

I think screenplay was always a possibility, but now I think it could maybe sneak into Best Picture. Wouldn't have thought so a few weeks ago, but the Globe nominations give it a lot of visibility right now. Anything else feels like a long shot unless SAG surprises with a nomination for Greta Lee.

It's got Original Screenplay nod sewn up and I would bet on a BP nomination too.

Greta Lee's feels increasingly plausible, but she's probably going to have to knock out Huller or Robbie to get there. Teo Yoo def gave my favorite of the three performances tho

(Am still fantasizing about Maestro somehow coming up blank in the major categories.)

(xpost) Both great, but I'd agree, he was the slightly greater of the two. Some beautiful cinematography, too.

I'm not persuaded Robbie makes it.

The headlines write themselves if that comes to pass

Esp since Mulligan plays "a wife," Huller plays "a wife," and even Gladstone plays "a wife" if you so choose to bend the narrative to fit that whole hot take

xps Glenn Kenny even put The Holdovers at #10.

I liked it - not as much, but if I had to pick 20 or 30 films worth seeing this year, it would be there.

Which Huller performance is tipped for the nomination? Could she be nominated twice?

She could be (it's happened before), but the Anatomy of a Fall nom seems more likely.

I must say, the embrace of Da'Vine Joy Randolph's work has disappointed me. The role is a tired musty thing which she tries her best to polish. Voters who chose it, sorry, weren't watching many films in 2023.

It feels a little bit like one of those cases where a truly wide-open field somehow breaks in the exact opposite direction because, I guess, intertia?

As of rn, and what's viable, I'm backing Rachel McAdams pretty wholeheartedly

In my group we'll know soon.

She could be (it's happened before), but the Anatomy of a Fall nom seems more likely.

― jaymc, Wednesday, December 20, 2023 11:27 AM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

To clarify, actors have been nominated before in separate categories (lead and supporting) in the same year, most recently ScarJo in 2019. AFAIK, there aren't any rules against actors being nominated twice in the same category, it's just never happened before. But if Huller were nominated for Zone of Interest, it would be in supporting.

I am going to see The Holdovers just for those faces Giamatti makes.

You're in luck. He makes them.

London Film Crix much sweeter on All of Us Strangers than stateside's been so far:

Film of the Year

All of Us Strangers
Anatomy of a Fall
Barbie
The Holdovers
Killers of the Flower Moon
May December
Oppenheimer
Past Lives
Poor Things
The Zone of Interest

Director of the Year

Greta Gerwig, Barbie
Jonathan Glazer, The Zone of Interest
Yorgos Lanthimos, Poor Things
Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer
Martin Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon

Actor of the Year

Bradley Cooper, Maestro
Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers
Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer
Andrew Scott, All of Us Strangers
Jeffrey Wright, American Fiction

Actress of the Year

Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon
Sandra Hüller, Anatomy of a Fall
Greta Lee, Past Lives
Carey Mulligan, Maestro
Emma Stone, Poor Things

Supporting Actor of the Year

Robert Downey Jr., Oppenheimer
Ryan Gosling, Barbie
Charles Melton, May December
Paul Mescal, All of Us Strangers
Mark Ruffalo, Poor Things

Supporting Actress of the Year

Claire Foy, All of Us Strangers
Sandra Hüller, The Zone of Interest
Julianne Moore, May December
Rosamund Pike, Saltburn
Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers

Breakthrough Performer of the Year

Greta Lee, Past Lives
Mia McKenna-Bruce, How to Have Sex
Vivian Oparah, Rye Lane
Dominic Sessa, The Holdovers
Cailee Spaeny, Priscilla

Screenwriter of the Year

Andrew Haigh, All of Us Strangers
Justine Triet and Arthur Harari, Anatomy of a Fall
Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach, Barbie
Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer
Celine Song, Past Lives

Animated Film of the Year

The Boy and the Heron
Robot Dreams
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Suzume
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

Documentary of the Year

20 Days in Mariupol
Beyond Utopia
The Eternal Memory
Scala!!!
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie

Foreign Language Film of the Year

Anatomy of a Fall
The Boy and the Heron
Fallen Leaves
Past Lives
The Zone of Interest

British/Irish Film of the Year

All of Us Strangers
How to Have Sex
Poor Things
Rye Lane
The Zone of Interest

THE ATTENBOROUGH AWARD: British/Irish Performer of the Year

Paul Mescal for All of Us Strangers, God’s Creatures, Foe, and Carmen
Carey Mulligan for Maestro and Saltburn
Cillian Murphy for Oppenheimer
Andrew Scott for All of Us Strangers
Tilda Swinton for The Eternal Daughter, The Killer, and Asteroid City

THE PHILIP FRENCH AWARD: Breakthrough British/Irish Filmmaker

Raine Allen-Miller, Rye Lane
Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping, Femme
Molly Manning Walker, How to Have Sex
Nida Manzoor, Polite Society
Charlotte Regan, Scrapper

British/Irish Short Film of the Year

For People in Trouble (Alex Lawther)
Muna (Warda Mohammed)
Outlets (Duncan Cowles)
Predators (Jack King)
The Veiled City (Nathalie Cubides-Brady)

Technical Achievement Award

All of Us Strangers – Kahleen Crawford for casting
Barbie – Sarah Greenwood for production design
The First Slam Dunk – Kôji Kasamatsu for sound design
Full Time – Mathilde Van De Moortel for film editing
Killers of the Flower Moon – Thelma Schoonmaker for film editing
Medusa Deluxe – Eugene Souleiman for makeup & hair
Oppenheimer – Andrew Jackson for visual effects
Past Lives – Shabier Kirchner for cinematography
Poor Things – Holly Waddington for costumes
Saltburn – Kharmel Cochrane for casting
The Zone of Interest – Mica Levi for music & Johnnie Burn for sound

We'll announce our winners around noon EST. I'm shocked in the best sort of way.

Bold prediction: you will not see me being excited about the winners either of the groups I’m in selects. (Not Sl4nt. Those ones I am routinely proud of.)

We did it.

http://www.floridafilmcritics.com/2023/12/21/the-boy-and-the-heron-flies-high-with-florida-film-critics/

wow, great picks?!!!?!

Ok, I’ll hand it to you, that’s a good slate

The screenplay categories are gonna break my spirit this year

I was particularly proud of Rogowski and Best Director.

Yeah, I think (shockingly) that's Haynes' first actual crix citation?

No!!

On a much dumber note, AMPAS releases shortlists for a number of categories: https://aframe.oscars.org/news/post/96th-oscars-shortlists

It's beginning to look a lot like Society of the Snow's mounting an All Quiet-ish run?

I’m only sorry Morbs wasn’t alive to see it

Earlier this year, writers and actors went on strike to advocate for better working conditions and protections. It led to important changes that will transform the industry for the better.

Here are some films that reflect their hard work over the last year — including some like… pic.twitter.com/TMH9LeQgsT

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) December 27, 2023

dude couldn't even give a nod to barbie? cmon man

He’s lost his politic touch

(Also, everyone’s dunking on the Leave the World Behind citation, but Rustin is pretty embarrassing as a movie also)

Shorts not eligible? https://boxd.it/Iq04

Oprah made a call. https://t.co/qMC8zHCAaP

— FilmBart (@FilmBart) December 28, 2023

he would love American Fiction.

https://thereveal.substack.com/p/the-best-movies-of-2023-scotts-list

This "bonus award" caught my eye, as sort of an ashes-to-ashes moment for why I believe this will be the last year I do detrius threads here:

Most Annoying Discourse: The death of discourse.
Every year, there are usually so many candidates for this category, as awards contenders send everyone to their battle stations and social media is flush with extreme positions on the movies of the day. Yet Twitter has always been the primary driver of annoying discourse and its collapse this year under Elon Musk’s leadership has scattered enough users to the winds that few issues have gained much traction. Even Bradley Cooper’s prosthetic nose in Maestro, a classic annoying-discourse topic, failed to stoke more than an extinguishable brush fire. We still have a couple of months before the Oscars to turn things around, but these eyes have not been rolling as often as they usually do.

She’s trying to find good acting in Maestro https://t.co/xrBszXLLrE

— Rocco T. Thompson (@roccotthompson) January 3, 2024

Better than Maestro

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1kbSm04xdg

Leaving on its proper thread, but here's the annual "better than" list:

another maniacal Armond White review, this time "Fahrenheit 9/11"

BAFTA longlists:

BEST FILM

All of Us Strangers
Anatomy of a Fall
Barbie
The Holdovers
Killers of The Flower Moon
Maestro
Oppenheimer
Past Lives
Poor Things
The Zone of Interest

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM

All of Us Strangers
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget
The Deepest Breath
The Great Escaper
How to Have Sex
Napoleon
The Old Oak
One Life
Poor Things
Rye Lane
Saltburn
Scrapper
Tetris
Wonka
The Zone of Interest

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER

Blue Bag Life
Bobi Wine: The People's President
Earth Mama
The End We Start From
How To Have Sex
If the Streets Were on Fire
Is There Anybody Out There?
Polite Society
Rye Lane
Scrapper

FILM NOT IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE

20 Days In Mariupol
Anatomy of a Fall
The Boy And The Heron
The Eight Mountains
Fallen Leaves
Past Lives
Society of the Snow
The Taste of Things
The Teachers' Lounge
The Zone of Interest

DOCUMENTARY

20 Days In Mariupol
American Symphony
Beyond Utopia
The Deepest Breath
High & Low - John Galliano
Little Richard: I Am Everything
Mad About The Boy: The Noël Coward Story
The Pigeon Tunnel
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie
Wham!

ANIMATED FILM

The Boy And The Heron
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget
Elemental
Nimona
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
The Super Mario Bros. Movie
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
Wish

DIRECTOR

Anatomy of a Fall
All of Us Strangers
American Fiction
Barbie
The Holdovers
How to Have Sex
Killers of The Flower Moon
Maestro
Oppenheimer
Past Lives
Poor Things
Priscilla
Rye Lane
Saltburn
Scrapper
The Zone of Interest

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Air
Anatomy of a Fall
Barbie
The Holdovers
How to Have Sex
Maestro
May December
Past Lives
Rye Lane
Saltburn

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

All of Us Strangers
American Fiction
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.
Dumb Money
The Killer
Killers of The Flower Moon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
Wonka
The Zone of Interest

LEADING ACTRESS

Annette Bening, NYAD
Carey Mulligan, Maestro
Emma Stone, Poor Things
Fantasia Barrino, The Color Purple
Greta Lee, Past Lives
Lily Gladstone, Killers of The Flower Moon
Margot Robbie, Barbie
Mia McKenna-Bruce, How to Have Sex
Sandra Hüller, Anatomy of a Fall
Vivian Oparah, Rye Lane

LEADING ACTOR

Andrew Scott, All of Us Strangers
Barry Keoghan, Saltburn
Bradley Cooper, Maestro
Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer
Colman Domingo, Rustin
George MacKay, Femme
Jeffrey Wright, American Fiction
Leonardo DiCaprio, Killers of The Flower Moon
Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers
Teo Yoo, Past Lives

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

America Ferrera, Barbie
Cara Jade Myers, Killers of The Flower Moon
Claire Foy, All of Us Strangers
Danielle Brooks, The Color Purple
Da'Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers
Emily Blunt, Oppenheimer
Jodie Foster, NYAD
Julianne Moore, May December
Rosamund Pike, Saltburn
Sandra Hüller, The Zone of Interest

SUPPORTING ACTOR

Anthony Hopkins, One Life
Ben Whishaw, Passages
Dominic Sessa, The Holdovers
Jacob Elordi, Saltburn
Jamie Bell, All of Us Strangers
Mark Ruffalo, Poor Things
Paul Mescal, All of Us Strangers
Robert De Niro, Killers of The Flower Moon
Robert Downey Jr., Oppenheimer
Ryan Gosling, Barbie

CASTING

All of Us Strangers
Anatomy of a Fall
Barbie
The Holdovers
How to Have Sex
Killers of The Flower Moon
Maestro
Oppenheimer
Saltburn
Scrapper

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Barbie
The Creator
Ferrari
Killers of The Flower Moon
Maestro
Napoleon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
Saltburn
The Zone of Interest

COSTUME DESIGN

Asteroid City
Barbie
Ferrari
Killers of The Flower Moon
Maestro
Napoleon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
Saltburn
Wonka

EDITING

All of Us Strangers
Anatomy of a Fall
Barbie
Killers of The Flower Moon
Maestro
Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
Saltburn
The Zone of Interest

MAKE UP & HAIR

Barbie
Ferrari
Golda
Killers of The Flower Moon
Maestro
Napoleon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
Priscilla
Wonka

ORIGINAL SCORE

American Fiction
Barbie
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Killers of The Flower Moon
Napoleon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
Saltburn
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Wonka

PRODUCTION DESIGN

Asteroid City
Barbie
Ferrari
Killers of The Flower Moon
Maestro
Napoleon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
Wonka
The Zone of Interest

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS

Barbie
The Creator
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One
Napoleon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Wonka

SOUND

Barbie
Ferrari
Killers of The Flower Moon
Maestro
Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One
Napoleon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
Wonka
The Zone of Interest

BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION

Crab Day
Sweet Like Lemons
The Smeds and The Smoos
Visible Mending
Wild Summon
World to Roam

BRITISH SHORT FILM

Essex Girls
Festival of Slaps
Finding Alaa
Gorka
Jellyfish and Lobster
Jill, Uncredited
Mighty Penguins
The One Note Man
Such A Lovely Day
Yellow

First impressions

* Society of the Snow is not going to be another All Quiet on the Western Front
* May December is in big trouble
* Saltburn is going to grab that 10th best picture Oscar slot, thereby becoming the worst movie nominated for the award since, well, Promising Young Woman

Disappointing that “Tish” didn’t make the documentary shortlist.

May December will sub for All of Us Strangers

Nope, Saltburn over either.

Huh, I didn't realize BAFTA did longlists.

Not sure I see any tea leaves in there about Saltburn's Oscar chances, though: It shows up in a lot of categories, but not in Best Picture. And it's a British film, so I'd expect they'd give it a friendlier reception.

Agreed that All of Us Strangers is the least likely of the BAFTA Best Pic nominees to make the Oscar Best Pic list, but even if May December falters, I'd say American Fiction and The Color Purple both stand a better chance of taking that 10th slot.

Only just now realized American Fiction missed BAFTA's BP roster. That has a way better shot than either All of Us Strangers or, imo, The Zone of Interest

The National Society of Film Critics’ 58th annual voting meeting is about to begin. Follow this account for live winner announcements, category by category.

— National Society of Film Critics (@NatSocFilmCrix) January 6, 2024

Full winners:

Best Picture: “Past Lives”
Runners-up:
“The Zone of Interest”
“Oppenheimer”

Best Director: Jonathan Glazer, “The Zone of Interest”
Runners-up:
Todd Haynes, “May December”
Christopher Nolan, “Oppenheimer”

Best Film Not in the English Language: “Fallen Leaves”
Runners-up:
“The Zone of Interest”
“Anatomy of a Fall”

Best Nonfiction Film: “Menus-Plaisirs — Les Troisgros”
Runners-up:
“20 Days in Mariupol”
“Kokomo City”

Best Actor: Andrew Scott, “All of Us Strangers”
Runners-up:
Jeffrey Wright, “American Fiction”
Cillian Murphy, “Oppenheimer”

Best Actress: Sandra Hüller, “Anatomy of a Fall” and “The Zone of Interest”
Runners-up:
Emma Stone, “Poor Things”
Lily Gladstone, “Killers of the Flower Moon”

Best Supporting Actor: Charles Melton, “May December”
Runners-up: Robert Downey, Jr., “Oppenheimer”, and Ryan Gosling, “Barbie” (tie)

Best Supporting Actress: Da’Vine Joy Randolph, “The Holdovers”
Runners-up:
Penélope Cruz, “Ferrari”
Rachel McAdams, “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret”

Best screenplay: Samy Burch, “May December”
Runners-up:
Celine Song, “Past Lives”
David Hemingson, “The Holdovers”

Best cinematography: Rodrigo Prieto, “Killers of the Flower Moon”
Runners-up:
Łukasz Żal, “The Zone of Interest”
Hoyte van Hoytema, “Oppenheimer”

Best experimental film: Jean Luc-Godard’s “Trailer of a Film That Will Never Exist: Phony Wars”

Film heritage award: Criterion Channel

Film heritage award: Facets, Kim’s Video, Scarecrow Video and Vidiots

Special citation for a film awaiting U.S. distribution: Víctor Erice’s “Close Your Eyes”

Wow. Boring!

More boring than LA this year, but less boring than NY ... Still, zero awards for Oppy and only one for Flower Moon, I'm happy.

Plus Andrew Scott's first actual win!

Nice to see Ferrari getting a bit of love.

Cruz and McAdams running up make me all the more irritated that Randolph has 100% run the table (and will continue to do so for the next two months)

Well!

It was nice to see Anatomy of a Fall win the screenplay award, but otherwise the Golden Globes went about as expected. Oppenheimer solidifies its front-runner status in picture, director, actor, and supporting actor.

I do wonder whether Barbie might have won in comedy if the new "cinematic and box office achievement" award didn't exist, allowing voters to give it a consolation prize.

Maybe, and I know reading any kind of tea leaves from the Globes is a fools' errand, but I can't help but wonder if there's a bit of a Barbie backlash brewing now that people (men) are getting to the "wait, are we really going to award ... this?!" stage

And yep, Anatomy winning screenplay was the one single jolt of genuine energy in the movie awards. Murphy winning actor, while successfully blocking Cooper from winning any of his bids, was still the dullest possible outcome

Worst Golden Globes ever. I started watching Withnail and I again.

The inevitability of Oppenheimer sweeping the Oscars has fully settled in now ... expecting anywhere from 8 to 10 wins (sigh). My last remaining wish for the season is that Maestro implodes entirely.

https://i.imgur.com/s0fsqLD.gif

SAG:

Motion Picture cast

American Fiction
Barbie
The Color Purple
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer

Male Actor in a Leading Role — Motion Picture

Bradley Cooper, Maestro
Colman Domingo, Rustin
Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers
Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer
Jeffrey Wright, American Fiction

Female Actor in a Leading Role — Motion Picture

Annette Bening, Nyad
Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon
Carey Mulligan, Maestro
Margot Robbie, Barbie
Emma Stone, Poor Things

Sterling K. Brown, American Fiction
Willem Dafoe, Poor Things
Robert De Niro, Killers of the Flower Moon
Robert Downey, Jr., Oppenheimer
Ryan Gosling, Barbie

Female Actor in a Supporting Role — Motion Picture

Emily Blunt, Oppenheimer
Danielle Brooks, The Color Purple
Penélope Cruz, Ferrari
Jodie Foster, Nyad
Da'Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers

Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture

Barbie
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
John Wick: Chapter 4
Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning, Part One

Yay on Brown, boo on Domingo.

SAG always finds fun ways to set the awards cycle back a few steps, but I'll at least give them credit for blanking SALTBURN

But, of course, not TOO much credit because goddamn ...

Herein lies the rub in the entire framing of KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON as some kind of a breakthrough in terms of representation. 5 out of 7 actors nominated for the #SAGAwards Ensemble prize are white. You can't make this up. #SAG #SAGAFTRA https://t.co/1hmSQqMgc5 pic.twitter.com/fnScvc101y

— Ankit Jhunjhunwala (@fuzzyyarns) January 10, 2024

Typing Domingo and Brown's names I realized: first time two Black actors earned SAG nods for playing gay Black men.

It's probably among the first times period that any gay actors earned nods for playing gay men

So, the SAG ensemble rules are that only actors who appear on a single card in the credits are included in the ensemble. I'm guessing the women who played Mollie's sisters were grouped together on a card.

SAG really didn't like May December huh?

Or Past Lives, which I get not landing an ensemble nod, but I would've thought Greta Lee might've moved past Bening. NYAD has the feel of a classic SAG contender that doesn't move to the final round (Oscars).

Some speculation that actors aren't too happy with the portrait of acting May December presents, but also, it's a Todd Haynes movie — built for critics, not the industry.

As for single card, that's a dumb rule and it's an utter embarrassment that Brendan Fraser's performance in Killers of the Flower Moon is nominated for anything anywhere

You can generally crank the dial a few more tics toward respectable when it comes to translating the SAG slate into the Oscar one, but I do think the May December mirage ends here.

I still think Hüller has a shot, esp over Mulligan.

xp I think you're probably right, especially now that Sterling K. Brown is in the mix for supporting actor. Ruffalo didn't even make the cut for SAG.

And yeah, agreed about Hüller, who's going to appeal to the international Oscar voters. I'd predict her over Bening.

It's probably among the first times period that any gay actors earned nods for playing gay men

― Wack Snyder (Eric H.),

Out ones at any rate.

otoh I hadn't counted Cruz in at all, but now I'm sure she'll earn a nod. She doesn't do well with precursors yet lands nominations when she's in the mix.

Yep, swap Huller for Bening and I think that's your slate.

Supporting actor is between Brown, Dafoe, De Niro, Downey, Gosling, Ruffalo with I'd argue De Niro maybe in the weakest position (that category has been double-nominating movies almost every single year of late, so I see Dafoe and Ruffalo as being both in).

It's killing me that Andrew Scott is, at best, hanging on by a thread.

And, yes, Cruz is (like Dafoe) a "never count 'em out" prospect. I think given how diffuse that race is beyond Randolph and Blunt, she's got to be considered as strong as anyone else.

Nathaniel (whom I just read):

Are these are five? It’s a good five though Leonardo DiCaprio could still spoil the party for his grumpy-faced coasting in Killers of the Flower Moon and one longshot that could theoretically still make it is Andrew Scott for All of Us Strangers who is peaking at the right time. But on the other hand Oscar has rarely honored actual LGBTQ actors for playing LGBTQ characters so even Domingo feels vulnerable.

Almost every pundit has been ranking Domingo 6th and Scott 7th, but they've also been bending over backwards to point out what a shame it would be that two came so close, and that it's awful that McKellan remains the only gay man Oscar's nominated thus far for playing a gay role. But even that invites potential vote splitting. (FWIW, I think Scott absolutely buries Domingo, but part of the problem is the latter's movie is as bad as just about any this year.)

Buries him under a blanket serenaded by Frankie Goes to Hollywood?

I didn't even know until now that Domingo is gay.

Todd Haynes, destroying civilization pic.twitter.com/zfa2LffmR1

— Adam Nayman (@brofromanother) January 10, 2024

the kindliest character is the overgrown stud Joe Yoo (Charles Melton, in a wooden performance), the abused manchild still seen as weak and immature, despite fathering four children with his miscreant wife. That Haynes carelessly exploits Joe, switching the boy’s racial identity from Samoan to Korean, reveals some racism hidden within progressive politics. (And what’s up with that obvious prosthetic phallus, if not a dusky racist stereotype?) Haynes’s indifference to the harm of childhood sex-grooming (a Drag Queen Story Hour staple) explains why male psychological dangers go unexplored (there are no Samoan or Korean box-office stars)

Arm0nd has been despicable for decades, he's never had a strong legitimate POV as much as he's always had something pathologically wrong with him (expressed in ways which fooled some into thinking he had a strong POV.) but his descent is still kind of astonishing, the slow reveal of who he was making him persona non grata to his peers, making him eager to be easily weaponized by the extreme RW fascist elements.

there are no Samoan or Korean box-office stars

https://www.wrestlinginc.com/img/gallery/one-thing-dwayne-the-rock-johnson-misses-about-being-a-part-of-wwe/intro-1700173897.jpg

DGA nominees

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film
Greta Gerwig, Barbie
Yorgos Lanthimos, Poor Things
Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer
Alexander Payne, The Holdovers
Martin Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in First-Time Theatrical Feature Film
Cord Jefferson, American Fiction
Manuel Martinelli, Chile '76
Noora Niasari, Shayda
A.V. Rockwell, A Thousand and One
Celine Song, Past Lives

Asteroid City getting utterly ignored this awards season isn't it? I actually forgot it even came out this year until this morning and I really liked it.

Hard to tell between Wes Anderson and Todd Haynes which '90s wunderkinds is more anathema to them

can't wait for this year's interview with the Anonymous Oscar Voter.

Especially if The Zone of Interest gets nominated

Which ... I guess it will? I don't see anything else scraping together a solid drive for that 10th slot. May December is clearly an industry non-starter, The Color Purple is now toxic waste so far as Oscar buzz goes, SAG said no to Saltburn despite that being the likeliest place for it to reign, BAFTA big-time shrugged at Society of the Snow, and Spider-Man is still a cartoon fighting against Miyazaki. What even else is there to stop Zone?

Anonymous Oscar Voter Season Approachin’, Fuck Whatever You Been Watchin’

(Sorry)

I've cracked the top 100 in the Vulture Movie Fantasy League.

I'm toast there unless somehow Barbie and Poor Things start tying for all the awards

Where do people post about Anatomy of a Fall?

Perfect film, although a little clinical for me to really love it. (If you do, I guess that's one of its strengths.) I'll have to give Anatomy of a Murder another look--they would seem to share more than their titles. Not a classical-music scholar, but the piece that plays over the end credits (and earlier in the film: the mother and son play it together on the piano) is the same piece that Nicholson's character plays in Five Easy Pieces, right?

One of Chopin’s 24 Preludes iirc

I knew it would be super-famous and I'd embarrass myself just by asking--it's like, "What was that early rock and roll song about the hound dog the one character sang?"

I'll hide a couple of things here.

Not that it's The Sixth Sense or anything, but I picked up on the central issue pretty early, which was made crystal-clear in their taped argument: she was successful and prolific, he wasn't. Also, I'm glad there wasn't any kind of a twist at the end like I half-expected. I started to think for a minute that we'd find out the son completely made up the story of his conversation in the car with his father (although it's presented in language that seemed slightly beyond his age), acting on the advice of his court-appointed watchdog.

That last thing you mentioned: I'm glad it wasn't spelled out one way or the other, but I did come to believe that's what happened.

I agree the ending is ambiguous enough that it’s possible to have different interpretations.

No surprise, but Anatomy of a Murder does seem to be lurking in the background:

“Anatomy of a Fall,” the new French mystery film, takes its title directly from “Anatomy of a Murder,” Otto Preminger’s 1959 courtroom drama starring Jimmy Stewart. Director Justine Triet saw the Preminger classic about a decade ago and kept the film in her mind as she was developing her own modern tale of intrigue, secrets, and marriage on trial.

https://www.thewrap.com/anatomy-of-a-fall-ending-what-it-means-director-interview/

Interesting interview...I think Sarris called the Preminger film a masterpiece of ambiguity, or something like that.

It's my favorite Preminger. I wouldn't call it ambiguous, certainly not with that ending. But it's fair, almost serene, about the consequences.

OK, seriously GTFO Bradley Cooper...

BAFTA nominations:

BEST FILM

ANATOMY OF A FALL Marie-Ange Luciani, David Thion
THE HOLDOVERS Mark Johnson
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Dan Friedkin, Daniel Lupi, Martin Scorsese, Bradley Thomas
OPPENHEIMER Christopher Nolan, Charles Roven, Emma Thomas
POOR THINGS Ed Guiney, Yorgos Lanthimos, Andrew Lowe, Emma Stone

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM

ALL OF US STRANGERS Andrew Haigh, PGA
HOW TO HAVE SEX Molly Manning Walker, Emily Leo, Ivana MacKinnon, Konstantinos Kontovrakis
NAPOLEON Ridley Scott, Mark Huffam, Kevin J. Walsh, David Scarpa
THE OLD OAK Ken Loach, Rebecca O'Brien, Paul Laverty
POOR THINGS Yorgos Lanthimos, Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Emma Stone, Tony McNamara
RYE LANE Raine Allen-Miller, Yvonne Isimeme Ibazebo, Damian Jones, Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia
SALTBURN Emerald Fennell, Josey McNamara, Margot Robbie
SCRAPPER Charlotte Regan, Theo Barrowclough
WONKA Paul King, Alexandra Derbyshire, David Heyman, Simon Farnaby
THE ZONE OF INTEREST Jonathan Glazer, PGA

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER

BLUE BAG LIFE Lisa Selby (Director), Rebecca Lloyd-Evans (Director, Producer), Alex Fry (Producer)
BOBI WINE: THE PEOPLE’S PRESIDENT Christopher Sharp (Director) [also directed Moses Bwayo]
EARTH MAMA Savanah Leaf (Writer, Director, Producer), Shirley O'Connor (Producer), Medb Riordan (Producer)
HOW TO HAVE SEX Molly Manning Walker (Writer, Director)
IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE? Ella Glendining (Director)

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL Mstyslav Chernov, Raney Aronson Rath
ANATOMY OF A FALL Justine Triet, Marie-Ange Luciani, David Thion
PAST LIVES Celine Song, David Hinojosa, Pamela Koffler, Christine Vachon
SOCIETY OF THE SNOW J.A. Bayona, Belen Atienza
THE ZONE OF INTEREST Jonathan Glazer, PGA

DOCUMENTARY

20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL Mstyslav Chernov, Raney Aronson Rath
AMERICAN SYMPHONY Matthew Heineman, Lauren Domino, Joedan Okun
BEYOND UTOPIA Madeleine Gavin, Rachel Cohen, Jana Edelbaum
STILL: A MICHAEL J. FOX MOVIE Davis Guggenheim, Jonathan King, Annetta Marion
WHAM! Chris Smith

ANIMATED FILM

THE BOY AND THE HERON Hayao Miyazaki, Toshio Suzuki
CHICKEN RUN: DAWN OF THE NUGGET Sam Fell, Leyla Hobart, Steve Pegram
ELEMENTAL Peter Sohn, Denise Ream
SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson, Avi Arad, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Amy Pascal, Christina Steinberg

DIRECTOR

ALL OF US STRANGERS Andrew Haigh
ANATOMY OF A FALL Justine Triet
THE HOLDOVERS Alexander Payne
MAESTRO Bradley Cooper
OPPENHEIMER Christopher Nolan
THE ZONE OF INTEREST Jonathan Glazer

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

ANATOMY OF A FALL Justine Triet, Arthur Harari
BARBIE Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach
THE HOLDOVERS David Hemingson
MAESTRO Bradley Cooper, Josh Singer
PAST LIVES Celine Song

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

ALL OF US STRANGERS Andrew Haigh
AMERICAN FICTION Cord Jefferson
OPPENHEIMER Christopher Nolan
POOR THINGS Tony McNamara
THE ZONE OF INTEREST Jonathan Glazer

LEADING ACTRESS

FANTASIA BARRINO The Color Purple
SANDRA HÜLLER Anatomy of a Fall
CAREY MULLIGAN Maestro
VIVIAN OPARAH Rye Lane
MARGOT ROBBIE Barbie
EMMA STONE Poor Things

LEADING ACTOR

BRADLEY COOPER Maestro
COLMAN DOMINGO Rustin
PAUL GIAMATTI The Holdovers
BARRY KEOGHAN Saltburn
CILLIAN MURPHY Oppenheimer
TEO YOO Past Lives

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

EMILY BLUNT Oppenheimer
DANIELLE BROOKS The Color Purple
CLAIRE FOY All of Us Strangers
SANDRA HÜLLER The Zone of Interest
ROSAMUND PIKE Saltburn
DA’VINE JOY RANDOLPH The Holdovers

SUPPORTING ACTOR

ROBERT DE NIRO Killers of The Flower Moon
ROBERT DOWNEY JR. Oppenheimer
JACOB ELORDI Saltburn
RYAN GOSLING Barbie
PAUL MESCAL All of Us Strangers
DOMINIC SESSA The Holdovers

ORIGINAL SCORE

KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Robbie Robertson
OPPENHEIMER Ludwig Göransson
POOR THINGS Jerskin Fendrix
SALTBURN Anthony Willis
SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE Daniel Pemberton

CASTING

ALL OF US STRANGERS Kahleen Crawford
ANATOMY OF A FALL Cynthia Arra
THE HOLDOVERS Susan Shopmaker
HOW TO HAVE SEX Isabella Odoffin
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Ellen Lewis, Rene Haynes

CINEMATOGRAPHY

KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Rodrigo Prieto
MAESTRO Matthew Libatique
OPPENHEIMER Hoyte van Hoytema
POOR THINGS Robbie Ryan
THE ZONE OF INTEREST Łukasz Żal

EDITING

ANATOMY OF A FALL Laurent Sénéchal
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Thelma Schoonmaker
OPPENHEIMER Jennifer Lame
POOR THINGS Yorgos Mavropsaridis
THE ZONE OF INTEREST Paul Watts

PRODUCTION DESIGN

BARBIE Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Jack Fisk, Adam Willis
OPPENHEIMER Ruth De Jong, Claire Kaufman
POOR THINGS Shona Heath, James Price, Zsuzsa Mihalek
THE ZONE OF INTEREST Chris Oddy, Joanna Maria Kuś, Katarzyna Sikora

COSTUME DESIGN

BARBIE Jacqueline Durran
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Jacqueline West
NAPOLEON Dave Crossman, Janty Yates
OPPENHEIMER Ellen Mirojnick
POOR THINGS Holly Waddington

MAKE UP & HAIR

KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Kay Georgiou, Thomas Nellen
MAESTRO Sian Grigg, Kay Georgiou, Kazu Hiro, Lori McCoy-Bell
NAPOLEON Jana Carboni, Francesco Pegoretti, Satinder Chumber, Julia Vernon
OPPENHEIMER Luisa Abel, Jaime Leigh McIntosh, Jason Hamer, Ahou Mofid
POOR THINGS Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier, Josh Weston

SOUND

FERRARI Angelo Bonanni, Tony Lamberti, Andy Nelson, Lee Orloff, Bernard Weiser
MAESTRO Richard King, Steve Morrow, Tom Ozanich, Jason Ruder, Dean Zupancic
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART ONE Chris Burdon, James H. Mather, Chris Munro, Mark Taylor
OPPENHEIMER Willie Burton, Richard King, Kevin O'Connell, Gary A. Rizzo
THE ZONE OF INTEREST Johnnie Burn, Tarn Willers

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS

THE CREATOR Jonathan Bullock, Charmaine Chan, Ian Comley, Jay Cooper
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 Theo Bialek, Stephane Ceretti, Alexis Wajsbrot, Guy Williams
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART ONE Neil Corbould, Simone Coco, Jeff Sutherland, Alex Wuttke
NAPOLEON Henry Badgett, Neil Corbould, Charley Henley, Luc-Ewen Martin-Fenouillet
POOR THINGS Simon Hughes

BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION

CRAB DAY Ross Stringer, Bartosz Stanislawek, Aleksandra Sykulak
VISIBLE MENDING Samantha Moore, Tilley Bancroft
WILD SUMMON Karni Arieli, Saul Freed, Jay Woolley

BRITISH SHORT FILM

FESTIVAL OF SLAPS Abdou Cissé, Cheri Darbon, George Telfer
GORKA Joe Weiland, Alex Jefferson
JELLYFISH AND LOBSTER Yasmin Afifi, Elizabeth Rufai
SUCH A LOVELY DAY Simon Woods, Polly Stokes, Emma Norton, Kate Phibbs
YELLOW Elham Ehsas, Dina Mousawi, Azeem Bhati, Yiannis Manolopoulos

EE RISING STAR AWARD

PHOEBE DYNEVOR
AYO EDEBIRI
JACOB ELORDI
MIA MCKENNA-BRUCE
SOPHIE WILDE

wtf Saltburn.

I hate (what I saw of) Saltburn, but that being in the mix at least makes some sense to me. I thought we were finally starting to get over detritus like Maestro as a society.

I mean, why they didn't go full monty and snub Killers in best picture in favor of Maestro is a mystery

Saltburn isn't a great film but it's leagues above Wonka

no it isn't

i've seen both and wonka was way less boring

wonka was essentially a paddington film with a different IP stuffed in there tho, i was bound to have a good time

the important difference between Paddington and Wonka is that Paddington was not shit and Wonka was shit.

The BAFTAs have done more than anything to confirm a certain incompatibility between the words ‘British’ and ‘cinema’. They’re not worth taking seriously.

i def enjoyed Wonka more than Saltburn.

one of these films has hugh laurie as an oompa loompa and the other has a guy guzzling cum from a drain, you tell me which one you want to watch

the cum guzzling one

Yeah, I'm not sure you set up a fair fight there akm

I want to watch Charlie and the Cum Factory

wanka

Where snozzberries do not taste like snozzberries

fortunately Timothée Chalamet already starred in a film with cum slurping.

timothee cumchalet

Is American Fiction a 2023 movie or 2024?

2023 ... BAFTA giving it zilch is pretty on-brand tbh

Maestro really does feel like a film made specifically to exist within its year of release, and leading up to awards season. After that, quickly forgotten.

There's absolutely no excuse for that film being in best director

Maestro > Saltburn

both maestro and saltburn fail storywise in the same way: they are unconvincing.

xp they're both easily among the five worst things I saw last year, no need to split hairs

Wonka was an overegged pudding. Feels like it was written by committee.

multiple friends said i should watch saltburn because they thought i would like it, based on brief glances at the poster and trailer i found this vaguely insulting. the other day i walked by while my gf was watching it, caught the part with barry keoghan sucking cum from the drain and now i really don't know what to think

One other thing ... BAFTA couldn't have more effectively kneecapped Oppenheimer's two biggest threats if they'd done so consciously. Killers is in picture, but with no nods for DiCaprio/Gladstone/Scorsese/screenplay, and Barbie ... well, I've been wondering if maybe that movie making any big awards plays was a bit of a pipe dream in the first place.

Tossing these here because yeah: https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/2024-oscar-nomination-predictions/

Should've seen it coming, but Killers is quickly becoming The Irishman 2.0: https://www.avclub.com/oppenheimer-is-squeezing-killers-of-the-flower-moon-out-1851177144

Oh, and David E's annual top 25 video montage (the best thing he does every year in the way of criticism) is up: https://vimeo.com/900680873

Finally, some (comparatively) good fucking food. International Cinephile Society "nominations"

PICTURE
• All of Us Strangers
• Anatomy of a Fall
• The Boy and the Heron
• Close Your Eyes
• The Delinquents
• Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
• Fallen Leaves
• Foremost by Night
• Here
• The Human Surge 3
• Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell
• Killers of the Flower Moon
• La Chimera
• May December
• Our Body
• Poor Things
• Samsara
• Society of the Snow
• Tótem
• The Zone of Interest

DIRECTOR
• Lila Avilés – Tótem
• Víctor Erice – Close Your Eyes
• Jonathan Glazer – The Zone of Interest
• Andrew Haigh – All of Us Strangers
• Radu Jude – Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
• Justine Triet – Anatomy of a Fall

ACTOR
• Paul Giamatti – The Holdovers
• Karim Leklou – Sons of Ramses
• Josh O’Connor – La Chimera
• Andrew Scott – All of Us Strangers
• Manolo Solo – Close Your Eyes
• Koji Yakusho – Perfect Days

ACTRESS
• Lily Gladstone – Killers of the Flower Moon
• Sandra Hüller – Anatomy of a Fall
• Ilinca Manolache – Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
• Alma Pöysti – Fallen Leaves
• Emma Stone – Poor Things
• Teyana Taylor – A Thousand and One

SUPPORTING ACTOR
• Jamie Bell – All of Us Strangers
• José Coronado – Close Your Eyes
• Mateo Garcia – Tótem
• Milo Machado Graner – Anatomy of a Fall
• Charles Melton – May December
• Ben Whishaw – Passages

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
• Claire Foy – All of Us Strangers
• Julianne Moore – May December
• Da’Vine Joy Randolph – The Holdovers
• Catalina Saavedra – Rotting in the Sun
• Ana Torrent – Close Your Eyes
• Ana Torrent – Foremost by Night

ENSEMBLE
• All of Us Strangers
• Anatomy of a Fall
• Asteroid City
• Close Your Eyes
• Society of the Snow
• Tótem

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
• Afire – Christian Petzold
• Anatomy of a Fall – Justine Triet, Arthur Harari
• Close Your Eyes – Víctor Erice, Michel Gaztambide
• Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World – Radu Jude
• May December – Samy Burch, Alex Mechanik
• Monster – Yuji Sakamoto
• Tótem – Lila Avilés

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
• All of Us Strangers – Andrew Haigh
• The Beast in the Jungle – Patric Chiha, Jihane Chouaib, Axelle Ropert
• Killers of the Flower Moon – Eric Roth, Martin Scorsese
• Poor Things – Tony McNamara
• Society of the Snow – J.A. Bayona, Jaime Marques, Bernat Vilaplana, Nicolás Casariego
• The Zone of Interest – Jonathan Glazer

CINEMATOGRAPHY
• All of Us Strangers – Jamie Ramsay
• Close Your Eyes – Valentín Álvarez
• Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell – Dinh Duy Hung
• La Chimera – Hélène Louvart
• Samsara – Mauro Herce, Jessica Sarah Rinland
• The Zone of Interest – Lukasz Zal

EDITING
• All of Us Strangers – Jonathan Alberts
• Anatomy of a Fall – Laurent Sénéchal
• Close Your Eyes – Ascen Marchena
• Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World – Catalin Cristutiu
• Oppenheimer – Jennifer Lame
• Society of the Snow – Andrés Gil, Jaume Martí

PRODUCTION DESIGN
• Asteroid City – Adam Stockhausen, Kris Moran
• Barbie – Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer
• Close Your Eyes – Curru Garabal
• Foremost by Night – Katixa Silva, Izaskun Urkijo
• Killers of the Flower Moon – Jack Fisk, Adam Willis
• Poor Things – Shona Heath, James Price, Zsuzsa Mihalek

SCORE
• The Boy and the Heron – Joe Hisaishi
• Disco Boy – Vitalic
• Killers of the Flower Moon – Robbie Robertson
• Monster – Ryuichi Sakamoto
• A Thousand and One – Gary Gunn
• The Zone of Interest – Mica Levi

SOUND DESIGN
• All of Us Strangers – Joakim Sundström
• The Boy and the Heron – Koji Kasamatsu
• Maestro – Richard King, Steve Morrow, Tom Ozanich, Jason Ruder, Dean Zupancic
• Oppenheimer – Richard King, Kevin O’Connell, Gary A. Rizzo, Willie Burton
• Samsara – Xabier Erkizia, Luca Rulio
• The Zone of Interest – Johnnie Burn, Tarn Willers

ANIMATED FILM
• The Boy and the Heron – Hayao Miyazaki
• Chicken for Linda! – Sébastien Laudenbach, Chiara Malta
• Mars Express – Jérémie Périn
• Robot Dreams – Pablo Berger
• Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse – Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson
• Suzume – Makoto Shinkai

DOCUMENTARY
• Bye Bye Tiberias – Lina Soualem
• The Mother of All Lies – Asmae El Moudir
• Orlando, My Political Biography – Paul B. Preciado
• Our Body – Claire Simon
• Pictures of Ghosts – Kleber Mendonça Filho
• Youth (Spring) – Wang Bing

DEBUT FILM
• 20,000 Species of Bees – Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren
• Chien de la casse – Jean-Baptiste Durand
• Foremost by Night – Víctor Iriarte
• Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell – Pham Thien An
• Past Lives – Celine Song
• Patagonia – Simone Bozzelli

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE
• Milo Machado Graner – Anatomy of a Fall
• Ilinca Manolache – Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
• Charles Melton – May December
• Sofía Otero – 20,000 Species of Bees
• Raphaël Quenard – Chien de la casse
• Naíma Sentíes – Tótem
• Dominic Sessa – The Holdovers

And, in "who honestly even fucking cares anymore," this year's Razzie nominations:

Worst Picture
The Exorcist: Believer
Expend4bles
Meg 2: The Trench
Shazam! Fury of the Gods
Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey

Worst Actor
Russell Crowe – The Pope’s Exorcist
Vin Diesel – Fast X
Chris Evans – Ghosted
Jason Statham – Meg 2: The Trench
Jon Voight – Mercy

Worst Actress
Ana de Armas – Ghosted
Megan Fox – Johnny & Clyde
Salma Hayek – Magic Mike’s Last Dance
Jennifer Lopez – The Mother
Dame Helen Mirren - Shazam! Fury of the Gods

Worst Supporting Actress
Kim Cattrall – About My Father
Megan Fox – Expend4bles
Bai Ling – Johnny & Clyde
Lucy Liu – Shazam! Fury of the Gods
Mary Stuart Masterson – Five Nights at Freddy’s

Worst Supporting Actor
Michael Douglas – Ant Man & The Wasp: Quantumania
Mel Gibson – Confidential Informant
Bill Murray – Ant Man & The Wasp: Quantumania
Franco Nero – The Pope’s Exorcist
Sylvester Stallone – Expend4ables

Worst Director
Rhys Frake-Waterfield – Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey
David Gordon Green – The Exorcist: Believer
Peyton Reed – Ant Man & the Wasp: Quantumania
Scott Waugh – Expend4bles
Ben Wheatley – Meg 2: The Trench

Worst Screenplay
The Exorcist: Believer
Expend4bles
Indiana Jones and the Dial of…Can I go home now?
Shazam! Fury of the Gods
Winnie the Pooh: Blood & Honey

Worst Screen Couple
Any 2 “Merciless Mercenaries” – Expend4bles
Any 2 Money-Grubbing Investors Who Donated to the $400 Million for Remake Rights to The Exorcist
Ana de Armas & Chris Evans (who flunked Screen Chemistry) – Ghosted
Salma Hayek & Channing Tatum – Magic Mike’s Last Dance
Pooh & Piglet as Blood-Thirsty Slasher/Killers(!) in Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey

Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-Off or Sequel
Ant Man & The Wasp: Quantumania
The Exorcist: Believer
Expend4bles
Indiana Jones and The Dial of…Still Beating a Dead Horse
Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey

That last thing you mentioned: I'm glad it wasn't spelled out one way or the other, but I did come to believe that's what happened.

• Pictures of Ghosts – Kleber Mendonça Filho

<3 highly recommend this. to be honest, I just love to see my hometown in a big screen (it played in NYFF last year)

Ha, I saw the Ant-Man movie and I can't remember at all that Bill Murray was in it.

And now we arrive:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypr7MgU1Ykw

Oh, is it time?

I'm ready

no Dafoe!

wait did KOTFM get snubbed for screenplay?

America Ferrera and ugh Emily Blunt made it.

good job everyone who called Ferrera

I don't think Blunt was in doubt.

No, she wasn't. I'm registering my disgust.

Cord Jefferson is the first ex-Gawker Oscar nominee

Diane Warren doesn't miss

surprised American Symphony didn't make it in doc

Wow -- the expected Zone of Interest aside, the most toothless int'l film nominees since the '90s.

was Taste of Things expected in international?

hell yeah Zone of Interest nom in sound

whoa the El Condé nom

Colman Domingo over Scrunchy Face.

Annette Bening!

omg Bening

so, no Robbie

and no Gerwig for director

Glazer and Triet made it.

so the PGA slate repeats, as expected

With Bening in the race now, I wonder if the chatter will turn to honoring her at last.

Yeah, best actress now becomes kind of the hottest acting race

yeah that'll be interesting. but it also feels like a nomination from the acting branch that the academy as a whole might not be as enthusiastic about.

These nominations are more bad than good, but I'll admit that's as respectable a 10-deep best picture lineup as we've had since category expansion.

I'm not mad about Mulligan -- I never am -- but the Best Actress nominees are among the strongest in a while.

Saltburn shutout?

Appears so? I had a feeling that was a BAFTAs phenomenon.

surprised gerwig didn't get a director nom.

The Academy doesn't like comedy.

I liked Anatomy of a Fall quite a bit, but Barbie seems like a more accomplished directorial achievement. (Comparing them not bc they're both women but bc Triet took the slot Gerwig was expected to fill.)

I actually prefer AOAF but I'd rather the Academy for once stopped taking itself so goddamn seriously.

Yeah. I'm also not looking forward to the inevitable discourse about this.

I wayyyy prefer AoaF and also think it was a bigger directorial achievement, but it's pretty telling that they nominated Ferrera and not Gerwig/Robbie. Ferrera and her speech makes them feel like they've done their diligence

The more it sits, the more annoyed I am with that Ferrera nomination, which came at the expense of much better options in a much wider open category

Wes Anderson slides in with a Best Short Film nod for Henry Sugar.

But not Almodovar

ferrera was not good in the barbie movie

She should move to Florida and run for Senate. We need her!

Make America America Again

Between this and Eric's recent post about it, I might just give it a watch...

Don't think of NYAD as a Netflix biopic, think of it as a fun dramedy about stubborn lesbians

— Kyle Buchanan (@kylebuchanan) January 23, 2024

It's not fun.

I mean, it's not offensive but it's a thin premise stretched to a couple hours.

If taken strictly as a showcase for two older actresses, I've seen far worse ... It's not great cinema, but I have no objections to what Foster in particular brings to the screen here. Especially her big "I know my friend is annoying the room so I'm going to save her from herself" energy.

But speaking of Netflix, you really can't say that it was Netflix resistance that led to the May December collapse now, given how well so many other Netflix movies (all of them inferior) did

The Academy just doesn't like Todd Haynes; MD's tonal mixtures confused voters who think The Holdovers is awesome.

I don't remember Emily Blunt doing *anything* in "Oppenheimer," but maybe that means she *was* acting, vs. whatever it was that, say, RDJ was doing.

Nothing (even technical) for Ferrari or The Killer.

Yeah I think the treatment of May December is testament to its subversiveness. It makes people uncomfortable.

whatever it was that, say, RDJ was doing

Per my wife, "He's not playing this role, he's playing David Strathairn playing this role."

I know, and I get that. Still doesn't make it any less annoying that the only thing these voters seem to respect above all else are biopics

xp

I knew Blunt was getting nommed as soon as I left the theater

I knew she was getting nominated the moment I saw she was very nearly the only female cast member

Keep me away from all the "So I guess Barbie/Past Lives directed itself??" takes. There are only five slots!

I guess Asteroid City just Pantoned itself…

The more precursors pile up on top of each other, the more each Academy branch feels no need to color outside the lines anymore ... even the reliably nutty costume design category is almost entirely carbon copy best picture nominees (Oppenheimer for costumes?! for fuck's sake)

2023's Oscar Nominees

i think America Ferrera was fine in Barbie, for a supporting role that seems extremely boilerplate and asks her to do nothing except give The Speech. which is also fine for that very on-the-nose kind of thing, and probably helped for me by the sentiments expressed, which i'm sure drove the right people absolutely insane with fury.

whatever it was that, say, RDJ was doing

Per my wife, "He's not playing this role, he's playing David Strathairn playing this role."

― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, January 23, 2024 9:36 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Your wife finally helped me put a finger on something about that performance that’s been just out of reach

I thought RDJ was good in that role, but that awards slot should’ve gone to someone else.

All of Us Strangers episode of This Had Oscar Buzz when

Does the format of that show require it be movies that got zero nods? Because The Color Purple feels like a gimme this year

omigod how have I never heard of this podcast?!

However: two hours a show?

Every movie podcast that's not Karina's deserves to be chopped down by at least half

Does the format of that show require it be movies that got zero nods? Because The Color Purple feels like a gimme this year

― badpee pooper (Eric H.), Tuesday, January 23, 2024 12:11 PM (four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yes, it must be zero. Except they've recently started a Patreon series that covers movies that got one or two (but still less than what might have been hoped for).

Two hours would be a short episode of Blank Check. Both of those podcasts are chatty hangouts and sort of live and die by how much you like hanging out with the hosts.

Seeing as they're both about pampered blonde women living in dream houses walled off from harsh reality, Barbie and The Zone of Interest may split their votes.

TSPDT's 50 Most Critically-Acclaimed Films of 2023 (Based only on 2023 end-of-year ballots)

01. KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Martin Scorsese
02. FALLEN LEAVES Aki Kaurismäki
03. MAY DECEMBER Todd Haynes
03. THE ZONE OF INTEREST Jonathan Glazer
05. ANATOMY OF A FALL Justine Triet
06. DO NOT EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD Radu Jude
07. PAST LIVES Celine Song
08. OPPENHEIMER Christopher Nolan
09. POOR THINGS Yorgos Lanthimos
09. SHOWING UP Kelly Reichardt

11. AFIRE Christian Petzold
11. BARBIE Greta Gerwig
13. CLOSE YOUR EYES Victor Erice
14. ASTEROID CITY Wes Anderson
15. PASSAGES Ira Sachs
16. THE DELINQUENTS Rodrigo Moreno
17. TRENQUE LAUQUEN Laura Citarella
18. THE BOY AND THE HERON Hayao Miyazaki
19. MUSIC Angela Schanelec
20. OUR BODY Claire Simon

21. MENUS-PLAISIRS - LES TROISGROS Frederick Wiseman
22. ALL OF US STRANGERS Andrew Haigh
23. THE HOLDOVERS Alexander Payne
24. LA CHIMERA Alice Rohrwacher
24. THE KILLER David Fincher
26. PACIFICTION Albert Serra
27. YOUTH (SPRING) Wang Bing
28. ABOUT DRY GRASSES Nuri Bilge Ceylan
28. THE HUMAN SURGE 3 Eduardo Williams
30. PRISCILLA Sofia Coppola
30. SAINT OMER Alice Diop

32. THE TASTE OF THINGS Tran Anh Hung
32. TÓTEM Lila Avilés
34. DE HUMANI CORPORIS FABRICA Lucien Castaing-Taylor & Verena Paravel
34. DRY GROUND BURNING Joana Pimenta & Adirley Queirós
36. EVIL DOES NOT EXIST Ryusuke Hamaguchi
37. UNREST Cyril Schäublin
38. TÁR Todd Field
39. ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT'S ME, MARGARET. Kelly Fremon Craig
40. LAST SUMMER Catherine Breillat

41. RETURN TO SEOUL Davy Chou
41. A THOUSAND AND ONE A.V. Rockwell
43. ALL DIRT ROADS TASTE OF SALT Raven Jackson
43. THE BEAST Bertrand Bonello
43. ROTTING IN THE SUN Sebastián Silva
43. THE TRIAL Ulises de la Orden
47. BEAU IS AFRAID Ari Aster
47. THE DAUGHTERS OF FIRE Pedro Costa
47. SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers & Justin K. Thompson
50. IN WATER Hong Sang-soo

I finally watched Oppenheimer. The biopic is one of my least favorite movie categories, in my mind it is one step up from a heist or action film...

But I liked it more than I was expecting to. Compared to other 'genius scientist' biopics such as The Imitation Game and The Theory of Everything, it stands out.

As good as Emily Blunt's performance was in it however, I don't know if it deserved an academy award nomination over Julianne Moore in May December. Maybe they both deserved it over America Ferrera

I can see Robert Downey Jr. winning easily for his hammy performance, but not Cillian Murphy

Do you all think Past Lives is one of the best films of the year? I mean it was a good debut film, but Charlotte Wells' first film Aftersun went so much deeper

I just can't with this shit:

https://mnfilmcriticalliance.wordpress.com/2024/02/04/oppenheimer-wins-seven-mnfca-awards-including-best-picture/

DeSantis' Florida voted better.

looking at the TSPDT list, I think Showing Up should have placed higher. It is a subtle and seemingly inconsequential film about a small arts community in Portland, but it seems profound to me. The protagonist is trying to break through but is always thwarted and resentful, seeing her colleague as a frenemy and her family as burdensome

But as much as it is about it one-upsmanship in the art world, in the end it is also about supporting each other in a community, about just trying to be fulfilled as a struggling artist and wanting to make a difference.

Showing up for each other as artists, showing each other up as artists, and just showing up in daily life as a member of a community

A beautiful film.

My mother was not a fan of SHOWING UP: “Ugh. I wanted to slap her!”

— Charles Bramesco (@intothecrevasse) February 3, 2024

It made my top five: https://wp.me/pzXeC-ii2

I wonder if Showing Up was partially a victim of spanning two years, release wise?

You described it best, Alfred

https://humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2023/04/25/showing-up-is-one-of-the-best-films-about-the-banality-of-making-art/

yeah i really liked that piece

Return to Seoul is on Alfred's list! That was a cool movie

To clarify, I'm NOT a member of the abysmal MN group. But I am a member of this, which has somewhat more idiosyncratic nods:

GALECA: THE SOCIETY OF LGBTQ ENTERTAINMENT CRITICS — 15TH DORIAN FILM AWARDS LIST OF NOMINEES

Film of the Year
All of Us Strangers (Searchlight)
Barbie (Warner Bros.)
May December (Netflix)
Past Lives (A24)
Poor Things (Searchlight)

LGBTQ Film of the Year
All of Us Strangers (Searchlight)
Bottoms (MGM)
Passages (MUBI, SBS)
Rustin (Netflix)
Saltburn (Amazon MGM)

Director of the Year
Greta Gerwig, Barbie (Warner Bros.)
Andrew Haigh, All of Us Strangers (Searchlight)
Todd Haynes, May December (Netflix)
Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer (Universal)
Celine Song, Past Lives (A24)

Screenplay of the Year
Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig, Barbie (Warner Bros.)
Samy Burch, May December (Netflix)
Andrew Haigh, All of Us Strangers (Searchlight)
Arthur Harari, Justine Triet, Anatomy of a Fall (NEON)
Celine Song, Past Lives (A24)

LGBTQ Screenplay of the Year (new)
Andrew Haigh, All of Us Strangers (Searchlight)
Arthur Harari, Justine Triet, Anatomy of a Fall (NEON)
Dustin Lance Black, Julian Breece, Rustin (Netflix)
Arlette Langmann, Ira Sachs, Mauricio Zacharias, Passages (MUBI)
Emma Seligman, Rachel Sennott, Bottoms (MGM)

Non-English Language Film of the Year
Anatomy of a Fall (NEON)
The Boy and the Heron (GKIDS, Toho)
Godzilla Minus One (Toho)
Past Lives (A24)
The Zone of Interest (A24)

LGBTQ Non-English Language Film of the Year (new)
Afire (Janus Films, Sideshow)
Anatomy of a Fall (NEON)
Cassandro (Amazon MGM)
Monster (Well Go USA, Gaga, Toho)
Rotting in the Sun (MUBI)

Unsung Film of the Year
Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret (Lionsgate)
Monica (IFC)
Origin (NEON)
Theater Camp (Searchlight)
A Thousand and One (Focus Features)

Film Performance of the Year
Colman Domingo, Rustin (Netflix)
Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers (Focus Features)
Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon (Apple, Paramount)
Sandra Hüller, Anatomy of a Fall (NEON)
Greta Lee, Past Lives (A24)
Trace Lysette, Monica (IFC)
Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer (Universal)
Natalie Portman, May December (Netflix)
Andrew Scott, All of Us Strangers (Searchlight)
Emma Stone, Poor Things (Searchlight)

Supporting Film Performance of the Year
Danielle Brooks, The Color Purple (Warner Bros.)
Robert Downey Jr., Oppenheimer (Universal)
Jodie Foster, NYAD (Netflix)
Claire Foy, All of Us Strangers (Searchlight)
Ryan Gosling, Barbie (Warner Bros.)
Rachel McAdams, Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret (Lionsgate)
Charles Melton, May December (Netflix)
Paul Mescal, All of Us Strangers (Searchlight)
Rosamind Pike, Saltburn (Amazon MGM)
Da'Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers (Focus Features)

Documentary of the Year
American Symphony (Netflix)
Beyond Utopia (Roadside Attractions, Fathom Events)
Kokomo City (Magnolia)
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie
20 Days in Mariupol (PBS Distribution)

LGBTQ Documentary of the Year
Every Body (Focus Features)
Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project (HBO, Confluential Films)
Kokomo City (Magnolia)
Little Richard: I Am Everything (Magnolia)
Orlando, My Political Biography (Janus Film, Sideshow)

Animated Film of the Year
The Boy and the Heron (GKIDS, Toho)
Elemental (Disney)
Nimona (Netflix, Annapurna)
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (SONY)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (Paramount)

Genre Film of the Year (new)
All of Us Strangers (Searchlight)
Godzilla Minus One (Toho)
M3GAN (Universal)
Poor Things (Searchlight)
Talk To Me (A24)

Film Music of the Year
Barbie — Mark Ronson, Andrew Wyatt, et al. (Warner Bros.)
The Boy and the Heron — Joe Hisaishi (GKIDS, Toho)
The Color Purple — Stephen Bray, Allee Willis, Brenda Russell, Kris Bowers, et al. (Warner Bros.)
Oppenheimer — Ludwig Göransson (Universal)
The Zone of Interest — Mica Levi (A24)

Visually Striking Film of the Year
Asteroid City (Focus Features)
Barbie (Warner Bros.)
Oppenheimer (Universal)
Poor Things (Searchlight)
Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse (SONY)

Campiest Flick
Barbie (Warner Bros.)
Bottoms (MGM)
Dicks: The Musical (A24)
M3GAN (Universal)
Saltburn (Amazon MGM)

“We’re Wilde About You!” Rising Star Award
Ayo Edebiri
Lily Gladstone
Jacob Elordi
Charles Melton
Dominic Sessa

Wilde Artist Award
Quinta Brunson
Ayo Edebiri
Greta Gerwig
Lily Gladstone
Todd Haynes

GALECA LGBTQIA+ Film Trailblazer Award
Colman Domingo
Jodie Foster
Andrew Haigh
Todd Haynes
Andrew Scott

Much better.

I yield that our acting nods are disappointingly by-the-numbers. But Oppenheimer missing out nearly everywhere is a big consolation prize.

DGA awards are whatever the opposite of a surprise is:

Best director: Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer
Best first-time director: Celine Song, Past Lives

How delightful.

To clarify, actors have been nominated before in separate categories (lead and supporting) in the same year, most recently ScarJo in 2019. AFAIK, there aren't any rules against actors being nominated twice in the same category, it's just never happened before. But if Huller were nominated for Zone of Interest, it would be in supporting.

― jaymc, Wednesday, December 20, 2023 12:33 PM (one month ago) bookmarkflaglink

There is Academy precedent: Janet Gaynor's 1929 Best Actress win was collectively for 7th Heaven (1927), Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927), and Street Angel (1928). But I wasn't that excited by Huller's performance in AoaF, and I haven't seen TZoI.

I posted that before I'd seen Zone of Interest, and now it seems like the only reason she was being pushed for supporting is because she was already being pushed for lead in Anatomy of a Fall. She's a lead in both.

I think the SAG 4 actors will repeat at the Oscars. If there was a real momentum swing toward Giamatti and Stone, we would've seen it tonight.

agree with that

I won’t rest easy until Gladstone is actually giving the Oscar speech. But if Poor Things does manage to get shut out of the top categories, that’ll be satisfactory enough

I finally dragged myself to a theater to see the nominated live-action and animated shorts. Next to the annual crop of misery porn, Wes Anderson's latest exercise in tweeness and artificiality looks darn good.

lol, yeah Henry Sugar really sticks out in that lineup.

Not really a film poster, so not sure if there's a better thread to do this, but I did want to get some thoughts down about Trenque Lauqne, which I saw last year, and was probably my favourite film (other candidates: The Boy and the Heron, The Eternal Daughter, Past Lives, Passages). Partly because I thought it wasn't amazingly well served by critics, who seemed to review it more or less favourably.

I'm just transcribing my notes, so it may be a little attenuated.

I saw it in one go but it comprises two parts, each just over two hours iirc. It is a very literary film, which is perhaps why I felt at home with it. I'm generally quite wary of films. A few critics used this term, and I agreed instinctively, but what constitutes 'literary'? It's slightly difficult to say - the typical shape or arc of a film is changed into chapters and nested narratives, two 'books' - i feel i recognise the structure and internal dynamics from books rather than film. Roughly speaking.

This did mean that the reviews I read felt 'illiterate' to a degree. 'Literary' + 'Argentina' seemed to mean name-checking Bolaño and Borges. Not entirely incorrectyly, but irrelevantly enough. Anyway, it's not important.

The trail of the 2 films comes in at a tangent, and a central absence (two men speaking in car park of a woman) and leaves, once again, with the same absence. The trail between the two points is picaresque or quixotic even, lightly handled, with a fantastic soundtrack.

Key elements:

• Narrative framing or nesting. The elusive mystery discovered by the main character (the woman, Laura, absent at beginning and end), exists as a trail of letters, a relationship, filleted between the pages of books, bringing with it emotional development - that plot, that emotional development is hidden, a meaning caché, with nevertheless a material trail to be discovered and to move things along. Stories within the story, itself only glancingly established from that initial conversation in a car park, establish themselves. My general thing from ghost stories is that nested narratives allow the materialisation of the immaterial or in some insubstantial to manifest itself into the main narrative, the 'real' if you must.

• The centre and the hinterland of Trenque Lauquen itself. Defined by not being Buenos Airies, it is itself a hinterland, but the passing in and out of its 'gate' is a constant rhythm to the film. It's also the drifting away from the centre - Buenos Airies, the males in the story, the original apparent centre of the story, all becoming gradually left behind as the peripheries of presence and relationships and even events become increasingly insubstantial and the main presence in the film.

• Especially the way men are pushed to the side despite being in the centre at first. They are in search of someone who already in that first scene cannot be reached, though they do not know it yet. Their masculinity is absurd from the beginning, but also uncomprehending (in different ways - the professor totally so, thwarted almost - the council worker uncomprehending, quietly heartbroken, not understanding until later if even then, understanding as much as he can maybe). I've seen people say the second film is much weaker than the first, but i don't think this is right. I enjoyed it more, it's true, but the second is characterised by a sort of diffusion of coherence, of purpose, which makes complete sense in terms of the overall film. Male certainty is undermined and in the end completely absent as a sort of irrelevance, slightly stupefied, uncomprehending. This does not come across as a particularly political point - it merely happens.

• Not quite doubles. A temporal love quadrant that isn't quite isomorphic, merely temptingly allusive, constituted out of psychological projection and narrative construction perhaps. You think initially the present is doubling the past but actually one of the legs isn't quite right.

• Mistaken identity (related to the above ofc). It is not at all clear that Emma Zunas is who they identify her to be

• I've written here 'the emotional mists of the narrative, a mirage of a narrative.' Not sure what I mean, I think it's just that the detection of Laura leads her to create the narrative that leads her in the end to oblivion. What word would we use to describe this? Fate? Destiny? Folly? Madness? None seem quite right - it's the success of the film that it creates a new mood to cover what happens here. A sign of a work of art imv.

• This is also a set of loosely related short stories about Trenque Lauquen, hooked together somewhat quixotically, as i say.

That's Trenque Lauquen instead of whatever garbarge i managed to typo in the first line there. Well done fizzles.

i like your post Fizzles.

I really kind of hated Passages. I have admired Franz Rogowski in previous roles - Transit, A Hidden Life, Great Freedom - but this film was so off-putting. He was portrayed as a person of interest but was completely unlikeable and uninteresting as a character and I couldn’t muster any empathy for him or for that matter the two other characters who cared about him. I have seen a lot of Ira Sachs’ films and have liked them all up until now

otm, he was unpleasant and destroyed people’s quite selfishly. that’s identified v clearly in the opening directorial sequence. he’s selfish and controlling - incidentally that scene also identified the importance of the language of body posture in the film, which is incredibly well handled.

it feels like it’s also about the hard work of healing that people do around him as it is the character portrayal of the cause of the destruction. idk i felt it was intelligent about that sort of obsessional love and lust and the sort of person that causes it and the sort of wounds it leaves.

If you liked Trenque Lauquen, you may also like The Delinquents out in the uk later this month Fizzles. Rodrigo Moreno isn’t a member of el pampero cine as such, though he shares actors (notably Laura Paredes) and a similar literary framework, though this is in some ways more of a traditional noir.

Intrigued as to what the Milei regime is going to mean for this wave of Argentine filmmakers - by all accounts he is taking his fiscal chainsaw to most cultural budgets - tho one of the defining aspects of ECP is their independence from traditional funding streams.

Thanks PG, I’ll keep an eye out for it. And I’d wondered that about the collective as well - it’s a very appealing creative structure (i must catch up with some of their previous works). My feeling is these things tend to have a natural life but i hope as you say the Milei administration doesn’t damage their approach and funding capabilities.

otm, he was unpleasant and destroyed people’s quite selfishly. that’s identified v clearly in the opening directorial sequence. he’s selfish and controlling - incidentally that scene also identified the importance of the language of body posture in the film, which is incredibly well handled.

it feels like it’s also about the hard work of healing that people do around him as it is the character portrayal of the cause of the destruction. idk i felt it was intelligent about that sort of obsessional love and lust and the sort of person that causes it and the sort of wounds it leaves.

OTM. The film's not blind about Rogowski's toxicity and Whishaw's attempts to distance himself from it.

Between Passages and Keep the Lights On, seems pretty clear that toxic lover really left his mark on Ira Sachs

i'm really still having trouble liking Emma Stone but i absolutely cannot put my finger on why

She's a woman?

lol

I liked her as an actress in Birdman and The Favourite. I thought she was great in those. And as ambivalent as I was about La La Land, her humorous audition scene near the beginning where she was reading a sad script and managed to squeeze out a tear only to be interrupted and startled by some casting underling endeared her to me.

I'm not looking forward to Poor Things though, I think it is the kind of movie I will most certainly not like. And I'm not sure she deserves a second best actress award right yet.

like somebody said they knew when they saw her in The Favourite that she was the real deal, i remember it being a fine performance. i should see Birdman. but actually i think she's good at accents and quite skillful, and she has that very "real" quality which is nice. still there's something on a personal level that doesn't draw me in. not that it matters.

I enjoyed A.S. Hamrah's recap in N+1, for the insights and takes I hadn't heard before.

imho Poor Things is worth seeing even just for the gorgeous set design.

Why hire the great Patrice Rushen to play gentle jazz piano over everything, in a score she didn’t write herself?

You know ... very this!

And, this bit is chef's kiss (I liked Barbie):

Richard Brody of the New Yorker became Barbie’s Number One fan among film critics, tweeting about Barbie or its principals some three dozen times, including one tweet in French and another that stated that Barbie was a better movie than 2001: A Space Odyssey, “except for the unrivalled Stargate sequence.” Brody had mentioned Barbie as early as February 2020, more than three years before the film came out, in a review of the Robbie-superhero-starrer Birds of Prey, in which he told readers he was “greatly looking forward to her performance in the title role of Barbie, the next film by Greta Gerwig, who, I suspect, will have an altogether more original view of Robbie’s art.” That is what you call advance praise.

really enjoyed those, although the one for anatomy of a fall was just a weirdly unimaginative take on the husband's blaring of the steel drum p.i.m.p. song (it definitely doesn't more than make him seem faintly ridiculous) and claimed the rest of the film was po-faced, which i vm disagree with

does*

Yeah, that's one capsule I just had to give the "different strokes" shrug to

Two more 2023 films that I saw recently and enjoyed: Monster (Kore-Eda) and Iron Claw (Durkin).