While 2023 has been an excellent year for films. Sadly, as has been the case in most recent years, the movies that receive nominations for the big awards, specifically the Oscars, haven’t been my favorite. This year continues the trend. At the time of this post, I have three of the predicted ten Best Picture nominated movies in my Top 10 movies of 2023, with that number more likely to go down than up as I revisit my thoughts. The same can said of the nominations in the other awards, specifically the other Big Five. It has felt as if the voters are more interested in rewarding actors who traditionally get nominated or are due for their first nomination, and the nomination is a longevity award rather than an outstanding performance that year.
Category Archives: Comedy
Poor Things (2023)
Give Emma Stone (La La Land, Battle of the Sexes) this year’s Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role. This category is going to be STACKED for 2023-released, eligible movies. With six weeks left before the nominations, I have seen all films perceived as frontrunners. Lily Gladstone (Kill of the Flower Moon) was the thought-to-be shoo-in for most of the year heading into the fall. Gladstone delivers an award-deserving performance. However, I would rather see her considered in the Best Actress in a Supporting Role category, where I think that performance fits better (at the time of this post, it is still being determined which category Gladstone will be submitted for. The others expected to be in consideration for Best Actress in a Leading Role are Greta Lee (Past Lives), Carey Mulligan (Maestro), Margot Robbie (Barbie), and Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall). Each is deserving of a nomination. No one in this group has a chance to beat Stone or Gladstone. Stone is my pick to win.
The Holdovers (2023)
As I’m not the biggest fan of director Alexander Payne (About Schmidt, Election, and even less of one of Paul Giamatti (Saving Mr. Banks, Straight Outta Compton), I was lukewarm, at best, about seeing The Holders, a reunion of the director/actor duo that combined for 2004’s Sideways, a beloved critic and audience favorite, but a film I suffered through for 20 minutes before deciding that it was not for me. Sideways was a movie I was sure I would not enjoy, but I attempted it anyway because of the hype. I was miserable. After watching the trailer for The Holdovers, I anticipated a similar type of dread. However, I was willing to give this one a chance after hearing from critics and audiences that this film, while heartfelt and poignant, still maintained some edge.
She Came To Me (2023)
The biggest compliment I can give Rebecca Miller’s (The Ballad of Jack and Rose, Maggie’s Plan) unmemorable She Came To Me was that it was creative. I crave originality. While none of the singular components were necessarily imaginative, the sum of the parts brought a freshness that kept me engaged. Unfortunately, I left feeling uninspired and disappointed as Miller dipped in and out of genres. Pegged as a romantic dramedy, I never felt involved enough with the characters to take the film seriously. Likewise, the comedy was a miss for me, though I heard some chuckling from the other ten or so people in my theater. And, while the film centered around intimate relationships at its core, this was far from checking off the romance genre checkbox. In all, it was pretty messy as it crawled towards a predictable finish line, misusing the talents of three of Hollywood’s biggest names in the process.
Dumb Money (2023)
I love it when a movie is timely and relevant. I refer to The Social Network, the 2010 origin film about the social phenomenon of Facebook. This social media platform had been made available to the public less than four years earlier. Aaron Sorokin and David Fincher worked magic to create such a masterpiece quickly. I still maintain that The King’s Speech beating The Social Network for Best Picture was one of the biggest shams in Oscar history. It showed just how antiquated and set in their ways The Academy had become. While Craig Gillespie’s (I, Tonya, Lars and the Real Girl) Dumb Money is not entirely on the same level as The Social Network, its timely significance cannot be overlooked. Though in a completely different way, the events in Dumb Money are (to many individuals, organizations, and sectors) as impactful as to those in The Social Network.