Awards season has absolutely flown by, and I cannot believe the Oscars are in just a few days! 2023 certainly wasn’t the best year of movies I’ve ever seen, but there are definitely some standouts in the Best Picture pool. I’m also delighted to report that I don’t flat-out hate any of the Best Picture nominees this year, and that, uh, was not really the case last year.
Before I get into these, just a heads-up that according to Substack, this post is apparently “too long for email,” which means that for most of you, this post will be clipped at the bottom of your email, and you will need to click a button to read the rest of the post.
Anyway! Here are the Best Picture nominees ranked from worst to best. Just my opinion. And if you scroll all the way down, you’ll find two incredibly overdue lists of my favorite films of 2023. Let’s get it!
American Fiction
Directed by Cord Jefferson
Nominated for 5 Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Actor (Jeffrey Wright), Best Supporting Actor (Sterling K. Brown), Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Score
In theaters now and available to rent or buy on Amazon, YouTube, Google Play, and other VOD platforms
I did not anticipate that this would be my least favorite nominee of the year. A satire about racism and publishing should be right up my alley, but I’m afraid that Cord Jefferson’s screenplay just doesn’t do it for me.
American Fiction feels like two completely different films smushed together. One film is the central plot: a Black writer isn’t experiencing much success with his novels, discovers a critically acclaimed book by a Black author that features tons of Black stereotypes, and then writes his own pander-y satirical novel out of spite. The other film is the B-plot: a Black writer is dealing with sickness and death in his family, and begins dating someone new. You’d think that this movie would be focused primarily on the central plot but it honestly feels more 50/50, and that balance is… odd. Yes, the B-plot fleshes out the character of Monk, the writer, but it doesn’t help add context for the central plot. Overall, American Fiction feels Hollywood-ized and lacks edge, risk, and focus, all of which would’ve made this a more successful and compelling satire. (I’m also confused about Sterling K. Brown’s best supporting actor nomination which was completely unwarranted because he’s on screen for truly two seconds and is part of the irrelevant B-plot. Just one of several acting nominations that don’t make sense this year!)
Maestro
Directed by Bradley Cooper
Nominated for 7 Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Actor (Bradley Cooper), Best Actress (Carey Mulligan), Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, and Best Sound
Streaming on Netflix
This is just, like… forgettable. Bradley Cooper’s performance is fine. Carey Mulligan’s performance is fun. Not sure if either are Oscar-worthy, but that doesn’t matter since neither of them are winning. Ha ha!
My main issue with Maestro is that for a film about Leonard Bernstein, it doesn’t tell us a lot about Bernstein as a composer or conductor. Yes, I know Cooper famously spent six years studying conducting to prepare for this film, but he literally only conducts for six minutes of the movie. The screenplay (which Cooper himself co-wrote) focuses on Bernstein’s relationship with his wife, but I also feel like I didn’t learn much about that, since their dialogue doesn’t have much depth. The most compelling parts of the film are the ones that allude to Bernstein’s queerness and how he attempted to grapple with it, but those moments fly by pretty quickly, and again… I didn’t learn a thing about Bernstein as a composer. Guess I’ll read his Wikipedia article instead.
Oppenheimer
Directed by Christopher Nolan
Nominated for too many (13) Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Cillian Murphy), Best Supporting Actor (Robert Downey Jr.), Best Supporting Actress (Emily Blunt), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Editing, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Original Score, Best Production Design, and Best Sound
Streaming on Peacock and available to rent or buy on Amazon, YouTube, Google Play, and other VOD platforms
Let me first say something super predictable and on brand: very few movies need to be three entire hours long. Oppenheimer is a literal biopic. We know who this guy is, we know his whole deal. Nolan absolutely could’ve cut some things. My bladder should not be experiencing discomfort during a screening of any film, period!
The nonlinear structure of the film was kinda confusing for me to process, primarily because it took me way too long to understand that Lewis Strauss (I seriously can’t believe Robert Downey Jr. is nominated for this) is a major player in the story. The movie as a whole is okay! A solid three out of five! I’m just not the target audience. I cannot emphasize enough that I don’t have much else to say about this.
The Zone of Interest
Directed by Jonathan Glazer
Nominated for 5 Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best International Feature Film, and Best Sound
Available to rent or buy on Amazon, YouTube, Google Play, and other VOD platforms
This is where the Best Picture nominees start to get interesting! The Zone of Interest tells the story of the Nazi commandant Rudolf Höss and his wife Hedwig, who live in their dream home with their beautiful garden and five children… right next to Auschwitz. (Yes, these people did exist in real life.) When preparing for the film, writer-director Jonathan Glazer made many visits to Auschwitz and Höss’ home, and realized that it would be best for him to not only focus the narrative on the home itself but also make it so the atrocities in Auschwitz would be heard but never seen on camera. He explained, “The sound was a huge part, the sound is the other film, and, arguably, the film, for me.” Due to the particular story that the film tells, this creative choice makes complete sense to me, and it creates such a haunting, chilling effect. The Oscar nomination for Best Sound is well-deserved.
My main critique is the film’s slow pace, which is a matter of personal preference for me. I feel that this actually could’ve been a short film, maybe 20-30 minutes or so. Pace aside, The Zone of Interest is a compelling project, even when it doesn’t 100% compel me personally.
Anatomy of a Fall
Directed by Justine Triet
Nominated for 5 Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (Sandra Hüller), Best Original Screenplay, and Best Editing
Available to rent or buy on Amazon, YouTube, Google Play, and other VOD platforms
Sandra Hüller is having an incredible year; she not only plays Hedwig in The Zone of Interest, but also gives an iconic performance as the lead in Anatomy of a Fall. Did I mention that she speaks German, French, and English in both of those films combined? Let’s go, girlboss!
In the film, Hüller’s character’s husband suddenly passes away (from a fall! Who could’ve predicted this!), and she quickly becomes the main suspect for his murder—if he even was murdered. The movie is billed as a thriller, but I should warn you that it’s quite a slow burn, much slower than I anticipated. Definitely a great film to watch without knowing anything about it besides the premise, so I won’t say much else. I do need to rewatch it, because I don’t think I fully understood what I was signing up for until I saw the ending. Oops! I’m not saying anything, I’m keeping my mouth shut! That’s it!
Killers of the Flower Moon
Directed by Martin Scorsese
Nominated for 10 Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (Lily Gladstone), Best Supporting Actor (Robert De Niro), Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, Best Original Score, and Best Original Song
Streaming on Apple TV+ and available to rent or buy on Amazon, YouTube, Google Play, and other VOD platforms
Not to sound like a broken record, but… very few movies need to be three hours long. Even fewer movies need to be three and a half hours long. Scorsese unsurprisingly stands by the runtime of Killers of the Flower Moon, saying in October, “People say it's three hours, but come on. You can sit in front of the TV and watch something for five hours.”
Marty. My guy. Now, I totally understand where he’s coming from. He’s definitely a cinema purist, and we’ve known that for a while. (I will never forget him saying, “That’s not cinema.” about Marvel movies.) I also know that he wouldn’t have taken my personal advice that perhaps Killers of the Flower Moon would’ve benefited from being an HBO miniseries. But Mr. Scorsese needs to understand that people are capable of watching five hours of TV because the PAUSE BUTTON exists! My impressive ability to watch five hours of Vanderpump Rules in one afternoon is absolutely incomparable to my experience squirming in my seat at the Alamo Drafthouse, struggling to decide when exactly my piss break should be while watching Leonardo DiCaprio gaslight, gatekeep, and commit crimes for three and a half hours.
Anyway. It’s a good movie! It is! Lily Gladstone’s performance is as incredible as everyone’s saying it is, though I don’t think Scorsese actually gives her enough to do. I also don’t think the film concludes with enough emotional catharsis or enough necessary “oomph,” if that makes sense. But it’s definitely worth watching not only for Lily but also for the heartbreaking, traumatic history of the Osage Nation that is revealed in this story.
Poor Things
Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
Nominated for 11 Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (Emma Stone), Best Supporting Actor (Mark Ruffalo), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Production Design, Best Cinematography, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Costume Design, and Best Editing
In theaters now and available to rent or buy on Amazon, YouTube, Google Play, and other VOD platforms
I will never understand why the Internet decided to latch onto Saltburn as the token 2023 film that was extremely “shocking,” “disturbing,” etc. Poor Things literally exists! Poor Things makes Saltburn look silly and fun!
My confession: I took my unsuspecting boyfriend to see this film, and when the trailers concluded and a brief video message from Yorgos Lanthimos began playing, I whispered, “Wait, have you seen anything of his films before?” Mike said, “No,” and I quickly realized that I may have made a mistake. Imagine going into a Lanthimos film cold. This man hasn’t even seen The Favourite. My God. What had I done?
Anyway, Poor Things was unsurprisingly not Mike’s cup of tea, but it sure was mine! Emma Stone genuinely might give the best Best Actress performance of the year. The film also features some of the best dialogue of the year. Production design… weird and wacky! Costumes… also weird and wacky! Such a fun, unexpectedly moving roller coaster of a movie. I’m back in my capital-F Feminist era for real!
The Holdovers
Directed by Alexander Payne
Nominated for 5 Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Actor (Paul Giamatti), Best Supporting Actress (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), Best Original Screenplay, and Best Editing
Streaming on Peacock Premium and available to rent or buy on Amazon, YouTube, Google Play, and other VOD platforms
Yes, this movie is corny as hell, but it’s so earnest in its messaging that I can’t help but love it. It’s literally about the reverse Grinchification of Paul Giamatti, and he gives such a wholesome performance. Also, Dominic Sessa is an instant star, and he’s very funny in interviews, which I love. My favorite thing about The Holdovers is that it has such a classic 70s look, thanks especially to the cinematography and color grading. It’s beautiful to look at and it gave me such a cozy feeling in the theater; I can actually envision myself watching this during future Christmases.
Barbie
Directed by Greta Gerwig
Nominated for 7 Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Ryan Gosling), Best Supporting Actress (America Ferrera), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Costume Design, Best Original Song, and Best Production Design
Streaming on Max and available to rent or buy on Amazon, YouTube, Google Play, and other VOD platforms
I mean… come on. She’s an instant classic. Here’s the Letterboxd review I wrote after my first watch:
I pretty much stand by my take on the “feminism 101” of it all: I’m happy for people who learned more about feminism or had some sort of feminist awakening as a result of this film and that very stale America Ferrera monologue, but I’m not the target audience for all that, and that’s cool! I still love this movie, and I loved it even more when I rewatched it with my mom, who was also surprised by how much she enjoyed it.
I must say, too, that Ryan Gosling as Ken is genuinely one of my favorite performances of 2023, and not one person is capable of making me feel basic, silly, or wrong about that take! I like fun! Some people don’t! That is a personal problem for them! Anyway, great movie, and I look forward to watching it again.
Past Lives
Directed by Celine Song
Nominated for ONLY 2 Academy Awards: Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay
Streaming on Paramount+ with Showtime and available to rent or buy on Amazon, YouTube, Google Play, and other VOD platforms
We all saw this coming. Past Lives was always going to be #1. Granted, when I first watched, I wasn’t completely sold, and it didn’t fully hit me until I watched it again, this time with my parents. I cried so much at the end of the film that when my parents got up and started to leave the theater, I said, “Wait, I’m not done crying,” and had to cry for a minute longer while the credits rolled. Yes, my parents left the theater without me. Yes, they made fun of me after!!
Anyway, this movie is messed up. MESSED UP. The dialogue isn’t perfect. Not even Greta Lee’s lead performance is perfect, in my opinion. But there is so much heart in this story and in these characters (yes, even that white guy!), and it speaks volumes that I haven’t stopped thinking about this movie since I watched it nine months ago. That’s cinema, baby. If you haven’t watched Past Lives already… it’s time.
If you read all of that, thank you so much for humoring me and my silly takes! As a treat, here are two lists of my favorite movies from last year. If you need me, I’ll be prepping for my Oscars party and frantically working on my OSCAR PREDICTIONS!!! Yay! In the meantime, let me know what your favorite and least favorite Best Picture nominees are, I’d love to hear from you. Hope you’re having a lovely week!
Favorite films of 2023:
Past Lives
Nimona
Barbie
Rye Lane
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Nai Nai & Wài Pó
The Holdovers
Poor Things
All of Us Strangers
Saltburn
Favorite films I watched for the first time in 2023 (excluding 2023 releases):
Oldboy (2003)
Secrets & Lies (1996)
Cameraperson (2016)
Brief Encounter (1945)
Women Talking (2022)
Bringing Up Baby (1938)
The Fabelmans (2022)
The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005)
Saving Face (2004)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Even when I disagree with your takes, I always respect them and eagerly await them!