I hoped not to cut it so close this year but here we are. With less than two hours left until the actual ceremony I give you the nominations I would have made for this year’s Oscars were I a member of the Academy. As usual, I have listed the films I believe should have been nominated for Best Picture, along with short (for me) justifications for why I feel they deserve that honor and the other awards each film should have received nominations for, before concluding with nominees from non-Best Picture films. The list is, of course, only based on films I have seen in completion, and I know some of my inclusions or exclusions may raise some eyebrows but, as always, I did my best to give my honest opinions. Enjoy.
Best Picture Nominees:
American Fiction
While successfully filtering complex issues related to race and the depictions of Black life in media through a comedic lens, American Fiction also excels as a straightforward, old-fashioned dramedy of the highest quality. Reliable character actor Jeffrey Wright shines with a subtle and complex performance as Thelonius “Monk” Ellison, a frustrated academic and author who whips up the worst novel he can think of in a spiteful attempt to highlight the racist limiting of Black art to repetitive, stereotypical stories, and is shocked when the exact kind of politically liberal but still unconsciously biased white readers he intended to mock make the book a runaway success. Writer-director Cord Jefferson is equally adept at capturing the snowballing cringe humor and biting satire of Monk’s increasingly ridiculous situation and the grounded, relatable struggles he deals with his in his personal life. Sterling K. Brown elevates already strong material with a hilarious and achingly vulnerable performance as Monk’s brother Cliff, who internally continues to struggle with self-acceptance and family-inflicted traumas while externally celebrating his recent coming out with lavish indulgence in sex, drugs, and alcohol.
Other Nominations for American Fiction: Best Director- Cord Jefferson, Best Actor- Jeffrey Wright, Best Supporting Actor- Sterling K. Brown, Best Adapted Screenplay
Barbie
Even the more lighthearted, commercial half of 2023’s theater-rejuvenating “Barbenheimer” phenomenon is still a serious achievement in filmmaking and representation. Barbie was subject to some extremely high, arguably unreasonable, expectations, with general audiences anticipating it as a more comedic, female-oriented blockbuster while academics and critics hoped that acclaimed filmmaker Greta Gerwig would be able to make a comprehensive statement about feminism based on the iconic but controversial line of dolls. The film’s success at meeting, or even exceeding, these expectations is a testament to its immense quality. Gerwig and Noah Baumbach’s self-aware script smoothly integrates the lofty hopes placed on the film into insightful criticism of the contradictory expectations society places on women, delivering these points without becoming preachy in a wildly funny, ultimately heartwarming story. Spectacular production and costume design and intentionally artificial-looking special effects create Barbie’s whimsical, wonderfully pink world in impressive and consistently amusing manners while an A-List cast is led by exceptional work from Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, and America Ferrera, who blend cartoonish comedy with relatable, all-too-human emotions, despite two of them literally playing dolls.
Other Nominations for Barbie: Best Director- Greta Gerwig, Best Actress- Margot Robbie, Best Supporting Actor- Ryan Gosling, Best Supporting Actress- America Ferrera, Best Cinematography, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup and Hair Styling
Eileen
In my opinion this dark period thriller was 2023’s most underrated film. Eileen Dunlop (Thomasin McKenzie) spends her days going from a dreary secretarial job at a corrections facility for juvenile men to the house she shares with her alcoholic, verbally abusive father, Jim (Shea Whigham). Longing for meaningful connections, she is immediately dazzled by the prison’s new psychologist, the glamourous Rebecca Saint John (Anne Hathaway), who takes her under her wing and inspires her with her unusual philosophies and assertive resistance to the blatant sexism of the 1960s. But what initially seems like an endearing friendship between two lonely women making the best of some profoundly unpleasant circumstances soon takes a dark turn, as Eileen’s fascination with Rebecca morphs into obsession and the older woman proves to be a truly dangerous influence. Director William Oldroyd and writers Ottessa Moshfegh and Luke Goebel, who based the film on Moshfegh’s own novel of the same name, successfully blend old fashioned mystery and noir thrills with modern approaches to the portrayal of women’s issues into a work that is both the height of harrowing entertainment and a bleak but impactful vision of female empowerment. Hathaway clearly relishes sinking her teeth into the complicated femme fatale character of Rebecca and Marin Ireland does striking work in a brief role the details of which spoil too many of the film’s enthralling twists. But McKenzie’s central performance rightfully stands out the most, making Eileen a fascinating mixture of relatable longing, supremely dark humor, and frightening ruthlessness.
Other Nominations for Eileen- Best Director- William Oldroyd, Best Actress- Thomasin McKenzie, Best Supporting Actress- Anne Hathaway, Best Cinematography, Best Production Design
Killers of the Flower Moon
For his first Western legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese depicts a series of horrific real-life tragedies, the Osage Indian murders that occurred between the 1910s and 1930s as a cabal of white men covertly killed members of the Osage Nation, many of whom were their wives, in order to steal the wealth they would gain for oil found on the tribe’s land in Oklahoma. Leonardo DiCaprio is the film’s nominal lead and undoubtedly does fine work as Ernest Burkhart, who participates in the massive inheritance conspiracy initiated by his uncle, William King Hale (Robert De Niro, at his most chilling), but it’s Lily Gladstone, who plays Mollie Kyle, the woman Ernest himself marries and eventually attempts to poison to death, that dominates the tragic historical drama. Even though Gladstone is offscreen for large portions of the nearly 3-and-a-half-hour film and spends long scenes portraying Mollie in increasingly dire states of health, her presence is consistent and brings to life Mollie’s inspiring resilience in the face of her horrific ordeal. For more reasons than just the length (though the merits of that are debatable) this is not Scorsese’s sharpest work, with some supporting performances feeling tonally out of place and aspects of the ending coming across as the filmmakers patting themselves on the back for bringing attention to the story, but it’s still an effectively disturbing, unfortunately relevant film that is extremely well-crafted.
Other Nominations for Killers of the Flower Moon: Best Director- Martin Scorsese, Best Actress- Lily Gladstone, Best Supporting Actor- Robert De Niro
Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning- Part One
To be clear, the latest installment in the long-running Mission Impossible franchise does not reach the same astounding heights of quality of its most recent predecessors, which are rightly considered to be two of the greatest action films of all time. The new film underuses some of the series’ beloved recurring cast members, like Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Pegg, and Ving Rhames in favor of new characters, only one of whom, Hayley Atwell’s Grace, is given a fully satisfying storyline. New villain Gabriel (Esai Morales) is much less threatening than prior big bads like those played by Sean Harris and Henry Cavill. And the film, meant to serve as the first in a two-part entry, is plagued by the lack of closure that affects many “Part One” films. That all being said, even a Mission that comes up a bit short of earlier ones is still more impressively constructed and entertaining than the majority of other recent films, regardless of genre. Directing his third film in the franchise, for which he has also long served as a writer, Christopher McQuarrie continues to masterfully blend old-fashioned suspense with the best of modern filmmaking technologies and techniques, able to construct breathtaking, mostly practical action sequences thanks to star Tom Cruise’s fearless commitment to doing his own stunts. A timely plot about the dangers of artificial intelligence also gives “Dead Reckoning- Part One” real-world relevance that creates more involving stakes for the wild action.
Other Nominations for Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning- Part One: Best Director- Christopher McQuarrie, Best Supporting Actress- Rebecca Ferguson, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, Best Visual Effects
Poor Things
After already earning a heap of accolades for their first collaboration, the absurdist 2018 period film The Favourite, Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone re-teamed for this even more bizarre dramedy. Based on a novel of the same name, Poor Things follows Bella Baxter (Stone), a woman with the body of an adult but brain of an infant, who scientist Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe) brought to life in one of his mad experiments. Although initially content with a confined existence, Bella eventually comes to desire more freedom and begins traveling the world, with her unusual nature calling attention to and challenging societal norms on a host of issues ranging from gender relations and sexual desires to basic manners. Stone commands the screen with 2023’s most fearless and unique performance, a triumph of awkward body language and modified speech, with Dafoe and Mark Ruffalo turning in amusingly ridiculous, but still nuanced supporting turns. But while the acting, especially that of his leading lady, is what shines brightest, Lanthimos’ film has plenty of other commendable qualities, chief among them costumes, makeup, production design, and cinematography that bring its characteristically bonkers world, a kind of twisted fantasy version of Victorian-era Europe, to life in spectacular fashion.
Other Nominations for Poor Things: Best Director- Yorgos Lanthimos, Best Actress- Emma Stone, Best Supporting Actor- Willem Dafoe, Best Supporting Actor- Mark Ruffalo, Best Cinematography, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score
Saltburn
Poor Things’ science fiction/fantasy touches probably give it the edge in terms of pure weirdness, but Emerald Fennel’s satirical thriller has a similar tendency to frequently show the viewer things they can’t believe they’re seeing onscreen, at least not in a high-profile prestige film. To say too much about Saltburn’s plot is to risk spoiling an assortment of truly wild plot twists but it suffices to say that viewers will not get the possibly romantic story they expect when down on his luck Oxford student Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) strikes up an unexpected friendship (or is it more?) with wealthy classmate Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi) and is invited to spend the summer at his family mansion, the titular Saltburn. It’s probably the least consistent film on this list, and certainly not as sharp as Fennel’s excellent debut feature, Promising Young Woman, with a good deal of tonal confusion and some gruesome sights that are seemingly included for little reason other than shock value, but it’s still a bold and intriguing piece of work presented in an interesting and foreboding visual style. And, most of all, it’s a good star vehicle for Keoghan, who proves once again his masterful skill at playing freakishly frightening characters who still manage to suck the viewer in with unusual charisma.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Elitist cinephiles and disgruntled fans have been slinging even more mud at the superhero genre than usual lately, especially for its recent trend of employing the especially comic booky practice of traveling to alternate realities, but the astounding quality of the Spider-Verse films continues to be the perfect rebuttal to their negativity, showing the immense storytelling potential of both the genre and the multiverse concept. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse expands on both the groundbreaking stylistic experimentation of Into the Spider-Verse and its grounded stories about family and growing up, resulting in a heartfelt and inspiring tale delivered in one of the most technically impressive animated films ever made.
After already saving the world once, Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) and Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) continue to grapple with classic superhero conundrums caused by their double lives as their worlds’ respective Spider-Man and Spider-Woman. But while they soon get swept up in another elaborate plot with ramifications for the entire multiverse their arcs remain relatable coming of age tales that lead to complex character development for both them and the parents they often find themselves at odds with. And while this human, emotional core is the film’s greatest success it is also an exhilarating action adventure of the highest order. With a wide assortment of art and animation styles that accentuate the personalities and themes of each character, including particularly stunning use of color, directors Joaquin Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson and the thousands of other artists involved in the film deliver an audiovisual feast that pushes the boundaries of cinematic storytelling in ways few other films dare to dream of.
Other Nominations for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse: Best Director- Joaquin Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, Best Animated Film
Oppenheimer
One filmmaker who consistently takes equally full advantage of the potential of cinema is Christopher Nolan and his latest film is one of his highest achievements, depicting a crucial, politically complex historical tale in such distinctive and fascinating ways that it generates as much pulse-pounding excitement as the expertly crafted action thrillers he’s famous for. Nolan and company adapt the drama of J. Robert Oppenheimer’s (Cillian Murphy) life and his work related to the creation and control of nuclear weapons in the non-linear fashion favored by the experimental director, creating a multi-layered drama that is thrilling for every moment of its 3-hour-runtime and explores universal emotions like ambition, jealousy, and regret as well as eternally relevant themes of political paranoia and corruption. Recurring Nolan collaborators like Murphy, cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema, and composer Ludwig Göransson continue to show why their partnerships with the director are so creatively fruitful, with Murphy doing particularly magnetic work in the challenging role as lead of the film’s immensely talented ensemble, which also features show-stopping performances from supporting actors like Robert Downey Jr., Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Florence Pugh, and a host of others. Nolan delivers masterpieces so regularly that it is easy to take them for granted but with Oppenheimer he suggests that, unbelievable as it may seem, his talents are only continuing to grow and cements himself as one of, if not the most important filmmaker of the current age.
Other Nominations for Oppenheimer: Best Director- Christopher Nolan, Best Actor- Cillian Murphy, Best Supporting Actor- Robert Downey Jr., Best Supporting Actress- Emily Blunt and Florence Pugh, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, Best Production Design, Best Visual Effects
Other Nominees:
Best Cinematography- The Killer
Best Actress- Fantasia Barrino- The Color Purple
Best Supporting Actress- Taraji P. Henson- The Color Purple
Best Supporting Actress- Danielle Brooks- The Color Purple
Best Actor- Colman Domingo- Rustin
Best Actor- Harrison Ford- Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Best Supporting Actor- Jason Momoa- Fast X
Greg Goes to the Movies 