Most of these movies are the awards winners from last year, minus Oppenheimer and Barbie, which were reviewed in the Some Other Movies From 2023 entry. I'll list some of the awards they received under each title, though this entry is far from comprehensive.
Excellent
1. Rustin
(Somewhat) closeted homosexual and civil rights leader Bayard Rustin helps organize the March on Washington. Colman Domingo's portrayal of Rustin deserved the praise it received, but what really sold this movie for me was how successfully it showcases Martin Luther King Jr.'s magnetism. Up to this point several films have attempted to use King as a character, but their interpretations usually come up short.
2. Perfect Days
Cannes - Best Actor, Prize of the Ecumenical Jury
The life and times of a janitor living in Tokyo. Perfect Days is a very understated movie from director Wim Wenders, but the awards buzz it generated makes perfect sense.
This movie will remind you how "stuck in the 90s" Japan is technology-wise. I've visited various parts of that country, and yeah, this part of the movie feels very accurate.
3. Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie
BAFTA - Best Documentary
Documentary on Michael J. Fox's struggles with Parkinson's. The director, Davis Guggenheim, has been doing quality work for a while now, and the subject of this movie is very candid about both his condition and how it's played into his personal circumstances.
Fun Fact: Davis Guggenheim is married to actress Elisabeth Shue. Shue appeared alongside Micheal J. Fox in Back to the Future Part III.
4. American Fiction
BAFTA - Best Adapted Screenplay, Academy Awards - Best Adapted Screenplay
Jeffrey Wright: one of my all-time favorite actors. He's in Rustin (above) for a bit, but it's in American Fiction that he really shines.
This film offers something of a running commentary on what it means to be a black writer in America, and also how expectations with regard to the Black Experience often fall short of the reality. On one level there's the author Jeffrey Wright plays throughout the course of the film, and on another level there's the author he's pretending to be. On the whole it's a clever and involving story, and I take my hat off to Cord Jefferson, the writer of the screenplay.
5. Ferrari
Enzo Ferrari stakes the future of his company on the outcome of a single race. And no, it's not the race featured at the end of Ford vs. Ferrari, though the two movies do share some of the same characters and events.
Ferrari is a Michael Mann film, so yeah, it's not likely to disappoint. Adam Driver is masterful in the lead role, and Penelope Cruz is also excellent as his scheming wife. It's possible that some dismissed this movie after Driver's performance in House of Gucci, but Ferrari is another kind of film altogether.
And keep your eyes peeled for Patrick Dempsey. He all but vanishes into his role in this movie.
Fun Fact: Before Driver's casting Christian Bale and later Hugh Jackman were set to star in this film.
6. The Iron Claw
Four wrestling brothers seek their domineering father's approval. Zac Efron is excellent in this movie, and it's a much less derivative take on the oft-explored world of professional wrestling.
7. The Zone of Interest
Academy Awards - Best International Feature Film, Best Sound, BAFTA - Best Sound, Cannes - Grand Prix, FIPRESCI Prize, Soundtrack Award, CST Artist-Technician Award
Domestic Bliss outside the walls of Auschwitz. That scene with the flowers... damn. I heartily approve of the Oscar for Best Sound. This film also won many other awards and deserved them all.
I haven't seen 2004's Birth, but Jonathan Glazer's other two films, Sexy Beast and Under the Skin, are worth seeing.
Weird and Worth Watching
1. Dream Scenario
Nicholas Cage mysteriously appears in people's dreams and the results, for him at least, are disastrous. Dream Scenario is in some ways the kind of movie that Infinity Pool (below) is trying to be. Both movies aim for a certain surrealism, but where Infinity Pool attempts to distract the viewer from a weak premise with sex, violence and "body horror," Dream Scenario communicates its ideas without resorting to such tricks. Anyone who enjoyed Cage in Adaptation will also enjoy Dream Scenario.
2. May December
I swear Julianne Moore is the queen of unsettling, depressing movies. In this one she stars alongside Natalie Portman as a woman romantically involved with a MUCH younger man, and in director Todd Haynes' hands both of their performances lead to a predictably disturbing conclusion. I particularly enjoyed the soundtrack, which keeps everything slightly off-kilter.
A Rough Watch, but In a Class by Itself
1. 20 Days in Mariupol
Academy Awards - Best Documentary Feature Film
Documentary on the Russian siege of Mariupol, a city on the Ukrainian coast. Given the conditions in which it was filmed, it's not fair to judge this film with respect to editing, camerawork and the like, but suffice to say it's a difficult if powerful hour and a half.
Some Good Ones
1. Jules
An extraterrestrial befriends a circle of senior citizens. The great Ben Kingsley heads up this effort, with Jane Curtin (!) and Harriet Sansom Harris as his two friends. It doesn't go anywhere that 1985's Cocoon hasn't been already, but it's a cute movie full of engaging performances.
2. Knox Goes Away
Michael Keaton directed and starred in this film about a hitman facing a rapid decline in cognition. The critical response was muted, but I think it's a well put-together movie that builds to a satisfying conclusion. The exchanges between Keaton's and James Marsden's characters are -- if you'll excuse the slight pun -- very memorable.
3. The Holdovers
Academy Awards - Best Supporting Actress, Golden Globe - Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress
A young man "held over" at a boarding school comes to terms with his past with the help of his eccentric teacher.
...what, not "Excellent?" I dunno, I found some of the dialogue in this film somewhat anachronistic. It's pitch perfect in terms of characterization, yes, but I'm not sure that it fits into the time period. I'm still a big fan of both Alexander Payne and Paul Giamatti, but I wouldn't put this movie on the same level as Nebraska, Sideways or About Schmidt.
But hey, it was nominated for five Academy Awards and won one of them, so feel free to disagree with me.
4. Killers of the Flower Moon
Golden Globe - Best Actress
The Osage Nation finds itself at the mercy of outsiders seeking oil money. It has a great opening sequence, great performances, and a memorable ending, but at 3+ hours it's a big ask. Lily Gladstone deserved her Best Actress win, but I walked away from this film wishing it had been shorter and more to the point.
5. Anatomy of a Fall
Cannes - Palm d'Or, Palm Dog Award, Golden Globe - Best Picture - Non-English Language, Best Screenplay, BAFTA - Best Screenplay, Academy Awards - Best Original Screenplay
I'm completely mystified by the French criminal justice system. The Santa Claus robes, the conversational approach to cross-examination, the treatment of witnesses... it's all very foreign to me.
In Anatomy of a Fall a woman is tried for the murder (or at least manslaughter) of her husband, and the result is a debate over truth vs. the perception thereof. It's a well executed film that tackles some big ideas, but I wasn't entirely convinced by the son character. It could be that French children are more mature than the kinds of kids I've taught in junior high school, and it could be that French law works differently with respect to juvenile witnesses, but I found his testimony and the way in which he arrives at this testimony more frustrating than believable.
Sandra Huller, the star of this movie, also stars as the domineering housewife in The Zone of Interest above.
6. Society of the Snow
Mmm... people meat!
In Society of the Snow a Uruguayan rugby team struggles to survive after a crash in the Andes. It's a good film, but DAMN it's depressing. The event which inspired this film has inspired several other feature films and documentaries, but I think it's safe to say that Society of the Snow will remain the authoritative version for some time.
Not Bad, Just Not My Thing
1. The Color Purple
Rustin's Colman Domingo again, this time as Celie's abusive husband. It's a good movie, but I liked the original more. Watching people burst into song after a woman's been forced to give up the child she had by her father is jarring to say the least.
This might be the most-nominated movie of 2023. It didn't win any of the big awards, but it sure was nominated a lot.
Uh...?
1. Infinity Pool
Things take a turn for the weird after several tourists encounter a foreign country's criminal justice system. Brandon Cronenberg directed this one, with Alexander Skarsgard starring as a man in deep, deep trouble.
A Bad One
1. The Family Plan
Road Trip! Ex-"government assassin" Mark Wahlberg takes his family to Vegas by car after his cover is blown. Even relative to other action/comedy movies, pivotal scenes in The Family Plan are incredibly contrived, to the extent that it's all but impossible to focus on this film past its initial five minutes. It was probably intended as a mashup of True Lies and National Lampoon's Vacation, though The Family Plan falls far, far short of either movie.
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