2023

For me, “best of the year” doesn’t really come into focus until I have ran my “Oscars Gauntlet (seeing every nominated film for the year)”, so it makes more sense to put all of my thoughts for the year into this post along with my Oscar predictions/desires.

2023 had a lot of life changes for me and it became a struggle to reach the theater as much as I used to or wanted. When I did eventually see films, it was even more difficult to collect my thoughts and record them for prosperity/sharing. So much so that I am cramming as much as I can out at the last possible moment.

This shall be my summation of the cinematic year. My favorites and my Oscar thoughts. I usually tally up all the films I have seen and give some background, but I just don’t have the time or energy this go round so… here is my incomplete (it can never be enough) list of the best films of the year and more. 

Favorite Movies of the Year 2023

For the first time I couldn’t come to a genuine defined list of the best, so these will be here unranked

• Zone of Interest - 7-9

• The Boy and the Heron - 7/8

• Anatomy of a Fall - 8

• Poor Things - 8

• Barbie - 8

• Oppenheimer - 8

• The Holdovers - 8

• Past Lives - 8

• Spider-Verse: Across - 8

• John Wick 4 - 7

Honorable Mentions:

• How to Blow Up a Pipeline - 7

• When Evil Lurks - 7

• The Killer - 7

• Fist of the Condor - 7

Others to see but haven’t yet: The Iron Claw, Occupied City, Menus Plaisirrs - Les Troisgros, Monster, Fallen Leaves, The Taste of Things, Dream Scenario, Cassandro, and Master Gardener

DOCUMENTARY of the year:

Four Daughters - 8

Usually I have more thoughts about films of this year, but due to the nature of this post and its timing, I am giving you MY OFFICIAL OSCAR PREDICTIONS, as maybe your only friend who actually SAW EVERY SINGLE FILM NOMINATED.

I will pick who I PREDICT to win, who I think SHOULD win, and a few SNUBBED nominations (but the Academy mostly got the right nominees this year). Listen to me kid and win your Oscar pool.

Best Picture

PREDICTION & SHOULD: OPPENHEIMER

Emma Thomas, Charles Roven and Christopher Nolan, Producers

SNUBBED: No snubs this year

Best Director 

PREDICTION: Christopher Nolan (OPPENHEIMER) 

SHOULD: Feels like a cop out, but I think anyone of these would be fine with me. A collection of stunning visions articulated on screen. 

Best Lead Actor

PREDICTED: CILLIAN MURPHY (Oppenheimer) 

SHOULD: PAUL GIAMATTI (The Holdovers) 

Best Lead Actress

PREDICTED: LILY GLADSTONE (Killers of the Flower Moon)

SHOULD: EMMA STONE (Poor Things)

Best Supporting Actor

PREDICTED & SHOULD: ROBERT DOWNEY JR. (Oppenheimer) 

But, Gosling and Ruffalo were both deserving as well.

Best Supporting Actress

PREDICTED & SHOULD: DA'VINE JOY RANDOLPH (The Holdovers) 

SNUBBED: JULIANNE MOORE (May December) - I didn’t like the movie but she was deserving of recognition

Best Adapted Screenplay

PREDICTED [CAN’T DECIDE ON SHOULD] AMERICAN FICTION, Screenplay by Cord Jefferson

Best Original Screenplay

PREDICTED & SHOULD: ANATOMY OF A FALL, Written by Justine Triet and Arthur Harari

Best Cinematography 

PREDICTED: OPPENHEIMER, Hoyte van Hoytema

SHOULD: POOR THINGS, Robbie Ryan

Best Documentary Feature Film 

PREDICTED: 20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL, Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner and Raney Aronson-Rath

SHOULD: FOUR DAUGHTERS, Kaouther Ben Hania and Nadim Cheikhrouha

Best Film Editing

PREDICTED & SHOULD: OPPENHEIMER, Jennifer Lame

Best International Feature Film 

PREDICTED & SHOULD: THE ZONE OF INTEREST (United Kingdom) 

Best Original Song 

PREDICTED & SHOULD: “WHAT WAS I MADE FOR?” from Barbie; Music and Lyric by Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell  

Best Production Design 

PREDICTED & SHOULD: POOR THINGS, Production Design: James Price and Shona Heath; Set Decoration: Zsuzsa Mihalek

*NOTE: BARBIE is right there as well

Best Costume Design 

PREDICTED: BARBIE, Jacqueline Durran

SHOULD: POOR THINGS, Holly Waddington

Best Visual Effects

PREDICTED & SHOULD: GODZILLA MINUS ONE, Takashi Yamazaki, Kiyoko Shibuya, Masaki Takahashi and Tatsuji Nojima

Best Animated Feature Film 

PREDICTED & SHOULD: THE BOY AND THE HERON, Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki

NOTE: SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Amy Pascal IS NECK AND NECK

Best Makeup and Hairstyling 

PREDICTED: MAESTRO, Kazu Hiro, Kay Georgiou and Lori McCoy-Bell

SHOULD: POOR THINGS, Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier and Josh Weston

Best Original Score 

PREDICTED: OPPENHEIMER, Ludwig Göransson

SHOULD: POOR THINGS,Jerskin Fendrix or THE ZONE OF SILENCE, Mica Levi

Best Sound

PREDICTED & SHOULD: THE ZONE OF INTEREST, Tarn Willers and Johnnie Burn

Best Documentary Short Film 

PREDICTED & SHOULD: THE LAST REPAIR SHOP, Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers

Best Animated Short Film

PREDICTED: LETTER TO A PIG, Tal Kantor and Amit R. Gicelter

SHOULD: PACHYDERME, Stéphanie Clément and Marc Rius

*BUT REALLY ANYTHING BUT WAR IS OVER! INSPIRED BY THE MUSIC OF JOHN & YOKO, Dave Mullins and Brad Booker PLEASE!

Best Live Action Short

PREDICTED & SHOULD: THE WONDERFUL STORY OF HENRY SUGAR, Cyrus Neshvad

Worst of the Year:

Leave the World Behind - 3

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes - 3

The Exorcist: Believer -3

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania - 3

Meg 2: The Trench - 2

5G: The Reckoning - 2