This is the thread where we discuss matters pertaining to the detrius that accompanies the "End of the Year in Cinema" -- 2023

Three of those are 2022 releases going with the U.S. theatrical release - maybe there was a belated U.K. release?

(The three being No Bears, the belated theatrical distribution of The Runner, and Saint Omer. All great FWIW.)

Chicago gets right into the middle(brow) of it all:

Best Picture: Killers of the Flower Moon
Best Director: Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer
Best Actor: Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers
Best Actress: Emma Stone, Poor Things
Best Supporting Actor: Charles Melton, May December
Best Supporting Actress: Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers
Best Original Screenplay: Samy Burch, May December
Best Adapted Screenplay: Eric Roth and Martin Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon
Best Animated Feature: The Boy and the Heron
Best Documentary: Kokomo City
Best Foreign Language Film: The Zone of Interest

We have spoken!

http://www.floridafilmcritics.com/2023/12/13/oppenheimer-killers-of-the-flower-moon-past-lives-lead-pack-with-most-nominations/

I only got a few of mine in, guess which

exp It's strange how Chicago really put middlebrow criticism on the map with Siskel & Ebert and yet it was also the home base to some of the very best alternative weekly critics of the past 50 years (maybe even the two best).

That's new - autocorrect turning xxp into exp

Rogowski, McAdams, and Weaver?

Were you among those holding Barbie off at the pass?

it was also the home base to some of the very best alternative weekly critics of the past 50 years (maybe even the two best).

Rosenbaum and ... Kehr?

Dave Kehr, correct - though it's kind of weird he did a stint at the Chicago Tribune while Siskel was still there. Per an interview he did decades later (after Siskel had long passed), I think he said the Trib had a falling out with Siskel over something to do with his TV show and hired Kehr to replace him, only to realize soon after that it was stupid to fire a critic who got the paper priceless advertising/publicity via a popular weekly TV show, so they hired him back as a "columnist" with Kehr in Siskel's old position.

Rogowski, McAdams, and Weaver?

Were you among those holding Barbie off at the pass?

― stephen miller is not your friend (Eric H.)

Barbie wasn't even a factor.

Yes, no, yes.

Critics Choice noms:
https://variety.com/2023/film/awards/critics-choice-nominations-2024-full-list-barbie-1235835620/

Nothing too surprising, other than maybe Saltburn as a best picture nominee.

Saltburn refuses to just die

Those Chicago picks aren't middlebrow.

I like some of those honorees (the ones I've seen at least), but they are absolutely middlebrow. Most big Oscar contenders are.

If Oppenheimer and The Holdovers aren't middlebrow, nothing is

Inspired me to order Dwight MacDonald's Essays Against the American Grain.

Yeah, I think "middlebrow" is sometimes misunderstood as simply middle-of-the-road or bland. But as I undestand it, it's art that appeals to a certain kind of aspirational educated person because it presents itself with a veneer of cultural prestige, even though it is not actually challenging or profound in the way that highbrow art is. It flatters the audience's perception of itself as intelligent and refined. It's often used as a pejorative by critics like MacDonald, but I think it can be useful as a descriptive category regardless of any judgment of quality.

From Classic Hollywood, probably defined by William Wyler and Fred Zinnemann (at its best), or Stanley Kramer (at its not-best).

and today Alexander Payne is the embodiment of it.

Nolan most definitely too, when he leaves genre behind

I didn't think it was a good movie, but I did appreciate Payne's ambition on Downsized - it was just too lacking in nuance, falling back on a lot of stereotypes and betraying a shallow grasp of the various issues it tried to tackle. I really wish he pulled it off. The new one is clearly within his comfort zone - not a bad film at all, to be fair.

Presenting Film Comment's Top 20 Released Films of 2023

Read full film blurbs from FC contributors, critics, and more: https://t.co/IMsZB36vGt pic.twitter.com/H30LivoEnI

— Film Comment Magazine (@FilmComment) December 15, 2023

I don’t agree that Payne is thee most middlebrow director alive but OTOH I’m in no rush to see The Holdovers because I’m averse to most stories about middle-aged academics.

I will check out Barbie on HBO Max during my vacation and report here on whether it’s middlebrow.

At the risk of sounding like Meryl Streep in Manhattan, you could probably come up with an interesting Venn Diagram based on Macdonald's idea of middlebrow and Manny Farber's white-elephant art. Lots of overlap, but not the same. Dances with Wolves: both.* Apocalypse Now: white elephant, but not middlebrow. And Payne's Election is termite art and definitely not middlebrow. The Holdovers: totally middlebrow.

*(He says, never having seen it.)

Some good ballots scattered throughout: https://www.filmcomment.com/best-films-of-2023-individual-ballots/

👀

Richard Brody (critic, The New Yorker)

19. The Color Purple
20. Our Body

And then this one, in its entirety:

Nathan Lee (critic, scholar)

John Wick: Chapter 4

i think the only critic bate movies i've seen this year were Pacifiction (i loved) and Afire (fine, bring back Hoss). I haven't heard of most of these though i did study rogowski's outfit in the stills of that one movie using google image search but that's all i really wanted out of it.

ill probably watch some of them after they're on a richard brody end of list like every other uncle

I've always hate-read OG's year-worst lists, but this year, his biggest swing happens to be for a movie I also hated: https://variety.com/lists/worst-movies-2023/owen-gleiberman-worst-films/

(At least his dumb swipe against the majesty of Magic Mike XXL restores order a bit.)

Sharing Toronto crix only because they're just about the only ones left of the regionals that aren't breaking hard for Oppenheimer:

Best Picture: The Zone of Interest
(RUs: All of Us Strangers & Killers of the Flower Moon)

Best Director: Jonathan Glazer, The Zone of Interest
(RUs: Martin Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon & Justine Triet, Anatomy of a Fall)

Best Lead Performance: Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon & Sandra Hüller, Anatomy of a Fall
(RUs: Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers & Andrew Scott, All of Us Strangers & Emma Stone, Poor Things & Kôji Yakusho, Perfect Days)

Best Supporting Performance: Ryan Gosling, Barbie & Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers
(RUs: Robert De Niro, Killers of the Flower Moon & Robert Downey, Jr., Oppenheimer & Glenn Howerton, BlackBerry & Charles Melton, May December)

Best Original Screenplay: Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach, Barbie
(RUs: Justine Triet and Arthur Harari, Anatomy of a Fall & Celine Song, Past Lives)

Best Adapted Screenplay: Eric Roth and Martin Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon
(RUs: Andrew Haigh, All of Us Strangers & Tony McNamara, Poor Things)

Best Animated Feature: Robot Dreams
(RUs: The Boy and the Heron & Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse)

Allan King Documentary Award: 20 Days in Mariupol
(RUs: The Eternal Memory & Four Daughters & Swan Song)

Best International Feature: Fallen Leaves
(RUs: Anatomy of a Fall & The Zone of Interest)

Best First Feature: Rye Lane
(RUs: American Fiction & Past Lives)

Breakthrough Performance: Teyana Taylor, A Thousand and One
(RUs: Charles Melton, May December & Dominic Sessa, The Holdovers)

Best Performance in a Canadian Film: Glenn Howerton, BlackBerry
(RUs: Jay Baruchel, BlackBerry & Théodore Pellerin, Solo)

Rogers Best Canadian Film nominees: BlackBerry, Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person, and Solo
Rogers Best Documentary Award nominees: Rojek, Someone Lives Here, and Swan Song

Stay tuned

I def am … for the International Cinephile Society’s picks in February

The Film Stage list is eccentric - Holdovers shouldn’t be in the top 50, let alone top 10.

https://thefilmstage.com/the-film-stages-top-50-films-of-2023/

I do love it when Afire reaches the upper tier

Past Lives held up very well for me the second time. I hope it gets AA nominations for film, director, script, and both leads. But does it have a chance at even one? Do films like that still get the consolation script nomination?

I think screenplay was always a possibility, but now I think it could maybe sneak into Best Picture. Wouldn't have thought so a few weeks ago, but the Globe nominations give it a lot of visibility right now. Anything else feels like a long shot unless SAG surprises with a nomination for Greta Lee.

It's got Original Screenplay nod sewn up and I would bet on a BP nomination too.

Greta Lee's feels increasingly plausible, but she's probably going to have to knock out Huller or Robbie to get there. Teo Yoo def gave my favorite of the three performances tho

(Am still fantasizing about Maestro somehow coming up blank in the major categories.)

(xpost) Both great, but I'd agree, he was the slightly greater of the two. Some beautiful cinematography, too.

I'm not persuaded Robbie makes it.

The headlines write themselves if that comes to pass

Esp since Mulligan plays "a wife," Huller plays "a wife," and even Gladstone plays "a wife" if you so choose to bend the narrative to fit that whole hot take

xps Glenn Kenny even put The Holdovers at #10.

I liked it - not as much, but if I had to pick 20 or 30 films worth seeing this year, it would be there.

Which Huller performance is tipped for the nomination? Could she be nominated twice?

She could be (it's happened before), but the Anatomy of a Fall nom seems more likely.

I must say, the embrace of Da'Vine Joy Randolph's work has disappointed me. The role is a tired musty thing which she tries her best to polish. Voters who chose it, sorry, weren't watching many films in 2023.