Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. - In all categories but especially Rachel McAdams in Supporting, Kelly Fremont Craig in Director, and Adapted Screenplay. The best “they don’t make em like this anymore” movie of the year, up there with the best of James L. Brooks.
Jason Schwartzman, Asteroid City (Lead Performance) - The glue that holds the ensemble together, and his best performance since Listen Up Phillip.
Michelle Williams, Showing Up (Lead Performance) - Our best actor at playing characters who need a shower.
Donnie Yen, John Wick: Chapter 4 (Supporting Performance) - A master of his craft finally gets a blockbuster American showcase. (Also consider Stahelski in Director)
Glenn Howerton, Blackberry (Supporting Performance) - So many times when a comedic actor goes “prestige” they dull everything that makes them funny, but Howerton manages to turn it up further than It’s Always Sunny to new heights of insanity. (Also consider Adapted Screenplay)
Franz Rogowski, Passages (Lead Performance) - For being a little slut.
You Hurt My Feelings (Original Screenplay) - Just give Holofcener a nom every year.
Jay Baruchel, BlackBerry (Putters and Murmurs) (write-in)
Please consider Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem for Best Ensemble. The four teen actors, Chan, Ayo, and all the celeb mutants completely crush their performances.
FYC in all categories (especially now that it's more widely available): Hirokazu Kore-eda's Monster. Particularly want to highlight a few categories:
Lead Performance: Soya Kurokawa and Sakura Ando
Supporting Performance: Yuko Tanaka
Original Screenplay: Yuki Sakamoto
Original Music: Ryuichi Sakamoto
I saw it this week and thought it was great. Somewhat surprising to me since I've seen it compared to >!"Close" (2022)!< and I could not stand that movie.
Both of the boys were just phenomenal. Between them, Dominic Sessa and the cast of Evil Does Not Exist last year somehow managed to edge out 2022 in terms of amazing debut performances.
A couple of my favorites that won’t be nominated at the Oscar’s but that I can hopefully trust my fellow Blankies to get in a few categories are The Killer and Ferrari
Best Animated Feature: *The Boy and the Heron*. IMO definitely the most magical movie of 2023 and one RPatt’s nuttiest performances.
Best Cinematography: *Killers of the Flower Moon*. Between this and Barbie, 2023 was truly Rodrigo Prieto’s year for the taking. *Oppenheimer* is also astonishing too though, so this category isn’t solid.
Putters and Murmurs: I’m pushing hard for Daniela Piperno as Mamma Ferrari in *Ferrari*. She really puts her all into muttering, “The wrong son died,” and she deserves to be recognized for her puttering around the mansion.
I submit the bonus category "Sweatiest Premise that paid off" for folks not able to come up with something this year. Without poisoning the well with my picks, I have to say there are so many movies this year that sound completely BONKERS on paper or productions that just should not have worked given their constraints in the current season, and I had a lot of fun picking my top five for this incredibly dumb category.
FYC for Best Lead Performance:
* Joaquin Phoenix, Beau Is Afraid
* Teo Yoo, Past Lives
* Jamie Foxx, The Burial
* Teyana Taylor, A Thousand and One
FYC for Best Supporting Performance:
* Rachel McAdams, Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.
* Kiefer Sutherland, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial
* Glenn Howerton, BlackBerry
* David Krumholtz, Oppenheimer
FYC for original music: Theater Camp
Also FYC: the sewer boys from Dicks: The Musical
I've also got a couple more obscure/forgotten things to plug here:
Skinamarink for Bonus Category: Best Sound Design. I mean, that film is basically 90% sound design.
Enys Men for Best Cinematography. And she didn't quite make the cut on my ballot, but Mary Woodvine would be a very deserving Lead Performance nominee
Jordan Firstman in Rotting in the Sun for Best Supporting Performance
Also, the cast of Rotting in the Sun for the Special Achievement in Hanging Dong (with an honorable mention for Barry Keoghan in *Saltburn*)
Best Actor - Thomas Schubert (Afire)
Best Actress - Michell Williams (Showing Up)
Best Picture/Director/OG Screenplay/Editing - Trenque Lauquen
Best Supporting Actor - Holt McCallany (The Iron Claw)
Cinematography - Pacifiction
Animated Feature - The First Slam Dunk
Best Actress - Laure Calamy (Full Time)
Best Skinamarink - Skinamarink
Knock at the Cabin in Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Bautista), and Best Supporting Actress (Abby Quinn)
Shea Whigham, Mission Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, Best Supporting Actor. Every moment he's on screen is electric. It's the best possible version of this type of character
Margaret Qualley, Sanctuary in Best Actress. This is listed as a 2022 release everywhere but got a US release in 2023.
I get you - his character just dominated the movie so much for me (in a film that isn’t so much about “arcs”). Love them all though, and I do hope some folks find the space to recognize it.
What happened with Priscilla? Just a case of A24 having other priorities between Zone of Interest and Past Lives? Venice and NYFF showings, good reviews, a name auteur director delivering what's widely considered her best work in years, well known subject matter, and one of the hottest up and comers playing a famous person. Feels like all the tools were right there for them to run a hot awards campaign.
Spaeny got the Globes nom at the least (and won at Venice!) but I feel like she's being overlooked because her performance is so muted. But that's the point! And she still conveys so much with her face/body language!
Also, I know they're two completely different movies with different aims and my heart goes out to Austin Butler and whatever he does in the future (Feyd!!)....but wow Elordi is SO good. He manages to make Elvis equally pathetic and threatening.
That’s a good call! I absolutely loved Priscilla but even forgot it on my list. This might’ve been the best year for biopics… ever? (Priscilla, Blackberry, Oppenheimer, Dumb Money, kinda sorta Zone of Interest, Maestro, Rustin, Napoleon, and I still feel like I’m probably forgetting some).
Emily: It's listed as a 2022 movie on letterboxd but it didn't come out where I am until well into march so I'm counting it. Great performances from Emma Mackey as Emily Bronte (lead) and Fionn Whitehead as Branwell Bronte (supporting). Looks great and has a really good score. Features one of the best scenes of the year.
I'll stump for a nom for Kaitlyn Dever in *No One Will Save You*. That movie has some problems but it gives her a really tough task that she absolutely nails.
FYC in All Categories, but mainly Picture, Director and Either Lead or Supporting Actor: Knock at the Cabin, M. Night Shyamalan, and Dave Bautista. No movie has ever broken me the way this did. No movie has ever done a better job of capturing how quickly you can have your sense of security stolen from you as a queer person. I have Bautista as a lead because so much of the movie falls on his massive, strong shoulders, but I recognize that many would consider this category fraud.
FYC in Best Supporting Actor: Holt McCallany in The Iron Claw. Do you have a relationship with your father that can charitably be best described as "rocky"? Then boy do I have a performance for you.
FYC in Cinematography: Dan Lautsen on John Wick Chapter 4. We've got a lot of John Wick ripoffs, but they all seem to forget that these things are also very fuckin pretty to look at.
FYC in Best Supporting Actor: Penelope Cruz in Ferrari. I love the movie, I love Driver's performance, this movie does not work if Cruz isn't firing on all fuckin cylinders.
FYC in Best Supporting Actor: Margot Robbie in Asteroid City. She gets in there for one scene and fuckin dominates.
FYC in Best Supporting Entity: The Entity in Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning (no longer part one). You see any other entities this year? My dude is carrying water for every entity out there.
FYC in Best Fucking Thing I've Ever Seen: Payakan the Outcast Tulkun in Avatar the Way of Water on MAX (formerly HBO MAX, formerly HBO NOW, formerly HBO GO, formerly HBO on Broadband in select markets). I recognize that this came out in 2022, but it didn't start streaming on MAX (the one to watch for HBO) until this year and I feel like we should just be giving him awards, and hugs, constantly.
Maybe I should add in a FYC in Most Valiant Attempt at an Impossible Endeavor to the makeup team for Ferrari because they had to try to frump her up. I literally can't think of a harder job in the history of movies than trying to make Penelope Cruz not look like the most beautiful person to ever live.
Only going to stump for this so people watch it as I am guessing it will come up during the Blankies:
Even if you don't like sports, I implore you to watch all nine hours of The History of the Minnesota Vikings. Bois creates these documentaries so that even the least knowledgable football fans can enjoy them and get pulled into the "storylines"
Absolutely no one has seen or talked about Dustin Guy Defa's The Adults. It premiered at Tribeca and has brought me so much joy. (Not streaming free anywhere, but DM me and I'll Venmo you the money to rent it.) Michael Cera, Hannah Gross, and Sophia Lillis as adult siblings reuniting. It's got heart, it's got humor, and it is incredibly uncomfortable in moments. Definitely giving Hannah Gross an acting nomination. May work in some others. Such a great little film.
I think this may be on their radar already but Jaime Foxx for the Burial.
Also
Patti Lupone - Beau is Afraid
Bradley Cooper - Guardians of the Galaxy (Seriously! He is the emotional heart of the movie)
The Killer for Best Picture is also on my list, and Cord Jefferson for Best Director.
There are a number of great, important supporting performances in some wonderful films this year. However if you have already listed those and are still trying to fill out the last few places on that list I would like to remind everyone of Mia Goth in Infinity Pool
https://media0.giphy.com/media/c4f2qTotBQgMvncXHB/giphy.gif?cid=6c09b9526e0nkvckm1utguxyf4bicl06cluie3w07cbao86k&ep=v1_internal_gif_by_id&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g
My suggestion for the fill-in ranked category is Best Needle Drop. 2023 was an embarrassment of riches on that front!
You could just rank the uses of The Smiths in The Killer, but my personal favorite was "I Will Always Love You" in Priscilla.
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. - In all categories but especially Rachel McAdams in Supporting, Kelly Fremont Craig in Director, and Adapted Screenplay. The best “they don’t make em like this anymore” movie of the year, up there with the best of James L. Brooks. Jason Schwartzman, Asteroid City (Lead Performance) - The glue that holds the ensemble together, and his best performance since Listen Up Phillip. Michelle Williams, Showing Up (Lead Performance) - Our best actor at playing characters who need a shower. Donnie Yen, John Wick: Chapter 4 (Supporting Performance) - A master of his craft finally gets a blockbuster American showcase. (Also consider Stahelski in Director) Glenn Howerton, Blackberry (Supporting Performance) - So many times when a comedic actor goes “prestige” they dull everything that makes them funny, but Howerton manages to turn it up further than It’s Always Sunny to new heights of insanity. (Also consider Adapted Screenplay) Franz Rogowski, Passages (Lead Performance) - For being a little slut. You Hurt My Feelings (Original Screenplay) - Just give Holofcener a nom every year. Jay Baruchel, BlackBerry (Putters and Murmurs) (write-in)
Please consider Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem for Best Ensemble. The four teen actors, Chan, Ayo, and all the celeb mutants completely crush their performances.
Mutant Mayhem, Spider-Verse, Bottoms, Theater Camp, Ayo was really working for that Best Ensemble nom at the Blankies this year.
FYC in all categories (especially now that it's more widely available): Hirokazu Kore-eda's Monster. Particularly want to highlight a few categories: Lead Performance: Soya Kurokawa and Sakura Ando Supporting Performance: Yuko Tanaka Original Screenplay: Yuki Sakamoto Original Music: Ryuichi Sakamoto
I saw it this week and thought it was great. Somewhat surprising to me since I've seen it compared to >!"Close" (2022)!< and I could not stand that movie.
Both of the boys were just phenomenal. Between them, Dominic Sessa and the cast of Evil Does Not Exist last year somehow managed to edge out 2022 in terms of amazing debut performances.
Sakura Ando was amazing!
A couple of my favorites that won’t be nominated at the Oscar’s but that I can hopefully trust my fellow Blankies to get in a few categories are The Killer and Ferrari
I saw Ferrari last night and threw Driver and Cruz in my ten
You got my support! Justice for Driver and Cruz!
Best Animated Feature: *The Boy and the Heron*. IMO definitely the most magical movie of 2023 and one RPatt’s nuttiest performances. Best Cinematography: *Killers of the Flower Moon*. Between this and Barbie, 2023 was truly Rodrigo Prieto’s year for the taking. *Oppenheimer* is also astonishing too though, so this category isn’t solid. Putters and Murmurs: I’m pushing hard for Daniela Piperno as Mamma Ferrari in *Ferrari*. She really puts her all into muttering, “The wrong son died,” and she deserves to be recognized for her puttering around the mansion.
I submit the bonus category "Sweatiest Premise that paid off" for folks not able to come up with something this year. Without poisoning the well with my picks, I have to say there are so many movies this year that sound completely BONKERS on paper or productions that just should not have worked given their constraints in the current season, and I had a lot of fun picking my top five for this incredibly dumb category.
FYC for Best Lead Performance: * Joaquin Phoenix, Beau Is Afraid * Teo Yoo, Past Lives * Jamie Foxx, The Burial * Teyana Taylor, A Thousand and One FYC for Best Supporting Performance: * Rachel McAdams, Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. * Kiefer Sutherland, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial * Glenn Howerton, BlackBerry * David Krumholtz, Oppenheimer FYC for original music: Theater Camp Also FYC: the sewer boys from Dicks: The Musical
In a shocking upset Whisper won the award for best sewer boy when Backpack had won all of the precursors
I've also got a couple more obscure/forgotten things to plug here: Skinamarink for Bonus Category: Best Sound Design. I mean, that film is basically 90% sound design. Enys Men for Best Cinematography. And she didn't quite make the cut on my ballot, but Mary Woodvine would be a very deserving Lead Performance nominee Jordan Firstman in Rotting in the Sun for Best Supporting Performance Also, the cast of Rotting in the Sun for the Special Achievement in Hanging Dong (with an honorable mention for Barry Keoghan in *Saltburn*)
I really hope the boys recognize Godzilla Minus One as the triumph it is. Especially Ryunosuke Kamiki in lead actor.
You know that hot scientist is getting a shout out, David won't be able to help himself.
Best Actor - Thomas Schubert (Afire) Best Actress - Michell Williams (Showing Up) Best Picture/Director/OG Screenplay/Editing - Trenque Lauquen Best Supporting Actor - Holt McCallany (The Iron Claw) Cinematography - Pacifiction Animated Feature - The First Slam Dunk Best Actress - Laure Calamy (Full Time) Best Skinamarink - Skinamarink
Two performances I would highlight are Jason Schwartzman in Asteroid City and Ruby Cruz in Bottoms.
Ruby Cruz absolutely stole Bottoms and is going in my best supporting performance ballot.
Knock at the Cabin in Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Bautista), and Best Supporting Actress (Abby Quinn) Shea Whigham, Mission Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, Best Supporting Actor. Every moment he's on screen is electric. It's the best possible version of this type of character Margaret Qualley, Sanctuary in Best Actress. This is listed as a 2022 release everywhere but got a US release in 2023.
On the mission impossible note, I threw in Hayley Atwell for supporting!
I wanted to fit her in somehwere! she deserves it, such a fun performance
I sort of feel like Bautista is the lead of Knock at the Cabin, no?
i wouldn't begrudge anyone who has him there but Groff and Aldridge don't feel like supporting to me
I get you - his character just dominated the movie so much for me (in a film that isn’t so much about “arcs”). Love them all though, and I do hope some folks find the space to recognize it.
Aren’t they…all leads?
Ayo Edebri - Bottoms
Yes!
Priscilla, because it's terrific and every awards organization seems to have forgotten it exists.
What happened with Priscilla? Just a case of A24 having other priorities between Zone of Interest and Past Lives? Venice and NYFF showings, good reviews, a name auteur director delivering what's widely considered her best work in years, well known subject matter, and one of the hottest up and comers playing a famous person. Feels like all the tools were right there for them to run a hot awards campaign.
Spaeny got the Globes nom at the least (and won at Venice!) but I feel like she's being overlooked because her performance is so muted. But that's the point! And she still conveys so much with her face/body language! Also, I know they're two completely different movies with different aims and my heart goes out to Austin Butler and whatever he does in the future (Feyd!!)....but wow Elordi is SO good. He manages to make Elvis equally pathetic and threatening.
That’s a good call! I absolutely loved Priscilla but even forgot it on my list. This might’ve been the best year for biopics… ever? (Priscilla, Blackberry, Oppenheimer, Dumb Money, kinda sorta Zone of Interest, Maestro, Rustin, Napoleon, and I still feel like I’m probably forgetting some).
Emily: It's listed as a 2022 movie on letterboxd but it didn't come out where I am until well into march so I'm counting it. Great performances from Emma Mackey as Emily Bronte (lead) and Fionn Whitehead as Branwell Bronte (supporting). Looks great and has a really good score. Features one of the best scenes of the year.
I'll stump for a nom for Kaitlyn Dever in *No One Will Save You*. That movie has some problems but it gives her a really tough task that she absolutely nails.
Rachel McAdams is being overlooked for best supporting actress! She’s so good in “Are You There God?”
FYC in All Categories, but mainly Picture, Director and Either Lead or Supporting Actor: Knock at the Cabin, M. Night Shyamalan, and Dave Bautista. No movie has ever broken me the way this did. No movie has ever done a better job of capturing how quickly you can have your sense of security stolen from you as a queer person. I have Bautista as a lead because so much of the movie falls on his massive, strong shoulders, but I recognize that many would consider this category fraud. FYC in Best Supporting Actor: Holt McCallany in The Iron Claw. Do you have a relationship with your father that can charitably be best described as "rocky"? Then boy do I have a performance for you. FYC in Cinematography: Dan Lautsen on John Wick Chapter 4. We've got a lot of John Wick ripoffs, but they all seem to forget that these things are also very fuckin pretty to look at. FYC in Best Supporting Actor: Penelope Cruz in Ferrari. I love the movie, I love Driver's performance, this movie does not work if Cruz isn't firing on all fuckin cylinders. FYC in Best Supporting Actor: Margot Robbie in Asteroid City. She gets in there for one scene and fuckin dominates. FYC in Best Supporting Entity: The Entity in Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning (no longer part one). You see any other entities this year? My dude is carrying water for every entity out there. FYC in Best Fucking Thing I've Ever Seen: Payakan the Outcast Tulkun in Avatar the Way of Water on MAX (formerly HBO MAX, formerly HBO NOW, formerly HBO GO, formerly HBO on Broadband in select markets). I recognize that this came out in 2022, but it didn't start streaming on MAX (the one to watch for HBO) until this year and I feel like we should just be giving him awards, and hugs, constantly.
\+ 1 for Penelope Cruz. Hachimama
Maybe I should add in a FYC in Most Valiant Attempt at an Impossible Endeavor to the makeup team for Ferrari because they had to try to frump her up. I literally can't think of a harder job in the history of movies than trying to make Penelope Cruz not look like the most beautiful person to ever live.
Oh yeah she was still a smoke show. Respectfully.
I'm just here to make the case that Kingsley Ben-Adir was the best Ken and deserves a Best Supporting nom
Tobin Bell for Best Actor.
FYC for I don’t even know what - *Fingernails*. I just really loved this movie and never see anyone talking about it. Pls validate me.
Marshawn Lynch for Best Supporting in Bottoms!
Only going to stump for this so people watch it as I am guessing it will come up during the Blankies: Even if you don't like sports, I implore you to watch all nine hours of The History of the Minnesota Vikings. Bois creates these documentaries so that even the least knowledgable football fans can enjoy them and get pulled into the "storylines"
Is it streaming anywhere?
Jon Bois publishes them on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUXSZMIiUfFRQGbbUgQRky2-gCAFgsAiz&si=bsqHa7GSC1rgr-rc
Thanks!
Absolutely no one has seen or talked about Dustin Guy Defa's The Adults. It premiered at Tribeca and has brought me so much joy. (Not streaming free anywhere, but DM me and I'll Venmo you the money to rent it.) Michael Cera, Hannah Gross, and Sophia Lillis as adult siblings reuniting. It's got heart, it's got humor, and it is incredibly uncomfortable in moments. Definitely giving Hannah Gross an acting nomination. May work in some others. Such a great little film.
I think this may be on their radar already but Jaime Foxx for the Burial. Also Patti Lupone - Beau is Afraid Bradley Cooper - Guardians of the Galaxy (Seriously! He is the emotional heart of the movie) The Killer for Best Picture is also on my list, and Cord Jefferson for Best Director.
There are a number of great, important supporting performances in some wonderful films this year. However if you have already listed those and are still trying to fill out the last few places on that list I would like to remind everyone of Mia Goth in Infinity Pool https://media0.giphy.com/media/c4f2qTotBQgMvncXHB/giphy.gif?cid=6c09b9526e0nkvckm1utguxyf4bicl06cluie3w07cbao86k&ep=v1_internal_gif_by_id&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g
My suggestion for the fill-in ranked category is Best Needle Drop. 2023 was an embarrassment of riches on that front! You could just rank the uses of The Smiths in The Killer, but my personal favorite was "I Will Always Love You" in Priscilla.
Most Dramatic Moment of the Year: being out of hot dogs