Marshall's 2023 awards checklist

Assignment viewing for cinephiles

It’s the most wonderful time of the year…

Schitt’s Creek © Pop TV

..and about time that everyone begins asking me whether this movie or that movie with a dramatic yet comedic tone, produced by an indie label, starring a familiar but deglammed star surrounded by a coterie of “that guy”s is going to be nominated for an Oscar.

Who knows how the deck will reshuffle now that actors can promote their work following the resolution of SAG-AFTRA’s strike, but here’s how I would assess your viewing priorities before the main precursor nominations begin dropping. (If you look at the 2022 version, I did mostly alright at predicting — with the exception of underestimating Triangle of Sadness and not having All Quiet on the Western Front on my radar at all.)

USER GUIDE: If you haven’t heard of one of the movies or don’t know much about it, click on the title and you’ll be taken to watch the trailer on YouTube. Get curious!

Poor Things, 2023. (c) Searchlight Pictures

BEST PICTURE FRONTRUNNERS

• Oppenheimer (available on digital 11/21)

• Killers of the Flower Moon (now in theaters)

• Poor Things (in theaters 12/8)

• The Holdovers (now in theaters)

• Barbie (now on digital)

• The Zone of Interest (in theaters 12/15)

• Past Lives (now on digital)

• Maestro (in theaters 11/22, on Netflix 12/22)

• American Fiction (in theaters 12/15)

• Anatomy of a Fall (now in theaters)

• UNSEEN: The Iron Claw (in theaters 12/22)

• UNSEEN: The Color Purple (in theaters 12/25)

All of Us Strangers, 2023. © Searchlight Pictures

MOSTLY A PERFORMANCE PLAY

• A Thousand and One (now on Amazon Prime Video)

• Air (now on Amazon Prime Video)

• Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret. (now on Starz and digital)

• BlackBerry (now on digital)

• Passages (now on MUBI)

• Priscilla (now in theaters)

• May December (in theaters 11/17, on Netflix 12/1)

• Origin (qualifying run in theaters 12/8, expands in January 2024)

• The Taste of Things (qualifying run in theaters 12/13, expands in February 2024)

• All of Us Strangers (in theaters 12/22)

• Freud’s Last Session (in theaters 12/22)

• Memory (in theaters December TBD)

Asteroid City, 2023. © Focus Features

MAYBE SOME BELOW-THE-LINE LOVE

• John Wick: Chapter 4 (now on Starz and digital)

• Beau Is Afraid (now on digital)

• Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (now on Netflix)

• Asteroid City (now on digital)

• Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (now on digital)

• Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part I (now on digital)

• Theater Camp (now on Hulu)

• All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt (now in select theaters)

• The Killer (now on Netflix)

• Saltburn (in theaters 11/17)

• Napoleon (in theaters 11/22)

• The Boy and the Heron (in theaters 12/8)

• Ferrari (in theaters 12/25)

• UNSEEN: Wonka (in theaters 12/15)

Fair Play, 2023. © Netflix

FUTURE THIS HAD OSCAR BUZZ EPISODES

• Showing Up (now on digital)

• You Hurt My Feelings (now on digital)

• Dreamin’ Wild (now on digital)

• Dumb Money (now on digital)

• Flora and Son (now on Apple TV+)

• Fair Play (now on Netflix)

• The Burial (now on Amazon Prime Video)

• Foe (coming to Amazon Prime Video TBD)

• The Royal Hotel (now on digital)

• Pain Hustlers (now on Netflix)

• Fingernails (now on Apple TV+)

• Dream Scenario (now in select theaters)

• Next Goal Wins (in theaters 11/17)

• Eileen (in theaters 12/1)

• UNSEEN: The Boys in the Boat (in theaters 12/25)

You can always keep up with my film-watching in real-time on the app Letterboxd. I’ve also compiled every movie I’ve ever recommended through this newsletter via a list on the platform as well.

Good listening on the strike’s impacts and outcomes!

To everyone who (kindly) sent me the job opening as the film critic for The New York Times: I thank you for your faith bordering on delusion. They announced their hire, Alissa Wilkinson, this week. If you want to see why, read her excellent essay at Vox on Pain Hustlers and Hollywood’s struggle to portray the opioid crisis.

I reviewed Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn for Slant Magazine. In spite of the star rating I gave it, I still think you should see it (opens in NY/LA on 11/17 and everywhere on 11/22) to have an opinion.

For Decider, I said skip it to Once Upon a Star (on Netflix).

You can keep track of all the freelance writing I’ve done this year through this list on Letterboxd.

Hoping to have my first essay for paid subscribers in a while this weekend!

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, 2008. © Paramount Pictures

Yours in service and cinema,
Marshall