Aging has long been a fascination of cinema as it is the one affliction inescapable from all. Not so equal parts a badge of honor and a sign of weakness, reaching your 80th or 90th decade elicits starkly different treatment. The elderly are targeted by scammers, preying on unfamiliarity with technology and an assumption of mental deterioration. As if that is not bad enough, children and grandchildren begin to treat their elders like they’re fragile. Both of these situations are where the titular Thelma (June Squibb) finds herself in Josh Margolin’s feature debut. 

​Long before the Zoomers and iPad kids, a whole generation of children learned to type through the Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing educational game. I have fond memories honing my keyboard credentials during a middle school typing class nearly two decades ago under the tutelage of Mavis Beacon. Similar experience could likely be recalled by many millennials across the United States, including Jazmin Jones, the director of Seeking Mavis Beacon.

After a year off we are back with our annual Oscar nomination recap! Last year saw a massive pool of truly phenomenal films, making it difficult to project how Academy voters would winnow down the field of tremendous stories and performances. As always that process picks up some duds and omits some wonderful pieces of art. For the most part, this year was more good than bad and many of the seemingly biggest snubs came in stacked categories. A bit too much attention went to Oscar bait-y Maestro and another film got a baffling pair of acting nominations, but generally it was a day to celebrate in the above the line categories. 

As always I will break down the favorites, the potential upsets, the surprises and the snubs in each of the acting categories, Best Director and Best Picture. Surprises can be good or bad so long as the nomination was the most unexpected of the bunch. I will try to highlight as many different films as possible so the snub identified may not be the only one or even the most notable. Finally, and importantly, if you think something has been snubbed, you have to be willing to take something nominated off the board. All of my snub picks will also indicate what picture or performer I would take out to accommodate. 

​Finding thematic connection in any given year is always a fools errand, but there is something of a theme to the films that resonated with me in 2023. I found myself latching onto stories about self-determination and definition, especially but not exclusively through art. Some of the most entertaining and moving films this year saw their characters grapple with who they are through their deeds, creations and often destructions. As with most things in film this year, no better example exists than Barbenheimer, half of which made this list with the other half not far behind. Barbie saw a consumerist idea of a woman seek out a life in which she can create ideas for herself, Oppenheimer traced a man whose creation ushered in great and terrible destruction and found himself defined by the devastation he sowed. Whether a through-line truly exists or not, the theme of creation and consequence spoke deeply through my favorite films. Regardless, 2023 was a year of immensely beautiful and wide ranging storytelling on screen. Here are the very best film had to offer this year: