The 2023 Meaningless Movie Awards

In spirit of the upcoming 96th Academy Awards and how the Oscars often differ from my own opinions, I figured I’d start my own self-aggrandizing annual film awards: The Meaningless Movie Awards! Here, I’ll be going over my subjective selections of both the best and worst filmmaking achievements of 2023.

Worst of 2023:

Most Overrated Film:

1. “Killers of the Flower Moon”
2. “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”
3. “John Wick: Chapter 4”
4. “Maestro”
5. “Godzilla Minus One”

Most Egregious Runtime:

1. “Beau is Afraid”
2. “Killers of the Flower Moon”
3. “Paint” (should have been 5 seconds long)
4. “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”
5. “John Wick: Chapter 4”

Worst Screenplay:

1. Brit McAdams, “Paint”
2. Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick, Chris McKenna, and Eric Sommers, “Ghosted”
3. Ari Aster, “Beau is Afraid”
4. Jeff Loveness, “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania”
5. Kurt Wimmer, Tad Daggerhart, Max Adams, “Expend4bles”
6. Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo, “Dumb Money” (I despised so many screenplays this year, so I had to put 6)

Worst Performance:

1. Owen Wilson, “Paint”
2. 50 Cent, “Expend4bles”
3. Anthony Ramos and Talia Ryder, “Dumb Money” (TIE)
4. Wendi McLendon-Covey, “Paint”
5. Sofia Boutella, “Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire”

Worst Director:

1. Brit McAdams, “Paint”
2. Ari Aster, “Beau is Afraid”
3. Scott Waugh, “Expend4bles”
4. Dexter Fletcher, “Ghosted”
5. Peyton Reed, “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania”

Worst Film:

1. “Paint”
2. “Ghosted”
3. “Beau is Afraid”
4. “Hypnotic”
5. “Expend4bles”
6. “Dumb Money”
7. “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania”
8. “The Exorcist: Believer”
9. “Meg 2: The Trench”
10. “Maestro”

Best of 2023:

Best Editing:

1. Jennifer Lame, “Oppenheimer”
2. Eddie Hamilton, “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One”
3. Kirk Baxter, “The Killer”
4. Laurent Sénéchal, “Anatomy of a Fall”
5. William Goldenberg, “Air”

Best Original Score:

1. Ludwig Göransson, “Oppenheimer”
2. Mica Levi, “The Zone of Interest”
3. Jerskin Fendrix, “Poor Things”
4. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, “The Killer”
5. Christopher Bear and Daniel Rossen, “Past Lives”

Best Cinematography:

1. Hoyte van Hoytema, “Oppenheimer”
2. Matthew Libatique, “Maestro”
3. Linus Sandgren, “Saltburn”
4. Łukasz Żal, “The Zone of Interest”
5. Oren Soffer and Greig Fraser, “The Creator”

Best Adapted Screenplay:

1. Matt Johnson and Matthew Miller, “BlackBerry”
2. Christopher Nolan, “Oppenheimer”
3. Tony McNamara, “Poor Things”
4. Andrew Kevin Walker, “The Killer”
5. Kelly Fremon Craig, “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.”

Best Original Screenplay:

1. Celine Song, “Past Lives”
2. David Hemingson, “The Holdovers”
3. Alex Convery, “Air”
4. Samy Burch and Alex Mechanik, “May December”
5. Sean Durkin, “The Iron Claw”

Best Supporting Actor:

1. Glenn Howerton, “BlackBerry”
2. Charles Melton, “May December”
3. Robert De Niro, “Killers of the Flower Moon”
4. John Magaro, “Past Lives”
5. Robert Downey Jr., “Oppenheimer”

Best Supporting Actress:

1. Da’Vine Joy Randolph, “The Holdovers”
2. Sandra Hüller, “The Zone of Interest”
3. Penélope Cruz, “Ferrari”
4. Rachel McAdams, “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.”
5. Emily Blunt, “Oppenheimer”

Best Actor:

1. Cillian Murphy, “Oppenheimer”
2. Paul Giamatti, “The Holdovers”
3. Michael Fassbender, “The Killer”
4. Zac Efron, “The Iron Claw”
5. Teo Yoo, “Past Lives”

Best Actress:

1. Emma Stone, “Poor Things”
2. Lily Gladstone, “Killers of the Flower Moon”
3. Natalie Portman, “May December”
4. Carey Mulligan, “Maestro”
5. Margot Robbie, “Barbie”

Best Director:

1. Christopher Nolan, “Oppenheimer”
2. Jonathan Glazer, “The Zone of Interest”
3. David Fincher, “The Killer”
4. Alexander Payne, “The Holdovers”
5. Yorgos Lanthimos, “Poor Things”

Best Film:

1. “Past Lives”
2. “Oppenheimer”
3. “The Holdovers”
4. “Air”
5. “BlackBerry”
6. “The Killer”
7. “The Zone of Interest”
8. “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One”
9. “The Iron Claw”
10. “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3”