2024 Oscars Predictions & Best Films of 2023

Eli Price (00:05.442)
Hello and welcome to the establishing shot a podcast where we do deep dives into directors and their filmography's I am your host Eli price and We have a really fun episode today We are not going to be doing anything in our current Spielberg a series Covering the films of Steven Spielberg in the 70s and 80s. We're gonna take a quick break from that because

Um, as, uh, as someone who, uh, has to take some time to catch up with 2023 films that I didn't get to see in theaters because either I didn't get to it or they just didn't show in my area. Um, I have been spending some time catching up with a ton of 2023 films. So today we're going to do a best of 2023 episode. I'm going to share, uh, my favorite films of the year. Um, I am going to talk about.

performances and cinematography that I liked, all that sort of stuff. Uh, and I am also going to go through the Oscar nominations and, uh, talk through those and give my own predictions as far as that goes. So it's going to be a fun, uh, packed episode today. Um, and hopefully I'll have some, uh, some listener and, um, past guests. Um, and maybe even future guests we'll see, um, kind of

jump in with some audio to share some of their favorite films of the year. So that'll, that'll be a lot of fun, but, uh, I am going to go ahead and jump in because we have got a lot to cover today. And I am going to go through my, um, top. So I'm going to spend more detail once I get into my top 20, but I didn't want to start off, um, at, uh, my number 32.

Eli Price (02:04.586)
And the reason for that is my number 32 is Barbie. And I know what a lot of you are thinking, that's really low for Barbie. Barbie is gonna be the only one that actually I have rated a 3.5 out of five stars on this list that I'm gonna share. I watched 70 films from 2023 so far and still kind of working on a few.

But I wanted to share all these because all of this one, I really like. It's a 3.5 star for me. Could be an 8 or 4 star with a rewatch. And then everything from here on out is 4 stars and up for me. So I'm going to run through these really quick. Number 32 is Barbie. Number 31 is John Wick Chapter 4. Number 30.

is Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1. My number 29 is Blackberry. Number 28 is American Fiction. Number 27 is Skinnamarink. Number 26 for me is Saint Omer. Number 25 is Priscilla. Number 24 is Broker. Number 23 for me is All-

Dirt Road's Taste of Salt. Number 22 for me is 1001. And my number 21 film is Fallen Leaves. So I'm going to share a link to my full list of all of my films that I saw released in 2023. And I go by US release. So some of these you might look at and say, oh, that's a 2022 or whatever. But I go by the US release.

for my rankings and so I'm going to share a link to that on my letterbox account so you can go look at the Full list but I wanted to run through those so that they at least get a shout out and they'll show up a little later too when I start talking about performances and And script screenplay and all that kind of stuff But yeah, I really enjoyed all those number 20 for me is I'm gonna go a little more in detail is a

Eli Price (04:23.618)
Hayao Miyazaki is the boy in The Heron. Now, Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese director that makes animated films with the film studio, Studio Ghibli, or Ghibli that many of you have heard of. A lot of his films spirited away. My Neighbor Totoro and just a great filmmaker. This is one that I could.

Easily see moving way up the list with a rewatch. I saw this in theaters I saw the subtitled version in the original Japanese language and to be honest, I was very tired when I went inside and Was like shaking my head a lot to stay awake not because of the movie but just because I was exhausted And there's just a ton going on this movie really loved it. The visuals are incredible

Another just great character story, Miyazaki writes, it starts off pretty normal and then gets absolutely wild with the fantastical things going on. Loved The Boy and the Heron. I can't wait to revisit it when I'm less tired, because I'm almost certain it's going to be I'm going to like it even more. My number 19 film is called All of Us Strangers.

Eli Price (05:52.811)
It is by Andrew High. And yeah, I cried in this movie, I'm gonna be honest. The end of this movie didn't necessarily work for me. It had me all the way up into the end and it could have easily been a five-star movie for me if it wasn't for the end. But just deeply emotional exploring.

some hurts of a man, a gay man that is dealing with the loss of his parents, loneliness and depression. And I'm not gonna get too in the weeds because this movie was a surprise for me. And I don't wanna give too much away if you haven't seen All of Us Strangers. My number 18 film is by director Kelly Riker and it is called Showing Up.

stars Michelle Williams. It follows an artist, a sculptor. It's a very relaxed, low-key movie, just following this artist that's struggling with being an artist and the hard work of creating art and the community of art you need around you to move forward. Just really liked this very low-key, very relaxed

Very funny and even like touching at times Enjoyed showing up by Kelly Riker my number this is going to be well, it's not going to be the first best picture nominee I've mentioned because I had a American fiction earlier on my list and Barbie but this is

Yeah, this is another best picture nominee. It's going to be my number 17 and it is The Zone of Interest by Jonathan Glaser. Um, really, really incredible, um, filmmaking in this one. I'm not sure it entirely worked for me. It's a very haunting film. Um, in the sound design, uh, you are in a, in a family's kind of little house.

Eli Price (08:08.886)
property right outside of Auschwitz. The husband is the man that leads and runs Auschwitz during the Holocaust. And you hear all the sounds of the atrocities kind of faintly in the background, but you don't see any of it. And there's just this family. The way it's shot is very like, kind of like documentary-like. Just really a really haunting movie, kind of unlike

anything I've ever really seen before, especially in the sound design. Um, really, really good. I wish it would have worked a little bit more for me, but yeah, really good. Uh, my number 16 film is the killer by David Fincher. I just loved this movie. It's, it's like, um, a masterclass in, uh, in voiceover. Uh, Michael Fassbender, uh, stars in this as, as a hit man. Um,

who messes up at the very beginning with a hit and spends the rest of the time trying to hunt down some people that were trying to stop, you know, end him because he messed up. Really, really, really good movie. Really just incredible action. Incredible voiceover work by Fassbender. It's a very like physical performance because he is doing a lot of acting.

off of the voiceover that's playing over the action and over just watching him. Um, just a really, really good movie. Fun to talk about afterwards. Um, I talked about this one with some friends, but really enjoyed the killer by David Fincher. Um, my number, uh, 15, this was, this spent a long time in my, my top 10. Um, and I really want to rewatch this one cause it is just, it's just a great.

Romcom. And it is by Rain Allen Miller, and it's called Rye Lane, R-Y-E, Rye Lane. And you can watch this on Hulu. That's where I saw it. It's still sitting there. And so you can go watch it now. Really great. Basically, a Romcom takes place in South London of this couple that meet and at a mutual friends art exhibit.

Eli Price (10:33.482)
really, really funny, really, really beautifully and interestingly shot. Great chemistry between the two leads. I just really, really enjoyed this movie. So I highly recommend checking out Rye Lane. My number 14. Similarly, I highly recommend it's currently showing on Showtime, but it's called You Hurt My Feelings, directed by Nicole Hall of Center.

I'm starring Julia Louis Dreyfus and she plays a writer that overhears her husband saying that he isn't a doesn't really like her most recent book. It's her first novel and she overhears him and feels betrayed and doesn't know what to do. And it's just for one, it's a great cast. There's a lot going on with the side characters to really funny.

And it's this kind of like, this kind of like very contained world, upper middle class drama comedy that you just don't get a whole lot of anymore. Um, and, uh, and I even found like several parts and very, very touching. Um, so I really enjoyed you hurt my feelings. Uh, my number 13 is May, December by director Todd Haynes.

This one has Nicole Kidman. I mean, not Nicole Kidman. It has Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore. Um, uh, and, uh, they, Nicole, I keep saying Nicole. I don't know why. Natalie Portman plays an actress who is, um, visiting with, uh, and Julianne Moore's character, Gracie and her husband, uh, in the movie, Joe you played by Charles Melton. Um,

They, Gracie, the Julianne Moore character was a sex offender. She had a, she did some time. The Charles, Charles Melton plays the student of hers that she kind of had a relationship with. And then they ended up getting married, which is kind of, I guess, loosely based on a real event that happened. But um,

Eli Price (12:55.686)
Natalie Portman is an actress who is going to be portraying her in a movie about their story coming up and she's just kind of studying them. Very, very interesting examination of acting, the endeavor of acting, of making movies about real people's real life. A really, really incredibly written movie.

Yeah, May December, I highly recommend seeing it. It's on Netflix, so you can check it out there. Yeah, my number 12, and this may be surprising to some people, because it's a lot of people's number one. Yeah, my number 12 is Oppenheimer by Christopher Nolan. Now, I haven't done an episode on this yet. I will in the future. It might have to wait until I'm done with my Spielberg.

series because I've already got all of that scheduled out. But I do plan on doing a deep dive into this to go along with my Christopher Nolan series that I've done. Oppenheimer for me is a really incredibly well-made film. Like I said, all of these, this one is a four star movie for me at a five.

It's incredibly well-made. It's my number 12 out of 70 on the year. So it's not like I don't like it. It just probably like it a little less than some others do. Incredible, great acting. Cinematography is phenomenal. The sound design is phenomenal. The way it's shot, great. My problems are just like kind of quibbles.

Um, I'm not sure the Robert Downey Jr. Um, Strauss section necessarily works for me. I kind of struggle with it. Maybe a rewatch would make it, uh, make me love it a lot more. It's not anything to do with his performance, but just how that works within narrative. Um, and then, uh, while Nolan is doing some like really interesting visual things, uh, narratively, he's just kind of like shelling out the, the history. Um,

Eli Price (15:13.906)
I do think it does explore the questions of like, what makes a man great? What are the problems with great men? What do we do with great men? What would we do if we were in their positions? All those things are explored for sure. But I kind of think he does that better in other movies. And this one feels more dry and historical, which it is.

And, uh, and then my other quibbles have to do, I didn't like the score as much as many people, I found it very distracting and I felt the same way about the editing, um, especially in some dialogue sequences where there's a lot of, there's too much editing in my opinion, there's too many cuts. Um, and, um, those are just quibbles that I've had that I have that I, I just think Nolan does better.

with those sorts of things in other movies. And so I just, I know he can, it's one of those things where you, you love a director and you know, they could have done better with those things. And so those quibbles kind of knock it down just a peg. Um, but, but yeah, I do love, um, I did really, really love Oppenheimer. The, um, the entire, uh, Trinity test sequences, just like from, from the start of that.

to the speech after the bombs droppers, just like, I mean just top notch, master class filmmaking in my opinion. But yeah, that's Oppenheimer, my number 12.

My number 11 is called Ferrari by Michael Mann, starring Adam Driver and Penelope Cruz, amongst others, covering the period of life in Enzo Ferrari, his, in his career where he is verging on bankruptcy and really trying to, he's, he's determined to

Eli Price (17:24.566)
win this race so he can get more funding, maybe even make a deal with another company to try to sell more cars so that he can keep racing. Um, Michael, man, I, I probably liked Ferrari a lot more than consensus. It seems like, um, but I loved this movie. The, the way it's captured is phenomenal. Editing is phenomenal. The sound design is phenomenal. That the way he shoots.

these racing sequences is unlike anything I've ever seen for racing sequence. Um, I think, uh, Adam Driver is not phenomenal, but he's very, very good as Enzo Ferrari with his fake Italian accent and all. Um, and I just found, um, I don't know, I found kind of a grace note in the way Michael Mann ends it. He, you know, it's a flawed man that's, that's struggling with his calling.

in life and being committed to his calling versus his family. It's a kind of a common theme with Michael Mann movies. And I think there's a bit of a grace note here that isn't necessarily in others of his at the end. Yeah, I just really, really enjoyed this movie. It's just like, it's very fun. It's very emotional. Penelope Cruz really does a lot to kind of hold this movie together and make it work with her performance.

as Enzo Ferrari's wife, Lara. And man, I just, I don't know. I just really, really loved this movie. It was phenomenal. My number 11.

Eli Price (19:10.774)
So from here on, I am going to be sharing my top 10. And yeah, I'm going to share a little bit more on these. The first one, my number 10, is the only one that's a four-star movie for me that could easily move up to a four and a half star. Any of these last few I've said could easily move up with a second watch. Oppenheimer, Ferrari.

May, December, all great. But The Holdovers is my number 10. And yeah, I really, really enjoyed this movie directed by Alexander Payne.

Eli Price (20:00.19)
Yeah, it's just a phenomenal movie. Stars Paul Giamatti as Paul in the movie, a professor who is staying over the Christmas holiday with some students called the Holdovers that are not getting to go home over the holiday and the kind of main student that ends up being in. Most of the movie is Dominic Sessa playing Angus Tully.

And then you have Devon Joy Randolph playing Mary Lamb, who's kind of the other part of the trio of, of the main characters here. And yeah, I, this movie is very funny. It's also very touching and emotional. Um, it is. It's uplifting in a very realistic way. Um, I think it, um, I, I want to say it was.

Josh Larson of the film spotting podcast that I heard say this, but, um, I did hear someone say it is about the hard work of being kind to others. Um, and it is, it rings true. You know, it's sometimes it's, it's hard to be kind to others when you have a lot going on in your own life. Um, but yeah, I really love this movie. There's phenomenal chemistry between these three characters. Uh, these three.

actors and their roles. And I really think it's going to become a Christmas rewatch for me every year. It takes place over the Christmas holiday. So it's perfect Christmas movie. And it has that 70s movie dramedy feel to it that is just, I don't know, kind of nostalgic, even though I'm not from that time. It's still feels like it's from

Um, a time in the past and you know, it's, it's great to watch those movies. Um, and this is a new movie that has that feel, which I love. Um, Dominic Cessa was, is this is his first time acting and he's a revelation. Phenomenal. Um, I just, it's a great movie. The, the holdovers by Alexander Payne, my number 10 movie on the year. My number nine movie.

Eli Price (22:22.234)
is Godzilla minus one by Takashi Yamazaki. This movie is, I saw it first of all, I saw it in theaters. And I'm so glad I did because it is big. I mean, it's Godzilla. It's big. It's loud. And it's just a movie that just like begs for you to see it on the big screen. And man, that I love this movie. The storytelling.

is simple but phenomenally well executed. And it really kind of follows a similar structure as the original 54 Godzilla. It's post World War II, post the bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And, you know, there's the very apparent metaphor of Godzilla.

as representing the kind of trauma and effects of nuclear warfare. Um, but yeah, this, and it, and it really gets back to the roots of Godzilla, which isn't about the monster. It's about the characters and their own trauma and their own dealing with, um, what's happened in their own personal lives and also in their country. Um, man, it's just great storytelling. Um,

a little bit melodramatic at times, but I don't mind a little bit of melodrama if it's really well executed like it is here. And yeah, the monster, Godzilla is great in the movie. The visual effects are really, really good. The action sequences are really, really good and suspenseful and thrilling. It's just a movie with a capital M. Loved this one. Yeah, Godzilla minus one.

my number 8 film of the year. This is probably going to be my least well known of maybe all of them I've said so far. It is a movie called Godland and it is a Danish movie by, I'm going to butcher how to say this guy's name, but Reynier Pellemassen.

Eli Price (24:49.326)
I'm 100% positive I did not say that right. I do not speak Danish. And so but it's actually about a Danish priest who in the late 1800s travels from Denmark to Iceland to build a church and reach some people in an area of Iceland as kind of a missionary journey.

This priest is also a photographer. So he has this big, huge backpack that's as big as he is with all of his camera that has his big, late 1800s camera equipment so that he can capture pictures of people in the landscape and whatnot on his journey. And it's actually based on some photos that were found of a real story of a priest

Um, uh, Iceland from Denmark. Um, so it's, they found these photos and I guess someone had seen this guy or someone who ever wrote the movie, Solomon wrote this movie kind of just based off of those pictures. So, um, you know, uh, an original story, it wouldn't be adapted. You can't adapt from, you know, a few pictures, but, um, but yeah, so God land. It follows this priest's journey.

his... I am a big sucker for a movie where a religious man or woman is struggling with opposition both from people and from nature against their faith. I don't know why. I guess maybe it's something about me and my doubting spirit that I...

can identify with that struggle. But yeah, he is struggling with his calling, he's struggling with his faith, he's struggling against these people that are foreign to him, he's struggling against nature itself, he's arrogant and nature and these people humble him over and over and over again.

Eli Price (27:14.998)
He's not an abrasive arrogant, but he is in his spirit arrogant. And so I love the narrative here. It's very, very character driven as far as that goes. And then it's just, man, it is one of the most beautiful movies I've ever seen, shot in Iceland and Denmark. And it is just beautifully shot.

It's in that kind of Academy aspect ratio. So you get a lot of height in the picture instead of the widescreen, the width, but you get that height that is really good for capturing landscapes and horizons. And man, it's just a beautiful movie shot in a beautiful place. And on top of that, a narrative that just is a, that I'm a sucker for.

really enjoyed this movie Godland. You can watch it. It's on the Criterion channel. It's streaming there. So you can check it out there or probably rent it on Amazon or Voodoo or wherever. But Godland is my number eight movie of last year. My number seven. This is a little bit of a cheat because I typically don't include short films on these lists. These are

usually feature films, both narrative and documentary. But I did this one cheat and I included Wes Anderson's, the wonderful story of Henry Sugar. And I'm kind of lumping in the other three, um, with this to, you know, if you put them all together, it could be like an anthology, a roll doll adaptation anthology feature length movie. So that's kind of how I'm treating it. Um, the wonderful story of Henry Sugar, the other three.

would be The Swan, The Rat Catcher, and Poison. Wes Anderson adapted these four Roald Dahl short stories. I did an episode on these, so I'm not going to spend a whole lot of time here. You can go back and listen to that episode that I did covering these to kind of round out my Wes Anderson series.

Eli Price (29:41.686)
And yeah, I just love these. The production design is phenomenal. It's just it's unlike anything I've ever seen captured on screen, the way the sets move around and the cameras move. It's basically the characters are also narrating, and they're narrating basically like reading the book to you as the action of what they're saying is playing out around them.

It's funny. It's these stories are touching in subtle ways, which is common to Wes Anderson. And yeah, I just absolutely loved all four of these shorts. So lumping them together and yeah, loved that. Wonderful story of Henry Sugar, Wes Anderson's and Wes Anderson's other three Roald Dahl adaptations.

Eli Price (30:40.65)
My number six film, and we're getting, I think now we're getting into the territory where any given day I could kind of move the next few, probably three or four around. But my number six film is Are You There, God, It's Me, Margaret by, directed by Kelly Freeman Craig. It's adapted from...

the Judy Blume book of the same name. And it stars Abby Ryder Forsten as the titular character Margaret, an adolescent kind of, I think she's an 11 year old. So she's kind of coming into puberty and dealing with that. And her mother is played by Rachel McAdams. Her father's played by Benny Safdie. Kathy Bates plays her grandmother.

Uh, and it's, I, so I have a, uh, a one year old daughter. She's one years old now and I don't know. I guess I'm just, I also have a wife. Uh, you know, it very much centers on the daughter's experience and also the mother's experience. And so, um, just thinking about my, um, my wife and my daughter watching this movie, I was just like, I, it's a very funny, it's, it's.

Kind of like the Holdovers, it's a dramedy. And I guess we got a few of those this year, with that, with You Hurt My Feelings, with the Holdovers. But this one is just so touching and so funny. I loved it, it's very simple. There's nothing complex happening. It's just a girl dealing with growing up, her changing body, and man, it has some...

wonderful grace notes to it. And she's also, I guess it circles back to struggling with faith and, and where you fit and you know, her mother is a Protestant and her father is a Jew. And so kind of they, they haven't really forced anything on her and she's trying to figure out where she fits in at all. It explores that very well. And man, I just, I just love this movie.

Eli Price (33:06.642)
I cried a lot and I laughed a lot. And to me, that's a good movie. And we'll talk probably more about this when we get to performances. My number five movie on the year is Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon. What is there to say about this movie? I mean, just doing a quick overview, it covers the, it's adapted from a book.

of the same name. And it covers the 1920s Osage nation, Native American nation in Oklahoma. They were at one point one of the richest people in the world because they struck oil on this land that the US government gave them and just became really, really rich people. But then of course, you know, systems moved in.

led by a white man that kind of limited their access to their money, basically changing the, moving the power back to the white people and the Americans taking it back away from these Native people. But this follows, yeah, you know, so it's adapted from a historical book about this.

You know stars Leo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone, Robert Nero, Jesse Plymouth, amongst others. Jason Isbell is a musical artist I really like, but this was the first thing I've ever seen him act in, and I think he was great. But yeah, it's a long movie. You do feel the length, but I think there's a point to that in letting you sit in this atrocity.

Eli Price (35:04.526)
I don't know. I don't want to say too much about this movie and there's really like, it's hard to, hard to explain. It's one of those movies you just kind of have to experience in my opinion. But yeah, the score is great. The cinematography is phenomenal. The acting is phenomenal. There is just this looming haunting.

evil over these characters like the De Niro character. There's this question of is Leo DiCaprio's earnest just dumb or is he just an evil man that's really good at lying or playing dumb? There's the question of Lily Gladstone's Molly, the native character that marries Leo's earnest.

her motivations are and how she's dealing with all of this loss of her family around her. And, uh, man, it's just a great movie. And then there's a choice made at the end that I will not spoil that just like tops it off and makes it self aware and, um, profound, even more profound, acknowledging the

the perspective that it's being told from acknowledging the limitations of a non, uh, Osage person making this story. Oh, it's just, it's so good. Um, I, I could spend forever talking about this movie. Um, but I don't think I will do that. Um, uh, yeah. So that's my number five. My number four movie.

is the by French filmmaker Justine Triet. And it is called anatomy of a fall. It stars Sandra Hewler, who's also in the zone of interest. And yeah, Sandra who Hewler, the son who's another prominent characters played by Milo Machado Granger. Great child performance, I think.

Eli Price (37:31.546)
And the husband, am I missing him on here? Where is his character? Oh, it's played by Samuel Theus. And he's not in it a whole lot, but yeah. It's basically, it covers a woman who is suspected of her husband's murder. It's a.

French court-ridden drama. It doesn't spend the whole time in the courtroom a lot at this house that they're in, in France, in the French Alps, I believe. She's German, he's French. They speak to each other in English. And yeah, it's this very interesting exploration of, what's amazing about this movie, I guess, is, of course,

wonderfully shot, fantastic screenplay, I think, phenomenal acting. But what's most interesting about this movie is it is a French courtroom drama, kind of you would think would be centered around being like a whodunit, like did she do it, did she not do it? And there are those elements there, but what's most interesting is that it's very much centered on and focusing on

their marriage and their relationship and kind of who she is as a person. She, you know, she's not the best person in the world. Like you don't walk away like, Oh, I really liked her as a character. Uh, but, um, but yeah, just kind of exploring the nature of marriage and the nature of truth and arguments in marriage. And yeah, it's just really well written, very thought provoking. It's one of those movies where, you know, you, you watch it with.

Um, you're a significant other and there's conversations probably to be had afterwards. Um, but, um, but yeah, that, that is my number four movie anatomy of a fall. Uh, my number three, uh, we're circling background to Wes Anderson. Uh, and, uh, my number three movie is asteroid city. Um, I, again, I also did a full.

Eli Price (39:53.686)
deep dive episode on this movie. So you can go back to that episode if you wanna just hear all of my thoughts and about the making of the movie and all that. But Asteroid City is just, it's a very fun movie. It's a very emotional movie in my opinion. Wes Anderson is just kind of my, he's just right up my alley. The wit and the dryness

the subtle emotional, like deep layers that are hidden right there underneath the surface. It's just my thing. The production design of this little Asteroid City town is so fun and interesting and funny. And yeah, it's fun. The acting is great all around. A lot of a huge ensemble cast with a Schwarzman as the lead. Scholar Johansson plays kind of

the main supporting character. I mean, you just got you can go down the list with Tom Hanks and Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Brian Cranston, Edward Norton, Adrian Brody, Leif Schreiber, Rupert Friend, Maya Hawke, Steve Carell, Willem Dafoe. You can just keep going with all of these actors. Huge, great cast. And I just. I don't know what it is. There's a couple of moments.

towards the end of this movie. It's it again, it's a layered movie. It is. I'm trying to think of how I described it in the episode. It's like, it is a television, a telecast kind of documentary that is telling the story of a director of this play. And also that so that's being like, portrayed.

Um, within this TV broadcast that has a narrator in Brian Cranston. Um, and then on top of that, you jump into Asteroid City itself, which is a play, but this is like a dramatization of the play. Uh, it, yeah, it's just, you've got like all these layers, which Wes Anderson does so well. So I think the writing is phenomenal to make all these things fit together. Um, and I don't feel like you get too lost in all of that.

Eli Price (42:22.126)
And then on top of that, it just has these notes of, I don't know, just kind of exploring what... It's very much like asking like, what is acting and what is filmmaking, but it applies in that way, but it also just applies to life. One of the lines said to a guy is just keep telling the story.

Um, you know, you're doing it right. Cause he's, he's just not sure about his part. Am I, am I doing this character right? And he says, you're doing it fine. Just keep telling the story. And I don't know that part really gets me. And there's this conversation with, um, uh, Margot Robbie makes an appearance and there's a conversation with that character, um, at the very end that I find very like touching and emotional. Um, and this is not going to work for everyone. Um, it's Wes Anderson. He's just.

You get them or you don't kind of thing, or maybe you understand, but it just doesn't work for you. But, um, I loved asteroid city. I think it's, um, it's just a, I don't know. It was one of my favorite of the year. Um, uh, one of those that I returned to and saw again after seeing it in theater. Um, my top two, these, uh, up to this point, I've been in four and a half star movies, these top two for me are.

I've seen them both twice, once in theaters, once at home. They're both five star 10 out of 10 movies for me. And I could probably flip them back and forth either way. My shirt kind of gives you a hint at my number two. But yeah, my number two is Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse, the animated film directed by.

Joaquin dos Santos and Justin K Thompson and Kemp Powers. This one is obviously an animated film. We had the first of this kind of trilogy that's gonna come out a few years ago. It's been like five years ago, I think. At this point, five or six, I think it was 2018 or 19 or something. But yeah.

Eli Price (44:46.31)
Into the Spider-Verse was the first one. This is Across the Spider-Verse. First of all, just a phenomenal cast of voice actors with Shemeek Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Jason Schwartzman, Oscar Isaac, Brian Tyree Henry, Jake Johnson, Issa Rae, Greta Lee, Andy Samberg, Jack Quaid. You got some like.

of cameo characters popping in there. Donald Glover makes his little cameo. But yeah, these movies, these Spider-verse movies to me are just top-notch. I think these are the best Spider-Man movies. I think these might be the best superhero movies that have ever been made. They're sprawling. They're huge. And yet they stay to the intimate core of

the Spider-Man character in his story. You know, this is the Miles Morales, Spider-Man is at the center of the story. So, you know, that's cool. His kind of story is a little unique in the Spider-Man, I guess, just amongst all the Spider-Men or Spider-Mans. And yeah, it's just so big. The animation, which they, you know, kind of...

started from scratch for into the spider-verse and have just like Grown for this one. It's just phenomenal. You have the different art styles when you're in the different universes I love the watercolor color world of Gwen Stacy When Stacy's world the mum batten, which is the Mumbai Manhattan Kind of Indio world is really fun

Um, you've got, uh, you've got the, um, uh,

Eli Price (46:50.006)
the man, the Hobie character played by Daniel Kaluuya, another big, his animation is really fun. Kind of like that London punk kind of animation style is really cool. The animation is just phenomenal here. It's phenomenal. But in the midst of all the wonderful animation, all of the incredible like.

action and storytelling is this very intimate family drama that I find just like incredibly touching. Like I there's like at least two different points in this movie where like it makes me tear up which is rare for a superhero movie kind of but I just love these movies. I can't wait for the third one. I hope they don't rush it. Take your time. Make it the best movie it can be.

Um, but yeah, I'll love across the spider verse, uh, my number two film on the year.

My number one movie of the year. This is a movie that I had at number two for a long time. And as a four and a half star, I rewatched it recently and moved it up to a five star and moved it up to my number one because I love this movie. It feels like I always end up finding like a small under scene movie that ends up being my number one on the year just because there those.

Movies are just so surprising and I don't know. I just love that sort of movie. But my number one is Past Lives directed by Celine Song. Celine Song is a first time film director. She's been a longtime successful playwright. But this is her first time writing and directing a film and a feature film at that. It stars Greta Lee.

Eli Price (48:52.458)
Teo Yu and John Magaro as kind of, I would say, I guess the main three characters. And it covers a story of, yeah, of a...

A girl who grows up in Korea has kind of like a crush on this boy in her class. Um, and they kind of, uh, they, their parents even take them out on a little date. Um, they're probably like, I would say 12 at this time. Um, and, uh, but then her family, uh, immigrates to Canada. Um, and she eventually ends up in New York. She's a writer. Um, uh,

This is very much, by the way, based on Celine's, a true kind of experience that Celine's song herself had. You can kind of put those pieces together when you see like, oh, she's a playwright. Oh, she immigrated from China when she was young to Canada and is in New York now. Like you can kind of put the pieces together. But yeah, it's a very interesting, intimate story. She ends up marrying.

John Magaro's character, author Nora is Gretta Lee's character's name. Um, that's her American name anyway. Um, and, uh, yeah, so.

Yeah, I don't want to give too much away here. There's not really, I guess, a lot to give away. It's more about the experience of these characters that is captivating to me. And, um, and the way it's shot and edited together, uh, is, is phenomenal. The, but anyways, the, she ends up in, in New York, she reconnects, um, over, uh, Skype and Facebook with, um, with.

Eli Price (50:52.45)
Uh, Hey song is the guy character's name. Um, uh, her childhood, you know, kind of crush and, uh, they spend some time. They spend a lot of time kind of over the internet, um, it's Skype calls, uh, and messages, uh, you know, corresponding and there's kind of, you know, uh, rekindling of a past crush developing and they just can't.

come to a point where they, one can, he can come to America or she can go back to Korea. And so she kind of cuts off that. Um, and then you jump forward another 12 years or so, and she's married. She's done a residency, a writing residency, met meets Arthur. They get married and, um, Hey song has decided to take a vacation and come to New York. Um, and they spend some time together.

You kind of realize like he's coming to New York to kind of figure out what he lost with Nora. Was there anything there? Anything that could have happened? And there is, yeah, there's conversations between these three characters. I don't know. It's hard to describe. You just have to see the movie. It is...

extremely well written. The dialogue is intriguing and interesting and touching and thought provoking. I just love this movie. It makes me smile and it makes me cry. And again, that's just, I love that in a movie. If a movie can make me laugh and smile and cry and feel sad and hopeful.

Um, and devastated and all of those things at the same time. Um, uh, I'm just going to love it. And, uh, man, this movie too is just, it's incredible to see someone who is a playwright come in and make their first, like she wrote and directed this movie, the way she handles the camera, um, it's just incredible. She's patient. She, she knows when to hold a shot on a character's face. She knows.

Eli Price (53:16.726)
when and exactly where to put the camera, how fast or slow to move it. I just, I think it's an incredibly well-made movie for a first-time director in Celine Song. Past Lives, I can't recommend it enough. My number one movie of 2023, and that is going to wrap up my best of 2023.

Uh, top films. Um, again, I'll drop a link, uh, to, um, to my full ranking of all 70 films I've seen, and there might be even more. Uh, I'm watching a few more hopefully before the Oscars. Uh, and, um, yeah, check that out. Uh, you know, share with me your, your favorite films. I've had some listeners, um, you've, you've probably already heard.

You know, this is stuff I'm going to add in production, so I'm not exactly sure. You may or may not have already heard some listeners and past guests share their favorite film or films of 2023. And so, but, uh, but I'm going to take this moment to share a few more of those. So I hope you enjoy hearing, uh, maybe your own voice or, um, some other listeners or friends of mine, uh, share their favorite film of 2023.

And then we will get back in just a minute and get into Oscar talk. I'm going to talk about the Oscar nominations, make my predictions. And maybe even before that, I might even with each category, give my own picks what I would have nominated and had as my favorite. Uh, so that'll be a fun endeavor. So, uh, yeah, it'll kind of be Oscar picks and predictions. And also like. If.

It was the, the Eli Oscars, the establishing shot Oscars, what would have gotten nominated in one. So yeah, I will be back. And we'll talk about that in just a sec.

Eli Price (55:56.93)
So we are going to take some time and look through the 2024 Oscars ballot. I'm going to give my predictions of what's going to win. Yeah, so format, what we're going to be doing in this section. I am going to give my, well, so I'll share.

what my prediction is of what's going to win. I'll read the nominees of the category, share my prediction of what's going to win. And then I will also share what I would have picked of those, um, that were not actually nominated. And I'm also going to share, um, if, if it applies to the category, I'm not going to have this for all the categories, but I'm going to share my own, um, establishing shots or Eli Oscars, I guess. Um, what would have been my.

top five and what would have won it for me and maybe even some honorable mentions because, you know, I love talking forever and mentioning all of my favorites. But yeah, so let's start with, I haven't planned this exactly out, so I'm just kind of winging it. I'm going to start with the shorts categories.

Eli Price (57:24.086)
We have, let's start with documentary short subject. The nominees for this are the ABCs of Book Banning, The Barber of Little Rock, Island in Between, The Last Repair Shop, and Nai and Wipo. Or Wipo, not exactly sure exactly the pronunciation. But this is, I'm going to predict that.

The last repair shop wins. I don't see a lot of these like lesser categories. I don't have a lot of basis for why I think that. That's just kind of like when I was looking at these. That's kind of what I thought. I have seen the last repair shop and Nai and Wai Pao of these. I haven't seen the other three. Didn't see a ton of short films, especially not documentary shorts. Didn't see enough documentaries this year. That's kind of a.

something I want to correct this next year is seeing more new documentaries. But, um, uh, if I were to pick between those two, I would pick personally, nine, I am WIPO. It's a very sweet movie about this guy's grandmothers, um, that are friends and live together and, uh, really sweet, funny, touching story that I loved. Um, a good bit more than the last repair shop, but I do think

That's my prediction is that the last repair shop will win. Short film animated. So the nominees for this are Letter to a Pig, 95 Senses, Our Uniform, Pachyderm, and Wars Over, inspired by the music of John and Yoko. So I have only seen one of these. I have watched trailers for all of them to kind of get a sense of the animation style.

They all are very different in their animation styles, which is fun to see. I'm going to predict just because it seems like what would be the Academy pick that War is Over is going to win. Based on the trailers, it wouldn't have been my favorite animation style of these. But then again, the one that I have seen that I really loved, which was 95 Senses,

Eli Price (59:46.11)
wouldn't have maybe necessarily been my pick of animation style either, but I thought it was, it was just a really, really well-made little short, um, animated feature actually directed by, um, Jared Hess, um, and his brother, I believe, um, the maker of, uh, Napoleon dynamite, not sure Libre those movies, but this is a very touching movie. It's about a man who's, um, well, I actually, I don't want to give it away because I was surprised I didn't, I didn't know.

this was coming and it kind of you kind of realize it a few minutes in what's going on. So I'm not going to ruin that. You can go you can watch 95 senses for free. I think it's on it's called like documentary plus or something like that. The other ones are all available to like rent on Vimeo I believe or other places. I didn't get around to watching those but.

95 senses was very good. That would be my pick. But of course, it's the only one I've seen so Yeah, and then the other short category would be short film live-action and I've only seen two of these as well. The nominees are the after invincible night of fortune Red white and blue and the wonderful story of Henry sugar

I think the wonderful story of Henry Sugar will win. And I think it absolutely should win, which you should know since it was, uh, I just talked about it being one in my top 10 of the year, but, um, the only other one I saw was the after. And I thought it wasn't very good. It was like melodramatic and in a bad way and just like kind of sloppy cliche storytelling. I don't.

Even the way it was shot kind of felt like, I don't know, like a film student kind of like, oh, this is a cool shot. And it's kind of like, okay, not really. I don't know. I just didn't go for it. The after it's on Netflix, as is the wonderful story of Henry Sugar. So if you want to go check those out. But yeah, those are my prediction is picks for those categories.

Eli Price (01:02:09.574)
And from there, let's go to documentary feature, because this is another one that I'm going to predict that 20 Days in Marriapool wins. I haven't seen any of these except for half of 20 Days in Marriapool, which I watched some of today. I watched about half of it. And I'm planning on finishing it later today. It's f*****.

follows a film, a journalistic film crew that is in Marriapul as Russia is invading it in 2022. And it is an absolutely devastating movie. It is very hard to watch. It shows a lot of the devastation, including

you know, very graphic, violent images of civilians that have been injured or dying. Um, and, uh, their family members with them and who it's, uh, devastating movie. I think it wins. It probably should win. Um, there was this, uh, line that I wrote down, um, that the, the guy that's filming it is narrating. Um, and.

At one point he says, thousands have died. We keep filming and things stay the same. Just a devastating movie and just a very like, it's one of those movies that's like, we have to document this or people will forget what happened. Man, I won't say I'm looking forward to finishing it just because of how.

hard it is to watch, but I do plan on finishing it. I feel like it's probably an important movie to see if you can handle it. But yeah, so that would, I guess, be my pick, but I haven't seen any of the other ones. I've heard really, really great things about Four Daughters and plan on seeing that, maybe if I can fit it in before the Oscars. But yeah, so those are.

Eli Price (01:04:27.71)
some of the categories, I'm going to go ahead and hit other categories that I don't have a lot of picks for. So let's jump over to animated feature film. I've only seen like five animated films this past year. And two of these nominated I have not seen yet. But yeah, one of them is Robot Dreams, which doesn't release in the US until like later this year.

I hate it when Oscars have movies that just aren't even... But it is a more international kind of awards ceremony these days. So I think that doesn't make sense. It's been out in, I think it's a French movie, maybe. I could be wrong about that. But yeah, anyways, the nominees for animated feature film are The Boy and the Heron, Elemental, Nimona, Robot Dreams, and Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse.

My prediction is actually that the boy in the Heron will win. Reasons being it might just be the very last Miyazaki movie we get. He's very old. He's quit and retired quote unquote several times before. This might be his last movie. And I think they'll honor that. And Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse is big and

great as a movie as it is, which I would probably make it my pick just because I obviously it's my number two of last year. Um, and, um, my favorite of, of these that I've seen. Um, but I just think the boy and the heron will, I think they will honor Miyazaki and it is an incredible movie. Um, yeah, I don't know. I just feel like they're, that's what, where they're going to go. And because there's another spider verse movie coming out. So.

Um, you know, it went into the spider verse one, it's here. Um, maybe beyond the spider verse, which is the third one, um, will win its year. But this year with Miyazaki putting out possibly his last movie, I think they that's the direction they'll go. Um, another category I don't have my own picks for is costume design. Um, because I don't, I don't know. I just feel like I don't have any experience or.

Eli Price (01:06:50.314)
I don't have the expertise to choose the best costume to sign. But the nominees there are Barbie, Killers of the Flower Moon, Napoleon, Oppenheimer, and Poor Things. The movie that would probably be my pick and also, I think, is going to win is Barbie. I think probably Poor Things could pull that one in.

I'm not sure, but I think Barbie will win. That would be my pick of these. I have not seen Poor Things. It's the one best picture nominee that I haven't seen. Don't really plan on it. I've heard enough about it that I feel like, meh, I'm not really that interested. But yeah, costume design, Barbie. The other one kind of alongside of that is makeup and hairstyling. I...

I just don't have the expertise to make my own picks for that. The nominees there are Golda, Maestro, Oppenheimer, Poor Things, and Society of the Snow. I have seen three of those. I haven't seen Golda or Poor Things. This is tough. I think my pick of the ones I've seen would be Maestro.

This is kind of, I'm kind of hedging my bets here. Cause my prediction is poor things, but I think my stroke could win as well with the, the makeup on Bradley Cooper and whatnot. Um, it's kind of feels Oscar, but poor things, uh, it's going to be my prediction, my pick would be my stro kind of hedging my bets, like, Oh, if it wins, then I can say, well, I still had it as one of my, my things there. Um, yeah. Yeah.

That's where I'm going to go is poor things being my prediction. Um, I also do not have my own list for, um, I don't have my own list for, let's see, uh, original song. I don't have my own list. So let's read those. Um, for original song, you have the fire inside from flaming hot. I'm just Ken from Barbie.

Eli Price (01:09:10.406)
It never went away from American Symphony. Oizaze, a song from My People from Killers of the Flower Moon. And What Was I Made For also from Barbie. My prediction and my pick are the same and I'm going to go with I'm Just Ken from Barbie. I don't know, I just feel like that's the one everyone's talking about and loves and...

I don't know if it feels like an Oscar pick, but this is kind of my surprise pick, what I think might be a surprise when it wins. So yeah, I'm gonna go with, I'm just Ken from Barbie as my prediction and my personal pick. And then international feature film, I didn't really make my own list for this. One of these, three of these I have not seen.

And two of them just because they haven't really released here in the US. So it's just another example of like, man, that stinks. I really wanted to get to some more of these. But anyway, international feature film, I probably saw enough to make my own list, but I didn't make my own list. I, you know, you've probably heard some of them in my long list that I went through at the beginning of this show. But the yeah, the nominees are I.O. or E.O. Capitano.

Perfect Days, Society of the Snow, The Teacher's Lounge, and The Zone of Interest. My pick would be The Zone of Interest, and my prediction is that The Zone of Interest is gonna win. It's the only best picture nominee on this list. It's probably not gonna win Best Picture, and so I think they give it the International Feature Film Award. I think that's pretty cut and dry, and you know.

It would be very surprising for any of these other ones to win over the zone of interest. But yeah, so those are all the ones I believe that I don't have my own list for. So let's go to next to, we'll start with production design. So let me find it.

Eli Price (01:11:27.854)
Production design nominees are Barbie killers of the flower moon Napoleon Oppenheimer and poor things Those are the nominees my prediction is that poor things is gonna win I don't know. That's just kind of where I see it going. I've seen some clips from poor things and

you know, pictures and it does look like incredible production design. It's one of the things you kind of hear about people talk about with the movie. Um, yeah, my pick of those would be Barbie, um, of that list. Uh, you know, it's just great. It's great production design. It's a Barbie world is a lot of work to make that look, look good. I think Barbie could win it, but I do think they give that one to poor things. Um,

And so my, my list, um, my number, uh, so I'll give some honorable mentions and Napoleon, John Wick, four, uh, Priscilla colors of the flower moon. All of those, I think have great production design. My number five is actually showing up. Uh, the Kelly Rieckert film I mentioned, I think, um, the, the art exhibits they set up in her little workspace garage, um, I think is all like really, really well designed and captured.

Um, my number four is anatomy of a fall. Um, the way they had the courtroom set up the way that the, just that house and the landscape around it, I think is really, really well put together. Um, and then my number three is Barbie. Um, it's, uh, like I already mentioned it, you know, just making the Barbie little world come to life is just an incredible feat. Uh, my number two is the zone of interest. They.

built this house, a replica of the original, the actual house that this, uh, the Haas family lived in. Um, I think it's just incredible production design, incredibly put together with the house and the yard and the fence and everything, you know, the, the fence on which the concentration camp is on the other side of, um,

Eli Price (01:13:44.67)
Really well done. My number one in production design, you might have guessed it, is Asteroid City. I just love the fake stage feel thing he has going on with his production design there in Asteroid City and just the desert of it all, and even in the other layers with the behind the scenes stuff and the.

The TV production. I just think it's all really, really well done and detailed as West's stuff usually is. So that's, that would be my winner is Asteroid City for production design. Uh, next I'm going to go to, uh, sound design. The nominees, the Oscar nominees for sound design are the creator, maestro mission, impossible dead reckoning part one, Oppenheimer and the zone of interest.

I think Oppenheimer will win for sound design. That's my prediction. I think of those five that the zone of interest should win for sound design. And I think there is a strong chance that it could win. I don't think Oppenheimer runs away with that. That's my prediction. But my pick would be the zone of interest. And I think it has a good chance of winning on top of Oppenheimer. I think it's one of the most unique.

uh, sound designs ever, as you'll see in a second with my picks. But, um, yeah, my top five for sound design are Godzilla minus one. Uh, at five at four, I have Ferrari. I think the sound design is great there. My number three is Oppenheimer, which I do think has really great sound design. Uh, my number two is actually a film that I just very briefly mentioned. It's a first time director, uh, movie that's, uh,

Yeah, it's called All Dirt Road's Taste of Salt, a very unstructured visual and sound narrative. It's very interesting in touch and feel, which is very hard to portray on screen, but it uses textures in the cinematography and also sound really well to get across the texture and feel of it all. And so...

Eli Price (01:16:07.294)
Yeah, that's actually my number two in sound design. And my number one is the zone of interest, because I just think it's having that background noise droning the whole time of what's going on in the concentration camp. Getting that just right had to be so hard. And I think they did get it just right. So that's my number one for sound. Visual effects.

I am going to, yeah, so the Oscar nominees are The Creator, Godzilla Minus One, Guardians of the Galaxy Volume Three, Mission Impossible, Dead Reckoning Part One, and Napoleon. I have a feeling that The Creator will win. I don't know why, that's just, that's my prediction. Yeah.

I don't know why my prediction is that the creator will win. I think maybe Napoleon also could be a contender there. Um, just my feel of it all, but, uh, I'm going to say the creator wins the Oscar. And, uh, yeah, let me read off my list. My number five is John Wick, uh, John Wick chapter four, uh, great visual effects. Um, number four is Ferrari. I already talked about the race sequences there.

My number three is Oppenheimer, which I think has some really cool visual effects going on with kind of these in Oppenheimer's mind stuff and the Trinity test and all that. No, with, you know, no CGI used. Love that with Nolan. My number two is the Creator. I think it has the way they shot on location and kind of seamlessly added stuff in and post.

I thought it looked really, really incredible. I didn't like the movie. I thought the movie was fine overall. Not the best acting and narrative going on, but visually incredible. So yeah, that's my number two. My number one is Godzilla minus one, because I just think it looked fantastic. Godzilla looks fantastic. I don't know, just everything looks so good. So, so good in this movie, especially on a big screen.

Eli Price (01:18:28.298)
So that, you know, it goes without saying that would be my pick of the Oscar nominees since it's my number one. Uh, and my personal list, let's go to, um, music, original scores. Um, uh, and I put kind of the original score slash music, uh, and you'll see why in a minute, um, but yeah, the nominees here are American fiction, Indiana Jones and the dial of destiny killers of the flower boom.

Oppenheimer and poor things. Uh, I think Oppenheimer wins it. Uh, a lot of people love the score. It was kind of distracting for me. I didn't go for it. I didn't think it, um, I didn't think they. I think it sounds great, but I think the way it's used in the movie is just a scrap distracting and not the best. So, um, and that's not across the board. I do like it in, in portions.

Um, but it just, in some parts it's just distracting. So yeah, that's my prediction. My pick of those would be, uh, well, I'll here, here's what I'll do. I'll share my list. Um, honorable mentions for me. Um, Joe Hesayashi's, um, score for the boy and the heron. Um, he does a ton of Miyazaki movies and all his scores are always so good. Uh, the score for boy and heron is great.

And then Naoki Sato for Godzilla minus one, using those kind of old school Godzilla themes to great effect. Really well done. But yeah, my number five is Asteroid City. Alexander De Pla is the composer there working with Wes Anderson, their collaboration there. Great, catchy, kind of typical Wes Anderson score that I just love.

My number four is for Past Lives, which was composed by Christopher Bale and Daniel Rosen, who were in the band Grizzly Bear, if you're familiar with that kind of indie rock band. I love their score. It's subtle and sweet and very well kind of used emotionally. My number three is for Anatomy of a Fall, and this is what I was talking about earlier.

Eli Price (01:20:53.514)
There's not, I guess, not really an original score for Anatomy of a Fall, but the way that for one, the instrumental version of Pimp is used. And then on top of that, there's these parts where the child actor is practicing his piano, playing some classical pieces. And they actually, instead of getting versions of like, you know, recordings of those pieces to use for the score.

They use the kid playing, practicing, the actor actually practicing those piano pieces as kind of the score per se. So I just loved that choice. I thought it worked really well. So that was my number three. My number two is, and this is kind of another reason I have a kind of score slash music.

Um, my number two is into the spider verse, um, for Daniel Pemberton's, uh, original score, which I think is phenomenal and also Metro Boomin's kind of, um, soundtrack music, uh, that, you know, the, some of the, you know, the songs that play, you can go listen to that soundtrack. Me and my son like to listen to it. Um, it's, um, yeah, it's very good. Uh, love that score and that, uh, soundtrack.

And then my number one, which obviously would be my pick of the Oscar nominees is Robbie Robertson's Killers of the Flower Moon score. Robbie Robertson, one of the members of the band who passed away recently. This kind of, the score is just phenomenal. It's, I don't really know what to say about it. It just.

It always is doing exactly what it needs to do. It's not in your face, but it's subtle and recognizable. Um, and, uh, he, you know, Robbie Robertson has, um, some native heritage and his family tree. And so it was kind of a meaningful thing for him to do. Um, yeah, just, um, just a really phenomenal score. And that would be.

Eli Price (01:23:10.114)
That's my number one, it would be my pick of the nominees, but I do think Oppenheimer takes it. Let's go to, let's go to editing. So nominated for film editing are Anatomy of a Fall, The Holdovers, Killers of the Flower Moon, Oppenheimer and Poor Things. I think Oppenheimer wins it.

Um, but just like the score for Oppenheimer, um, I think there's some parts where the editing is great and some parts where I think it's kind of distracting and, um, so I didn't go a ton for the editing in Oppenheimer. Um, and yeah, anyway, I do think it wins for editing though. Um, there's a lot of pieces to put together there, but there are also a lot of pieces to put together.

and Killers of the Flower Moon, which was my number five for editing. The editor, Martin Scorsese's longtime collaborator, Thelma Shoemaker, who's a great editor. I think they put this movie together just like phenomenally. My number four would be Keith Frosty for Past Lives. Great editing there. It's one of those examples of

You don't notice the editing a whole lot and that's the great thing about it. But yeah, my number three is for Asteroid City, kind of the editors there being Barney Pilling and Caroline Rowlands. Yeah, I just think again, there's a lot of layers here and the way they edit it together so that it's understandable and you don't ever lose your footing is just really well done. Number two for Ferrari.

The editor here is Pietro Scalia. Man, it's just the action sequences with the racing, the way it intercuts. There's this scene where their competitors are testing a car in another part of town and Ferrari and his men, his employees are at mass for church. And

Eli Price (01:25:35.79)
They're all checking and it's cutting back and forth between them checking their stopwatches because they hear the gun firing and back to the car doing its test run. And it's just like, I don't know, it's just phenomenal filmmaking through editing. And there's a lot of that sort of thing all throughout the movie that I think is really, really well done. And my number one is All Dirt Road's Taste of Salt. The editor there is Lee Chattamikathu.

Meetacool. Yeah, I butchered that name. So sorry for that. This is by a first time feature filmmaker in Raven Jackson, telling a story of a girl, a black woman in Mississippi, just dealing with loss and.

connections and missed connections and I don't know. It's a very like very out of sequence told movie that is very dependent on editing for it to work and I think it's just phenomenally well done. As far as that goes. Yeah. I want to say let me double check this.

Eli Price (01:27:04.63)
Maybe not. This editor has a ton of movies. And so she picked a great editor to work with her to tell this story, because I think it's edited together very well and would not work without that. So that's my number one for editing. Let's go to, we're going to do cinematography next. So the nominees for cinematography

El Condé, Killers of the Flower Moon, Maestro, Oppenheimer, and Poor Things. I think Oppenheimer takes it. That's my prediction. My pick, again, would, well, is it in my top five? Yes, it is. So I'll go through my top five. I have honorable mentions for the Zone of Interest. Lucas saw the centimed DP there.

and Anatomy of a Fall, Simon Bofield's for the DP there. But yeah, so my number five is Past Lives. The DP there is Shabiera Kirchner. Great, really, really great cinematography, beautiful shots. This cinematographer has worked with

I'm double checking before I open my mouth. Yes, this cinematographer worked on the Small Axe Project with Steve McQueen. And yeah, and this movie and for past lives, just phenomenally well shot. Beautiful. Yeah. My number four is Oppenheimer. So I do have it in my top five. Although it's not my, it's my prediction for Hoyta van Hoytema to win. Who's one of probably our

greatest, if not, or one of our greatest working cinematographers. Just like phenomenally shot movie. That's my number four. Number three, again, Alder Road's Taste of Salt is just a beautifully shot movie. Again, you're trying, there's a, there's a common recurring theme of the way things feel for this character.

Eli Price (01:29:26.982)
And being able to portray that with the sound design and the cinematography is just great. Very difficult, I think, to pull off. And yeah, just done phenomenally well. You know, just it's a beautiful to watch film.

That's my number three. My number two is killers of the flower moon, which would be my pick of the Oscar nominees if I had to pick one. Um, the cinematographer here is Rodrigo Prieto, who funnily enough is also the cinematographer for Barbie. Um, so two, two big ones in the same year, but, um, killers of the flower moon is just, uh, a Marvel to watch it's. It's beautiful. It's.

You know, there's things he's doing with intercut stuff. That's just great. Yeah, that's my number two. My number one. If you remember me talking about how beautiful this movie was in my top 10, I'm going with Godland. The cinematographer here is Maria von Hossful. And I probably said that wrong, just like I said, the director's name wrong.

Just one of the most beautiful movies I've ever seen. Capturing. Just capturing Iceland in a very unique and.

Very interesting camera angles, very textured, very kind of, it has this like old school look to it, where it feels like you're back in the 1800s. Yeah, phenomenal cinematography in Godland. That's my number one. Yeah, and then let's see. We only have a few categories left. We're going to go to.

Eli Price (01:31:42.19)
screenplays so nominees for Adapted let's do adapted first which this whole Barbie thing and adapted I just I don't even know what to do with that. I don't feel like it's adapted. I feel like it's original But I feel like they need to have better lines of what? Qualifies something as adapted or original. I don't get it. But um, anyways the nominees

for the Oscars for adapted screenplay are American Fiction, Barbie, Oppenheimer, Poor Things, and The Zone of Interest. I think Oppenheimer takes it. That's my prediction. And I think that would be my pick of these nominees as well. Very good. My list at number five for adapted screenplay, I have Priscilla. I think...

Sofia Coppola did really well with adapting that memoir of Priscilla Presley. My number four is Are You There, God Is Me, Margaret. I've already talked about how well that movie is and the way that, I'm not sure who the writer is here. I should have written that down. But the way it works in the mother character and gives her

her own narrative that is kind of like in addition to what she gets in the book, uh, more fully develops that character. Um, just really, really well, well done. Number, my number three is American fiction. Um, again, I think this is just like incredibly well adapted and unique and, um, and all that. Uh, my number two is Oppenheimer. So that's why it would be my pick of those. Um,

It's my favorite. I think it's just a really, it's hard to adapt that sort of thing. And I think Nolan does pretty well. There's some choices. I don't know. I'm kind of iffy on this, I I'm kind of second guessing myself. There's some choices made in certain sections that I'm like, I don't know. So I'm second guessing I might, uh, I might move Oppenheimer down to, um, down to let's say I'll move it down to four.

Eli Price (01:34:05.254)
and move. This is live. I'm moving my rankings around. So my number four is Oppenheimer. My number three is Are You There, God, It's Me, Margaret. My number two is American Fiction. So I guess American Fiction would be my choice for adapted of the Oscar nominees now that I'm kind of thinking about it live as I'm recording. Yeah. Anyways, my number one, which was not nominated, which I...

Don't understand. It's, it's phenomenally written and adapted as killers of the flower moon. Um, if you can't tell that I really loved killers of the flower moon, cause I have it in a lot of these top fives. Um, but yeah, adapting something like that into a movie, like the killers of the flower moon, having the history in there, but also like a very compelling and thought provoking and, um, uh, challenging.

narrative is just really, really impressive. Original screenplay, I'm going to do a shout out for May, December. I think it's a really, really well-written movie. It'd make my top five. I guess you could say this is my top six, because May, December would be my six. But yeah, let me read the nominees, because May, December was nominated for original screenplay.

But anyways, the nominees are Anatomy of a Fall, The Holdovers, Maestro, May, December, and Past Lives. My prediction is that Anatomy of a Fall will win. Yeah, that's my prediction. I think it takes it. I don't have a good train of thought for that, but anyway. But yeah, my number five would be The Holdovers.

Great script, really well written, the dynamic between these three characters. My number four would be Into the Spider-Verse. I think it's incredibly well written. We're weaving together all these different worlds and narratives and still maintaining a strong central family drama in the middle of it is just really impressive to me. I think it deserves some credit here.

Eli Price (01:36:27.186)
My number three would be, I guess my number two and three are kind of tied. I don't know which one I would pick up the other, but my number two and three are Anatomy of a Fall and Past Lives. Both incredibly well-written, both incredibly compelling and thought provoking. Yeah, those are my number two and three. So I really could go either way with those, because those are both nominees.

for the Oscars. But my number one was a snub, and I'm going with the layered story of Asteroid City. Another Coppola getting some love here, because Wes Anderson co-wrote this with Roman Coppola, who's related to Sophia, who I gave an adapted nomination for. Asteroid City would be my personal winner. I just think it's incredibly well-written.

to write such a layered story like this and have it be sensible and also very funny and also touching at moments. Just incredibly well-made. So let's go to Directors. And then we'll get round and maybe on our way to third, about to round and go home.

Directors, the nominate nominations are Justine Triet for Anatomy of a Fall. Martin Scorsese for Killers of the Flowered Moon. Uh, Christopher Nolan for Oppenheimer, Yorgos Lanthimos for Poor Things, and Jonathan Glazer for the Zone of Interest. Um, I think this is a lock. I think Christopher Nolan wins for Oppenheimer. I don't think there's really, I don't know that it just seems like it's a lock. That's who's going to win. Um, and.

I'll touch on this after I read my top five. I do want to give some honorable mentions. Wes Anderson for Asteroid City, Alexander Payne for The Holdovers, A.V. Rockwell for 1001, Michael Mann for Ferrari, Kelly Riker for Showing Up, and Alice Diop for St. Omer, all really great directors directing work between all those. But my number five is Jonathan Glazer for

Eli Price (01:38:55.874)
The zone of interest, I think, um, the, what he is pulling off in that movie takes a ton of insight and work. And, um, and I think he really pulls off some great stuff there, even if it's not, you know, in my top 10, I recognize the directing work is just phenomenal there. So that's my number five. My number four is Justine trier for anatomy of a fall. Um, I think she's just doing some phenomenal work with, um,

with her directing and the vision she has. And it's doing some, you get some interesting angles and whatnot. Yeah, my number three is Christopher Nolan for Oppenheimer. This is tough. Okay, these top three, I could move around. These could be three, two, or one, any of these top three. I'm gonna say Nolan is my three.

Um, just because I think he could have done better. Um, he has other work that I think is better and I'm holding him to a higher standard and think he could do better. My number two is Celine song for past lives. I've already talked about how phenomenal her work is in past lives and being a first time, um, director is, it's just incredible. And my number one is Martin Scorsese, of course, for killer, the thought of moon, I just think.

I don't know, score Sazy is just one of my favorite directors of all time. And I think he knocks it out of the park here with this one, uh, just like he has many times before. Um, now Martin score Sazy is my number one here, but he's one best director before. So. I, if I had to pick one that is going to win, uh, my prediction is Oppenheim Nolan for Oppenheimer. And I actually kind of want him to win.

Even though he wouldn't, if I had to rank them, I'm putting Martin Scorsese first. I kind of want Nolan to win his best director for this because he might have more chances. I don't know. Anyways, I want him to win one, so I hope he does. Let's get into the acting categories. So let's start with...

Eli Price (01:41:20.758)
Let's start with supporting actors, actor in a supporting role. The nominees are Sterling K. Brown for American fiction, Robert De Niro for Killers of the Flowered Moon, Robert Downey Jr. for Oppenheimer, Ryan Gosling for Barbie and Mark Ruffalo for Poor Things. I think it feels like a lock that Robert Downey Jr. is going to win for Oppenheimer. My well, and my so my picks.

I do have some honorable mentions. RDJ would be an honorable mention for me. The Kid from Anatomy of a Fall, Milo Michael Grainer, Jamie Foxx and They Clone Tyrone, which I haven't really mentioned. It was outside of the films I've mentioned, but really interesting, fun movie that doesn't entirely work for me, but I really enjoyed.

Um, and I really like Jamie Foxx's, uh, supporting role in that one. I think he's hilarious and, um, yeah, just really good. Um, John and Kate Brown was an honorable mention from American fiction for me. Um, Holt McCollinney, uh, from the iron claw who plays, uh, Fritz, uh, Von Eric, the dad, I think does, has very great in that movie. Um.

And then Jamie Bell and Paul Meskell both and all of the strangers. Great roles there. Great acting. But yeah, my top five, number five, I'm going to put Glenn Howerton in, from the movie Blackberry. He is playing Jim Valsillie, who, Valsillie, I don't know. He's just like, it's just one of those like fiery.

Boss performances that I just, it's just really great and fun to watch. Uh, my number four, Robert De Niro and killers of the flower moon. He's Robert De Niro. It's been a while since he's had a role this good. Um, and I think he knocks it out of the park. Very good. My number three is Dominic Sessa of the holdovers. Um, I really wish he would have gotten a nomination. Um, he. It's just such a revelation as a first time actor here. Uh,

Eli Price (01:43:40.142)
playing this kid and he has great chemistry with the other actors. Just love CNN. I'm excited to see him do some more work. Number two is Ryan Gosling. So that would be my pick of the nominees. Really, I mean to be, he's Ken and it's just, he's Ken. It's great. He's just great. I don't know what to say about it. My number one is actually Charles Melton in May-December.

another, he's not a first time actor, but, um, I would call this kind of a breakout performance, um, very new, um, hasn't done a ton of work and to come along kind of powerhouse actresses like, uh, Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore and to stand toe to toe with them and acting. And, um, he's just, he has, he's one of the more dynamic characters in the movie. Um,

He's just phenomenal in it. Really, really good. So that's my, that would be my number one supporting actor. Supporting actresses, or the category is actress in a supporting role for the Oscars. But yeah, the nominees are Emily Blunt for Oppenheimer, Danielle Brooks for The Color Purple, America Ferrera for Barbie, Jodie Foster for Nigh-Ad.

and Devine Joy Randolph for the holdovers. I think Devine Joy Randolph wins. That would be my prediction. She's won everywhere else and I think she wins here. I do wanna give, for my list, I have honorable mentions in Danielle Brooks who was a nominee. I wanna clear for all of us strangers.

Uh, Carrie Mulligan and Maestro, I think is really good. And, uh, Gus Laghi, Melinda, who plays a supporting role in the movie, St. Omer, um, she's the, the mother on trial in that movie. Um, it's a very muted performance. She's not like doing a whole lot, but the way she holds herself, I think is just incredible. Um, so I wanted to give a big shout out to that, to her. Um, but yeah, my top five.

Eli Price (01:45:59.89)
At five, I have Julianne Moore in May, December. Great job playing Gracie in that movie. I just love the acting in that movie. I wish they would have gotten more nominations there. My number four is Scarlett Johansson in Asteroid City. I think she works really well with Wes Anderson's kind of storytelling style and characters. I hope she's in more Wes Anderson movies in the future.

Um, number three, Penelope Cruz and Ferrari. I kind of mentioned, I think the movie doesn't work as well. If she's not as good as she is in this, um, really good. Uh, my number two is Davon Joy Randolph. She would be my pick of the nominees. And my number one is Rachel McAdams and Are You There God? It's Me Margaret. Uh, loved her performance. Um, I've always been a fan of Rachel McAdams and, um, as an actress and

Man, she is funny in this movie. She is emotionally just like convincing in this movie. I don't know. It's a very touching, relatable performance that I just loved. So yeah, that's supporting actress. Let's go to the lead actor.

So nominated for actor in a leading role, you have Bradley Cooper and Maestro, Coleman Domingo and Rustin, Paul Giamatti for the holdovers, Kelly and Murphy for Oppenheimer, and Jeffrey Wright in American Fiction. Honestly, all are really good nominees. I caught up with Rustin and Coleman Domingo. He is very good in that. Even the movie is just kind of fine.

Um, but yeah, so he, he's probably an honorable mention. Colin Domingo, uh, for me, Bradley Cooper is Bradley Cooper. I want to put in there in my top five, but I had to make room for some other people. So he's an honorable mention. Zach Efron. I thought it was great. Ironclaw Leo DiCaprio. I couldn't fit into my top five and Adam driver for Ferrari couldn't fit in. Uh, those are some honorable mentions.

Eli Price (01:48:28.566)
Um, but yeah, um, my number five is Michael Fassbender and the killer. Um, his voiceover work is phenomenal. And then just the physical performance he's having to pull off is just really, really good. And, um, I think being underrated, um, everyone knows he's a great actor, but yeah, um, I really think his performance is great. Jeffrey Wright is my number four for American fiction. Um, I think he's great in that movie. He has a lot to do.

Apology and Mahdi is my number three for the holdovers. Great. He's just, um, funny and fiery and very apology and Mahdi. And I love it. Um, my number two is Andrew Scott and all of us strangers who is doing a whole lot of emotional stuff in that movie. And, um, it, um, it took me a minute. I.

I recognized him, I couldn't put my finger on it, and I finally realized that he plays Moriarty in the Sherlock BBC mini-series with Benedict Cumberbatch. And so he was throwing me off at first, but once I got past that, man, is he doing a whole lot of things in this movie. Very emotional performance that he's tapping into.

that really worked for me. And then my number one, which is who I think will win and who I think should win is Killian Murphy and Oppenheimer. And I'm just realizing, I don't think, yeah, I did read them. I think Killian Murphy will win. I think he should win. He's my number one. It's not a big biopic performance, but I think that's to its advantage. There's a whole lot of eye and face.

work that he's doing that I just don't think anyone else could have done that movie's pulling off. And then let's go to actress in a supporting role. I mean, in a supporting actress in a leading role, we are did supporting the lead actress nominees were Annette Benning in NIAID, Lily Gladstone in Killers of the Flower Moon, Sandra Hewler in Anatomy of a Fall,

Eli Price (01:50:51.282)
and Emma Stone and Poor Things. I think it's probably pretty close between Gladstone and Stone, funnily enough. Lily Gladstone and Emma Stone could go either way. I think Lily Gladstone's gonna win. I'm questioning if she is a leading role, but I don't make the rules, and that's what she was nominated for, so I think she will win it.

Um, and, um, yeah, you know, she, it's a great performance. I wouldn't mind her winning that. Um, let me go through mine. I ha I actually have her as an honorable mention. Um, I had some other people I wanted to fit in. Um, and I have Michelle Williams and showing up as an honorable mention and also Abby writer forced in who plays the girl, um, Margaret. And are you there? God, it's me, Margaret. Um, I thought great performance by her, but yeah.

Um, my number five, um, I have, um, I just wanted to fit Julia Louis Dreyfuss in here for you hurt my feelings because she is so funny and so good. I don't think anyone could quite pull off this role like she does. You don't get a whole lot of comedy parts nominated and I wanted to give some love to her and her performance there. My number four is Natalie Portman and May, December.

As you can tell, I loved the acting in this movie because I have all three of the main people in my top fives for their categories. But she's just doing her Natalie Portman thing and it is just phenomenal here, I think. My number three is Margot Robbie and Barbie. I do think she should have been nominated. Not sure why she wasn't. Annette Bening in Nihad is, she's doing a very like typical cliche.

perfectly fine performance in a biopic in NIAID. But I don't think it's necessarily anything special. So I would have probably wanted Margot Robbie and nominated instead of her. But anyway, she's my number three. I think she's pulling off that Barbie character just so well. My number two is Greta Lee in Past Lives. It's not the typical.

Eli Price (01:53:17.65)
lead actress nominee kind of role. It's nothing big. It's a lot of very subtle things going on. A lot of the way that she's communicating and I don't know. I just love the performance. It works really well for me. And my number one is Tiana Taylor in 1001, a movie that I thought was really, really good.

surprising first time director. A.B. Rockwell does a great first time feature director. Great job with that movie. Man, Teyana Taylor is just doing a whole lot. I don't want to give way too much about the movie because I think it's one of those where it's better to see it go in kind of blind and maybe just read the plot description and then go in from there. But it's about a mother.

who kind of steals a son from a foster system and after getting out of jail, and then, yeah, kind of moves on from there, kind of goes through his whole childhood with three different, two or three different, yeah, I think three different actors as the son. But Teyana Taylor is just like putting in a phenomenal, just like gut punching performance, just like a powerhouse performance, really, really good.

I would love to see her in more stuff. So I wanted her as my number one. And then best picture is the last category. You, you probably already know what my favorite is because I went over that at the beginning of the podcast. My favorite is past lives of these. But let me read through them. American fiction, anatomy of a fall, Barbie, the holdovers, killers of the flower moon, maestro.

Oppenheimer past lives poor things and the zone of interest My favorite of these is past lives. I do like a couple of these more than Oppenheimer I like past lives more. I like killers of the flower moon more. I can add a me of a fall more But I'll say this I think my prediction is Oppenheimer wins it I think that's everyone's prediction I think it's going to win it. It's

Eli Price (01:55:44.514)
feels just locked in. And honestly, even though I like three or four of these other movies more, I kind of want it to win. I just, I like the same, similar with directing. I just want Nolan to get his best picture when. Dunkirk, I think is the one that deserved it more. I like that movie a good bit more, but yeah, I want Nolan to win, even though I like these other movies more. Now.

It's kind of a plus for me because if one of these others do surprise, I'll be perfectly happy that I like more. But yeah, Oppenheimer is going to win. I think it's pretty cut and dry at this point. Um, no question about it. Uh, but yeah, um, that is all I have for this episode. Um, if you didn't get your, um, your pick in for 20, 23, your favorite film, you can still leave a voicemail. Um,

Uh, yeah, you just go to establishing shot pod.com. Uh, the link is in the show notes, um, the notes for the episode. So you can just click that on the right side of your screen, whether you're on mobile or desktop, um, you'll see a little button that says send a voicemail. Click that, uh, send it a voicemail. Leave your, uh, tell me your name. Um, what your favorite, uh, film of 2023 was. Um,

and submit that and I can include that on future episodes or if you just want to tell me what I got wrong What I what I snubbed with my picks or um, how i'm just wrong on my rankings. Uh, Yeah, you can leave me a voicemail. Uh telling me about that Um, so feel free to do that. Um, please take some time to rate and review the show Um, I would greatly appreciate it. It helps with the visibility of the podcast

more people see it. And yeah, if you if you do want to support the show financially, I'd greatly appreciate it. It costs money to keep all this stuff going. And yeah, you know, I'm still a relatively new podcast, so I don't have very many supporters. So every little bit counts. I have giving things starting at $5 a month.

Eli Price (01:58:04.502)
just kind of like a latte a month and you can support my podcast. I would greatly appreciate that. Um, yeah, uh, other than that, we have some great episodes coming up. Um, I am going to be covering, uh, the sugar land express next week, which is Steven Spielberg's first theatrically released, uh, feature film. Um, so I'm excited to talk about that and, uh, get moving.

further into that Steven Spielberg series. So that's what you have to look forward to. But this is fun. I'm excited to watch the Oscars and see how things go, see if my predictions are right. And yeah, I hope to see you all guys, see all you guys soon as we keep moving forward in this Spielberg series. But until then, I've been Eli Price.

and you've been listening to The Establishing Shot. I'll see you next time.