The creative side of Hollywood is on strike, and films like “Dune 2” and “Challengers” being pushed to 2024 leaves the rest of this year’s release calendar in a stake of flux.
Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” and Michael Mann’s “Ferrari” are the two major theatrical tent poles that have seemingly been able to withstand the pressures of the strike. While we wait for those two and hope for a labor agreement, let’s recap the best movies of the year so far.
5. “Air,” Dir. Ben Affleck
“Air” is everything you could possibly want from a goofy biopic. The specter of Michael Jordan backlit by Ben Affleck with a perm, Matt Damon in a fat suit and Viola Davis in peak form.
A combination of slick filmmaking and brainless entertainment “Air” is fun, in spite of its flaws.
4. “Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse,” Dir. Joaquim Dos Santos, Justin K. Thompson, Kemp Powers
The best superhero movie in years with genre-furthering animation, “Across The Spider-Verse” is hard to describe if you haven’t seen it. There are levels of creativity and animated storytelling ingenuity on display in the film only rivaled by the franchise’s preceding entry “Into the Spider-Verse.”
The only downside is that we’ll likely have to wait a handful of years before we see Miles Morales on screen again.
3. “Oppenheimer,” Dir. Christopher Nolan
Long and loud, powerful and tedious, Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” is divisive and brilliant. Frustrating and transfixing, the three-hour film is worth seeing on the largest screen possible while they’re still playing it in theaters. The performances of Cillian Murphy, a resurgent Robert Downey Jr. and a very lake-breaking Emily Blunt keep “Oppenheimer” interesting, regardless of whether or not the third hour works for you.
2. “Barbie,” Dir. Greta Gerwig
The movie phenomenon of the summer, “Barbie” somehow managed to exceed all the hype. The script, penned by director Greta Gerwig and her partner Noah Baumbach, is an early front-runner for Best Original Screenplay this awards season. The box-office better half of “Barbenheimer ” is Warner Brothers’ highest-grossing film of all time domestically, passing Nolan’s “Dark Knight” and catapulting Gerwig to the absolute apex of the movie mainstream. The film’s re-release, coupled with the imminent Halloween costume craze is likely to further “Barbie’s” already runaway Oscar momentum.
1. “Past Lives,” Dir. Celine Song
An early sleeper for Best Picture, Celine Song’s “Past Lives” is expertly paced, beautifully shot and emotionally pummeling. The film spans multiple decades, chronically the lives of two childhood best friends “Nora” and “Hae Song,” who reconnect years later to reckon with the banality of their adult lives and what they mean to each other.
Song’s script and filmmaking tricks are subtle and stripped back, giving her audience and her characters the space to sit with the full weight of the film’s subject matter. Heart-wrenching, and thought-provoking “Past Lives” is far and away the best movie of the year.
