11th I’m Jeffrey Rex Awards – 2023

I know. I didn’t just forget which year we’re in. We’re about to say goodbye to 2024, and here I am with a list of the very best films, shows, and whatnot from 2023? That’s certainly a choice, right? Look, I’ll be honest. I’ve been pretty busy this year, and I, around summer time, felt like I might as well wait until I had seen the two or three films that I felt I had to watch before publishing my lists for 2023. It kind of makes sense, right? If it’s already late, then I might as well make sure the choices are bulletproof, you know? Anyhow, here we are, and I’m going to be running you through all of my winners in a single post. Some awards have been canned (e.g. poster, trailer), other fresh ones have been added (e.g. stunts). It’ll take some time, but stick with me here. Oh, and look on the bright side, this way the wait between the 2023 and 2024 lists won’t be all that long. Anyway, let’s get to it (and happy holidays!). 

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Christopher Nolan’s Coronation Had Kenergy | 96th Oscars Recap and Review

(L-R) Emma Stone, Christopher Nolan, and Ryan Gosling at the 96th Academy Awards — IMAGE STILLS: A.M.P.A.S. 2024.

Last night, Jimmy Kimmel hosted the 96th edition of the Academy Awards on a night where awards prognosticators felt most of the big awards were already spoken for beforehand. However, conventional prognosticating wisdom did not always win out, as the presenters read out the winners of the Academy’s 23 categories. The early frontrunner and expected Best Picture winner Oppenheimer did, indeed, become the biggest winner of the night with seven total Oscars including wins that saw shatteringly good work from Robert Downey, Jr. and Cillian Murphy earn them their first ‘Little Golden Men.’ Hollywood’s safest bet and — as I liked to call him last night on social media — the ‘Crown Prince of Cinema,’ Christopher Nolan, had his grand coronation as Steven Spielberg passed the baton, awarded him with the Best Director award, and gave him a big hug. For many, that is what the night will be remembered for — i.e. the triumph of the immensely popular biopic and Christopher Nolan who, as some will undoubtedly perceive it, went toe-to-toe with Barbie and came out of the explosion that was ‘Barbenheimer’ with 7 golden statuettes in tow. Indeed, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer is a hugely deserving winner of all of the awards that the cast and crew went home with (including Best Picture, which was announced in a relatively confusing way by film-legend Al Pacino), but that’s not all the 96th edition of the Academy Awards should be remembered for. 

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They Cloned Tyrone (2023) | REVIEW

(L-R) Teyonah Parris, Jamie Foxx, and John Boyega in THEY CLONED TYRONE — PHOTO: NETFLIX.

Directed by Juel Taylor — Screenplay by Tony Rettenmaier and Juel Taylor.

Last week, moviegoers flocked to theaters — most of them dressed in pink — and walked down the pink carpet to take part in the movie event of the year known as Barbenheimer — i.e. the simultaneous release of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. We were lucky to have two films that were so excellent released on the same day so that people of all ages could celebrate movie theaters all over the world. However, that same weekend, there was also a third film released that cineastes ought to check out. Released on Netflix just last week, Juel Taylor’s feature directorial debut They Cloned Tyrone is a genuinely funny and stylized sci-fi comedy that I highly recommend to audiences looking for something special from the comfort of their own home. 

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Barbie (2023) | REVIEW

(L-R) Ryan Gosling as ‘Ken’ and Margot Robbie as ‘Barbie’ in Greta Gerwig’s BARBIE — PHOTO: Warner Bros. Pictures.

Directed by Greta Gerwig (Little Women) — Screenplay by Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story).

This weekend, the movie event of the year finally arrived with the release of the escapist comedy and social satire picture Barbie and the dark and dense historical epic and biopic Oppenheimer. The simultaneous release of two films from modern auteurs Greta Gerwig and Christopher Nolan couldn’t just be counterprogramming. Rather, the internet decided that it had to be a meme (Barbenheimer, it’s been dubbed). Theater owners all over the world ought to be rejoicing at the internet’s impromptu online public support for a double billing of two films that in most ways couldn’t be farther apart. Moviegoing audiences are also in luck, because it just so happens that both films are terrific. Although the very pink and mostly lighthearted IP-driven comedy from Greta Gerwig may, from the outset, seem trivial when compared to the adult-oriented three-hour Christopher Nolan epic about our ability to destroy ourselves, the Barbie movie does have quite a bit to say, and it would be wrong to disregard it as a cynical cash grab or a marketing exercise. This one is as fun and lighthearted as it is critical.

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