Joey Magidson
Ladies and gentlemen, the time has come. Yes, the Fourth Annual Awards Radar Awards are coming to a close. For part three of this awards series (part one is here and part two is here), we’re handing out our prizes in a multitude of categories. I already revealed my Actor and Actress of year, as well as my Top Ten list. Now, you’ll find out my picks for Best Director, Best Animated Feature, and so on. Consider this putting a bow on 2023. I know I’m not alone when I say bring on 2024 (especially with the way this one has gone for me), so let’s get this started. Look for more discussion of these winners on the most recent Awards Radar podcast episode (here), but right now, it’s time to hand out some prizes…
Now, without further delay, the full list for the Fourth Annual Awards Radar Awards is here. Behold:
Best Picture
Barbie – Winner
Oppenheimer – Runner Up
Best Director
Ben Affleck for Air – Runner Up
Sean Durkin for The Iron Claw
Greta Gerwig for Barbie
Yorgos Lanthimos for Poor Things
Christopher Nolan for Oppenheimer – Winner
Martin Scorsese for Killers of the Flower Moon
Best Actor
Matt Damon for Air
Colman Domingo for Rustin
Zac Efron for The Iron Claw – Winner
Paul Giamatti for The Holdovers
Barry Keoghan for Saltburn – Runner Up
Cillian Murphy for Oppenheimer
Best Actress
Lily Gladstone for Killers of the Flower Moon
Eve Hewson for Flora and Son – Runner Up
Jennifer Lawrence for No Hard Feelings
Florence Pugh for A Good Person
Margot Robbie for Barbie
Emma Stone for Poor Things – Winner
Best Supporting Actor
Robert Downey Jr. for Oppenheimer – Runner Up
Ryan Gosling for Barbie – Winner
Chris Messina for Air
Mark Ruffalo for Poor Things
Best Supporting Actress
Emily Blunt for Oppenheimer
Viola Davis for Air – Runner Up
America Ferrara for Barbie
Vanessa Kirby for Napoleon
Rosamund Pike for Saltburn
Da’Vine Joy Randolph for The Holdovers – Winner
Best Adapted Screenplay
American Fiction (Cord Jefferson) – Runner Up
The Killer (Andrew Kevin Walker)
Killers of the Flower Moon (Eric Roth and Martin Scorsese)
Oppenheimer (Christopher Nolan)
Poor Things (Tony McNamara) – Winner
Shortcomings (Adrian Tomine)
Best Original Screenplay
Air (Alex Convery) – Runner Up
Barbie (Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig) – Winner
A Good Person (Zach Braff)
The Iron Claw (Sean Durkin)
Origin (Ava DuVernay)
Saltburn (Emerald Fennell)
Best Ensemble
Air – Winner
Barbie
The Iron Claw
Oppenheimer – Runner Up
Poor Things
Saltburn
Best Animated Feature
Elemental – Runner Up
Leo
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse – Winner
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
Best Documentary Feature
American Symphony
January 6th
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie – Winner
Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour – Runner Up
Best International Feature
Anatomy of a Fall – Winner
Godzilla Minus One – Runner Up
The Taste of Things
The Teachers’ Lounge
Best Production Design
Barbie – Runner Up
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things – Winner
Saltburn
Best Cinematography
The Iron Claw
Killers of the Flower Moon
Maestro
Oppenheimer – Winner
Poor Things
Saltburn – Runner Up
Best Costume Design
Barbie – Winner
Maestro
Oppenheimer
Poor Things – Runner Up
Saltburn
Best Film Editing
Air – Runner Up
Barbie
The Iron Claw
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer – Winner
Poor Things
Best Makeup & Hairstyling
Barbie
Maestro – Runner Up
Poor Things – Winner
Best Sound
The Killer
Oppenheimer – Winner
Maestro
The Zone of Interest – Runner Up
Best Original Score
Barbie – Runner Up
The Killer
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer – Winner
Poor Things
The Zone of Interest
Best Original Song
Barbie (Dance the Night Away)
Barbie (I’m Just Ken) – Runner Up
Barbie (What Was I Made For?)
Flora and Son (High Life) – Winner
The Iron Claw (Live That Way Forever)
She Came to Me (Addicted to Romance)
Best Visual Effects
Barbie – Runner Up
The Creator
Godzilla Minus One
Poor Things – Winner
Congratulations to all of the winners of the Fourth Annual Awards Radar Awards!
Thanks for your reviews, I have read most of them and agree with your opinion as well. Except for, Barbie. I liked it very much and the message was awesome but Best Picture? Love Greta too but I don’t know. Disappointed you didn’t stick with Chris Messina for Air. Hopefully you hit everything else right on. Still need to see Poor Things but I bet you’re right on it too. Thanks again. B. Duran
Hey, our favorites are our favorites. No right or wrong answers here
If I may offer a defense of considering Barbie the #1 film of the year, as someone who also wasn’t as big a fan of it as Joey:
Barbie was, indisputably, the cinematic cultural phenomenon of 2023. Setting aside its financial success (though being the highest-grossing live-action comedy, Warner Bros release, and movie directed by a woman is certainly nothing to sneer at), everyone had to have an opinion on it. You couldn’t “check out” of The Discourse™ surrounding Barbie. There was a nationwide conversation discussing and debating the movie’s depiction of feminism, masculinity, existentialism, capitalism, and what Barbie has meant to generations of girls and women. Heck, Awards Radar’s Favorite Special Boy put out a 43-minute video whining about the movie, literally buying Barbie dolls to film himself burning them. It occupied his fragile ego, rent-free, all year.
The only other film that came even close to matching that level of cultural prominence and influence on Hollywood this year was Oppenheimer, which owes a lot of that to linking itself to Barbie as an unconventional double-feature “event” so unusual and widely-recognized that it now has its own Wikipedia page.
If we’re going to apply “objective” metrics of cinematic award-worthiness… I’d say those are fairly persuasive ones in Barbie’s favor.
Those are definitely elements that made it the film that it is…