Michigan Movie Critics Guild names BARBIE the best of 2023

See the rest of our winners list!

Dec 04, 2023

I’m going to keep this pretty short, as I’m sure most of these films will come up in conversation again in the coming weeks, and Perry and I have an episode of We’re Watching Here later this week in which we’re going to discuss the winners.

Last week, I posted our nominees for the Michigan Movie Critics Guild. Today, I’m back posting the winners. I’m really proud of these — even if my personal choices didn’t always line up with who ultimately won, I don’t think there’s a single choice I have any strong disagreements with. It was a strong crop for our first year, and I think we did a great job of keeping the film conversation going.

Like I said, Perry and I will be talking more about these films later this week, and I’ll have my best-of lists coming next week. So, I’ll just leave you with the list of winners for now. But there is a list of critics involved in this group below; I’d encourage you to follow them and our group. It’s a great collective of critics, and we have some fun things planned for 2024. So, give them a follow!

And, without further ado, here is our list of winners (in bold):

Best Picture

○ American Fiction

○ Anatomy of a Fall

○ Barbie

○ The Holdovers

○ Past Lives

○ Poor Things

Best Director

○ Greta Gerwig - Barbie

○ Cord Jefferson - American Fiction

○ Yorgos Lanthimos - Poor Things

○ Christopher Nolan - Oppenheimer

○ Martin Scorsese - Killers of the Flower Moon

Best Actress

○ Lily Gladstone - Killers of the Flower Moon

○ Sandra Hüller - Anatomy of a Fall

○ Greta Lee - Past Lives

○ Carey Mulligan - Maestro

○ Emma Stone - Poor Things

Best Actor

○ Bradley Cooper - Maestro

○ Zac Efron - The Iron Claw

○ Paul Giamatti - The Holdovers (tie)

○ Cillian Murphy - Oppenheimer

○ Jeffrey Wright - American Fiction (tie)

Best Supporting Actress

○ America Ferrera - Barbie

○ Da'Vine Joy Randolph - The Holdovers

○ Rachel McAdams - Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.

○ Julianne Moore - May December

○ Rosamund Pike - Saltburn

Best Supporting Actor

○ Sterling K. Brown - American Fiction

○ Robert DeNiro - Killers of the Flower Moon

○ Robert Downey Jr. - Oppenheimer

○ Ryan Gosling - Barbie

○ Mark Ruffalo - Poor Things

Best Animated Film

○ The Boy and The Heron

○ Nimona

○ Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse

○ The Super Mario Bros. Movie

○ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

Best Documentary

○ Beyond Utopia

○ Sly

○ Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie

Best Ensemble

○ Air

○ Barbie

○ The Holdovers

○ Killers of the Flower Moon

○ Oppenheimer

Best Screenplay (Adapted or Original)

○ American Fiction

○ Anatomy of a Fall

○ Barbie

○ The Holdovers

○ Past Lives

Breakthrough Award

○ Sandra Hüller - Actress, Anatomy of a Fall

○ Cord Jefferson - Director, American Fiction

○ Greta Lee - Actress, Past Lives

○ Dominic Sessa - Actor, The Holdovers

○ Celine Song - Director/Writer Past Lives

Stunts

○ John Wick: Chapter 4 (tie)

○ The Killer

○ Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (tie)

○ Polite Society

○ Silent Night

The MMCG Award for Film Excellence (presented to a filmmaker, writer, actor, crew member etc. who has Michigan ties or to a film made or set in Michigan)

○ Keegan-Michael Key - Actor Wonka/The Super Mario Bros. Movie /Migration

○ Ashley Park - Actress, Joy Ride

○ Paul Schrader - Director, Master Gardener

○ Lily Tomlin - Actress, 80 For Brady

○ J.K. Simmons - Actor, Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse

○ Bruce Campbell - Producer, Evil Dead Rise

The MMCG is a collective of film critics who are committed to enhancing the conversation about cinema and further establishing the state’s reputation as a film-loving community. This year’s MMCG – its first – is composed of 11 critics, who cover films for a variety of outlets across the state. From websites to newspapers and podcasts to YouTube, they capture the diversity of the field and bring a range of expertise, outlooks, and tastes.

This year’s lineup includes:

● Nate Adams, TheOnlyCritic and The Clinton Local *

● Mark Eaton, Movie Reelist

● George Elkind, Detroit Metro Times and Pride Source

● Becky Fixel, Week99er *

● Christopher George, Spoiler Free Movie Sleuth

● Michelle Kisner, Spoiler Free Movie Sleuth

● Perry Seibert, WLBY and the “We’re Watching Here” podcast

● John Serba, Decider

● MontiLee Stormer, MovieReelist *

● Carl Wheeler, The Reel Godfather

● Chris Williams, CinemaNerdz, Chrisicisms and the “We’re Watching Here” podcast *