Oppenheimer cleaned up at last night’s Oscars, winning Best Picture, Best Director for Christopher Nolan, Best Actor for Cillian Murphy, and several additional awards. The movie one critic wondered in 2022 might be the “last stand for intelligent films” ended up far more than that: a critical and commercial smash that was among the top-earning movies of the year.
Nolan’s film is about the father of the atomic bomb. Another Oscar-nominated 2023 film made in the shadow of nuclear weapons is Godzilla Minus One. The Japanese production became a surprise worldwide hit, on the strength of its compelling human drama and its remarkable spectacle. As I wrote earlier this year:
It is not so much a good Godzilla movie as it is a good movie that Godzilla happens to be in. It is a fully realized drama about life in Japan after World War II that the legendary beast stomps into (with some striking imagery and set pieces that ought to embarrass Hollywood).
Godzilla Minus One won Best Visual Effects, the only Oscar for which it was nominated. It is much deserved. Against mega-budget Hollywood entries such as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and The Creator, Godzilla Minus One stood out. And, somehow, it did so on a bafflingly small budget (that director Takashi Yamazaki has refused to disclose). As my colleague David Zimmerman wrote, “With a fraction of the budget of most Hollywood movies these days, this film is visually stunning and looks way better than all the $250–$300 million superhero outings this year.”
Some of my other colleagues were equally rapturous in praising the Godzilla Minus One. Rich Lowry, though bothered by Godzilla’s physique, nonetheless called the movie a “winner.” And Phil Klein described it as “not just great as a fun, escapist monster movie” but also “actually a compelling dramatic film.” So congratulations to the little monster that could, and to the team that made his latest outing happen.