Creating something out of nothing and creating a real space out of props. These two categories are closely related in as much as they achieve the same goal but just go about it very differently. Myself, I’m more inclined to like practical effects over that of CGI, but when CGI is used creatively and sparsely, it can create just as much movie magic as the props department.

Best Visual Effects

5. The Batman – Dan Lemmon, Russell Earl, Anders Langlands and Dominic Tuohy

4. All Quiet on the Western Front – Frank Petzold, Viktor Müller, Markus Frank and Kamil Jafar

3. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – Geoffrey Baumann, Craig Hammack, R. Christopher White and Dan Sudick

2. Top Gun: Maverick – Ryan Tudhope, Seth Hill, Bryan Litson and Scott R. Fisher

1. Avatar: The Way of Water – Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett

Best Production Design

5. Avatar: The Way of Water – Production Design: Dylan Cole and Ben Procter; Set Decoration: Vanessa Cole

4. The Fabelmans – Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Karen O’Hara

3. All Quiet on the Western Front – Production Design: Christian M. Goldbeck; Set Decoration: Ernestine Hipper

2. Elvis – Production Design: Catherine Martin and Karen Murphy; Set Decoration: Bev Dunn

1. Babylon – Production Design: Florencia Martin; Set Decoration: Anthony Carlino

So there’s the best overall movie, and then you have these secondary best pictures, each representing their niche corner of the cinema-sphere… unless your Parasite and take home the secondary and the main prize. But more often than not, I enjoy the movies in these categories better than the main Best Picture pool.

Best Animated Feature Film

5. Turning Red

This was the only one of these animated movies that I couldn’t get into. Maybe it’s because the film is an allegory for young girls experiencing their periods for the first time, which is an event that I was lucky enough to not experience in my life, mainly because I lack the physical parts, if you know what I mean.

4. The Sea Beast

The Sea Beast is straight forward classic animation storytelling. We get a little girl that wants to sneak away and join up with monster killing pirates only to uncover a darker secret. Pretty standard stuff, but enjoyable nonetheless.

3. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

There’s no reason a Puss in Boots movie should be this good. I had my doubts going into this but once Puss was going hand to hand with Death, I was all in. A perfect mix of childish humor with themes to keep the adults occupied for 90 minutes.

2. Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

This is Pinocchio like I’ve never seen him. He’s boaderline creepy and would probably make for good nightmare fuel for children. I do love this animation style it looks glorious and fits Del Toro’s sensibilities to a tee.

1. Marcel the Shell With Shoes On

Isabella Rossellini should be in every movie… even if she’s playing a small elder sentient shell. I’m a sucker for mockumentaries, and even though I struggle with calling this an animated movie rather than a movie with some animation in it, it still scratches all my sweet spots.

Best Documentary Feature Film

5. All That Breathes

This one, I didn’t much care for. Using injured birds and wildlife as a framing device to explore all of India’s new growth, for better or worse. But then agin, I really hate birds.

4. All the Beauty and the Bloodshed

This is another one with some odd framing devices. We get to take a look of the life of Nan Goldin, who’s had a great career as a photographer and artist. But there’s a secondary story about her activism against the opioid epidemic. And then we get bits and pieces about her involvement in the AIDS crisis. It’s a bit too scattered, but it does have a banging soundtrack.

3. Navalny

The ending to Navalny, the only serious challenger that Putin has ever really had, is quiet depressing. Navalny survives an assassination attempt and even uncovers the government’s plot to kill him, only to have Putin crush any opposition.

2. A House Made of Splinters

In the Ukraine, before the war, we watch as parent’s abandon their children into state ran orphanages. It’s in credibly heartbreaking to see circles of violence repeat themselves and to see children realize that their mother’s just don’t want them any more.

1. Fire of Love

A married couple that seeks adventure and knowledge about volcanos, the only thing hotter than their love for each other. At the start of the movie we are told that these two will burn alive together on the side of a mountain, killed by the thing that fascinated them most. But the story narrator, Miranda July, weaves makes us feel like we know these two crazy cats and the love that they shared.

Best International Feature Film

5. “Argentina, 1985” (Argentina) 

I don’t know, court room dramas really don’t do it for me, even though this one has a nice ratio of court scenes to political ones. It’s a fine movie about an important subject, but the film itself isn’t that important.

4. “Close” (Belgium)

This is like the 13 year old equivalent of Banshees of Inisherin. Two close friends have a tragic falling out all because of bullies. It’s sad, real sad. And it’s a good example of how many great foreign films there are this year.

3. “EO” (Poland) 

Speaking of sad, what to watch a donkey get abused for 2 hours? If the answer is ‘yes’ I’d recommend Au Hasard Balthazar, but if you can’t find a copy of that, EO makes for a really good second choice. Animal abuse never looke more pretty.

2. “All Quiet on the Western Front” (Germany) 

The downside to this movie is that we’ve seen it twice before, and it doesn’t quite live up to the standard that it’s 1930 version has set. But it gets close to achieving that high bar, espeically by adding in some new subplots.

1. “The Quiet Girl” (Ireland) 

I swoon for this film. It is subtle and quiet and touching for a film about a girl going to live with a foster family for the summer. I enjoyed it so much that I immediately watched it a second time.

Certainly these two categories have their fans. People like to ogle at all the pretty dresses in all the period pieces, and they love to critique the make-up and judge if a movie’s art department has made an actor or an actress look better or worse or appropriate for the part. I believe that subtle characteristics are the best, as to not distract the audience from the plot. But with these awards sometimes the subtle movies get lost in the shuffle while the more noticeable and flashy gimmicks are celebrated. So here’s my ranking of which films this past year were best dressed.

Best Costume Design:

5. Everything Everywhere All at Once – Shirley Kurata

While EEAAO is subtle for the most part with its costuming, there’s still a lot of far out costume, clownish sometimes, that pop up. There’s actually a pretty well balanced mix of the mundane and the extravagant. But this gets 5th place, because it feels like it’s trying too hard sometimes.

4. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – Ruth Carter

Black Panther 2 has equally as good of costuming as it’s predecessor, and that’s kinda the problem. It doesn’t do anything new, unless you count the Aztec-ian inspired outfits for the underwater people.

3. Babylon – Mary Zophres

Babylon is gaudy and sometimes even hurts the eyes if you stare into its abyss too long. But the outfits are certainly over the top, but that fits the style and pacing of this 1920s inspired film. So, I might be a hypocrite, but I’ll let this movie slide for being excessive.

2. Elvis – Catherine Martin

Speaking of gaudy… the entire movie of Elvis is gaudy from it’s editing down to its direction. But as glossy and vinyl looking as this movie is, it does get the outfits right. It’s a period piece and we feel like we are right there with the horned up teenage girls grasping at the hip stirring Elvis’s sweet threads.

1. Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris – Jenny Beavan

Finally something subtle. It’s another period piece, but we get a look at how the lower class and the upper class get to dress. Plus this movie is about dresses, so how can it lose the best dressed category.

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

5. The Batman – Naomi Donne, Mike Marino and Mike Fontaine

So the only reason The Batman is nominated in the category is because they took a good looking actor and made him fat and ugly. Which that is the only notable piece of sfx make-up in the entire movie.

4. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – Camille Friend and Joel Harlow

Again, Wakanda has the same problem they had during the costuming segment, the only new element here is Namor’s Spock-like ears. This is the problem with sequels in these technical categories, we’ve already seen the franchise’s best work.

2. The Whale – Adrien Morot, Judy Chin and Anne Marie Bradley

Another movie that has only one notable characteristic, how fat can we make an actor and avoid being accused of fat shaming. As a fat man, myself, even I questioned some of this movie’s gratuitous fatness. But in the end they did make Fraser look like a 500 pound man.

1. Elvis – Mark Coulier, Jason Baird and Aldo Signoretti

Why must everyone be fat! Even Tom Hanks is taking jobs away from plus sized actors. But I did like the feminization that the movie cast upon Elvis’s good looks. That look in contrast to the sweat filled gaze of Col. Parker made for an interesting visual.

3. All Quiet on the Western Front – Heike Merker and Linda Eisenhamerová

Actors caked in dirt and mud and blood. Everything feels grimy and half dead. This is as subtle as it gets in this category, so it has my vote.