The 2023 Best Picture Oscar nominees are ranked from worst to best

I realize how ridiculous it is to go from an anti-war film to an aggressively pro-military film, but such contradictions are what make up any far-reaching best-movie lineup. We now also enter the sequel portion of this list, which would have been even more robust had Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and/or Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery made the best cuts, as some might suspect. Cynical heads might decide that the academy picked Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar: The Way of Water because of their staggering box-office grossings of billions, and they might well be right. At a moment when moviegoing has rarely seemed more precarious, it’s easy to imagine voters being drawn to the commercial juggernauts that have kept the industry afloat, even with the inevitable consequences for Hollywood — massively over-budgeted event films and sequels and otherwise little – propose the most Pyrrhic of all victories.

But there is another dynamic at play. These are two of the longest-matured sequels in recent memory, which speaks to the considerable care and thought that went into their production, as well as their refusal to take audience investment for granted. And in the case of Top Gun: Maverick, that rejection has resulted in a sequel that, while far less sweat-inducingly iconic than its 1986 predecessor, makes for a far richer, emotionally rounded experience in the hands of director Joseph Kosinski. It’s a delight to see Tom Cruise return to one of his signature roles, which many hoped would earn his first acting nomination since 1999’s ‘Magnolia,’ taking him from Val Kilmer’s one-scene heartthrob to a performance in to set the scene. But what gives Top Gun: Maverick its special kick is the way it makes naval aviation its own cinematic metaphor. In his hope for the new generation but his refusal to abandon the old, his belief that seemingly antiquated technologies can still be sources of pleasure, achievement and even salvation is a deeply genuine expression of belief in cinema, his past and its future.

Tuk (played by Trinity Bliss) in the movie Avatar: The Way of Water.

(20th Century Studios)