Air – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

MOVIE OF THE WEEK: Best 2023 Awards Contenders

December 24, 2023December 25, 2023 Jennifer Merin Air, American Fiction, Anatomy of a Fall, awards contenders, Barbie, betsy bozdech, Cate Marquis, jennifer merin, leslie combemale, liz whittemore, loren king, motw, Movie of the Week, nell minow, nikki fowler, origin, Pam Grady, past lives, Poor Things, saltburn, sandie angulo chen, sherin nicole, The Holdovers, The Taste of Things, The Zone of Interest

2023 has been a brilliant year for movies and an astonishing number of outstanding films representing all genres are now vying for awards consideration. There are so many top titles that if you were to watch movies from dawn to dusk for this quiet week between Christmas and New Year’s Day — without taking a break — you probably couldn’t manage to view all of the serious awards contenders. So, with this week’s Movie of the Week feature, we are recommending titles picked by Team MOTW members — titles that they say must be seen before the awards shows so you will be prepared to enjoy all of the awards season’s buzz and shine in social media opining and chatter around the watercooler. These are our must see films and we’ll wager that once you see them you will want to see them again. Happy holiday week viewing!!!

Reviews

AIR – Review by Nell Minow

December 20, 2023December 24, 2023 Nell Minow Air, amazon studios, ben affleck, Chris Messina, Chris Tucker, jason bateman, matt damon, Michael Jordan, Nike, truth-based, viola davis, Warner Bros.

2023 will be remembered as the year of the movies that are consumer product origin stories. We’re used to seeing heroic stories of military figures, musicians, political leaders and activists, and, because movies are written by writers — writers. But in 2023 we had a remarkable number of movies with heroes or anti-heroes who were, well, capitalists. We saw the origin stories of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, Blackberrys, Beanie Babies, and the proto-computer game Tetris, By far the best of the group, though, was the story of a sneaker, a shoe that would become so popular it would have, well, a massive cultural footprint.

Reviews

AIR – Review by Susan Granger

May 16, 2023May 21, 2023 Susan Granger Air, ben affleck, Chris Messina, Chris Tucker, jason bateman, matt damon, Michael Jordan, Nike sneakers, Sonny Vaccaro, viola davis

Air recounts how Sonny Vaccaro convinced the then-rookie Michael Jordan to sign a unique endorsement deal that changed the retail sports-apparel industry. Insightfully scripted by newcomer Alex Convery and astutely directed by Ben Affleck (Argo), it’s really a sports fable, centered on the 1984 corporate culture at Nike headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon. Back then, Nike was known for its running shoes which had zero impact on fashion. This underdog story begins as Nike’s basketball scout Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon) searches for the next player to promote the footwear brand.

Reviews

AIR – Review by T.J. Callahan

April 6, 2023April 6, 2023 T. J. Callahan Air, amazon studios, ben affleck, Chris Messina, Chris Tucker, jason bateman, matt damon, Michael Jordan, Nike, truth-based, viola davis, Warner Bros.

Air: A shoe is just a shoe until someone steps into it. It was 1984. Americans were doing the Jane Fonda workout. Prince Charles and Lady Diana became parents to a future king, Mr. T pitied the fools, Clara Peller asked “Where’s the Beef?” and Converse ruled the athletic shoe world. A little ol sneaker company in Oregon was out to change that.

Reviews

AIR – Review by Susan Kamyab

April 1, 2023April 1, 2023 Susan Kamyab Air, ben affleck, Chris Messina, Chris Tucker, Damien Delano Young, jason bateman, matt damon, Michael Jordan, Nike, viola davis, Warner Bros.

I am so happy to say that this movie is not only a slam dunk, but it’s one of the best films of the year so far. I know it’s early to say that, but this particular A-list film is going to stick with audiences all year long. Directed by Ben Affleck, the film is about a sports marketing executive, played by Matt Damon, and how he led Nike in its pursuit of the greatest athlete in the history of basketball: Michael Jordan.