The 7th Annual MIB (Matt, Ian, and Blake) Awards

Best Documentary Film

Blake: How do you heal in the absence of justice? Robert Greene’s documentary Procession asks this question as it brings together six men who have two things in common: all of them were sexually abused by Catholic priests in their youth, and none of them have seen their abuser brought to justice. Failed by the law and the Catholic Church, these six men turn to each other — and a film crew — to confront their demons by creating fictionalized reenactments of their trauma. Available to stream on Netflix, Procession is a profoundly moving exploration of how art can help process pain and usher us down the path toward healing and catharsis.

Ian: If you’d’ve told me this year we’d get not one but TWO documentaries directed by celebrities using 50-year-old unseen footage of famous musicians from 1969, I wouldn’t have believed you. For as much as I enjoyed hanging out in an intimate setting with my pals John, Paul, George, and Ringo in Get Back, the best doc I watched this year was Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised). From Sly and the Family Stone to complete disinterest in the moon landing, director Ahmir Thompson (better known as Questlove) brings to life every aspect of the vibrant 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival and all the beautiful Black joy it emanated.

Matt: When you’re young, there is nothing more agonizing than adolescence. Cusp documents the in-between agony of three teenage girls who are ready for freedom from their small town in Texas, but are still minors. The documentary captures the rareness of the teenage years with an at-home video camera vibe that reminds you of the old school MTV days. This documentary was in my mind for days after viewing. It was a great reminder about life before worrying about paying bills and grinding out a 9 to 5 job. It’s on Showtime, so you know, ask around for a password to watch it.

Best Popcorn Film

Blake: You are not prepared for the final 30 minutes of Malignant. That’s all I’m going to say. This is a film that will become a staple of midnight screenings at repertory movie theaters, because it is a film that is best seen among a packed house of horror fans.

Ian: Spider-Man: No Way Home. After drifting away from the MCU for a few years, 2021 was the year I fell full-force back into Marvel love, culminating with the best theater experience I’ve had in years. This film clearly leaned into fan service, but DANG did they pull it off, to the point of entering the superhero movie pantheon. Funny, exciting, and surprisingly emotional, this Spidey flick is a perfect popcorn film, and is proof that major theatrical releases still have a place within our zeitgeist.

Matt: The great, and I mean GREAT Nic Cage brought us Pig this past year. It was the first movie I watched in theaters since COVID started. I was eager to watch it because of my loyal listening to the “WTF with Marc Maron” podcast. He absolutely loved it and I wanted to check it out. It was interesting and didn’t really go in the direction I thought it was going to go. Solid popcorn film. It’s worth a watch while you’re folding laundry or something.

Best Sequel, Remake, or Reboot

Blake: Lana Wachowski, one half of the sibling filmmakers responsible for the original trilogy, didn’t warm to the idea of a third sequel to The Matrix until she suffered the loss of her parents and a close friend in the same year. Returning to The Matrix — a property that Warner Bros. has been keen to revisit — and bringing back Neo and Trinity suddenly presented itself as a way to process her grief. And The Matrix Resurrections is very clearly a personal film for the director, functioning both as a love letter to the characters of Neo and Trinity and an examination of how fear and uncertainty drive us to cling to the comforts of the past.

Ian: West Side Story. When one of the most famous movie directors of all time makes a $100 million dollar movie, written by one of the most famous playwrights of our time, which was adapted from one of the most famous movie musicals of all time, which was in itself an Oscar-winning adaptation of one of the most famous Broadway productions of all time, there are… expectations. Though the box office expectations weren’t met, every element — performances, lighting, costumes, set design — elevates Spielberg’s remake into a dazzling spectacle that feels simultaneously nostalgic yet timeless.

Matt: Admittedly not my favorite category for the prestigious MIB Awards. Very rarely does a sequel, remake, or reboot move the needle for me. My selection for this year is going to be Disney’s Cruella. I rented it before it hit Disney+ for a date night. The date went pretty well and that is the reason for my selection, plus I thought Emma Stone did a great job.

Best Under-The-Radar Film

Blake: If you are looking for a movie to watch tonight, make it Nine Days. If you are looking for a movie to watch tomorrow night or the night after that or any day that ends in “-y,” make it Nine Days. This is the kind of movie you watch and then wonder why more people aren’t talking about it. Anchored by the best performance of Winston Duke’s young career, Nine Days peels back the curtain on life before life, during which a former member of the living interviews a collection of prospective souls to decide which of them will be born into the world. It is a stunning debut feature for writer-director Edson Oda and well worth seeking out.

Ian: Like many, I fully expected Pig to be Nicolas Cage going full John Wick in pursuit of his stolen truffle pig. Instead of the Cage rage boiling over, we are treated to a surprisingly tender reflection on grief. (Yes, “boiling” and “tender” were intentional food puns). Each of the three primary characters represent a different response to grief, leading to scenes as compelling as the flavor of truffle mushrooms — or so I imagine; I literally can’t afford to try one myself.

Matt: In & Of Itself began streaming on Hulu in January of 2021. For you loyal MIB Awards readers, you might have issues with this selection because it technically came out in 2020. But you know COVID messed it all up, so whatever. Storyteller and conceptual magician Derek DelGaudio attempts to understand the illusory nature of identity and answer the deceptively simple question: “Who am I?” You get a front row seat to a very popular New York Broadway show. I will say you have to be in the right mood for a “thinker” but it’s a great watch that showcases a very unique magic show.

Best Adapted Screenplay

Blake: I first read the poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight for a class in college. I had planned to revisit it before seeing The Green Knight, but didn’t get around to it. Once I saw the film, the first thing I did was go home and reread the poem, because David Lowery’s film is an adaptation that is very much in conversation with its source material. The ending, in particular, is a critique of the poem’s conclusion, calling attention to the way the original story contradicts itself. Lowery’s The Green Knight is a brilliant deconstruction of what it means to be a hero in Arthurian lore and how to live up to the virtues associated with being a knight.

Ian: The real best adapted screenplay this year is also my Best Picture winner (keep scrolling, baby!), so I’m going to use this slot for The Power of the Dog. Matt and Blake should, rightfully, give me a hard time for giving this film an award, because I openly poo-pooed it in our group chat for being an overhyped slogfest. Upon further reflection, I acknowledge this sentiment comes from an odd aversion I have towards praising the Oscar frontrunner. I also watched it while I had COVID, which probably didn’t help. Putting my snobbery and slobbery aside, I admire Jane Campion’s Western-turned-psychological-thriller for its unique take on toxic masculinity and the unexpected twist ending.

Matt: It’s Christmas break 2021 and your boy travels to the historic Mayan Theater in downtown Denver, Colorado to watch The Lost Daughter a week before it releases on Netflix. The film’s showing is in theater No. 3. I’m not sure what that means but I can assure you theater No. 1 and No. 2 had better legroom than theater No. 3. I had to take up an entire row just to situate myself to watch this movie. Who is also in the theater you might ask? An older lady who had the best seat in the house (hard to explain) plus a mother and daughter combo and me. While I was constantly moving in my uncomfortable seat I did enjoy the movie a great deal. It gets your heart racing at moments that involve a teddy bear. The ending isn’t for everyone but it worked for me.

Best Original Screenplay

Blake: A show girl who moonlights as a serial killer finds herself a fugitive from the law after one of her intended victims escapes, forcing her to mutilate her appearance so that she can pass herself off as the missing son of a firefighter. Oh, and she has been impregnated by a car. Are you still with me? Well that is the set-up of Titane, French writer-director Julia Ducournau’s bonkers follow-up to her feature directorial debut, Raw. If you can stomach the graphic and disturbing violence of Titane’s first 30 minutes, you’ll find yourself drawn into a twisted but tender family drama about love, longing, and loneliness. It’s truly one of the most original films I’ve ever seen and establishes Ducournau as a visionary filmmaker.

Ian: Licorice Pizza. Similar to the candy licorice, this film is understandably not to everyone’s taste. The lack of a more traditional plot combined with the legal and moral implications of the central couple’s age gap can be hard to swallow. While I can’t ignore some of the film’s flaws, the humor and authenticity of Paul Thomas Anderson’s hangout movie has continued to retroactively grow on me. Licorice Pizza creates a world which feels fully rooted in reality yet almost dreamlike at the same time, and I’m already looking forward to returning to that world soon.

Matt: You never know what you are going to get from one scene to the next in Licorice Pizza. From wild humor to tender romance with a sprinkle of action sequences that involve Sean Pean. Also, throw in a wild scene that involves Bradley Cooper, which is one of my favorite scenes of any movie I’ve watched recently. V tense, as the kids would say. I certainly left the movie theater desiring more from this film but all in all it delivers. The originality of it all is what is most intriguing to me and thus deserving of this MIB Award.

Best Supporting Actress

Blake: Jessica Henwick is going to be a star. The 29-year-old actress had the choice between auditioning for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and The Matrix Resurrections, and although the former may have performed better at the box office than the latter, the buzz about Henwick’s performance as Bugs is going to pay dividends for her career. Look no further than her next gigs, which include Netflix’s The Gray Man with Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans and Rian Johnson’s upcoming sequel to Knives Out. Henwick more than holds her alongside Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss in The Matrix Resurrections as a compassionate and endearingly naïve rebel who is resolute in her mission to fight for what Neo and Trinity died for.

Ian: King Richard, sometimes for better and sometimes for worse, follows many tropes. But what makes Aunjanue Ellis‘ performance special is that she subverts the emotion-laden wife/mother trope, instead being a stoic rock amidst Richard’s waves. Despite getting an Oscar nomination, Ellis’ portrayal of Oracene Price — the unsung-hero of the Williams sisters’ success story — is also the movie’s unsung performance because of Will Smith’s ascent towards his overdue Oscar win.

Matt: Her role in Red Rocket is Suzanna Son’s breakout role. From what I’ve read this was her first real role and she is the reason Red Rocket has any sort of buzz around it. She enters the scene later on in the movie, but once she does, any scene that doesn’t involve her seems very boring. A wild concept with an ex-porn star who’s in his 40’s wooing a high school student working at a donut shop can only work with terrific performances. We’ll be seeing a lot more of Suzanna Son.

Best Supporting Actor

Blake: Learn the name Colman Domingo, if you haven’t already. He has made a meal of meaty supporting roles in the last decade, with credits that include Candyman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, If Beale Street Could Talk, and Selma. But I’m writing about him here because of his commanding performance in Zola, where he plays a mercurial pimp who conceals a fierce and ruthless nature behind his often calm and cool exterior. Domingo steals the show right out from under his co-stars Taylour Paige, Riley Keough, and Nicholas Braun.

Ian: Apparently Bradley Cooper was ready to be done as an actor… until Paul Thomas Anderson cast him in Licorice Pizza. With only seven minutes of screen time, B-Coops goes back to his roots of doing what he does better than anyone: hilarious, rage-bridled mania. Like many others, I wish he had been in the film longer, because his extended cameo takes the film to another level. I’ve never been more terrified to know if I can pronounce “Barbara Streisand” correctly.

Matt: My man Jonah Hill just brings it every time. His performance in the star-studded Don’t Look Up is no exception. The man rocks a Hermes Birkin handbag as he walks alongside madam president (Meryl Streep). Adding a designer handbag was his choice and these little subtleties are what part of what makes his performance stand out. He packs a punch with every line he delivers in this movie and it is my kind of humor. Jonah long ago entered the realm of, “Anything he is in, you gotta go out and see.”

Best Actress

Blake: Rebecca Hall is one of the most underappreciated actresses of her generation. It’s a shame that the Oscars have an aversion to horror and left her riveting performance in The Night House on the shelf next to Toni Collette’s from Hereditary and Lupita Nyong’o’s from Us. The Night House hinges entirely on Hall’s performance as a schoolteacher besieged by supernatural disturbances in the wake of her husband’s suicide. The script and Hall smartly avoid painting her as a widow wallowing in her grief, giving us instead a character who is driven to regain a sense of control in her life and refuses to play the part of a woman to be pitied.

Ian: Olivia Colman in The Lost Daughter. Colman has made herself a household name through various portrayals of royalty and delightfully endearing acceptance speeches. While she can “go big” with the best of ’em, her role as Leda is more inward and restrained. Leda behaves a bit oddly and even borderline unlikable at times, but Colman’s gripping screen presence makes us need to know more about her backstory. If we are lucky, perhaps we will get another one of her acceptance speeches this year!

Matt: You tune in to see if Kristen Stewart pulled it off in Spencer and she absolutely does. It’s a very odd viewing experience, as all you care about is how one actress plays an absolute legend in our society. Princess Diana represents so much to so many people and this film brings her pain to light. I definitely view Kristen Stewart in a much different way after this film. Much respect!

Best Actor

Blake: You’ll recall I awarded Regina Hall an MIB Award four years ago for her performance in Support the Girls. Now I turn my attention to her Scary Movie 3 co-star Simon Rex for (what I hope will be) a career-changing performance in Red Rocket. If you missed his turn as Charlie Sheen’s doofus brother in Scary Movie 3, you’ve probably never even heard of Simon Rex, as his acting career has largely been inert for at least a decade. But a fateful phone call from writer-director Sean Baker is how he ended up starring in Red Rocket, which has earned Rex acclaim for his performance as a washed up porn star who returns to his Texas hometown with his tail between his legs, hoping to leech off the locals until he can mount a comeback. Rex is utterly transfixing as a narcissist with undeniable charm but for whom every relationship is a transaction, including the twisted romance in which he ensnares a freckle-faced donut shop employee.

Ian: Most major awards bodies gave Daniel Kaluuya an award last year for his performance in Judas and the Black Messiah, and for good reason. Perhaps their only mistake was failing to recognize him as the lead actor, sharing top billing with the sublime LaKeith Stanfield. Kaluuya may be the only actor alive with the magnetism required to play Fred Hampton. His power is exemplified not only in his fiery speeches, but equally in his silence and subtleties. What really sets this performance apart, however, is the humanity and vulnerability in private during scenes with Dominique Fishback. Honorable Mention: Andrew Garfield in every movie he was in this year. #AndrewGarfieldRenaissance

Matt: I didn’t expect to enjoy watching Tick, Tick… Boom! as much as I did. Andrew Garfield is the reason for that. I’ve always admired his work and I’m glad he was given the opportunity to lead this movie. The story is heartbreaking but you can feel the energy from Andrew Garfield’s performance as it’s clear Jonathan Larson was one of a kind and we’re lucky he left his art as his legacy.

Best Female Director

Blake: One of the movies that snuck up on me last year was Censor. I knew it had debuted at the Sundance Film Festival, but didn’t hear much buzz about it until it was released in the United States the following June. The right people started singing its praises, so when the Music Box Theatre down the street started screening it, I knew I needed to snag a ticket. What a debut feature for writer-director Prano Bailey-Bond, who turns back the clock to 80s Britain at the height of a moral panic that led to a strict code of censorship for video releases. Censor perfectly captures the look and feel of the low-budget “video nasties” that became popular during that era, as the film comments on the kind of people who are all too eager to appoint themselves as moral arbiters when it comes to the horrors of the silver screen.

Ian: I was shocked to learn Maggie Gyllenhaal was the director of The Lost Daughter. Not because every time I think of her I now think of the hilarious “Haaarvie” TikTok, but because it was her directorial debut. In the hands of a less capable director, the frequent time-jumping of interweaving stories between present-day Leda (Olivia Colman) and young Leda (Jessie Buckley) would cause a viewer sea sickness. But Gyllenhaal carefully overlaps past and present to patiently peel the layers of Leda’s complex relationship with her responsibility of motherhood.

Matt: I have to admit after watching The Lost Daughter directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal, I felt embarrassed. I can’t ever remember a time where it was so clear to me that a movie was from a woman’s perspective. Surely, this was not the first movie I’ve watched with the female’s vantage point as the storyline. It was so embarrassing because it was clear to me how overlooked it is to have films almost always from the male point of view. I felt a little brainwashed. Aside from that, I thought Maggie Gyllenhaal crushed it in her film directorial debut.

Best Male Director

Blake: Denis Villeneuve is back for seconds after I awarded him the Best Director for Arrival six years ago. He has more than earned another MIB Award for his work in bringing Dune to the screen. His lack of an Academy Award nomination is baffling to me considering what a breathtaking achievement the film is, especially when seen on the biggest screen possible. It’s an immersive film that actually feels like a world brought to life on screen, rather than one constructed on a computer. Few directors can transport audiences quite like Villeneuve.

Ian: Bo Burnham for Inside. This may be controversial, but Matt picking Godzilla (the character) for an acting award our first year set the precedent of unconventional MIB selections, so HEAR ME OUT. No, musical stand-up comedy specials are not films. But what if Inside is instead an arthouse film that analyzes the complicated nature of our everyday performances by depicting a comedian attempting a musical stand-up special? Bo Burnham the Director spends one year using nothing but a few lights and a DSLR to tell the story of Bo Burnham the Character’s quarantine-inflicted inward descent. Inside ultimately points the camera at us in order to reflect on our own never-ending role as simultaneous performer and consumer. In this chaotic world, we can still laugh, but we all have “that funny feeling.”
Conventional choice: Edgar Wright for Last Night in Soho.

Matt: Michael Rianda for The Mitchells vs. The Machines. This is really an opportunity for me to discuss my love for this film. One of the better animated movies to come out in a hot minute. The scene where the little brother is going through the phone book to discuss dinosaurs with anyone had me rolling! I’ll chalk that up to an excellent director decision by Michael Rianda.

Best Picture

Blake: When I think about what I love most about Licorice Pizza, I always arrive at the performances of Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman. Writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson has admitted that the film, which is very episodic in its structure, is based loosely on real-life stories told to him by his friend Gary Goetzman, a former child actor and current film producer, and Hoffman nails the bravado and false confidence of a high schooler who fancies himself a budding entrepreneur. But the movie almost revolves more around Haim, whose character is approaching her 30s and struggling with her insecurities about her station in life. It’s so entertaining to watch these two characters explore different avenues in search of direction and validation, only to realize what they need is each other more than anything.

Ian: Good films can be validly measured by any number of qualities: enjoyable, admirable, innovative, and lasting. The truly GREAT films have some degree of all these qualities. I’ll remember 2021 as a year with many good movies, but little to no great ones — making it laughably difficult for me to choose a Best Picture winner. The film that probably came closest to checking every box for me was Space Jam 2 Drive My Car. I would not usually expect to be gripped by a three-hour movie this quiet and deliberately paced, especially one that consists almost entirely of Japanese dialogue between stationary characters around a table, on a bed, or in a car. But the writing nearly dances off the screen as it weaves between character revelations, Checkov’s Uncle Vanya, and a number of affecting themes: grief, guilt, life vs art, and authenticity. If you have the necessary time and attention to appreciate Drive My Car, it’s a ride worth taking.

Matt: CODA is it for movie of the year. I don’t care what else you have to say. It is as heartwarming as it gets and eye-opening as well. I loved the execution of this film with humor and the use of still silence. I constantly listen to the soundtrack from this film which is rare for me. It’s a movie you will be able to turn on in years to come and enjoy your viewing. While I’ve got you here, A24 Films, we’re big fans of your productions here at the MIB Awards and if you’ll look in your Instagram DMs you’ll see I’ve sent my reel for consideration of employment at A24. The order goes – me first, then Ian, then Blake for who to hire. Thanks for reading, folks! We’ll see ya at the movies.