What to watch June 30, 2023: Movie Awards Contenders

Four excellent new movies are waiting to whet your Fourth of July weekend appetite. At least two are family-friendly affairs, but all of them have a joyful spirit that’s apt for holiday viewing. 

The contender to watch this week: “Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret“

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Kelly Fremon Craig‘s charming adaptation of Judy Blume‘s YA classic did modest business in theaters, so it deserves a second life on VOD. Craig, who established her teen movie bona fides with 2016’s “The Edge of Seventeen,” perfectly captures the book’s shrewd spirit. She cast “Ant-Man” actress Abby Ryder Fortson as Margaret Simon, an 11-year-old forced to move to a new town where she and her friends endure the anxieties of puberty. Craig’s acclaimed script could make her a Best Adapted Screenplay contender, and the supporting cast — particularly Rachel McAdams and Benny Safdie as Margaret’s lovingly scattered parents — are equally worthy Oscar candidates. 

Other contenders:

• “Showing Up“: Kelly Reichardt has multiple Independent Spirit Award nominations and years’ worth of critical raves, so one day she’s bound to get some Oscar recognition, right? Reichardt’s movies tend to be quiet and unshowy, but this is her most mainstream yet. Michelle Williams plays an irritable sculptor preparing to mount an exhibit if she can get through the toils of everyday life, specifically her art-frenemy landlord (Hong Chau) who keeps ignoring the lack of hot water in her apartment. “Showing Up” is a wry comedy that also features André Benjamin, John Magaro (previously seen in Reichardt’s “First Cow”), Judd Hirsch, and Amanda Plummer. 

• “Nimona”: Netflix and Annapurna Pictures rescued “Nimona” from development hell when the movie got waylaid by Disney’s acquisition of Fox, where it had been set up since 2015. Disney’s loss is our gain. Directors Nick Bruno and Troy Quane, who storyboarded “Enchanted” and helmed “Spies in Disguise,” have won plaudits for their take on ND Stevenson‘s queer-coded graphic novel of the same name. Chloë Grace Moretz plays a shapeshifter marked for execution until she becomes a saving grace for the troubled knight (Riz Ahmed) sent to kill her. Stream it on Netflix. The voice cast also includes Lorraine Toussaint, RuPaul, Beck Bennett, Frances Conroy, and Julio Torres.

• “Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed”: This HBO exclusive is a must-see for anyone interested in golden-age Hollywood. Rock Hudson’s fame has been well chronicled since his death from AIDS complications in 1985, but Steven Kijak‘s moving documentary provides one of the more comprehensive portraits of the Oscar-nominated heartthrob’s experiences as a semi-closeted gay man navigating studio-system strictures. Kijak, whose primary source material is Mark Griffin‘s 2018 biography of Hudson, presents him not as a tortured soul but as a cunning renegade with a flourishing private life.

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