Damien Chazelle

Over the past 20 years, Ryan Gosling has given audiences several notable performances in both indie and blockbuster films, garnered numerous awards and accolades, and earned a spot as one of Hollywood's most respected actors. He notably started his career in front of the camera as a teen in the early 1990s on "The Mickey Mouse Club" and continued to land minor roles on television throughout the remainder of the decade. By the 2000s, Gosling began acting in movies, with his role as Noah Calhoun in the 2004 film "The Notebook" launching him into superstardom. Since then, he's had leading roles in Oscar-winning films like "La La Land" and "Blade Runner 2049," but he recently received plenty of buzz for his latest work in Greta Gerwig's "Barbie."

"Barbie," which stars Margot Robbie as the iconic fashion doll brought to life, features Gosling as Ken, Barbie's counterpart and companion throughout the film. While the actor's airheaded, lighthearted role is arguably a contrast to the mostly dramatic ones on his résumé, the character of Ken, according to Gosling himself, is not much different than he is. In GQ's summer 2023 cover story, he explained, "There's something about this Ken that really, I think, relates to that version of myself. Just, like, the guy that was putting on Hammer pants and dancing at the mall and smelling like Drakkar Noir and Aqua Net-ing bangs. I owe that kid a lot. I feel like I was very quick to distance myself from him when I started making more serious films. But the reality is that, like, he's the reason I have everything I have."

BRIAN VINER: This is a wild comedy-slasher movie in which the violent protagonist is imbued not so much with superhuman as super-ursine qualities after becoming hooked on the white stuff dropped in a bungled smuggling run over a state park in rural Georgia in 1985. Let me warn you that this film might get up your nose in a different way, certainly if you think that a drug-addled bear is no kind of topic for fun.

STEPHEN: Maybe it was inevitable that the 95th Oscars shortlist gave Will Smith a smack in the face for Emancipation, which emerged with zero nominations. Smith, who whacked host Chris Rock in the mouth during the actual ceremony last year, had it coming, albeit metaphorically. Not all Hollywood snubs are ill-deserved. Some are warranted, even necessary. Other snubs are appalling, an insult to the audience. The 95th Oscars nominations had both. Although Babylon was nominated for Best Costume Design, Original Score and Best Production Design, there was nothing for the movie's star Brad Pitt, director Damien Chazelle, or the movie itself in the category of Best Picture. I won't be crying over that decision. But sadly, in the cloud of political correctness, the best movie of the year has been obliterated. I defy you ever, in your lifetime, to see a more brilliant work of art than Mark Mylod's The Menu. Never have I felt so cheated with Oscars nominations in not seeing this work of extraordinary art on one shortlist.