Movies for Grownups®Awards: Best film, shows, talents for 50+ audience. And the nominees are… – Herb Weiss

By Herb Weiss, contributing writer on aging issues

Over a week ago, the 2024 Golden Globe Awards, with a viewership of 9.4 million, the highest ratings in years, honored the best films in both the American and international film industry and programming on television and cable.  This award ceremony, hosted by comedian Jo Koy and broadcast live from the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California concludes with the Academy Awards held on March 10, 2024. 

However, the Washington DC-based AARP has actively joined in the celebration of the best of film and television by sponsoring its annual Movies for Grownups® (MFG) Awards with the winners being announced in the February/March issue of AARP The Magazine, considered to be the largest-circulation publication in the United States with over 38 million readers.

For more than two decades, beginning in 2002, AARP’s Movies for Grownups initiative has championed movies geared for grownups, by grownups, by advocating for the 50-plus audience and encouraging the production films and TV shows geared to older viewers.  

“Our goal has always been to ignite cultural change in Hollywood through our Movies for Grownups initiative. And this year’s bumper crop of masterworks worth a grownup’s time suggests that it’s happening,” says AARP film and TV critic Tim Appelo, in a statement released on Jan. 9, 2024. “AARP’s Movies for Grownups Awards fights industry ageism, and they’re a measure of social change as well as artistic excellence,”  he says.

And the Nominees are…

Last week, ARRP The Magazine announced the nominees for the annual Movies for Grownups® (MFG) Awards, with Barbie, The Color Purple, Killers of the Flower Moon, Maestro, and Oppenheimer for Best Picture/Best Movie for Grownups category. 

In the Best Actress category, nominees are Annette Bening (Nyad), Juliette Binoche (The Taste of Things), Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor (Origin), Helen Mirren (Golda), and Julia Roberts (Leave the World Behind). 

In the Best Actor category, Nicolas Cage (Dream Scenario), Colman Domingo (Rustin), Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers), Anthony Hopkins (Freud’s Last Session), and Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction).  

The nominees for Best Supporting Actress are Viola Davis (Air), Jodie Foster (Nyad), Taraji P. Henson (The Color Purple), Julianne Moore (May December), and Leslie Uggams (American Fiction).

In the  Best Supporting Actor category, Willem Dafoe (Poor Things), Robert De Niro (Killers of the Flower Moon), Colman Domingo (The Color Purple), Robert Downey Jr. (Oppenheimer), and Mark Ruffalo (Poor Things).  

2023 Movies for Grownups nominees for Best Director are Ben Affleck (Air), Michael Mann (Ferrari), Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer), Alexander Payne (The Holdovers), and Martin Scorsese (Killers of the Flower Moon).  

In the Best TV Movie/Series or Limited Series category, nominations go to The Bear, Fargo, Only Murders in the Building, Succession, and The White Lotus.  

The 2023 television nominees for Best Actress are Jennifer Aniston (The Morning Show), Jennifer Coolidge (The White Lotus), Jennifer Garner (The Last Thing He Told Me), Imelda Staunton (The Crown), and Meryl Streep (Only Murders in the Building). 

In the Best Actor category, Brian Cox (Succession), Bryan Cranston (Your Honor), Oliver Platt (The Bear), Rufus Sewell (The Diplomat), and Henry Winkler (Barry).  

But there is more. Here’s a listing of other Award categories and nominees.   

●  Best Screenwriter: Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig (Barbie), David Hemingson (The Holdovers), Tony McNamara (Poor Things), Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer) and Martin Scorsese and Eric Roth (Killers of the Flower Moon).  

●  Best Ensemble: American Fiction, The Color Purple, Killers of the Flower Moon, Oppenheimer, and Rustin. 

●  Best Actress (TV): Jennifer Aniston (The Morning Show), Jennifer Coolidge (The White Lotus), Jennifer Garner (The Last Thing He Told Me), Imelda Staunton (The Crown), and Meryl Streep (Only Murders in the Building).  

●  Best Actor (TV): Brian Cox (Succession), Bryan Cranston (Your Honor), Oliver Platt (The Bear), Rufus Sewell (The Diplomat), and Henry Winkler (Barry).  

● Best TV Movie/Series or Limited Series: The Bear, Fargo, Only Murders in the Building, Succession, and The White Lotus.  

●  Best Reality TV Series: The Amazing Race, America’s Got Talent, The Golden Bachelor, Jury Duty, and The Voice.  

●  Best Intergenerational Film: American Fiction, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, The Holdovers, Leave the World Behind, and Poor Things.  

●  Best Time Capsule: Ferrari, Maestro, Oppenheimer, Priscilla, and Rustin.   

●  Best Documentary: Invisible Beauty, Judy Blume Forever, The Lost Weekend, The Pigeon Tunnel, and Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie. 

●  Best Foreign Film: Amerikatsi (Armenia), Perfect Days (Japan), Radical (Mexico), The Taste of Things (France), and The Zone of Interest (United Kingdom).  

Tim Appelo, covering entertainment and is the film and TV critic for AARP, shares his thoughts about the significance of AARP’s sponsoring its annual Movies for Grownups® Awards in an article published on Jan. 9, 2024 on AARP’s website. “We spotlight films and shows that feature crucial issues, thoughtful storylines and the most talented grownup filmmakers and actors who speak directly to the 50-plus audience, the crucial demographic supporting the best work in film and TV. Without grownup audiences, art house films, indies and TV that qualifies as art would not survive — and when audiences flocked back to theaters this year, it was grownups who helped lead the charge,” he says. 

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To access all of Herb’s articles published by RINewstoday, go to https://rinewstoday.com/herb-weiss/

Herb Weiss, LRI -12, is a Pawtucket-based writer who has covered aging, health care and medical issues for over 43 years.  To purchase his books, Taking Charge: Collected Stories on Aging Boldly and a sequel, compiling weekly published articles, go to herbweiss.com.