Week 8 Fantasy Football Winners and Losers: 2023 Edition

Quarterback

MVP: Josh Allen (Bills)

After a rough couple weeks, Allen returned to form last Thursday night against the Bucs. While he did throw a pick, the rest of his line was terrific (324 YDS/2 TD's, 7 CAR/41 YDS/TD) and unquestionably helped anchored a lot of fantasy wins this week. Allen has a date with the Bengals in Week 9.

Honorable Mentions: Sam Howell (Commanders), Dak Prescott (Cowboys), Joe Burrow (Bengals)

LVP: Patrick Mahomes (Chiefs)

A bout with the flu, crap weather and friskier-than-expected Denver defense left Mahomes in a shocking rut on Sunday as he posted one of the ugliest performances of his career (241 YDS/0 TD's/2 INT's, 20 Rushing YDS/FUM Lost) in what proved to be both his 1st career loss to the Broncos and road loss to a divisional opponent. He should be extra motivated to atone for this history-making bad performance in Week 9, and a matchup with a very beatable Dolphins defense should provide a good opportunity to do so.

Dishonorable Mentions: Lamar Jackson (Ravens), Jared Goff (Lions), C.J. Stroud (Texans)

Running Back:

MVP: Gus Edwards (Ravens)

Gus the Bus kept on driving into the endzone against the Cardinals. His 3 TD runs propped up an otherwise not overly impressive day at the office as he only picked up 94 scrimmage YDS (80 rushing, 14 receving) despite receiving a season-high 21 touches (19 carries, 2 receptions). The Ravens didn't trade for a RB at the deadline today, so Edwards should be locked in as the team's RB1 (and subsequently, a solid fantasy RB2) as long as he remains on the field.

Honorable Mentions: Jahmyr Gibbs (Lions), Christian McCaffery (49ers), Alvin Kamara (Saints)

LVP: Miles Sanders (Panthers)

Miles Sanders and his fantasy owners received a shitty surprise following the Panthers bye week and his return from a shoulder injury: He's now the 3rd string running back! That's right: the back the team signed to a 4-year deal in free agency in March is now playing behind Chuba Hubbard and Raheem Blackshear (!). Despite the demotion, he still managed to get a couple of carries against the Texans on Sunday-which he turned into 0 YDS. Sanders has been one of the biggest fantasy flops of 2023 and his relegation to a supporting role in a newly-formed RB committee on a team with one of the worst offensive lines in football should earn him the title of most dropped non-injured player on the wire this week. 

Dishonorable Mentions: Jerome Ford (Browns), Alexander Mattison (Vikings), D'Onta Foreman (Bears)

Wide Receiver 

MVP: CeeDee Lamb (Cowboys)

The primary beneficiary of Mike McCarthy taking the governor off of Dak Prescott for a 2nd straight game was once again Lamb. He made an absolute mockery of the Rams young secondary-securing 12 catches for 158 YDS and 2 TD's while also adding a 12-YD rush as the cherry on top of his best game of 2023 thus far. As long as the passing game remains healthy in Dallas, Lamb should continue to put up monstrous numbers on a consistent basis.   

Honorable Mentions: A.J. Brown (Eagles), DeAndre Hopkins (Titans), Jaylen Waddle (Dolphins)

LVP: Davante Adams (Raiders)

Adams has to be really close to walking out on the Raiders. Josh McDaniels and Jimmy Garoppolo continue to commit malpractice by failing to get their superstar wideout the ball. Last night's outing against the Lions marked a particularly egregious case of their negligence as Adams was held to just 1 catch for 11 YDS in a game where Garoppolo was just breathtakingly awful. Nobody is going to seriously consider taking somebody with Adams' talent out of their lineups, but barring a string of gridiron miracles in Vegas, the number of ugly showings like this seem destined to outshine the gems for the final 9 games of the Raiders 2023 season.   

Dishonorable Mentions: Cooper Kupp (Rams), Zay Flowers (Ravens), Jakobi Meyers (Raiders)

Tight End

MVP: George Kittle (49ers) 

A lot of 49ers failed to show up for their game against the Bengals this past Sunday. Kittle was not among them. The star tight end was wide open all game long, finishing the afternoon with a ridiculous 149 YDS on 9 catches. As hot-and-cold as Kittle has been in the 1st half of 2023, he's still firmly a weekly top 5 TE1 play. His next game action comes against the redhot Jags and their stingy defense in Week 10.

Honorable Mentions: T.J. Hockenson (Vikings), Sam LaPorta (Lions), David Njoku (Browns)

LVP: Dalton Schultz (Texans)

Schultz's run of nice performances came to a brutal end on Sunday as he posted a dismal 2 catch/5 YD performance against the Panthers in what just might've been the Texans worst offensive showing of the season. He'll remain a fringe starting option for this week's game versus the Bucs.

Dishonorable Mentions: Kyle Pitts (Falcons), Dallas Goedert (Eagles), Jonnu Smith (Falcons)

Defense/Special Teams

MVP: Cowboys

Coming off a bye, the Cowboys D picked up right where they left off in Week 8. Dan Quinn's group stuffed the stat sheet against a surprisingly messy Rams offense-registering 2 sacks, a blocked punt, a safety and a pick 6 in a 42-20 victory. Week 9 has the potential to be a down week for the D/ST superstars as they have to travel to Philly to take on the rival Eagles.  

Honorable Mentions: Lions, Chiefs, Seahawks

LVP: Eagles

It's kind of wild how much worse the Eagles defense has looked against the Commanders than any of their other opponents in 2023. Not only did they allow 31 points and Sam Howell to throw for 397 YDS a month after their previous 31-point shredding by this typically average offense, but they only picked up 1 sack against their porous offensive line and 1 takeaway (a game-sealing INT from Reed Blankenship in the 4th quarter) against their often turnover-prone offense (they had 11 giveaways coming into this game). They'll attempt to get back to playing in a representative fashion in another divisional clash with the Cowboys.

Dishonorable Mentions: Saints, 49ers, Falcons

Movie Review: Anatomy of a Fall

In the United States, "courtroom dramas" typically consist of rousing testimonies, charismatic lawyers putting on a fiery performance in service of their clients and a verdict that leads to the guilty being punished and the innocent being vindicated. While I'm not sure if this is the norm or an outlier for French cinema, Anatomy of a Fall marks a very different approach to this classic crime procedural genre.

The reigning Palme d'Or Winner from writer/director Justine Triet has a classic setup that anybody whose consumed more than a couple of these types of movies or shows has seen countless times before: A woman (Sandra Huller) is arrested and shortly afterwards, put on trial for murder after her husband (Samuel Maleski) is found dead in the snow with a sizable head wound outside their home in the French countryside. She claims it was suicide while the prosecutor argues that she pushed him over the railing of their balcony. What happens outside of the suspected murder and subsequent arrest is anything but traditional.

Triet's approach to this story is more or less the complete inverse of what Americans typically see from this genre. Not only it is completely devoid of theatrics, it's deliberately laced with ambiguity at every turn. There's no smoking gun piece of evidence that provides any clarity as to what happened and the closest thing there is to a witness is the couple's blind son (Milo Machado-Graner) who discovered the body upon returning from a walk with the family's dog. By eliminating any facts that clearly indicate or acquit the accused in the death of her husband, the audience (and jurors for that matter) has to rely on perception and a deconstruction of their marriage as their primary tools to determine the verdict.

Portraying a murder trial and the people at the center of it in such a methodical, grounded fashion proves to be kind of a double-edged sword for Anatomy of a Fall. Triet's straight down the middle writing style and Huller's powerhouse performance do an excellent job of planting seeds that could easily be interpreted as guilt or innocence in both the details of the day of the murder and their marriage on the whole that really challenges the viewer's personal biases and what they want to believe while also highlighting just how difficult it can be to preside over a murder trial that doesn't have any overwhelming evidence at the center of it. At the same time, this approach gives it a pervasive coldness that goes beyond providing a clever shield to obscure the truth of what really happened and into a territory of emotional numbness that reduces the impact of what the film is trying to say about the murky complexities of romantic relationships, the legal system and the convergence of the two. To Triet's credit, she was able to make a legal drama where the emotions are distant and the facts are in the eye of the beholder work. But that dedication to reality and the often unknown truths that come with it is also just unsatisfying enough to bump Anatomy of a Fall down from great to nearly great.                        

Grade: B

Andy Garcia Ranked

Welcome to "Ranked", a weekly series where I rank a franchise or filmography from worst to best and hand out assorted related superlatives. This week, I'm profiling the work of Andy Garcia-whose latest project "Pain Hustlers" is in select theaters now and debuts on Netflix on Friday.

Andy Garcia's Filmography Ranked:

18.Ocean's Twelve (D-)

17.Father of the Bride (C-)

16.The Pink Panther 2 (C-)

15.Confidence (C)

14.Passengers (C)

13.Expend4bles (C+)

12.Words on Bathroom Walls (B-)

11.Ghostbusters (B)

10.Let's Be Cops (B)

9.Geostorm (B)

8.The Mule (B)

7.Wrath of Man (B+)

6.Ocean's Thirteen (B+)

5.Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar (B+)

4.Kill the Messenger (A-)

3.The Untouchables (A-)

2.Smokin' Aces (A)

1.Ocean's Eleven (A)

Top Dog: Ocean's Eleven (2001)

Ocean's Eleven is without question one of the most entertaining movies I've ever seen. The central heist is a blast to watch play out, the energy behind Steven Soderbergh's direction is infectious and the starry ensemble cast led by George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Julia Roberts, Don Cheadle, Bernie Mac and Garcia deliver a masterclass in being cool, funny and charismatic.  

Bottom Feeder: Ocean's Twelve (2004)

Ocean's Twelve, on the other hand, is the total antithesis of Ocean's Eleven. It's a boring, joyless disaster with a checked-out cast, messy plot and staggering lack of style. Thankfully, it made enough money to allow Ocean's Thirteen to happen because ending this iteration of Ocean's on such a stinky note would've been really unfortunate.

Most Underrated: Smokin' Aces (2007)

Alongside stuff like Crank, Shoot Em' Up and Lucky Number Slevin, Smokin' Aces occupies the space of my heart that's dedicated to eternal love for some manic action movies that I saw during my early days of high school. What Joe Carnahan created here is a profoundly dumb, ultraviolent riff on a Tarantino movie that features a whole bunch of assassins and law enforcement officers converging on a Lake Tahoe casino hotel suite occupied by a sleazy Las Vegas magician (Jeremey Piven) who's seeking immunity from the FBI in exchange for information on an aging mob boss (Joseph Ruskin). As brainless and sophomoric as Smokin' Aces, it's whole Red Bull Tarantino routine is quite endearing as Caranahan shows a real gift for crafting frenzied, over-the-top bloody shootouts and getting actors to commit to the pulpy material he hands them. 

Most Overrated: Passengers (2016)

People seems to have grown fond of Passengers after its initially mediocre box office performance and reception. I am not among the people that have had a change of heart. It's one of those movies that just remains stuck in neutral throughout as it struggles to balance its love story with the overarching sci-fi dystopian narrative and the chemistry between Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt never generates the sparks its supposed to.      

2023 NFL Power Rankings: Week 8

 ()=Previous Ranking

1.(3) Kansas City Chiefs (6-1) Week 8 opponent: Denver Broncos

2.(5) Philadelphia Eagles (6-1) Week 8 opponent: Washington Commanders 

3.(2) San Francisco 49ers (5-2) Week 8 opponent: Cincinnati Bengals

4.(1) Miami Dolphins (5-2) Week 8 opponent: New England Patriots 

5.(9) Baltimore Ravens (5-2) Week 8 opponent: Arizona Cardinals 

6.(8) Jacksonville Jaguars (5-2) Week 8 opponent: Pittsburgh Steelers 

7.(7) Dallas Cowboys (4-2) Week 8 opponent: Los Angeles Rams 

8.(4) Detroit Lions (5-2) Week 8 opponent: Las Vegas Raiders

9.(10) Cleveland Browns (4-2) Week 8 opponent: Seattle Seahawks

10.(11) Seattle Seahawks (4-2) Week 8 opponent: Cleveland Browns

11.(6) Buffalo Bills (4-3) Week 8 opponent: Tampa Bay Buccaneers 

12.(13) Cincinnati Bengals (3-3) Week 8 opponent: San Francisco 49ers

13.(14) Houston Texans (3-3) Week 8 opponent: Carolina Panthers

14.(15) Atlanta Falcons (4-3) Week 8 opponent: Tennessee Titans 

15.(16) Pittsburgh Steelers (4-3) Week 8 opponent: Jacksonville Jaguars 

16.(12) Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-3) Week 8 opponent: Buffalo Bills

17.(18) New York Jets (3-3) Week 8 opponent: New York Giants

18.(23) Minnesota Vikings (3-4) Week 8 opponent: Green Bay Packers

19.(17) New Orleans Saints (3-4) Week 8 opponent: Indianapolis Colts

20.(19) Los Angeles Chargers (2-4) Week 8 opponent: Chicago Bears

21.(20) Los Angeles Rams (3-4) Week 8 opponent: Dallas Cowboys 

22.(22) Indianapolis Colts (3-4) Week 8 opponent: New Orleans Saints

23.(21) Washington Commanders (3-4) Week 8 opponent: Philadelphia Eagles 

24.(24) Tennessee Titans (2-4) Week 8 opponent: Baltimore Ravens

25.(27) New York Giants (2-5) Week 8 opponent: New York Jets

26.(29) Chicago Bears (2-5) Week 8 opponent: Los Angeles Chargers 

27.(25) Las Vegas Raiders (3-4) Week 8 opponent: Detroit Lions 

28.(31) New England Patriots (2-5) Week 8 opponent: Miami Dolphins

29.(30) Denver Broncos (2-5) Week 8 opponent: Kansas City Chiefs 

30.(29) Green Bay Packers (2-4) Week 8 opponent: Minnesota Vikings 

31.(28) Arizona Cardinals (1-6) Week 8 opponent: Baltimore Ravens 

32.(32) Carolina Panthers (0-6) Week 8 opponent: Houston Texans  

Week 7 Fantasy Football Winners and Losers: 2023 Edition

Quarterback

MVP: Patrick Mahomes (Chiefs)

Mahomes' at least semi-annual tradition of decimating the Chargers was celebrated for the 6th year on Sunday as he knifed through the Bolts abysmal defense (424 YDS, 4 TD's, 4 CAR, 29 Rushing YDS). A 3rd quarter INT was the only thing that prevented his performance in the win from being a perfect outing. He gets a date with his other favorite team to play (the Broncos) in Week 8.  

Honorable Mentions: Lamar Jackson (Ravens), Josh Allen (Bills), Jalen Hurts (Eagles)

LVP: Tua Tagovailoa (Dolphins)

A trip to Philadelphia on Sunday night was a rude awakening for nearly everyone on the Dolphins, especially Tagovailoa. Tua was average at best, throwing for 216 YDS, a TD and a crucial late game INT that clinched the loss-as the Eagles ferocious front disrupted his rhythm for the vast majority of the game. The good news for Tua and co. is that they'll be facing a Patriots team they beat back in Week 2 in the friendly, oppressively hot confines of Hard Rock Stadium this Sunday. 

Dishonorable Mentions: Justin Herbert (Chargers), Jared Goff (Lions), Brock Purdy (49ers)

Running Back

MVP: D'Onta Foreman (Bears)

Some Bears fans want to build a statue for backup quarterback Tyson Bagent after Sunday's win against the Raiders. This Bears fan would elect to give that absurd hypothetical honor to Foreman instead. The de facto starting running back was the centerpiece of their ultraconsterative offense and he delivered big time-posting 120 scrimmage YDS and 3 TD's (2 rushing, 1 receiving) on 19 touches. Even with the possible return of rookie Roschon Johnson this week potentially cutting into his workload, Foreman should remain a viable RB2 option for as long as Khalil Herbert remains on IR with a high ankle sprain.    

Honorable Mentions: Alvin Kamara (Saints), Jahmyr Gibbs (Lions), Christian McCaffery (49ers)

LVP: Bijan Robinson (Falcons) 

The Bijan Robinson diarrhea game will forever live in infamy (Note: It hasn't been confirmed that he had diarrhea, the team and Robinson just keep saying that he was "sick" and that to me is a codeword for diarrhea). Everybody who had Robinson was wondering if he was even playing against the Buccaneers for most of the afternoon on Sunday and his active status was only confirmed when he picked up a single carry for 3 YDS on the final drive of the game. Arthur Smith deserves a fine for not disclosing Robinson's illness on the injury report and fantasy players should absolutely add this to the growing list of reasons as to why they can't stand the Falcons head coach.   

Dishonorable Mentions: Josh Jacobs (Raiders), Austin Ekeler (Chargers), Alexander Mattison (Vikings) 

Wide Receiver 

MVP: Jordan Addison (Vikings)

While Addison's rookie campaign has been off to a solid start, his performance against the 49ers last night was the first time he's really popped in the NFL. Addison was the top playmaker (7 REC/123 YDS/2 TD's) on the Vikings offense on a night where Kirk Cousins must've forgot that he's supposed to be god awful on Monday Night Football as Minnesota picked up a stunning victory over the 49ers. Addison could be in line for another productive game in Week 8 against a Packers secondary that's allowed Courtland Sutton, Jakobi Meyers and Josh Reynolds to have solid performances in recent weeks.   

Honorable Mentions: A.J. Brown (Eagles), Tyreek Hill (Dolphins), Puka Nacua (Rams)

LVP: Calvin Ridley (Jaguars)

While it was another relatively quiet night for Trevor Lawrence against the Saints, that doesn't excuse how invisible Ridley was. The star WR only saw 4 targets on the night and hauled in 1 catch for 5 YDS as he was once again significantly outshined by Christian Kirk (6 REC/90 YDS/TD). Outside of a couple of monster performances, Ridley has been really quiet in his heavily-anticipated comeback year and it's hard to view him as anything more than a boom-or-bust WR3 right now. 

Dishonorable Mentions: Gabe Davis (Bills), Amari Cooper (Browns), Christian Watson (Packers)

Tight End

MVP: Travis Kelce (Chiefs)

Kelce rather enjoyed the baffling lack of attention he received from the Chargers defense-putting up his biggest numbers of the season (12 REC/179 YDS/TD) and delivering a big play nearly every time Mahomes looked his way. He could be in line to feast again in Week 8 when he faces a Broncos defense that he just lit up for 100+ YDS 2 weeks ago. 

Honorable Mentions: Mark Andrews (Ravens), Darren Waller (Giants), Dallas Goedert (Eagles)

LVP: Cole Kmet (Bears)

The dump-off pass game the Bears ran with Tyson Bagent under center apparently had no place for Kmet as he wasn't even targeted on any of Bagent's 29 passing attempts against the Raiders. Kmet will hope to be more involved in Sunday's game against the Chargers bottom 3 pass defense. 

Dishonorable Mentions: Tyler Higbee (Rams), Jonnu Smith (Falcons), Michael Mayer (Raiders)

Defense/Special Teams

MVP: Browns

Yes, the Browns allowed a season-high 38 points to the Gardner Minshew-led Colts offense on Sunday. But boy did they make some splash plays that canceled out their inability to keep points off the board. They picked up 4 sacks, 3 fumble recoveries, a blocked field goal, an INT and a TD in a narrow victory that was arguably the most thrilling, deeply silly game of the week. They'll look to get back to their stout ways in their Week 8 contest with the Seahawks.  

Honorable Mentions: Ravens, Eagles, Chiefs

LVP: Bills

The Bills got blindsided by a Patriots team that came to play on Sunday on both sides of the ball. Outside of a sack and fumble recovery, their defense looked really bad as they surrendered 29 points and allowed the Pats to do just about whatever they wanted to do on offense on nearly every drive. They'll hope to put a stop to their recent woes on Thursday night against a Buccaneers offense that has struggled to score in 3 of their last 4 games.

Dishonorable Mentions: 49ers, Lions, Rams

Movie Review: Killers of the Flower Moon

One of the more horrifying things I've come to learn as an adult is just how little Americans know about the history of their country. So much shit that's happened over the past hundreds of years has been obscured or erased through a combination of time and a purposeful obstruction of teaching people about these events by the nation's school systems and government. Among these unjustly minimized events is something that has become known as  "The Osage Murders". A greatly condensed version of how this string of mass killings came to be is as follows: In 1897, the Osage Tribe of Oklahoma discovered oil on their land. This brought a tremendous amount of wealth and prosperity to a region that didn't have it previously. Once the Osage came into this wealth, white people from all over the country started to move to their reservation. 

Beginning in 1918, members of the Osage started turning up dead and through marriage, friendships, etc, more and more whites took over the headrights (royalties from oil) to their estates once they were killed. In 1923, the federal government got involved in the investigation and while several arrests and convictions were made and a law was passed in 1925 that prohibited non-Osage individuals from inheriting headrights, many of the murders remained unsolved. It's estimated that at least 60 Osage were killed from 1918 to 1931 and there's a widespread belief that many other suspicious death during that period could've also been murders that were covered up. 

For his 26th narrative feature film, Martin Scorsese elected to make a movie about the Osage murders. While not without some miscalculations, Killers of the Flower Moon is a respectfully-rendered, absorbing crime drama about a forgotten chapter of American greed, cruelty and bigotry.

Killers of the Flower Moon unfolds from the perspective of Ernest Burkhardt (Leonardo DiCaprio)-a recently discharged military cook who arrives in Osage County to stay with his uncle William Hale (Robert De Niro) with the hopes of finding work and prosperity. Through his job as a chauffeur, he meets Mollie Kyle (Lily Gladstone)-one of the richest oil heirs on the reservation. As they get to know each other more, Ernest and Mollie fall in love and eventually marry and start a family. 

Meanwhile, members of the reservation start dying with increasing regularity-including members of Mollie's family. All of the dead bodies have one thing in common: they all have oil money and their fortunes are being inherited by white settlers that mostly have connections to Hale. As Ernest begins to become involved with his uncle's dealings, he gets excited by the prospect of making more money and the murders begin to become more brazen and frequent. Eventually, all of the dead bodies piling up attracts the attention of the Bureau of Investigation (the precursor to the FBI) and lead investigator Tom White (Jesse Plemons) threatens to blow the lid off their whole operation-which puts Hale, Burkhardt and their many co-conspirators in a position they never thought they'd find themselves in: potentially facing legal consequences for their actions.

What Killers of the Flower Moon does so well is paint a portrait of pure, deep-rooted evil. What Hale, Burkhardt and their cohorts do is gain the trust and respect of the Osage nation by befriending them and really engrained themselves in their community, only to be secretly plotting to take their money and land by finding somebody to execute them. It's a really calculated, long con plan that Scorsese portrays brilliantly with a deliberate touch that allows the cold, insidious nature of the crimes to really sink in and linger. Even when the film reaches the stage where some semblance of justice is served, the stench of greed, deception and self-preservation is still so strong that the retribution delivers no solace. Telling this story in such an uncompromisingly bleak, sober fashion allows to it become a haunting history lesson that Americans have long needed to sit through and it's a blessing that a filmmaker that is as fearless and articulate as Scorsese was the one who was tasked with bringing it to the screen.    

As impressive as Killers of the Flower Moon is, there is something about centering this story around Ernest Burkhardt that just doesn't feel right. For starters, Burkhardt is portrayed with more sympathy than he deserves. While the film never comes close to exonerating him of his crimes or pretending that he was a good man, it does portray him as a gullible idiot who followed his uncle's lead and someone who really did love his wife despite all of the harm he caused her (or at least somebody that believes that he does). Was Hale a more blatantly evil individual for masterminding the whole operation? No question, but Burkhardt was still heavily involved in carrying out Hale's plans and showed no remorse as members of Mollie's family all met their demise in brutal fashion. That's an individual who doesn't deserve a shred of compassion shown towards them and I wish that Scorsese had portrayed him in a more unflinchingly unfavorable light.        

The other major issue with having Burkhardt as the protagonist is that it puts the Osage on the backburner in a story that is about the atrocities committed against their people. The emotional impact of this story would've been greater if it had been told through the eyes of Mollie-who watched these outsiders slaughter, torment and steal from her people opposed to Ernest-who didn't care how many Osage died as long as his pockets got fatter. However, the harsh reality is that as beneficial as it could've been to the broader narrative, Scorsese probably couldn't have gotten this film made if it were told from an Osage point-of-view. A $200+ million epic western crime drama with the almost always bankable DiCaprio in the lead role is a hard enough sell for studios, so putting a Native American woman in Gladstone whose previous resume mainly consists of bit parts in indie movies-front and center would've likely caused additional hurdles in the greenlighting process. Not to mention, the David Grann novel in which it's based is on also features Burkhardt as the protagonist and from what I've read, Scorsese significantly increased the role of the people of the Osage Nation in the adaptation. Settling for something that at least valued the Osage enough to get members of their community involved in the creative process of making it and portray them with dignity on screen is ultimately an acceptable compromise since it allowed this important film to enter the world.    

As we enter Hollywood's awards season, much will be made of Killers of the Flower Moon's prospects and rightfully so. DiCaprio, Gladstone and (especially) De Niro give outstanding performances. Scorsese's direction is among the most assured of his storied career. Rodrigo Prieto's cinematography is gorgeous. The final score produced by the late Robbie Robertson is hauntingly melancholic. But all of that extracurricular stuff pales in comparison to the value that this film's existence provides to the world. It may not be perfect or 100% accurate, but Killers of the Flower Moon exposes the masses to a chapter of undertaught history and provides an important lesson of how profoundly evil mankind is capable of being when things like money and the opportunity to make a whole lot of more it are involved. That provides more value than any gold statue can and I hope that its messaging is carefully considered when people examine violent, hate-fueled events of past, present and future.                     

Grade: B+

Leonardo DiCaprio Ranked

Welcome to "Ranked", a weekly series where I rank a franchise or filmography from worst to best and hand out assorted related superlatives. This week, I'm profiling the work of Leonardo DiCaprio-whose latest project "Killers of the Flower Moon" releases in theaters today. 

Leonardo DiCaprio's Filmography Ranked:

15.Titanic (D-)

14.The Revenant (D)

13.The Aviator (C-)

12.Body of Lies (C+)

11.Blood Diamond (B)

10.The Quick and the Dead (B)

9.Catch Me If You Can (B+)

8.Don't Look Up (B+)

7.Revolutionary Road (B+)

6.The Wolf of Wall Street (B+)

5.Shutter Island (A-)

4.Inception (A)

3.Once Upon a Time in Hollywood... (A)

2.Django Unchained (A+)

1.The Departed (A+)

Top Dog: The Departed (2006)

The first Martin Scorsese movie that I ever saw remains my favorite. With its massive, intricately-woven Boston cops vs. Irish mob storyline, some exceptional performances from its heavyweight-filled cast (DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen) and an explosive final act that features one of the most shockingly sudden major character deaths in movie history, The Departed is a just plain masterful, endlessly rewatchable crime drama.

Bottom Feeder: Titanic (1997)

A 3+ hour insufferable melodramatic romance saga loaded with awful characters that also marked the death of James Cameron's time as a filmmaker that made movies that weren't corny and dull? There will always be a special place in my personal cinematic hell for this fucking movie.

Most Underrated: The Quick and the Dead (1995)

Sam Raimi's post-Evil Dead, pre Spider-Man period wasn't his finest hour at the box office or critically, but it produced some really slept-on movies that unfortunately have become kind of lost to time. The Quick and the Dead marked the start of this run and it's probably my second favorite of the bunch behind A Simple Plan. This western about a female gunslinger (Sharon Stone) who rides into a small town run by a sadistic outlaw (Gene Hackman) with the intention of avenging her father's death is exactly what a Rami western should be: Stylish, cartoony and fun as hell. Honestly, what's not to like about a movie that features plenty of Old West quick draw shootout fireworks, active camerawork and everybody from Stone to Hackman to a revolving door of character actors including Keith David, Lance Henriksen and Pat Hingle chewing the fuck out of the scenery? That's a great formula for quality entertainment right there and I wish there were more movies like The Quick and the Dead in existence. 

Most Overrated: Titanic (1997)

The only thing I'll say here that I didn't say above is that I just learned that Titanic beat out Good Will Hunting for Best Picture in '97 and immediately recoiled in disgust. If the Oscars ever turned into a dictatorship that I somehow got put in charge of by the authoritarian governing body, the Best Picture trophies the Titanic team earned would be transported to the Affleck, Damon and Van Sant households so quickly that James Cameron and co. might get motion sickness and yack all over their living rooms.