My Top 10 Movies Of 2023

Before I go down this rabbit hole (there are many obvious suspects), let me admit this is much more than ten singular movies. I’m definitely going to sneak some extra flicks in and call out a miss here or there. More importantly, I want to start off by making a distinction between what MY top 10 movies of the year are what THE top 10 movies of the year are. I prefer to lean into my top 10 as a demonstration of my taste and interests. The top ten movies of the year tend to be a more objective metric (word of mouth first, then maybe box office gross), and on occasion, I veer away from these lists in that I like what I like, and that doesn’t always translate to what everybody else likes. This list is about sharing what I loved over the year and what I hope everybody checks out in the next month or two. (And yes, they are, in fact, ranked against each other, so the number one spot is the best movie I saw all year, and in that order).

Movies I didn’t see before the year’s end:

  • The Zone of Interest
  • Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant
  • When Evil Lurks
  • All of Us Strangers
  • Past Lives
  • The Color Purple
  • Anatomy of a Fall
  • Wonka

10 – Godzilla Minus One

This one snuck up on me even though everyone told me it would sneak up on me. The American franchise-ization of the original Kaiju leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to the grandeur of the lizard beast. This remake, bringing Godzilla back to his post-World War Two days, has everything a Godzilla should have. Of course, the human drama makes this story so impactful. It follows a failed kamikaze pilot returning home from the war and finding a new family in the wake of Japan’s destruction. Just as he settles into his new life, Godzilla rears his ugly head and threatens to take everything away.

Just that idea alone: “A failed Kamikaze pilot” excites me so much. What they manage to do is give Godzilla back some of his dignity. He remains a cipher to audiences. This thing terrorizes entire warships and practically levels cities. I’ll never forget his perfectly unblinking face and disproportionate body staring right into our hero’s soul, plotting how to devour everyone and everything.

9 – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem – (Paramount+, Available to Rent/Buy)

The kids are alright. Directed by the creator of “Mitchells Vs. the Machines,” this movie does a fantastic job of capturing life as a teenage kid these days while somehow tying this bizarre idea of a “franchise” into something authentic. Sure. They’re turtles aged up by ooze that not only know ninja fighting techniques but also are weirdly teenage and obsessed with pizza. The thing this movie does so well is give each turtle their own very relatable teenage personality. Raphael as the anger-issues kid or Donatello as the anime-obsessed techie with a penchant for improv? Classic. The references are updated. The jokes are fast. These four teens want what all teens want: To fit in and to belong. It just so happens they’re also reptiles. I loved this movie. This is only the second animated movie in one year to represent teenagers faithfully and marry it to a hero story. A bounteous year indeed.

8 – Talk to Me (Showtime, Available to rent/buy)

What happens when a pair of YouTubers get a deal with an indie distribution company known for weird artsy flicks? Certainly not what I expected. Instead of flashy TikTok-y filmmaking, we get an incredibly solid movie about teens with a Stephen King plot device so sharp it reminds us of the best horror centered on human emotion. I should add this is one of a handful of movies this year that demonstrated what good craft can feel like, even with a limited budget. It’s the smart use of audio background, the clever lighting tricks, and the incredibly sharp surround sound mix I glommed onto only to realize they were telling one hell of a story. By its end, you’ll exhale deeply.

7 – Oppenheimer (Available to rent/buy)

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Chris Nolan is at his best when he’s working as a member of a creative team, not the sole author. Basing this movie on a real person (a book gifted to him by Robert Pattinson), he’s well within his means. With Cillian Murphy finally getting the role Nolan’s been holding on reserve for him, this cast alone could win an Oscar (Matt Damon, Dane Dehaan, Benny Safdie, Florence Pugh, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr., JOSH PECK!). What Nolan does so specifically well is examine the psychology of the man who changed the entire world. We take it for granted sometimes that the atomic bomb ended World War Two, but this movie breathes life into the very idea that what happened could be marveled as an engineering and technological miracle but also deeply horrifying. Ultimately, it’s not the bomb that takes center stage but the life of its titular figure after the bomb’s invention. He was an incredible inventor but also the greatest critic of his own invention. We know how the bomb story ends, but little do we know how J. Robert Oppenheimer’s story ends.

6 – Poor Things

What is personal freedom? When it takes shape, when it takes form, what does it look like? What does it feel like? When do societal conventions settle in and repress us from guiltlessly pursuing what we desire? More importantly, why is it always women who seem to bump against glass walls in pursuit of freedom? “Poor Things” examines all of this by giving a dead woman a second life, a complete start from scratch. As she undergoes rapid development from an infant-in-an-adults-body to a teenager with no impulse control to a rebellious adult, Bella Baxter’s story inspires us. It’s a Bride of Frankenstein story finally told from the Bride’s perspective. Yes, there’s lots of nudity and sex, but it’s all in service of a greater thought: True freedom comes with challenges. This film’s gorgeous costuming, production design, and music only serve the larger exciting narrative at the center of this thing. The fact that fans come away with multiple interpretations of it excites me, as only such a true story could really give us something so powerful to chew on.

5 – Killers of the Flower Moon (Apple TV January 12th)

This movie is the perfect culmination of everything Martin Scorsese has been writing about and filming over the course of his entire career. Not just the trappings of his movies: Organized criminals, brutal/sudden violence, Leonardo DiCaprio, greedy men, period pieces. It also has the quintessential spirit of a Scorsese film: the capricious corruption of the human soul both from within and from the corrupted souls around them. DiCaprio and De Niro sink so perfectly into their roles that I utterly forgot it was them, but they’re not even the real stars. Lily Gladstone carries this film with gravitas and dignity as she watches her family die around her one by one. At one point she utters a wail so powerful I could practically feel her emotions emanating from the screen. She forced a tear through my eyes, completely unprompted by me. Add in all the glamorous trappings of the period-piece cars and the incredible scenery this movie feels gorgeous. The fact that it’s three hours and some change is a big strike against it, but that made me take it seriously from the get-go. I watched it in one sitting, and I recommend you do, too, if you have a chance. It hits so much harder if you let it wash over you.

4 – Barbie – (HBO Max, Available to Rent/Buy)

The haters bet against “Barbie,” and let me tell you: they were wrong. This was arguably the best movie of the year by box office standards, by pop culture standards, and by pure conversation. From the glitzy trailers to the PR Barbie beach house stunts, this movie had success written all over it. The world was ready for something that was not afraid to have its cake and eat it too. Between the deep jabs at how men treat women (“I had a dream I cared deeply about the Zack Snyder cut of Justice League”) or the wink-and-nod meta criticism of the movie itself (“Note to the filmmakers: If you’re trying to make this point maybe don’t cast Margot Robbie.), it works on so many levels.

The reason it ranks so highly on my list is not for the meme-able moments, however, but because it offers something for everyone. It’s not enough for Ken to get squashed and the Barbies to win; Ken has to learn that he has value without Barbie. He is inherently valuable. We all are. It’s that reminder that the breadth of our emotions makes us inherently flawed, and those flaws make us inherently meaningful. My favorite scene is when Barbie sits on a bench and takes in the deep emotions on display around her. She looks at an elderly woman sharing the bench with her and tells her, “You’re so beautiful.” I felt that.

3 – The Boy and the Heron

Man, what incredible imagination must Hayao Miyazaki have that he couldn’t comfortably retire? He had one more film to give, and if anything, this was the perfect one to give us. Its unhurried pacing might rankle audience members, but once it sinks its teeth in, this movie doesn’t let go. So much about this feels like a fever dream from a child finally processing the death of his mother. We, the audience, see him dutifully attempt to save his mother one last time in another dimension, even though he’s just a kid.

What I love most about this movie is its mastery of audio. In the still moments and the loud ones, the audio team is firing on every cylinder available. Frog sounds crescendo and ricochet through all the speakers in the theater. Even the distant rain of some sounds is mixed into the speakers so as to feel like each drop is falling out of a window to your left, a window behind you, and more. The dialogue, so sparsely whispered at times, never competes with the music, and somehow, the music never overwhelms even as it’s whipped into a frenzy. You want to experience the true potential of cinematic audio? Go watch this movie in theaters and tell me what you feel. It’s something I rarely encounter these days, and I would go back to listen to this movie.

2 – Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse – (Netflix, Available to Rent/Buy)

I feel like every generation has their own Spiderman, much the same way every generation has their own Bond. While some will say Tom Holland is Gen Z’s Spiderman, I think many more would go further to say “And Miles Morales.” He’s it. He’s a teenager living in New York. He chafes under his parents’ stringent rules. He loves being Spiderman but being Spiderman isn’t exactly a resume-booster. And he’ll admit it: He misses his other spider-friends. When Gwen Stacy returns to visit, this kicks off a very interesting examination of what it means to be Spiderman… across ALL dimensions. What are the landmark events that are necessary to BE Spiderman? Do all Spider-People/Creatures bear the same cross? Can they be a Spiderman without the trauma? It popularized the idea of ‘canon events’ in common parlance and slyly introduced the transgender flag into its color scheme.

It’s a movie that seizes on the multi-verse idea of indulging in creativity. It uses its animation style as a means of communicating mood, showing us worlds and land jokes you couldn’t get away with in real life. There’s a bleeding heart at the center of this movie. Admittedly, this movie tees up only the first half of an incredible journey ahead, but it’s still leagues above its predecessors in terms of heart, comedy, and the burden of teenage superherodom.

1 – How to Blow Up A Pipeline – (Hulu, Available to Rent/Buy)

I feel like nobody’s heard of this movie except me. It went in and out of theaters back in April, but when I saw it, I felt electrified, like my nerves were shredded too raw. It’s a heist movie, essentially, where the team of criminals are twenty-somethings so scared of their future they’d rather commit eco-terrorism than live a second longer. The central plot (how they attempt to blow up a pipeline) carries the heist portion of the story, but each character gets their own chapters so that even as the heist unfolds, we see what motivates all of these disaffected youths.

A Texas rancher, a college student, an activist, a Reddit-browsing bomb builder. All of these people could easily be at war with each other, but they have a common cause. It builds tension in small ways, and the differences between the characters make them more interesting. Of course, it wouldn’t be a heist if there weren’t a few twists and turns, so expect someone to take the fall, but who will it be and why? I’ll leave that to you to discover for yourself.

The thing that bumped it to number one on my list was the fact that all year long, I couldn’t stop thinking about the movie, about its stealth arguments for eco-terrorism, and how oppressive the future feels if you start to factor in climate change. The cherry on top of it is how this entire movie is based on an instruction manual published in 2021 that not only advocates for the destruction of property (prompting the FBI to issue 35 warnings across the continental US) but actually shows you how to do it. Too many people slept on such a tense and urgent film, and I’ll happily evangelize for this one.

Honorable Mentions:

• Air – Dad cinema at its chemical level. A few too many needle drops, but it never drops the ball when it comes to the heart of this story. When Damon and Affleck collaborate, it’s rarely a miss.
• Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves – This was the unabashed blockbuster we needed rather than deserved. The entire cast is having fun with this, and Hugh Grant’s turn as a cheeky villain always plays for laughs onscreen. Storywise, it’s high-level telling just couched with fantasy comedy.
• Rye Lane – A romance that flew in and out of Hulu. It has that ‘one summer day’ aspect that made it so lovable to begin with. It feels truly delightful and authentic, and more people should watch.
• Polite Society – I have never quite seen anything like this before. A martial arts dramedy with a heart of gold. Unfortunately, it has its feet in too many stories to pull off the finale. Nevertheless, it’s a delight and would’ve made my top fifteen spot.
• John Wick: Chapter 4 – The “end” of the Wick franchise. Watching all four of these movies in a row one weekend really showed me that Wick is at his best when he’s doing physical action comedy. My favorite fifteen minutes are the first fifteen minutes of Chapter 3. After that… Hit or miss. Literally. Donnie Yen spices things up, and the Paris stairs sequence does top the list, but at two and a half hours, I wonder what happened in the middle that was so important.
• Bottoms – No Hard Feelings was not the R-rated comedy of the summer for me. This one goes to Bottoms and lives so deeply in its parody world that it’s almost too good. I’ve seen eye-rolls at the meta humor or the dark punchlines (“Raise your hand if you’ve ever been raped.”), but I giggled and laughed my way through this movie. I’d still recommend it.
• Saltburn – Emerald Fennell has my attention in a way I can’t fully explain. Her pop-disco-punk filmmaking style with bright colors, moody characters, and dark betrayals underneath cheery needle drops appeal to me. While Saltburn boasts some incredible range for it’s entire cast (and serves up plenty of ~vibes~) it’s back half never quite landed as well as its front half. The reveal feels like more of a focus-group testing decision than a creative one.

My Disappointments:

• Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part. 1 – MI: Fallout was such a hit and so intriguing. I genuinely thought it was the end for Ethan Hunt in the previous installment. The HALO drop sequence is one of my favorite stunt sequences. So naturally, I would offer the franchise the benefit of the doubt when it comes to another one. After Cruise’s near-perfect revival of Top Gun: Maverick, I didn’t think he could miss. It being the first HALF of an installment with a production plagued by COVID from the get-go makes the whole thing feel weird. We know Cruise will survive this movie, but to have it set up so securely, the direct sequel feels like cheating. Mission Impossible has always taunted death, but this one just felt like a setup.
• Fast X – Man, what is it about splitting finales into halves (or thirds in this case)? Jason Momoa is the most cloying antagonist. Splitting the team into sections usually works out, but this movie feels just a little too bloated. Worst of all, they bring back Gal Gadot (as I predicted they would ~3 movies ago) in the most haphazard way. There’s absolutely no way this movie doesn’t end by killing off anyone in the crew. I’m sorry, but it just feels like nobody can go, and that makes this entire thing a moot point. I miss “Fast Five.”
  
• Asteroid City – Wes Anderon’s pandemic movie finally dropped, and while the middle section highlights the beauty of humanity even under stress, the “framing device” surrounding the radio play was a little too meta. The final diatribe about art’s place in society felt like needless whining from a director whose artistry is never in question.
• The Iron Claw – I saw it as just another sad sports movie with an A24 twist. Everyone else saw a tragic wrestling melodrama. Something in my brain just couldn’t quite square it away after Arronofsky’s The Wrestler, and if that wasn’t enough, the recent Starz TV show Heels really put wrestling family melodrama in the front row, so perhaps I’m too fresh off other very similar wrestling stories to rank this one appropriately. Much love to the people who loved it. I just liked it.

Summary

Holy cow what a year for cinema. New movies from some of the greatest filmmakers in our lifetime: Greta Gerwig, Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, Celine Song, Wes Anderson, Yorgos Lanthimos, Eli Roth. The only thing that could have made this year more perfect would have been the release of “Dune 2” (I’m not crying! You’re crying!) Looking across the spectrum of theatrical releases this year, there was a plethora of original voices. Franchise installments sagged while novel ideas thrived in their own manner. It was a year for lauding artistry, taking weird risks (looking at you, “Napoleon”), and more than a couple of water cooler movies bubbled to the surface.

Between Taylor Swift’s cinema success, “Poor Things”’ feminist uprising, and the “Barbie” box office studios should know by now that female-led (and female-created) cinema makes money. It can practically print money if they do it right. The highlight of the year had to have been Barbenheimer taking the world by storm. People had to go see “Barbie” for the novelty it would be. For the first time in a long time, it felt like going to the movie theater was a MUST. Let the pundits cry and moan over the messaging; the runaway success of all these hits shows there’s a massive appetite for these films.

What do we have to look forward to in 2024? Well, a bit of a mixed bag for starters. This year is all franchise sequels: “Dune 2,” “Inside Out 2,” “Kung Fu Panda 4,” “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire,” “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” “Joker: Folie à Deux,” “Gladiator 2,” and even “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” which is its own sort of ‘requel’ to the “Mad Max: Fury Road” movie. Of those movies, I’m only excited for “Dune 2.” A double feature will take precedence for me that weekend.

After that, there’s a few extra gems coming our way, like Bong Joon-Ho’s next film “Mickey 17,” Luca Guadagnino’s delayed tennis threesome “Challengers,” John Krasinski’s second film “IF,” Robert Eggers’ adaptation of “Nosferatu,” and a rumored Jordan Peele movie he recently said is his favorite movie yet. We still have Sundance and Cannes ahead of us, so indie breakout hits await, but for the studio calendar ahead, there’s little creativity in the air. Maybe it’s simply too hard to stand up to the high highs (and even the low lows) of 2023 cinematically.