2023 was a pretty good year for movies. I am still catching up on all of the ones that I wanted to see but I think I can write a decent list at this point.
The Winners
To be honest, I couldn’t put any one of these above the others. While it was a good year for movies, I think this list is a little underwhelming compared to other years. I list them in no particular order.
American Fiction. In a weird kind of way it very much reminded me of Barbie. The movie can work at a very superficial level, but if the viewer dares to look underneath, there seems to be a limitless amount of layers that can be investigated.
Killers of the Flower Moon. I’ve heard it said that music is what happens between the notes. In this movie, the emotional center is the wonderful acting of Lily Gladstone. It was also so great to see De Niro doing great work after a couple decades of terrible movies.
Oppenheimer. I am still amazed that they managed to make a historical “talkie” drama be this entertaining. Murphy had my vote for actor of the year as he completely became Oppenheimer.
Didn’t Win But Loved Them To Death
The Holdovers. If there was a list of movies that define who you are as an appreciator of film, this movie would be on it. This film is is an absolute gem. And the fact that it achieves that heights that it does with only a very small cast, backdrop and premise is astonishing.
Had a Ball Watching It. I Mean, Serious Fun
Barbie. It was entertaining to read the user reviews of this movie because so many people did not get the point of the movie. When I first heard that they were making this movie, my reaction was that this was going to kill someone’s career. It was astonishing that they made a movie with this much depth.
Marmalade. I haven’t had this much fun watching a movie since Top Gun: Maverick. Don’t read anything about it before watching it.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Exciting, funny, and surprisingly endearing. I didn’t want it to end. Was it a bit cheesy? Yes sir, and I’ll have seconds. It will be sad if that is the end of the franchise.
Quality Rom Coms
Which Brings Me to You. I love it when the sun, moon and stars come together and you get a romcom that you can just fall into. There is no way that this movie works without the chemistry that the two leads have
Somebody I Used to Know. I am sure that some people who started watching this probably were expecting the normal romcom schlock and were disappointed by it. In short, I loved the hell out of this movie. It was an adult drama that didn’t fall into the same traps that have pretty much killed the genre over the last couple of decades. It didn’t rely on stupid best man speeches or hacky best friend characters. Most importantly, you couldn’t guess how it was going to end up ten minutes into the movie. The movie had real characters and there was real development.
If You Were the Last. In many ways this movie resembled so many movies that came before it. After all, how many times have we seen the story where two friends contemplate taking their friendship to another level? This movie that went down so many well-traveled roads had no business being this entertaining, and I loved it. While the idea of the spaceship is not conventional, it allowed the director to create a dreamy atmosphere in which the story plays out. At first I thought the surroundings were kind of cheesy, but then I got it. The movie wouldn’t have worked as well as it did if it was set on the Starship Enterprise.ally worked.
Other Good Movies
Flora and Son. This could have probably qualified for the “Rom Com” section as well. Bono’s daughter is an absolute revelation, and the chemistry between the leads is amazing. I also like some of the devices used to tell the story. So enjoyable.
The Adults. This movie is about three siblings and it had an indie-ish feel to it. It was funny, dramatic and endearing.
Past Lives. In my review I said that this was a movie for people that like good movies. It is about two people who are in each other’s orbit yet are still so far away from each other.
No Hard Feelings. At first I thought that this was going to be a hacky version of Bridesmaids, but the second half of the film brought some real depth and excellent acting
Sharper. A neat little mystery/thriller that I was completely not expecting. I wish more movies took chances like this one. I completely did not see the end coming.
Sanctuary. Lets be honest – a movie where two people are alone in a room for the duration of the movie is really, really difficult to pull off. Fortunately, this movie pulls it off wonderfully. Margaret Qualley is an absolute revelation in this role (and probably the second best performance that I saw this year). As the movie progresses, we see her character morph into several different personas. And the ending… I did not see it coming, and I loved it. This movie was a surprising treat to watch.
Thought I Should Say Something (or, “What Were the Critics Thinking?”)
Poor Things. To be fair, this wasn’t a bad movie. At all. To the contrary, I actually really enjoyed the first twenty minutes. Also, Emma Stone gives the performance of a lifetime. After a while it started to become a bit of a slog because it was…. so much (think Wes Anderson remakes Bride of Frankenstein).
Maestro. Earlier in this post I said that Murphy seamlessly slipped into the role of Oppenheimer. In this movie, it felt like Cooper was playing dress-up in an attempt to win an Oscar. Nice to look at, but completely empty.
Anatomy of a Fall. What did I miss her? Someone please explain it to me. I had to sit through this for well over two hours to get to that resolution? If the movie was about their marriage, they should have just made it about that.
May December. So a couple of A-list actors take on a docudrama, and this is considered a good movie? Why waste such a great cast on a tabloid movie?
Dream Scenario. I wanted to love this and for the first 15 or so minutes I did. It was like a poor version of a Black Mirror episode that went on for 30 minutes longer than it should have.
Coup de Chance. Many critics touted this as Woody Allen’s best movie in the last decade and possibly the best since Match Point. Nonsense! This felt like someone had asked AI to make a Woody Allen movie. It was a poor copy of roads that he had already traveled so many times. On the plus side, it looks amazing.
