I’ve got to say that 2023 was not the easiest year to come up with a Ten Best list. Partly because I had to cram a dozen movies into December to have a well-rounded list, but also because the year itself just felt underwhelming. The continued move to streaming has started to take the spark out of the theater-going experience, and without the constraints of the theater, it feels like movies are filling space rather than inspiring and exciting. Still, even with all this noise and overabundance of content, there are genuinely amazing creatives out there working on fantastic movies and I’ve collected ten of them to talk about today! Let’s get started!
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Honorable Mention – Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
I gave this movie a lot of praise on its release, and the accolades it’s received are well deserved. However, 2023 ended up being the year that I got sick of movies that got halfway through their story before telling us to come back later for part two. Unlike a traditional sequel which promises a new story, these films dangle the conclusion of the current one over our heads in a way that doesn’t have me on the edge of my seat but makes me want to turn back the clock and just wait to watch the entire story once it’s finished getting made. Spider-Verse has a lot going for it and there is little doubt that the story will feel complete once part 2 is released, but until it is I don’t feel like putting it in a proper spot on this list.
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10. Knock at the Cabin
Shyamalan’s comeback has been a mixed bag for some, but I’ve found his works to be on a definite upswing with his latest film being another feather in his cap. Now as a critic, I do have my particular bugbears when it comes to narrative as I find misery, cruelty, and just a general sense of meanness to be difficult barriers to enjoying a movie, but that makes it all the more impressive when one can deftly navigate these issues without leaving me feeling miserable. This film manages to succeed at just that by simply checking a few boxes for me. It stays intriguing all the way through, the characters are well-rounded and thoughtful, and the conclusion feels satisfying without losing sight of the weight of everything that has happened. It doesn’t ask us to move on too quickly from the film’s bitter conclusion and I left the movie feeling like we were both on the same page; that my feelings were, in some way, acknowledged. Shyamalan may not always have the best instincts as a director, and there are certainly a few odd decisions here and there that are unmistakably his brand of weirdness, but he’s always fascinated by the humanity of his characters; whether it’s our depth of compassion, our temptation into violence, or just the little foibles that make life interesting. With this, he’s made perhaps his most disturbing and horrifying tale yet, and while it still falls short of the best he’s put out, it’s still a great reminder that we can’t always write off a creative who’s had a few stumbles. Okay, he had over a decade of stumbles, but the point remains!
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9. Blackberry
Blackberry is owned by Roadside Attractions
Directed by Matt Johnson
I was critical of Ben Affleck’s Air for being a movie without drama, and I think this movie provides a great counterexample to what I talking about. Both movies are about giant corporations whose success doesn’t mean anything to me, but where Air was about a subject I simply had no investment in about characters that seemed to be doing just fine already, this told me a story that had life and colorful characters fighting against impossible odds and clawing their way out of one disaster after another. I’m a sucker for rags to riches stories as well as a downfall driven by hubris, and our two leads turn in great performances as characters that couldn’t be further apart when this all starts but find themselves uncomfortably similar when everything is put on the line. Glenn Howerton has the big flashy role with lots of shouting, but I found Jay Baruchel’s character is more subtle in how success ultimately changes him which I had hoped would lead to some climactic tragic end, but the one failing of this movie is that the story of BlackBerry itself doesn’t have much of a finale. Like a lot of tech companies, there’s eventually a point where the competition outpaces them and they diminish over time which makes sense, especially since we know how Apple’s iPhone completely upended the market, but as a movie it left me feeling a bit wanting. Even the big consequences that are supposed to be a result of our characters’ arrogance feel utterly token and unsatisfying for a story about someone’s downfall, but then again the real world rarely drops the hammer of justice that a lot of these white-collar criminals should get.
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8. A Haunting in Venice
A Haunting in Venice is owned by Roadside Attractions
Directed by Kenneth Branagh
I always look forward to Kenneth Branagh’s Hercule Poirot movies as charming little pulp mysteries, and this one certainly delivers with the added bonus of a spooky house! There’s not anything particularly new here that we haven’t seen in the last two movies with the same basic setup and the general pace of it all being very familiar, so we have to look closely at the details to find the distinctions. Death on the Nile was by no means a bad movie, but it suffered from the success of Murder on the Orient Express. Bigger stars, bigger sets, but without a better mystery it was all just window dressing that could only do so much to keep me engaged. I’m happy to say that the mystery this time around is a lot less obvious and I was still guessing right up until the reveal, but it’s not just the mystery that’s improved. The last one, and even the first one to a degree, was a tad on the stuffy side with interesting cinematography at times, but nothing truly exciting or experimental. With this, and with the haunted house setting, Branagh has found much more inspiration and indulges in some cheesy horror tropes and a slightly unreliable narrator to add some spice to this slow boil. Michelle Yeoh’s séance, is a notable bright spot for bringing the film’s best and weirdest elements together, and it’s a shame that she couldn’t be in the movie longer even, though the rest of the cast does a great job of picking up the slack; especially Jamie Dornan who turns in a surprisingly moving performance as a severely traumatized doctor. Branagh, of course, is the star of the movie and continues to ham it up both in front of the camera and behind it with another great Poirot performance and a little more confidence in his increasingly garish style. It’s all in great fun and I’ll continue to show up for these things as long as he’s driven to make them; especially if he can keep roping in big-name stars to dress in period costumes and act very suspicious!
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7. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
I’m not much of a fan of TMNT as it felt just a little outdated for me when I was a kid. It never was as fun as a lot of Cartoon Network’s output, and the action didn’t hold up once Toonami brought anime to the Millennials, so it’s only some of the more modern attempts at revitalizing the franchise that have caught my attention if not my admiration. This movie, on the other hand, is easily the best iteration of the franchise I’ve seen since the original live-action movie and feels like a natural reinvention for modern audiences. Sure, some of its style and charm can be traced back to Enter the Spider-Verse, but it feels authentic to the spirit of TMNT at its best which has always had one hand in subversion and the other in era-specific coolness. Perhaps it’s a little too subversive for dyed-in-the-wool fans of the franchise as it does change a lot of important character details, particularly when it comes to Splinter, but I would take something interesting yet different over something faithful yet boring which is what we ended up getting with Illuminations Mario Bros movie. Even if this doesn’t exactly fit your definition of what TMNT should be, it’s hard to deny the love and care that went into making this and the genuine charm of the script which keeps the focus on the turtles and the stellar performances from the age-appropriate actors playing them. It certainly gives me hope that some of the shows from my misspent youth can one day inspire great films, though hopefully, I won’t be in my forties by the time I get my Megas XLR movie.
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6. Barbie
Sometimes the masses get it completely right and that’s definitely the case here as a movie with a surprising amount to say managed to capture the world’s attention to the tune of one and a half billion dollars. A movie that is this densely built on metaphor and non-literal storytelling can rarely capture such a wide audience, but I suppose that Barbie as a brand has always thrived on being an outlet for children’s emotions so it only makes sense that the movie crafts its narrative around the unspoken ideas and assumptions within our society and confronts it with vibes and pastels. It also doesn’t hurt that Margot Robbie is perfect in this role and her performance is what ties it all together; keeping the story accessible even in its weirder moments. The Kens were always the standout for me, however, and I know it sounds like a bad cliché for a male film critic to see a feminist piece and think about how it affects men, but Gosling puts his all into a role that rides a fine line between goofy and menacing. Going too far in either direction would have halted the movie’s momentum and made things far too uncomfortable, but through his deft approach and the filmmaker’s unwavering attention to detail, it manages to push this film from a great fish-out-of-water journey into something that feels profound; at least in a way that can still appeal to mass audiences. I know there’s been some backlash to the overwhelming success of this movie, and some of the criticisms of its messaging are warranted, but the fact that a billion-dollar movie is bringing up these topics feels like a victory even if it’s a small one. All that aside, it’s just a fun movie from start to finish and was a breath of fresh air in a year that could have used a lot more sunshine and sparkles.
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5. The Iron Claw
The Iron Claw is owned by Roadside Attractions
Directed by Sean Durkin
I’ve been a fan of professional wrestling for a few years now, but my knowledge of the Territory days, pre-WWF, is fairly limited which makes a movie like this perfect for someone like me who is interested in the subject but doesn’t have the time or resources to dig through it. What works about this movie, however, much in the same way that Aronofsky’s The Wrestler worked, is that you don’t need to be a wrestling fan to enjoy it as it’s a drama first and foremost. I didn’t know much about the Von Erich family before going into this other than that their story is tragic, and wow does this hit hard when it gets to its darkest moments. Normally I’d be a little more squeamish towards a movie that ended up being so grim, but there are plenty of things about the movie that makes it all digestible. The performances are first and foremost the key to this movie being as great as it is with Jeremy Allen White and Zac Efron taking up most of the spotlight. White is one of our best up-and-coming stars and gets to flex those muscles as the troubled Kerry Von Erich, but Zac ends up being the heart of this movie, and the weight that his character has to carry is conveyed beautifully through his increasingly agonizing performance. I also want to call attention to the relatively unknown Stanley Simons who played Mikey as he had a tough job of catching the audience’s attention while playing the role of someone who doesn’t stand out, and it’s impressive how well he pulled it off. It’s a story about how tragedy can compound as each loss brings more trauma on the backs of those left behind until it becomes a vicious cycle that can tear a family to shreds, but it also becomes a story of hope. The Von Erich’s are still around even after all of this happened, and something is inspiring about that where even tragic stories like this can still have a happy ending with enough time and healing. If you are interested in a more detailed account of this story, Dark Side of the Ring did an episode with Kevin Von Erich that I watched as soon as I got home from seeing this, but even if some of the facts are massaged and some of the events are smooshed together, it’s still a well-told story and one that really should have gotten more acclaim than it did. Where’s Zac Effron’s Oscar nod, Academy!?
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4. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
There are a lot of bummers on this list which usually isn’t what appeals to me, but I guess that’s the vibe everyone’s feeling and we’ve had some solid movies that tackle the subject. This is perhaps the oddest of them all as it’s one of the big tent pole comic book movies, and while the Guardians films have always gone for the heartstrings, this one still feels like the odd one out given how harrowing the plot is at times. The focus on animal abuse both in Rocket’s backstory and in The High Evolutionary’s current scheme is certainly a bold choice, but it does make it a lot tougher of a sit than the other films were. Still, even if the movie isn’t pulling its punches, it manages to be a fun space adventure with great set pieces and the fun dialogue you expect from these well-established characters. Everyone gets their time to shine in this last adventure with moments of heroism, humor, and heart, with Rocket getting most of the focus and continues to be fantastically realized through the combined efforts of Bradley Cooper and Sean Gunn. If you ask me, though the one that stood out the most was Nebula who isn’t the focus of the story but has perhaps the most interesting arc out of any of the Guardians. The villain-to-hero archetype is always a solid pathway to becoming a fan favorite, but Karen Gillian manages to convey that story brilliantly through small changes to her character throughout each movie. As a swansong for Gunn’s contribution to the MCU, it certainly leaves a lasting impression and is right up there with the best that the genre has to offer. The MCU has an uphill battle as it tries to soldier on without him, but his films will always be a feather in their cap and a high bar that very few will manage to reach again.
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3. Poor Things
Poor Things is owned by Roadside Attractions
Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
The same year we got Barbie with its incredibly broad and extremely entertaining take on pop feminism, we got another film that doesn’t have nearly the same broad appeal but manages to outdo it in a few key areas while still falling just a bit short in others. I can understand why some would be turned off by its focus on sex and relationships as the film does feel a bit gazy with how our main character Bella is both infantilized and lionized for her embracing of sexuality both as a pleasurable act and as a tool for her liberation. It doesn’t help that there are no women prominently listed on the production side of things save for Emma Stone who has an Executive Producer credit, but that’s about as far as my criticism of the movie goes as it’s a delightful and sharp-witted take on the Frankenstein mythos. Hollywood has made a great number of films based on the concept, but a lot of times those tend to focus on the horror of a person brought back from the dead rather than the curious things that such a person would experience, and while the movie starts with Bella being little more than a sheltered child, it doesn’t take long for the rest of the world to creep in and try to force her into a box she’s not interested in occupying. It’s a theme that underlines the entire film, but it is perhaps most prominent when it comes to her relationship with Mark Ruffalo’s Duncan, and this is where the movie fires on all cylinders as both Ruffalo and Emma Stone deliver fantastic and layered performances as the two cross paths and the love affair slowly deteriorate as one continues to grow while the other stays stuck in their ways. A shameless embrace of the bizarre and whimsical from the cinematography round out the delightful energy that permeates even through its darkest moments, which is oddly enough another comparison you can make to Barbie whose glitter-bomb aesthetic also contains within it some deeply human experiences and emotions. It’s a movie with a lot on its mind and is not shy about sitting you down to explain those ideas, but that’s the charm as Bella’s confidence is reflected in the movie that she’s in, and while some may find both a bit standoffish at times, it’s worth your time to listen to what they have to say.
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2. The Holdover
The Holdovers is owned by Roadside Attractions
Directed by Alexander Payne
It seems that another running theme on this list, to go alongside how many sad movies are on here, is that there’s a lot of contemplation about our place in the world as defined by the boxes society puts us in. Where Barbie and Poor Things were about a woman’s view of the world that is held together by the fragile egos of the Patriarchy, this one turns the camera around and gives us a thoughtful movie about the plight of men; especially those who fall through the cracks. People have been asking what we can do for young men who see guys like Andrew Tate as role models, and I think what we see here is a good example of men being flawed in a relatable way and growing past those shortcomings. Unfair treatment by authority figures, failed romantic prospects, being miserable despite your privileges, it all feels authentic without overly pitying or accusatory, and the performances by Paul Giamatti and Dominic Sessa constantly ride that line between letting the audience in on their feelings while keeping them guarded for the rest of the world. Now the movie could have gone in that direction if not for perhaps its strongest element which is the character of Mary played by Da’Vine Joy Randolph who makes it all work simply by being included in the story. She is someone with much deeper struggles that put her co-leads’ problems in perspective; not in a judgmental spirit but as a reminder that their issues, as real as they are, only affect them and that the wider world is still out there. Still, there is a kinship to be found between them as Paul Giamatti is a professor with no prospects, Da’Vine Joy Randolph is the cook for the school whose whole reason for taking this job was tragically taken away from her, and Dominic Sessa feels left out of his own family after his mother remarried and is on the verge of falling through the cracks of the system himself. Through this shared pain, some perhaps more urgently needing addressing than others, they fall into something of a family, and it’s a genuinely heartwarming story that is up there with the classic dramas of the sixties that this attempts to emulate on multiple levels. Perhaps it won’t be to everyone’s taste as the retro cinematography and boarding school setting can feel a bit snobby, but it’s ultimately a tale about people whose struggles we can see reflected in our own lives and a movie that can explore those wells is certainly worth celebrating.
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1. Godzilla Minus One
Godzilla Minus One is owned by Toho & Roadside Attractions
Directed by Takashi Yamazaki
Toho took a big risk taking Godzilla back to Postwar Japan as the first film is so iconic that anything short of a masterpiece sitting alongside it would be seen as an utter failure. Fortunately, it seems that the weight of this decision wasn’t lost on the filmmakers who have made the second best Godzilla movie of all time and certainly my favorite movie of the year. Godzilla has always been uniquely flexible as a narrative device; acting as everything from a cautionary tale of nuclear proliferation to a protector of children against the forces of pollution. All these interpretations have their place and there’s plenty of fun to be had in the goofier entries from the sixties and seventies, but for my money, Godzilla has always been a monster first and foremost, and he’s been at his best when he embodies a fear too big for any one person to manage. This one takes things down a slightly different route and tells the most personal and character-driven story we’ve seen from a Godzilla film that frankly could have worked as a post-war drama just about a former soldier Kōichi trying to put himself back together from the ashes of his country. Postwar Japan is simply not something that Western audiences are familiar with and I think that is probably why this has resonated so much in those countries. We know what to expect from a Godzilla film and they deliver on that with flying colors, but the wonderful characters and heartbreaking drama are what make this more than just another well-polished entry in the franchise. Despite this being the best movie of this year, I’d say two things are keeping this from being better than Shin Godzilla which in my estimation is still the best Godzilla movie ever made. Where this feels like a perfection of the giant monster movie as metaphor for collective trauma, Shin Godzilla transcends the genre and creates something wholly unique and unfathomably terrifying. The Godzilla of that movie was scary in a way that felt beyond comprehension; a nightmare manifested from man’s darkest fears and its greatest sins. This never quite feels scary in that way even if the destruction scenes are some of the most impressive I saw all year, and to its credit, there is one moment towards the end that nails that Lovecraftian sense of eerie dread. The other issue which is not going to bother everyone, but the focus on Kōichi’s sense of guilt over failing to finish his mission as a Kamikaze pilot just never hit the right note for me; especially when the movie pairs that with a general sense of cowardice that others perceive in him and that he internalizes. I don’t wish to impose my values on the film, especially given the historical context in which it takes place, but too much of the movie’s tension comes from whether Kōichi would do something to “make up” for his failure in the war. That said, how many Vietnam movies do we have here in the US that focus on the soldiers and not the civilians who bore the brunt of its consequences? Heck, one of the most successful and critically acclaimed movies of the year was about the man who developed the nuclear bomb whose consequences we see in this very movie. It’s a thorny subject that I’m not particularly qualified to opine on, but perhaps the way it confronts my feelings about these things is another point in its favor rather than a mark against it.
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2023 felt like the year of disillusionment as the world governments kept fumbling or sabotaging every crisis that fell in their laps. What made the movies on my list stand out from the rest is that they felt tuned into this sense of powerlessness and how we as individuals or as families can fight for our existence; whether it’s navigating a patriarchal society as either an undead philosopher or a plastic feminist, finding your sense of self-respect within the repressive higher education system, or simply fighting for your right to live despite crushing trauma or literally crushed buildings. I hope that 2024 is the year where we all decide that we’ve had enough and fight for a better world and maybe get a few cheerier movies out of it. Still, we got some pretty fantastic lemonade out of the truly rotten lemons of last year and I hope you all enjoyed reading about it. Agree with my picks? Got some better ones I should look at? Let me know in the comments below!
The Reviewers Unite 