Top 23 for 2023: Keeping it short and simple
I posted my reviews as 280-character Q&As on Twitter and then pasted them here. Only my top 5 and the disappointments list got a slightly longer treatment.
In 2023 I finally got back to my pre-pandemic movie-watching levels. However, I am not so sure this is a good thing. It is getting progressively harder to find good movies, because movie theatres are dominated by franchises, while independent movies are getting preachier and more formulaic. It doesn’t help that Netflix makes it easier to press the pause button (sorry May December, I’ll get back to you shortly). Isn’t it surprising how movies keep getting longer as our attention spans are getting shorter?
There were only a few movies that managed to genuinely surprise me, and those comprise my top 5. The rest of the batch still deserve to be seen, and I am grateful to movie studio A24 for keeping 2023 interesting. And then there are the 2023 disappointments, but those are hidden behind a paywall. Oppenheimer is there, along with the Holdovers, the Boy and the Heron, the Little Mermaid, Asteroid City, Elemental, the Killer, Anatomy of a Fall and a few others.
TOP 23 FOR 2023
(CLICK HERE FOR PREVIOUS YEARS, CLICK ON TITLES FOR THE TRAILERS)
23/23 Io Capitano - Matteo Garrone
You’ve seen magic realism, but can you imagine magic brutalism? Matteo Garrone creates a coming-of-age torture porn that doesn’t make much sense, but is nevertheless moving thanks to Seydou Sarr’s stellar performance.
22/23 Phi 1.618 - Theodore Ushev
Would you burn all the books on Earth if you knew that its contents are stored forever in invisible ink somewhere in the clouds? А Bulgarian homage to silent movies, Balkan parties and Terry Gilliam’s Brazil.
21/23 I like movies - Chandler Levack
What would Ghost World look like if its protagonists were teenage boys? 17-year-old Lawrence is working at a video store and is the least likable teenager to grace movie screens in a long time.
20/23 Three - Nayla Al Khaja
A female Emirati director creating the Muslim equivalent of the Exorcist? Despite its simplistic resolution, Three is a thought-provoking and scary experience that doesn’t shy away from uncomfortable topics.
19/23 Poor Things - Yorgos Lanthimos
Has Yorgos Lanthimos decided to follow in the footsteps of Wes Anderson? Impeccable production design and paper thin characters makes this the worst Lanthimos movie yet. However, Emma Stone's performance makes it good enough for the top 20.
18/23 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 - James Gunn
How do you get me to stay awake during an MCU movie? You don’t, but the single-take battle scene (No sleep till Brooklyn) is one of the best fight choreographies I have ever seen. If only it wasn’t for the 3-hour running length.
17/23 Talk to me - Danny Philippou/Michael Philippou
Can A24 outdo Bloomhouse? Talk to me is a grade-B horror movie that manages to incoroporate a clever allegory about substance abuse and losing your mind to drugs.
16/23 Knock at the cabin - M. Night Shyamalan
What are you willing to do to prevent the apocalypse? M. Night Shyamalan answers the question with a home invasion movie that invokes Cloverfield Lane 10.
15/23 Renfield - Chris McKay
Is Nicolas Cage the only actor to enter my top 20 more than once? Renfield is bloody, funny and perfectly Cage-y.
14/23 Jerry & Marge Go Large - David Frankel
Are you too young to enjoy a comedy about a retired couple who finds a way to game the lottery? Probably yes, but you shouldn’t miss the chance to see Bryan Cranston and Annette Bening giving the young ones a middle finger.
13/23 Hypnotic - Robert Rodriguez
Can you watch a movie, like it, forget about it, and watch it again in the same year? Maybe Robert Rodriguez hypnotized me, but I wouldn’t mind watching this breezy popcorn movie for the third time.
12/23 Beau is Afraid - Ari Aster
Can you be bored and scared at the same time? Leave it to Ari Aster to fill the movie theater with dread that is uncomfortably boring.
11/23 Cocaine Bear - Elizabeth Banks
Did you like Snakes on a Plane? Me neither, but this one is way, way, way more fun!
10/23 Across the Spiderverse - Dos Santos/Powers/Thompson
Can the sequel be better than the original? It could have been, if only it didn’t end on a cliffhanger.
9/23 Zone of Interest - Jonathan Glazer
You have heard of Auschwitz, but have you listened to the sounds it made? Glazer keeps his focus on the idyllic family life of Rudolph Höss, but makes us listen to the sounds beyond his walled garden. A truly uncomfortable experience.
8/23 Killers of the Flower Moon - Martin Scorsese
Did you know that there was a time and place when Native Americans had white servants? Scorsese takes a fascinating slice of American history and lets Leonardo Di Caprio and Robert De Niro play second fiddle to Lily Gladstone.
7/23 Barbie - Greta Gerwig
What if a Barbie doll realized that she is just a toy in a male-dominated world? Greta Gerwig gets a lot of mileage out this high-concept setup, but she loses steam when she decides to tone down the satire and play up the girl power.
6/23 Monster - Hirokazu Koreeda
Who’s the monster and who’s the victim in this story that involves pyromania, bullying and homosexuality? Koreeda’s tribute to Rashomon lets the mother, the teacher and the child give different answers, then unifies them in a transcendant finale.
5/23 Sisu - Jalmari Helander
Are you up for a tongue-in-cheek celebration of westerns, B-movies, war movies, revenge flicks and everything in between? If that’s your cup of tea, then Sisu will make your cup overflow.
4/23 American Fiction - Cord Jefferson
Can you afford yourself the luxury of not obsessing over race when everyone around you does? American Fiction exposes the religious zeal with which white people seek absolution for their racism, even if it means pigeonholing Black artists.
3/23 Past Lives - Celine Song
What if two people were meant for each other but destiny pulled them apart? Past Lives revisits them in ten year intervals and manages to perfectly capture the thrill and frustration of a long-distance relationship.
2/23 Dream Scenario - Kristoffer Borgli
Is Dream Scenario an absurdist comedy or a diatribe against cancel culture? Nicolas Cage is haunting and hilarious as the college professor who gets banished by people simply because they dreamt about him.
1/23 Saltburn - Emerald Fennell
Is there a limit to the perversions that Emerald Fennell has in store for the characters in Saltburn? This is a movie that shocks, thrills and saves the best for last.
And if you cannot get enough of Barry Keoghan and Emerald Fennell working together, then check out this photo session that you will not be able to unsee:
https://www.wmagazine.com/culture/barry-keoghan-emerald-fennell-saltburn-vampire-cover-story
And now for the disappointments. Some of them are intriguing, many of them are overlong, most of them left me cold. Keep in mind, these are not necessarily bad movies, it is just that I expected more of them.