2023 At the Movies
A Washington Post article previewing the fall movies of 2023 highlighted the especially “surreal" or “weird" trend of movies that came out last year noted quite a strength of the class in film https://wapo.st/4dOocia. A lot of the great movies had sequences of hallucinations or were just hallucinatory from start to finish. Even films like Nyad or Io Capitano or even Oppenheimer, that were more serious or touching on real experiences of real people either seeing things that weren't there or representing things greater than reality could portray. Spider-Man and The Marvels dove into multiverses.and The Flash seems to have put a button on old DC stories by collapsing all universes on themselves. Weirdness invaded our dreams and world history and how we see society in so many ways. Even through our toys. And when things didn't get weird, movies just wanted to have fun or bring joy. It was a nice and weird year in film.
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Oppenheimer
For all of the great World War II movies, this was a very major, untold story of the war up until this film. Not only does it profile a very interesting character in history, but it is incredibly well made. I’m not sure if it really fits in the style of a lot of the other Christopher Nolan films, this is an epic, explosive, in the nature of the atomic bomb dropping.
Prime
2. Perfect Days
This Wim Wenders film follows a bathroom attendant of public bathrooms in Tokyo as he lives out his daily life of menial labor, moments of simple joys and the people he encounters along the way. This is shot so well and the music is so fun and rocking in a very Wim Wenders sensibility.
Hulu
3. The Zone of Interest
While Oppenheimer show us a missing piece of the cinematic story of World War II (as well as the start of the Cold War), this is a part of the story that has been told even as it doesn’t quite show us the major historical aspects of the Holocaust. This does show us the banality of evil, filmed in such a fascinating way. This might have the most captivating final scene of a film this decade.
Max
4. Godzilla Minus One
For a few years I have been fantasizing of a Godzilla movie that takes us back to the 1950’s, looking like it was shot in the 1950’s, with great storytelling, but all the best effects available to us today. Apparently there is a black and white version of this that exists and hopefully it will be included on physical release, but this mostly lives up to my strangest Godzilla dreams.
Netflix
5. The Killer
While this isn’t the most stylized of David Fincher movies, this does exactly what I want from a hitman movie. It is simple, clever, the characters are imperfect, and it is wonderfully captivating. A hitman misses hit mark and all hell breaks lose, he has to kill his way into clearing his name.
Netflix
6. The Holdovers
Directed by Alexander Payne, this story of a boarding school and the boys that are left behind during winter break, this is well acted, touching and utterly captivating.
Prime
7. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mutant Mayhem
With writing contributions from Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg, this Turtles movie thrives on exciting music, hilarious jokes and some additional empathetic depth to some of the side “villains.” The capabilities of animation in recent years has plateaued to a point that more stylization has been utilized to set movies apart and details with scribbles really bring a rougher edge that is both endearing and harkens back to the crude drawing style of the original comics in the ‘80’s.
Prime
Paramount+
8. Spiderman Across the Multiverse
Another example of stylization used to set apart animated movies, this plays with almost every animation style possible, while bringing it together in a cohesive collage. This is what Spider-Man comics of the ‘90’s started to touch on, multiple realities of Peter Parkers and Spider-Men, an idea that evolved through the decades into the cultural point we are in now where the concept of multiple or infinite universes overlapping is very present across TV and movies.
Netflix
9. El Conde
We have seen a lot of blatantly fictional versions of real history in recent years, Quentin Tarantino has a few great installments with Inglorious Basterds and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood This black and white, beautifully shot tale of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet as a centuries old vampire is a stunner. A wildly creative story that jabs at conservative politicians around the world, it's weird, bloody, backstabbing and kinda funny.
Netflix
10. Nyad
The true story of a woman determined to swim between Miami and Cuba without a cage, this is absolutely harrowing. It's a story of obsession and incredible athletic ability and ingenuity. This was just one of those movies I couldn't stop thinking of. Jodie Foster sporting UConn gear throughout the movie didn't hurt either.
Netflix
11. They Cloned Tyrone
This was a movie that I moved off my watchlist at one point over the year for fear that it wasn't going to be a strong movie and maybe a little stereotyping. While this does bring together some stereotypes from the inner-city of a pimp, prostitute and a drug dealer with a lot of humor, but they also have a lot of character depth and the sci-fi story is very compelling while humorously captivating. I love the magic trick that this movie pulled to get me to forget the title of the movie to get a great laugh at the very end of the movie.
Netflix
12. Asteroid City
Perhaps this has a few too many layers before we get to reality. Although the sets are far from realistic, this is made so well that it really feels like living within an idealized version the Southwest. An amazing cast and a little bit of a return to the whimsical Wes Anderson era of the Royal Tenenbaums.
Prime
13. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
While this is a little out of place from the silliness of the first two Guardians movies, the characters get their time to go through all of the development required from their run in the MCU, their devastation and ultimately coming to terms with their makeshift family and their journeys.
Disney+
14. Infinity Pool
A nightmare on screen. This introduces the question of self and trust in your own memories. This is perhaps the most haunting movie in recent years, it’s as though this comes from a compilation of my worst nightmares of my life and goes a step further. More thought provoking than simply a horror movie.
Hulu
15. American Fiction
There are plenty of movies about people writing great books, but this concerns the fraudulent persona of the author in ways that set up his outing in ways that just don’t happen. He is much more of a unique and hard edged character than the stereotype he takes on. As much of a study of codeswitching that academics do to maintain seriousness as the codeswitching of race and the voyeurs hungering for tragedy that feed off of those expectations.
Prime
16. Io Capitano
The story of African boys on a journey through Africa to the Mediterranean in a sometimes surreal journey to emigrate to Europe. A migration story that shows many of the dangers immigrants face daily on a seemingly impossible trek.
Rental only
17. Inside
Willem Dafoe get trapped in the most expensive penthouse ever while trying to steal a single piece of art that he just cannot find. Ultimately this is a survival film of constant trial and error to MacGuyver a way out.
Peacock
18. Gran Turismo
The story of a real life video game autoracer that works his way through a competition to racing in real cars against very real competition. Lots of stylized fun integrates the game onto the real track, this is a great auto racing film that was one of my most enjoyed and most rewatched movies of the year.
Netflix
19. A Million Miles Away
This real life story of the first Mexican-American person in space is perhaps the movie I talk about and recommend the most from 2023. This is a great story of persistence that spans many many more years than expected. This is a fantastic example of what it takes to gain skills and make connections to make a dream come true, even if it takes a lifetime.
Prime
20. Bottoms
Like a Strangers With Candy movie for a new generation, this surreal comedy might be the funniest thing of the year. A very heavy handed satire of high school gender, sexuality, cliques and media for high schoolers this doesn’t hold and counters any “you couldn’t make this comedic movie today” comments of older movies.
Prime
21. Magic Mike’s Last Dance
I love Steven Soderbergh and Channing Tatum has been oddly captivating in these movies. This leans right into the silliness, not really lingering on drug dealing from the first movie or getting too hung up on the other two movies, all this cares about is making a sexy movie that looks great. I contend that this is a sneaky artistic movie about a male stripper with a magical pony dance.
Max
22. Air
This year was perhaps the height of biopics of corporations and this leans right into the greatness of the nostalgic ‘90’s. I could taste the sweet sweet tooth decay from ‘90’s childhood snacks to the tune of Roundball Rock on a Sunday afternoon when Micheal Jordan took over the world. A great cast gets you cheering for the company that we all knew would soon become omnipresent. Amazingly, my feet never could handle the shape of Nike shoes, and I never really partook in the phenomenon, myself.
Prime
23. Dream Scenario
Suddenly, people from all over the world start to notice that they are seeing the same unassuming man passing through their dreams, that man becomes a celebrity. While the dreams are all so entertainingly weird, the strengths of this movie are how badly the man handles the situation and how “fate" judges him in his actions and intents.
Max
24. The Marvels
While this was an overlooked Marvel movie, the team-up of two Captain Marvels and a Ms. Marvel is awesome. Surprisingly especially funny with the quips, but this also masters superhero teamwork in a very creative way as well as handling well the downtime of space travel to work on team building as well as goofing off.
Disney+
25. Bobi Wine
This is a wild documentary about a Ugandan pop star who became a resistance politician, but also commits not just to being contrarian but puts his body on the line to some horrifying torture and is still an excellent politician and his music is very good.
Disney+
Others
More movies that I enjoyed that are worth mentioning. Let's face it, they might not all be winners for everyone, but they don't deserve to be ignored.
Next Goal Wins
Leave the World Behind
Barbie
BlackBerry
The Fall
The Flash
Afire
Napoleon
The Worst
There were a few movies that I saw that just didn't land or were just plain boring, but Cocaine Bear failed to be interesting, wasn't all that funny. This was just a bit too excited with itself to be a Snakes on a Plane movie for cocaine.
Final Thoughts
I'm not so sure we hit the highs of the cinematic class of 2019, but the form is healing well from the pandemic and the strike of the last three years. Audiences aren't back yet and they might not come back. Physical media is in big danger, but collector communities are thriving through connections online whether it's Criterion or Letterboxd. It's a good time to support the good movies, big, small and fun.
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