The Best Movies of 2023

It’s official.  I’m actually releasing my top ten list in the same calendar year. I have finally broken the mental strife associated with the Academy Award schedule.  No longer will I bend to the standards of millionaire maniacs who release award films in the final days of the year.  Guess what - you will not see All of Us Strangers, American Fiction, The Taste of Things, & The Zone of Interest on this list.  Why?  They haven’t come to Iowa yet, therefore they are 2024 movies in my book.  It feels good to write that.  My OCD brain is finally at peace…for now.  

Hyperbole is the catch of the day for a reviewer.  We are prone to grandiose statements, over-the-top pronouncements that looking back a year later, we regret.  With that in mind, this was my favorite year in film.  Of the fifty-five releases I watched, only seven fell into the waste bin of regretful decisions.  I have a list of twenty-five movies that competed for the top ten spots.  That’s never happened before. If we look back at the last four years, there were never more than twelve films a year in competition for the coveted final ten.  What sets this year apart?  It was the inventiveness, the ingenuity, and the depth of work from all aspects of the industry.  Some of the best acting, directing, and writing was on display.  It was a year cemented in beauty.  From the production designs of Barbie, Poor Things, and Oppenheimer to the makeup and costumes of Maestro, Priscilla, and Ferrari.  This year had everything: the laughter of Barbie & Theatre Camp, the tears of Killers of the Flower Moon & Past Lives, and the warmth of Are You There God?  It’s me, Margaret.  In a year defined by the writer and actor’s strikes, audiences had the chance to see the majesties of their art. As for me, when I needed the comforts of the theater, the artistic landscape accepted my pleas.  Movies are back! 

Shoutout of the Year 

While it didn’t reach my top ten, I want to shout out Holding Back the Tide.  I have a biased connection to this film.  Trey Tetreault, a friend and husband to one of my close friends, Denver Crawford, is a producer on this film.  That being said, I found the film absolutely mesmerizing.  It’s much more than a film about oysters and NYC.  It’s about creation, artistic and ethereal.  If you’re interested, this article does a far better job describing the film:  Film Review 
Congratulations to the entire team behind an extraordinary piece of living art.  

Honorable Mentions:  Holding Back the Tide, The Holdovers, David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived, Theatre Camp, Anatomy of a Fall, & Nimona 

Honorable Mention

11.  Are You There God?  It’s Me, Margaret.  

I never read Judy Blume as a kid, but I’m glad it found its way into my heart as an adult.  One of the most heartwarming films of the past five years.  Impeccably well-acted from the always wonderful Kathy Bates, to Rachel McAdams giving an Oscar-worthy turn, to Margaret herself, Abby Ryder Fortson.  A truthful adaptation of the original text; this is a must-see for the whole family.  

The Top Ten Movies of 2023 

10.  Barbie 

An imperfect movie that suffers under the yoke of being the best it can be under the circumstances.  Will Ferrell’s Mattel role is incredibly flimsy and poorly-written, the ghost of Ruth Handler doesn’t fit, and the now famous monologue, while wonderful and necessary, sticks out like a sore thumb from the rest of the film.  That being said Greta Gerwig is a perfect three for three as a director and under the pressure and constraints of the industry, she pulled off nothing short of a miracle.  Ryan Gosling is hilarious as Ken, but the true star of the film is Margot Robbie.  Robbie as Barbie is required to be funny, genuine, and distraught.  She accomplishes all of it while keeping her classy Barbie charm.  We laugh with Ken, but the movie succeeds on the strength of Barbie.  

9.  Talk to Me 

I believe this is only the third horror movie to ever make my top ten list (Get Out, Cabin in the Woods).  I’m so glad I braved my indifference toward the Horror genre and saw this in theaters.  What starts as a series of classic horror tropes quickly becomes a conversation on grief and addiction.  Despite the contemplative nature which deals with connection and truth, the movie sings when it dives deep into the horror.  Sophie Wilde is mesmerizing in the lead performance.  

8. Spiderman Across the Spiderverse 

Another genre I struggle with is animation, but this year both Nimona and Spiderverse made my top fifteen. In an animated lens, we talk about the opening of Up, but give me the opening of Spiderverse any day.  Gwen’s story is powerful and poignant.  The screen lights up like the inverse of a Rothko painting.  What transpires after is a film as much about Spiderman as it's about loss.  The two are intrinsically matched.  I laughed and I cried, but while there’s plenty of great action set pieces, the scene between Miles and his parents is why this series is one hundred times better than anything else Marvel has to offer.  

7.  Godzilla Minus One 

Uh, no notes? A monster movie masterpiece.  Made for a budget of under $15 million, Godzilla Minus One proves that all dumb American blockbusters really need to employ better writers.  Amazing storytelling that is equal parts uplifting and sorrowful.  The influences of Jaws and Miyazaki films are apparent without detracting.  If you stayed away because you don’t like monster movies, this isn’t that “type” of film.  

The Top Six 

*Writer’s Note:  I spent two days thinking about the rankings of these six films, in the end, this ranking is a momentary decision.  These six films are all stone-cold masterpieces and all six should be considered in a tie for the number one position.  

6.  Oppenheimer 

Getting to see Barbenheimer for my birthday is a memory I will cherish for the rest of my life.  Subsequently, I sought out and watched Oppenheimer solo in IMAX.  Nolan sees the entire screen and creates the impossible in every frame.  The first two hours are dazzling, but the third hour makes this Shakespearean.  We see the idea, we see the creation, and then we watch the fallout, but rather than show the fallout of the bomb, we have to watch the fallout of the idea.  How government bureaucracies destroy the world (as we are watching today).  Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr. give the best male acting performances of the year.  The fifteen minutes leading up to the Trinity test is one of the best cinematic scenes ever caught on film.  The only thing that brings this film down from perfection is Nolan’s inability to write female characters.  I hope he finally gets caught up in the fallout of those criticisms and hires a female writer's room to help with future projects.  

5.  The Wonderful Life of Henry Sugar, The Swan, Poison, and The Ratcatcher 

In a world where Wes Anderson makes Asteroid City that should be enough, but of course, he one-ups himself by creating four direct-to-Netflix Roald Dahl shorts. I believe as a collection, these shorts are his best work since The Royal Tenenbaums.  These films interweave elements of theatre, animation, stage design, and physical art that have never been seen together on camera.  Henry Sugar was my favorite, but what happens in The Ratcatcher is my favorite moment of artistic expression in 2023.  In a five-minute stretch, he switches from animation to mime to pantomime to acting classroom to mime (again) to standup routine and film; an utterly astounding creation.  On top of that, his troupe of actors for these films are some of the best casted Anderson actors: Ralph Fiennes, Rupert Friend, Ben Kingsley, Benedict Cumberbatch, and my favorite reliable actor, Dev Patel.  

4.  Poor Things 

Yorgos Lanthimos is my favorite working director, in Poor Things, he matches willing actors with an outlandish Frankenstein rebirth fable (which tells the story of the original as much as the true story of Mary Shelley).  Mark Ruffalo is off-his-rocker funny and Emma Stone has catapulted herself into the stratosphere.  She shows no fear, no inhibition in connecting an impossible character to reality.  The production design looks like a cross between a fresco painting and a Tim Burton apocalypse.  Some may be turned off by the rampant sex in the film, but I see this as a story of rebirth and ownership.  As Bella goes through her new stages of development, she learns of self-control, self-satisfaction, and ultimately self-ownership without the chauvinistic opinions of men.  

3.  Killers of the Flower Moon 

Martin Scorsese is the GOAT.  At 81 years-old, he delivers one of the best films of his career.  A cinematic and storytelling masterpiece, that even Scorsese admits inside the film, isn’t his story to tell.  A masterwork in the how to create a full picture both on screen & on the page.  Heartbreaking and engaging, a captivating three and a half hours.  Brilliant casting work with De Niro giving his best performance in two decades, Leo completely in the bag, and Lily Gladstone taking the whole movie by storm.  Hands down the performance of the year.  She holds the audience’s grip in her eyes filled with weight, anger, and despair.  This is a movie that will be taught long after Scorsese has left this earth.  A genuine miracle.  

2. How to Blow Up a Pipeline 

The depressing Ocean’s Eleven for our generation.  One of the most political films to ever reach theaters, this movie doesn’t mince words and it’s entirely about the title.  A fascinating piece of writing about what we have done to our Earth and the lengths people are willing to go to do something about it.  Forrest Goodluck gives the breakout performance of the 2023, but the true star of the film is composer Gavin Brivik.  My favorite film score of the year; when you’re listening you’re shocked this isn’t Ludwig Göransson or Hans Zimmer.  It brings accusation to the characters and weight to a devilishly difficult film.  

1. Past Lives  

A movie about the transference of love and how characters hearts can speak two different languages, while simultaneously understanding a third entirely known only to themselves. Even in a year with The Trinity test, the final six minutes of the film is the scene of the year.  So much tension and desire packed into a sidewalk.  Greta Lee, Teo You, and John Magaro are magnificent and Celine Song is the best new director since Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird).  Past Lives holds the emotional heartstrings of the year and uses those strings to play music that is necessary without being overly-dramatic or superfluous.  Nostalgia is equally a weaponized emotion and a yearning love - Past Lives uses it pointedly and hits home the message square in the heart.  This film aches to be viewed.  

Best Movies of 2022

 “Vagueness is bad, ambiguity is good” - Sean Fennessey on The Big Picture (discussing Tar) 

Last year, I released my year-end list in June, this year it’s in March right before the Oscars.  All in all, I’d say I’m improving.  It’s been yet another difficult year in film, with so many companies leering from the sidelines, wondering if they should release their stockpile.  We’ve suffered two years of this phenomenon, completely understandable considering the economics surrounding the pandemic, but as we return to some semblance of our “before times” the movie industry finds itself at a crossroads.  With the success of films like Everything Everywhere All at Once, Avatar the Way of Water & Top Gun Maverick, movie goers are flocking back to the theaters in droves, not at pre-pandemic levels, but surprisingly close.  However companies continue to hold onto their cargo.  This year some of the movies being released were in post-production pre-pandemic and yet they are only now coming to the screens.  What does this mean?  

For me, it’s left an artistic chasm.  More and more, I found myself in the realm of literature over cinema.  When I needed to zone out, I found television far more exciting and engaging than film.  It took a collection of snow days and my current bout with Covid to even complete my list.  And yet, I still yearn for the movies.  Beyond live theatre, the movies are the one place where I can find solace from the internal stresses of my life, where I can let go of the digital device seemingly connected to my hand, where I can immerse myself in story and spectacle letting my own problems fade into the background.  When I get a movie that can capture, engross, titillate, wow, shock, or emotional overwhelm my senses, that’s when I know the magic of cinema still lives and breathes.  I think that’s why I still write this list on my blog that is all but defunct.  If something captures the whole of me, I want to share it.  

One honorable mention

Great Freedom (Germany)

As the Allies freed Concentration Camps at the end of WW II, not everyone found freedom.  Under Paragraph 175 in the German Penal code, those found guilty of committing acts of lewd sex acts; or homosexuality, were imprisoned.  Great Freedom follows Hans Hoffmann through three separate imprisonments and how he manages to keep his soul despite the brutality of bigotry.  Impeccably well-acted by the lead, Franz Rogowski, the German cinema enters another beautiful story of its despicable past.  After a difficult week in State Legislatures around the US, Great Freedom doesn’t offer hope for our government, but it does offer a lens into the human spirit and how, to deny one’s self is to stop existing. 

The Top Ten Movies of 2022 

10.  She Said 

While it doesn’t hold a flame to its predecessors, All the President’s Men and Spotlight, it tells a difficult story well.  I’m a moth to the flame for newspaper thrillers and this is another wonderful entry into the canon.  Carey Mulligan turns in a vulnerable, beautiful performance as Megan Twohey, and in doing so, reshapes the film to be about the reporters and the victims rather than the perpetrator.  She Said doesn’t re-invent the genre, but it delivers a captivating story both in and out of the newsroom.  

9.  Playground (Belgium) 

Shortlisted for Belgium’s Academy Award entry, Playground is a simple movie told with very little cinematic flair.  Incredibly well-casted, the lead Maya Vanderbeque pulls off a magnetism so rare in child actors.  You cannot take your eyes off of her for all seventy-two minutes of the run time.  The story tells of a brother and sister, both who deal with different degrees of bullying in their primary school.  Raw and disturbing, your heart breaks for this little girl caught in own catch-22.  The camera doesn’t waste space and follows the children from their height and perspective often illuminating what adults fail to see as important.  This film should be required viewing for parents of young children and for schools throughout the country.  

8. Prey 

Despite being another entry in the Predator series canon, this might be the most beautiful movie of the year.  Gorgeously filmed on location, Prey is the first film to have a full Comanche language dub.  Stylized, engaging, breath-taking in spots, and manages to tell a strong female leadership story - inside of a Predator movie.  

7.  Saint Omer (France) 

The final addition to this list (and why I chose to re-edit this post).  Saint Omer fell prey to my American eyes.  I went into the film expecting a courtroom thriller with the backdrop of Euripides’ Medea.  I watched the movie trying to sort out interpretation and delineation of truth and theme.  In both aspects, I was wrong.  To watch Saint Omer, you need to leave pre-conceived notions of what is a film and what isn’t at the door, you have to let go of seeking twists, of reaching for action, and of engaging with audience subtext.  This is the documentarian Alice Diop’s first “fictional” narrative film, but unsurprisingly it is mostly true and shot sparingly, without Hollywood fervor, much like a documentary.  Saint Omer is a startlingly sad, hauntingly told tragedy that lacks emotional acting for the emotions lie with the viewer.  A thought-provoking dive into the DNA of womanhood well-worth the price of admission.  

6. Everything Everywhere All At Once 

Undoubtedly, Everything will be crowned Queen at this year’s Academy Awards.  Amazing to think considering this is 100% genre, incredibly convoluted, and difficult for some to follow.  Unfortunately, I’m one of those people.  As the movie careens into a conclusion like a train well off its tracks, I found myself filled with anxiety and consumed by a headache - similar to the feeling I had watching Uncut Gems and this year watching Moonage Daydream.  However, unlike with previous experiences the frenetic pace didn’t make me hate the movie - but rather make me want to watch it again…just slower.  On its surface this is a wacky, self-referential, fun comic book movie, but at its bagel creation core, it’s about Asian and immigrant queer culture, about the disconnect between modern generations, and about being the daughter to a frustrating mother and a mother to a confusing daughter.  The Daniels have pulled off nothing short of a miracle in creating a cinematic gem that has so many levels, so many stories that they are bound to connect with everyone in one form or another.  

5.  Free Chol Soo Lee 

One of two documentaries to make my final ten, Free Chol Soo Lee follows the railroading of an Asian-American citizen and the decade long fight to free him from prison.  Beyond the racial injustices and terrible treatment by police, this is more than just a single case focus, but rather a searing indictment on the system that allowed this case to take place.  The filmmaker pulls no punches showing a good man broken by a system that was so clearly built for him to fail.  Rather than paint the main focus of the film as a perfect martyr, the film wends its way through a series of choices that create a very difficult final picture.  An excellent social justice film, but also a great character study into what happens after victory is declared.  

4.  Tár 

Cate Blanchett is the best living actor. Every choice is seen through to fruition on screen, even the lines of her cheeks carry weight.  Unbelievably brilliant, she makes you hold tension and feeling for an absolutely terrible human being.  This is one of those performances that will carry out far beyond the present moment (whether it wins an award or not).  It’s a tour de force and definitely the best of her career.  Tár is imperfect.  Too long, too artistic at times (the “supernatural” dream sequences left me wanting), too self-indulgent, but the sections of the film that work are pure masterpiece.  Probably one of my favorite imperfect movies.  The Julliard class is up there with the best scenes of the decade.  I strongly suggest you see Tár knowing full well many of you will hate it.  

3.  The Banshees of Inisherin 

Martin McDonagh is the best living dark humorist.  He understands the underbellies of simple depravity and while others would seek to shock and dismay, he reaches for subtle humor, even inside of abject tragedy.  This film is a treatise on friendship and the dire consequences of forsaking connection in search of “greatness”.  Perfectly cast with top-notch performances given by all five of the main roles, including the donkey.  I love this film.  I believe it to be McDonagh’s masterpiece, not a missed stroke or a wasted moment.  

2.  Navalny 

You have to watch this movie.  If you walk away from reading this list and watch Navalny, then I will have succeeded.  There is a scene in this documentary film that’s straight out of a spy thriller and as each second ticks by you can’t believe the filmmakers captured it on camera.  Navalny looks at the life, near assassination, and imprisonment of Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Putin’s number one political critic and opponent.  Despite clearly coming from Navalny’s camp, the filmmakers are able to make headway into telling the whole story, even the parts that turn this “hero of the people” into a very problematic martyr.  I had no previous knowledge about Navalny and found every moment gripping.  Favorite documentary in years.  

1. Top Gun: Maverick 

We could get cute and put Navalny or Banshees in the top spot, but in a year where most blockbuster IP was extremely disappointing (A Marvel film didn’t make my top 25), Maverick shines as one of the best big budget movies ever made.  I love every single second of this film and I don’t really care what that says about me as a person.  Yes, supporting the Military Industrial Complex is slightly against my morality, but I’m sorry if I’m going to have my cake and eat it too.  Nothing about this film makes me go ‘rah-rah’ for the US Military; instead I come away with complete admiration for the filming and maneuvering of the cinematic elements.  This is jaw-dropping action wrapped in perfect popcorn-chewing humor and a Val Kilmer sequence that will break your heart.  Tom Cruise might be insane, but this is insanely good.  One of my favorite movie theater experiences, Top Gun Maverick takes my prize of Best Picture.