Happy New Year! First, I want to thank everyone that read any of my reviews this year. This is a hobby and passion project of mine and I don’t make a cent off of it. I just love movies and talking about movies, so I appreciate anyone that takes the time to read my ranting. My goal for next year is to write and post reviews in a more timely manner, which I always intend to do but then work and life get in the way. But here’s hoping.
That being said, I am hoping to figure out a way to monetize this site next year. I have tried multiple times, but my applications and appeals have all been denied because I am not “family-friendly”, whatever the fuck that means. On the plus side, with many controversies this year over paid reviews and reviews that eerily seem to follow the same talking points, you know that my opinion is actually my opinion. You may disagree with me, but you can know that I’m not a paid schill. I would like to grow the site, though, so if you like my reviews, please share them with friends.
Now for a couple of ground rules for this list. First, I am only including films that received a theatrical release. This is for two reasons: 1. I want to support theaters. 2. I can’t possibly keep up with the amount of crap that is unceremoniously dumped onto streaming services during the course of a year. These companies refer to movies as “content” for a reason. There are occasional exceptions, like David Fincher’s new movie that I want to check out, but for the most part, I just don’t care about straight-to-streaming movies.
Second, these are my favorite movies, which is semantically distinct from a list of the best movies. Therefore, this list may contradict my own grades from throughout the year because either my opinion changed slightly over time or I just think that something will stick with me more than something else.
Third, I can’t see everything. I go to the theater every week for a total of 52 theater trips in a year. That may seem like a lot, but I didn’t get to see everything that might have made it onto this list. For instance, I haven’t seen The Iron Claw or The Holdovers and I’ve heard from trusted sources that they are excellent films. Alas, I didn’t see them in time for inclusion on this list.
Without further ado, here are my top 10 favorite movies of 2023:
10. Scream VI: I had a few other movies vying for the #10 spot, but I seem be the only person that enjoyed this more than the fifth installment. While it does have some serious issues, especially in the final reveals, Scream VI has a brilliant opening kill, some memorable set pieces, and I found the new characters much more tolerable here than in the last movie. Not amazing and I still think that Scream 4 is the best sequel, but this is a solid entry in the series.
9. John Wick Chapter 4: This series is losing its luster for me with its increasingly complicated lore, but I can’t deny that there are some great action sequences here and the addition of Donnie Yen was a stroke of brilliance. It does become too cartoonish for me with John Wick surviving things that would kill a Looney Tune, but still an entertaining movie and (hopefully) a good finale for the character.
8. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One: This is only a middle-of-the-road entry in the Mission: Impossible franchise, but that’s still enough to make it an entertaining action flick. Not reaching the highs of Ghost Protocol and Fallout, but the stunt work is still worth the price of admission and a reminder that actual things happening will always look better than CGI.
7. Sisu: It’s basically John Wick vs. Nazis. How can you not enjoy that? There are some questionable choices here and my A- grade may have been a bit generous, but this is a satisfying slice of hyper violence that will please the whole family.
6. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves: The three previous D&D movies are crap and I wasn’t impressed by the trailers for this latest attempt, so I went into the theaters with very low expectations. Shockingly, I had a great frigging time with this movie. Very funny and with great characters, this is the best fantasy movie in years.
5. Saw X: The year’s only bigger surprise than Dungeons & Dragons, Saw X is better than it has any right to be. The last few entries in the Saw series have been forgettable crap and I had zero expectations for the tenth entry. However, by placing this early in the series’ timeline and bringing back Jigsaw as the main antagonist (or, really, protagonist), this brings the series back to its less convoluted roots and is the best entry since Saw III.
4. Thanksgiving: This is the 2023 movie that I will probably watch the most going forward because I can definitely see myself throwing it on every November. In retrospect, I would slightly bump up the B-grade that I gave it because this is a fun throwback slasher flick that feels like a modernized version of an early 80s film. Props to Eli Roth for making a fun, gory slasher flick without obnoxious politics or meta commentary.
3. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3: 2023 may go down as the tombstone for the modern superhero genre. Good lord, there were a lot of awful superhero movies this year that bombed at the box office and has the entire industry rethinking things. But then there is Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which proves that there is still an audience for these movies if said movie isn’t garbage. Guardians 3 is a funny and unexpectedly poignant sendoff for this iteration of these characters that will have you laughing one moment and then questioning your emotional attachment to a talking raccoon the next moment. If 2023 is the end of an era, then Guardians 3 is at least a final reminder of why we once liked these movies.
2. Killers of the Flower Moon: This is a devastatingly sad film that runs 3 and ½ hours. Sound fun? I don’t care, watch it anyway. This is one of the best dramas in years with performances that will be studied for years to come. I don’t think much needs to be said about Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, but Lily Gladstone somehow upstages everyone with perhaps the best performance of the century. Watch this movie. I don’t care how long it is. If you can watch an 18-episode true crime series, then you can sit through a 3.5 hour true crime movie. It is worth it.
1. Oppenheimer: I mean, what else is left to be said? The only movie that even came close to challenging this is Killers of the Flower Moon, but the experience of seeing Oppenheimer in glorious 70mm will stick with me for a very long time. The performances are brilliant, the subject matter is gut-wrenching, the direction is flawless, and the recreation of the first nuclear test is one of the most memorable movie moments in years. Christopher Nolan made a 3-hour adult drama about a scientist and somehow turned it into the defining cinematic experience of 2023. Nolan can be hit-or-miss and he certainly has his detractors, but Oppenheimer will forever be the first movie that I think of when someone mentions 2023.
