Best Movies of 2023 (#10-#1)
I feel like I need to preface this second part of my best of list by informing you that Barbie did not make the cut. I loved the movie, liked it a lot, #379 on my favorites list, but in a year of so many great movies it just barely missed out. That’s not a knock on Barbie, but rather a testament to the abundance of riches that was 2023 at the movies.
I saw 95 new movies this year (thank you AMC A-List) and have put together a list of what I considered the best of the bunch. I hope you can find something here you’ll like, and I’d love to hear about what you watched from this list, whether you liked it or not!
(#10) The Royal Hotel
Kicking off my Top 10 of 2023 is Kitty Green’s The Royal Hotel. Following up her excellent debut The Assistant, which also made my Top 25 of 2020, Green re-teams with Ozark’s Julia Garner. Both films are a nerve-wracking deconstruction of the harmful male gaze. Set in an Australian mining town where 99% of the bar’s patrons consist of men coming off a hard day of work, friends Hanna and Liv are thrust into a pressure cooker of bad motivations when they arrive to make some money while on vacation.
From the girls’ first shift, Green ratchets up the tension with each snide comment at the girls’ expense. You know that this is leading to something, but you don’t want to see where it goes. At times The Royal Hotel steps into horror-movie-worthy territory as night falls over the bar and its customers dissipate for the evening. No spooks or specters are needed to instill fear here. All Green needs is an inebriated man wandering the halls to make your hairs stand on end.
Available to rent on VOD (Itunes, Amazon, etc.)
(#9) The Eight Mountains
The Eight Mountains, an Italian language film, explores the ways in which nature can lead to self-discovery and forge friendships. Pietro and Bruno, separated childhood friends, reunite after the passing of Pietro’s father to fulfill his dream of building a cabin in The Alps. The mountain cinematography will make you want to pause the movie and get out to the closest hike as soon as you can. Those stunning images are also backed by a unique soundtrack, consisting only of songs by Swedish singer-songwriter, Daniel Norgren.
At the core of The Eight Mountains is a dichotomy between two ways of life: city living and isolation in nature. I’ve seen plenty of films about leaving it all behind to spend life outdoors, but none that tackle the weight of that decision with such maturity or complexity. The relationship between Pietro and Bruno is lovingly written and sets a new standard for how male friendships should be portrayed in film.
Available to rent on VOD (Itunes, Amazon, etc.)
(#8) How to Blow Up a Pipeline
How to Blow Up a Pipeline is just as provocative as its title implies. The film follows a group of young adults as they put together a plan to…you guessed it…blow up a new oil pipeline in West Texas. I’m a sucker for films about the environment and its protection. Especially so when the results are something this thought-provoking, inspiring conversations about just how far people feel they need to go to save our planet.
Since it’s a group of amateurs attempting the dangerous mission, director Daniel Goldhaber knows how to lean into the suspense as you wait to see if/how they pull off this act of eco-terrorism. The script also cuts in-between the scenes of preparation with backstories for each member of the group. As we learn about each character’s motivations with how they’ve been wronged by corporations and governments polluting the environment for monetary gain, you understand more about why they may want to blow up a pipeline. (Disclaimer: I do not endorse blowing up a pipeline)
Now streaming on Hulu; also available to rent on VOD (Itunes, Amazon, etc.)
(#7) All of Us Strangers
Director Andrew Haigh has always been great at moments of quiet intimacy, not just for queer cinema, but for anyone who’s ever loved or lost. In All of Us Strangers, that capture of intimacy is at its best, but he also now brings in grand questions of life and family that do not have easy answers. My favorite screenplay of the year centers on Adam, a writer struggling to come to terms with the death of his parents from when he was young. When he returns to his childhood home, through some mystery, his parents appear as they were when they left him. At the same time, he begins seeing Harry, one of the few tenants of his nearly-empty apartment building.
The conversations Adam has with his parents are heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time, knowing that they never got to see the man he became. Paul Mescal (Aftersun, Normal People) as Harry and Claire Foy (The Crown) & Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot, Snowpiercer) as Adam’s parents are all fantastic in their roles, but Andrew Scott’s performance as Adam is one of the year’s most fascinating. When he’s with his parents, Scott is able to revert back to a familiar childhood joy, a welcome retreat from his character’s usual lonlieness. With performances and a script that keep you guessing, seek out All of Us Strangers as soon as you can, and make sure you call your loved ones after.
In theaters now; available to rent in 2024
(#6) Asteroid City
Asteroid City is Wes Anderson at his best, and there can be no more glowing praise for a film. During the pandemic I ran through a marathon of Anderson’s movies, and I’ve found he continues to evolve both in style and substance. He also keeps growing his usual ensemble with stronger performances, this time from Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, and Margot Robbie just to name a few.
Asteroid City interrogates what it means to be human and where you fit into your own story. Told through the guise of the performance of a play about an alien landing at a small desert town, we cut back and forth between the actors offstage and the tale they’re playing out. As the performers try and figure out how to tell the story, the characters in the play are also figuring out how to keep pressing forward into the unknown. It’s artistic, it’s quirky, it’s hilarious, it’s pure Anderson.
Now streaming on Amazon Prime; also available to rent on VOD (Itunes, Amazon, etc.)
(#5) Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
It’s no secret that Spider-Man is my favorite character in all of fiction, so I’m incredibly lucky to have gotten a movie as good as Across the Spider-Verse. The first Spider-Verse movie has already become a classic, with recent movies even trying to imitate the style that led to its success. This sequel does nothing but improve upon the original in every way: the stakes are higher, the performances all have added depth, and the animation is the greatest achievement I’ve seen in the medium. Each new world in its multiverse is carefully curated for maximum creativity in their design.
In a year when audiences are starting to show true superhero fatigue, Across the Spider-Verse can reignite the passion of even the most dissuaded comic book fans. The script gets to the heart of what makes someone a hero and the sacrifices they may have to make to get there. It’s also endless amounts of fun, with visual gags and line deliveries I still quote to this day. “Canon event” was even listed in Oxford’s words of the year if you need a better measure of this film’s impact.
Now streaming on Netflix, also available to rent on VOD (Itunes, Amazon, etc.)
(#4) The Zone of Interest
The Zone of Interest is the most evil movie I’ve watched, and I mean that with the highest praise. Set just outside the walls of Auschwitz, the film follows a Nazi commandant and his family as they try to make a perfect life for themselves. It’s a family drama against the backdrop of an atrocity, calling out the banality of evil. We are never shown the insides of the camp, we do not see the horrors, but we hear it all, and the sound design is horrifying. The casualness of gunshots or screams of unimaginable tortures in the background of this idyllic house chills to the bone.
It’s not just the sounds or Micah Levi’s eerie score, but each line of dialogue ringing with evil as well. The atmosphere director Jonathan Glazer creates makes it so that every line of dialogue, whether about how to most efficiently commit genocide or what flowers to plant in a garden, gives you the feeling you are witnessing true evil unfold. The Zone of Interest is a high-risk balancing act that only a master could pull off, and Glazer pulls it off seamlessly. There’s also been some great final scenes this year, but this one left an impression on me that I will not soon forget.
In theaters now; available to rent in 2024
(#3) Anatomy of a Fall
If you’re a fan of courtroom dramas or murder mysteries, Anatomy of a Fall is one of the best you can see. When Sandra is put on trial for the death of her husband, she finds herself not only defending her innocence but defending her marriage as well. The prosecution picks apart her life and tells her to put the pieces back together. What director Justine Triet accomplishes by bringing the audience into the trial is nothing short of miraculous. The film is the evidence that forces you the viewer to be judge, jury, and executioner.
All of this is held together by the best performance I’ve seen from an actress this year - Sandra Hüller. At no time during the film could I track where the truth was at, all due to Hüller’s enigmatic face. When you look at a person, you’re only seeing the surface level. You can’t know what goes on behind closed doors, but Anatomy of a Fall gives you the opportunity to try and get a peak behind that door.
Available to rent on VOD (Itunes, Amazon, etc.)
(#2) Past Lives
When I went to a Q&A for this movie, actor Teo Yeo said “The concept of In-Yun is culturally Korean, but everyone can relate to that feeling of connection and longing.” In-Yun means fate, but it’s really about the different layers of past, present, and future lives two people have when they connect. Past Lives focuses on Nora (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Yeo), childhood sweethearts separated when Nora’s family moved West. Once Nora is married to Arthur (John Magaro), Hae Sung re-enters their lives, bringing up many complicated feelings.
You can palpably feel the tension jump through the screen with every glance or nearly-missed physical connection between Nora and Hae Sung. Greta Lee and Teo Yeo bring endless incarnations of connection into the relationship of their characters, whether it’s expressed outright or not. The screenplay for Past Lives, written by director Celine Song, makes a thesis statement that I wouldn’t dare spoil here, but it’s one of the most romantic moments you’ll find in a film.
Available to rent on VOD (Itunes, Amazon, etc.)
(#1) Oppenheimer
It started with “Barbenheimer” back in July, and Oppenheimer has remained as my best movie of 2023 ever since. Christopher Nolan's (The Dark Knight, Interstellar) epic is one of the most comprehensive biopics ever put to film. The feature covers the majority of its titular character’s professional and private lives in 3-hours that fly by. The best way I could prepare someone to watch Oppenheimer is to approach it as though you are about to read a highly stylized biography. In classic Nolan fashion, the film is split into two distinct timelines, but really covers three periods of Oppenheimer’s life. It may be lengthy, but it paints a complete picture of the man.
As that man, Cillian Murphy (Peaky Blinders, Inception) commands the screen and gives the most impressive performance I've seen all year. Murphy plays both the titular character's arrogance and his regret with nuance. We follow one of the smartest men alive as he comes to terms with what his brilliance has wrought upon the world. Nolan seems to have been the perfect filmmaker to tackle these heavy themes, and I’m glad that his name-power and talent were able to bring so many people to the theater. Oppenheimer is a film about the ripple effect even the smallest decisions can have on your life or the world at large, and this film has left an impact on me. For now, Oppenheimer is the best film of the year, and it may very well be the best of the decade so far.
Available to rent on VOD (Itunes, Amazon, etc.)
