Now that we’re almost halfway into January, I figured it was about time I put together my wrap up lists of films I saw in 2023. I saw 56 classic films, and 59 new films, for a total of 115 in theater experiences. So it’s safe to say I spent a lot of time at the movies, and I have thoughts about what I saw.
Since it’s always fun to rant about what you don’t like, let’s start with the worst films I saw in 2023. Thankfully there were only five I deemed bad enough to include on a list.
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5. Five Nights at Freddy’s
I’ll be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from this. The premise seemed silly but I knew the game was a fan favorite. So, I thought how bad could it really be? Apparently really bad. Here’s the thing, I don’t ask too much from my Horror films. I just want some good scares, some gore, and maybe some laughs along the way. If you take it to the next level and get me thinking even better. I wasn’t expecting the last one from Five Nights at Freddy’s but I at least hoped it had some good jump scares. It didn’t. It had some gore but it wasn’t really impactful. It had zero laughs, and the story made no sense so there wasn’t any reason to care about the characters or what happened to them. This was the only new release I saw in theaters in October so it ended up being a massive disappointment.
4. Meg 2: The Trench
Speaking of massive disappointments, this should have been on my other list for the year. It isn’t hard to please me when we’re talking about shark films. I’ll watch any kind, and I get a kick out of even the most ridiculous ones, which is why I loved the first Meg movie so much. It’s a movie about a giant shark breaking loose and hunting down a ton of victims. Oh, and it stars Jason Statham! So why was the sequel such a let down? For starters, they retconned a bunch of things from the first film in a completely unnecessary move. The story made no sense, just getting dumber the farther along we got. To top it off the special effects looked outdated. So the whole reason you’re coming to see a film like this didn’t even deliver.
3. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
I’ll admit I forgot this came out this year. I think it falls inline with most of the other Marvel releases as of late. It simply lost the charm that made this character and corner of the MCU so fun. The characters are all lackluster, they’re stuck in an over CGIed world that loses any impact after the first scene because it’s so over done, and it makes the mistake of trying to drive its story through a character not named in the title. Paul Rudd, and Ant-Man, have been some of my favorite additions to this franchise and it was a little heartbreaking to see that not even he could save this film from falling flat.
2. Infinity Pool
Mia Goth was what made two of my top films from 2022 so great, and why I was so excited for this film. Unfortunately she couldn’t save this anymore than Paul Rudd could save the previous film. What should have been a creepy physiological thriller ended up an over-indulgent mess. The filmmakers got caught up too much in the process and didn’t focus enough time and energy on telling a compelling story.
1. Barbie
I know there will be a lot of people who feature this at the top of their best lists but I thought it was just one big pile of pink coated crap. Perhaps it was another case of expectations let down. I’ll admit I wanted this to be amazing. I’ve embraced the Barbie culture since I was a kid and I couldn’t wait to see what Greta Gerwig did with the character. What ended up being delivered was a bland, not funny opinionated rant using the Barbie culture as the centerpiece of its argument. The world of Barbie should have been a colorful splash but the production design was dull and forgettable. Barbie as a character is inconsistent and so are the rules of this world. The real world portion is cartoonish to an annoying point and makes no sense intertwined with the Barbie one. The first two minutes had one or two laughs but then the rest of the film is dry and flat. As I said in my initial review, it felt like an SNL skit that went on too long.
Now that the least impressive films of 2023 are out of the way, let’s get the bad taste out of our mouths with the best films I saw. We’ll start with some honorable mentions since there were so many good films released last year, and they deserve the love.
Cocaine Bear
While not as over-the-top laugh-out-loud fun like I hoped, it ended up being a pretty solid film, with enough gruesome humor to deliver on my expectations.
The Flash
The universe seemed to be plotting against this film. Covid delays, lead actor drama, a general dislike of DC adaptations, and an emerging fatigue with the superhero genre all collided right when The Flash finally saw its release. This is so unfortunate because Ezra Miller is perfect in the role, and this is one of the most enjoyable of the recent DC enterprises.
Asteroid City
Wes Anderson is an inconsistent director for me. I either love his films or find them irritating. Asteroid City fell into the first category. It was utterly delightful, and Jeff Goldblum was the star on top.
Gran Turismo
The better of the two racing films released this year that are based on true stories. What’s not to love? It’s got incredible odds, an underdog, and Orlando Bloom and David Harbour!
The Killer
This one is sneaking onto the list because I actually caught it in a theater, even though it was a Netflix release. David Fincher films should always be viewed on the big screen. This film is gorgeous, tense, and compelling in its deliberate slowness. It needs a distraction free environment to be truly appreciated.
The Boys in the Boat
Though it feels a little wrong to be rooting for a Washington team, this film is otherwise packed with all sorts of things I love. Once again we have an underdog sports story, pitting them against impossible odds. Throw in some patriotism and feel good plot points and you’ve got yourself a solid film.
Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
Tom Cruise jumping off a cliff from a motorcycle into a parachute deployment. That’s just the tip of the awesome stunts in this non-stop thrill ride. The whole gang is back too so it’s like coming home to a crazy, funny family reunion. Only knock against it is that Part Two doesn’t come out for a year.
10. Plane
Alright, jumping into the top ten list here is one that was a very nice surprise early in the year. Gerard Butler has found his niche corner of the cinematic universe and a crew to work with that compliments his style. Coming in under the two hour mark, this is a tightly knit together tense rollercoaster. There’s plenty of action, some solid hand-to-hand combat, and enough character development to make you actually care what happens to the stranded passengers.
9. Scream VI
It is rare for the sixth entry in a franchise to still deliver on the original premise. It’s even rarer still for it to do so in a horror series. Yet, that is what the Scream films have done. They keep delivering because they know their audience backward and forward. They keep enough to the original tropes to not step on the predecessors but also bring some cool twists each time. The New York setting and opening sequence in the sixth film are beautifully executed. Also, they bring back Kirby, who was the best addition to the series since Timothy Olyphant as Mickey in Scream 2.
8. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
I love a good heist film, even better when it’s in an adventure fantasy setting. This was some of the most fun I had going to see a movie in a long time. The expectations weren’t high but man, did it deliver. Everyone was perfect, the quest the team goes on easy enough to understand and keep up with, and there was plenty of humor sprinkled throughout. I don’t know if it will turn into a series, or if it even needs to but I was very pleased with the final outcome here.
7. Wonka
Did we need another Willy Wonka story? No, not really. Did we need a Wonka film directed by Paul King, the genius behind Paddington and Paddington 2? Yes, yes we did. This was absolutely delightful. Timothée Chalamet was charming as a young Wonka, the production design was very appetizing, and Hugh Grant, despite his clear dislike for the role and its technical requirements, was absolutely perfect. One of the more pleasant Christmas Day screenings I’ve experienced in recent years.
6. Sisu
Finnish revenge film against Nazis? Okay, I’m there. This was another perfect expectations delivery. It features just enough creative gore to satisfy the bloodlust, and is precise in its pacing and tension building. In other words, it’s perfect from start to finish (see what I did there?).
5. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
After several rounds of disappointing Marvel films, we got James Gunn’s final entry into the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy. Shouldn’t have worried at all that Gunn knew what he was doing. With a focus on Rocket’s traumatic past, this was perhaps the most emotional of the Guardians films and Gunn handled it wonderfully. We still get plenty of moments of levity, while still being engrossed in the more sobering story. Even the CGI world we’re in feels more real because of the care in which it is crafted. Personally, I feel that each Guardians films is interchangeable in terms of ranking, and that is a testament to Gunn, and the actors that took on these characters, making them their own.
4. Air
Who would have thought a movie about Nike and Michael Jordan, that features little to no basketball could be so compelling? What makes this so successful is an incredible amount of talent (kudos to Matt Damon, Jason Bateman, and Ben Affleck), plus one of those almost too unbelievable to be true stories. It was a perfect alignment of the universe that brought the brand and athlete together for one of the most iconic partnerships. Here, the story is told in a compelling way through precise pacing, clever dialogue, and outstanding performances.
3. Sound of Freedom
There are dark and disturbing corners of the world, and the people who choose to venture into them in order to help the vulnerable are true heroes. Sound of Freedom shines a light on the terrible child human trafficking epidemic. This is yet another film on this list that is based on a true story. It is harrowing and difficult to watch due to the nature of its subject material but it never feels like the filmmakers venture into excess in what they decide to include in the story.
2. The Holdovers
Set in 1970, this feels like a film from that decade. It is a character study that is driven by excellent performances, and at its heart a story of finding shared humanity among unexpected company. Add in that it is set during the holiday season and you get all the bittersweet joy of a classic Christmas film. This is definitely going to be added to the yearly rotation of films in our Christmas movie advent calendar.
1. Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant
A grueling rescue story baked into a war film, this hits particularly hard considering recent events of the last few years. Guy Ritchie knows when to balance action and tension with emotionally heavy storylines. Casting Jake Gyllenhaal is another master move. Few actors can take on the physicality of a role like this without sacrificing the emotional impact. Dar Salim is also incredible in his role as Ahmed. This should be required viewing. There are people that are too good in this world that have been left to suffer at the hands of evil because of the cowardice and incompetence of their so-called friends. This is their story and we owe them so much better than what we’ve given.
Hollywood Consumer 