No more schlock.
That’s the promise I made myself. I had a lot of growing up to do this year, and one way I had to get that done was going to the movies less. So I made the decision that franchise schlock was not worth going to the theaters. Guardians of the Galaxy 3? It’ll come to Disney+. Fast X? Nah, that one’s getting pirated. Barbie?
Okay, well, I had to see Barbie.
But that was my strategy. Fewer movies overall, more focus on movies I’m actually interested in. I’m not obligated to see anything. That sounds basic, but after 7 years of doing these lists, I’d started to lose sight of why I enjoy it.
And then I got over it. By the end of the year it wound up being smarter to reactivate my Regal Unlimited pass.
Overall, I feel this has been a promising year for the state of movies after a few scares. Distributors have finally realized that releasing direct to streaming is as effective as burning money. Superhero movies are finally beginning to look like a passing fad. One of the biggest box office sensations was a historical biopic mostly consisting of government workers holding meetings. As long as no more of the big producers buy up any of the others we should be good to- oh no.
As always, my watchlist is still stuffed with films that didn’t release in my neck of the woods in time: Poor Things, All of Us Strangers, The Iron Claw, Maestro, The Zone of Interest, American Fiction, Fallen Leaves… This year more than the last few my list feels like a snapshot of how much I got in rather than something more complete. But that’s kind of the reason I do it like this. Here are the 10 movies that, at this particular moment in time, are my favorites of the year.
Honorable Mentions
In no particular order.
- You Hurt My Feelings
A staid little drama about our ability to take criticism and the lies we tell to avoid giving it. Hits too close to home. - Bottoms
Deliriously funny. - The Killer
Deliriously funny, but in a completely different, exclusively violent way. - Godzilla Minus One
One of the best Godzilla movies in recent memory, because it remembers that the most important part of a Godzilla movie is the people. - Peter Pan & Wendy
I’m as down on the live action Disney remakes as anyone, but this one worked for me. David Lowery is allowed to do as many as he wants. - Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning: Part 1
The only of this trend of “Part 1″s that actually has a good ending. And even then, rumor is it’ll lose the “Part 1” retroactively.
I must! I must! I must increase my bust!
10 // Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret
dir. Kelly Fremon Craig // Trailer // Available for rent, and streaming on… Starz?
Having never read the book, I only knew of it as the book about menstruation that some wackos want banned. Of course, it is so much more than that. Yes, it’s a comedy about puberty, and it’s also about navigating adulthood (Rachel McAdams!!), and spiritual identity, and the unspeakable horror of moving to New Jersey. I’m glad the preteen girls of the future will have this movie, and I hope the preteen boys of the future will somehow be forced to watch this too.
I’m innocent. You know that, right?
9 // Anatomy of a Fall
dir. Justine Triet // Trailer // Available for rent
The promotional material for Anatomy of a Fall played up the “guilty or innocent? It’s ambiiiguoooous oooooh” angle to the extent that it begins by showing you the URL “didshedoit.com.” I think that was a mistake, because the (entirely academic) debate over if she did or did not do it is the least interesting thing about this movie. It’s actually a movie about the inconspicuous malleability of truth. How do we know when the entire story has been told? How reliable is memory, if at all? If anything, the URL prepares you to leave without knowing all the answers, which is good. Embracing that is the only way the movie works.
It’s also about how messed up French trials are. Phoenix Wright makes way more sense now.
Don’t worry. The future’s not that scary.
8 // Suzume
dir. Makoto Shinkai // Trailer // Streaming on Crunchyroll
I had seen Makoto Shinkai’s previous films and decided they just aren’t for me. They are spectacles, sure, but trope-laden, emotionally distant spectacles, too impressed with their own metaphor for me to personally connect. Suzume makes the metaphor literal. Still definitely a Shinkai film—plenty of shots of people falling from the sky (Why does that happen so much in anime?)—the explicit grounding in real world events brings a deeper emotional sincerity. On that foundation the film builds a striking work of art about the beauty and melancholy of abandoned places within and without.
I will not be complicit in the illicit use of ill-gotten booty.
7 // Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
dirs. John Francis Daley & Jonathan Goldstein // Trailer // Available for rent, and streaming on Prime and Paramount+
In an already strong year for comedies, my favorite “straight” comedy is based on a game that I have never played and know next to nothing about. I can only imagine how this hits for someone who does know the source material. Better, surely, because the film never makes its source material the butt of the joke. Zero jokes about nerds or dice rolls or the absurdity of magic. It takes the world the characters live in seriously, or at least as seriously as it needs to. Somehow it also finds time to be a thrilling heist story and engrossing fantasy film. I assume this is what actually playing D&D is like: imaginative, chaotic, and fun. This one’s going in the “I’m mad at audiences for not making this a hit” library next to The Nice Guys.
You dream in a language I can’t understand.
6 // Past Lives
dir. Celine Song // Trailer // Available for rent
Just pathetically, ruthlessly, crushingly romantic. A bilingual film about the roads not taken, Celine Song’s film directorial debut (???!!!) places its protagonist between two important men in her life, a childhood crush from her hometown in Korea and her current husband in New York. But it doesn’t put her there to tease her or make her choose between them. Nothing in this movie is so malicious, except maybe the inevitable emotional gut punch. The choice has already been made, and now she must reconcile her past with her present. Greta Lee, best known for Russian Doll which Wikipedia tells me is somehow a continuing series, plays the predicament pitch perfect, as does Teo Yoo. What a gift of a film.
Intermission
Contrary to reports, there were more than 10 good movies this year. Let’s squeeze in a few more.
Best Product
Blackberry
In maybe the oddest trend of the year, 2023 saw the release of a lot of films about the rise of famous products. And we’re not done. My theory is they straddle the line between recognizable brand and original film just enough to turn out crowds who want to see something familiar that isn’t a studio tentpole. At its worst you get corporate self-mythologizing like Flamin’ Hot. At its best is Blackberry, which actually feels like a complete story by virtue of remembering the “and fall” half of “rise and fall.” It’s a genuinely good movie about how the blind pursuit of growth breeds innovation at the expense of passion.
Runner-up:
Air
Best Wes
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
I think I’m cursed to always be out of step with the consensus on Wes Anderson. Give me The Grand Budapest Hotel over Rushmore any day. Luckily even those of us who were lukewarm on Asteroid City got a treat with Anderson’s set of four Roald Dahl short film adaptations for Netflix. Henry Sugar is clearly the centerpiece of the collection as both the longest and most formally ambitious, but all are absolutely worthwhile watches. The performances Anderson elicits from his actors suit Dahl’s material so perfectly that I hope Wes gets right of first refusal for every Dahl adaptation forever.
Runners-up:
Asteroid City
Poison
Best YouTube Thing
Double Fine PsychOdyssey
PsychOdyssey, the follow-up to Double Fine Adventure, is so candid about game development that I wonder if Microsoft was aware they were buying this too. If Double Fine Adventure is mostly about the inspiring power of imagination, this one’s about the unceremonious grit it takes to actually forge a product.
Alright, there’s 50 words. We need to talk about the plagiarism video.
Hbomberguy’s 4 hour expose of the pervasiveness of plagiarism in the YouTube criticism/”video essay” space is certainly the YouTube Video of the Year if measuring by impact. My takeaway from it is something that it never quite says directly but that I’ve been saying for a while: Most “video essays” aren’t actually “essays.” They don’t engage with an idea to synthesize an argument. They’re content to just regurgitate information.
My attitude towards YouTube documentaries and essays has shifted significantly recently. I had been dismissive of them for so long, but at this point there is clearly excellent work being done there that sure beats the garbage my parents watch on TV. We should expect a higher standard. Incidentally, this is also the year I finally subscribed to Nebula.
Runners-up:
History of the Minnesota Vikings
This Is Financial Advice
Secret bonus runners-up for Best Stupidest YouTube Thing:
The Fesh Pince of Blair 3
Why Andrew McCutchen Loves Furries
Aquaman Memorial “Most Movie” Award
Beau Is Afraid
Ari Aster’s three hour anxiety attack is, uh, effective at communicating that. I don’t know if I like it? But I’m glad he got it out of his system.
Runners-up:
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
My Top 5 Films of 2022 of 2023
5. Strange World (It was a slow year for me.)
4. Return to Seoul
3. The First Slam Dunk
2. Women Talking
1 // Aftersun
A brag: I clocked the framing device gimmick immediately.
A confession: That didn’t protect my heart from being shattered.
This is just what grown-ups do.
5 // May December
dir. Todd Haynes // Trailer // Streaming on Netflix
A description of the plot is concise enough: An actress (a potentially career-best Natalie Portman), in preparation for a role, shadows a couple whose scandalous romance fueled the tabloids twenty years prior. Actually unpacking the nuances of that sentence? Tens of thousands of words. Or 117 minutes of screentime. That’s the rich density of story Todd Haynes always delivers, and somehow he also manages to inject an appropriate sense of humor. He is without a doubt one of the great living American auteurs.
And what about you? What will you create?
4 // How Do You Live?
dir. Hayao Miyazaki // Trailer // In theaters
It’s a better title.
This is in all likelihood Hayao Miyazaki’s final film actually for real this time no take backs. I know he’s faked us out before, but I fully believe it. This film has the air of a nostalgic master who knows he’s never taking out these toys to play with again. How appropriate for him to leave us with a puzzle that we’ll be unpacking for many years to come. It invites an obvious interpretation—it’s autobiographical! It’s about Miyazaki’s own creative journey!—and then defies such easy metaphorical mapping. I’m still processing it. I only know I’m going to watch it many more times in the near future, and I’m almost positive I’ll someday look back and wonder how I only put it at 4.
You were born lucky. Maybe someday, you entitled little degenerates will appreciate that.
3 // The Holdovers
dir. Alexander Payne // Trailer // Available for rent, and streaming on Peacock
If I could force strangers to watch a movie from this year, I’d probably pick this humble story about the importance of empathy. Certainly destined to become the latest addition to the Christmas movie canon, Alexander Payne’s reunion with Paul Giamatti feels like such a perfect pairing of director and actor that it’s unbelievable this is only their second collaboration. Also unbelievable is the fact that Dominic Sessa, playing the unfortunate teen trapped under the supervision of Giamatti’s hardass teacher, has never acted in front of a camera before. The movie knows this type of practical, mid-budget interpersonal film just doesn’t happen as much as we need anymore. I pray this has the legs to prove they’re still worth making.
Can you find the wolves in this picture?
2 // Killers of the Flower Moon
dir. Martin Scorsese // Trailer // Available for rent, and somehow still in some theaters
It’s good to know I’m not the only one a little weirded out by the sudden rise of true crime shows. Martin Scorsese is too, and he feels real conflicted.
Lily Gladstone’s monumental performance deserves all the praise it’s gotten and then some. The only other person in the movie who can match her is Robert De Niro, playing one of the most vilely, casually evil men I’ve ever seen in a film. The film explores the quiet complicity of everyone in these heinous events, up to and including the audience and Scorsese himself as filmmaker. Don’t be daunted by the runtime. It passes in a flash.
They won’t fear it until they understand it, and they won’t understand it until they’ve used it.
1 // Oppenheimer
dir. Christopher Nolan // Trailer // Available for rent
I spoke with someone who said they were disappointed in Oppenheimer because the bomb detonation scene felt underwhelming. Understandable, I suppose, but still odd to me because that detonation is a relatively small part of the tapestry of the film. The actual bomb goes off in the next scene: when Oppenheimer delivers the speech celebrating victory over Japan. It’s a horrifying and masterfully crafted piece of filmmaking.
As someone who always sort of reluctantly admired Nolan, I think this is his most intellectually mature work. No reluctance here. Between Oppenheimer and Dunkirk, his temporally untethered style of storytelling has proven to work marvelously for stories based on real history. I’d like him to stay in that zone.
I am become Puts A Nolan As The Best Film Of The Year. Destroyer of discourse.
We’re doing a lot of reckoning with the past on this list. I’m ready for the future, where a deluge of strike-delayed films await. And I’m ready to face that deluge with more respect for myself and my time. No more schlock.
Well, maybe a little schlock. With 8 years of lists done now, I remember why I like doing this. A balanced diet is important, and that means some candy now and then too.
Oh hey, Poor Things is in my local theater this weekend. Finally I can catch up on that. And so is Ferrari… and Maestro just dropped on Netflix, and… Hold on, I have a lot of work to do.
