Films of the Year

My Top 10 Films of 2023 of 2023

By Ping December 30, 2023Movies

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.

My Top 10 Films of 2022 of 2022

By Ping December 30, 2022Movies

The word of the year is “maximalism.”

As we begin to refer to the pandemic in the past tense and crowds return to theaters (a rebuke of 2021’s conventional wisdom that the industry is a relic, as much as the distributors seem intent on ignoring that), the shows on display appear determined to remind audiences why the theatrical experience is necessary. Big screens deserve big movies. And this year’s movies went big. Among the multitude of “love letters to the cinema” we were subjected to this year, the prevailing sense seems to be that if the theaters have to die, they’ll go out with a bang. Even the sequel to the Agatha Christie knockoff turned up the spectacle.

Some years I’m excited to sit down and make this list because I have no idea what will wind up at the top. That was not the case this year. The hardest part was figuring out which movie squeaks in at #10. But the more I’ve sat with this list over the last week, the better I feel about it. This is a quality batch, and I hope you make time for one or two that might be new to you.