I still have a few to watch from 2023, but here are some personal highlights from the year. As always, I'm not saying these are the best movies, but these are films that have somewhat stuck out to me. They aren't exactly ordered, but I did the best I could.
Honorable mentions that didn't make the list, but that I think you all may enjoy:
Oppenheimer (VOD) - Coming to Peacock soon
I didn't love this movie on first watch, but I can tell that this is a process movie that I will warm up to over time. The same thing happened with movies like Spotlight and Zodiac. Sometimes I'm so invested in figuring out plot on a first watch, that I miss the nuances because the content is so dense. It's meticulous and I tend to really fall in love with these later, after I know the story and am able to go back without the pressure of figuring out what's going on.
Air (Amazon Prime)
This is the true story of Nike gambling everything to make Michael Jordan the face of the company. Not many realize, but Nike was a relatively small shoe company and common knowledge was to spread your money around to get as many new stars wearing your shoes as possible. They changed the game and the rest is history. This documents that process.
May December (Netflix)
Inspired by Mary Kate Letourneau (the hot teacher who had an affair with, got pregnant, and later married her 12 year old student), this movie is about an actress who comes to study the woman to make her biopic and how they are similarly manipulative, while the now man starts to realize his victimhood. It's got an interesting tone and I don't think it's for everyone, but I found it morally complex.
The Killer (Netflix)
A hitman thinks of himself as cooler and more meticulously perfect than he is, and he fucks up the big hit. What results is him being targeted by his organization, while also flipping the script and targeting them back. But it's done with such style and it gives us a character that is cringey and doesn't know it.
And now, the list:
#15) Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (Disney+)
This movie was derided by many and missed by most. For me, it's a goodbye to one of cinema's most iconic characters. Though it's simultaneously too long while also feeling too chopped down and has some dodgy effects and action sequences, it is still such a step up from the previous film. The dial is an S-tier Indy maguffin and the ending act goes so hard that I can't help but love it for it.
#14) Anatomy of a Fall (VOD)
I don't expect many of you to watch this, as it's artsy and about half of it is in French. It's a courtroom drama about a man's death. He falls off a roof -- Was it an accident? Was he physically pushed by his wife? Was he metaphorically pushed by his wife? Or did he kill himself because of his own guilt? But what's really on trial here is the concept of marriage. It drills down to a theme that I believe -- the inner-workings of a marriage can't be judged by anyone on the outside. It's a language that only the two of you speak and it doesn't have to hold up to outside scrutiny.
#13) Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (Disney+)
Like many of you, I'm kind Marveled out. However, this movie stood on its own and didn't feel beholden to a larger universe to the point that it was a detriment. It had a powerful and crushing emotional core around animal abuse, it has a great sendoff (and badass action sequence) to say goodbye to the team, and it gave us a satisfying, yet melancholy and contemplative ending to the story of Starlord and Gamora. And with all that, it still leaves us room in our hearts to think that the Guardians can continue in a different form. In terms of superhero trilogies, this is one of the greats.
#12) 20 Days in Mariupol (PBS) -- You can watch free on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvAyykRvPBoI like to put a documentary on here and this one is absolutely crushing. It shows the first 20 days of Russia's attack on Ukraine. The stories are the most horrific, raw shit you've ever seen. It's some of the goriest, most soul-crushing media I've ever seen put to film. You see firsthand, the atrocities of Putin's attacks on these civilians and all they're trying to do is to get the stories out into the world while Russia tries to black them out. You see longform, brutal destruction, death, misery, and suffering in great detail -- then they show the eventual 15 second clip that makes it to ABC news to tell the rest of us. And then you see Russia's response that these are fake actors and plants. Repeat again and again. It's the ultimate battle between the power of propaganda and the importance of a free media that fights it.
#11) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (Paramount+)
I have nostalgia for this franchise, but it often isn't very good. This is. It finally seems to recognize and play the turtles as actual teenagers. It leans into the fact that these are kids that love music and pop culture and anime just like regular high schoolers. The art style is post-Spiderverse without copying it. Legitimately funny and a great way to reboot the franchise and reimagine some classic characters without just going back to the Shredder well.
#10) Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret. (Starz)
I'm not the target audience for this film. But it's a coming of age story (which I usually connect with) about a girl that's moving to a new place, struggling with adolescence, and trying to come to terms with being from a multi-religious household. It's just well done and elegantly tackles all of its subjects, while being a good period piece (pun intended) that encompasses life in the 1970s.
#9) No Hard Feelings (Netflix)
It's the only straight comedy on my list this year. The premise is a little flimsy, but it's genuinely funny and heartwarming and Jennifer Lawrence plays trashy humor very well. It has two notable scenes -- one where the movie slows down and gives us a musical performance by the male lead which has a lot of heart and another where Jennifer Lawrence gets buck-ass nekkid and fights people. You almost never see female nudity used as comedy unless it's there to be misogynistic and shame or assault woman -- this is a case where she owns her nudity and it's friggin' hilarious.
#8) Past Lives (VOD) -- You can watch free on Viki:
https://www.viki.com/movies/40041c-past-livesThough this movie is set in New York City, much of it is in Korean. It's about a women who immigrates out of Korea, but was on a path to probably end up with a specific Korean man who was her best friend. They meet up many years later after she's married and Americanized. Unlike other movies that have a potential great love from your past show up (that I generally do not enjoy, like The Notebook), this movie introduces a perspective from the husband about halfway through and he's a full character that has a voice and serves are more than just a barrier to the love-story-that-missed-its-window.
#7) The Creator (Hulu)
It's like they made a movie in a lab for just my sensibilities. It's a future where the US has eradicated AI after it nukes Los Angeles and now sets its sights to eradicate all AI in Asia, who still harbors the AI as a valuable part of its community. The special effects are superb, yet subdued and not in your face. It has a lot of world building and neat sci-fi premises that are not explained and make for the feeling that this place exists already and you're just dropped in without knowing how everything works. I appreciate a film showing me something I've not seen before and this has a few cases. It's a remix of so many other android-focused movies (Blade Runner, A.I., Ex Machina, i Robot, Westworld, etc.) and it's heavy-handed with its Vietnam allegory, but I loved it nonetheless.
#6) Poor Things (Theaters)
This is the weird movie of the year, like Everything Everywhere All At Once last year. It's like Frankenstein meets The Island of Dr. Moreau meets Bioshock Infinite meets a porno film. The basic premise is that a woman is saved from death by putting in a new brain from a baby -- so it's like a woman learning how to use her body (both physically and metaphorically) with the optimism and naivety of a child in a Victorian-era patriarchy. Along with the premise, the presentation visually and the score are equally quirky.
#5) American Fiction (Theaters)
I love when a movie turns the mirror around and makes me take a look at myself. American Fiction is the story of a black author who writes high-brow literature, but the public seems to only want to hear from black-voices that talk of their stereotypical hood-upbringing of gangs, crack, ignorance and abuse. So, he intentionally pens a terrible book with a pseudonym and, of course it catches fire, like The Producers' Springtime for Hitler. It seems to take aim at the hollow-gesture of white, liberal allyship and I found it uncomfortably funny throughout. At it's heart, however, it's a drama about being in a family and it balances it well with some of the best performances of the year.
#4) Killers of the Flower Moon (Apple TV)
Scorsese is great at taking a good story and telling it from the perspective of the shittiest person in the room. This is no different. This started as a book that was a mystery about the FBI's creation and use in uncovering the murders of the indigenous people of Oklahoma. Instead, this is reframed to highlight the atrocities against the Osage Nation and we are put in the shoes of the perpetrators right from the start. It's a study on racism and greed and corruption and yet you're left with thinking that you may be able to love someone while also being able to do the most horrific things to harm them.
#3) Barbie (Max)
I laughed my ass off at this movie. And also, it made me take inventory of myself. This movie really has something to say about women and it made me cringe at myself, while laughing at myself. I can't believe it's as good as it is. It manages being a love letter to Barbie while also embracing its warts.
#2) Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Netflix)
The first movie was my favorite film of a couple of years ago and this one doesn't rest on its laurels. The art style and animation goes even harder and is bonkers, the sci-fi and multiverse aspects are totally insane, but yet -- this movie has incredible emotional and grounded family moments. The ending crescendos to an amazing place before it cuts the film short but leaves us in a place where I cannot wait for more. It's a slingshot ahead in terms of animation and this series has changed the world.
#1) The Holdovers (Peacock)
This is a very traditional movie. However, it's got such great moments and performances from all three members in its main cast. The jist is that a group of high school boys at a prep school can't return home for Christmas for various reasons, during the backdrop of the Vietnam war. A curmudgeonly teacher who has nothing else going is tasked with looking over the kids during the break. What I love about it is that although it seems straightforward, the movie isn't predictable scene to scene. Over and over again, a lesser film would bail you out or tip its hand to what's coming, and this never does. It doesn't over-explain itself and it plays out realistically, never giving you what you want or expect. It's my favorite "normal" movie in years.
Author