2023 Wrap-Up

I’ve always loved movies. When I was a kid channel 11 (WPIX in New York) would fill the hours between eight and ten with films of all kinds. Some of them I watched repeatedly (“How did you get a scar like that, eating pineapple?”) and some I made it a point to see and never got around to (one day I will get to you American Ninja III, 2023 just wasn’t your year), and as I grew older, my tastes changed, expanded, but I’ve always loved the movies.

What makes 2023 a little bit different is that I’ve made a concerted effort to write about the movies I watched this year. It’s been an interesting experience. Some movies I had a lot of feelings about, but I didn’t know how to write about them. Other movies were trash, and it took everything to write even a few words about. Between the two ends of this spectrum, I found myself writing much more than I ever thought I would about, well, anything, and it has been rewarding.

Given that, I thought I should try my hand at a top ten list for 2023. While I’m here, I thought I’d write a few words about some of the stand out movies I watched for the first time this year. And if I’m writing about that, I should probably mention movies I think are still good in 2023 that I watched again this year. I round out this post with three movies that I watched this year that don’t quite fit those categories, but if you made it that far, what’s three more films?

A few stray notes. In making this list, I found that some of the movies I wrote about over the course of the year ended up higher than I would have expected. What I mean is, for example, there is a tie for the number two spot. If you had asked me immediately after watching the film, would it be my second favorite for the year, I probably would have said “no,” but here it is in the second spot, albeit, tied with another movie. Also, (and I’m a little mad at myself for not doing this), I didn’t write a Letterboxd review for everything that made the list. So while I can’t link to my contemporaneous thoughts about a film, I hope you trust that you should consider a film. The converse is also true–there are some films where my contemporaneous thoughts may have you wondering why is it on one of the lists. To this I’ll say, time plus art makes things weird. Sometimes something needs to work on you for a bit before it really hits. I wish this wasn’t the case, but I don’t make the rules.

Without further ado, my 2023 year in movies. (And if you want to see everything I’ve watched since I joined Letterboxd, you can head here: Letterboxd).

Best Movies of 2023

10. Barbie

I regret not writing a full review of Barbie. This is what you need to know, if you somehow managed to hide from it. What could have been a ham-fisted grab for cash and cross-promotion turned out to be a mainstream, weird, mildly subversive indy film. That alone makes it worth a watch. Ryan Gosling has gotten a lot of attention as Ken, but I would argue Margot Robbie’s performance of Barbie’s subtle transition from doll to woman is not talked about enough.

9. Polite Society

This movie is a refreshing self-contained action comedy. Sometimes the tone doesn’t match the action, but the occasional mismatch isn’t enough to keep it off of my short list. I write about it in *slightly* more detail here: Letterboxd

8. Rye Lane

I didn’t write about it contemporaneously, so how is it number eight on my short list? I remember it is a really great rom-com and it didn’t get nearly as much attention as it should have when it came out. Rom-coms have not been funny for years, and I remember Rye Lane somehow managed to find life in an otherwise formulaic genre. That’s how it got to number eight.

7. Killers of the Flower Moon

I went long in my review, but I promise to be short here. Martin Scorsese made a film that clearly demonstrates how vile racism is in America, and somehow managed to evade any serious backlash from white America. However, it has not entirely escaped backlash. There are accusations that Killers of the Flower Moon centers too much on whiteness. Killers of the Flower Moon does center on whiteness, but it is also clear about how it centers on whiteness. The film is so clear about this point its penultimate scene damn near wrecked me. It is a fine film and well-worth watching. Letterboxd

6. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Alas, another movie where I didn’t write a contemporaneous review. This is what I remember: Across the Spider-Verse took advantage of being animated. Too often, animation (or rather, mainstream animation) attempts to recreate the real. Across the Spider-Verse said, “How about, ‘Nope.’” Animation styles follow characters, emotions are abstracted into colors and because I can’t draw I am in awe of it all. That and I have a weakness for stories about nerdy Black-Latino New Yorkers who are raised in the outerboroughs.

5. How to Blow Up a Pipeline

Did I write anything this year? Because How to Blow Up a Pipeline doesn’t have a review either. No matter, here is what I remember: This is a taught tension filled movie made with no budget. At no point did it telegraph where it was going and I loved it for this.

4. Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part I

The lengths that TC will go to to make sure I am entertained is astonishing. My review pretty much just says I saw it in 4DX, because I saw it in 4DX. You should have seen it in 4DX when you had the chance, but that is beside the point. This is the only movie I saw twice in the theater (Spider-Man should have been on that list, but I blew it) and the reason I saw it twice was because, as the kids say, “IT’S DOPE, SON!” In a world flooded with green screens, practical effects remain supreme. The fiscal conservative in me doesn’t understand why you would buy a train to blow it up, but guys HOW COOL IS IT TO SEE AN ACTUAL TRAIN BLOW THE EFF UP!?! On a visceral level you feel the difference between an actor dodging CGI debris and actual ow-can-kill-you debris. I’m glad Tom Cruise / Paramount / UA are willing to shell out for insurance, because that was far and above the best action film that came out this year (and no, I did not forget about John Wick 4). Letterboxd

2 (tie). Past Lives

When most people think about film, they think about scale. You’ve got this big screen after all, you should cram it with as much as possible. You’ve got these big speakers, you should blow out every eardrum, right? What if you used that scale for something almost imperceptible? The quiver of a lip. The dilation of an eye. The sound of footsteps transitioning from cement to grate and back again. What kind of power, what kind of truths about the human condition could be told with a canvas at that scale? Past Lives is a beautiful meditation that takes advantage of cinema’s scale in an unconventional way. Letterboxd

2. (tie). Poor Things

Today is not a bad day for Bella Baxter, but she almost did not tie for my number two spot. I’ll start by writing the bad stuff – it’s a little long. But like Killers of the Flower Moon the length of it is part of how the movie gets to its point. It’s also at times too satisfied with the choices it has made, with the cinematography, with the narrative, with the dialog. And yet, it’s really, really beautiful. Emma Stone does incredible work with the physicality of Bella Baxter and the movie is somewhat absurd, which speaks to my tastes. No Letterboxd review for this one.

1. American Fiction

It may be recency bias, and if it is, my bad. What I loved about American Fiction is that it smuggled an honest-to-god drama about Black life into a movie that was presented to the public as a farce. In doing this, American Fiction performs the central problem of the movie while opening up an avenue for an exploration of Black life beyond the a stereotype. I wrote about this in greater detail here: Letterboxd

Noteable New to Me in 2023

Cool Hand Luke

I wrote a bit about it on Letterboxd, so again, I’ll be brief. I am fascinated by the work of a good ensemble cast. They are much rarer in the few past decades and when they do appear it rarely clicks the way this one does. Letterboxd

Playtime

While I did not enjoy it as much as I thought I would, I was in awe with how Jacques Tati used every element of cinema to tell a joke.

Hoosiers

I went long on Letterboxd, so I’ll be short here. It is a fable, a feel-good story about a nothing high school basketball team going to the championships. It also is a deeply complicated story about the shortcomings of American life. What is particularly striking about Hoosiers is that you can enjoy either or both narratives and not detract from its meaning for any of the narratives. Letterboxd

American in Paris

I’m here for the dancing, especially the last 20 minutes where it goes koo-koo-bananas.

How Stella Got her Groove Back

I thought it was going to be one thing and it turned out to be another. I blame the marketing, but I don’t know how you would pitch this properly.

Dirty Harry

This was not what I was expecting either. I go long on it on Letterboxd, so I’ll be short here. Dirty Harry may be the only right wing film that remembers films should look good. Also, while Dirty Harry is a reactionary, he allows room for Black and LGBTQ people to exist, which would never happen in a right wing film in 2023. Letterboxd

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot

I didn’t write a Letterboxd review and I barely remember what happens in it, but I do remember it being magical, so I’m adding it to the list.

Still Good in 2023

• Beverly Hills Cop
• Die Hard
• Remains of the Day
• Serpico
• The Nice Guys
• Interstellar
• Ironman

Honorable Mentions

Lynching Postcards: Token of a Great Day

A 15 minute movie that manages to completely convey the specific horror of the postcards documenting the extrajudicial murder of Black people. Letterboxd

Amsterdam

A perfectly good movie that was derided by the Internet. Not a great movie, but a good movie. Letterboxd

Something From Nothing: The Art of Rap

Ice-T talks to his rap friends about the craft of rap. I wish there were more rap documentaries about the craft. Also, it’s fun to watch the hardest rappers gush fanboy style about the artistry of *their* heroes.