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[Puck]

20 Best Movies of 2023

From historical tragedies to raucous raunch-coms, 'Oppenheimer' to 'Barbie' — our picks for the best films of a very good year at the movies.

www.rollingstone.com

I have not seen enough of these films to agree or disagree with this list.

But I might agree to put Killers of the Flower Moon just a notch above Oppenheimer (although not by the distance R.S. has it).

 

[kihei]

20 Best Movies of 2023

From historical tragedies to raucous raunch-coms, 'Oppenheimer' to 'Barbie' — our picks for the best films of a very good year at the movies.

www.rollingstone.com

I have not seen enough of these films to agree or disagree with this list.

But I might agree to put Killers of the Flower Moon just a notch above Oppenheimer (although not by the distance R.S. has it).

I dispute their claim that it has been a very good year for movies. For me, this is the worst year in memory. Roughly two or three months later than usual, like two days ago, I finally came up with a list of twenty movies I like. And looking at my list, I would only seriously defend maybe six of them (plus a couple of docs) at best. I think their list is pretty blah, too.

 

[JetsWillFly4Ever]

I find it bizarre that Killers of the Flower Moon is so highly reviewed, that movie was a slog. One of the few movies I have gone to in theatres where I was checking my watch constantly. It had potential but was just needlessly long and to me missed the mark of the story.

It was a cool story to tell and I wanted to like it, but ya, just boring.

I am by no means a film critic though lol.

 

[Puck]

I dispute their claim that it has been a very good year for movies. For me, this is the worst year in memory. Roughly two or three months later than usual, like two days ago, I finally came up with a list of twenty movies I like. And looking at my list, I would only seriously defend maybe six of them (plus a couple of docs) at best. I think their list is pretty blah, too.

Good, then I am not the only one to think this year's movies were not the best ever. It's defininitely not my imagination. Pretty sure we have entered an era where internet disruptions have hit cinema now after hitting the music industry, brick and mortar retail outlets, and now cable tv and cinema, the most recent victims.

The Hollywood strikes probably won't help 2024 either. At least early on. The bigger studios are also transitioning to investing more to their new streaming services.

Cinema will survive of course but it is definitely going thru a difficult modern transition phase.

 

[Puck]

I find it bizarre that Killers of the Flower Moon is so highly reviewed, that movie was a slog. One of the few movies I have gone to in theatres where I was checking my watch constantly. It had potential but was just needlessly long and to me missed the mark of the story.

It was a cool story to tell and I wanted to like it, but ya, just boring.

I am by no means a film critic though lol.

Like Oppenheimer it was a bit too long. I have no idea why the studios are into this new extra long film craze. The streaming version of Napoleon will be 4 hours long. Things got better in Flower Moon though as soon as Jesse Plemons showed up.

I loved both Oppenheimer and Killers though. I will agree that they could have edited both a bit more tightly.

My theory is that they are making extra long films to let the theatre outlets make more money at the food and drink concessions stand. I don't really know though.

 

[Puck]

Might be a bit early to be posting these lists but what the heck

Golden Globe nominations: Barbie and Oppenheimer lead 2024 contenders

The ceremony honouring the best in film and TV will take place on 7 January in Los Angeles.

www.bbc.com

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

leave the world behind

f***in ASS!!

so, so bad.

I thought Leave the World Behind was above average, with a few things to digest, which is never bad. Probably a 6.5 or 7/10 for me. I've also seen Bottoms 4/10 (can't believe that and Barbie are listed as best films of the year, it really must be a shitty year), and Dream Scenario 4.5/10.

 

[kihei]

Concrete Utopia (2023) Directed by Tae-Hwa Eom 7A

My second post-apocalyptic movie in a week and a way better one than Leave the World Behind. A massive earthquake seemingly destroys Seoul, South Korea and maybe everywhere else as there is no help ever forthcoming. Magically a single high-rise apartment building is left standing in the terrible rubble. The residents quickly join together to try to collectively survive. But then a lot of outsiders try to get in, and the residents have to decide what to do about it. Initially the decision is a difficult one but they vote to exclude outsiders. However, as the outsiders become more impatient, the residents grow more and more callous. They elect Yeong-tak (Byung-hun Lee) as their leader and he does a zealous job of keeping order. But what secrets is he hiding?

To quote the New York Times, "human kindness is the first casualty of social disorder." Very true in this case. Concrete Utopia poses a simple question how far would you go to help your family survive? Many of the survivors pay a terrible price to their humanity, but the question remains open. For my money, South Korea regularly produces the best genre movies in the world, and Concrete Utopia certainly is in that tradition. There are some very funny moments early in the film, but they tend to die away as the movie enters more serious territory. Lee gives a fiercely committed performance that becomes increasingly sociopathic, but is that him or the situation in which he and everybody else finds themselves? No worries about length or pacing in this one. The plot chugs right along. Concrete Utopia is a movie with hard edges that poses a lot of questions.

subtitles


Best of '23 so far

1) Riceboy Sleeps, Shim, Canada
2) Anatomy of a Fall, Triet, France
3) Oppenheimer, Nolan, US
4) El Conde, Larrain, Chile
5) Close Your Eyes, Erice, Spain
6) Barbie, Gerwig, US
7) Beyond Utopia, Gavin, US (documentary)
8) Afire, Petzold, Germany
9) Concrete Utopia, Eom, South Korea
10) The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan, Bourboulon, France

 

[sdf]

Before Oppenheimer came out, I expected that this film have an idea that made out of such seemingly boring material a real bomb, lol. Maybe some sci fi, or mysticism, or at least something that has a point, but it looks like it's just a f***ing retelling of his biography that does not contain anything worth to convert it into movie and feeling like an endless trailer

 

[shadow1]

Insomnia (1997) - 7/10

While investigating a murder in a town located above the Arctic Circle, a police investigator makes a mistake that is noticed by the killer.

Stellan Skarsgård stars as police officer Jonas Engström, a Swedish officer who has transferred to work in Norway following an incident during a previous case. Along with partner Erik Vik (Sverre Anker Ousdal), Engström is summoned to investigate a murder in Tromsø, a small town in which the sun is still visible at night. With the local police ill-equipped to handle such a case, Engström takes point and devises a plan to lure the killer back to the scene of their crime. However, sleep deprived from the lack of darkness in the region, Engström makes a mistake during the entrapment, which only the killer witnesses...

Insomnia marked the directorial debut of Erik Skjoldbjærg, and was written by Nikolaj Frobenius and Skjoldbjærg. I can find little information on the making of this film, with some sources even disagreeing over which year it was released. I suspect the movie was quite low budget, but I also could not find any financial information. A film seemingly overshadowed by its bigger budget Christopher Nolan remake of the same name (2002), how does Insomnia fare?

Really well. Bleak, bleak film with washed out visuals that almost feel like a character on their own. Insomnia has elements of noir, and at first seems like it'll be a standard small town murder mystery. However, the film pulls out a reverse Uno card, quickly morphing into a disturbing psychological thriller. I'll leave it at that, as this is a film where the less said about the plot, the better.

Stellan Skarsgård gives a great understated performance as the severely flawed and at times despicable Engström, who is forced to battle both severe insomnia and personal demons as he tries to navigate the situation unfolding before him. He's an interesting character to watch because he's completely unsympathetic, but not in an anti-hero way. We aren't rooting for this character, but are fully invested to see if he can escape the personal hell he's created for himself.

As far as negatives go, I don't have any major complaints. I do take issue with something that happens at the very end of the movie, but I won't be talking about that and it's more of a nitpick anyway. With that said, I think Insomnia might not be for everyone. It's very dialogue heavy with somewhat slow pacing. I find this style of storytelling to be very grounded, but I could see how it may be too slow for some audience members.

Overall though, Insomnia is a rock solid thriller. I rented this movie on streaming a few years ago, played a few minutes of it before deciding I was too tired for a movie, and unironically fell asleep. Due to negligence, my rental expired before I got around to watching it. Burned out from so many movies this past October, I decided to finally watch another movie and this caught my eye on Freevee. I'm glad this is the movie I chose; its cold and grim atmosphere will resonate with me for a while. I need to emphasize how much of a hidden gem this film seems to be, despite spawning a popular remake. Letterboxd and IMBD have a combined 26,000 users ratings (versus 480,000 for the Nolan film), and I swear I could only find a couple Youtube reviews of this film, neither of which had even 100 views. If this type of film sounds like your cup of tea, don't be one of the seemingly many people missing out.

 

[ItsFineImFine]

I'd agree with Past Lives being first, best one I've seen on that list so far anyways.

I might actually be coming around to thinking Barbie was better than Oppenheimer. It was more enjoyable at least and I say this as someone who's a big fan of a lot of Nolan films. Oppenheimer ended up being almost just a standard biography at points for me, the last half hour or so especially felt like a bit of a slog. Maybe it was better made than Barbie but I won't rewatch it.

 

[sdf]

Insomnia (1997) - 7/10

While investigating a murder in a town located above the Arctic Circle, a police investigator makes a mistake that is noticed by the killer.

Stellan Skarsgård stars as police officer Jonas Engström, a Swedish officer who has transferred to work in Norway following an incident during a previous case. Along with partner Erik Vik (Sverre Anker Ousdal), Engström is summoned to investigate a murder in Tromsø, a small town in which the sun is still visible at night. With the local police ill-equipped to handle such a case, Engström takes point and devises a plan to lure the killer back to the scene of their crime. However, sleep deprived from the lack of darkness in the region, Engström makes a mistake during the entrapment, which only the killer witnesses...

Insomnia marked the directorial debut of Erik Skjoldbjærg, and was written by Nikolaj Frobenius and Skjoldbjærg. I can find little information on the making of this film, with some sources even disagreeing over which year it was released. I suspect the movie was quite low budget, but I also could not find any financial information. A film seemingly overshadowed by its bigger budget Christopher Nolan remake of the same name (2002), how does Insomnia fare?

Really well. Bleak, bleak film with washed out visuals that almost feel like a character on their own. Insomnia has elements of noir, and at first seems like it'll be a standard small town murder mystery. However, the film pulls out a reverse Uno card, quickly morphing into a disturbing psychological thriller. I'll leave it at that, as this is a film where the less said about the plot, the better.

Stellan Skarsgård gives a great understated performance as the severely flawed and at times despicable Engström, who is forced to battle both severe insomnia and personal demons as he tries to navigate the situation unfolding before him. He's an interesting character to watch because he's completely unsympathetic, but not in an anti-hero way. We aren't rooting for this character, but are fully invested to see if he can escape the personal hell he's created for himself.

As far as negatives go, I don't have any major complaints. I do take issue with something that happens at the very end of the movie, but I won't be talking about that and it's more of a nitpick anyway. With that said, I think Insomnia might not be for everyone. It's very dialogue heavy with somewhat slow pacing. I find this style of storytelling to be very grounded, but I could see how it may be too slow for some audience members.

Overall though, Insomnia is a rock solid thriller. I rented this movie on streaming a few years ago, played a few minutes of it before deciding I was too tired for a movie, and unironically fell asleep. Due to negligence, my rental expired before I got around to watching it. Burned out from so many movies this past October, I decided to finally watch another movie and this caught my eye on Freevee. I'm glad this is the movie I chose; its cold and grim atmosphere will resonate with me for a while. I need to emphasize how much of a hidden gem this film seems to be, despite spawning a popular remake. Letterboxd and IMBD have a combined 26,000 users ratings (versus 480,000 for the Nolan film), and I swear I could only find a couple Youtube reviews of this film, neither of which had even 100 views. If this type of film sounds like your cup of tea, don't be one of the seemingly many people missing out.

Wow that's awesome stuff

 

[kihei]

The Boy and the Heron (2023) Directed by Hiyao Miyazaki 6B

"After losing his mother during the war, young Mahito moves to his family's estate in the countryside. There, a series of mysterious events lead him to a secluded and ancient tower, home to a mischievous gray heron. When Mahito's new stepmother disappears, he follows the gray heron into the tower, and enters a fantastic world shared by the living and the dead." I never rely on other people's plot summaries but I am doing so in this case because at a certain point, I had no idea what was really going on in this movie. Suffice it to say, that this is not one of the great Ghibli studio examples of magical storytelling. But who cares? I stopped reading the subtitles about half way through once I knew that I had lost the thread of the plot. And I just concentrated on the wonderful visuals the rest of the way. The animation here is beyond extraordinary, a visual feast for the eye that is continuously captivating. However, unlike the best Miyazaki work, there is no real emotional connection and no lasting payoff. The movie is sort of like looking at an exquisite art installation. But, hey, I'm not complaining. In a year as dull as this one, cosmic beauty is its own reward. The Boy and the Heron is a stunner to watch even if there is not much left to think about after it is over.

subtitles

 

[kihei]

Godzilla Minus One (2023) Directed by Takashi Yamazaki 7A

Wow, was this ever a treat. This is certainly a Godzilla movie but one with a difference. There is an actual story that goes along with it that contains sympathetic characters with a plot arc of their own who the audience can actually care about. Set at the end of World War II and basically a thoughtful reboot of the original, the focus is on a failed Kamakaze pilot who believes he is responsible for the death of about a dozen soldiers through his act of cowardice. He meets a young woman with a baby that is not her own, and they become a little family. He cannot forgive himself for his actions during the war, so he volunteers for dangerous missions once Godzilla makes an appearance near Tokyo harbour. Yes, the story is sweet and sentimental but it is done so well that it becomes quite gripping all on its own. Now add a really ferocious Godzilla monster on top of that. Godzilla Minus One allegedly has a budget of 15 million dollars, less than one tenth of the last Hollywood Godzilla extravaganza, and yet the special effects are the best I have ever seen in a Godzilla movie. The carnage is inventive, visually stunning and just downright amazing. I think this is probably the most pure fun that I have had at a movie all year.

subtitles

Best of '23 so far

1) Riceboy Sleeps, Shim, Canada
2) Anatomy of a Fall, Triet, France
3) Oppenheimer, Nolan, US
4) El Conde, Larrain, Chile
5) Close Your Eyes, Erice, Spain
6) Beyond Utopia, Gavin, US (documentary)
7) Barbie, Gerwig, US
8) Godzilla Minus One, Yamazaki, Japan
9) Saltburn, Fennel, UK
10) Afire, Petzold, Germany

 

[ItsFineImFine]

Scrapper (2023) - 7.5/10

A bit like The Florida Project but with added superior British engineering similar to Aftersun. Almost a Ken Loach-lite, and that's a good thing. A beautiful film that turns a despairing situation into a positive.

Broadway Danny Rose (1984) - 6.5/10

Standard Woody Allen where he does sleight of hand to try to talk over what's sometimes a thin script with some decent gags thrown in but it's only 90ish minutes long and him and Mia Farrow ultimately get together.

The Mark of Zorro (1940) - 7/10

Made in the swashbuckling style of Errol Flynn films with Basil Rathbone starring as the villain similar to those. The drama is always quite light-hearted and easily resolved, the pace and the quips are fast, and the runtime goes along breezily.

Koshikei/Death by Hanging (1968) - 6.5/10

Fun premise for those into existential questions around death and the death penalty but a bit tedious at times for those not. The director subtly transitions this into a surreal film but he isn't exactly Bunuel.

 

[End of Line]

The Gray Man (2022) 4.5/10

 

[End of Line]

Spy Game (2001) 6.5/10

Operation Mincemeat (2022) 6/10

 

[kihei]

Poor Things (2023) Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos 8A

Poor Things combines Frankenstein with Lolita with Being There in a fantastical way that delights and astonishes for almost its entire length. Bella (Emma Stone) is the heroine of the film and she is a strange case. Bella is an attempted suicide who has been reanimated by a mad scientist (a grotesquely disfigured Willem Dafoe) who uses a baby's brain to bring her back to existence. Poor Things is essentially her odyssey of personal and sexual discovery to the point where she becomes transformed from a helpless, willful child to a knowing woman with agency and a grasp of how complicated things are when it comes to gender politics. Though her progress seems to stall in the third act, her story is told as a outrageously detailed fantasy that takes place in a world that seems to have been designed by surrealist Salvador Dali working in concert with Barcelona architect Antoni Gaudi, whose Sagrada Familia Cathedral would fit right into this film's mise-en-scene. A work of pure and wondrous imagination, beautifully realized in both black and white and in colour, Poor Things is a ingenious vision of an imaginary world that almost beggars description. There is also a lot of sex in this movie as sex is the main way that Bella learns about men and the complexities of being a woman in this world.

Emma Stone is terrific in a role that has her transform from basically a child to a grown woman in slow but steady steps. Roles don't come much more technically challenging than this one, but Stone is masterful every minute that she is on screen. Mark Ruffalo, cast against type, is brilliant and funny as a cad who aims to show Bella the world (there is a great deal of humour in the film. especially in the first half), and Willem Defoe is surprisingly sweet-tempered in the Doctor Frankenstein role. Despite the fact that the third act seems to compromise the arc of Bella's development somewhat, Poor Things is daring, audacious film making at its near best.


Best of '23 so far

1) Riceboy Sleeps, Shim, Canada
2) Anatomy of a Fall, Triet, France
3) Oppenheimer, Nolan, US
4) Poor Things, Lanthimos, US
5) El Conde, Larrain, Chile
6) Close Your Eyes, Erice, Spain
7) Beyond Utopia, Gavin, US (documentary)
8) Barbie, Gerwig, US
9) Godzilla Minus One, Yamazaki, Japan
10) Saltburn, Fennel, UK

 

[Osprey]

Poor Things combines Frankenstein with Lolita...

With so many movies these days that no one asked for, it's about time that Hollywood finally gave us a crossover that we've all been waiting for!

 

[The Macho King]

Poor Things (2023) Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos 8A

Poor Things combines Frankenstein with Lolita with Being There in a fantastical way that delights and astonishes for almost its entire length. Bella (Emma Stone) is the heroine of the film and she is a strange case. Bella is an attempted suicide who has been reanimated by a mad scientist (a grotesquely disfigured Willem Dafoe) who uses a baby's brain to bring her back to existence. Poor Things is essentially her odyssey of personal and sexual discovery to the point where she becomes transformed from a helpless, willful child to a knowing woman with agency and a grasp of how complicated things are when it comes to gender politics. Though her progress seems to stall in the third act, her story is told as a outrageously detailed fantasy that takes place in a world that seems to have been designed by surrealist Salvador Dali working in concert with Barcelona architect Antoni Gaudi, whose Sagrada Familia Cathedral would fit right into this film's mise-en-scene. A work of pure and wondrous imagination, beautifully realized in both black and white and in colour, Poor Things is a ingenious vision of an imaginary world that almost beggars description. There is also a lot of sex in this movie as sex is the main way that Bella learns about men and the complexities of being a woman in this world.

Emma Stone is terrific in a role that has her transform from basically a child to a grown woman in slow but steady steps. Roles don't come much more technically challenging than this one, but Stone is masterful every minute that she is on screen. Mark Ruffalo, cast against type, is brilliant and funny as a cad who aims to show Bella the world (there is a great deal of humour in the film. especially in the first half), and Willem Defoe is surprisingly sweet-tempered in the Doctor Frankenstein role. Despite the fact that the third act seems to compromise the arc of Bella's development somewhat, Poor Things is daring, audacious film making at its near best.


Best of '23 so far

1) Riceboy Sleeps, Shim, Canada
2) Anatomy of a Fall, Triet, France
3) Oppenheimer, Nolan, US
4) Poor Things, Lanthimos, US
5) El Conde, Larrain, Chile
6) Close Your Eyes, Erice, Spain
7) Beyond Utopia, Gavin, US (documentary)
8) Barbie, Gerwig, US
9) Godzilla Minus One, Yamazaki, Japan
10) Saltburn, Fennel, UK

This is my most anticipated movie, and it's weird because I'm not someone who would call myself a fan of either Stone or Ruffalo. Something about every image and clip I see of this just pops though.

 

[sdf]

Spy Game (2001) 6.5/10

Operation Mincemeat (2022) 6/10

Short and clear

 

[kihei]

The Delinquents (2023) Directed by Rodrigo Moreno 7C

Argentina's Oscar entry in the international film category, The Delinquents starts out as a heist movie. Moran decides to steal a small fortune from his bank where he works. He convinces Ramon, another bank employee, to hold onto the cash while he serves a probable sentence of three years and then they will split it when he gets out. The movie in the most laconic, ambling way possible is about how this decision changes both their lives. Its larger purpose is to explore notions of freedom, chance and expectations, and at that it is quite effectively deadpan. The heist trope becomes secondary as the circumstances and the meanderings of our two totally uncharismatic ordinary Joes take centre stage. What we have here is a slow-cinema, "so-slight-it's-almost-not-there" comedy that is never laugh out loud funny, but you have to kind of smile anyway at some of the roads The Delinquents goes down. How dry is the humour? Let me put it this way: director Rogrigo Moreno makes subtle Romanian cinematic humour seem like banana-peel slapstick in comparison.

At over three hours, not much seemingly of consequence happens. In reality, however, a lot does actually happen, but the fact that it is so understated is part of the movie's modus operandi. This is the sort of art movie that will have most viewers pulling their hair out or abandoning the proceedings all together. When a guy crosses a river, you watch him every step of the way; when a guy climbs a steep incline, you see every step; when a couple walks through a meadow, you observe....you get the point. But there was just enough human interest and droll humour there to keep me amused, and I was more than a little impressed by the films "this is not what you expected, is it?" manner. Plus, The Deliquents does have some trenchant things to say about life's little lessons and about the human comedy, as well. Oh yeah, and then there is the open-ended conclusion--most of the audience will hate that, too. Fits like a glove, though.

subtitles

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Watched a few "classics"....

Highlander is a pretty dumb film, with bad editing and terrible acting [2.5/10]. Highlander II is even dumber, with still bad editing and acting (still a little better than the first). It's played less seriously so it has a few "chill" moments, but it makes zero freakin' sense in continuity to the first film [2/10]. Men At Work offers very few laughs throughout and is not very efficient at any level, but the brothers are cool and they were the most enjoyable "throwback" of these rewatch [3/10]. Escape From New York is an overrated film that is also pretty dumb (still a masterpiece compared to the Highlander films), I never was a big fan, but it does have that Carpenter je-ne-sais-quoi [4.5/10].

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

Watched a few "classics"....

Highlander is a pretty dumb film, with bad editing and terrible acting [2.5/10]. Highlander II is even dumber, with still bad editing and acting (still a little better than the first). It's played less seriously so it has a few "chill" moments, but it makes zero freakin' sense in continuity to the first film [2/10]. Men At Work offers very few laughs throughout and is not very efficient at any level, but the brothers are cool and they were the most enjoyable "throwback" of these rewatch [3/10]. Escape From New York is an overrated film that is also pretty dumb (still a masterpiece compared to the Highlander films), I never was a big fan, but it does have that Carpenter je-ne-sais-quoi [4.5/10].

I oddly was thinking of a Men at Work rewatch just this week. Random. Didn't pull the trigger on it yet though.

Did watch Crank and Crank 2. Glorious garbage!

 

[I Hate Blake Coleman]

Godzilla Minus One. Absolutely worth seeing in theatres.

Godzilla is just a badass who tears shit up but most importantly: I cared about the human characters. I wanted them to live, love, survive and overcome Godzilla.

This made me retroactively more upset about Godzilla 2014 and the way it seemed to promise a similar story to Minus One but then did the bait and switch with two charismatic f***ing black holes in Kick-Ass and Olsen 3.

Go see this movie.