Another year of cinema has drawn to a close, and to say it was an eventful year in the world of film would be something of an understatement. There have been great films aplenty, but the year will probably be most remembered for the Writers’ Guild of America Strike which began in May and was later followed by the SAG-AFTRA strike by the actors’ union in July. Both strikes combined brought Hollywood to a complete standstill for many months and thankfully the unions reached deals to bring their respective strikes to an end, and kudos to both unions for staying strong throughout those tough months and getting the deal they deserve. Simply put, without them we would have no films to celebrate. Now let’s get down to business and have a look at the best films of 2023, which was an excellent year for cinema.
My key criteria for determining films to consider for the list is if the film is listed as a 2023 release on IMDB. Though, as always seems to be, there are some films released last year elsewhere but didn’t come to UK shores until 2023, so there can be some exceptions. In addition, there are films which are 2023 releases, but don’t get UK-wide releases till next year. As I saw these at London Film Festival, they are eligible for inclusion on this year’s list. Also, though I wish I could, I have not seen every film released this year, so if your favourite film isn’t on here, it is possible I have not seen it, so please let me know if there’s a film you think I missed.
Lastly, as usual, while I have not reviewed every film here, grades do not matter in determining the rankings. This is my list to highlight and celebrate the films which resonated with me the most and defined the past 12 months of cinema, As usual, there are some honourable mentions, films which are excellent and worth your time but just didn’t quite make my list this year:
The Creator [review]. Discussions about artificial intelligence and its use have been plentiful since they were integral parts of both strikes which brought Hollywood to a standstill. In his first film in seven years, Gareth Edwards directs a visually striking film, which bears similarities to films which have tackled AI before, but most assuredly brings its own stamp on it, with a standout breakthrough performance from Madeleine Yuna Voyles.
The Marvels [review]. It’s no secret that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has had some stinkers in recent years, (see Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania), but after a certain group of galaxy-saving a-holes reunited for one last glorious adventure (more on that later), the latest MCU team-up proved the MCU is not at the crisis point many have seemingly gleefully said it was. Nia DaCosta’s energetic direction ensures this cosmic adventure is a delightful blast of fun thanks to the chemistry between its three leading ladies, especially Iman Vellani as Ms Marvel.
Puss In Boots: The Last Wish [review]. A sequel to 2011’s Puss In Boots was probably not high on anyone’s wish list when it came to sequels anyone was asking for, but when this film opened wide in the UK early this year, it was easy to see why it was so highly well thought of after very positive reviews across the pond. Another film (along with this year’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem) to be inspired by the revolutionary style of animation from Into The Spider-Verse, its mesh-up of Western flick meets fairytale worked a treat, for cats and humans alike.
All of Us Strangers. Death is inescapable to all of us, whether it’s the fact we’re faced with our own mortality or the agonising prospect of seeing someone we love pass away. However, this is just merely scratching the surface of Andrew Haigh’s beautiful and devastating film about the life of one writer who makes a fateful journey to visit his childhood home. To say this film is emotional would be an understatement and features awards-worthy performances from Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal.
The Zone of Interest. The Holocaust, one of the darkest and most evil periods in human history, is made all the more horrifying in this film from Jonathan Glazer depicting the everyday life of a family who live in a house right next to Auschwitz. A disturbing and urgent analysis of human complicity in the face of unspeakable evil, it’s certainly not the easiest watch, but its method of storytelling is devastatingly effective, will get under your skin and will not leave your mind for a very long time.
The Bikeriders. My final honourable mention is a film that was meant to come out this year but frustratingly has been delayed till next year after it was dropped by its distributor due to the actors’ strike, and reacquired by a new one. I was lucky enough to catch this at LFF, and is a powerful story about a biker gang through the decades, featuring top performances from Jodie Comer, Austin Butler and Tom Hardy. What more could anyone want?
Honourable mentions honoured. Now, here comes the best of the best…
15. Rye Lane
2023 saw a handful of new British voices make their mark with their directorial debuts, one such example being Raine Allen-Miller with her delightful rom-com, which in a refreshing change of scenery, was filmed entirely in South London. Charting the budding romance between David and Yas two souls who are recovering after break-ups, it doesn’t reinvent the rom-com wheel but it doesn’t need to when it is charming, funny, well acted and serves as a refreshing take on the British rom-com and as a loving tribute to the city of London.
14. The Holdovers
If you were to ask people to name the worst or least preferable place you would want to spend Christmas, chances are a school might be high up on that list. It is one particular example of that type of institution where three unfortunate souls must spend the holidays together in this heartwarming hug of a film from Alexander Payne as one student, a cranky professor and the school’s cook are forced to remain on campus throughout the holidays. From the moment the opening titles transport you to that special time of year, it expertly balances some very funny humour with a more poignant story of three unlikely souls forced to spend time together, while bonding and understanding one another’s perspectives on life. It is the perfect Christmas film, and for that, I cannot remotely fathom why is it getting a UK release in mid-January when it would have made much more sense to release it in the run-up to Christmas?
13. Godzilla Minus One
For nearly seventy years now, Godzilla, or to give him his proper title, the King of the Monsters has been a staple of Japanese cinema, and latterly in American cinema, appearing in 38 films in total. It is somewhat fitting that as the legendary monster will celebrate his 70th birthday next year, a film has come along that is one of the best Godzilla films that has ever been made and blows the US-produced films to feature Gojira out of the water. The film brings a new level of menace to the kaiju as he torments a post-WWII Japan, all while showing its US counterparts, how to provide rich depth to its human characters to make the audience want to root for them.
12. John Wick: Chapter 4
It is incredible to think a film which is not based off any existing IP back in 2014 has consistently produced incredible action scenes with each and every instalment and ripping up, or rather, (shooting up) the rule book on how to make action films. It is a testament to director Chad Stahelski and star Keanu Reeves, for the impact these films have made on the action film genre. While being a man of few words, Baba Yaga is certainly a man of action and across four films, exhibiting endlessly creative ways to eliminate those gunning for him, has added yet another role to the many he has played across his incredible career and while a fifth film is said to be in development, Reeves certainly went out on the best possible note he could have.
11. Poor Things
There is no one currently working in Hollywood, who does eccentric filmmaking quite like Yorgos Lanthimos, and his latest idiosyncratic odyssey is easily the most bizarre film of his career and is also his best. Exploring the life of a woman brought back to life by an orthodox scientist and given the brain of an unborn infant, it revels in its eccentricities with some of the hilarious dialogue all year, and a bold celebration of feminity and sex-positivity and an award-worthy performance from Emma Stone.
Now for the top 10…
10. Polite Society
Along with Raine-Allen Miller, Nida Manzoor is another director who announced herself as an exciting new voice in British Cinema with this action-packed and hilarious story of a budding young stuntwoman who must hatch a plan to save her sister after she gets engaged to a man she sees as deeply suspicious. A joyful celebration of an unbreakable bond between sisters, Priya Kansara’s brilliant breakthrough performance deserves to put her on the path to stardom. This film massively flew under the radar this year. So if you haven’t seen it, (UK readers, it is available on Sky/NOW), I would highly recommend seeking it out, as it even received former US President Barack Obama’s seal of approval! I mean, there is no higher endorsement than that!!
9. Joy Ride
Along with another film that will appear later on this list, there has been an increasing amount of Asian representation in cinema, which is wonderful to see and long overdue. Similarly on the rise has been an abundance of raunchy comedies that are unafraid to go all out to get audiences laughing, and no film went as harder or was as hilariously brilliant as Adele Lim’s directorial debut. Focusing on a group of Asian-American women who travel to China for a business trip, before one of them is persuaded to venture across China to find her birth mother. Such comedies live or die on the chemistry of their cast, and the chemistry between the leads is electric and is filled with side-splitting gags to make you laugh every single time, while also providing some touching moments along the ride. You will never look at a basketball and massage gun the same way again.
8. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3
For a long time, it really felt like the third and concluding chapter of the trilogy featuring the lovable rogues gallery of a-holes in the MCU was never going to see the light of day after James Gunn was fired by Disney. Thankfully though, the director who catapulted these characters from obscure comic book fringes to arguably the MCU’s most beloved team got to make his concluding chapter and a swansong for this team as we know them, and it was certainly worth the wait.
From the outset, Gunn made it clear that there was one key reason for him to come back to conclude this franchise, as it explores the tragic past of the smallest and the-wise cracking member of the team, Rocket. Some scenes are undoubtedly hard to watch and the film ventures into considerably darker territory than its two predecessors, but through that, Gunn brings the usual brand of humour and energy one would expect of a Guardians film. Plus, it takes some doing to outdo the Mad Titan Thanos in terms of being an evil villain, but in Chukwudi Iwuji’s High Evolutionary, you have one of the MCU’s most evilest of bastards, and of course another banging soundtrack. Gunn is now heading up things for DC in their rebooted cinematic universe, but we can be thankful that he got the chance to give these heroes the send-off they thoroughly deserved.
7. The Killer
If you’ve ever found yourself wondering what on earth the mindset of a deadly assassin possibly looks like, then look no further than the latest film from the master of the thriller David Fincher. Rigorous preparation, the removal of all emotions and endless patience (plus chowing on some McDonalds and listening to the Smiths) all while waiting for the opportune moment to strike. It is befitting of a character who utilises precise methods in his line of work, to come from a director who takes a similarly meticulous approach to the way he directs. The movie never ceases to thrill and provide moments of tension as it follows this assassin on his personal quest, all while getting a brilliantly chilling lead performance from Michael Fassbender after a three-year hiatus from the big screen.
6. Creed III
When it was revealed the ninth instalment in the Rocky franchise would not feature the involvement of the Italian Stallion, fans would have been well within their rights to have had a little trepidation going into this sequel. Yet they needn’t have worried, because with Michael B. Jordan’s Adonis Creed once again dusting off his boxing gloves stepping both into the ring as well as behind the camera for his directorial debut, to build on the legacy of both the previous Creed films, and the Rocky franchise as a whole.
The stakes are significantly heightened when Adonis is reunited with Dame, a childhood friend who after serving nearly two decades in prison is keen for a shot at professional boxer glory, to make up for lost time. This desire puts the former friends on a direct collision course. Jordan once again shines as the titular character as he grapples with the legacy of his father, as well as his own now he has a daughter with his wife Bianca. Furthermore, as a director, the passion he has for anime comes to the fore when directing the fight sequences. There may have been no Italian Stallion this time, but the franchise has got plenty of fight left in it.
Such was 2023 a fantastic year for cinema, deciding where to put these next five movies was REALLY hard because they are all excellent and I could have very easily put any of them at number #1. But, as this is a ranked list, sadly they can’t all share the crown of my favourite film of the year, and so on we go…
5. Barbie
The first of two films which generated the Barbenheimer cultural phenomenon. From the minute Greta Gerwig’s take on the influential Mattel doll, which changed the toy industry forever, began with a parody of 2001: A Space Odyssey, it was clear this was going to be a Barbie movie unlike any other. Filled with those bright fuschia sets which caused a worldwide shortage of that particular paint colour, came a hilarious and moving story about feminism, consumerism, gender roles, and the patriarchy and its treatment of women. A stacked and flawless cast, led by another excellent performance by Margot Robbie, but it is Ryan Gosling who steals the movie with all his Kenergy. On top of all that, you had an irresistibly catchy soundtrack with Billie Eilish’s beautiful song “What Was I Made For?” tugging on those heartstrings. It is little wonder the film is the undisputed Queen of the box office of the year and the highest-grossing film ever from a solo female director. As Ryan Gosling’s Ken would say, “SUBLIME!”
4. Past Lives
At some point in your life, you might have remarked about what you might have been in a past life and what would have happened had you made different choices. It is this concept about a life never lived, through a uniquely Korean concept known as “in-yeon” that is the basis for Celine Song’s beautiful and emotional directorial debut. Having moved from her native Korea as a child and now settled in New York, Nora (a brilliant performance by Greta Lee) reconnects with her childhood sweetheart years later over the internet and then again later in person having seen over two decades pass. At its heart, it is a movie about a love triangle, but there are so many nuances and layers to this beautiful story, in particular about the immigrant experience, love, and regrets, as its three main characters ruminate on their journeys through life, and what might have been. Easily this year’s best directorial debut.
3. Killers of the Flower Moon
The Reign of Terror, a period of dark and violent history in the United States, in which members of the Osage tribe were systematically murdered by White people to obtain the enormous wealth the Osage had gained following the discovery of oil on their land. It’s a period that history, even in the region where these events took place has tried to bury and silence the Osage. However it should be taught in schools as an example of the poisonous and terrible impact of corruption, white supremacy and greed can have on society, which is still depressingly relevant even after a century has passed. After making films across six decades, Martin Scorsese continues to prove what a formidable filmmaker he is as across 206 enthralling minutes, which fly by thanks to Thelma Schoonmaker’s masterful editing, he brings together his two muses Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert DeNiro for the first time on the big screen. Still, both of them are outshone by Lily Gladstone’s Mollie Burkhart, who steals the entire film with a powerful and emotionally devastating performance.
2. Oppenheimer
“Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it to man. For this, he was chained to a rock and tortured for eternity.” From the moment these words appeared on screen in the latest film from Christopher Nolan, against a backdrop of a big ball of flame and a thunderous ominous score, it set the scene for a thrilling and haunting thriller exploring the life and legacy of a man the director has called “the most important person who ever lived”, the American Prometheus, and the father of the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer.
Across three riveting hours, jumping effortlessly between the perspective of his titular character and from a more objective perspective, this record-breaking biographical film explores Oppenheimer’s efforts to bring Nuclear physics to the US, his work on the Manhatten project to develop a weapon which would as one character memorably says “gave them the power to destroy themselves, and the world is not prepared”, which all leads to the incredible and nerve-shredding Trinity Test sequence, one of the most mind-blowing accomplishments of Nolan’s incredible career. Impeccably acted by all of its all-star cast, especially Cillian Murphy and arguably the best performance of Robert Downey Jr’s career, and a stunning score from Ludwig Goransson, and you have a film which Downey Jr succinctly summmarised was the “culmination” of Nolan’s career “and a freaking masterpiece”. I couldn’t agree more with his sentiments.
What a marvellous double bill Barbenheimer made for countless cinema-goers.
And so my favourite film of 2023 is..
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1. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
What do you do when you’ve created one of the most ground-breaking superhero films of all time which redefined what was possible in animation and superhero movies as a whole? This would have been the challenge facing the visionaries behind Miles Morales’s first animated multiversal adventure when it was released in late 2018? A film which raised the bar for studios when it comes to crafting spectacular animation, as well as being ahead of the curve when it comes to films exploring the multiverse. The answer, is, that you somehow manage to outdo yourselves by creating a follow-up that manages to surpass its predecessor with even more incredible animation in so many incredible styles. Honestly, you could hang some of the shots from this film in a museum and they would not look out of place.
On top of the incredible animation, this sequel brings to the table another moving and emotional story which challenges what it means to be the hero who puts on the mask and whether is it within Spider-Man’s power to stop the inevitable or “canon events”? It also brings more jaw-dropping action sequences and allows Miles to grow in his role as Brooklyn’s one and only Spider-Man while exploring his relationships with his parents, particularly his mother, and those closest to him, namely Gwen Stacy, Peter B. Parker and more. A spectacular accomplishment and with the concluding chapter on the way, if it does stick that superhero landing it will thwip its way to become one of the finest trilogies of all time without any question of a doubt.
Between this and Insomniac’s Spider-Man games, it is an amazing time to be a Miles Morales fan and his live-action debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe cannot come soon enough.
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And that brings the curtain down on my list of the best the big screen had to offer in 2022. Thank you for reading, especially if you read all the way through! What were your favourite films of 2023? Let me know in the comments below or you can find me on the following platforms: X/Twitter, Facebook or Letterbox’d.
Through the Silver Screen 