Yet again, I'm here to tell you about the best movie of the year!
(And how your opinion is obviously wrong)
What a year for film. I felt this was an extremely strong year for great movies, unique methods, fun films, amazing performances and just about everything in between. I believe that is saying a lot considering the labor strikes that occurred which kept several films from debuting in 2023 (I’m specifically looking at you Dune: Part Two).
With several young kids and having plenty going on in life it means I never get to see nearly enough films in any given year. At times, I miss the days of old where I would go to the movie theater every week and I do somewhat look forward to a time in the future where my life can allow me the liberty to once again have weekly trips. Nothing beats going to the theater but many times I am resigned to watching movies on my modest home theater setup. I’ll shortly dive into the nominees but one of the best things about cinema is that the Best Picture nominees and the most enjoyable films don’t always overlap. These are very distinctly different lists for me, and it highlights what I love about movies… any movie, can be anything, to anyone.
I do want to take a second to plug Letterboxd. It’s a great site and app that allows you to track and review the movies you watch and make lists such as the one below. If you enjoy movies, I highly recommend giving the site a try and feel free to give me a follow.
My rankings are generally based upon the idea of which movie is providing me the most unique storytelling experience. This can be the story itself, the method, the filmmaking, etc. but I want my Best Picture winner to bring something unique to the table compared to the other films. Over the past many years, I have developed a tiered system for the Best Picture nominees. Essentially any film within a tier could move around within that tier based upon any random number of things I feel on a particular day. So as of today, here are my tiers and the rankings starting from the 10th spot plus a comment on each film…
Tier 4 - Should not have been nominated (side effect of 10 nominees)
10th - Maestro — If you think this is harsh, I get it. However, I just never found myself thinking this was a movie deserving of a Best Picture nominee. I enjoyed it and thought it was well done but the movie just did nothing to really separate itself from many other good films from this year.
Tier 3 - Really good movies that brought something unique
9th - American Fiction — What a great satire film with several outstanding performances. I think in about any other given year this would be considerably higher on the list. Jeffrey Wright remains one of my favorite actors.
8th - Barbie — Just an amazing creation given the material it is based upon. A movie that you could feel everyone enjoyed making and one that just has the exact blend of concepts to make it all work.
7th - The Zone of Interest — Man what to say… the sound, the way this movie was shot, and the commentary on both the past and present state of our world. Just a unique examination of humanity and one that greatly pulls off the uncomfortableness you should have while watching it.
Tier 2 - Great movies that are just a tiny step below the top line
6th - Anatomy of a Fall — This is one of those films that’s difficult to discuss what I loved about it without giving a lot away. Just a very strong performance by Sandra Hüller and don’t sleep on Messi the dog.
5th - Poor Things — Emma Stone with a tour-de-force performance. A reimagination of Frankenstein to tackle some modern-day topics that probably had the most unique cinematography of the year.
4th - The Holdovers — This was the feel-good movie of the year and is most likely going to become a holiday classic for years to come (Or maybe not?). Just amazing performances all around. A film that did great at showing and not telling. I really enjoyed the commitment to shooting the film in a vintage 70s look and feel.
Tier 1 - The best of the best this year
3rd - Killers of the Flower Moon — I looked at that run time and then I came out of the theater thinking “There was no fluff. Every moment was about advancing the story”. It was a truly impressive film and perhaps the best ever from Scorsese. Lily Gladstone was phenomenal.
2nd - Past Lives — This to me is the sleeper film of the year. Everything about the premise seems simple but is done, in perhaps, the best possible way. I don’t know exactly what it was about this film but it just checked all the boxes for me.
1st - Oppenheimer — This was the movie that rattled in my head more than any other this year. I easily thought about it for well over a week after my initial viewing. The sound and cinematography under the direction of Nolan was unmatched. Robert Downey Jr just owned every second he was on the screen. Emily Blunt’s ability to progress her character still resonates. Cillian Murphy couldn’t have been a better choice for the lead role.
So now let’s venture into my top 5 movies from 2023. There was a bit of online discourse at the end of 2023 that your best movies lists and your favorite movies lists are or aren’t the same list. I am here to definitely tell you they are indeed separate. You can see my full list of the 31 movies I watched from 2023 (I’m sad it went down to 31 this year) and their order. Also included is a quick note for those not previously discussed.
Godzilla Minus One — Just massively better than any Godzilla movie has any business being. I feel lucky I got to watch this in a theater. This story driven iteration hits all the right buttons and I highly recommend you view it whenever it eventually lands on digital/physical.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse — Following up the greatest comic book ever movie with perhaps the greatest comic book movie ever was quite the feat. There isn’t enough time to dive into everything great about this movie. If they can land the 3rd film then it will be one of the greatest trilogies in history.
The Holdovers
Oppenheimer
Past Lives
Oh! I’m also gutted that I couldn’t see Godzilla Minus One (and I’m also looking forward to the days of being able to go to the cinema more regularly). No physical Japanese release until May, so likely nothing for North America until mid-summer.
10 - There were 10 worthy films this year, but I don’t think Maestro was one of them. (I also had Maestro 10)
09 - Feels very low to me, but it was a very good year. (6)
08 - Greta is a wizard. She took a property I had no interest in and made an incredible movie, once again [see: Little Women]. (7)
07 - No on screen character I gave a shit about. No real plot. But still a worthy nominee. The sound was phenomenal. (8)
06 - Felt like a dramatization of a good Dateline episode. This is high praise from me. Big year for Hüller, and this was a great performance. Shoutout to Messi. (9)
05 - You’ve lost me. This was easily the best movie in a pretty loaded year. Stone cemented herself as the actress of her generation, and I hadn’t seen such a beautiful film in a long time. One day you will look back on this with great shame and resignation. But rest assured, friend, I’ll be there to say “I told you so”. (1)
04 - Instant Christmas Classic, and maybe Giamatti at his finest. I look forward to adding this to my Christmas rotation. (2)
03 - Marty is amazing. But Marty needs a better editor. I could have shaved 45 minutes off of this…but runtime be damned, it was an amazing piece of cinema. (5)
02 - I went into this blind, and was completely blown away by it. My emotions were all over the place, and they concluded the story perfectly. I’m in for whatever Song does next. (3)
01 - Okay, Nolan has his career achievement award. Let’s move on [it was great, and I find Nolan to be more miss than hit]. (3)
Overall, a pretty incredible year. Placing 1, 2, and 10 were easy for me. 3-6 I could shake the order up and still be satisfied with.