Marianiment

2023 is long gone by this point, but now that the Academy Awards have announced their nominees, it’s about time I finally did my annual Top 20 Films list for 2023! Without further ado, let’s kick things off with…

Honorable Mentions (Alphabetical Order)

• Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret: Incredible heartwarming coming of age film. Rachel McAdams is an underrated master of her craft!
• Cobweb: Creepy and wild little horror film. Peak Halloween atmosphere… which makes its July release against “Barbenheimer” all the more ill-advised!
• The Holdovers: An excellent script and wonderful cast put this one very close to the Top 20. Would probably be there if not for a certain upsetting pain involved.
• How To Blow Up a Pipeline: Highly propulsive and very modern thriller. A heist movie about destroying environmental hazards is exactly as exhilarating and upsetting as you’d imagine!
• May December: Todd Haynes’ intense character drama that still has plenty of time for bizarre campy left turns. Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore are phenomenal as always, but Charles Melton is an incredible surprise.
• No Hard Feelings: Winning raunchy comedy with heart that feels sorely absent in our modern cinematic landscape. Between this and Causeway, Jennifer Lawrence needs to produce more mid-budget vehicles for herself!
• No One Will Save You: Kaitlyn Dever leads this verywell made near-silent alien invasion horror. One of the more creative endings of the year!
• Saw X: Truly inspired reinvention of a horror franchise as long and convoluted as Saw. Would watch as many living John Kramer antics as possible that they can fit into the gap between the continuity of first two Saw films!
• Spider-Man: Across The Spider-verse: What kinetic and charming animated film! Excited to see this story’s actual ending!
• The Venture Bros: Radiant Is The Blood of The Baboon Heart: Top tier series finale movie for such a wonderful show. Go Team Venture!

20. Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour/Renaissance: A Film By Beyonce

Yes, we’re starting with a tie! Two massive concert films from acclaimed performers of their generation not only helped boost up box office numbers, but reminded us of what cinema is capable of. Three of the best theatrical experiences I had in 2023 were watching concert films (including the A24 re-release of the Talking Head’s Stop Making Sense) in the comfort and less costly environment of the local multiplex. Even as a very casual fan of both Taylor Swift and Beyonce, sitting next to die hards as these elaborate concerts unfolded was a much needed balm for the post-Barbenheimer emptiness of the fall 2023 movie season. While both are massive stars that invite their audiences in on the celebratory nature of their concerts, Swift and Beyonce show off different angles when it comes presenting their personas. Swift invites everyone as an equal to her while Beyonce presents herself as a benevolent queen creating a safe space for all her subjects to be themselves. Both are welcoming and loving, but create entirely different vibes that still result in a damn good time.

19. Bottoms

In the wake of American Pie, the sex comedy had a massive resurgence. Director/co-writer Emma Seligman is clearly inspired by this type of raunchy comedy from the turn of the new millennium, but adds absurdist left turns to Bottoms that evoke the works of queer filmmakers like John Waters. The result is one of the more consistently hilarious comedies in recent memory. Leads Rachel Sennott (who co-wrote the film with Seligman) and Ayo Edebiri (who had one hell of a 2023) sink into their roles as anti-social weirdos who’d believably do something as wild as form a self defense fight club in order to impress other female students. Yet, they still manage to be endearing characters who you want to see succeed in their crazy hijinks. The rest of the cast throws themselves into this anarchic stew with total dedication, with the surprise MVP being the sweet yet deadpan efforts of former football player Marshawn Lynch who steals every scene he’s in.

18. Blackberry

In a year full of “corporate product biopics”, Blackberry felt like the most honest. Making a movie about the invention of still relevant brands like Air Jordans or Tetris often have the sheen of commercialism that depletes whatever insight one could get out from seeing their origins. With Blackberry, there is no lionizing of the early smartphones or its creators. We see how a spark to innovate communication spirals out into a desire for capitalistic greed, all gradually built up by Matt Johnson & Matthew Miller’s humorous and cutting screenplay. An eclectic cast of great actors performs wonderfully, though Glenn Howerton’s bombastic turn as Jim Balsillie is the highlight. Truly one of the great asshole turns in modern movie history.

17. All Of Us Strangers

It’s refreshing to see an anti-80s nostalgia film in this day and age. This queer romantic fantasy film takes the premise of a middle aged gay man interacting with his dead parents isolated in time from 1987 and runs with it to heartbreaking results. It’s an incredibly intimate story about the nature of memory, unresolved mourning and the troubling complexities of queer life over the last 35 years that ruminates in all the uncomfortable and beautiful aspects of nostalgia. Our small cast of Andrew Scott, Paul Mescal, Claire Foy and Jamie Bell deliver every quietly devastating moment so convincingly, helped immensely with the visual contrasts of the older and modern eras. Writer/director Andrew Haigh conveys such a nuanced take on queer generational divides, looking back at those you’ve lost and wondering how much the world has actually progressed since.

16. The Killer

On its surface, David Fincher’s latest film feels like a cold genre exercise. The premise of a hired hitman who is on the run after a job goes wrong sounds like something you’d see go straight-to-Redbox with a once famous actor’s face awkwardly photoshopped onto the cover. That doesn’t feel accidental. Much in the same way he deconstructed the airport murder mystery with Gone Girl, Fincher (alongside his Se7en screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker) takes the cliches of the hitman action film and gradually destroys any sense of cool about them while still making a slick & efficient thriller. While the action is propulsive and the cinematography is gorgeous in The Killer, the underlying cynical take on Michael Fassbender’s detached murderer-for-hire acts as a darkly funny and scathing satire of those cliches as well as our modern world. Our titular assassin spending all his time running through his repetitive interior monologue while hanging out in abandoned WeWorks, ordering FOBs from Amazon Prime & eating McDonald’s ordered on an app shows just how easy it is to be a sociopath in our modern era, never having to interact with people unless you need to bump them off for money. An appropriately hollow existence for such a hollow cliche of a man.

15. Skinamarink

Being a long time horror fan means I don’t scare easily. Not trying to brag, but even as someone who still enjoys horror movies it’s rare that I feel genuine fear over them. With the surprise indie hit Skinamarink, I was brought back to a childhood terror of the dark I haven’t felt in ages. Seeing this normal looking house drenched in a deep darkness with a vague entity looming may bore some, but those on its wavelength will experience a type of abstract sensory nightmare that gets under your skin. Public domain cartoons, LEGOs and 90s era boxy TVs have never felt so ominous. Writer/director Kyle Edward Ball took his childhood home and turned it into a genuinely unsettling purgatory where children are alone, frightened & left in the dark – both figuratively and literally – from whoever is watching them in the shadows.

14. John Wick Chapter 4

John Wick has been a bastion for modern action. Director & former stuntman Chad Stahelski crafted a clean composition with the previous three films that presented the action from a performer specific standpoint. Keanu Reeves’ steel faced nonchalance informs his action scenes, which contrast with the styles of the cast he fights alongside or against. John Wick Chapter 4 feels like the culmination of this, as the cast sprawls out to include the likes of Donnie Yen, Rina Sawayama and Scott Adkins who all bring completely different personas that contrast with a mix of the franchise’s familiar faces. Chapter 4 deserves so much credit for dialing back on The Continental assassin society lore that bogged down the previous two chapters. Chapter 4 limits those elements to the basic story beats rather than underwhelming detours between the building action set pieces, allowing for simple & effective stylistic elements such as a wonderful The Warriors tribute during the climax to flourish. Even when we take a breather, it’s for sincere small character beats showing the emotional toll is catching up with John even as the physical toll barely phases him. While we may be getting further spin offs in this world, I sincerely hope this is the final definitive statement on the titular assassin as a character. Truly a masterful capper to one of the best modern action franchises.

13. Talk To Me

Talk To Me is the exact shot in the arm that modern A24 horror needed at this juncture, as twin brother directors Danny & Michael Philippou take the skills they learned from years of YouTube shorts and funneled them into this incredibly well realized horror take on casual gradual drug use via spiritual possession. The Philippous use party imagery and fast paced editing to make this film’s possession arm statue game feel like the greatest high so that when things go wrong it catches you off guard and brings the party down with brutal force. A cast of likable young Australian actors keeps us invested emotionally as we unravel the rules of this scenario, with Sophie Wilde being an impeccable new talent that must be watched. While the concept and imagery often veers into uncomfortable & traumatic territory that lesser modern horror has stumbled through, Talk To Me manages to keep you on the edge of your seat without ever sacrificing the intimate terrifying stakes.

12. Sanctuary

A small two hander film about a dominatrix and her rich boy client set largely in one hotel room sounds like it could be disastrous in the wrong hands. Luckily, Margaret Qualley and Christopher Abbot are the exact right hands to handle this. These two actors masterfully play off each other in this taut darkly funny thriller. They’re constantly entangled in this psychosexual back-and-forth as one attempts to severe ties with the other. This back-and-forth allows writer Micah Bloomberg to weave in class dynamics, committed role play and an elaborate dance number into the mix, which shows off a diverse range from both performers. Director Zachary Wigon also takes advantage of every nook and cranny of his limited space, allowing for several unique angles to present this duo’s dynamic. Love seeing a small scale chamber piece that truly kept me curious at every step.

11. Priscilla

Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla felt like a much needed counterpoint to last summer’s dazzling blockbuster Elvis from Baz Luhrmann. Priscilla presents a much more down to earth look at the iconic figure that feels appropriate for the titular character’s perspective. Priscilla Presley adored Elvis from afar as a teenage crush she pined over. Coppola presents us with a sort of monkey’s paw scenario, in which Priscilla gets to have the childhood fantasy of being with her celebrity idol of affection only to regret her wish as she sits in an empty Graceland trapped like a bird in a gilded cage waiting for him to return. Shots of Priscilla sadly looking at her husband leave the gates of Graceland that’s covered in fan girls beautifully displays this tragedy, showing the gradual psychological toll this living situation takes on her. Coppola’s depiction of this troubling romance always keeps the unnerving elements central. Even when they’re bounding around Vegas or having platonic intimate moments, the manipulation and weight being put on Priscilla is still uncomfortably present. Coppola shows that in a grooming situation like this any affection has an abusive edge, all perfectly displayed by performers Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi. Despite being unable to use any Elvis songs, Sofia Coppola still pulls out an inspired tearjerker of a final needle drop that ends Priscilla on the perfect note.

10. Theater Camp

Theater kids as a type are inherently funny. I say this with love and respect, but those who are theatrically inclined yet have a sense of humor about themselves would likely agree. They’d also likely enjoy Theater Camp, an ensemble comedy that skewers this group with many massive laughs. Directors Molly Gordon & Nick Lieberman are clearly indebted to the works of Christopher Guest for this mockumentary film, but in fairness it’s been awhile since Guest has attempted such a project and even longer since he’s made a good one. Gordon and Lieberman accomplish the Guest-style juggle their troupe of actors well, allowing talents like Ben Platt, Ayo Edeberi, Noah Galvin, Jimmy Tatro and Gordon herself amongst others to exploit every comedic possibility while having just enough of a thin plot and genuine emotional base to ground the proceedings. By the time you get to the massive musical finale, the almost Muppet-esque mix of backstage shenanigans, clashing personalities and genuine love of showmanship pays off beautifully.

9. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

In a year that seemed to spell out the ultimate doom for the once dominant superhero genre, writer/director James Gunn’s capper to his Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy stood tall above the rest. Not because it actually made a solid amount at the box office, but because it provided something few modern franchises ever attempt: closure. Our flying space friends reach an end that feels earned and well developed, centering Rocket Raccoon’s past trauma and his fellow Guardians’ desperate attempts to save his life. While diving into darker material, Vol. 3 still manages to keep the action, humor and heart of these films balanced throughout, crafting a highly enjoyable summer blockbuster without sacrificing true depth for these characters we’ve come to know. James Gunn’s work here showcases exactly what the post-Avengers: Endgame lineup of Marvel Cinematic Universe has been missing, as we follow our heroes on a large scale adventure that actually has weight and stakes to who these lovable weirdos are rather than having them hunt for easter eggs that’ll mean something to some other movie down the line. Even if that franchise’s miracle run seems to be ending, the experiment was all worth it to have the human & heartfelt exploits of The Guardians brought to the big screen.

8. Godzilla Minus One

In the 70 years since Godzilla first appeared onscreen, the iconic kaiju has had multiple reboots. Whether it’s 1984’s The Return of Godzilla or 2016’s Shin Godzilla, these reboots usually attempt to shed any of the sillier components the franchise and strive to recreate the horror of the original 1954 film for the modern day. With Godzilla Minus One, writer/director Takashi Yamazaki is the first filmmaker to execute this vision with flying colors. Yamazaki elects to go even further back to before the original film’s setting and firmly roots its emotional core in the immediate aftermath of WWII Japan. Seeing our lead Ryunosuke Kamiki struggle with PTSD and passing judgement from Japanese citizens about his “cowardice” as a living kamikaze pilot while simply trying to move on roots all of the kaiju carnage in a powerful human story like the best of the older Godzilla films. Unlike other recent Godzilla movies that were made stateside, the massive scale supports the horror of citizens trapped in the hell caused by human desires for destruction. Plus, in a post-rubber suit era for the titular giant monster, this is easily the most intimidating and ominous depiction of Godzilla in a computer generated form.

7. Oppenheimer

Christopher Nolan is obsessed with humanity’s relationship with time. His films are often structured around how we deal with time as a construct, whether we’re working diligently through time, contemplating how we’ve lost time or scraping to buy more time. Oppenheimer feels like the culmination of all of these themes. As we see our titular theoretical physicist go from having a wide eyed sense of drive to solemnly grieving, the struggle is all about how Oppenheimer likely shortened humanity’s time on Earth with his drive. What we devote ourselves to partially defines us and seeing Cillian Murphy’s sunken grave face after being so full of energy defines the weight of what we’ve seen. Seeing every flash of inspiration, amazing supporting actor and successful step along the way amount to this nightmarish conclusion shows how apt Nolan is as both a blockbuster filmmaker and a true auteur with vision. We’re rooting for Oppenheimer to get one over born hater Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr. truly free of Stark nanobots) all while the former’s mounting dread and regret about what he has wrought lingers profoundly over us. Nolan took his three hours running time and used it impeccably.

6. Barbie

The other (seemingly more likely) hit of the summer Barbie is on its surface far more hollow and cold a concept than its “Barbenheimer” cohort. A fantasy comedy film about the popular doll line sounds like an awful exercise in crass commercialism with little potential to become more. Luckily, co-writer/director Greta Gerwig managed to seize on that limited potential and crafted one of the great crowd pleasing comedies of the modern era. An ensemble featuring Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling & several other incredible talents populates the brightly tinged world of Barbieland & must grapple with cultural concepts of femininity in a messy yet sincere fashion. Gerwig and her husband/co-writer Noah Boambach never forget to weave in genuine frustrations about how women are treated alongside heartfelt moments of joy about being a woman between the rapid fire jokes. It all follows a stream of consciousness logic that evokes childish playtime energy appropriate to the source material. While Barbie may not be the ultimate satiric text about modern gender dynamics, its consistent earnest charms at least gives us hope for what a blockbuster can aim for and surprisingly achieve when great talent is given large scale tools to work with. Then again, keep in mind this is all being written by just a Ken in the grand scheme of things.

5. Killers of the Flower Moon

Martin Scorsese’s latest film is all about how people perceive life. What some consider precious others consider disposable. This is a common refrain in Scorsese’s work, though Killers of the Flower Moon shifts these themes to the historical horror of American’s treatment of Indigenous people, specifically the Osage Nation. Scorsese implements plenty of beautiful moments where the people of the Osage Nation are seen living their lives, but there’s always a sinister influence crawling by in the form of white Oklahomans systematically destroying everything they have. That mixture of beauty and brutality is central to Killers of the Flower Moon, as elaborate period costumes and production design envelops us in the lives of the Osage Nation. Their struggle to carry on through grief while white people ignore their concerns or actively participate in their murders is never not unsettling to witness. Despite this cast featuring impressive turns from Scorsese regulars like Leonardo DiCaprio or Robert De Niro, the shining beacon here is Lily Gladstone proving that a performer can say so much more with her silent gaze and resilience than spoken words. Scorsese uses that silence as a backdrop for seeing the Osage Nation lose their own voices, whether due to the actions of horrible greedy men living next to them or on a macro level as culture becomes distracted from their plight by motorized vehicles, radio programs and even cinema itself that doesn’t care to tell their specific story. A horrible truth that Scorsese sadly emphasizes to us all by the film’s bitter end.

4. Asteroid City

Writer/director Wes Anderson’s trademark dollhouse style production design, rye wit and ability to rope in an amazing cast has worked for nearly 30 years. Some have grown tired of his signatures and wonder what the point of it truly is. With Asteroid City, Anderson asks himself this question. Both the sun faded main story playing out his familiar human anxieties under an existence shattering sci-fi conceit and the meta contextual layer about our main story’s existence as a play-within-the-film show off Anderson’s usual charm, but with a creeping dread of doubt about the point of telling stories. Such feelings of exhaustion and isolation act as Anderson’s indirect way of addressing the psychological toll that COVID took on us all, but without clumsily tackling larger systematic problems as many more direct COVID films have done. Anderson doesn’t have the ultimate answer, but Adrien Brody’s blunt delivery of “Just keep telling the story” shows exactly what human perseverance can accomplish creatively in a world full of chaos, destruction and unanswered questions. Something a dumb AI “parody” video of Anderson could never accomplish.

3. Past Lives

Quietly devastating dramas like Past Lives have grown on me in recent years. While the usual awards season films boisterously declare their emotions for the big screen, writer/director Celine Song aims to keep feelings soft spoken or even unspoken. There’s a devastating quality to seeing every step of this story, as two children from South Korea drift apart when one of them moves to the US before they reunite twice within the span of 18 years. Greta Lee and Teo Yoo display so much through minimal conversations and silent looks. While unrequited romance is a part of that, Song’s film is more of a reflection of how time, culture and distance turns childhood friends into kindly strangers. Past Lives conveys the heavy mixed bag about confronting our personal evolutions. There’s comfort in knowing you’ve put parts of yourself behind you, but you still weep for a part of you that’s gone. Even if you have a kindly John Magaro by your side to help ease that pain.

2. Beau Is Afraid

Director Ari Aster’s previous box office success with Hereditary and Midsommar is maddening in retrospect. Both are harrowing and odd horror films that would normally be destined to die a slow death in theaters. So, his third feature film Beau Is Afraid feels like a true test of an audience’s ability to absorb Aster’s full unhinged vision and it proved to alienate most. However, for weirdos like myself, Beau is a truly fascinating odyssey that shifts wildly in tone and genre over the 3 hour running time. Joaquin Phoenix lacks any kind of hesitance to go for broke as his titular character gets into multiple chaotic situations that act as a the stream of consciousness narrative full of anxiety, loneliness and existential dread. All under the guise of what feels like a grand scale epic film version of a special you’d see at 4 am on Adult Swim.

1. Poor Things

I love a good Frankenstein story. The universality of cheating death through the mad sci-fi conceit of an electrified corpse is such a tight premise that can stand in for many experiences in human life. With Poor Things, director Yorgos Lanthimos uses the Frankenstein story to cast a wide net, as our leading lady Bella (Emma Stone) finds herself brought back to life with a fresh brain that rapidly learns more than a simple fear of fire traditional Frankensteins get stuck on. Stone delivers such a brazen performance that acts as an excellent showcase for her skills, ranging from absurdly comedic to quietly contemplative. Seeing Bella take in the world around her and question society’s problems with pleasure, honesty and insecurity is as entertaining as it is heartbreaking. Her bouncing off incredible supporting turns from the likes of a hilarious pompous Mark Ruffalo or the frank yet nurturing Kathryn Hunter help build an interiority for this elaborately constructed world Lanthimos and his crew create through phenomenal sets and gorgeous costumes. This not-quite-Victorian-London with steampunk style technology still evokes our modern world. A world where humans still have selfish desires that conflict with elements of our past we’re not willing to face. The line between humanity & monstrosity is how we continue forward, no matter if you’re the result of a mad science experiment or societal inanities.

Other Works:

• Cinema To The Letter Patreon
• Cinema To The Letter: Rashomon (1950) – C for Classic Won 1 Oscar