2023 is behind us, but we are now in the long wrap-up stage…with the Oscar nominations a week away and the overall Award Season handing out their prizes for the best of the year. And that brings us to Reel Speak’s Best and Worst of 2023.
As always, the worst of the year is saying farewell and adieu to beloved actors, actresses, and filmmakers. In 2023 we lost Michael Gambon, Matthew Perry, Paul Reubens, Richard Roundtree, Cindy Williams, Raquel Welch, Tom Sizemore, Robert Blake, Ray Stevenson, Treat Williams, Alan Arkin, William Friedkin, Burt Young, Piper Laurie, Joss Ackland, Andre Braugher, Lee Sun-kyun, and Tom Wilkinson.
Back on the screen, it was a turbulent year at the box office, as well-established franchises such as INDIANA JONES, Marvel, and DC Comics struggled to make bank. But it wasn’t just a demand for originality, as fresh films such as THE CREATOR and Disney’s WISH also struggled despite how good they were. Good films took it on the chin, but also taking it hard were the lousy ones: EXPEND4BLES, AQUAMAN AND THE LOST KINGDOM, and SHAZAM! FURY OF THE GODS were the bottom of the toilet bowl.
Despite the stinkers and bombs, the year still finished very strong, with great efforts from some of our best filmmakers and dazzling performances from some of our best actors and actresses. Here now are the Top 10 Best Films seen by Reel Speak in the year that was 2023.
10. MAESTRO
Behind every great man there is an even greater woman, and that is the idea behind Bradley Cooper’s intimate biopic about the life of famed composer Leonard Bernstein. Cooper takes on the herculean task of writing, directing, and acting…and delivers on every front. Every shot is meticulously framed, and every nuance and tick from Bernstein is recreated in stunning detail. As good as Cooper is in front and behind the camera, he is matched equally by the always-great Carey Mulligan, who takes on another massive task in playing the woman who endured so much to get Bernstein into fame…and keep him there.
9. ELEMENTAL
Pixar Animation Studios gets away from the sequel business (for now), with this charming, opposites-attract love story using early American immigration as the backdrop. Funny and emotional, ELEMENTAL takes a way-out-there fantasy world inhabited by walking and talking elements of nature and gives it one of their best human stories. It cleverly uses history to tell a story that is very relevant today.
8. THE CREATOR
Don’t let the weak box office be your guide because Gareth Edwards has created one hell of a film here. John David Washington (son of Denzel), leads the way as humanity fights for survival against a world-killing artificial intelligence. Breathtaking visuals, clever twists and turns, and some unexpected emotion makes this an excellent sci-fi flick.
7. POOR THINGS
The old FRANKENSTEIN tale has been done to the grave, but not like this. Yorgos Lanthimos directs this twisted science fantasy about a regenerated woman (Emma Stone), who learns about life and love the hard way. Twisted and dreamy, POOR THINGS is packed with marvelous performances (Stone finds a few new gears here), and never lets up in messing with our minds.
6. MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: DEAD RECKONING PART ONE
It seems that the last few MISSION IMPOSSIBLE films have us leaving the theatre saying, “that was the best one”, and DEAD RECKONING does the same. Tom Cruise reprises super-spy Ethan Hunt for the 7th time since 1996, and powers his way across the world…doing his own breathtaking stunts in a film that thrills with nearly endless pulse-pounding action. The supporting cast of Hayley Atwell and Pom Klementieff match up with Cruise well, and director Christopher McQuarrie never lets off the gas in this thriller.
5. BARBIE
The idea of making a movie about a toyline is not new, and Hollywood has done it to varying degrees of success and failure. With BARBIE, it is the former. Greta Gerwig directs and Margot Robbie stars in a tale that captures the impact the toyline has had on children for over 60 years, while boldly exploring women’s place in the world today. Visually stunning, funny, and sets a new standard for movies based on toys.
4. THE HOLDOVERS
Alexander Payne has not made many movies so far, but every time he does the world needs to stop and listen. Paul Giamatti reunites with Payne for the first time since their successful collaboration with SIDEWAYS (2004), playing a strict teacher at a boarding school who gets stuck with a handful of students with nowhere to go on Christmas break. It’s a loose retelling of A Christmas Carol, which finds Giamatti and Payne exploring damaged human beings and how they can help each other. Emotional and funny, THE HOLDOVERS deserves a spot on everyone’s holiday watch-list.
3. KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON
Martin Scorsese returned this year with this towering tale of murder and conspiracy in 1920’s Osage Nation, with white men marrying Native American woman for their coveted oil money…only for the wives to mysteriously die. Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert DeNiro, and an eye-opening Lily Gladstone lead the way in this colossal film that reveals a black spot in American history that should be studied and learned from.
2. GODZILLA MINUS ONE
Speaking of colossal, it doesn’t get much bigger than Godzilla, and MINUS ONE stomps in as the best film in the series that started in 1954. Takashi Yamazaki directs this epic that takes place in post-WWII Japan, with a devasted country, scrapping for survival, suddenly having to deal with a rampaging monster. But it’s not all spectacle (which is amazing), as Yamazaki gives this GODZILLA flick a strong human element with characters looking for life again amongst post-war ruins. Huge in scale with a surprising amount of heart, GODZILLA MINUS ONE is This Blogger’s personal favorite of the year.
1. OPPENHEIMER
Christopher Nolan delivers this epic biopic about the father of the atom bomb; its creation, impact, and time-altering consequences that can still be felt today. Nolan balances history with his trademark style of time-hopping, and lets this unfold with all of the mental conflict Oppenheimer dealt with in creating the bomb; it’s a race against time to beat the Nazi’s, but if he succeeds, he knows he may end the world in fire. It’s an internal struggle that lead-actor Cillian Murphy conveys in a single glance, and his ensemble cast of co-stars (Robert Downey Jr., Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Florence Pugh…for starters), all turn in career-best performances. It is a complicated story told with superior craftsmanship, and blows everything else away.
REEL SPEAK'S BEST FILMS OF 2023
- OPPENHEIMER
- GODZILLA MINUS ONE
- KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON
- THE HOLDOVERS
- BARBIE
- MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: DEAD RECKONING PART ONE
- POOR THINGS
- THE CREATOR
- ELEMENTAL
- MAESTRO
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