Anyone’s Guess: Best & Worst Movies of 2023

 

 

 

 

 

The writers’ strike. Declining theater attendance. Films spread across streaming platforms.

 

Let’s face it, all of the awards ceremonies are a lot of noise about nothing much. The Golden Globes were held last night. Did you watch? Only about 9.4 million did so. If that sounds like a lot, it’s less than half of pre-2020 numbers.

 

I’ve yet to see Oppenheimer or Killers of the Flower Moon, though I don’t even need to see the latter to know that Lily Gladstone is a wonderful actress or that any award she doesn’t win will be considered a travesty.

 

My best of 2023 list has one single criterion: I saw it in 2023. kay, one more; it can’t be more than five years since it was released. Here’s my list in countdown order:

 

10. Amsterdam: David O. Russell’s film polarized audiences. It punched all my surreal-meets-history buttons.

9. The Whale: A touching portrait of a broken man’s eating disorder.

8. The Son: A (sort of) sequel to The Father. Review forthcoming on January 22.

7. Yesterday : Yeah, a 2019 movie than I and too many others didn’t see. A classic small gem.

6. Lunana: Yak in the Classroom: Ditto the above and set it in Tibet and add gorgeous cinematography.

5. EO: It stars a donkey, but who’s the ass?

4. : All Quiet on the Western Front: The insanity of war adapted from one of the greatest antiwar novels ever.

3. The Banshees of Inisherin: I’m already on records saying it should have won Best Picture last year. I’m sticking to it.

2. The Quiet Girl: A quiet film that will hit you like a hammer. Review forthcoming this Friday.

1. Women Talking: Sarah Polley’s smart film about the strictures of religion and the power of female consensus-building.

 

Here are my top “classic” films in alpha order:

 

Buitiful: An earlier Iñárritu film and Javier Bardem as you seldom see him. Review forthcoming

Black Girl: A 1966 film considered an African pathbreaker.

Far From the Madding Crowd: The 2015 remake of Hardy’s novel.

Playtime: Jacques Tati’s 1967 surreal skewer of commercialism.

Long Day’s Journey Into Night: Hepburn does Eugene O’Neill. Can’t go wrong.

Trois Coleurs: Rouge: Simply one of my favorite films of all time.All are great, but Rouge!

 

And here is material for the dumpster:

 

Worst: Babylon: A total huh? on all levels. Paramount should have to match the $80 million it took to make this and donate it to charity.

Not Quite as Awful: Everything Everywhere All at Once: The fact that this was last year’s Oscar winner is an indication that Oscar needs glasses.

Awful + + +: Cocaine Bear. The ASPCA should be notified

Mind-numbingly bad: Old Joy: Kurt and Mark go to the mountains. Nobody knows why.

Give It Up, Please: Wakanda Forever: Things blow up. People die. And so did the script. Time to put the Marvel franchises on hold.