Films of the year / best films you saw for the first time this year

[AliasTheCat]

I was keeping notes on my phone, but there's a handy app called Letterboxd - it's basically Goodreads for films - that lets you log when you watched films, along with an optional review and score, and make lists.

This is my profile, if people want to add me: https://boxd.it/7kIo1

Ah! Thank you. Might give that a go...

[Mister Six]

There's another one called MovieLens that gives recommendations, but it's a bit annoying to use, lacks the social/review element and it's harder to use as an actual film diary.

[Noodle Lizard]

I really need to start using Letterboxd, if only to track what films I see when.

I saw a fair amount of 2023 films, although coming up with a Top 5 is still difficult as not many things stood out too much. I'd include the following:

Talk To Me
Solid Aussie horror, and properly nasty at times. It's basic enough in its messaging and characters but that's fine, or perhaps even preferable, for a film whose focus is on the spooks. An example of a Blumhouse film done well.

Theater Camp
I only just saw this and I can confidently say it's the most I've laughed at a film all year. It might be because I've worked in the kinds of worlds those kids are from (or destined for) and could appreciate just how well-observed a lot of it is (and there's an absolutely perfect joke about immersive theater in there), although I think it's accessible and funny enough on its own terms without relying too much on in-jokes. Obviously you can find its DNA rooted in other films like Waiting For Guffman, but it does enough to make itself unique and it's the first example in a long time of that kind of mockumentary actually being worth a go - and moreso than Christopher Guest's later work.

Aftersun
A 2022 film by all accounts, but I believe many of us saw it this year. It might be my favourite film of the decade so far, although it's not one I find easy to watch. As a dad of a daughter who struggles with being mentally ill bald phimotic on CaB, it hit me very hard indeed. It's admirably understated, and though it is utterly devastating it never really feels like it's manipulating you. The central performances are worthy of any plaudit going, fully bringing you into their lives and minds, as is Charlotte Wells' direction and the remarkable sense of time and place. It feels like every holiday I went on as a kid in the 90s, which makes it all the more painful to perhaps revisit with "grown up" eyes, as our protagonist (and Wells) is doing. Amazing piece of work.

The Holdovers
Alexander Payne at his best, and a seemingly deliberate return to form. All the makings of a true Christmas classic, but extrapolating their simple pedagogical themes to the more complex issues that come with the turning point between childhood and adulthood. It's got an awful lot to say whilst never really saying it all that loudly. It also manages to be funny, warm and often beautiful. A good one.

I'll add another by the end of the year, as I've still been meaning to see Poor Things and Past Lives, both of which I expect to have strong feelings about one way or the other. A lot of the films mentioned here, or on the BFI list, didn't do it for me or were at least disappointing, among them Killers of the Flower Moon, Oppenheimer, Barbie, Beau Is Afraid, Dream Scenario, TÁR, Infinity Pool and probably more. None of those would make it onto my Worst Of list, though - that'd be stuff like Insidious: The Red Door, Old Dads and The Haunted Mansion - but a lot of films fell into that middling region for me this year.

[Noodle Lizard]

EDIT:  well would you look at that, Red Rooms rounds out my top 5. Thanks this thread

[Mister Six]

Aftersun
A 2022 film by all accounts, but I believe many of us saw it this year. It might be my favourite film of the decade so far, although it's not one I find easy to watch. As a dad of a daughter who struggles with being mentally ill bald phimotic on CaB, it hit me very hard indeed. It's admirably understated, and though it is utterly devastating it never really feels like it's manipulating you. The central performances are worthy of any plaudit going, fully bringing you into their lives and minds, as is Charlotte Wells' direction and the remarkable sense of time and place. It feels like every holiday I went on as a kid in the 90s, which makes it all the more painful to perhaps revisit with "grown up" eyes, as our protagonist (and Wells) is doing. Amazing piece of work.

Feel like I'm going to spend the rest of the decade looking for a film as good and as interesting as Aftersun. Can't believe I rated it so low last year, I think I was just a bit messed up by personal stuff, in retrospect it was the best film in yonks.

[Bad Ambassador]

Five worst new films I saw this year were Air, The Exorcist: Believer, Fool's Paradise, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and Leave the World Behind, which was the worst and absolute deso smug middle-class chinstroking wank.

[holyzombiejesus]

Aftersun
Anatomy of a Fall
Bottoms
Fremont
How to Blow Up A Pipeline
Past Lives
Renfield
Rye Lane

I think there are loads I've forgotten about. Was that volcano documentary this year?

Aftersun was head and shoulders above everything else. Oh, also liked that one where the guy from Triangle of Sadness reconnected with his daughter.

[KennyMonster]

New films: The Old Oak

Everything else sounded bland*



* except maybe Joanna Hogg doing a ghost story, but I've not been able to see that one.

[Dr Rock]

I get much out of Aftersun

[Dr Rock]

Not enough exploding Nazis.

[Mister Six]

Oh, also liked that one where the guy from Triangle of Sadness reconnected with his daughter.

Scrapper! Yeah, that was cute - really glad someone did a thread on it on CaB.

[Junglist]

Do you people just not care for this film, or haven't seen it? I don't see it on anyone's lists and I don't think I will see a better film this year.

No posts in my thread about it. Literally crying.

[Mister Six]

To be fair, the film's only been released in Canada, and who the fuck lives in Canada?

[StewartLeehaslethimselfgo]

Best of the year:

1. The Holdovers
2. Past Lives
3. Oppenheimer
4. Bottoms
5. Totally Killer
6. Theater Camp
7. May/December
8. Beau is Afraid
9. Killers of the Flower Moon
10. Cobweb

Blurst of the year:

1. Insidious Red Door
2. Strays
3. Joy Ride
4. Old Dads
5. Barbie
6. The Adults
7. The Killer
8. Fingernails
9. Napoleon
10. Your Lucky Day

[Minami Minegishi]

No posts in my thread about it. Literally crying.

ooooohh a thread! Soz, didn't see that

[Dr Rock]

I get much out of Aftersun

Sorry, I did NOT get much out of Aftersun

[Junglist]

ooooohh a thread! Soz, didn't see that

Absolute gent.

[jamiefairlie]

To be fair, the film's only been released in Canada, and who the fuck lives in Canada?

Me, Ferris?

Didn't watch the film mind

[Mister Six]

Wasn't intended seriously.

[twosclues]

My top 10 as of 31/12, with quite a few big-hitters I am still yet to see:

1. Oppenheimer
2. Killers Of The Flower Moon
3. The Boy And The Heron
4. May December
5. The Holdovers
6. Fallen Leaves
7. Anatomy Of A Fall
8. Maestro
9. Passages
10. Beau Is Afraid

Honorable mentions: The Killer, Barbie, The Taste Of Things, Asteroid City, Are You There God? It's Me Margaret, Dungeons and Dragons, Blackberry, Past Lives

Good year!

[kitsofan34]

My film viewing this year was much more focused on the past, as opposed to 2023. However, let us begin with the last twelve months.

Best new films of 2023:

Asteroid City. Directed by Wes Anderson. ****.
Used to be a big fan of Wes, then swung to finding his work overly mannered and repetitive (French Dispatch) only to inexplicably swing back to loving Asteroid City. Felt like there was more heart, inventiveness and an outpouring of feeling from Anderson, for the first time in a while.


Poor Things. Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. ****.
Confounding, annoying, inventive, unlike many films I've seen. A fantastic cast (with the exception of Jerrod Carmichael), particular highlights being Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo, desperately up for anything the script throws at him, so long as it gets the marvel stink off of him.


Monster. Directed by Kore-Eda Hirokazu. ****.
Highly empathetic, my first Kore-Eda film and the catalyst for my intent in 2024 to watch many more.


Blackberry. Directed by Matt Johnson. ****.
Fast paced, Fincher esque Social Network rips will always click with me.


Dumb Money. Directed by Craig Gillespie. ****.
Similarly, fast paced tales about Wall Street excess are cat nip... to me.


Past Lives. Directed by Celine Song. ****.
Beautiful, empathetic and dream like film by Song.


The Killer. Directed by David Fincher. ****.
Fincher reverts back to his usual style after the mid life crisis Mank.


Anatomy of a Fall. Directed by Justine Triet. ****.
Great film, three amazing central performers, Triet is firing on all cylinders and has even coaxed a child actor to a fantastic performance.


Godzilla: Minus One. Directed by Takashi Yamazaki. ****.
Big schlocky film with a story. Astonishingly, the attempt at a coherent plotline improves these kinds of big action fares.


Other films released, and watched, this year:

Oppenheimer. Directed by Christopher Nolan. *** 1/2.
A tainted cinematic experience, with people in front of me chit chatting away as if it was a rom com.

Passages. Directed by Ira Sachs. *** 1/2.

Killers of the Flower Moon. Directed by Martin Scorsese. *** 1/2.

The Wonderful World of Henry Sugar. Directed by Wes Anderson. *** 1/2.

Saltburn. Directed by Emmery Fennel. *** 1/2.
A childish film, but just so darn entertaining.

[kitsofan34]

Films from past years, watched this year.

Munich. 2005. Directed by Steven Spielberg. ****.

Spielberg is not a director I tend to gravitate towards but this is amongst his maturer work. A  measured, long film about the futility of revenge. It's no Ready Player One but what is in this life?




Festen (The Celebration). 1998. Directed by Thomas Vinteberg. **** 1/2.


The film I consider to be responsible for bringing me out of an almighty film viewing shit streak. I watched this with some pissed up Germans in a beautiful Berlin cinema. The Europeans more lackadaisical attitude towards drinking in such establishments made them a generous and easy going crowd, which really elevated what was an already cracking film. The circumstances around this film ensure this is a picture I'll always have very fond memories of.

Tar. 2022. Directed by Todd Field. ****.



Loved this one, so much so that it's the only film this year I've watched twice. I did so in the space of a week, as well. Really hope this isn't the last we've seen of Todd Field. Merely thinking about this one makes me want to hop back into its world.


Hidden Agenda. 1990. Directed by Ken Loach. ****.



At the height of my Fuck the Security Services podcast/book reading/film watching phase.

The Vanishing. 1988. Directed by George Sluizer. ****.


The film leaves you feeling dirty and in need of a shower. Four stars!


All the Beauty and the Bloodshed. 2022. Directed by Laura Poitras. ****.



Watched this on a plane, which made the surprising amount of cocks, fannies and tits present in the picture meddlesome and inconvenient for a neurotic film viewer such as I. Despite these gaping flaws, a poignant, profound documentary.

Oldboy. 2003. Directed by Park Chan-Wook. ****.



Maybe the...fourth time I've seen this now? And it still slaps.


Paris, Texas. 1984. Directed by Wim Wenders. ****.



Really glad I finally committed to watching this, after having it float around the periphery of my film watching for so long. The most notable Harry Dean Stanton performance, who is one of my favourite character actors.


L.A Confidential. 1997. Directed by Curtis Hanson. **** 1/2.



An annoyingly good performance by Mr Spacey, with some less annoyingly good ones from Crowe and Guy Pearce. ACAB.

The Grand Budapest Hotel. 2014. Directed by Wes Anderson. **** 1/2.




That Ralph Fiennes performance might well be the best in Anderson's entire discography. A truly visually beautiful film.


Children of Men. 2006. Directed by Alfonso Cuaron. *****.



It's my favourite film for a reason. Not an ounce of waste, always moving forward, perfect cast. Zero flaws.

Red Rocket. 2021. Directed by Sean Baker. **** 1/2.



Probably the most pleasent surprise of the year. Possibly the most fun I've had watching a film as well. Yeah he's an asshole but he's so bloody likeable!!!!

Taxi Driver. 1976. Directed by Martin Scorsese. ****.

This film is quite good.



Oslo, August 31st. 2011. Joachim Tier. ****.



Ah yes, the "kitsofan gets a mubi account" phase.

Really bowled away by this film, haunting and quiet and ever so sad. Astonished by Anders Danielsen Lie's performance here, far and away the best of the Oslo Trilogy I've seen.

The Killing of a Chinese Bookie. 1976. Directed by John Cassavetes. ****.



My first Cassavetes! A great time at the moo-vies. Overshadowed slightly by the next film...


A Women Under the Influence. 1974. Directed by John Cassavetes. **** 1/2.



The most impressive film I've seen this year, I think. Poignant and so, so well done, with two knockout performances in Peter Falk (one of my very most favourites) and more importantly, Gena Rowlands.

A still too relevant, feminist tale about the inherent sexism in our society.

Other films I saw from past years, this year:

All That Jazz. 1979. Directed by Bob Fosse. *** 1/2.

Aftersun. 2022. Directed by Charlotte Wells. *** 1/2.

Maybe this film will hit me more next time, now that my Father is dead.

Armageddon Time. 2022. Directed by James Gray. ***.

The Game. 1997. Directed by David Fincher. ** 1/2.

My least favourite Fincher.

Marie Antoinette. 2006. Directed by Sophia Coppola. *** 1/2.

The Post. 2017. Directed by Steven Spielberg. ** 1/2.

Secret Honor. 1984. Directed by Robert Altman. ** 1/2.

The Conversation. 1974. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola. *** 1/2.

Z. 1969. Directed by Costa-Gavras. *** 1/2.

The Daytrippers. 1996. ***.

The shrill, overbearing Mother was too close to home.

Inherent Vice. 2014. ***.

After Hours. 1985. Directed by Martin Scorsese. *** 1/2.

Goodfellas. 1990. Directed by Martin Scorsese. *** 1/2.

The Killing of a Sacred Deer. 2017. Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. *** 1/2.

The Color of Money. 1986. Directed by Martin Scorsese. *** 1/2.

Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters. 1985. Directed by Paul Schrader. *** 1/2.

Mad Detective. 2007. Directed by Johnnie To & Wai Ka-Fai. *** 1/2.

Lost in America. 1985. Directed by Albert Brooks. *** 1/2.

Jackass 3D. 2010. Directed by Jeff Tremaine. *** 1/2.

Sanctuary. 2022. Directed by Zachary Wigon.** 1/2.

Broadcast News. 1987. Directed by James L. Brooks. *** 1/2.

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol. 2011. Directed by Brad Bird. ***.

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation. 2015. Directed by Christopher McQuarrie. *** 1/2.

Mission: Impossible - Fallout. 2018. Directed by Christopher McQuarrie. ***.

The Wild Bunch. 1969. Directed by Sam Peckinpah. *** 1/2.

Cure. 1997. Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa.*** 1/2.

Ocean's Eleven. 2001. Directed by Steven Sodenberg. *** 1/2.

The Worst Person in the World. 2021. Directed by Joachim Trier. *** 1/2.

Great Freedom. 2021. Directed by Sebastian Meise. *** 1/2.

Rams. 2015. Directed by Grimur Hakonarson. *** 1/2.

Talking About Trees. 2019. Directed by Suhaib Gasmelbari. *** 1/2.

Nest. 2022. Directed by Hlynur Palmason. *** 1/2.

A Short Story. 2022. Directed by Bi Gan. *** 1/2.

Archipelago. 2010. Directed by Joanna Hogg. *** 1/2.

London. 1994. Directed by Patrick Keiller. ***.

Opening Night. 1977. Directed by John Cassavettes. ***.

Bridget Jones's Diary. 2001. Directed by Sharon Maguire. *** 1/2.

That's fucking right, I preferred Bridget Jones's Diary to Opening Night by John Cassavettes. Fucking sue me.

It's been a cracking year watching older films, as I hope you can see. Compiling this list has re-awakened my passion for film viewing, so hopefully this will be an even more self indulgent and long list this time next year. 

[madhair60]

I'm not really interested in any subtexts and that

fair play mate

[Small Man Big Horse]

Here's my Top 10 of 2023, but like some others I've not seen a few highly acclaimed films including The Boy and The Heron, Fremont, Beau Is Afraid, Anatomy Of A Fall, Oppenheimer, Past Lives and Killers Of The Flower Moon.

1) Molli And Max In The Future - Cute lo-fi effects heavy rom-com which I've talked about far too much now and which inevitably everyone will be disappointed by.
2) Eyeballs In The Darkness - The sequel to Reed Birney's Tux and Fanny, when I saw it a few months ago I was the 8th person to rate it on imdb, but now six more people have, so it's surely going to be a massive hit very soon.
3) Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse - Not perfect and the fact that it was only part one meant it was always going to have an annoying ending, but I was won over by just how beautiful it is.
4) Hundreds Of Beavers - Very daft but very inventive mad comedy which I was greatly charmed by.
5) The Holdovers - A film which was always going to be pretty predictable, but yet this didn't end up mattering as it was so well written and the change in the characters was carefully, gradually carried out in an affecting way.
6) Nimona - Because watching inventive animation seems to be the thing I enjoyed most in 2023.
7) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - And which is why this ugly beautiful film is on the list as well, I know many will be outraged but however much I wish I could lie I really did enjoy this.
8) Red Rooms - A character study which caught me completely off guard, but which fascinated throughout.
9) The Venture Bros.: Radiant Is the Blood of the Baboon Heart - Just because they managed to create a satisfying ending after all these years and all of the madness involved in making the show.
10) Dicks The Musical - Mainly because of Megan Thee Stallion's Out Alpha The Alpha, but I enjoyed Nathan Lane and Amy Sedaris in it a lot too.

Almost Rans: Barbie (liked it a lot, wish Will Ferrell hadn't been in it), Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 (because I never predicted it would have such a strong message about the evils of animal testing), They Cloned Tyrone (the ending lacked the depth I was hoping to see, otherwise it would have made it in to the top 10), Scrapper (strong British comedy drama with a pleasingly upbeat ending), Flora and Son (ditto), Bottoms (Really likeable and funny, but didn't wow me) and Theatre Camp (ditto).

Top 10 Old Films

1) Stage Door - Often very funny but also quite tragic nineteen thirties film that shows how poorly women were treated in the film industry.
2) The Small Back Room - Beautifully acted take on surviving a world war and what that might do to a person.
3) Wild At Heart - Not my first time and probably not my fifth time, but I did love this still an enormous amount.
4) I Know Where I'm Going - Another Powell and Pressberger film I loved, though it's Catriona Potts who I remember most fondly and not the lead duo.
5) Junk Head - Inspired stop motion madness that had me grinning no end.
6) Moon Man - Button pushing Asian sci-fi comedy drama that I found adorable.
7) The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - In general I hate westerns but I loved this, so that was confusing.
8) Close Encounters Of The Third Kind - I didn't get on with this as a kid but I watched it again after reading Bob Balaban's diaries and now feel disgusted by my child self.
9) Gone To Earth - Because I really did fall in love again with P&P this year, and it was an absolute treat seeing this at the cinema.
10) Oink - Dutch stop motion kids flick which is obsessed with pig's anuses and comes with the important message that men never, ever change, no matter what they may say.

[Mister Six]

Looks like we share views and interests, @kitsofan34.

And that's a really interesting list @Small Man Big Horse - really want to check out a few of your suggestions when they finally hit US cinemas.

I saw an ungodly number of films this year, so I'm going to hide them behind spoilers, grouped into different categories. You'll notice I waited for January 1 to do this, because I'm a nerdy stick-in-the-mud not a total psychopath.

The top 20

1: Poor Things (Yorgos Lanthimos; USA)
Late entry for film of the year, but by golly does it deserve it. Emma Stone gives the performance of the year as a reanimated woman learning about all the terrors and wonders of the world. Willem Dafoe and Mark Ruffalo chew the scenery and compete for dodgiest British accent. Filthy, funny, moving, bizarre and visually stunning. A treat.


2: Oppenheimer (Christopher Nolan; USA)
Bah, I really wanted to hate this just because it's such an obvious Big Brilliant Serious Film, but no – it's fantastic. Wonderful performances, spectacular script and editing, all around quality. The climactic stakes for the framing stories are a bit naff ("man might lose his security clearance" and "other man might fail job interview"), but the sheer quality of the rest of the film carried me through.


3: Asteroid City (Wes Anderson; USA)
It probably helps that I haven't seen a live-action Anderson film since The Life Aquatic, but I fell head over heels with every aspect of this tale of grief, love and the search for meaning in chaos – even the dense, chilly layers of metafiction and irony surrounding its warm, beating, aching heart.


4: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Joaquim dos Santos, Justin K. Thompson, Kemp Powers; USA)
This was my film of the year right up December, when I saw those other three. 2018's Into the Spider-Verse transformed Western mainstream animation; Across achieves the impossible by outdoing it in every way with stunning and audacious design and direction throughout. Plus, it's laugh-out-loud funny, and manages to tell a genuinely thrilling superhero story in a time when that genre is played out.


5: Anatomy of a Fall (Justine Triet; France)
Did he jump or was he pushed? This gripping legal thriller, which includes possibly the best child performance I've ever seen, will keep you guessing to the very end as the private life of an accused author is peeled away, layer by layer.


6: The Holdovers (Alexander Payne; USA)
This beautifully written, deeply human and gently melancholic tale of lonely souls marooned in a secluded university over Christmas might be the first truly great festive film to come out in years. The film borrows not just the aesthetic of a 1970s comedy-drama, but also the rich characterisation and offbeat charm of the era, although the melancholy tone might make you want to follow it up with a brighter, more sugary chaser.


7: Beau is Afraid (Ari Aster; USA)
A lot of people hate this film, and I can't blame them, but this riotous and deranged odyssey was like catnip to me. Jaoquin Phoenix plays Beau, a petrified hermit who must venture across an America designed to destroy him in order to reach the home of his domineering mother. It's long, but so exquisitely crafted (definitely a "pause and pore over every frame" kind of movie) and full of bizarre turns that it flew by for me.


8: The Boy and the Heron (Hayao Miyazaki; Japan)
Still reeling from his mother's death, 12-year-old Mahito jumps at the chance to see her again – even if it means making a pact with a sinister heron and entering a strange and dangerous magical land. This is a Miyazaki greatest hits collection – but what hits! Not recommended for very young kids, though.


9: Rye Lane (Raine Allen-Miller; UK)
I love a good romcom, and this is a great romcom. A despondent dumpee and a free-spirited costume designer make their way across a flamboyantly shot South London, and (of course) love ensues. A lovely warm hug of a film with an incredibly likeable cast.


10: Fremont (Babak Jalali; USA)
I've seen this described as "almost parodically indie", and... well, it's in 4:3 ratio, black and white, with mostly static cameras and a deadpan attitude, so yeah. But it all works for this surprisingly rib-tickling flick about a former Afghan translator dealing with loneliness and survivor's guilt in California. Co-stars Gregg Turkington, who can turn the slightest action into a comedic tour de force, as her self-absorbed therapist.


11: Infinity Pool (Brandon Cronenberg; Canada, Hungary, France)
Brandon (son of David) Cronenberg's latest messed up near-future thriller kind of flew under the radar of most people, I think, but how could I resist a horror movie about expat culture? Alexander Skarsgård falls under the spell of Mia Goth while in a fictional authoritarian European country, makes a big mistake and is sentenced to death. And then his problems really begin. Funny, unnerving, packed with strange twists and a killer punchline. Love it.


12: The Killer (David Fincher; USA)
David Fincher's latest, about an assassin who's perhaps not as cool as he thinks he is, has been derided as style over substance. But when the style is this stylish, who gives a damn? The Killer is funny, exquisitely detailed, and features the single best fight scene of the year. It's not deep, but certainly not stupid.


13: Linoleum (Colin West; USA)
It's like Donnie Darko, if the mood was middle-aged melancholia rather than teenage angst: a frustrated small-time TV host finds himself at the centre of a string of strange events, but is distracted by his struggling marriage. The mysteries compound, but come together in a satisfying conclusion that left me tearing up. Loved it.


14: Bottoms (Emma Seligman; USA)
Pretty much the opposite of Linoleum – a cartoony, absurd, high school comedy about a pair of lesbian losers who hope to pick up girls by launching a fight club-cum-self defence class. It's very silly, surprisingly sweet and made me laugh a lot harder than most other films this year.


15: Medusa Deluxe (Thomas Hardiman; UK)
I was entranced by this one-shot murder mystery (in reality maybe four or five shots, but still impressive) set during a UK hairdressing competition. The characters are strong, the performances great – especially when you bear in mind how careful they have to be to hit the right spot to get the light to land just so – and the entire experience incredibly compelling. It works more as a character study than a murder mystery, really, but there's nothing else quite like it.


16: Sanctuary (Zachary Wigon; USA)
Honestly, this would probably be a fair bit lower if I didn't absolutely love the ending to this psychological thriller. The heir to a hotel empire tries to dump his dominatrix; she doesn't take kindly to it. The resulting battle of wills shows an impressive ability to wring drama and visual variety out of two people and a hotel room, but the ending – ah, the ending is what sells it.


17: Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley; USA)
I was a bit too down on this when it came out, just because the buzz around it was so high, but on rewatching, this is a superior Hollywood blockbuster that does everything that Marvel has been consistently failing at for years now: a sparkling script, charming characters, imaginative setpieces, and proper jokes that aren't just self-referential guff. Despite underperforming, there might be more. I hope so.


18: A Thousand and One (A.V. Rockwell, USA)
Gentrification's slow erosion of black communities and lives is the theme of this excellent drama. Teyana Taylor puts in a killer performance as a single mother fresh out of prison who steals her son away from foster care, but struggles to find the resources – emotion and financial – to raise him. A late-on twist threw me a little bit, but it was justified by its emotionally charged and cathartic fallout.


19: Polite Society (Nida Manzoor; UK)
I saw this back-to-back with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and honestly I thought it knocked seven bells out of its big-budget competitor. A teenage wannabe stuntwoman and her pals (including Ella Bruccoleri, who has the funniest face I've seen in years) must save her sister from an arranged marriage, getting into a string of brawls along the way. The fights could do with a little more punch, but the rest of the film is funny as hell and utterly charming.


20: Godzilla Minus One (Takashi Yamazaki; Japan)
In a year when Hollywood's superhero obsession finally seemed to falter, Godzilla Minus One showed there was still room for success for blockbusters – especially if they were well-written and acted, looked good and actually made people care about the characters. Only complaint? The women degenerate from interesting characters with personality and agency to blandly subservient nonentities. Not sure why, but it's a shame.

[close]

The great

21: May December (Todd Haynes; USA)
Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore go head-to-head in this pitch-black and dry comedy-drama about an ambitious actress peeling away the layers of deceit surrounding the woman she's been hired to play: a woman who was imprisoned for sleeping with a 13-year-old boy, then went on to start a family with him. It feels a bit more like a collection of excellent scenes and stellar acting rather than a coherent story with a message, but it's compelling as hell.


22: Aporia (Jared Moshé; USA)
Judy Greer pulls out all the stops as a bereaved wife who gets a strange opportunity to change the past and save her husband – if she makes a terrible decision. This is a rare thing: a straight-up, down-to-earth science fiction story that grapples with moral choices and our culpability in their fallout, without distracting special effects, mawkish sentimentality or naff comedy.


23: War Pony (Riley Keough, Gina Gammell; USA)
A film about life on a Native American reservation co-directed by Elvis Presley's granddaughter might sound like the height of privileged cringe, but this Cannes Camera d'Or winner, based on extensive research and co-written by two Lakota people, is thoughtful, moving and life-affirming. Two young men on a reservation find their lives colliding unexpectedly as they experience both hardship and humour.


24: Killers of the Flower Moon (Martin Scorsese; USA)
I was so sure this would top the list, but it's too long, and the focus on Leonardo DiCaprio's gurning idiot criminal – a man whose story runs out of steam about two hours into the three-and-a-half-hour runtime – means it drags on. Still, it's a brilliantly shot, grimly fascinating look at the poisonous effects of colonialism on even the "lucky" Native Americans who got to profit – at terrible cost – from the oil found on their land. Shout out to Lily Gladstone, whom I'd be backing for Best Actress if it weren't for Poor Things.


25: How to Blow Up a Pipeline (Daniel Goldhaber; USA)
A furious screed at the state of the world and its continued descent into environmental disaster at the hands of Big Oil, this is also a nail biting heist thriller with a fantastic cast of characters and a really smart back-and-forth time-jumping structure. The 104-minute runtime flies by, with some great twists and turns along the way.


26: Theater Camp (Molly Gordon, Nick Liberman; USA)
I thought I was tired of mockumentaries, but this little gem turned that right around. A clueless techbro wannabe-influencer takes over a children's summer theatre camp and must use his very limited intelligence to save its narcissistic staff and precocious brats from near-certain doom. Every character is a mess, which of course makes for plenty of laughs, but they're still oddly likeable, and the laughs build and build to a gut-busting finale. Wonderful.


27: El Conde (Pablo Larrain; Chile)
Narrated by Margaret Thatcher, this tale of Augusto Pinochet – deposed Chilean dictator and secret vampire – is one of the odder flicks this year, but definitely worth seeking out. As Pinochet nears death, his (human) kids arrive, hoping to finally inherit some of his wealth – but an undercover nun has other plans. It's good stuff, and the sequence showing a newly turned vampire wheeling through the sky is probably my favourite of this entire year.


28: The Starling Girl (Laurel Parmet; USA)
A small-scale, quietly disquieting film about a young woman struggling to form her identity and follow her passions in a stifling religious community. A great central performance by Aussie Eliza Scanlen anchors the film, as her character finds herself pulled between desire and duty.


29: Scrapper (Charlotte Regan; UK)
A young girl living on her own since her mother's death has to deal with the sudden reintroduction of her absent father. The film swerves well away from mawkishness and gloom with a lightness of touch and buckets of charm. The Taika Waititi/Edgar Wright-esque flamboyant direction feels unnecessary given the quality of the characters, dialogue and acting, but it's a small quibble. Lovely stuff.


30: Killing Romance (Lee Won-suk; South Korea)
Speaking of flamboyant direction, this daft not-a-romantic comedy really goes all out on the visuals to sell this tale of a miserable former actress plotting with her No. 1 fan to kill her abusive billionaire husband (Lee Sun-kyun, hamming it up to hitherto unimaginable levels). Despite a dark edge, it's a gloriously silly bit of knockabout fun.


31: Call Me Chihiro (Rikiya Imaizumi; Japan)
Slow-paced almost to a fault, this meditative look at an unrepentant former sex worker who finds herself drawn back into relationships from her past is a tranquil watch. But still waters run deep, and it builds to a surprisingly emotionally resonant conclusion. If you're in the mood for it, your effort will be rewarded.


32: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (Jeff Rowe; USA)
Even if this wasn't funny, even if it didn't ditch the usual "Oh, we're doing that now?" sub-Whedon bathos quip nonsense, even if it didn't soundtrack excellent fight scenes with classic hip hop bangers, even if it wasn't a massively fun old romp, I'd still love Mutant Mayhem for its commitment to being really, genuinely ugly in a way that would have been impossible pre-Spider-Verse. Ugly in a good way, of course. As a flick about sewer-dwelling mutants should be.


33: Barbie (Greta Gerwig; USA)
This was the biggest-earning film of 2023, and sure enough Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling absolutely light up the screen and the script is full of proper guffaws. Sadly, for all the problems it identifies with the status quo, it proposes zero solutions, and the general message seems to be, "Well everything sucks, but what can you do about it?" Which is what you should expect from something written by white liberal millionaires, but still: disappointing.


34: The Zone of Interest (Jonathan Glazer; UK, USA, Poland)
A deeply unsettling look at the banality of evil, TZoI follows the family of the commandant of Auschwitz as they go about their mundane little lives – to a background of screams and gunshots, and a backdrop of chimneys belching human smoke. It's chilling and memorable, but the thing about the banality of evil is that it's banal, and it feels like the film has said everything it has to say in the first 15 minutes. I'm still putting it high because of the sheer artistry on show here – it excels in every other respect.


35: Sick of Myself (Kristoffer Borgli; Norway, Sweden)
This ultra-dark comedy won't be to everyone's tastes, not by a long shot. But if you like the sound of a venomous takedown of shallow, cynical influencers focused on a woman who deliberately disfigures herself with banned drugs to get attention, this is definitely the film for you.


36: Talk to Me (Michael Philippou, Danny Philippou; Australia)
Most of the horror movies social media went apeshit over didn't really land for me this year, but this one was great – despite most of the characters being (realistically) irritating and stupid teenagers. It's a pretty unsubtle metaphor for drug abuse, but this tale of teens contacting the dead for shits and giggles really works.


37: They Cloned Tyrone (Juel Taylor; USA)
A drug dealer, a sex worker and her pimp (Jamie Foxx, absolutely stealing the show) uncover a sinister plot against black people in this this goofy, Blaxploitation-influenced sci-fi thriller. It's obviously walking in the footsteps of Jordan Peele, and while it doesn't come close to reaching the highs of Get Out (and rips a chunk of its story off Undercover Brother), it is tons of fun.


38: Nimona (Nick Bruno, Troy Quane; USA)
A shape-shifting monster and a disgraced knight team up to save a techno-mediaeval society from itself in this highly enjoyable animated romp. Despite clearly being shot on a budget, it uses its limited resources well, with colourful and well-animated cel-shaded style familiar to fans of the recent Zelda games, and a smart script.


39: The Passenger (Carter Smith; USA)
This grungy, low-budget thriller about a burger joint worker who takes a timid colleague hostage after massacring the rest of his workplace in the hopes of making him a real man might not aim too high, but a couple of great central performances and a pacey script make for a good time.

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The good

40: Master Gardener (Paul Schrader; USA)
Wow, a Paul Schrader film about a loner with a propensity for violence and intense internal monologues! Who'da thunk it? Jokes aside, this is a decent drama built on solid characterisation, although it tapers off a bit at the end, and the crime element feels a bit tacked on.


41: Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget (Sam Fell; UK)
This spy/heist pastiche isn't a patch on the original (and it's missing half of the cast), but as endearing, low-investment romps go, this is an enjoyable enough slice of Aardman fun that will hopefully keep the lights on while they cook up something a bit more surprising.


42: Totally Killer (Nahnatchka Khan; USA)
Back to the Future meets Halloween in this daft black comedy. It hammers the "people in the 1980s were un-PC and didn't care about their health" gag a few too many times, and the murders are too bloody for a mostly goofy film, but it's still good fun. And you've got to respect a movie that goes "Screw it, a teenager made this time machine for a class project."


43: Dicks: The Musical (Larry Charles; USA)
It's like The Parent Trap, except that the separated-at-birth twins are both grown businessmen and the estranged parents they hope to reunite are a gay man (Nathan Lane) and a deranged hermit (Megan Mullally). It mistakes swearing for jokes a bit too often, but when the script rockets off down absurdist flights of fancy like Lane's pet mutants or Mulally's various ludicrous ailments, it soars. A cult film in the making – get on the bandwagon early.


44: No One Will Save You (Brian Duffield; USA)
This is an entertaining, if sometimes choppily edited and slightly too silly, thriller about a lonely young woman facing down an alien invasion. The "no dialogue" gimmick is distracting and pointless, and it goes on a little bit too long, but this is mostly very good fun, and I really enjoyed the ending.


45: Jethica (Pete Ohs; USA)
This brief (70 minutes!) offbeat comedy about two young women who have to deal with stalkers and the undead flies by, and despite initially seeming rather meanspirited (the title is a reference to the stalker's speech impediment – the object of his obsession is a woman named Jessica) ends up revealing itself to be surprisingly warm-hearted.


46: Renfield (Charles McKay; USA)
Nicolas Cage camps it up as Dracula in this action-comedy, terrorising his hapless (and superpowered) familiar Renfield, whose attempts to get away result in bloody carnage involving corrupt cops and psychopathic mobsters. The script is sloppy, but Cage is fun and if you don't take it too seriously, it'll make for a decent night in.


47: Elemental (Peter Sohn; USA)
A fable about the struggles of interracial relationships – represented here by a guy made of water and a girl made of fire – Elemental is sometimes a little clumsy and feels a bit Pixar-by-the-numbers, but it's still charming enough, and has the usual Pixar polish.


48: Sisu (Jalmari Helander; Finland USA)
It's John Wick, except John is an old Finnish solider, the gangsters are Nazis and the dog survives! This movie is as dumb as bricks and frankly gets a little too silly towards the end, but it's fun as hell to watch.

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The decent-to-middling

49: The Flash (Andy Muschietti; USA)
Not as bad as you'd expect! In fact, the first half of this film is genuinely charming – because, not in spite of, Ezra Miller's presence – and sparkly written, with some really fun and imaginative action sequences. Things fall apart badly in the second half when it turns into the usual IP-promoting studio superhero dreck (although even that has its moments), and yes the VFX suck, but I was still surprisingly entertained.


50: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (James Gunn; USA)
This final Guardians film is a better made than The Flash, but also less pleasant to watch, despite the superior CGI and coherent script. There's a sourness that permeates the script, with the characters bickering and snapping at one another, and the overall vibe is one of contractual obligation rather than joyful creativity. It's still a decent action flick for the most part, but it left a bitter taste in my mouth.


51: Cobweb (Samuel Bodin; USA)
Pure schlock and all the better for it. I can't say that this is a brilliant film, but if you're looking for a good horror flick to put on next Halloween, you could certainly do worse. A young boy discovers that his weird parents have trapped his hitherto unmentioned older sister in the walls of their house, and must help her escape before they do the same to him. Daft but fun.


52: Suitable Flesh (Joe Lynch; USA)
Speaking of daft but fun, this body possession film from some of the minds behind Re-Animator fits the bill perfectly. Heather Graham has fun as a psychologist who becomes possessed by an ancient evil, and the cast plays the whole thing straight despite the tone being campy and tongue-in-cheek. It doesn't do as much with the idea as you might hope, but it's still highly entertaining.


53: Inside (Vasilis Katsoupis; Belgium, Germany, Greece)
Hey, it's Willem Dafoe's one-man show! Dafoe plays an art thief who gets trapped in a malfunctioning high-rise flat and struggles to survive as supplies dwindle and the AC tries to kill him. Like The Martian, but in Manhattan. Sounds like silly fun, but takes itself a bit too seriously and goes on too long. It gets impressive mileage out of one set though.


54: Rotting in the Sun (Sebastián Silva; USA, Mexico)
Sebastián Silva plays himself as a struggling and self-loathing director whose attempt to court an Instagram star for a project leads to unexpected disaster. The film takes a surprise twist and becomes something entirely different at the midpoint, but it's a slog to get there.


55: M3gan (Gerard Johnstone; USA)
This will fill the "baby's first horror film" slot that Gremlins occupied for previous generations, I think. It really could have done with at least a little bit of gruesomeness (what exactly was happening with that murder in the shed?) but otherwise this murder-doll story is pretty fun.


56: The Covenant (Guy Ritchie; USA)
This is a resolutely competent and average action film about a US marine's extremely violent attempts to get his former translator out of Afghanistan. Its commitment to dodging any kind of political commentary is mildly annoying, but it's a pretty decent watch.


57: Corner Office (Joachim Back; USA)
John Hamm plays an insecure office drone whose discovery of a mysterious office that only he can see causes a kerfuffle among his coworkers. It's a decent premise and well acted – any chance for Hamm to show his comedy chops is welcome – but it's overlong and once you know what's going on, the film walks towards a predictable conclusion.


58: Skinamarink (Kyle Edward Ball; Canada)
I didn't much enjoy Skinamarink, but I'd still recommend it to everyone, because it's so carefully crafted to tap into particular childhood fears that if it clicks for you, it'll blow you away. Even though it didn't have that effect on me, I could still admire the narrative innovation of this zero-budget horror movie about a pair of very unlucky children in a seemingly cursed home.


59: Enys Men (Mark Jenkin; UK)
Enys Men falls into the same category as Skinamarink: I admire the artistry even if I didn't really enjoy the film. A UK experimental folk-horror tale about a woman on an isolated island who begins to have strange visions, it looks amazing – it's shot on grainy, super-saturated 16mm – and is expertly edited, but it also left me feeling cold. It might work for you, though.


60: You Hurt My Feelings (Nicole Holofcener; USA)
A pair of couples find their relationships tested by their discomfort at telling painful truths.  The sort of film you watch on a Sunday night on ITV when there's nothing else on, and it's pleasant enough, but not worth making time to see.


61: Knock at the Cabin (M. Night Shyamalan; USA)
This is pretty decent supernatural thriller that sadly peters out at the end because Shyamalan apparently couldn't hack the more extreme (and very atheistic) ending of the original novel. Luckily the ending is basically the same as the one from the ace Cabin in the Woods, so you can go watch that instead. Shame – otherwise, it could have been great.


62: Evil Dead Rise (Lee Cronin; USA)
This is a lot better than the dismal Evil Dead remake from a couple of years back, but still suffers from reminding at all turns of the superior original trilogy. This time the action takes place in a tower block, and there are a few pretty memorable sequences, but the series needs to rediscover the playful tone that made the second and third Evil Dead films sing; gruesome mutilation will only get you so far.

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The naff-to-absolute cack

63: Saltburn (Emerald Fennell; UK, USA)
It looks stunning, has wonderful performances and has a killer soundtrack, but the more I think about Saltburn, the less I like it. Liberally cribbing from Brideshead Revisited and a certain other work (no spoilers), this thriller about a working-class lad inveigling his way into an aristocratic family's affections crashes and burns in its final act. Shame.


64: Dream Scenario (Kristoffer Borgli; USA)
A hapless man (Nicolas Cage) finds himself appearing in the dreams of total strangers, for reasons he doesn't understand – but his newfound fame becomes a curse when the dreams turn sinister. It's occasionally funny, but overlong and feels like the premise was bolted onto a pretty shallow critique of social media cancellation. Borgli's Sick of Myself, above, is better.


65: Shazam! Fury of the Gods (David F. Sandberg; USA)
The problem with this film: a 15-year-old boy turning into a 35-year-old man is fun, while a 20-year-old man turning into a 40-year-old man is just sad. There's still a fair bit of charm here, and some nice visuals, but mostly this feels like too little, too late, and the main story (some boring villains want a macguffin to oh who cares) is pretty worn out.


66: The Civil Dead (Clay Tatum; USA)
Two former classmates find themselves reunited years later – only problem is, one of them is dead and the other is the only person who can see him. I'm not a fan of mumblecore at the best of times, but even more so when the protagonist is both unlikeable and uncharismatic. Not much to recommend here, sadly.


67: Past Lives (Celine Song; USA)
This was a shocker. I was so sure this would be one of my favourites of the year, but despite good performances and gorgeous cinematography, it's a clunker. PROTIP: don't gloss over the big bonding moments in your characters' lives in montages! It leaves nothing for the viewer to hold onto!


68: Leave the World Behind (Sam Esmail; USA)
An amazing cast – Julia Roberts! Ethan Hawke! Mahershala Ali! Kevin Bacon! – are wasted in this overlong, tension-free and unfocused apocalypse flick that can't decide whether to go for character drama or big-budget spectacle, and buggers up both anyway.


69: Smoking Causes Coughing (Quentin Dupieux; France)
Dupieux makes films to amuse himself, which is fine but I wish they amused me too. This is a string of barely connected absurdist shaggy dog stories, only one of which – about a farming accident – really entertained me.


70: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (James Mangold; USA)
Lazy, tired and creaky – and that's just the star, ho ho ho. Mangold proves a surprisingly cack-handed director for this worn out final instalment of the Indy franchise that seems to think we'd rather watch Phoebe Waller-Bridge and her deeply uncharismatic child sidekick, whom I have dubbed Shiteround. We wouldn't.


71: Showing Up (Kelly Reichardt; USA)
Another solid Michelle Williams performance and a small role for Andre 3000 are the only things to recommend this snoozer. They call it slow cinema, but "slow" suggests both movement and direction. This is static cinema.


72: The Little Mermaid (Rob Marshall; USA)
Incredibly hideous "live-action" remake of the already overrated Disney classic. Looks like an overblown Geico commercial. Massive props to Halle Bailey, who's fantastic, sings beautifully and somehow manages not to look like a woman sitting up to her waist in a green sleeping bag, talking at a tennis ball.


73: When Evil Lurks (Demián Rugna; Argentina, USA)
Yet another horror movie that everyone on social media loved but left me cold. A decent enough premise – a demonic dirty bomb driving a community to madness – ruined by having every character act like a moron at all times, and naff worldbuilding.


74: The Outwaters (Robbie Banfitch; USA)
A found-footage horror flick about a group of people trapped in a reality collapse. Sounds pretty cool, right? But even before the spooky stuff starts, the storytelling is fragmented and scattershot, so when things go mad there's no real change of pacing, and most of it is told in the same frenetic tempo. Wearisome.


75: You People (Kenya Barris; USA)
It's a romcom with no rom and desperately unfunny com. A total waste of Eddie Murphy and Julia Louis-Drefus with one properly funny scene surrounded by a whole lot of nothing much. Painful.


76: Swallowed (Carter Smith; USA)
The pitch sounds great: a queer body-horror film about "horrific intimacy". The reality is an incredibly boring, ugly thriller with no thrills and zero body horror. Decent performances from the main two lads, but otherwise worthless. Smith's other film this year, The Passenger (see above) is much better.


77: Quasi (Kevin Hefferman; USA)
The only film I turned off halfway through. A wearyingly stupid and charmless alleged comedy about Quasimodo that looks worse (and is less funny) than an SNL skit. One of those things that thinks a posh Englishman saying "fuck" is inherently funny.

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[Small Man Big Horse]

Looks like we share views and interests, @kitsofan34.

And that's a really interesting list @Small Man Big Horse - really want to check out a few of your suggestions when they finally hit US cinemas.

I saw an ungodly number of films this year, so I'm going to hide them behind spoilers, grouped into different categories. You'll notice I waited for January 1 to do this, because I'm a nerdy stick-in-the-mud not a total psychopath.

That's an amazing list, (and beautifully presented!), and I'm really looking forward to watching about thirty films from it when they either become available, or if they're already out now but I've somehow missed them.

Glad you liked Dicks as well, it's not without its flaws, but Lane and Sedaris really do get some very strong funny moments in it.

[kitsofan34]

Amazing list Mister Six! Are you gonna do one for pre 2023 as well?

[Minami Minegishi]

I have a couple here to watch that no doubt would do well (The Delinquents and Close Your Eyes). Plus there are a bunch that I can't get to see (The Zone of Interest, Monster, The Beast, Fallen Leaves, All of Us Strangers). This list will look a lot different in a month or so.

I saw a few older films that I gave 5-stars to:
Le Bonheur, Vagabond, Celine and Julie Go Boating, Woman in the Dunes, All the Colours of the Dark, The Laughing Woman, Funeral Parade of Roses, Diamonds of the Night, Army of Shadows, The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant, Vortex

[Mister Six]

Ooh, nice colour coordination there @Minami Minegishi (although I'm only getting a tiny thumbnail on my laptop and need to load the pic in another tab to get the full sized version, for some reason). Is that a Letterboxd Pro thing? There are a few there I hadn't even heard of, so I'll look into them.

Cheers, @Small Man Big Horse - you're my go-to guy for indie film tips these days, and Dicks was one of yours.

Amazing list Mister Six! Are you gonna do one for pre 2023 as well?

Not sure what you mean! I did one for 2022 (although I retroactively made Aftersun my #1 pick), but that was the first year I started keeping records in this way, so I don't have anything for previous years.

EDIT: Bugger, just realised I got the pictures for Fremont and Infinity Pool the wrong way around. And for some reason the image isn't loading for Anatomy of a Fall. Oh well!

[kitsofan34]

No no I meant films you've watched this year, but weren't released in 2023.