2023 - a tumultuous year that will likely be remembered as an oasis of calm once we get into the sheer hell a presidential election brings. Seriously, if someone came up with a system to cast an absentee ballot now and then sleep for the next twelve months, they would make a fortune. But there will be plenty of time to talk about next year when it's over, assuming any of us are still alive. In the meantime, it's time to talk about this year's movies.
Hollywood's in a bit of a catastrophic mood thanks to a combination of a few high-profile labor strikes and quite a few high profile box office bombs. I can't blame them for being upset about the former, but the lessons from the latter are pretty clear. It's true that the superhero genre is on the verge of total burnout, but all that means is that it just becomes one of many genres instead of the dominant one. They won't make a fortune simply by existing anymore, but the great ones will still bring in the crowds (see no. 4). The "Barbenheimer" phenomenon was about as clear a demonstration you could ask for that people are eager for something they haven't seen before. Barbie was the highest-grossing movie of the year, while Oppenheimer made way more money than your typical three hour biopic about a famous scientist. It also helps that unlike your typical bloated Marvel movie, those films didn't need to make the equivalent of a small country's GDP in order to break even (but they did anyway!).
There are a lot of other smaller successes out there when you start looking for them. But box office isn't a qualification to get on this list, so let's get to the favorites.
10. Oppenheimer
Oh, speak of the devil. That may have multiple meanings depending on how you feel about the sweeping, larger than life story of Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy), the physicist who led the project that developed the first atomic bomb. Upon hearing that the Nazis are working on an atomic weapon, Oppenheimer is recruited and whole town is built from the ground up in New Mexico to accommodate the massive endeavor. Germany is defeated before the bomb is ready, but the United States government decides to use it on Japan instead, in what may be history’s most lethal example of the sunk cost fallacy. Upon realizing that the military will keep pushing for bigger and more destructive weapons, Oppenheimer ruffles feathers by speaking against the Cold War arms race and his reputation comes under siege during the Red Scare.
It’s a huge movie with a lot of material to grapple with, although despite the gravitas it feels unwilling to confront the true horror of what the bombs did to Japan. Oppenheimer surely knows full well, but his true feelings about it all are difficult to parse. His inner conflict and contradictions are also those of America, and both have to face the truth about their role in advancing science that could destroy humanity. Nolan uses a non-linear structure (like the dream layers in Inception) but retains impressive clarity, cutting between the story of the bomb’s creation, Oppenheimer’s ordeal while questioned about his loyalty to America, and a Senate hearing in the late 1950s where the whole affair would be re-litigated. Robert Downey, Jr gives one of his best performances as the vindictive bureaucrat Lewis Strauss and Matt Damon steals scenes as General Leslie Groves, but most of the enormous ensemble cast gets a chance to shine, including Emily Blunt as Kitty Oppenheimer, Florence Pugh as Jean Tatlock, David Krumholtz as Isidor Rabi, Rami Malek as David Hill, Tom Conti as Albert Einstein, Gary Oldman as President Harry Truman, and many more.
9. Anatomy of a Fall
The courtroom drama of this film is really just a backdrop for an intense story about marriage and family. The popular writer Sandra Voyter (a complex performance from Sandra Huller) becomes the prime suspect when her husband (Samuel Theis) suddenly falls to his death. The police can’t rule out foul play and the only witness is the couple’s blind son (Milo Graner), who is put through an emotional wringer by the trial. Every ugly detail of Sandra’s marriage is publicized and dissected, including the centerpiece of the film - an escalating ten minute argument that was surreptitiously recorded. It’s one of those movies that feels intellectual and distant at first until you get to the third act and realize that you’re totally wrapped up in it thanks to the superb acting all around (even the dog gives a great performance) and memorable details. Just before his death, the husband was listening to a reggae instrumental cover of 50 Cent’s “P.I.M.P.”
8. The Boy and the Heron
This was an astounding year for animation, maybe the best in all the years I've been making these lists. It was so good that the beautiful Hayao Miyazaki movie was somehow only my third-favorite animated film of the year. It's said to be the last film from the world’s most renowned animator, although one could be forgiven for skepticism given how many times Miyazaki announced his retirement only to be drawn back to the craft he has so thoroughly mastered.
A young boy named Mahito loses his mother during a World War II bombing and moves to the countryside with his father and his aunt Natsuko. The home is in proximity to a mysterious tower housing a strange alternate world, and when Natsuko vanishes, Mahito forms a contentious partnership with a rude talking heron. The artistry is magnificent, with impossibly beautiful animation and another gorgeous musical score from longtime collaborator Joe Hisaishi, but the surreal storyline is all a vehicle for Miyazaki to make a deeply personal statement about aging, the value of creation, and putting your faith in the next generation. The original Japanese title, “How Do You Live?” is a better match for the themes.
7. May December
Julianne Moore plays Gracie, a character inspired by Mary Kay Letourneau, a woman who was jailed for an affair with a middle-school student only to marry him after her release. Gracie’s story has inspired a movie, so the actress Elizabeth Berry (Natalie Portman) decides to spend some time with her and her husband (Charles Melton) for the sake of her performance. At first glance it seems like a typical suburban household but there is a lot of regret and denial under the surface and the fragile dynamic is upset by the presence of someone new. Moore and Portman are very good, but the standout performance is given by Melton, who becomes the poster child for stolen innocence. There’s a lot going on with this movie - Todd Haynes mines maximum discomfort out of this lightning rod subject matter while also adding some amusing commentary on how tawdry a lot of these “ripped from the headlines” films are despite the high-minded claims of the cast and crew. It’s a movie for movie buffs, in other words, but gripping enough for anyone.
6. When Evil Lurks
Demian Rugna, the director of the knockout horror movie Terrified (not to be confused with the Terrifier films) returned with a relentless, gorgeous, incredibly grim horror film with the most original take on demonic possession in decades. Deep in rural Argentina, two brothers (Ezequiel Rodriguez and Demian Salomon) learn that one of their neighbors has become a “rotten,” a person used as an incubator for some demonic figure. They try to deal with the issue themselves without using the proper rites of exorcism and almost immediately, an evil force spreads mercilessly like a contagion.
The first half is disorienting as the film is slow to reveal details about its quietly post-apocalyptic setting as the viewers are hit with one brutal setpiece after another, all rendered with terrific gore effects. While the supernatural plotline stands on its own, there’s something real and disquieting about how appropriate it feels for its era. You will feel intense frustration at how these characters act impulsively and make catastrophic decisions, ignoring the advice of experts, in a way that is all too reminiscent of the various traumas of the 2020s.
5. Killers of the Flower Moon
A complex, gargantuan retelling of a shameful episode in American history. In the early 1900s, the native Osage people of Oklahoma discovered oil on their land and became some of the wealthiest people on Earth (although an insulting government bureaucracy controlled access to the money). Years later, the dim-witted Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) returns from World War I to work for his uncle William “King” Hale (Robert DeNiro), who pretends to be a friend of the Osage but actually has a heinous plot to steal their wealth. At the suggestion of his uncle, Ernest marries Mollie Kyle (a breakout performance by Lily Gladstone) while plotting against her family and participating in Hale’s scheme of embezzlement, fraud, and mass murder. It often feels like a classic Scorsese crime epic - what’s damning is just how easily that template can be used for a story about the relationship between the United States and its indigenous people.
The Native reaction to the film was conflicted, but there were numerous Osage people involved with the film. Their input is said to have changed everything from wardrobe and setting details to moving the entire focus of the storyline away from the FBI (which was at the center of David Grann’s book) to the marriage between Ernest and Lily. There was also much discussion of its massive 3.5 hour length. While never boring thanks to Thelma Schoonmaker’s editing, it’s an awfully long time to sit with such a devastating portrait of greed at a level that should be incomprehensible…but in the times that we live in, is all too comprehensible.
4. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
With this masterful sequel, this series of animated films continues to shame its live-action counterparts in terms of offering an exhilarating viewing experience. While saving the multiverse at the end of the last movie, Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore) inadvertently caused the creation of The Spot (Jason Schwartzman), an insecure dimension-hopping supervillain who threatens all the different realities. The society of Spider-people finds itself at odds over how to deal with them, offering a clever commentary on the worst of nerd culture. There are some memorable additions to the cast - the futuristic Spider-Man Miguel O’Hara (Oscar Isaac), the British punk rock Spider-Man Hobie Brown (Daniel Kaluuya), the pregnant Spider-Woman Jessica Drew (Issa Rae), and the Indian Spider-Man Pavitr Prabhakar (Karan Soni), among others. As the 140 minute epic (currently the longest animated film ever made in America) catapults from one show-stopping action scene to the next, you can almost feel the art of animation being pushed beyond its limits. The animators themselves certainly felt it - hopefully they will be treated better next time.
3. Godzilla Minus One
Overwhelmingly positive word of mouth helped this instant Japanese classic become an unlikely box office success, even beating the Disney animated film Wish. This outstanding take on the definitive kaiju returns Godzilla to the post-WWII setting of the original film. Once again, American nuclear testing in the Pacific awakens and enrages the gigantic creature and Big G takes out his anger on the already desperate Japanese people. Given that the country is still rebuilding after the war, it is in no shape to deal with a threat like this, which is the basis for the movie’s odd title - Japan is at “zero” following their defeat, so Godzilla is about to take them to “minus one.”
It’s been understood for decades that Godzilla is the star of these movies and the humans are inconsequential, but this film has arguably the most compelling human characters in the entire series - the survivor’s guilt-ridden pilot Koichi (Ryunosuke Kamiki) and his surrogate family Noriko (Minami Hamabe) and little Akiko (Sae Nagatani). The spectacle side of the equation is just as strong, with monster mayhem that looks like it cost a fortune but was apparently only $15 million (some receipts might be necessary in order to believe that). It’s about as perfect a giant monster movie as anyone could hope for.
2. How to Blow Up A Pipeline
A fictional distillation of the themes of a nonfiction book that examined the history of radical environmentalist movements, particularly those who believe that destroying the infrastructure of industries that pollute the Earth is defensible given the stakes involved. A group of people from all walks of life coordinate a plan to blow up a pipeline deep in the Texan wilderness. The film alternates between their meticulous preparation and flashbacks about how each of them got involved, making for a compelling illustration of the various ways that pollution destroys lives. It’s tense, exciting, and goes further than most movies would dare when it comes to capturing the frustrated rage of this era.
It pissed off all the right people, who predictably miss the point and whine about "glorifying" an act of terrorism. It's not about whether or not it's the "right" thing to do, the point of the movie is that a growing amount of young people feel like it's their only hope...and can you blame them? The activists themselves are not always sympathetic (a couple of them are irritating, which tends to be the case in real life as well), but the cause is another matter. After decades of governments bending to the whims of polluters and ignoring the huge movement advocating for environmental justice, should anyone be surprised when people start to think that there’s no legal solution to this problem?
1. Suzume
This is a Makoto Shinkai film, which means that there will be big emotions, gorgeous colorful skies, and people rushing through city streets. There's definitely a formula by now, but I'll be damned if it doesn't still bring the house down. Suzume is a teenage girl who has spent most of her life living on the island of Kyushu with her aunt since the death of her mother. After encountering the mysterious Souta, she unwittingly releases a dangerous natural force and must travel across Japan to set things right.
The marketing did this movie a bit of a disservice by trying to sell it to the West as a young adult love story. There's some of that, but this is primarily a story about the long shadow of the devastating March 2011 earthquake and tsunami...and the children who had to grow up without loved ones because of it. Haunting piles of debris are a frequent sight during Suzume's journey, which becomes almost unbearably emotional by the ending. Seriously, I'm quite relieved that nobody in the theater had a camera pointed at me during the last twenty minutes of this movie because it was not pretty. I admit it, I'm biased towards movies that that reduce a crowd to a collective sobbing wreck because it's not an easy thing to do. A truly beautiful film in every sense of the word.
Honorable Mentions
11. Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret
12. Nimona
13. Evil Dead Rise
15. Dumb Money
16. Huesera: The Bone Woman
17. Poor Things
18. Lonely Castle in the Mirror
19. Bottoms
20. Unicorn Wars
I can't shake the feeling that 2024 is going to be absolutely miserable, but maybe I'll be wrong? Good luck, everyone.
