A list of my favorite movies that came out in 2023.
Overview
It’s that time of year again. Following up on my Top Ten Movies from 2022 article from last year, here are my favorite movies that came out this year, plus honorable mentions and my least favorite movie of the year.
10. The Creator
I find Gareth Edwards to be extremely hit or miss, so I wasn’t entirely sure going in which route this movie would take, but the trailer looked pretty good so I gave it a shot. Thankfully it was one of his good ones. Granted, the plot wasn’t exactly unique – it felt like a mixture of Space Sweepers (2021), I, Robot (2004) and Westworld (2016-2022) merged into a story that I honestly would have expected Neill Blomkamp to tell –which in turn made it rather predictable. Even still, it’s a quality example of these types of AI stories and I really liked the designs they used for the futuristic tech.
9. The Boogeyman
Having read the Stephen King short story that this was based on, I had a certain expectation for this movie going in. It ended up being essentially a sequel to the short story, which was interesting. The original short story is summed up early on in a similar format to the book where a father (David Dastmalchian) explains the horrible deaths of his whole family to a therapist, Will Harper (Chris Messena), with slight alterations to King’s original. In this version, he basically passes the Boogeyman on to the Harper family to repeat the horror from there. My favorite thing about the movie was the casting. The main characters are Will’s daughters Sadie (Sophie Thatcher) and Sawyer (Vivien Lyra Blair). I know Sophie as young Natalie from Yellowjackets (2021-) and Vivien as young Leia from Obi Wan Kenobi (2022) and both are incredible.
*Spoilers*
In fact, they are both so incredible that I was particularly bummed that at least one of them was bound to die, since that’s how the original short story plays out. However, both actually survived which . . . I’m torn on. I mean, I was really worried about the two girls so on one hand I’m glad they survived, but it kinda feels like too far of a departure from the source material where the core concept of the story is literally about how the children keep dying at the hands of the Boogeyman.
8. Nimona
I went into this knowing nothing and was very pleasantly surprised. The visuals are beautiful and I particularly like the setting, a mashup of medieval fantasy and futuristic sci-fi. Plus the dynamic between Nimona (Chloë Grace Moretz) and Ballistar (Riz Ahmed) is entertaining.
7. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
I’m a big fan of multiverse stories, so I was happy to once again get to explore the Spider-Verse to see what they could do with it this time around. One thing I always loved most about the first movie was the incredible animation, and in this one, although it didn’t have quite the same impact, I appreciated that they incorporated different styles into the different worlds. For example, Gwen’s (Hailee Steinfield) world is a more watercolor based art style, as opposed to Miles’ (Shameik Moore) homeworld which is designed to look more like a comic book. Unfortunately, I didn’t know going in that it was basically “part 1” of this part of the story, so without that in mind, this ends rather abruptly just as it’s ramping up. I still feel like they could have given it its own climactic ending while still building up to something, like Avengers: Infinity War (2018) did, but otherwise I had a good time with this one.
6. The Flash
Believe me, I’m just as surprised as you are that this is so high on my list. I was very worried about this movie going in, especially after all the stuff that’s been going on with Ezra Miller. But the Flash is one of my favorite DC characters and his part at the end of the Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021) is so amazing that I was tentatively hopeful about this one. The opening is so bizarre that it only deepened my worry but after that, it actually played out in a really intriguing way. They sort of merged aspects of the Flashpoint comic event with some Barry/Wally storylines, only in this case instead of Barry and Wally, it’s two different versions of Barry. Aside from that disastrous first scene, I found the rest of the movie to be quite enjoyable and true to the spirit of the Flash comics.
5. When Evil Lurks
This year I discovered Argentinian horror director Demian Rugna when I did a double feature of this and Terrified (2017). Both are intense supernatural horror films where no one is allowed to be happy, and I can’t wait to see what else Rugna can come up with. When Evil Lurks is interesting, too, because the main character is not exactly role model material, so when he’s genuinely trying to save his estranged family from a demonic outbreak, they just think he’s being a problem again. The horror is pretty vile, too.
4. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
The other two Guardians movies are two of my all-time favorite MCU films. This one didn’t quite hit the same emotional mark those ones did, but it’s still a good part of the series. This time around, the focus is more on Rocket (Bradley Cooper) and his tragic past, paving the way for him to be the new team leader. The High Evolutionary (Chukwidi Iwuji) made for a great villain and I liked seeing his world of humanoid animals. Plus, even though it was very brief, we finally got Phyla Vell (Kai Zen), who I’ve always loved in the Annihilation comic event, so I’m hoping we get more of her in the MCU’s future.
3. They Cloned Tyrone
I’ve never swung so hard from “this is just ok” to “this is amazing!” as I did with this movie. I struggled to get into it for the first fifteen minutes, but then (and this is not a spoiler) Fontaine (John Boyega) dies and everything gets SO insanely entertaining. I kept getting interrupted throughout the movie and each time I was dying to get back to it because I was having such a great time with Fontaine, Slick Charles (Jamie Foxx), and Yo-Yo (Teyonah Parris) during their journey into the secret underground world that has been controlling their entire lives and community. It has some strong They Live (1988) vibes, too, particularly in how propaganda and subliminal messaging is being used to manipulate people.
2. Talk to Me
I heard nothing but great things about this movie, to the point where I was a little worried it was overhyped and could never live up to expectations. I had no need to worry. This is such a great horror film and I was so into it from start to finish. The final scene was absolutely perfect and I’d be down for a sequel for sure. Also, it was cool to see Miranda Otto (best known as Éowyn from the Lord of the Rings franchise) in something else for once, and there was a prominent non-binary character, Hayley, played by non-binary actor Zoe Terakes.
1. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
Between this and Baldur’s Gate 3 (2023), Dungeons & Dragons really pulled out all the stops this year! This film is such a blast. I love everything about it – the characters, the cast, the humor, the magic, etc, etc. They set the stage right away with Edgin’s (Chris Pine) bardic recap of his history leading to his imprisonment as he attempts to win over the hearts of the judges who will determine if he is freed or not, sprinkling in the most hilarious interjections about judge Jarnathan (Clayton Grover), and they stay true to this path of heartbreak mixed with humor all throughout the movie in the best possible way. Incidentally, both Honor Among Thieves and Nimona have a similar scene in which a shapeshifter is chased by a group of guards and transforms into a variety of animals to escape.
Honorable Mentions:
It’s a Wonderful Knife and Totally Killer
Both of these were flawed enough not to make the official top 10 cut, but they definitely have their merits nonetheless. They are similar in style and tone, in which a teenage girl finds herself transported through time (Totally Killer) or the multiverse (It’s a Wonderful Knife) and must find a way to get home without messing everything up. Both are humorous and manage to subvert the expectation at times during otherwise cliched scenes. The bottom line is, don’t expect perfection, but they are still worth the watch.
Worst:
Shazam! Fury of the Gods
Shazam! (2019) is in my top 5 DCEU films, which only added to my disappointment in its sequel. The first one had a good mixture of Billy Batson (Asher Angel) and Shazam (Zachary Levi) which was great because Levi’s Shazam is fun to watch to a point, but can get overdone if it goes on too long. In this one, Billy had like 5 minutes of screentime and the rest was all Shazam, so it really highlighted all the bad parts about his personality. They tried so hard to recreate the humor from the first one, but they just couldn’t do it right. And it’s really hard to make a villain who can live up to Mark Strong, so that did them no favors either.
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