It's time for my list of the best films of 2023. Films eligible for this list are those that were released in cinemas or on steaming in the UK during 2023- this means there could be some films that were released in 2022 in the US and that there might be films from other lists online that are conspicuously absent here because they have yet to have a UK release (I'm looking at you Poor Things). I've also included where you should be able to see each film should you be so inclined.
10: Pearl (Rent Online)
I enjoyed Ti West's 2022 horror film Xbut it turned out he secretly made a prequel at the same time. Pearl sees Mia Goth reprise her role as the villain from X. In 1918 Pearl is living on an isolated farm during the Spanish Influenza and she is desperate to escape and become a dancer. It takes cues from the Golden Age of Hollywood with inspiration like The Wizard of Oz, though Pearl's interactions with a scarecrow are somewhat different from Dorothy's. Whilst most prequels feel like a cash-in, this one exists because there's a story worth telling and it actually adds something to X.
9: Barbie (Rent Online)
I was very late to this cultural phenomenon and I'm clearly not the target audience for it. Many would have expected a Barbie film to be pink nonsense for young girls but this would go over most children's heads. Whilst The Super Mario Bros. Movie was also popular and based on an existing intellectual property, this film takes the property and does something fascinating with it. On the one hand, it's simply a decent comedy playing with the concept of Barbie and Ken but it also manages to work as a brilliant feminist story, exploring the concept of patriarchy and mirroring the real world with the fictional world of Barbieland to do so. It manages to do this without ever feeling preachy, telling us that that patriarchy and many of the flaws of being human are caused simply because being human is so difficult. It seels the answer to these issues as not being about fighting them so much as teaching people to find the value in themselves and that feels like a great message to me.
8: Wonka (In Cinemas)
I wasn't sold on the idea of a prequel to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory featuring a young Willy Wonka but then I discovered this was written and directed by the team behind the two superb Paddington movies. This has the same warmth to it whilst also managing to capture a Roald Dahl-esque feel and be a musical with some really great songs. It's the sort of film the whole family can enjoy and feels like a warm hug in the best of ways.
7: Saltburn (Amazon Prime)
This is probably the most controversial film on my list as many critics hated it- it's very much a Marmite film. Written and directed by Emerald Fennell, it stars Barry Keoghan as a lonely working-class student at Oxford who befriends upper-class popular student Felix who invites him to the family home, Saltburn, for the summer. Oliver's behaviour becomes ever more obsessive, leading to several sequences which can't be unseen. It pivots in genre towards the end and perhaps could have done so more elegantly but it worked for me. It's hilarious, stylish, surprising and contains some great music.
6: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Rent Online)
Whilst live-action superhero films have largely struggled this year, this animated sequel to Into the Spider-Verse did really well. Spider-Man remains one of the most engaging superheroes and Miles Morales is a great take on the character. This film sees him try to change destiny and face Spider-People from different universes to do so. Over the last few years, Sony Animation have stolen the title of best Hollywood Animation studio from Pixar and they really play around effectively the visuals here with each character and universe having it's own unique visual style. Of the many superhero films of the last ten years, this is one of the very best.
5: Oppenheimer (Rent Online)
Christopher Nolan directed this superb film about the man who invented the atomic bomb, played here by Cillian Murphy. For a while, it's simply a great drama about creating this weapon to try to end the war but it becomes a much deeper story as Oppenheimer, and you as the viewer, reflect on the creation of the deadliest weapon humanity has yet created. It's difficult to deny it wasn't necessary to do at the time and thank God the Nazis didn't get there first but the consequences of the invention are still being felt. The scene where the bomb is first tested is so tense and is one of the very best of the year.
4: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (Disney+)
It has been a terrible year for superhero films with DC releases such monstrosities like Shazam: Fury of the Gods and The Flash and Marvel struggling too (I think Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania may have been the worst of the many films I have seen this year). Pleasingly though the final film in James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy was superb. The previous films had managed to make a talking raccoon a convincing and sympathetic character but this took that a step forward telling us Rocket's tragic origin. It also felt like a proper ending, giving every character a conclusion that was well set up and felt right for them. The final song is another of my scenes of the year and the most joyous I felt in a cinema in 2023.
3: Godzilla Minus One (In Cinemas)
I frankly never expected a Godzilla film to be anywhere near this list but here we are. Unconnected to the dodgy US film, this is a Japanese film that is set in the 1940s and deals with the trauma of World War II. It has some great scenes involving a massive monster stomping through Tokyo and some sequences which are heavily inspired by Jawsbut it works because there is an astonishingly well-told character story at the centre of it. I would never have imagined a Godzilla film would make me cry but this one certainly did.
2: John Wick: Chapter 4 (Amazon Prime)
I've really enjoyed the previous John Wick films with Keanu Reeves as the titular assassin but this one blew me away. It mostly sees Wick fight his way through many, many people who are trying to kill him with a ticking clock along the way. I've never seen action scenes that feel quite so visceral and thrilling. It's also beautifully shot- people punching each other has never looked so good. There are sequences here that feel not dissimilar to something Buster Keaton would have done in the 1920s too, tragically funny. There has been much speculation about whether another installment will be made but this ended the story in a perfect, ambiguous way.
1: Past Lives (Rent Online)
This is such a beautiful film. Written and directed by newcomer Celine Song, it tells the story of Korean childhood sweethearts who were separated when Nora's family emigrated to Canada. Nora and Hae Sung reconnect and eventually meet up in New York where Nora now lives. You feel like it is going to be a romance but it's much deeper than that. The pair have a very close relationship but one that is never romantic and the film doesn't fall into the cliche of making Nora's American husband a horrible person. Hae Sung considers hypotheticals about Nora remaining in Seoul but the point of the film is that hypotheticals are pointless, life takes us in a certain direction and we should accept that. It manages to feel very real, never cheesy and full of emotion. I've never seen anything quite like it before.
There you have it, a proper eclectic mix of films in my top 10 list this year! I'd love to hear your thoughts on these films or if there were any that you think should have made this list and didn't- you can comment wherever you found the link to this post. I'll be back next week with one final post of the year, in the mean time I hope you have a lovely Christmas!
