Movies

The movies of 2023 that left the biggest impressions

December 15, 2023

The past few years have been strange for cinema, but 2023 was the most turbulent yet. A pair of historic strikes and high profile box office flops on a seemingly weekly basis made it seemed like audiences did not care about movies anymore. But a billion dollar cultural phenomenon and some surprising successes proved that people can still be motivated to head out to the theaters. With 2023 nearing its end, we look back on the films that left the biggest impressions – for better and worse.

Rory Wilding

Favorite: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Five years are a long time to wait for the sequel to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the greatest superhero movie ever made. And fortunately, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse did not disappoint, from not only expanding upon the groundbreaking mix of 2D and 3D animation which recreates the aesthetic and techniques of comics and various art forms, but also creating compelling obstacles of Miles Morales’s journey as Spider-Man.

Given the many, many Spider-people that pop up throughout the movie, as well as the visual overload that it can be, it never detracts from the central narrative that feels like a classic Spidey tale of Moles balancing his family and superhero duties. But also a meta commentary on the Spider-Man franchise, in that there has always been an attempt to maintain a canon, something that Across the Spider-Verse acknowledges and is determined to break it for the better.

Given the recent allegations towards the film regarding poor working conditions, hopefully this is a sign for animation studios to be more respectful towards their staff. Whilst there have been no signs about when the third installment, Beyond the Spider-Verse, will be released, putting all these issues aside, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse shows that superhero movies can be relevant and experimental, and still have a place in the cinema.

Least Favorite: Expend4bles

We bitch and moan about the continuation of certain franchises, and that is apparent when it comes to the Expendables series. Although I have never been a fan of these movies, which suffer from an overly serious tone and direction that never captures the over-the-top aesthetics of ’80s action movies, the annoyingly-titled Expend4bles is a real low point, not just for the series, but action movies in general.

Whereas previous installments somewhat embraced the ensemble cast that mixes iconic action stars and later generational stars, Expend4bles is very much Jason Statham’s show and thus not really accepting the series’ concept. All the while, Megan Fox continues to fail as a convincing action star.

Poorly directed by Scott Waugh, who delivers the R-rated content, and yet the strong language and gory violence feel tacked on in an action movie that looks both big-budget and low-budget, as evident in photo-shopped explosions that pop up from time to time. It even wastes the talent of both Iko Uwais and Tony Jaa, whose martial arts skills are mishandled through choppy editing.

Ending with a misjudged joke, which shows you how horrible these characters are, I could not think of a better declaration for a franchise to be rightfully executed as Expend4bles is a box office bomb. Even the lack of Arnie shows you that the Austrian Oak is better than this.

Shane Martin

Favorite: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

From the first trailer, I knew that Volume 3 of Guardians of the Galaxy was going to have an entirely different feel than the first two installments of the franchise and I was immediately proven correct when the movie opened to the acoustic version of Radiohead’s “Creep”. What followed was one of the most heart wrenching movies to come out of the MCU, arguably ever.

Rocket Racoon was the primary focus of this film as we finally got more information on this beloved character. Tragic doesn’t quite sum it up. My heart bled for Rocket through the entire film, rooting for him every step of the way. We’ve seen a lot of bad dudes and dudettes come and go since the MCU started in 2008, but Chukwudi Iwuji just might play the most despicable character in the entire Marvel Universe. I hated this guy, but it is because he plays the High Evolutionary so well. It is a serious testament to his talent as an actor.

Even though Rocket’s story took up most of the plot line, Guardians 3 still allowed the other characters to shine. Drax had a heart warming character arc fitting for what may be Dave Bautista’s final portrayal of the character. Mantis got some time to shine and show what she is capable of. And the addition of Adam Warlock as a babbling and immature idiot was fun and unexpected. Even Kraglin and the bestest doggo in the galaxy, Cosmo, two minor characters, had more character development than the entirety of Ezra Miller in The Flash.

This movie made me laugh. This movie made me cry. This movie made me smile. Personally, I’ve been going through a lot this year, and cinema has always been my way of escaping, even for a couple of hours, the day to day grind that is life. The final scene, highlighted by Florence and the Machine’s “Dog Days are Over” really struck a chord with me, and ended a perfect movie in a perfect way. I cannot speak highly enough of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. My words cannot do this movie justice.

Also, fuck the High Evolutionary.

Least Favorite: The Flash

I try very hard to disconnect actors from the roles they play on screen. However, this was one case that I just could not separate the actor, Ezra Miller, from the character, Barry Allen AKA, the titular Flash. And to make matters significantly worse, there were TWO Ezra Millers on my screen at any given time.

I really cannot come up with anything positive to say about this film. I hated about 99% of what I saw. In fact, the only 2% of the movie I actually enjoyed were the brief, and I mean brief, moments where Ezra Miller was not on my screen. Conceptually, this movie was ok, but in practice it just fell short. Miller is extremely unlikeable in the Barry Allen role and came across more as a spoiled brat than an actual hero. The jokes and lame attempts at humor fell as flat as Miller backside before the CGI. Not even the long awaited return of Michael Keaton as Batman could save this film for me. If the DCEU had any attempts of surviving before the release of The Flash, this movie squashed any hopes from the start. Avoid this one.

Michael Rosch

Favorite: Poor Things

How to describe Poor Things? Yorgos Lanthimos’ second collaboration with Emma Stone is James Whale’s Bride of Frankenstein with a formalist aesthetic as singular and imaginative as that of Wes Anderson. I’m writing this fresh off of having seen the film, so I’m still processing it all. This is Emma Stone’s bravest and possibly best performance to date. The general oddness of Bella Baxter may initially seem simple, but Stone’s every tick, every line reading, the way she carries herself – all carefully calibrated without appearing so.

The costumes, makeup, production design, cinematography, and score all bring this strange steam-punk fever dream of a Victorian Era Europe that never was to life. Even the moving tableaus during the film’s interstitials between chapters demand further viewing. And for those of us who have lamented the sexless Disney-fication of cinema, it’s refreshing to see a film as unapologetically sexual and sex positive as this one.

Comedies are often overlooked among best films of the year, but Poor Things succeeds not just because of its elaborate design and deft filmmaking but also because it manages to delicately balance often incredibly funny sequences with its deeper pursuit of what it means to be human. And appropriately, its through the artiface of the uncanny Bella Baxter that Emma Stone found her most human performance.

Least Favorite: The Flash

The Flash Movie starring Ezra Miller |Teaser Trailer

First, I will say nice things. The opening rescue sequence is pretty fun and mostly works for me (yes, even the microwave gag – though not its shoddy special effects). The Flash’s costume is a big improvement over the metallic one in Justice League. Also, Sasha Calle does the best with the terrible script they gave her, and I wouldn’t mind seeing more of her in a better movie. That’s it.

Now the bad. If ever there were a film more believably written by an algorithm, it would be this one. (Warner Bros, feel free to use that as a pull quote on future blu-ray packaging.) The decisions made along the long road of this film’s development are truly mind-boggling.Years ago, I considered what a Flash movie might look like. I figured it would follow a similar blueprint as past successful superhero films: origin story, romance subplot with hero’s main canonical love interest, classic member of hero’s rogue’s gallery chosen as the villain, etc. Almost none of that is here. Sure,some of that backstory is central to this film’s plot, but the film is so distracted with its larger shared universe that The Flash’s actual story is stripped of its emotional weight.

The Flash is denied the opportunity to even face one of his own villains. Instead, we get a return of an even more checked-out Michael Shannon, given the thankless job of an even more two-dimensional Zod than the one in Man of Steel as he’s given nothing to work with here. Iris West isn’t really a character in this movie at all. And boy, if you already weren’t on board with Ezra Miller’s attempts at channelling Toby Mcguire’s awkward ticks from Spider-Man, the second, more annoying Barry doesn’t do this film any favors even if one ignores Ezra Miller’s problematic real-life scandals. The special effects are dreadful, especially the “Chronobowl” sequences – moments that demand bravura filmmaking conjuring the sublime but instead look like cerca 1985 CGI.

Further, the supposedly triumphant return of Michael Keaton’s Batman reminds me of the opening joke of Annie Hall: the food’s terrible and in such small portions. There’s no reason for Keaton’s Batman to be in the first only Flash movie, but since he’s here, there’s also nothing about him that authentically matches his earlier performances or Tim Burton’s tone other than the cheap gimmick of repeating iconic lines from those films (I hope the writers of those original lines got paid for the plagiarism though). Every Batman in this film, Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Aquaman, Zod – and every soulless nostalgia image and sound used in that multiverse montage – are the product of cheap, lazy writing designed to distract from a mess of a script that doesn’t even know what story it’s trying to tell. And that it never occurs to The Flash to even bother to use his time traveling adventure to at least learn the identity of his mother’s real killer might be the single dumbest plothold in cinema history.

Lia Williamson

Favorite: Barbie

I can’t remember the last time movies were just fun like this let alone the last time audiences as a whole had . Barbie really was a cultural moment and everything surrounding the film felt once in a lifetime almost.

David Brooke

Favorite – The Holdovers

The Holdovers was my favorite film of the year, though others like Barbie were close by. That’s in part for my love of the director and star, both of whom crafted Sideways, which is one of my favorite films ever. No, The Holdovers was the best movie of 2023 because it felt like cinema, editing, and pacing style we don’t often see in the digital era. The characters felt well-written and real. The cinematography is as beautiful as necessary, yet never takes over the narrative and feels burdensome. Similar to Sideways, the ending also felt earned, yet a bit tragic. The journey continues, but the last two hours of film was a deciding moment in all of the character’s lives. Much like in life, we go on each day trudging along, but sometimes there are a few days or weeks where real change happens, and you’ll know you’ll reflect on those days later in life fondly. That’s how I feel about this film.

Nathaniel Muir

Favorite: You’ll Never Find Me

The movies of 2023 that left the biggest impressions

Single location movies are hard to do. More than other movies, there has to be an engaging story, exceptionally strong performances, and the tone has to be just right. If even one of those elements is lacking, the entire movie falls apart. You’ll Never Find Me is an indie horror film from Australia that does everything perfectly.

The premise sounds simple enough. A young woman seeks shelter from a violent rainstorm at a stranger’s RV. But why is his home located at the very back end of the trailer park? And what was she doing out in such awful weather to begin with? And just like that, the plot becomes much more complicated.

The production is fantastic, with the sound design and use of lighting increasing the tension. Brendan Rock and Jordan Cowan do an excellent job of building distrust and using furtive glances and movements in place of action. Everything culminates in a wild ending that is unsettling and horrific.

Least Favorite: The Exorcist: Believer

Sometimes the worst movie of the year is the most disappointing. The Exorcist is arguably the greatest horror movie of all time. It constantly ranks at the top of “Best of” horror lists, pretty much invented an entire genre, and is responsible for introducing a whole generation to horror – while scaring off another. A legacy sequel would have a lot to live up to, but it would not have to be great; even if it was merely good, it would be a success.

The initial trailers for The Exorcist: Believer made it look like Blumhouse was onto something. They were scary and looked like they had respect for the original while telling their own story. Audiences were left stunned as they wonder what kind of terror the new movie would bring. As it turns out, the trailers were the best thing about it.

From bad production to horrible writing, the latest installment in The Exorcist franchise may be the worst. Aside from some shoehorned name dropping and pointless cameos, there is no connection between this and any of the other movies. The story is boring in its worst moments and pointless in its best. A number of characters are introduced for no apparent reason and end up leaving no impression. The exorcism itself is one of the sillier finales of the year, with one character correctly stating that nothing they are doing even matters.

Would it have been a better movie if they skipped the Exorcist name and made it a new IP? No, but it would not have been burdened with expectations and could have just been forgettably bad. Instead, it has tarnished the legacy of one of horror’s most important titles.

Tim O’Neil

Favorite: Godzilla Minus One

Slipping into American cinemas just under the wire in December, this kaiju period piece is easily one of the best films of 2023. This franchise is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year and the film takes place in the 1940s but the story and its timeless themes are as relevant as ever. Godzilla and his movies have a long tail. A long, powerful, scaly tail. Better looking and scripted than most Hollywood fare with literally 10x the (allegedly generously overestimated) $15 million budget. This monster flick delivers giant spectacle and small human drama in spades. The only criticism I have is that maybe the end overstays its welcome for one too many beats but hopefully you’ll be too elated to care.

Least Favorite: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

What are we doing here people? If we’re going to keep dragging Harrison Ford onto set to make a movie he doesn’t give a shit about at least let him sit down or something. Maybe the increasingly contrived ways to write the scene around him sitting could at least be funny instead of this aggressively mediocre flop that evaporated from the public consciousness as soon as we left the theater. I think time travel was involved?