With 2023 done with, you knew it was only a matter of time before I got the films I would like the most and the ones that I would like the least. Of course as always, we will start with the ones I like the most which should be fair to everyone because more people want to know the films I hated the most considering the name of this site. So before I get into the honorable mentions, let's get to the films I did not see because there will be films you love that I just did not see. So sorry that I didn't see these.
* All Dirt Roads Taste Of Salt
* American Fiction
* Anatomy Of A Fall
* Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret
* Beau Is Afraid
* Blackberry
* Blue Giant
* Cobweb
* May December
* Past Lives
* Poor Things
* The Zone Of Interest
* Where Evil Lurks
Now some films are just going to miss the cut when it comes to my favorite. Here are the 5 honorable mentions in alphabetical order.
Evil Dead Rise
Mortal Kombat Legends: Cage Match
Now it is time for the actual Top 25 of my favorite films this year.
There is nothing polite about this society as a little sister has to save her big sister from a marriage that is only being done for extremely horrible reasons. As you know from last year, there is a huge charm to movies from Bollywood although this is not one of those as this was made in the UK, but it does star plenty of Indian actors and deals with a lot of Indian society with plenty of tradition, which is especially not kind to women who want to do things that arent considered traditionally good. But besides some of that, we get awesome fight choreography, some really good acting, and a completely crazy evil plan that makes you root for it to completely fail.
It is sad to say that this year, horror for the most part was rather mediocre. I really wish I could say this film would be ranked higher as it has a very good premise of a simple addictive child game with talking to ghosts via a magical amputated hand statue goes completely wrong because of course, it would as dealing with supernatural forces rarely ends well. This is of course an A24 film and shows that a pair of brother directors who started out on Youtube have plenty of promise for the future if this film is any indication.
Sometimes a film that you only watched because your mom wanted to see it (and you are a good son) can turn out to be surprisingly good and that is exactly what happened with this film that was on Amazon Prime although considering that this was starring Jamie Fox and Tommy Lee Jones, I shouldnt be too surprised that this turned out good. Basic plot is that this is based on a true story of funeral home owner having to sue a corporation of funeral homes as they try to screw him out of his business so he can buy him out on a cheaper price. Jamie Foxx plays the lawyer that represents Mr. Jones' funeral home owner character and I have to say Jurnee Smollet (although playing a villain (but not the main villain)) was looking really hot in this film.
Well, if it isn't another film that was on Amazon Prime that ends up on this list with the slasher comedy Totally Killer. It's a slasher movie that deals with time travel and does it pretty well, even if some of it is head shaking. Basically a killer has started killing again after years of being inactive and the daughter of one of the victims accidentally goes back in time so she decides that while she is here, she might as well find out who the killer is and stop them before going back to the present. There are plenty of insane twists and some really funny jokes that make this film worth watching.
I know I am going to piss plenty of people off by how low this film is on my list, but here me out. This film about the true story of a series of murders of the Osage people by white people wanting the head rights to the oil the Osage found on the land they were forced to live on by the same white people who now want that oil is mostly well acted, but I'm sorry....I am not going to ever be amused by a three and a half hour film that is selfishly going to tell you that you can't even get an intermission to take a break or at least take a piss. Also, I'm sorry.....but the way the epilogue was done did not work so yeah, 21 is as far as I'm going to give this film even if it's a Martin Scorsece film.
A really good movie about how Nike was able to court Michael Jordan to be the guy to endorse their shoes and how much of a HUGE FREAKING GAMBLE that making the third overall pick in the draft being their entire advertising selling point. Matt Damon is great as Sonny Vaccaro who has the insane idea in the first place when Nike was a distant third in basketball shoe sales behind Converse and Adidas. And they probably made a really smart move of only showing Michael Jordan from footage and from the back as no one would have been able to play that role.
Oh, you knew this was going to be on my favorite films of the year list and honestly, this was #1 at the beginning so when I said the highs were high, I freaking meant that shit. A movie that is about a bear who gets addicted to cocaine which is based loosely on a true story of a bear that legit ate cocaine that came from a plane and died. No dead bear this time and I am so hopeful that more movies like this are in the future of Hollywood because we all deserve movies about insane killer animals. The acting was good for the most part and Ray Liotta, you will be sorely missed....but you went out in this movie the best way I could think of. I make zero apologies for this being this high.
I know I got plenty of people mad for me not having Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse was not on my Top 25 that year and despite me putting this one in my Top 25 for this year as I found it to be a better movie, I probably will still get people mad for how low it is. This movie about Mile Morales dealing with being hated by other Spider-Men (like Spider-Man 2099) and having to deal with the threat of a rarely used villain in The Spot was enjoyable for the most part. The only issues really were I still had certain issues with some of the visuals, the fact that this has a Too Be Continued ending, and how this movie treated its animators for the most part.
Finland's film about a one man army who is killing Nazis just because they screwed with him was great. Jorma Tommila is great as a man who is too old for the shit to be going on and really wants to be left alone so he can mine for gold, but because he found some gold and some stupid ass Nazis decided that they want the gold since they are near the end of the war and are broke as hell, he sadly has to dust off his weapons and wreck havoc. I would probably have put this higher, but you all know that another film was released earlier that is in that same "One Man Army Wrecks Shit Because They Wouldnt Leave Him Alone" genre and you'll definitely see that film in my Top 10 so this sadly gets the shaft in some ways, but it still is an excellent film to see.
Meanwhile in Sweden, we have a film about a bunch of asshole people who funded a incoming mall having to deal with a killer at a work retreat because one of the contractors fucked over the farmer that owned the land this mall is being built and that farmer ended up killing himself after getting screwed. The humor is really good and the kills are excellent. Also, always fun to see a dude in a corporate mascot creating visceral destruction. Not really much to say without spoiling too much other than this film was a Netflix exclusive film and if you just keep things simple for a slasher movie, you should have a good time.
This movie has no right being as good as it is and it definitely shows that with the right parts and a direction that makes sure it is more than just a cynical commercial for the product to make a good movie out of anything. Oh and you would not know until you watch from all the previews that this was a musical (you are all just Kenough). If it was the movie that all these conservative dumbasses wanted it to be, it definitely would have failed. But because someone we should do more with this Barbie movie than just the bare essentials, you have a great movie that deserves the billions that the movie made (which spits on the whole "go woke, go broke" crap).
Coleman Domingo is an actor who definitely deserves all the success he gets as he plays a civil rights activist who managed to organize the 1963 March On Washington and it makes sure to mention that Bayard Rustin had more to deal with than just being black as he also happened to gay as well. But despite all of that, he played a pivotal part in the civil rights movement and should be more known for the multiple causes he championed during his life.
This was the last movie of 2023 I saw for the year and I'll be honest here, this movie about the legendary Von Erich family and their infamous curse would probably have been more liked by me.....if I was not a huge wrestling fan and didnt know all about many things this film rushed or completely left out (like did you know there was another Von Erich brother that also died? You wouldn't if you only saw this movie). So during this whole movie, I kept saying to myself the inaccuracies that happened. But this movie was still well made and still well acted for the most part (let's just forget the actor who played Ric Flair because he was not Ric Flair). Huge props to Holt McCallany as Fritz Von Erich and Michael J Harney as Bill Mercer. Definitely worth watching, but know there is more to the story.
I may have rented this movie seven days before it was going to come out on Peacock (something I only found out after I had already rented it), but I was more than happy with what I wasted money on because this film is great and would be a worthy new holiday viewing tradition in any family because it is a Christmas story. The story is a cranky old teacher who isnt liked by a lot of the staff, who does a favor and stays at the boarding school over the holidays to watch over students whose parents decided not to come and get them. Paul Giamatti is great as the old teacher with a walleye, Da'Vine Joy Randolph is superb as the librarian who sadly has her own tragedy that she is dealing with, and Dominic Sessa is great as the main student who has to stay behind (made even worse when the other holdovers actually get people to take them to their folks for the holidays, but his mother and stepfather decide that they selfishly want to do their honeymoon instead and dont even bother to return any freaking calls). It's a delight that the whole family would enjoy.
As an avid fan of Agatha Christie, I am more than happy that we got more than a decent film with Kenneth Branaugh as Hercule Poirot and all they had to do was do a lesser known story of Christie's (a one so not as well known that they even changed the title of the story and changed where the book took place). There are some horror elements and hints of ghosts in it, but at the end of the day....this is a mystery and it is a great mystery with many things to figure out that get answered by the end. I think we can continue with this Poirot series, but it is ideal that we do stories that are not as well known. So yeah, this is a personal bias of mine as to why this one is high, but I do mention that this is my list of favorites (and not best).
And we begin our top ten with a movie that feels like a real D&D campaign with fun members who want to keep some levity into the craziness that goes on in this fantasy world that for the most part is serious. The jokes are great and the action is fun as well. While many people highlight the joke of Chris Pine's character using a duplicate spell and that spell falling apart leading to a funny face, but I had more laughs at the fat dragon that was in the dungeon. If you've ever done a D&D game (which I've never done, but I've seen them done), you should have fun with this movie.
Well, time to prepare for the anger that is going to happen with this film being so low. My defense is that no matter how good it is, it is still three hours and at times, you can feel it. Other than that, this is definitely the frontrunner for the Oscars as this film about the man who basically made the atomic bomb and how he was screwed by people in his own government, who thankfully get screwed themselves when their crap comes out. I will definitely say this though, Cillian Murphy deserves the Oscar for Best Actor for this performance and I dont know if anyone else deserves it more.
I feel that due to Jonathan Majors doing what he did that ultimately got him fired from Marvel, this movie seems to have been forgotten by most reviewers and that is too bad as this is a great third entry into the Creed series. Michael B. Jordan directs a heartfelt film about a fighter who wants to retire, but is brought back to the ring by a former childhood friend of his being a huge asshole who manipulated his way into winning the world title. Most of the main cast (except Sylvester Stallone) returns and they still do great and Jonathan Majors (I know he did bad in real life) is great as the villain who you cant kind of sympathize with as he was a real childhood friend, but due to bad situations became the villain he was, Once again, I would say to watch this film and focus on just the movie and not what happened to certain actors in the present (although I am sure that is not easy).
7. They Cloned Tyrone
Hey, a straight to Netflix film once again makes its way into the Top Ten and this one people uncovering a government cloning conspiracy is great. John Boyega is compelling as our main character who finds out he is getting cloned and it is helped by a great cast of characters played by Jamie Foxx, Teyonah Parris, David Alan Grier, and in a surprise when he appears, Kiefer Sutherland. It also has a damn good score and still a great satire (although I do prefer Sorry To Bother You) in the world of science fiction that is blended with Blaxploitation.
Marvel and comic book movies in general had a really bad year with superhero fatigue being very real, but their only real success this year was this film that is a swan song for James Gunn (as he is getting to control the DC universe) and many of the actors in this film who are not going to return without Gunn at the helm. This film mostly focuses on Rocket Racoon's backstory and it is a hell of a backstory with a real asshole of a villain being why Rocket is mad at the world because he did have fellow animal friends who were also horribly treated by the main villain (played well by Chukwudi Iwuji). The Guardians Of The Galaxy will definitely be missed by the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but they left us with a great final entry.
Finland and Sweden had their films list so Norway was like "We aren't missing this list" and the film they chose is the most fucked up film I saw this year. At first, it seems like a simple love story with a college student and a millionaire heir who has a dog. But then we find out that "dog" is a guy in a dog suit. And then it goes completely off the rails, especially when we find out that the guy in the dog suit might not be doing this out of choice. Oh and it gets even weirder and has a completely messed up ending that made even me go "Oh my freaking god". Those who know me long enough know that is very hard for me to do and in more often in a screwed up ending, I just laugh. But there was no laughing here until hours after the movie. This is a film that I would definitely recommend and remember that this will not go how you expect.
Well, Disney was a complete disaster this year and what makes it even worse is that the best animated movie this year for me was a film (based on a graphic novel) that Disney had in development when they bought Fox.....and proceeded to freaking dump it because despite their pandering to the LGBTQ+ community in their latest films, they were completely scared of the LGBTQ+ aspects of this film. Thankfully, the directors, script writers, and voice actors were so behind this film and were able to get funding to complete this film (thanks to awesome ass studio Annapurna who actually saw something) and Netflix was the one who pounced to get it for distribution. This film about a knight who was framed for killing the queen and a shapeshifter named Nimona doing everything in their power to clear the knights name and tell what really happened in the main story. Watch it and see what the difference is between simple pandering and actual inclusion of all people into movies.
From February to July, this was my #1 for my favorite film. This film that continues the John Wick tale is great and this truly should be the perfect end this series of great films deserve (which sadly isnt happening because they want to do a fifth film). Keanu Reeves excels as the titular assassin who is still just wanting to live and get out of that world, but that world always pulls his ass back in. The fight scenes are still perfect and every supporting character has a purpose in this movie. Awesome sets, music with great beats, great stunt choreography by a director who himself was a stuntman, and just everything else just makes this film a fun ride from beginning to end.
From July to late November, this was my favorite film of the year. A film about an ambitious businesswoman goes with her friends and one of her friends' cousin going back to China to find her biological mother and try to get a business deal done with a Chinese businessman and it turns into an extremely funny like Hangover adventure with drugs, sex, and other chicanery that even gets heartwarming near the end because everything she was told her entire life, might not have been true. This was the female version of Hangover that I wanted Bridesmaids to be (and was completely pissed that it was not) and once again proves that you can tell the true movies that want to go into different ethnic worlds and those that are just pandering.
Well, I think you all know what is #1 so let's get to it.
I know I am going to get people who would say this was my Godzilla bias and going into this movie, I was prepared for my Godzilla bias to show. But this is one of the best Godzilla movies of ALL TIME. Godzilla has never looked this terrifying and never been this much of a jerk. This is the Godzilla remake that I wanted from Shin Godzilla and had to wait 7 years to get. Godzilla is great and in a huge shocker for anyone thinking they know what to expect from this, this is one of the best human stories as well as there is not a human character who you want to die because they all are great characters and our main characters have multiple layers to them. It even has the balls to say that it's own countries past actions were not good (something even our country is having issues dealing with). And let's not even start with how terrifying Godzilla's atomic breath was. I have seen this movie in regular screen, IMAX, and 4DX because this movie is just that wonderful and I will definitely get this movie when it eventually is available for a physical release. While I may enjoy the Godzilla movies with Godzilla fighting another monster, for true cinematic greatness....Godzilla doesn't need no other monster to share the stage with. See it in theaters if you haven't yet and don't give me the excuse of I wont have time because this movie has had its theater time extended multiple times because of how well it is doing in the box office.
Well, that is the list of favorites. Stay tuned as I will get to the one you all want to see, which is which movies I hated the most from 2023.
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