2023 Top 10 Movies

Okay, this isn’t really a new review, but there have been requests for a 2023 top 10 list. Happy New Year, BTW.

I don’t expect my list to overlap with the Academy Awards nominees or other top ten lists, but I did watch nearly 100 new releases this year and here are my favorites (in alphabetical order):

1. Air 

2. American Fiction 

3. Barbie 

4. The Holdovers 

5. Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny

6. The Iron Claw

7. Napoleon 

8. Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain 

9. Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse 

10. Wonka

These are all movies that succeeded in doing what they set out to do in their respective genres, but aren't necessarily awards foder. The Treasure of Foggy Mountain is a silly comedy that doesn’t try to be anything else but it lands its jokes. The Dial of Destiny got some flak for its de-aging special effects, but if you don’t have fun at that movie, you may just hate fun. 

There were other “more important” movies that came out this year, but I didn’t love them. I thought the characters in Oppenheimer were flat; the movie failed to bring history to life. I loved the book, but Killers of the Flower Moon was way too bloated of a movie; at three-and-a-half hours, give the movie and intermission or trim it.