And so, another year is in the books, with 2023, the year of Barbenheimer now ending. It was a dramatic one for entertainment, with shelved movies, surprising hits and misses and dual strikes that brought the industry to a standstill for months. Nevertheless, there were plenty of great films, so here’s JoBlo’s official top 10 for the year. Before we start, there are a few honourable mentions to get out of the way. Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One was a surprising box office disappointment, to the extent that the next film is set to drop Dead Reckoning from the title, but it was still an expertly assembled action film with some of the best stuntwork and style of the year. I also thoroughly enjoyed Creed III and Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, with both just falling a tad short of making my top 10. At the same time, other films like Bradley Cooper’s Maestro, American Fiction and many others are also worth checking out this holiday season. But without further ado, here’s what we think are the Best Movies of 2023.
While it may not have needed to push three hours, Chad Stahelski’s fourth and potentially final John Wick film is an expert end to one of the best action franchises in recent memory. Keanu Reeves defies age and delivers a terrific physical performance in all aspects of this action film. However, the show is somewhat stolen by Donnie Yen as the blind assassin, Caine, with this being his best English-language showcase by a long shot.
Emma Stone delivers a genuinely fearless performance as a woman who’s given the brain of an infant and has to very quickly come of age in a gonzo society that makes this eccentric period epic wildly experimental and one of a kind. Indeed, you won’t see anything else remotely like this in theatres this year. Willem Dafoe is wonderful as the scientist who becomes her pseudo-father figure, and the technical credits are impeccable. The production design on this is a no-brainer to win a few Oscars, with Barbie pretty much it’s only real competition.
Matt Johnson made one of the best Canadian films ever made with Blackberry, which charts the rise and fall of the Canuck tech company. Jay Baruchel and Johnson are excellent as two of the men behind the technology. Glenn Howerton delivers one of the year’s best performances as Jim Basile, the evil(ish) CEO who took the company for a ride. In the end, it’s a sad story as it shows how a solid, innovative product was compromised in order to generate more money. It also shows that we Canadians can be just as susceptible to this kind of thing as our American neighbours.
Another true story, this one enters around Nike’s efforts to sign a young Michael Jordan to an endorsement contract that helped make them a behemoth. While that premise doesn’t sound like it lends itself to a wildly entertaining film, Ben Affleck has produced a hilarious and humane film that speaks to the rebel in all of us. Also, it’s always fun to see Ben Affleck and Matt Damon on screen together. Matt and Ben 2.0! This cast is impeccable, with Chris Tucker fun in a meaty supporting role. Marlon Wayans also has a gem of a part. He’s only in one scene, but it’s a heck of a great one.
Martin Scorsese’s fact-based account of the Osage murders has seemingly made more headlines for its length than the quality of the film itself. It’s a superb, unique accounting of one of the cruellest crimes in American history. Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro masterfully present the banality of evil. At the same time, Lily Gladstone gives voice to the voiceless as Mollie Burkhart, one of the few survivors of this terrible conspiracy.
These animated Spider-Man movies will go down in history as some of the best superhero films ever made. While many complain that the genre is tired, this was still a significant hit and proves that creativity and originality lend themselves to any genre. God, I can’t wait for the sequel. These are the best Spider-Man movies ever made.
What’s Memory? I bet that’s the question you’re all asking yourselves right now. Memory is a low-budget character drama starring Jessica Chastain and Peter Saarsgard, which hasn’t come out in theatres yet. Still, after its award-qualifying run, it should start to open more in January. While it doesn’t have the benefit of a major studio behind it, it’s a heart-wrenching story centred around how two people manage to fall in love even though one of them has early-onset dementia, with Sarsgaard delivering one of the best performances of the year.
Part of me likes to think that Christopher Nolan’s 3-hour movie about the father of the atomic bomb will lead to a comeback for adult films, but I don’t know – it might be a one-off. Even if it is, Nolan’s made one of his best movies, with Cillian Murphy’s performance in the title role a highlight in an already brilliant career. When I saw this movie in the summertime, I was sure it would top my best movies of 2023 list. But, two GREAT movies came out in the fall that changed things a bit…
The Curse of the Von Erichs is one of the saddest stories in wrestling, and Sean Durkin’s A24-produced account of their lives is a masterpiece. Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White and Harris Dickinson will break your heart in this sad but ultimately hopeful story of the bonds of brotherhood
Alexander Payne’s first film in several years is a new Christmas classic, with Paul Giamatti getting the role of a lifetime as a crusty teacher at a boy’s prep school in 1971 who’s forced to look after the kids whose parents don’t want them back for the holidays. It’s touching, empathic, heartwarming, hilarious, defiantly R-rated, and old-fashioned. It’s like a lost movie from the seventies you’ll want to watch again and again. As far as I’m concerned, putting this at the top of the best movies of 2023 list is a no-brainer.
What do you think are the best movies of 2023? Let us know in the comments.