Shea: 2023 was a very interesting year for movies and there’s plenty to look back on from the Barbenheimer phenomenon, the end of the DCU, Disney’s box office struggles, and both the SAG/AFTRA and the WGA strikes.
Despite all of the craziness in 2023 though, we got a LOT of good movies. Both Adriana and I collectively watched over 110 movies in theaters last year and we’ve managed (after much deliberation and anguish) to compile a list of our ten favourite movies of 2023. I hope you enjoy reading our lists and that you check out one, some, or all of these movies and that you love them as much as we did!
Adriana: If you know anything about me, you know I hate rating and ranking things (I know, I know). I just really like grey areas and holding space for multiplicity—sue me!
I think the biggest reason, though, is that I find these kinds of exercises often feel too reductive, because different things speak to me in different ways, and I find that very hard to quantify and put into a hierarchy. That, and there were just so many fantastic movies this year (if the length of our honourable mentions is anything to go by), making it hard to actually narrow down.
But Shea challenged me to pick a top ten, and after much agonizing, this is the list I came up with. I have to state up front, though, that the particulars of my list would probably change depending on the day you ask me. All that to say: it’s a great time to be a movie lover!
Honourable Mentions
We both watched a lot of movies in 2023 that neither of us could find a spot for in our top ten lists. In no particular order they are: The Iron Claw, Air, Blackberry, The Zone of Interest, The Boy and The Heron, Priscilla, Theater Camp, How To Blow Up A Pipeline, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, The Royal Hotel, Suzume, Rye Lane, Dream Scenario, Passages.
Without further ado, the top ten.
#10
Shea: Bottoms
The best way to explain how this one made my list is by simply describing it as the love child of Superbad and Fight Club! This movie feels fresh while also feeling like a callback to raunchy R-rated comedies that we don’t see much of anymore. It was definitely one of my best theatre experiences of the year and seeing it with Adriana and our friends was such a blast! Be sure to check out Adriana’s great review of Bottoms if you haven’t already. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this on Adriana’s list too!
Adriana: All of Us Strangers
I love a ghost story, especially one that understands that ghosts are the best metaphor we have to tell stories about love and grief (it’s the same reason I love Mike Flanagan’s The Haunting of Hill House so much). All of Us Strangers is a simple but very moving film about a man reckoning with his own ghosts, both literal and figurative. It’s definitely a tearjerker, anchored by phenomenal performances from Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal. The movie just spoke to me in a lot of ways. Beyond that, it’s beautifully shot, makes excellent use of music, and never overstays its welcome. So, safe to say I loved it.
#9
Shea: American Fiction
This was a late 2023 release that I didn’t actually get to see until 2024. Jeffrey Wright was making the rounds in the press for his performance in this one so I figured I’d better check it out. I went in expecting a serious Oscar movie and ended up laughing hysterically at a really fun satire. The fact that I had no idea where this was going as it unfolded kept me really engaged throughout the runtime too. It was smart, funny, and heartfelt which checks off all the boxes for a great time at the movies!
Adriana: Anatomy of a Fall
This French thriller is probably one of the most thought-provoking movies I saw all year. It never goes exactly where you expect it to and, despite feeling just a tad too long and consisting mostly of long scenes of people talking, it kept me on the edge of my seat throughout. There’s a sense of dread that director Justine Triet manages to weave into even the smallest of moments. The movie also includes, as I’m sure Shea will agree, some of the most impressive acting I’ve ever seen from a child actor or a dog on film (not to mention Sandra Hüller, who is fantastic). The movie dwells in murky grey areas and raises important questions about media, truth, and justice that I’m still thinking about months later.
#8
Shea: Barbie
This one moved around on my list a bit in the final days of writing but I’m glad it still found a spot in my top ten! I saw this movie four times in theatres in 2023 and naturally I opted for the Barbenheimer experience for two of those watches (Oppenheimer first, then Barbie which IS the right way to do it). I love having a good time at the movies and that is definitely what this embodied. I was incredibly skeptical when I heard the announcement for this one but was immediately won over by the 2001: A Space Odyssey reference in the first teaser trailer. What is so remarkable about this movie is that I feel like there’s something here for everyone to enjoy. This is a testament to giving a team a decent budget and the creative freedom to see their vision through. Each experience I had watching this movie with different people was special and I’ll never forget the range of emotions we all experienced together because of this movie. The only bad thing about it for me was that Mattel has started pre-production on a bunch of other movies because of the success of Barbie. I don’t feel like they took away the right lessons here, and I’m confident that Barbie will be the peak of the upcoming Mattel Cinematic Universe.
Adriana: Killers of the Flower Moon
Martin Scorsese is and will probably always be one of my favourite directors, and he’s one of the few I can trust to make a movie over three hours long that actually earns its runtime. Maybe one of the most impressive things about Flower Moon is that it finds Scorsese still at the top of his game at the age of 81. Here, he’s grappling with questions that he’s built a career out of grappling with, but, through the lens of the Western and in collaboration with Indigenous voices, those questions take on new meaning and weight. It’s hard not to be wowed by a master at work—but Flower Moon would be nothing without its central, blistering performance by Lily Gladstone. Not everyone will have the stamina for this movie, but I assure you, it is well worth your time.
#7
Shea: Poor Things
If you saw Barbie and loved it, then may I suggest you check this one out next! The most simplistic way I could describe Poor Things is to say it’s like Barbie if it was rated R. Emma Stone and Margot Robbie star as different versions of Barbie while Ryan Gosling and Mark Ruffalo star as Ken which is a remarkable coincidence given these both came out in 2023. The movie is also much weirder and more visually striking. I debated back and forth about the placement between this and Barbie but ultimately I put this one just ahead because it just felt a little more interesting and memorable to me. Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo are both incredible in this movie and Ruffalo has possibly my favourite performance of the year here. Don’t sleep on Poor Things!
Adriana: Bottoms
Some people will probably think it’s blasphemous for me to put Bottoms above Martin Scorsese (Shea’s Note: At least Scorsese made your Top 10 list 😅), but Emma Seligman’s surreal, horned-up comedy about a high school fight club run by two loser lesbians trying to get laid was simply the funniest movie I saw all year. I loved every silly minute of it. You can really feel that it was a collaborative labour of love between Seligman and co-writer Rachel Sennott, who also stars as one of the leads. The other is played by Ayo Edebiri, who’s already well on her way to stardom (rightfully so), and both she and Sennott absolutely kill it in this. I could have watched them riff off each other forever. More weird, out-there indie comedies, please!
#6
Shea: Godzilla Minus One
I’ve seen nearly every one of the thirty-seven Godzilla movies and as it sits right now this one might be my favourite. I genuinely believe this is the height of what Godzilla movies can aspire to be. Godzilla Minus One delivers on all of the Kaiju mayhem you’d expect to see in a movie like this, but what makes this so exceptional is the human characters. Following the story of a failed kamikaze pilot in post World War II Japan, this movie beautifully weaves in this emotional arc into the rest of the movie and it had me tearing up by the end. Whether you’ve seen every Godzilla movie or if you’ve never seen a Godzilla movie, you’ll love Godzilla Minus One.
Adriana: Showing Up
Of all the movies on my list, this is probably the most “this will not be everyone” movie of the bunch. But, thankfully for me, Kelly Reichardt’s quiet meditative filmmaking just speaks to me. The movie follows a sculptor, played with humour and grumpy charm by Michelle Williams, through the personal and professional speed bumps that she faces in the lead-up to her big art show. It’s one that’s stayed with me in the short time since I saw it. It’s funny and grounded and patient. And as someone who values art (in all its forms) very very much, I thought it perfectly captures both the joys and frustrations of living a creative life. There are no big set pieces or melodramatic arguments or missing brothers who don’t turn up just to mine drama and tension. There’s just the process—and showing up day after day to the life you’ve made for yourself, even if the water’s cold and your landlord won’t do anything about it and you’re stuck with a pigeon to feed.
#5
Shea: Oppenheimer
The movie that saved Cinema™ (kidding, sorta). The key first phase of the Barbenheimer double feature, Oppenheimer blew my socks off. I’m definitely the target demographic as someone incredibly interested in the period, the history, and of Christopher Nolan himself. Even if you’re not someone like me though, this movie had a broad appeal as it generated over $958 million dollars at the box office. This is an amazing feat especially when you consider that it’s a three hour biopic about a scientist. I couldn’t have predicted this much success for Oppenheimer but the impacts of this movie’s success I hope will be felt for years to come. Oppenheimer is a reminder to Hollywood that there is a big audience for serious movies made for adults and I hope the success of this movie gives us more just like it.
Adriana: May December
I’ve been struggling with how to even talk about May December. I think it’s one of the most layered and maybe most overlooked movies of the year. It’s not an easy film by any means, especially with its clashing tones, discordant score, and uncomfortable subject matter. Like Anatomy of a Fall, it’s a movie that doesn’t give you easy answers or tell you how you should feel, leaving you with a lot to chew on, and I think that’s part of what makes it so great. The other part is its incredible performances. Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, and Charles Melton are all unbelievably good. I’ve loved every one of Todd Haynes’ movies that I’ve seen, and this one really feels like an impressive tightrope act, masterfully balancing humour and tension and heartbreak. It’s one I look forward to rewatching, because I’m sure each time I do, I’ll pick up on something new.
#4
Shea: John Wick: Chapter 4
John freakin’ Wick still has it. Just before I saw this in theatres the boys and I did a rewatch of the first three movies and this franchise is such an outlier. These movies somehow manage to get better with nearly each entry and John Wick: Chapter 4 is my favourite entry in the entire franchise. When John Wick: Chapter 4 shows you what’s possible with cinematic action it will be impossible for you to really enjoy movies that can’t pull it off this good. What this movie recognizes is that cinema is a visual medium. While most action movies rely on fast cuts and shaky filming to mask their shortcomings, John Wick: Chapter 4 shines because all of the action is clearly visible in long takes with minimal camera movements. There is one sequence in particular that had me giggling like a child for nearly five minutes straight. From start to finish this movie is one of the most enjoyable rides you’ll get to experience with wall to wall action and truly stunning sets and cinematography. I love this franchise and truthfully part of me hopes this is the end of it, if only because I have absolutely no idea how they can do better than this.
Adriana: The Holdovers
Easily one of the most rewatchable movies of the year, as evidenced by the fact that I saw it three times within the span of one month (!), and I’ll most likely be watching it every Christmas season from now on. Just a warm movie through and through but in a way that never tips over into being saccharine. It has just enough cynicism to be relatable, but with enough humour and good cheer to warm even the coldest of hearts. Paul Giamatti is at his very best here, and Da’Vine Joy Randolph is the movie’s beating heart. I laughed. I cried. I just think that this is a thoroughly enjoyable movie that really feels ripped out of an era of movies that doesn’t quite exist anymore.
#3
Shea: Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning
Now we come to the other kind of quality action movies. If John Wick: Chapter 4 is the height of what you can do on a small(er) scale ($100 million), then Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning shows us what kind of massive stunts are possible when you put big bucks ($291 million) in the right hands. Let me try and explain the distinction here because comparing these franchises and even deciding the order for this list was like splitting hairs for me. In John Wick movies, they spend tremendous amounts of time and energy as they meticulously plan extremely elaborate and long combat sequences. In Dead Reckoning, Tom Cruise drives a bike off the side of a mountain so he can land on a train that eventually begins falling off an exploded bridge as Tom and company jump from train car to train car to try and survive. In a word, it’s just about scale.
It might be fair to say that I had more fun with John Wick: Chapter 4, but Dead Reckoning is higher on my list because I was in absolute awe at what I was watching. From the train sequence I already mentioned, to the thrilling car chase in Rome, the Mission: Impossible movies are the only big budget films left with a commitment to practical action and a truly immersive experience. When Cruise gets on a bike he doesn’t wear a helmet because that’s really Tom Cruise driving a bike off a cliff and you can feel that. You just don’t get movies like this anymore.
Tom Cruise and writer/director Christopher McQuarrie get movies in a way that few others do and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning proves that yet again.
Adriana: Past Lives
It blows me away that Past Lives is Celine Song’s directorial debut. The direction feels so quietly self-assured to me, and every frame is beautifully composed. Shea said in his review that this one didn’t have quite the emotional gut punch he was expecting from it, but thankfully, for me, it did. It’s a simple story, about childhood sweethearts Nora and Hae Sung, who reunite 24 years after Nora’s family emigrates from South Korea.
The question of how we come to be who and where and what we are, and all of the choices that lead us there, isn’t exclusive to the immigrant experience, but it is one that feels particularly resonant with it (see also: Everything Everywhere All At Once). As a child of immigrants, and as a writer, I could relate to Nora in a lot of ways. And as someone who’s always been haunted by the echo of alternative paths, the movie just hit me very hard. But the beauty of the Korean concept of ‘in-yun’—or the idea of past lives, whether you believe in it or not—is that every connection, no matter how brief or small, matters, because every connection carries the weight of a whole history of choices and lives, both real and imagined, behind it. That sentiment is a bittersweet one, and that’s the feeling that permeates Past Lives. It’s just poetic cinema at its finest.
#2
Shea: Skinamarink
I’ve probably watched more horror movies in my life than any other genre and with all that experience comes a certain level of understanding. I see every jumpscare, I know all the cliches, I can see all the twists, and because of that, I barely ever feel scared when I watch a horror movie. When I was younger my Gram would tell me about how horrifying it was when she saw The Exorcist for the first time and I’ve always craved an experience like that. Then along came Kyle Edward Ball, an Edmontonian with a $15,000 budget, and he scared me more than any million dollar Hollywood horror movie ever has. What this movie understands is that atmosphere and tension are where the real scares are in a horror movie. Anyone can put an image on screen suddenly and play loud music and make an unsuspecting person jump. Real fear though is anticipating a jump scare that never comes. It’s the feeling of dread as you sit in anticipation for minutes at a time because you know something is going to happen, you just don’t know when.
I want to be very clear about this movie though. It’s a small budget experimental horror film. If you watch this and you have the complete opposite experience as me, I completely understand. I got to see Skinamarink at Cinema du Parc here in Montreal with Adriana. The theatre was completely dark, the crowd was absolutely silent. There were no phones to distract me and no dogs around to pull my focus away. I was completely immersed in this movie, and I didn’t feel relief until the credits rolled.
If you try to watch this at home, put the phone away, close the door, and shut off all the lights. Don’t pause it and don’t have it on in the background while you’re doing other stuff. Give this movie your full attention because if you can get on this movie’s wavelength, you’ll have an unforgettable experience.
Skinamarink was the horror movie experience my Gram always talked about and that I always dreamt of having.
Adriana: Poor Things
Though it didn’t crack my top ten, I agree completely with what Shea said about Skinamarink. It was definitely one of the most unique theatre-going experiences I’ve ever had, and I’m glad I got to share it with you, Shea! It’s one I’ll always treasure.
With that said, my #2 pick is Poor Things. I think this is one of the most stunning and beautifully shot movies that I’ve maybe ever seen. There’s simply nothing else like it. Every frame is jaw-droppingly gorgeous, from the colourful costumes to the other-worldly set design to the uncanny world-building and cinematography. Emma Stone carries this movie, and the physicality of her performance is just incredible to watch, especially as she progresses through the different stages of her character’s development. It’s like watching someone act out an entire life in microcosm through the movement of her body. As weird and violent and grotesque as the fantastical world of the movie is, the story is also strangely hopeful and empowering. And very funny! Ultimately, Poor Things is just a one-of-a-kind movie that hits on a lot of themes and ideas that are near and dear to me.
#1
Shea: The Holdovers
I saw this movie in a packed house with Adriana and Ty and when it was over I turned to them both and said I think this might be my favourite movie of the year. Well we’ve reached the end of year and the end of my list and here it is!
I absolutely love Paul Giamatti and have since I saw Big Fat Liar as a kid. My favourite performance of his though was in the movie Sideways, which he also made with the director of The Holdovers, Alexander Payne. I went into this movie with high hopes which always makes me nervous because I never want my expectations to overshadow a good movie. So when I say that and then I tell you this movie was even better than I was hoping, you better believe it’s worth your time! Giamatti was exceptional once again and so was his co-star Da’Vine Joy Randolph and I hope to see some Oscar gold in their future for this movie!
Adriana described the movie best when she said this is a movie about lonely souls coming together and making each other’s worlds a little bigger and brighter. It just feels like a forgotten classic that was actually made in the 1970s, right down to the film grain, retro studio logos, and audio mixing. It delivered laughs consistently while hitting me hard in the feelings too. While it’s not a Christmas movie in the traditional sense, this will absolutely become part of my Christmas season routine.
The Holdovers is the cinematic equivalent of curling up on the couch with a fuzzy warm blanket. When you put this movie on, you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and the only thing you won’t like is that it eventually has to end.
Adriana: Barbie
I went back and forth so many times about whether or not to put Barbie in my #1 spot, but I have trouble being objective about this movie and about Greta Gerwig, whose work as a writer and director means a great deal to me. Barbie probably wasn’t the most impressive or visually striking or thought-provoking or moving film I saw last year—but it was the most fun I had at the movies in 2023 (three times!). Getting dolled up in pink to go to the movie theatre and seeing countless others do the same was something I never could have anticipated.
No one expected “the Barbie movie” to be anything other than an expensive toy commercial—and it is an expensive toy commercial, but it’s also so much more. And for me, that all comes back to Greta Gerwig. Her love and deep knowledge of film pours out of almost every frame, with visual references and homages that run the gamut from overt references like the opening spoof of Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey to more obscure nods to filmmakers like Jacques Demy and Jacques Tati. The bright, pink visuals are stunning and joyful, and the movie is both very funny and smartly written.
But Barbie is also much deeper and weirder and more interesting than some people give it credit for. Not for its feminist messaging, which is admittedly surface-level, but because it’s a moving exploration of a non-human plastic doll figuring out how to be a human person in a world that, from your inception, tries to tell you who you are and how to be and what your life means. It’s about girlhood and commerce and how those things intersect, and it’s about figuring out how to make your own meaning. That Gerwig pulled all of that off within the guise of a big budget Mattel-funded blockbuster—and succeeded—is still unbelievable to me. So, for all of those reasons, Barbie is my favourite movie of 2023. It’s simply sublime!
Adriana Wiszniewska
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