Remember when I’d have this list and my new year’s resolution post published on the first few days of the month? What blissful days they were, sat up typing on New Year’s Eve with my wife scrolling Instagram next to me, Interstellar playing in the background turned up loud so the dogs wouldn’t get terrified by the surrounding fireworks. Alas, things change and time marches on, but it brings with it a whole load of new films every year. Here’s my ranking of all the 2023 new releases I’ve seen so far (a significant selection have been watched in 2024). As always, as I’m in the UK I’m only counting films that were released in the UK in 2023, hence why some of these films might count for earlier years for some of you and, whilst I have seen the likes of Poor Things, American Fiction and The Holdovers, they weren’t released here until 2024, so you’ll find their placements around this time next year. Let’s go!

84. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom

Look, its not awful, but I resented wasting time seeing it for basically no reason. I didn’t enjoy the first film all that much (in fact the whole DCEU has been at best a bit meh) but thought this might have come up on our Deep Blue Sea – The Podcast episode on Deep Blue Sea adjacent scenes from 2023, but it only came up with regard to it being a terrible film we’ll never cover on a dedicated episode of the show. Patrick Wilson is good, everyone else doesn’t seem to care, and I find it amusing that the final shot of the entire DCEU is Wilson (or P-Dubz, as my co-host calls him) eating a cockroach burger. There’s a metaphor in there somewhere, I’m sure.

83. Ghosted

A film that has entirely drifted from my memory, save for a memorably bad scene full of obvious and poorly utilised cameos.

82. The Portable Door

Apparently I watched this. The production design was great, everything else less so.

81. Pain Hustlers

Can someone have a word with Chris Evans’ agent, please? I know he likes to have a joke on set, but when is the prank on us watching him be bland in terrible movies going to be over?

80. The Beanie Bubble

Man, this film has fallen completely out of my head. I definitely saw it, but literally nothing stayed with me.

79. Sharper

I’ve seen too many con artist films to not see through every part of this. Underusing Jon Lithgow should be considered a crime.

78. The Out-Laws

It’s fine. I laughed a couple of times, mainly due to Julie Haggerty and Richard Kind.

77. Genie

It’s sweet enough, with an interesting supporting cast (Mark Maron, Ego Nwodim, Alan Cumming, Luis Guzmán) and good work from Paapa Essiedu and Melissa McCarthy in the leads.

76. The Family Plan

Mark Wahlberg is a former assassin who retired and started a family with Michelle Monaghan who, along with their three children, don’t know about their Dad’s past. This film plays out pretty much exactly as you’d expect, but the action is solid and everyone is at least good here. The action scenes in which Wahlberg’s character is preventing most of the people involved from realising they are in an action sequence are easily the best.

75. Maggie Moore(s)

A fairly standard whodunnit with an intriguing premise that might’ve benefitted from not having a Columbo-esque narrative layout. Nick Mohammed is, as always, a delight, I’m very much looking forward to the rest of his season of Taskmaster.

74. She Came to Me

In hindsight it would have been difficult to sell the entirety of this film, but whilst the decision for the marketing to focus on the love triangle of Dinklage, Tomei and Hathaway makes a lot of commercial sense, it excludes a huge chunk of the narrative focussing on overcoming difficulties of a young romance between race and class barriers. Ultimately less entertaining than I was hoping for, but there’s good work from all involved.

73. A Man Called Otto

I have yet to see A Man Called Ove, but given its critical acclaim I can assume it’s better than Tom Hanks being grumpy for two hours. My co-host Mark likes to comment on how these days Hanks can’t play regular people in everyday life, and between this and Larry Crowne I’m inclined to agree.

72. Deep Fear

Surprisingly deep, but not enough fear. Mãdãlina Ghenea’s character, Naomi, is sailing alone when she encounters a wrecked ship. She saves the two survivors, only for them to force her at gunpoint to retrieve their cocaine stash from the sunken wreckage, resplendent with sharks, meanwhile Naomi’s boyfriend Jackson (Ed Westwick) makes some wild leaps in logic and determines she is in trouble, so sets out on a globe-trotting mission to save her. Fun elements are brought up but not followed through (a shark bites a bag of cocaine, to no effect) and it all gets a bit mired in Naomi’s memories of her dead parents and unwillingness to commit to a relationship with Jackson, but the shark antics are good and it’s a pretty breezy 85 minutes long. Listen to our Deep Blue Sea – The Podcast episode here.

71. Old Dads

I find Bill Burr to be a bit hit-and-miss comedically, I can only find someone being angry with the modern world funny for so long, and it turned out that amount of time was less than this film’s length. Poking barbs at woke culture is an odd stance to take.

70. The Whale

Mostly great acting and fairly well staged although it always feels like a play adaptation, but story-wise this just feels offensive. I’ve loved Brendan Fraser for a long time and I’m excited for his comeback, but it’s a shamed that it’s so wrapped up in this.

69. The Pope’s Exorcist

Not as bad as I was expecting given a considerable amount of negative hype and ridicule, and Crowe is having fun riding an exceptionally long way on a vespa.

68. We Have A Ghost

David Harbour giving one of the standout performances of the year as a silent amnesiac ghost with a combover. The story didn’t play out as expected, and I was pretty engaged throughout.

67. The Black Demon

Another shark movie! Josh Lucas plays his stock character of an unlikeable, angry businessman sent to shut down a failing offshore oil rig, only to become stranded on it with his family and a couple of workers as there’s a giant demonic megalodon in the surrounding waters. Lucas’ unlikability aside, this isn’t bad, and the story takes some wild turns. Listen to our Deep Blue Sea – The Podcast episode here.

66. Elemental

Another Disney/Pixar attempt to create a world premise parallel to our own that I just couldn’t get behind, Elemental sees a world created by water-type beings, whose environment is adapted to fit air and earth-type beings, and eventually fire-types show up too, but they are generally deemed too destructive for the world, and as such are looked down upon. The most fun here was probably the film-makers selecting element-specific names for the characters (Wade, Ember, Clod, Gale, Bernie, Brook, Fern, Eddy etc.). In my Pixar ranking, this is pretty near the bottom. I’m not holding much hope for Inside Out 2 (because Inside Out is only slightly above Elemental), so let’s hope the upcoming Elio is a bit better.

65. The Little Mermaid

Better than I was expecting given my track record with other live-action Disney remakes (to be fair, I’ve seen very few of them, but other than Jon Favreau’s The Jungle Book they’ve all been awful). Halle Bailey is good as Ariel, Melissa McCarthy works well for Ursula (although it seems a lot of the CGI time went to the early scenes rather than the climax) and somebody forgot to wake Javier Bardem up for his scenes. As usual the 3D CGI animal sidekicks are utter nightmare fuel, especially Flounder. The songs aren’t as good as the originals, of course, because the earlier ones have had 30 years to become deeply ingrained into my psyche, core and personality, and the new songs are sadly forgettable. This would’ve ranked at least a few spots higher if they hadn’t cut the kitchen fight scene and the Les Poissons song. Listen to the Deep Blue Sea – The Podcast episode here.

64. Cocaine Bear

With this title, cast, and premise I expected so much more, but with this director I should’ve expected the disappointing and tedious mess that was delivered. This should have Spider-Verse levels of ingenuity and gonzo styling, but alas, it’s just a let down. Listen to my appearance discussing it on the Lambcast here.

63. Dangerous Waters

A fun sea survival story with a surprising action-movie third act. One of Ray Liotta’s final roles, so be prepared for that degree of sadness. Listen to the Deep Blue Sea – The Podcast episode here.

62. Shotgun Wedding

Fun. Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel have a tropical destination wedding already fraught with familial disasters that are exacerbated due to a pirate hostage situation, with only the bickering bride and groom left to save the day. Surprisingly bloody action hijinks ensure, leading to some entertaining and memorable set pieces. Kitchen fight! Grenades! Helicopter versus parachute! Etc! Listen to the Deep Blue Sea – The Podcast episode here.

61. Extraction 2

I remember enjoying the long takes, prison fight and escape sequence, but the entire second half has been extracted from my memory.

60. Maestro

I’m learning I’m not a big music biopic guy, and even less so when the focus is a conductor (more on this later). To be clear, this isn’t a bad film, I just wasn’t that interested in the subject matter and found it all quite boring.

59. Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget

My expectations should’ve been lower, given the first film is a childhood classic that couldn’t possibly be met let alone exceeded, but even still this just didn’t do it for me. Listen to my appearance on the Lambcast here.

58. 65

Do you know how bland a dinosaur film has to be for me to not care about it, at all? This is in the Aquaman 2 category of me regretting going to see it at the cinema. It hasn’t stayed with me at all, other than my fury at the use of nothing but boring dinosaurs, when there are so many fun ones to pick from. Listen to my appearance discussing it on the Lambcast here.

57. Tetris

Better than The Beanie Bubble, not as good as Air. It worked better in the brief periods when it leaned into the Tetris-ness of it all, employing video game style graphics, but this took too long to tell a pretty straightforward story.

56. The Burial

A fun courtroom drama with excellent work from Tommy Lee Jones, Jamie Foxx, Jurnee Smollett, Mamoudou Athie, Alan Ruck, heck, everyone is great in this.

55. Luther: The Fallen Sun

I will never stop thinking about Andy Serkis’ hair in this, and how it isn’t a wig. Utterly ridiculous.

54. Fast X

I know it’s a part one with an intentional cliffhanger ending, but the cliffhangers all feel ultimately so inconsequential with the lives of so many critical, core characters supposedly in the balance, but in a franchise where deaths are so rarely sincere. If part 11 (whatever the heck it’ll be called) comes out with any of these deaths as confirmed I’ll be genuinely shocked, but I’ll also still be sat here waiting for them to be reversed within 1-3 franchise entries. Jason Momoa made for a very entertaining villain in a franchise that might be getting a little bloated. I’ve never needed anything less than the entire Pete Davidson scene, given how much it establishes that doesn’t pay off later (Han eating a weed cookie, Roman blowing dust around, Pete Davidson existing in this universe as a suitable payoff for a previously unestablished British correspondent, when there are so, so many British actors that could’ve taken that role).

53. Renfield

Nicolas Cage playing Dracula worked incredibly well, Nicolas Hoult was good as his beleaguered familiar trying to break free from the relationship, but this didn’t go far enough for me. Listen to my appearance on the Lambcast episode here.

52. Scream VI

I think I’m done with this franchise for a while. I’m sick of the whole “New city, new rules!” angle when, yes the action has moved out of Woodsboro and into New York, but the rules are all the same and, other than a sequence occurring in a highrise and another being all the way across town, relocating to the Big Apple didn’t add a great deal. Great to see Hayden Panettiere returning though. Listen to my appearance discussing it on the Lambcast here.

51. Happiness for Beginners

Chucked this on from Netflix one evening. Ellie Kemper is Helen, an uptight divorcée who reluctantly signs up for a month-long beginner’s hiking group along the Appalachian trail, only to discover it’s not for beginners. It’s mostly quite vanilla and predictable, while the rest of the hiking group aren’t as wacky and hilarious as you might expect from this kind of thing, with only Nico Santos standing out, and a lot of elements are established but never really pay off much – Helen didn’t break in her hiking boots before leaving, so she gets a blister on the first day but is then fine for the rest of the trip – but overall this was a very pleasant and enjoyable watch.

50. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

I liked it, quite a bit in fact, but I completely understand why some people didn’t, and I haven’t felt overly compelled to revisit it yet. It feels enough like an Indiana Jones film, including some de-aged Harrison Ford escapades at the start, and the action is all fun. There’s a spin on the traditional third act fantastical elements that I greatly appreciated, and I enjoyed the new side characters that are introduced. Antonio Banderas feels wasted in a short sequence that piqued my Deep Blue Sea interests. Listen to my appearance on Out Now with Aaron and Abe discussing the film here.

49. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

My lowest-rated MCU film of the year, mainly because of how much I enjoyed the previous two Ant-Man instalments, and the ridiculous decision to not bring the best elements from those films into this one. Where are Luis and the other X-Cons? Yes, T.I. has become increasingly problematic and probably shouldn’t be in these films anymore, but whilst they found an excellent new role for David Dastmalchian, ditching Luis and his story-telling style feels like a crime. The visual effects have been widely discussed as not being finished and that is pretty evident. Paul Rudd, Evengeline Lilly, Michael Douglas and Michelle Pfeiffer all remain great, with Kathryn Newton being a good addition to the family. M.O.D.O.K. was suitably weird, as was pretty much everything in the quantum realm, although the big name cameo still absolutely should’ve been Rick Moranis, not just one of his co-stars, and the guy with a laser beam for a head should’ve been voiced by Vinnie Jones. I’m still disappointed with how things have turned out with Jonathan Majors given how incredible his performance is here (and in the second season of Loki), but I stand by Disney’s decision to not use him going forward. Listen to my Lambcast appearance here.

48. A Good Person

A film to make you feel better about yourself, that you’re not in the same situation as Florence Pugh’s Allison, who accidentally caused the deaths of her fiancé’s sister and husband, orphaning their daughter and ending her own relationship in one car crash. This isn’t a happy film, but it’s a solid dramatic effort from Pugh, but it’s way too much of a downer to ever watch again.

47. Champions

It’s The Mighty Ducks, but with Woody Harrelson as a disgraced drunk-driving basketball coach, and a basketball team of players with learning disabilities. Other than that it’s pretty much the exact same film, and that’s not a bad thing, because this is all delightful.

46. May December

Not the film I thought it was based on a guess I’d made from the poster and half a synopsis. For some reason, going in I thought the characters played by Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman were in a long term relationship, with Portman’s actress character now playing Julianne Moore’s character in a film, through which she uncovers some dark traits about her partner that she hadn’t previously known. Hollywood, start making this film, please. The actuality of May December has a few of those layers removed and replaced with historical paedophilia and a fluctuating lisp. The performances are great, particularly Charles Melton.

45. Past Lives

Not for me. I think I’ve decided that romantic drama might be my least favourite genre, as shown here with this and Richard Linklater’s Before films, so take my opinion of this with some hefty side-eye. This is meditative, intentional, and beautifully shot, but it just didn’t hold my interest because practically nothing explodes and there are just not enough sharks. This is entirely my problem, if you have any interest in romance or dramatic films then you’ll probably like this far more than I did.

44. Air

I wasn’t interested in a film about shoes, let alone shoes used to play basketball, but this was a lot of fun. Chris Messina gets the most fun role of yelling at Matt Damon down a telephone.

43. Tár

Another one that just wasn’t for me. Cate Blanchett is excellent, but I couldn’t get to grips with anything this film was doing, and why everyone was raving about it this time last year.

42. You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah

A surprisingly enjoyable film all about those usually most irritating of creatures, children. The whole Sandler family gets involved and are all pretty great.

41. Meg 2: The Trench

Yes, I’ve ranked Meg 2: The Trench, an arguably bad film, above lots of other films that most people will quite correctly describe as being far better than a sequel to The Meg. But hear me out, how many megalodons do those films have? How many fights are there between a helicopter and a giant octopus? How many giant sharks does Jason Statham impale with a helicopter rotor? See, no contest. Yes, Meg 2 is supremely silly, but does feature the entire film Underwater within a single act, and has taken the time to advance some of the surviving characters from the first film in unexpected and entertaining ways. Listen to the Deep Blue Sea – The Podcast episode here.

40. The Marvels

Far better than I was expecting, given how poorly structured the first Captain Marvel film was, but the additions of Teyonah Parris and especially Iman Vellani (and Ms. Marvel’s whole family) made this a lot of fun! I particularly enjoyed the musical planet and everything involving the cats. You can tell Sam Jackson prefers to sit down for as many scenes as possible these days, but given he’s 75 I’d say that’s entirely understandable.

39. Merry Little Batman

A delightful Christmas-themed Batman cartoon I had no idea existed and entertained me immensely. Check it out.

38. Leave The World Behind

My wife just read the book so we figured we’d give the movie a whirl, despite the rumours I’d heard of this having an unsatisfying ending. However, given my wife’s reports on the book and how it ends, this adaptation is actually pretty conclusive and satisfying. Great intimate drama from well-drawn characters, a horrendous yet pretty short body horror sequence I did not appreciate, and a fun Kevin Bacon extended cameo. Could’ve easily been a little shorter, but that could be the feedback for half the films on this list.

37. Plane

Solid, overlooked action film with Gerard Butler and Mike Colter. The only thing surprising is how bloody the action gets, but you’ll have a lot of fun with this one. Check out the review I wrote for Blueprint: Review here.

36. No Hard Feelings

A great kind-of rom-com with outstandingly committed performances from the two leads. It always felt like Jennifer Lawrence would be good at comedy, and she more than proves that here, with newcomer Andrew Barth Feldman knocking it out of the park too. As a 36-year old, the reaction to Lawrence saying she’s 23 at the party continues to make my soul crumble.

35. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

Jim Broadbent plays Harold Fry who, upon finding out his old friend is dying, sets out on an impromptu pedestrian quest across the country to see her, much to the chagrin of his wife (Penelope Wilton). I love Broadbent, and this is a rare starring performance from him and he excels at the challenge. This might well have ended up a few spots higher on the list though if it had been a true story, as it feels so factual and realistic.

34. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

Easily the best film in the entire Shrek franchise, this blew me away. Why it (and two other animated films yet to come on this list) wasn’t nominated for a Best Animated Feature Academy Award over the likes of Elemental I cannot fathom. It’s a lot darker than the first Puss in Boots, and I’m here for that, although I could have done with a little more from Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

33. Women Talking

Exceptional drama with many outstanding performances from the likes of Jessie Buckley, Claire Foy, Rooney Mara and Ben Whishaw. Upsetting, aggravating, but worth your time.

32. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

A little over-hyped by the time I got around to it, but still tremendous fun, with Chris Pine perfectly utilised as the most seemingly superfluous of D&D character types, a bard. Everyone clearly had a great time, particularly Hugh Grant, and the scene with the actual dragon was probably my favourite, although there’s lots of great stuff to pick from! I hope directors Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley continue to make game-inspired genre-straddling films.

31. M3GAN

Pretty effective robot-gone-awry horror with enough comedy in it to keep me entertained. She rips a kid’s ear off!

30. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.

I remember really liking this, especially Rachel McAdams as Margaret’s mother, but to be honest not a lot has stayed with me. There’s a good chance this should be higher on the list, but without a re-watch I can’t be sure.

29. Killers of the Flower Moon

Yes, it’s long. Yes, it’s probably too long. Yes, I watched it in several chunks, which definitely detracted from the overall experience, but that’s what happens when films are too long (I did the same with The Irishman). The story is interesting and the acting is all great, although I was surprised that anyone was nominated for any acting awards as no-one stood out that much to me. Top of the list of 2023 films I’ll never see again, an award which could be called a Scorsese, as I think the most recent film of his that I’ve watched more than once is The Departed, and that was last seen by me nine years ago.

28. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

Very Wes Anderson, very Roald Dahl, and with a near constant tide of narration, the only reason I’ve yet to watch the other shorts that came out with this is because I wanted to keep Renny Harlin as my Letterboxd most watched director of the year (for the third year running) and those, along with Asteroid City, would’ve nudged Anderson into top position.

27. Rye Lane

A sweet, funny rom-com with a unique visual style, worth your time.

26. Babylon

I loved like two thirds of Babylon but, as is par for the course with Damien Chazelle (except in Whiplash), it all falls apart at the end (I’m still not sure if they get to the moon in First Man, I don’t think it’s possible to stay awake through that film). All of the stuff about actual movie-making in the 1920s and 30s is interesting, engaging and so much fun, even when (especially when?) it involves defecating elephants, and those scenes are an overwhelming experience that must be seen, but I wish the final act had been tighter.

25. Flora and Son

The latest small budget comedy drama heavily involving music from John Carney, this continues his straight of making sweet, enjoyable, just downright lovely films. It’s more on the level of Begin Again than up in the highs of Once and Sing Street, but it’s still delightful, with an incredible performance from Eve Hewson, who you should also check out in the excellent series Bad Sisters.

24. A Haunting in Venice

Easily the best of the Kenneth Branagh and his face-broom solving a murder in an exotic locale, this has genuine tension and atmosphere, even if the mystery was a little straightforward. This feels like it maybe should be the last of these, but I’ll also keep watching them if he makes more.

23. Knock at the Cabin

A real testament to what can be done with a simple location, a great premise and a game cast of interesting actors not used to leading their own projects. Dave Bautista in particular continues to shine, and I look forward to wherever his career takes him next, especially if he continues to wear tiny glasses.

22. Oppenheimer

I’m thrilled Christopher Nolan has won his Oscars and I’ll be there opening weekend for whatever he does next, I just wish he hadn’t won for what I consider one of his less engaging works. I found Oppenheimer more than a slog to get through, and I’m very happy that my scheduling worked out to see this before Barbie on the Barbenheimer weekend, as the other way around would’ve found me fast asleep before the 2-hour mark of this opus. All that being said, this is a tremendous achievement and the end result feels exactly what Nolan wanted to produce. The cast is, frankly, ridiculous, and I’m looking forward to a second viewing to see if I missed the huge appeal first time around.

21. They Cloned Tyrone

Hilarious, thrilling, twisty-turny, with compelling performances from all three leads in perfectly cast roles. I’m almost tempted to watch Space Jam: A New Legacy purely because Juel Taylor also wrote that. On this list, from this film onwards these are all very strong recommendations.

20. Quiz Lady

I wasn’t expecting much, just needed something light to watch on a Friday night, but this was super enjoyable. Awkwafina plays an introverted quiz show fanatic who gets a chance to appear on the show, much to the delight of her wild card sister (Sandra Oh). Hallucinogens, blackmail and a dog kidnapping ring ensue, as well as plenty of heartfelt yet well-earned emotional moments. Jason Schwartzman is impeccable as the long-running game show winner, Will Ferrell ditches much of his usual schtick to effectively downplay the host, everything with the dog is glorious and special props to Awkwafina’s horrendous posture.

19. Leo

Another “Wait, where did this come from?” watch, Leo was a real Netflix gamble that couldn’t have paid off more. Featuring multiple animal-based prison escape attempts, a hilarious script, genuinely moving songs and a drone that quickly became one of my favourite characters of the whole year, Leo is excellent, and absolutely should have been nominated for Best Animated Feature over Elemental, as is true for another film still to come on this list.

18. Theater Camp

I’ve never been to Theatre Camp. Hell, I’ve never been to any kind of camp. I’m not even a fan of camping. Nor have I participated in a musical production (I dropped out of a role in the chorus of a year 10 1970s reimaging of Twelfth Night due to workload and fear, and according to my mother my earlier school year classes were so poorly behaved that all productions were cancelled). Yet I still thoroughly enjoyed this mockumentary of a failing drama camp needing reinvigorating when the camp’s director goes into a coma. Camp Isn’t Home should have What Was I Made For’s Oscar.

17. Barbie

Or, y’know, I’m Just Ken should have it, really. There’s already not much left to say about Barbie. It’s very funny, especially Ryan Gosling and literally everything he does in every second he’s in. The cameos and supporting cast are all outstanding too. First time around the middle section dragged a little for me, but second time I didn’t have that issue. Margot Robbie is perfectly cast and Greta Gerwig did an excellent job with the direction, but I’m also not all that surprised they weren’t nominated for those categories, whilst I was quite surprised to see America Ferrera nominated. She’s not bad at all, but I didn’t think she stood out amidst a packed ensemble. The beach fight is hysterical, even though it made me remember An American in Paris, which is never a good thing.

16. Totally Killer

Given that I watched the entirety of Totally Killer on my phone during a particularly lengthy washing-up session, it should show just how much I enjoyed it by placing it so high on this list. I went in pretty blind, thinking it was just another slasher with a 1980s vibe, so I was utterly delighted to encounter the time travel elements. It’s basically what if Back to the Future featured significantly more stabbings and anachronistic pop culture and political correctness references which, frankly, is all I need from a film.

15. John Wick: Chapter 4

Like the other three John Wick films, this is impeccably shot, choreographed up the wazoo and is a whole heap of stylish fun. What keeps it from being higher on the list is it’s a little too long so the adrenaline starts to flag a little as we enter the third hour, and whilst the final onslaught of glorious violence is transcendent, it’s perhaps just a little too much, provoking more than one “Oh come on!” from me as Mr. Wick encounters another devastating set-back. Donnie Yen is a delight, I’m always thrilled when Hiroyuki Sanada crops up in things, there’s not enough Clancy Brown (when is there?) and Scott Adkins was the highlight.

14. Asteroid City

One of I think only five films on this list that I’ve so far seen twice (excluding ones double-watched for podcast prep), I remembered enjoying this first tie around but loved it on the second pass. In a similar fashion with the story-telling device of The Grand Budapest Hotel I don’t love the way the central story is framed within a seemingly arbitrary meta-narrative, but I do love everything that happens in the meta-level, outside of the Asteroid City of it all, and it leads to one of my favourite movie moments of the year (“Am I not in this?”). Wes Anderson’s style is not for everyone, and nor should it be, but I love how considered every aspect of his productions are. Another Oppenheimer-level cast showing up because these sets are fun to work on, with Jeffrey Wright quickly becoming a favourite of mine amongst Anderson’s regulars. When he takes his stance to start dramatically telling a story? Glorious. Also, is there any way I can have Wright’s voice be my satnav? The man should narrate everything.

13. Saltburn

One of 2023’s more divisive films, I loved it. Yes you can see the ending a mile away but the need was still felt to show a dozen flashbacks detailing every aspect of the very obvious machinations that led up to it, but everything outside of that dumbed down moment is a lot of fun. And for an English 90s kid like me, the soundtrack is a particular highlight.

12. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

Speaking of great soundtracks, I was not prepared for how epic Mutant Mayhem‘s was going to be either! Apparently as a child I loved the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (or Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles, as they were known in the UK because being a mutant is apparently so much worse than being a – gasp! – ninja) so much that I demanded a birthday cake in the shape of one of them for a birthday (a cake that, coincidentally, was made by the father of my sister’s partner, who we did not know back then), but today I have absolutely no memory of ever watching anything turtle-related, and prior to this film I couldn’t have told you which turtle was which, their respective weapons, coloured headbands or personality traits, and would toss a coin to determine who was whom between the names of Shredder and Splinter. So despite that core memory misplacement, I loved this bizarrely Oscar-snubbed movie, with its scrapbook doodle style, hilarious script and a whole cornucopia of weird and wonderful supporting characters.

11. Bottoms

It’s an Ayo Edebiri double bill! (I was tempted to move Theater Camp up a few notches to make the triple, but that would’ve been disingenuous.) I didn’t like Emma Seligman’s previous film, Shiva Baby, all that much (it was over-hyped and I was expecting more comedy and less excruciating awkwardness), but Bottoms‘ farcical depiction of a school’s approach to sport, clubs and progressive thinking was much more my jam.

10. Polite Society

Top 10, let’s go! Polite Society was far better than I was expecting, and I urge anyone with an interest in action comedies to give it a go. Priya Kansara is incredibly likeable as Ria, an aspiring stunt performer trying to save her older sister from an arranged marriage Ria believes to be suspicious. The action sequences are stylish and energetic, and the plot had me captivated throughout. I look forward to whatever Nida Manzoor does next, and her sitcom, We Are Lady Parts, has been added to my watchlist.

9. Godzilla Minus One

I’ve long said that every King Kong film I’ve seen (1933, 1976, 2005, Skull Island, the Kong parts of Godzilla Vs Kong) is better than every Godzilla film I’ve seen (1998, 2014, King of the Monsters, the Godzilla parts of Godzilla Vs Kong, Godzilla vs Biolante), but now I’ll have to retire that red hot take as Godzilla Minus One blows at least one and a half, perhaps even two and a half of the Kong films out of the water (it’s going to take a lot to shift 1933 and 2005, but Skull Island could be toppled). Godzilla Minus One tells a fascinating story with well drawn characters and frankly unbelievable visual effects given the meagre budget. I’m especially here for all the aquatic action, and I’m now increasingly more likely to check out some of the older Godzilla films too.

8. The Killer

This doesn’t feel like a film I’d ordinarily rank this highly, given how relatively slow-paced and methodical much of it is, but I really fell into the rhythm with watching Michael Fassbender’s assassin character preparing for and executing various jobs after the fallout of one going poorly. The fact that he has all these rules and a strict procedure for everything, but in reality things often go wrong, he deviates from the rules and he might not actually be a very good assassin was also very amusing in an underplayed way. Not top tier Fincher, but given his filmography that’s not exactly a damning criticism.

7. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One

One of the reasons this post has taken me so long to finish was that one evening I’d set aside to work on it we threw on Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One as a background re-watch whilst I typed, which was already a terrible idea because as a rule I cannot write whilst the TV is on, but I find this film so damn watchable that I couldn’t even use that time to prepare the images or layout of the post, I just shut my laptop and watched the whole two and three-quarter hours of it. There’s so much story and so many massive set pieces here, with the climactic train climb my highlight (anything with parallels to The Lost World: Jurassic Park scores points in my book) plus excellent cast additions to the franchise with Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, Shea Whigham, Carey Elwes and Esai Morales. I love the early chiefs of staff type scene, with everyone (including a stately character actor who’s whom of Rob Delaney, Indira Varma, Mark Gatiss and Charles Parnell, in back-to-back list positions) chipping in with their own key piece of information in a very choreographed and rehearsed manner, and the way Shea Whigham enters every scene slowing down from a sprint to a jog, looking around frustratedly for Ethan Hunt. He’s the best at doing this, and I recently pitched that he should replace Tommy Lee Jones in a remake of The Fugitive, as long as he pulled this exact same move in every scene. The A.I. nature of the villain didn’t excite me all that much, but it makes sense for the world we live in and presents a different kind of threat to Ethan and his team. Rebecca Ferguson feels deliberately under-used to make room for Atwell who, to be fair, does a phenomenal job, as does the returning Vanessa Kirby. In my franchise ranking I’d probably place this third (Ghost Protocol, Fallout, Dead Reckoning Part One, M:I-III, Mission: Impossible, Rogue Nation, M:i-2), but depending on how the second half of this film ends up, that positioning could well go higher.

6. Sisu

What a movie! Holy hell, Sisu is something else. A simple premise – man finds gold, Nazis want the gold so chase the man, man fights back – is beautifully and viscerally told with some set pieces that have to be seen to be believed (the lake scene? Bloody hell). All thanks go to my Deep Blue Sea co-host Mark for recommending this, it’s amazing.

5. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

I can’t imagine this trilogy ending better than this. The film that made me cry the most this year (multiple scenes of anthropomorphised abused animals going through trauma, plus a gut-wrenching final scene to watch shortly after my grandfather passing were brutal), yet still made me laugh hysterically. Will Poulter is a little under-used, but with a cast that big it’s understandable, plus his character could’ve overbalanced the whole thing. Chukwudi Iwuji played one of the best and most visually arresting MCU villains. More screentime for Cosmo was greatly appreciated. Making this whole film Rocket’s story was an excellent decision. I love everything about the meat planet. The soundtrack remains wonderful, and Florence & the Machine’s Dog Days Are Over has been in heavy rotation ever since.

4. The Fablemans

Easily one of the most self-indulgent films I’ve ever seen, but I’m here for every second of it. The Fablemans has become one of those films that if I stumble on it on TV, I’m probably going to stay there for quite a while, and if I’m anywhere near the end then you can damn well be sure I’m waiting for that final scene.

3. Marcel the Shell with Shoes On

Before this film I was unaware of the exploits of the tiny cyclops, but I fell in love with them immediately. I’m a sucker for this kind of stop motion creature creation, and Marcel’s whimsical and naïve nature were delightful company. I’ve enjoyed the film far more than some of the pre-existing short films, but I’m going to give them another go just to be sure.

2. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

I loved the first Spider-Verse film, and given this is largely more of the same it’s no surprise that I loved this too. The fact that it’s well over two hours long but is still at most half a story is a little frustrating, and may explain why I haven’t revisited it yet, but the sheer amount of imagination and vibrant movement on screen at any given point makes this a phenomenal achievement, especially to maintain that level of energy for so long. The Spot is a fantastic new villain, whilst Spider-Punk is easily my favourite new addition to this franchise’s Spider-roster, which is a pretty substantial list. I’m very much looking forward to experiencing all the action within the society sometime soon.

1. Wonka

Wow, we made it, folks, number one. And given this post has taken almost three months to complete, with around 20 films being added since starting it way back in January, I’m going to add a new resolution to the latest new year post that I’m going to compile 2024’s movie ranking post as the year goes on. That way maybe I’ll have a better memory of each film as well! Anyway, Wonka has no business being as good as it is, or at the top of my pile. Going in it had so much working against it, from its very premise (a Willy Wonka origin story, why?), it’s leading man (I’ve long held the opinion that if Timothée Chalamet is the ideal lead of your film, maybe you shouldn’t make that film) and the fact that it’s a musical, a genre I’ve often dismissed, but I’ve turned around on all these things courtesy of Paul King’s marvellous creation that is Wonka. I simply had the best time watching this film and, subsequently, listening to the soundtrack. There are so many delightful villains, from the Chocolate Cartel (Matthew Baynton throwing up in his mouth when anyone mentions the poor will always be funny), Keegan-Michael Key as an over-indulging, easily bribed Chief-of-Police (I’m enjoying how often Key crops up in musicals as a character frustrated at everyone else singing, see also Schmigadoon and the Les Mis sketch of Key and Peele), Olivia Colman and Tom Davis as Scrubitt and Bleacher, villainous launderette proprietors, in fact the whole cast is just an utter delight. Hugh Grant’s Oompa Loompa is perhaps over-played in the advertising given how little (no pun intended) he’s used in the actual film, but that’s not a problem when you’ve got the liked of Jim Carter, Rowan Atkinson, Patterson Joseph, Phil Wang, Charlotte Ritchie and the ever-scene-stealing Simon Farnaby in his place. Wonka‘s complete shut out from pretty much any major awards feels like a crime, but at least it’s done well financially and, once I eventually buy it on Blu-Ray, I’ll be watching it again and again.

So that’s my full 2023 movie ranking! Obviously I haven’t seen everything, and there are a bunch of films I’m not planning to see, but here are the one’s I’m looking forward to catching, hopefully soon:
Blackberry
Robot Dreams
Dream Scenario
Sharksploitation
Anatomy of a Fall
The Blackening
Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken
Anyone But You
Dumb Money
Evil Dead Rise
Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre
The Dive
The Last Voyage of the Demeter (if it ever gets a UK release)
The Conference
Slotherhouse
Influence
Strays