My Top Ten Movies of 2023

2023 has been a solid year at the cinema after a few underperforming years as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent fallout. 2023 finally saw people gradually make their way back to the cinema, with films such as: Barbie, Oppenheimer and Super Mario Bros. Movie making $1billion at the worldwide box office. There is still a sense of hesitation amongst movie goers, compared to pre covid times, with a handful of large blockbusters still underperforming. With plenty to look forward to in 2024 as a result of several push backs as a result of the SAG-AFTRA strikes, it is as good time as any to look back at the year in cinema, and my ten favourite films of the year.

There are a handful of films that I have not had chance to see this year, films that immediately come to mind are The Killer and BlackBerry which I aim to watch as soon as possible. There are also some major films that I am yet to see due to their UK release date, which are slated for 2024. These include: Poor Things, The Holdovers, The Colour Purple, The Zone of Interest, American Fiction and Hit Man.

Honourable Mentions

• Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret
• Bottoms
• The Boy and the Heron
• Killers of the Flower Moon
• May December
• Priscilla
• Rye Lane
• Talk to Me
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
• Wonka

10. Godzilla Minus One

Dir: Takashi Yamazaki

Cast: Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Yuki Yamada, Munetaka Aoki, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Sakura Ando, Kuranosuke Sasaki

Synopsis: Japan is already devastated by the war when a new crisis emerges in the form of a giant monster, Godzilla.

My Rating: 4/5

9. Barbie

Dir: Greta Gerwig

Cast: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon, Issa Rae, Rhea Perlman, Will Ferrell

Synopsis: Barbie and Ken are having the time of their lives in the colorful and seemingly perfect world of Barbie Land. However, when they get a chance to go to the real world, they soon discover the joys and perils of living among humans.

My Rating: 4.5/5

8. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One

Dir: Christopher McQuarrie

Cast: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, Mariela Garriga, Henry Czerny

Synopsis: Ethan Hunt and the IMF team must track down a terrifying new weapon that threatens all of humanity if it falls into the wrong hands. With control of the future and the fate of the world at stake, a deadly race around the globe begins. Confronted by a mysterious, all-powerful enemy, Ethan is forced to consider that nothing can matter more than the mission — not even the lives of those he cares about most.

My Rating 4.5/5

7. The Creator

Dir: Gareth Edwards

Cast: John David Washington, Madeleine Yuna Voyles, Gemma Chan, Ken Watanabe, Sturgill Simpson, Allison Janney

Synopsis: As a future war between the human race and artificial intelligence rages on, ex-special forces agent Joshua is recruited to hunt down and kill the Creator, the elusive architect of advanced AI. The Creator has developed a mysterious weapon that has the power to end the war and all of mankind. As Joshua and his team of elite operatives venture into enemy-occupied territory, they soon discover the world-ending weapon is actually an AI in the form of a young child.

My Rating: 4.5/5

6. Anatomy of a Fall

Dir: Justine Triet

Cast: Sandra Huller, Swann Arlaud, Milo Machado-Graner, Antoine Reinartz, Samuel Theis, Jehnny Beth, Saadia Bentaieb, Camille Rutherford, Anne Rotger, Sophie Fillieres

Synopsis: A German author is suspected of her French husband’s murder, and their blind son faces a moral dilemma as the sole witness.

My Rating: 4.5/5

5. John Wick: Chapter 4

Dir: Chad Stahelski

Cast: Keanu Reeves, Donnie Yen, Laurence Fishburne, Bill Skarsgard, Lance Reddick, Scott Adkins, Rina Sawayama, Hiroyuki Sanada, Shamier Anderson, Clancy Brown, Ian McShane

Synopsis: With the price on his head ever increasing, legendary hit man John Wick takes his fight against the High Table global as he seeks out the most powerful players in the underworld, from New York to Paris to Japan to Berlin.

My rating: 4.5/5

4. Saltburn

Dir: Emerald Fennell

Cast: Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike, Richard E. Grant, Alison Oliver, Archie Madekwe, Carey Mulligan

Synopsis: Struggling to find his place at Oxford University, Oliver Quick finds himself drawn into the world of the charming and aristocratic Felix Catton, who invites him to Saltburn, his eccentric family’s sprawling estate, for a summer never to be forgotten

My Rating: 4.5/5

3. Oppenheimer

Dir: Christopher Nolan

Cast: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Josh Hartnett, Casey Affleck, Rami Malek, Kenneth Branagh

Synopsis: During World War II, Lt. Gen. Leslie Groves Jr. appoints physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer to work on the top-secret Manhattan Project. Oppenheimer and a team of scientists spend years developing and designing the atomic bomb. Their work comes to fruition on July 16, 1945, as they witness the world’s first nuclear explosion, forever changing the course of history.

My Rating: 5/5

2. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Dir: Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson

Cast: Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Brian Tyree Henry, Lauren Velez, Jake Johnson, Jason Schwartzman, Issa Rae, Karan Soni, She Whigham, Greta Lee, Daniel Kaluuya, Mahershala Ali, Oscar Isaac

Synopsis: In an attempt to curb the Spot, a scientist, from harnessing the power of the multiverse, Miles Morales joins forces with Gwen Stacy.

My rating: 5/5

1. Past Lives

Dir: Celine Song

Cast: Greta Lee, Teo Yoo, John Magaro

Synopsis: Nora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, are wrest apart after Nora’s family emigrates from South Korea. Decades later, they are reunited for one fateful week as they confront destiny, love and the choices that make a life.

My rating: 5/5