My Top 10 Movies Of The Year 2023

 10) Empire Of Light (Sam Mendes)

I believe this is the first movie Sam Mendes has both written and directed and it shows. Normally I don't think this movie would make it into my top ten of the year but for some reason this film left me with a nostalgic feeling that I still have to this day. Perhaps it's because it was the first movie of the year I saw in the cinema or because it's a ode to British cinema and seaside towns it just left something with me. 

Olivia Coleman as usual is bloody fantastic as Hilary, duty manager at the Empire Cinema. She's a troubled woman with bipolar disorder, something that wasn't particularly recognised in the 80's (movie is set in 1980) who's having a affair with her married boss who's clearly manipulating the situation. Stephen a new employee at the cinema, a young black guy bonds with Hilary over their love of cinema and they begin a behind closed doors relationship. Stephen suffers horrific abuse from the disgusting skin head culture that was more present during the 80's as we see that both our leads are and have been dogged by abuse their whole lives. Hilary mentally and Stephen physically because of his skin colour. Hilary's mental health deteriorates and she's sectioned while Stephen is attacked by some thugs and hospitalised. The movie ends with our leads having to make some tough decisions both with each other and personally which in the end leads to a happy conclusion.  

9) Talk To Me

I bloody love a horror and thankfully we are going through a strong era of horror cinema. With Smile and Nope (yes it's a horror) making it onto my top ten list last year I'm happy to say I've got another couple of the list this year too! Talk To Me was one of those movies that grew and grew in popularity through social media and that's not surprise as it's directors the Philippou brothers are YouTube content creators.  

The story is based around a severed and embalmed hand (yes you read that right) Holding the hand and saying "talk to me" enables you to communicate with the dead. Saying "I let you in" allows the spirit to possess them. Freaky shit! Naturally we have a bunch of teenagers at a house party playing with this weird creepy hand and one thing snowballs into another and before you know it a couple of them have been possessed. The opening scene is up there with one of the most shocking I've seen in recent years and the opening act where we get to see the possessions and the "talk to me" are the best parts of this movie as it unfortunately tails off before a pretty predictable ending. For LOTR fans there's a cameo from Eowyen herself!

8) Evil Dead Rise

I remember seeing the trailer for this in early 2023 and thinking FUCK ME I've gotta see this. The Evil Dead franchise is up there for any horror fan and although most re-boots/returning to a franchise doesn't really work this one pays off. 

Everything you want from a Evil Dead movie is here blood, guts, jump scares and of course freaky possession like wall climbing on all fours. There's very little back story and not much depth to any of the characters but do we care about that? Not really, it's one of those movies where you can switch your brain off. What you have here is ninety minutes of pure blood and guts horror that Sam Raimi himself would be proud of and it fits into my top ten purely because it was so much fun! 

7) Guardians Of The Galaxy 3

The MCU has taken a dive into shit creek over the last few years and it's showing no signs of stopping. Thankfully James Gunn was still at the helm for GOTG 3 to make sure this movie didn't bomb and of course he gave us a killer soundtrack. There's a few trilogies within the MCU but I feel that Guardians actually deserve for there to be three movies whereas some we could do without (ahem Ant Man) there's so many characters and arcs they can explore. 

The Guardians are attacked by Adam Warlock who was sent by High Priestess Ayesha and Rocket is injured. Unable to save him with their own supplies The Guardians have to travel to Orgocorp (Rockets creator) to save his life. There's a lot of back and forth between different planets while our hero's dice with death to save their friend and I'm not going to lie it does get confusing especially with flashbacks to Rockets early years but the chemistry between the cast, some superb slow motion action sequences and the comedy that these movies have always produced make this a fun enjoyable watch away from all the other crap the MCU is serving up right now. 

6) The Whale

Who doesn't love Brendan Fraser? Yes he was in The Mummy and yes he was George of the Jungle but he  also had a small cameo in one of the best comedy TV shows ever aired that is SCRUBS. Fraser was somewhat blacklisted from Hollywood for numerous reasons for years which makes absolutely no sense to anyone but he's made a comeback and The Whale was almost his second coming as a actor. 

Fraser plays Charlie a morbidly obese man, who teaches English writing courses online. It's never confirmed but we are led to believe his weight issues began when his partner Alan committed suicide. In this small ensemble Charlie is joined by Liz his carer and Alan's sister. Thomas a con artist Christian missionary and Ellie his estranged biological daughter. Each have a role to play in Charlies life some good, some bad. Everything is based in Charlies small claustrophobic sweaty apartment which helps us really get a sense of what his life is like because he can't leave either. His relationships are complicated from Liz his carer who supplies him with junk food but begs him to seek medical help, to his daughter Ellie who is clearly disgusted by her fathers appearance and way of life who Charlie offers to pay for her time, just to chat. This movie is about relationships. Decisions we make affect relationships, appearances affect relationships and time affects relationships something Charlie doesn't have...Fraser performance here is astounding both physically and emotionally, he conveys such emotion through his eyes it almost makes the make up and prosthetics null and void. The Whale doesn't take too many twists and turns but it's a thought provoking movie with some great acting.

5) Wonka

 Gene Wilder gave us our first incarnation of Willy Wonka in a fun, if not slightly disturbing manner back in 1971. Then in 2005 Johnny Deep performed as Wonka in Tim Burton's remake with a awkward, quirky performance that didn't really go anywhere and is quite honestly forgettable. 18 years later we have Timothee Chalamet stepping into Wonka's shoes as a young incarnation who hasn't even opened his world famous chocolate factory yet as he arrives in Europe set to make his fortune..

The cast boasts a ton of top British actors and relative new comer American Calah Lane who becomes Wonka's assistant after meeting in Mrs Scrubitt's (Olivia Coleman) boarding house. This movie doesn't follow the origin story given to us in the 1971 movie has here Wonka has beef with the Oompa Loompa's specifically one Lofty, (Hugh Grant) who was banished from Loompa Land because he was on guard the night Wonka invertedly stole their chocolate source. Arthur Slugworth is still Wonka's main villain and he's joined by a chocolate cartel who run the cities chocolate industry and do everything they can to stop Wonka opening his shop and when he does they hatch a plan to poison all the chocolate so he goes out of business. As all feel good movies should do this ends on a high note as everything is wrapped up neatly with a couple of twists and turns. Chalamet, gives a romantic performance as a young Wonka, naïve and starry eyed he's perfect for this origin movie that with some killer new songs is a perfect feel good movie for the whole family. I loved it.  

4) The Killer

My marmite choice of the list and I love that people hate it but like marmite, I loved it. Although the plot is a run of the mill - gotta kill the bad guys before they kill me thing we've seen dozens of times the way David Fincher (director) and Michael Fassbender (The Killer) pull this off is exquisitely poetic in almost a painstaking way.  

The movie opens with The Killer staking out a hotel room in Paris. Here we see him practicing yoga, eating, sleeping and listening to The Smiths, who turn out to be the unlikely soundtrack to the film. What I liked about this opening scene is the mundanity of his "job" and along with the internal monologue that Fassbender monotones his way through he gives us a checklist of the perfect kill. Heart rate must be lowered, head clear etc. This particular hit fails when he misses his target and after he returns home to find his house broken into and girlfriend in ICU this sets of the chain of events that see's him hunt down the bad guys that are hunting him until he gest to the (excuse the video game reference) main boss. 

Although the plot is your typical cliched action movie there's some very cool fight scenes, a cameo from the always enchanting Tilda Swinton and so much Fincher-esque attention to detail that it kept me hooked all the way through.   

3) Saltburn

Saltburn saved my 2023 cinema experience. My top two movies on the list were almost a given, both by acclaimed directors starring huge actors and even bigger budgets but the movies I truly truly love are the ones that come out of nowhere and take your breath away. Saltburn done this, and done it again and again. There's scenes in this movie that will live long in the memory (yes that one, and that one AND that one) and again like The Killer this movie has split audiences there's no denying there hasn't been a movie that has got people talking as much as this in a long while. 

Barry Keoghan plays Oliver, a student at Oxford University. He hails from Prescot and clearly struggles at such a prestigious university where most of the students are from upper class backgrounds. He longingly watches from afar as students, particularly the handsome and popular Felix socialize and have fun while he's stuck in the corner of the pub with his misfit friend Michael who embraces his lower class status amongst the elite. Oliver befriends Felix by chance and their relationship grows as Felix is a source of comfort when Oliver finds out his father has passed away and he invites him to spend the summer at his home, Saltburn.

This is where shit gets weird, really weird. Oliver wins the love of the majority of Felix family, played with some stellar performances from Richard E Grant and Rosamund Pike as Felix parents. Que a summer of parties, lust, love, drugs and sex almost endorsed by the parents until things take a turn for the worse as we take a deep dive into the ultra rich lifestyle. To say anymore would ruin the movie, some would say it's Murder On The Dancefloor 

2) Killers Of The Flower Moon

THREE HOURS AND TWENTY SIX MINUTES. Yes it's not The Irishman long but it's long enough. I guess Martin Scorsese just wants to give us everything he's got these days and honestly I'm not complaining. Getting DiCaprio and Di Niro on the same screen is magic but it really is their co-star here Lily Gladstone who's the stand out sensation in this surreal but and somewhat lost in the history books Osage Nation story. In the early 1900's the Osage Nation were among the wealthiest people in the world as oil was cropping up all over their reservations and in that day and age America was not quite cowboys and Indians but not far off. White American's got away with a hell of a lot. 

Ernest (DiCaprio) returns from serving in WW1 to live with his brother Byron and Uncle William King Hale (Di Niro) a deputy sheriff, cattle rancher and supposed friend of the Osage community. Hale is well in with the Osage hierarchy and attends meetings, funerals, weddings etc so Hale and Ernest are met with no resistance when Ernest decides to marry a Osage woman named Molly (the FANTASTIC Gladstone) This is when Hale really starts to exert his powers by ordering hits on Molly's family so she will inherit their head rights and in turn his nephew will inherit the money too. I won't spoil the ending, as although there's no massive twists you do find yourself wondering will these guys get caught. Molly Gladstone is rightly reaping praises for her performance here. She's so subtle in many way with her distrust of Ernest and his Uncle and time after time she lets her eyes do the talking. Is her husband the man she loves going to kill her for money? As her world gets smaller can she trust the only people around her? Brilliant brilliant acting and with a small cameo Jesse Plemmons who's always bloody brilliant this movie, although not a top Scorsese movie is a must watch.  

1) Oppenheimer

Christopher Nolan is a genius pure and simple. The way he writes and directs his movies the guy must have a IQ of gazillion they're just so well written and directed with minimal special effects. Something that could prove quite tricky when you're trying to recreate an atomic bomb explosion. Adapted from American Prometheus the biography of theoretical physicist J Robert Oppenheimer Nolan takes us on a journey through Oppenheimer's life from a 22 year old PHD student in Cambridge to the man designated with the task of ending WW2 with a bomb so grand is destruction that America's enemy's won't come out from under their rocks for many a year.

What's fascinating about this movie is we know how this story ends. Anyone with a basic history knowledge knows the the Americans dropped a atomic bomb on Hiroshima causing mass destruction in turn causing the Japanese to surrenderor. Although this movie is about a bomb, it's not really at all. It's about two things; choices and consequences. Oppenheimer and the rest of the Trinity Test Team based in Los Alomos are creating something with such force that in his own words "could destroy the world". Imagine being part of something like that? You're making this weapon on the basis of winning the war but will it be safe in the American's hands? 

Cillian Murphy is astounding as J Robert Oppenheimer deservedly being nominated for a Oscar. Not just his dedication to the role in losing physical weight etc but the self doubt that he's carrying around with him looks like it's destroying him. Oppenheimer is clearly a great physicist but his personal life and alliance are somewhat confused. Cheating on his wife numerous times and with a communist brother his alliances are regularly called into question both personally and professionally. Step in Lewis Strauss played by the ever engaging Robert Downey Jnr who after being humiliated by Oppenheimer in front of Albert Einstein and during negotiations with the Soviet Union makes it his responsibility to bring JRO down after the war.

Stretching at just over three hours the movie is edited in such a way that it never feels like a drag. No scene with dialect over staying it's welcome and the score from Ludwig Goransson fits this motif perfectly just subtly subconsciously pushing the movie forwarded scene by scene. I think it's fair to say Nolan has mastered his craft long before Oppenheimer but he leads this all-star cast in my absolute favourite movie of 2023.

 

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