2023 felt like the year that movies were finally BACK. After several years of COVID delays, moviegoers finally got a full year of uninterrupted cinematic releases. And genuinely most of these releases were incredible feats of cinema and storytelling. Emphasis on most, as there definitely were some stinkers.
When the credits of Marvel Studios’ The Marvels started rolling, I sat there in a stunned silence at what I just witnessed. Then, my silence transformed into a thunderous applause. The Marvels is a train wreck of a film, and I love every minute of it. There are some genuine good elements with surprisingly decent action and the infectious chemistry between the trio. Carol in particular is a compelling character that exudes chaotic girl fail energy. But the film never does anything with it, compounded with the many fumbles that are executed in the most spectacularly unhinged way possible. It is a film that spends two minutes on an empty field resolving every character conflict, and fifteen minutes on cat vore. This is the pattern The Marvels follows, prioritizing its breezy runtime on random comedy set pieces rather than crafting a narrative with any amount of substance or cohesion. In a way I sort of respect how hard the movie commits to its formula. The film feels as it’s inviting the viewer to laugh at it with a loving wink and smile. It is antithetical to how to tell a compelling story, and the confidence the film exudes to sticking to the bits had me swept up by the glorious insanity of it all. The Marvels is one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen, and the sheer joy and entertainment it gives me makes it one of my favorite movies from 2023.
Continuing the trend of not great movies that I love is Ruby Gillman Teenage Kraken. This was my Anton Ego Ratatouille flashback moment for bi panic media, bringing me back to a time where I would eagerly wait for new episodes of cartoons with chaotic gay energy. If I saw this film when I was younger, this would have been my queer awakening. While Dreamworks’s latest is nowhere near the quality of 2022’s Puss and Boots, there is an infectious charm between the quirky cast of characters the drives the film’s coming of age romcom premise forward. I would love a spin off show to get to know more of the world and cast, because unfortunately the back half of the film does lose steam once the kraken part of the movie is introduced. Despite this, there is still excellent squash and stretch animation to enjoy and an antagonist that can only be described as a fusion between Frieza from Dragon ball and Makima from Chainsaw Man. Who is also gay. This movie is very gay. Ruby Gillman Teenage Kraken may have floundered at the box office, but it went swimmingly in my heart.
Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One is two hours and 45 minutes of nonstop nail biting. There are the usual MI thrills, a super shady organization, Tom Cruise and his gang going rouge, and of course increasingly more outrageous death-defying stunts. It is a blast of a formula that I find difficult to get sick of. Dead Reckoning particularly feels fresh thanks to AI as the main threat. Having an invisible, yet ever present enemy adds a layer of sci-fi mystery and suspense to the film. This paranoia of not being able to trust what you see or hear spices up the already sky-high stakes, and only adds to the stress of the series’ staple action set pieces. If they can keep up this level of quality for Part Two, then I can’t wait to see how this wild ride ends.
My expectations for Suzume were at rock bottom heading into the theater. Despite being visually and auditorily dazzling, I’m not the biggest fan of Makoto Shinkai’s previous two works, Your Name and Weathering with You. However, Suzume left me enthralled upon its conclusion. The film still contains wonderful animation and Shinkai’s signature supernatural tropes, but the focus of the story is always centered on the emotional journey Suzume undergoes. The fantastical elements never overshadow that narrative core beyond being a vehicle to push her growth. It circumvents my most critical issue of Shinkai’s previous two films where the characters took a backseat to fantasy. There are powerful themes at play regarding past verses future, and how the film’s title character serves as both a foil and a reflection to the characters and world is stellar. This is what makes Suzume so special. There are still plenty of issues to criticize, but the execution of Suzume’s emotional character arc and powerful thematic elements is what resonated with me long after the credits rolled.
One of my many cardinal sins as a film student is never watching a Christopher Nolan film outside The Dark Knight trilogy. On top of not being a history buff, Oppenheimer’s three-hour runtime should have been a recipe for boredom. I hadn’t even heard of the man before seeing the first trailer of this film. Yet despite all my trepidations, I was left stunned. It’s a movie of people talking to each other for three hours, but it was so absorbing that the immense runtime flew by. The film’s complex portrayal of a controversial figure in history is endlessly compelling. Each scene expertly utilizes its dialogue and visual language to dive deep into inferring Oppenheimer’s psyche about the creation and ramifications of the atom bomb. The performances from the star-studded cast are easily some of the best from a film last year, with even the actors in minor roles giving exceptional performances. Ludwig Göransson’s score possesses incredible range, encapsulating the grandiose awe of scientific discovery and the haunting horrors of the toppling dominos set in motion. And of course, Christopher Nolan’s directing brings all the written and unwritten elements together. Oppenheimer’s final scene stuck long with me after I left the theater, serving as an unsettling reminder of how because of one man, we live in a world one button press away from mutual destruction.
You’re probably noticing a trend here. Chaotic gay energy fuels my soul, and Bottoms fits that bill to a T while also being a gut busting coming of age, queer comedy. Balance is the film’s greatest strength, blending contrasting tones within its comedy and characters. It’s loud, it’s proud, yet so earnest with everything it wants to say. The unhinged humor perfectly blends being vile but filled with so much youthful charm. Watching this ragtag group of girls bumble and stumble their way through their fight against the popular football jocks was nothing short of delightful. Each member of the group is filled with flaws and personal problems that lead to hilarious gags and heartwarming growth. And without delving into specifics, Bottoms contains one of the most insane finales from a film last year, filled with audible gasps from the audience before transforming to roaring laughter. Bottoms is a blast from start to finish, and the first thing I thought of when it finished was when I could rewatch it to experience the madness all over again.
Lonely Castle in the Mirror is a film adaptation of the novel with the same name. After watching the film, I am keen on picking it up to spend more time immersing myself with this world and characters. The structure of a slow burn is a narrative risk I adore, and the movie expertly utilizes it to flesh out the tone and its characters. As the title of the film implies, loneliness is a big thematic element for the characters, and each one has some reason as to why they are terrified of reaching out towards others. There were scenes that were incredibly challenging to sit through with how intense certain characters’ pasts were, but it was effective at making me sympathize and root for every single one of them. It’s adorable seeing these characters awkwardly push past their comfort zones to befriend one another, and euphoric when they stand together. The last revelation in particular had me ugly crying in the theater. The animation is also fantastic, with the art direction of the castle being the standout. It perfectly captures the fantastical awe of its supernatural existence, while also being a place for these kids to escape from their turbulent lives. Lonely Castle in the Mirror is a beautiful tale about the power people have to emotionally support one another and is one of the most underrated films of 2023.
Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 delivers one last encore for the MCU’s band of intergalactic misfits, and what an incredibly stunning finale. To me, the most important part of any story is character. Ideally a film should have both good narrative beats and character arcs, but ultimately each plot point serves as a vehicle to push characters into new emotional territories. These latter two Guardians films may be narratively messy, but James Gunn is masterful at crafting endearingly flawed characters. While the focus on the film is on Rocket Racoon’s tragic storyline, each Guardian receives a fulfilling conclusion to their arcs, beautifully putting an emotional ribbon on their growth throughout all the MCU films. Every actor puts in the work to give this dysfunctional found family the send-off they deserve. Chris Pratt in particular dials back the carefree, swashbuckler personality that defines plenty of his roles, delivering a genuinely rage filled, and haunting performance through the film. The final shot of was one of the most euphoric moments in any film that came out last year. A tearful, but bittersweet goodbye to the Guardians of the Galaxy, and James Gunn’s exceptional run at Marvel.
Godzilla Minus One was my first Godzilla film, and what an introduction it was. There is an immaculate balance between its devastating kaiju action and character driven narrative. The focus of the film centers around the emotional story of a kamikaze pilot suffering with survivor’s guilt. We get to watch him, and the human characters try to pick themselves up after the end of World War II, to find a purpose within their lives. The most powerful moments of the film are witnessing a group of friends smiling together at the dinner table, or a wife holding onto her grieving husband. These moments are beautiful demonstrations of humanity that gives Minus One its staying power beyond the destructive set pieces. That’s not to say the action is anything to scoff at either. Building up these characters made each encounter with the king of the monsters horrifyingly tense, an overwhelming force of death challenging our heroes’ desire to live. I was clutching my seat hoping everyone would make it out alive. Godzilla Minus One is a triumph in character driven storytelling and raises the emotional bar for what spectacle monster films can be.
You can read Martin’s full review of Godzilla Minus One here.
When Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse released in 2018, I remember thinking “this is my favorite film of all time, there is no way they can top this”… Into the Spider-Verse WAS my favorite film of all time. It’s hard to boil down Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse to just one thing. It is a multiversal adventure though dazzling worlds. It is a personal coming of age tale about yearning for a family to be accepted in. It is a defiant metacommentary on the creative stagnation of art. Across the Spider-Verse is a jack of all trades, master of all. The film successfully juggles a dizzying amount of colorful and eccentric characters but also grounds them with personal conflicts that celebrate and deconstruct the entire concept of the Spider-Man mythos. Sony Pictures Animation not only captures lightning in a bottle with the visual style it pioneered back in 2018’s Spider-Verse, but completely blows it out of the stratosphere. It’s been said time and time again, but every frame of this film could be framed as its own painting. Every masterful shot blends both style and emotional substance. The score goes above and beyond conveying the emotions of the scene but cultivates its own story thanks to exceptional musical storytelling. As a lifelong Spider-Man fan, this film is a dream come true for me. I cried fourteen times through its runtime, and the “To Be Continued” at the end left me in an awe, tearstained mess. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is not only my favorite movie from 2023, but one of my favorite pieces of fiction ever created.
You can read Abbey’s review of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse here.