It’s that time of year for lists! I’ve seen 205 new films at the cinema or on streaming this year, so trimming that list down to a favourite Top 20 Movies of 2023 has been a tough job! But here is my personal choice of the Top 20 Movies of 2023. You can see it in video form here – https://youtu.be/NOby1WVE-uc or embedded below.
I’m aware that some folks prefer these lists in written form, so I’m publishing this post to include my Top 20 list in written summary form below.
A Happy New Year to all One Mann’s Movies followers!
The Top 20:
No. 20 – Talk to Me
This low-budget Australian indie horror made by a couple of Youtube stars – Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou – brims with innovation and delivered one of the most clever and chilling endings of any film I saw during 2023. (Original review here).
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No 19 – Godzilla Minus One
If in November you’d told me that I would be putting a monster movie like “Godzilla Minus One” in my Top 20 for the year, I’d have told you you were smoking something! But here we are and here it is! “Godzilla Minus One” not only delivered thrills (some in a style very reminiscent of “Jaws”) but wrapped it in a truly heartfelt story of loss and new family beginnings. It really is something special. (Original review here).
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No 18 – The Great Escaper
Certainly the last time we will see Glenda Jackson on the screen (who sadly died in June) and also possibly the last time we will see Michael Caine (who is ‘retiring’, though he’s said that before), Oliver Parker’s “The Great Escaper” is a glorious true story of Bernard Jordan who bunked off from his South Coast nursing home to attend the D-Day memorial service in France. Curiously, exactly the same story was filmed as “The Last Rifleman“, though not as well, with Pierce Brosnan). (Original review here).
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No 17 – A Man Called Otto
Tom Hanks normally plays a certain ‘type’ and you know from the first minute that this is something different. Hanks as Otto is grumpy and curmudgeonly. But this is a story of his redemption at the hands of a new neighbour, Marisol, with Mariana Treviño delivering a superb and heart-warming performance. It delivers laughs but also heartache. There will be tears. (Original review here).
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No 16 – Killers of the Flower Moon
You’d think that putting this list together would be a simple case of putting all the 5* films (of which I had just seven in 2023) and jostling them around to get my top slots. But here’s a case in point of a film that I gave 5*s to that has ended up at No 16 in my list. That’s because not just film-making prowess, but also “rewatchability” and “enjoyment” needs to play a part in my annual rankings. Although “Flowers of the Killer Moon” was superbly made by Scorsese and had immaculate (and possibly Oscar-winning) performances from both Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio, it joins the likes of “The Irishman” and “The Revenant” as brilliant films that I wouldn’t necessarily choose to shove on and watch again. (Original review here).
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No 15 – Barbie
The phenomenon of the summer, making one half of ‘Barbenheimer’ weekend that brought so much joy to cinema-owners up and down the country. Barbie has to date made over $1.4 billion at the box office and was the smash hit of the year. I’m not sure how well it will do in awards season… we shall see. But Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling were both hilarious and the caustic message of continuing male dominance in society went down well with a legion of female viewers! (Original review here).
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No 14 – The Creator
Gareth Edwards, director of “Rogue One“, delivers an equally epic Sci-Fi spectacular. The plot, yet another in the year involving the ubiquitous AI, was clever and the parallels with Vietnam writ large. Fabulous sound design as well which I’d like to see recognised at the Oscars. (Original review here).
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No 13 – Dungeons and Dragons: Honour Among Thieves
The first surprise ‘popcorn’ movie of the year for me, this swords and sorcery romp was a bundle of fun from start to finish, giving Chris Pine and Michelle Rodriguez great sparring opportunities and Hugh Grant another opportunity to shine as an evil villain. There’s also a fabulous score by Lorne Balfe that has spawned not one, not two, but three separate soundtrack albums! Hopefully, this will be the start of a franchise of D&D films…. I hope so if they are as much fun as this. (Original review here).
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No 12 – Anatomy of a Fall
This twisty turny murder mystery set in the French Alps is a terrific watch anchored by a phenomenal performance by Sandra Hüller. Did her husband fall? Or did she push him? As the audience we are never sure as we proceed into the strange French legal process (which may or may not be accurate!). (Original review here).
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No 11 – Air
Another 5* film that didn’t quite make my Top 10, “Air” was a hugely enjoyable jaunt back to the 80’s with a great sense of place and time. There are great performances by Matt Damon, Viola Davis, Jason Bateman and Chris Tucker and a story (about the rise and rise of the Air Jordan brand) that I was completely unfamiliar with. I brazenly postulated that this would be the Best Film at the Oscars…. I don’t think that any more… but it is still a great watch. (Original review here).
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The Top 10:
Onto my Top 10.
No. 10 – Missing
Made by the same team who did “Searching” from a few years back, the film is similarly shot solely through the lens of electronic devices. Storm Reid is terrific in this tale of a teen trying to find out where her mother has disappeared to on a trip to Colombia. The movie has a twist which, ridiculous as it may be, I didn’t see coming AT ALL. (Original review here).
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No 9 – Apocalypse Clown
Comedy is extremely subjective, but this low-budget Irish film made me laugh more than any other film in 2023. Natalie Palamides (pictured above) deserves an award for bringing to life Funzo the clown: a classic knife-wielding comedy hero. It won’t be to everyone’s taste I’m sure… but I loved it. (Original review here).
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No 8 – The Fabelmans
A film with a massive amount of heart, “The Fabelmans” is a very personal story for Steven Spielberg. Seeing Spielberg’s early attempts at film-making with models and low-budget effects was simply wonderful. Gabriel LaBelle (above with Chloe East) makes for a fabulous Spielberg lookalike. There’s a wonderful closing scene as well where Spielberg meets his idol, John Ford. My only wish would be that the artifice had been dropped and the movie had been called “The Spielbergs” instead. (Original review here).
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No 7 – Wonka
There are certain children films that have sparked a lifelong interest in the film business. For me, it was “Mary Poppins” in 1964. But I can see “Wonka” similarly entrancing the right age of children with them saying to themselves “I want to make something like that one day”. “Wonka” is a film which is packing in the crowds in the UK this holiday season: it’s heading for a £35M box office in the UK and Ireland alone. It’s a splendidly entertaining musical with a toe-tapping set of new songs by Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy mixed with classics from the original Gene Wilder film. Who knew that Timothée Chalomet could sing and dance like that? This is a film which I’m sure is set to be a classic in the hearts of a generation of children.
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No 6 – Rye Lane
“Rye Lane” is a “Love Actually” for the 2020’s, without any of the dodgy bits. This rom-com is truly delightful charting a day in the life of two young people – Dom (David Jonsson) and Yas (Vivian Oparah) – as they wander around South London trying to right a wrong. Don’t avoid seeing it and become a ‘human bin-fire’…. join the ‘boat-waving’ club instead! (Original review here).
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No 5 – Saltburn
“Saltburn” is Emerald Fennell’s way of proving that her ‘difficult 2nd album’ (after “Promising Young Woman“) was not so hard after all! Fennell doubles down on some scenes of dubious taste that leaves you gasping by the end at the audacity of it all. A fabulous ensemble cast, but which has Barry Keoghan, Richard E. Grant and Rosamund Pike as the stand-out performances. You will never hear “Murder on the Dance Floor” in the same way again! (Original review here).
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No 4 – Fallen Leaves
I saw this at the London Film Festival and promptly fell in love with it. Aki Kaurismäki delivers a sombre kind of cute-meet in a depressing Helsinki with Ansa (Alma Pöysti) and Holappa (Jussi Vatanen) as a depressed and unmoored couple. Riffing shamelessly off “Brief Encounter”, the romance when it happens is sweet, touching and feel-good. But all the humour is exceptionally dry and deadpan and I loved it for that. There’s also a cute dog. I know it doesn’t sound like it… but this one is a delight. (Original review here).
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No 3 – Lola
A real surprise of a low-budget time-travel film by Andrew Legge, “Lola” is just soooo clever in its storytelling. The use of ‘doctored’ original newsreel footage from the war is expertly done and the film is helped along by some wonderful songs by Neil Hannon (getting a second mention in my Top 10!). (Original review here).
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No 2 – Past Lives
I doubt many people who saw this will disagree with it being high in my list for this year. Celine Song’s film has won a lot of plaudits and is likely to feature strongly in the forthcoming Oscars. The story of childhood sweethearts from South Korea meeting up years later in New York is just blissful and features one of the most heart-stopping finales of the year.
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No 1 – Oppenheimer
To be clear, “Oppenheimer” is not here at my number one because I’m some kind of Christopher Nolan fan-boy who thinks ALL his work is genius. (I put Dunkirk as one of my turkeys of the year in 2017!). It’s here because Oppenheimer was just SUCH a dramatic cinema experience. The sound was EXTRAORDINARY with a filling-loosening bass sound: surely it must be in the running for Best Sound at the Oscars. It also features a fabulous ensemble cast, with particularly brilliant acting by Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr., both of who will be in the running for my Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor slots at the forthcoming Oscars. (Original review here).
