I was going to do a list of my favorite movies of 2023 but I realized that the list would only have 3 movies that I would recommend. So, here is the ranking of EVERYTHING I saw in a movie theater in 2023 – and I few I didn’t see in a movie theater – including 2 documentaries, a few sequels or spin-off movies, and a bunch of movies that are based on a true story.
RECOMMENDED
“Albert Brooks: Defending My Life” – Yes, the best movie I saw in 2023 was a documentary. This movie made me want to search for more comedy bits from Albert Brooks and re-watch all the movies he wrote and directed. I’m so glad I got to watch this in a movie theater and since then I’ve watched it several more times on HBO or the MAX streaming site. This one is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!
“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3” – Although other reviews didn’t like it and there were some of the Marvel generic storylines (mentioned in one of my other posts) in it, I enjoyed this part sci-fi and part superhero movie. Mainly because you didn’t need to see several other Marvel movies or TV shows to follow the plot (like the other two Marvel movies released this year).
“Killers of the Flower Moon” – Martin Scorsese has created another cinematic masterpiece with strong acting and excellent cinematography. I do think it’s a little too long but it’s not because the plotline drags on and on.
SOMEWHAT RECOMMENDED
“Elemental” – I really like the world this movie created with different elements living somewhat together. They mostly live in their own neighborhoods but they’re all together in the main city. I recommend the movie although not as much as other Pixar movies.
“Ferrari” – I just saw this a couple days ago. I like the story but I have a few issues with how some scenes were directed, some of the CGI (especially the CGI in some racing scenes that looked pretty bad), and some of the acting. I still think it’s good enough to somewhat recommend.
“The Holdovers” – This movie has excellent acting and some very funny scenes. The reason why its “somewhat recommended” is because it’s set in 1970 (when I was 1 year old). I think the story could have been just as good if it was set in the 2000s.
“Indiana Jones & The Dial of Destiny” – On my halftime post I said this movie was worse than ALL the other Indiana Jones movies but I’ve changed my mind. I think the characters in this movie are better than the characters in “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”. I also recommend this movie if you’re an Indiana Jones fan since it will (probably?) be the last one.
“No Hard Feelings” – Jennifer Lawrence is good in her very first raunchy R-rated comedy, and I really like how the movie shows how different teenagers are these days compared to the old raunchy comedies. However, before this movie came out I heard it was a VERY FUNNY script. It wasn’t that funny to me – I only laughed a couple times. That’s why it’s only somewhat recommended.
“Oppenheimer” – In my opinion, most of Christopher Nolan’s movies have really good cinematography and directing but a really weak storyline. There are quite a few scenes that could have been cut in this movie without affecting the plot. However, the cinematography and directing earn this movie a somewhat recommendation. If you’re a fan of the director it is definitely a must see.
LIKED BUT NOT RECOMMENDED
“A Haunting in Venice” –I liked the other 2 Hercule Poirot movies Kenneth Branagh directed and starred in a lot more than this movie. I also heard that this movie is very different from the plot of the book it’s based on. So, I’m not recommending this movie but I liked it and wouldn’t mind if Kenneth Branagh does a 4th movie.
“The Killer” – The main flaw with this movie is the story. If you remember the last time writer Andrew Kevin Walker worked with director David Fincher (“Seven”) you’ll be really disappointed and (I’m told) if you’re a fan of the graphic novel the movie is based on you’ll be disappointed. I liked the movie, but I would only recommend it if you’re a big fan of director David Fincher. He does a pretty good job with the weak story.
“The Machine” – The ONLY reason I like this movie is because Mark Hamill has some very funny scenes in it. Other than that, the only reason to see the movie is if you’re a big fan of the stand-up comedian Bert Kreischer who stars in the movie (I like his stand-up, but I wouldn’t say I’m a fan). If you know the story he’s told in his standup comedy that’s the inspiration for this movie, you may like this movie.
THE REST
“A Good Person” – (I believe I watched this in a movie theater but I’m not sure). If you’re a fan of Florence Pugh you may like this movie. According to stories on the internet, her former boyfriend Zack Braff wrote and directed this movie for her. Morgan Freeman does his best to add some depth to his character, but the only well-developed character in this movie is Florence Pughs.
“Air” – There is some great acting in this movie based on the true story of how Nike created the “Air Jordan” which became the most popular shoe in the world, but in my opinion that’s the only good thing about it. I had problems with the way some scenes were directed and I had a problem with a bunch of scenes in the movie that didn’t really happen.
“The Creator” – This movie would have been a lot better if I hadn’t watched other movies that have the same themes. It’s an original story but it copies ideas from other movies including “Avatar”, “Blade Runner”, and “District 9”.
“Dumb Money” – Based on a true story of how a bunch of rookie investors made “Game Stop” one of the world’s hottest companies for a few months. It’s a somewhat straightforward storyline that this movie tries to expand into a 1 hour 45-minute movie by adding a lot of jokes and adult humor. I watched the first few minutes of this movie at CinemaCon back in April. I could have just stopped there since the other 1 hour 45 minutes is just more of the same type of jokes.
“The Equalizer 3” – I liked the first movie a lot. The second movie was pretty good. This movie is just more of the same except it’s set in a small town in Southern Italy this time.
“The Flash” – What amazes me about this movie is that I saw an “almost finished” version of it at “Cinema Con” that I thought was pretty good. Then the finished version that was released had more of the things I didn’t like such as more terrible CGI and more gratuitous cameos (including a third Batman) which ruined the pretty good storyline.
“The Marvels” – I was going to skip this movie, but I ended up going to see it with a couple friends. The plot was very generic, most of the jokes weren’t funny to me, and it’s somewhat important that you watched other Marvel movies or TV shows – like the “Ms. Marvel” TV show (which I didn’t watch) – to follow the storyline.
“Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One” – This movie has my award for the worst scene in 2023. It also has some problems with other scenes and the overall plot of the movie. Hopefully, part 2 of the movie (now coming out in 2025) will fix some of the plot holes.
“Napoleon” – This movie has some truly epic battles scenes in it. Unfortunately, that’s the only good thing about it. The way this movie alternates between the epic battle scenes which helped Napoleon rise to power and other scenes about his relationship with his wife Josephine makes the storyline very uneven and makes the running time of almost 3 hours feel a lot longer.
“Wonka” – I’m sure that the fans of Timothee Chalamet love this movie and it’s doing fairly well at the box office right now, but I really didn’t it. It’s like a mediocre stage musical including a few big musical numbers, but it couldn’t be a stage musical because there’s too much CGI during the numbers (such as people floating around). Also, this movie contradicts a couple things in the book and the previous movies. For example, Willy Wonka saved the Oompa-Loompa according to the previous movie – in this movie he supposedly stole chocolate from them and one of them wants revenge.
RECOMMENDED (not watched in a movie theater)
“The Super Mario Bros Movie” – I watched this on Peacock. Although I don’t understand how the movie made over a $1 billion worldwide, I enjoyed it. It’s a fun to watch, especially if you played the Mario Bros video games a lot.
“Still: A Michael J Fox Movie” – I’m a big fan of Michael J Fox so I watched this documentary on video on demand. I wish it talked more about the movies he made other than the “Back to the Future” movies – he basically just talks about how he hid his Parkinson’s disease when he was making the movies. However, I learned a lot about him and I recommend this documentary which is nominated for a few Emmy awards.
THE REST (not watched in a movie theater)
“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” – I skipped seeing this movie in a movie theater, but I watched about half of it on Disney+. It didn’t interest me enough to watch the whole movie.
“Barbie” – All I could stand was watching the first 30 minutes or so on HBO. Then I changed the channel.
“Quasi” – I couldn’t find this playing in ANY movie theaters. It was only available on Hulu. Although I like the other movies that the Broken Lizard guys have made, I never got around to watching this movie.
“She is Love” – I heard this movie was good, so I rented it on video-on-demand. Although I admire how much they did in the middle of lockdown – they filmed the movie in essentially 1 location with very few characters – it’s not fully developed story. It’s very short in running time (around 80 minutes), in plot, and in character development.
TO BE CONTINUED….
“Borderlands” – I thought this would be released in 2023 because Cate Blanchett and Jamie Lee Curtis mentioned working on the postproduction of the movie at the beginning of 2023, but its release date is currently set for August 2024.
“Untitled Jon Watts Project” (now titled “Wolfs”) – Although George Clooney has been talking about this movie recently while promoting “The Boys in the Boat”, they just announced this movie won’t be released until Sept 2024.
LOS ANGELES FILM REVIEW 