In 2023,
China launched a series of spy balloons over the United States;
Silicon Valley Bank failed;
King Charles III was coronated;
On the way to visit the wreckage of the Titanic, the submersible Titan imploded;
The WGA and SAG-AFTRA launched a strike against Hollywood studios;
Kevin McCarthy’s brief reign as Speaker of the House ended in dramatic fashion, and, after a lengthy period of voting, Mike Johnson was elected as the new Speaker;
India surpassed China as the most populous country on earth;
The Denver Nuggets won their first NBA Championship;
The Texas Rangers won their first World Series;
The Vegas Golden Knights won their first Stanley Cup;
Dorothy Tristan, Melinda Dillon, Dick Flood, Jeff Beck, Carole Cook, Jean Laurent, Lisa Marie Presley, Country Boy Eddie, Julian Sands, Edward R. Pressman, David Crosby, Billy Packer, Gary Peters, Daniel Boone, Annie Wersching, Bobby Hull, Albert L. Schweitzer, Burt Bacharach, Raquel Welch, Tim McCarver, George T. Miller, Richard Belzer, Jerry Richardson, Tom Sizemore, Chaim Topol, Bud Grant, Lance Reddick, Willis Reed, Al Jaffee, Dick Groat, Jerry Springer, Gordon Lightfoot, Deacon Jones, Kenneth Anger, Barry Newman, “Superstar” Billy Graham, Jim Brown, Bill Lee, Tina Turner, The Iron Sheik, Pat Robertson, SIlvio Berlusconi, Treat Williams, Cormac McCarthy, Glenda Jackson, Daniel Ellsberg, Frederic Forrest, Alan Arkin, Lawrence Turman, Jane Birkin, Tony Bennett, Randy Meisner, Sinéad O’Connor, Paul Reubens, Mark Margolis, Arthur Schmidt, William Friedkin, Robbie Robertson, Jerry Moss, Ron Cephas Jones, Terry Funk, Bob Barker, Jimmy Buffett, Cindy Williams, Bill Richardson, Gary Wright, Johnny Mathis, Mylon Lefevre, Brooks Robinson, Michael Gambon, Dianne Feinstein, Terence Davies, Burt Young, Piper Laurie, Richard Moll, Matthew Perry, Bob Knight, Maryanne Trump Barry, Rosalynn Carter, Frances Sternhagen, Charlie Munger, Henry Kissinger, Sandra Day O’Connor, Norman Lear, Marisa Pavan, Frank Wycheck, Andre Braugher, Tom Smothers, Tom Wilkinson, Shecky Greene, and Cale Yarbrough died.
The following is a list of my ten favorite movies released in 2023:
10) Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Love
I love Carol and this career retrospective was wonderful. Her show was legendary and her follow up Carol and Company was enthralling to me as an adolescent.
I fell in love with her as Miss Hanigan in Annie and watched the film repeatedly when I was a kid. Any excuse to celebrate Carol is welcome and the parade of stars who testified to her enormous influence was heartwarming.
I’m glad they did this before she died and it was too late for her to know how beloved she was.
9) Albert Brooks: Defending My Life
Biographical documentaries sometimes feel like a desperate search for continued relevance, but in this case, it was informative and enlightening.
Albert Brooks is criminally underrated.
A lot of people know him from his numerous Simpsons cameos, but his directorial output and his orginal 70s stand up are all top notch.
I enjoyed the stand up stuff since I missed it when I was a kid.
Well worth watching to get a crash course in a genuine comedy legend.
8) Oppenheimer
Christopher Nolan’s biography of the creator of the atomic bomb is a wonderful look inside the complicated life of a pivotal, lesser known figure of the twentieth century. Immediately after the bomb fell, Oppenheimer was a household name and the subject of countless magazine covers, but, after a jealous Lewis Strauss forced him out of government, his reputation was shattered; he was relegated to a historical footnote and occasional Jeopardy! clue.
This movie attempts to set the record straight. Oppenheimer was genius, but like many brilliant minds had difficulty navigating interpersonal relationships. He did flirt with socialist / communist ideas, but was a devoted patriot who understood defeating the Nazis was of paramount importance
The film’s depiction of the famed people involved (even on the periphery) in the development and use of the atomic bomb is top notch. I particularly enjoyed Tom Conti as Einstein, Kenneth Branagh as Neil Bohr, and Gary Oldman as Harry Truman.
I loved the juxtaposition of Oppenheimer’s Kafkaesque trial to keep his security clearance and Strauss’ doomed confirmation hearing to be Secretary of Commerce.
From top to bottom, this is one of the best casts assembled in the 21st century, filled with big names who clearly signed on to work with Nolan on his passion project.
I hope Downey gets an Oscar; he deserves for people to remember he was a great actor before midwifing the MCU. Cillian Murphy is beyond excellent; his turn as the defeated Oppenheimer in his final days, who has lost all of the confidence and swagger his formidable intellect brought him early in his career, is heartbreaking and I’m excited for him to carry a movie of this size.
7) The Super Mario Bros. Movie
The plot is familiar to anyone who’s been paying remote attention to popular culture for the last forty years. Plumbers Mario and Luigi are inexplicably drawn into another world and must rescue Princess Peach from the clutches of the evil lizard Bowser.
The voice cast is incredible, including Jack Black (Bowser), Chris Pratt (Mario), Charlie Day (Luigi), Seth Rogen (Donkey Kong), Keegan-Michael Key (Toad), and Anya Taylor-joy (Princess Peach).
Black’s performance deserves particular praise (especially for his song, “Peaches,” which felt like an unhinged version of Woody’s “Kelly” from Cheers).
I loved the movie’s incorporation of Donkey into the universe and the Mario Kart stuff was fantastic.
Having grown up with Mario’s adventures front and center in my mind, I loved this. It helped that my son also has an affinity for the famed plumber and is the exact right age for this film. This was a Gen-X dream come true and deserved all the accolades.
6) You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah
As the Sandman nears sixty, his films have taken on a different flavor. They’re just as irreverent, but infused with a desire for connection many of his earlier films didn’t articulate.
I love that he’s been keeping his friends employed and using his films as an excuse to keep the gang together for thirty years, and now he’s expanded the circle to include his wife and children.
His oldest daughter Sadie was fine, but his youngest, Sunny is a star and remarkably never buckles under the pressure of carrying the whole movie.
For years Adam has shown flashes of dramatic talent in movies like Punch Drunk Love and Hidden Gems, and now it seems critical opinion has recognized this talent and has him riding high (including a much deserved Mark Twain Prize).
From fired on SNL to revered comedy icon, it’s been a helluva run and I hope it keeps going for another ten to fifteen years.
As the Anne Frank Museum explores ways to build its brand and reach young people, the filmmakers explore the way cultural currency works. Some things transcend snark and one liners, but they can’t stay relevant without pandering. Earnestness leads to ridicule.
A courageous, clever satire about our chase for clout, our need for the affirmation of others, and the ways we debase ourselves for these elusive, ephemeral goals.
In addition, the movie touches on the place of the Holocaust in cultural discourse and Holocaust denialism.
It’s one of the darkest and ballsiest comedies this year and I thoroughly enoyed it.
4. Mike: Biribligia: The Old Man and the Pool
I went in with zero expectations. I had seen Sleepwalk with Me (2012), but it didn’t leave a huge impression. This special, however, hit a nerve. My maternal grandfather died at 39 from a heart attack, then my father died at 39 from testicular cancer. Much like Mike, when I turned 39, I spent a lot of time thinking about my own mortality.
He’s a masterful storyteller who knows how to weave details in and and out and understands intuitively how, and when, to circle back. The story builds and builds and builds until a genius masterstroke.
This is one of my favorite standup specials and will be one I frequently think back on and hype up to others.
3) The Flash
The Flash, Barry Allen (Ezra Miller), goes back in time to prevent his mother’s murder and inadvertently gets stuck in the past with a pre superpowered version of himself.
When Zod (Michael Shannon) arrives and threatens to destroy earth, Barry and his past self enlist an alternate Batman (Michael Keaton) to help set things right.
Michael Keaton’s Batman was a formative experience of my childhood and seeing him don the cowl again was a special experience for me.
Affleck did a great job with his version of Batman and Miller was not as annoying as I’d anticipated. I didn’t mind seeing Supergirl instead of Kal-El, and thought the cameos featuring Christopher Reeve, Nic Cage, etc were a nice way of honoring the spirit of the multiverse.
It helped that one of my childhood obsessions was mashups, imagining what would happen if various fictional worlds collided.
I get why people hated it, especially considering the DCEU is on its last legs, but this film checked many of my personal boxes.
2) Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
This film wisely places Rocket at its center, exploring how he became the talking raccoon we love. The High Evolutionary is a worthy villain. His obsession with creating the perfect race seems over the top, but his callous disregard for his creations is sadly all too believable and parallels many ideas of the ideas of master races. Chukwudi Iwuji is top notch and should have been the one to take on Kang.
I loved Rocket’s mini family of misfits he finds in the lab of created creatures. I love Drax’s growth and his decision to care for children with Nebula. Peter’s reunion with his granddad was sweet and touching. It’s a satisfying conclusion for all of the characters, and reinventing the team with Rocket as the leader leaves a possibility for further adventures.
Gunn’s Guardians are right in my wheelhouse, and Chris Pratt, while not a top tier actor, is a comforting presence and his relationship with Gamora is well handled.
The cameos from Seth Green (Howard the Duck) and Sly Stallone were excellent. I loved Nathan Fillion and Elizabeth Debecki. Will Poulter annoys me, so I didn’t love Adam Warlock.
The weakest point of the series after the first Guardians film was Groot. They tried to have it both ways with his sacrifice leading to a regeneration and since then Gunn has struggled to make the character relatable.
This bittersweet sendoff to the misfit crew is a not a perfect film, but it’s one of the better ones in the MCU’s post Endgame output.
The film version of a fictional play broadcast in a TV anthology series with different aspect ratio and color pattern to keep them separated. This is Wes Anderson style on steroids.
Some will argue it’s all style and no substance. In my opinion, this is an unfair attack; his style leans into the artificiality of storytelling, the way we construct stories and wall ourselves off.
The cast is beyond top notch. Scarlett Johannson is amazing. Jason Schwartzman is fantastic. Steve Carrell is amusing in a small role originally intended for Anderson muse Bill Murray. Margot Robbie adds another notch to her incredible summer with a pivotal cameo. Tom Hanks is good. Jeff Goldblum always brings a smile to my face. I particularly loved Bryan Cranston as the host of the TV anthology series / narrator.
Adrien Brody won an Oscar early in his career for The Pianist, but it’s only been in the last five years he’s come into his own.
Ed Norton is delightful as the play’s respected author, and Willehm Dafoe is electric as a famed acting teacher.
When Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Hope Lange, and Liev Schrieber are this far down the call sheet, you’re dealing with an abundance of riches. I don’t think there’s a false note in the ensemble, and everyone is equally committed to the hyper stylized acting Anderson demands.
I loved the scene with the kid singing an impromptu country song in honor of the alien, and loved even more that it was subtitled!
I’ve long admired The Royal Tenebaums and while he’s come close, I was doubtful Anderson would ever create another film which would so control my heart, but he’s done it.
A Wes Anderson sci-film with a decidedly unresolved plot is the joy I didn’t know I needed in my life.