2023 was another awesome year for filmgoers overall, but it was especially good to those of us who love animation. About a third of the movies on this list were hand-drawn or computer animated features with a wide range of gorgeous styles that will hopefully inspire other studios to step up their game. The live-action medium was no slouch though, 2023 offered plenty of memorable stories and experiences in that department as well. It was a wild, wild year in cinema; one filled with action, laughter, tears, terror, turtles, birds, Barbies, and yes, even Kens. Without further ado, here are my favorite films of 2023.
Honorable Mention: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse continues the story of Miles Morales, Gwen Stacey, and features some thoroughly mind-bending multiversal mayhem. It’s baffling how many different art styles are blended together throughout this marvel of animation. Every main and supporting web-head feels and looks totally, tonally distinct, and it’s clear that co-directors Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson clearly understand the character of Spider-heroes no matter which universe they hail from. Everyone in the voice cast – both new and returning – packs a ton of heart into the film as well. Hailee Steinfeld is especially great, and makes the most out of Gwen’s expanded role in the sequel. Across the Spider-Verse overstays its welcome a little bit, and Miles’ story feels a tad too reminiscent of his arc from Into the Spider-Verse, but the movie as a whole is more than worth the time of any spider-fan. And man, Beyond the Spider-Verse can’t come soon enough!
Number 10: Evil Dead Rise
I was cautiously optimistic when this Evil Dead reboot was announced because I love most of the movies and the stellar TV show, but I hated the previous film. The 2013 Evil Dead prioritized torture-porn levels of violence over building any tension or memorable characters (sorry, but I just don’t find someone licking a razor blade scary or entertaining). There was even a shot in the red-band trailer featuring a kitchen tool that had me concerned it would make the same mistakes. Luckily, Evil Dead Rise tip-toes around them, and instead endears you to a family who find themselves besieged by gleefully relentless evil. Rise also changes up the setting, substituting a cabin in the woods for an apartment complex that gives the movie a new kind of claustrophobic terror. It’s easily the scariest movie in the franchise too, and is bookended by an opening and climax that are two of the most memorable scenes of the series thus far.
Number 9: Talk to Me*
A24 had yet another horror hit on their hands in 2023 with the Philipou brothers’ thoroughly unnerving flick, Talk to Me. Following a group of teens who misuse (or mishandle) an embalmed hand that acts as a conduit for spirits to act and speak through the living, Talk to Me mixes the potent themes of grief, guilt, and addiction with the tried and true horror of the possession subgenre. It’s a thoughtful film in the ways it builds its characters, and knows exactly when to hold back… or when to reveal its nasty, unflinchingly brutal and grotesque scares mixed with some of the best soundwork I’ve experienced in a film in years. Seriously, there’s a particular crunching sound early in the movie that stayed with me for an uncomfortably long period of time after both of my viewings this year. There also isn’t a weak link in the cast, and Sophie Wilde delivers a performance that is borderline otherworldly in the lead role.
* Talk to Me premiered at the Adelaide Film Festival in 2022, but didn’t receive a wide release United States until 2023.
Number 8: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
The Heroes in a Half Shell will always hold a special place in my heart, but it isn’t nostalgia that’s making me place Mutant Mayhem so high on this list. There’s plenty to love for franchise newcomers too. The animation is superb, combining the aesthetics of stop-motion and concept art sketches to create something that looks and feels nearly as comic-like as the Spider-Verse films, but with a tone that is just right for the turtles. Casting teenagers in the titular roles was another inspired choice, and the ensemble adult cast is extremely impressive too. Paul Rudd, Ice Cube, Maya Rudolph all play substantial roles and martial artist/cinematic icon Jackie Chan portraying Splinter is about as pitch perfect as casting can get. Finally – while I can’t say much without spoiling it – Mutant Mayhem pleasantly surprised me with its final act while also setting up an oh-so promising future for Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michaelangelo that I’m super excited to see play out.
Number 7: Dream Scenario
Surprise surprise, another Nicolas Cage movie is on another of my end of year lists. This time Cage plays Paul Matthews, a college professor who achieves worldwide recognition as he randomly starts showing up in the dreams of people all around the globe. The film starts out as surreal, awkward comedy, but grows darker – and even weirder – as it goes on, both in terms of the way the dreams play out and the ways Paul’s fame starts affecting him and his family. It’s a classic yet unique tale of hubris, an exploration of fame and how those who covet it are rarely suited for it. Cage delivers yet another brilliant performance unlike anything I’ve seen before, and Julianne Nicholson plays off of him excellently as Matthews’ wife Janet. You’ll laugh, you’ll cringe, and you’ll probably say something like “what the fuck” to yourself a dozen-plus times before the credits role. I certainly did.
Number 6: The Venture Bros.: Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart
To me The Venture Bros. was without a doubt one of the greatest television shows of all time, and one that had its run was tragically cut short. However, the feature length finale has pretty much everything that made the unforgettable series such a critical darling and earned it a diehard fandom. Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart ends the Venture saga on a bombastic, witty, and slightly sentimental note by giving the majority of its most prominent characters time to shine and a fitting resolution to their respective endeavors. It is also one of the funniest pieces of media I’ve experienced all year, pays off years worth of storytelling and gives fans answers to questions that some folks have been asking for roughly two decades. Sure, Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart may not be the ending its creators envisioned, but I still think it’s a worthy closing chapter to the stellar work that led up to it.
You can read my full review of The Venture Bros.: Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart here.
Number 5: Barbie
Barbie is a bold and outlandish comedy romp but also a shockingly emotional, sometimes even tender film that explores the eponymous toy’s decades-spanning influence with wit, style, and heart in spades. Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling and the entire cast give it their all every single second they’re on-screen, making the important story beats gel with its fantastical setting; one where a Barbie and a Ken from Barbie Land take a trip to the real world. The leads’ journey is one of discovery not only for them, but those around them as they all hilariously scramble to figure out why their realities are colliding in a whimsical, yet thematically deep adventure. I was expecting to laugh thanks to the huge advertising push made by Warner Bros., but I wasn’t expecting Barbie to have such emotional resonance for not only those who played with dolls as a kid, but almost anyone. Barbie is as poignant, funny and memorable as it is pink… and this movie has a lot of pink in it.
Number 4: John Wick: Chapter 4
John Wick: Chapter 4 constantly ups the action throughout its extended runtime, almost to the point that it could have felt like a parody in less capable hands. Each fight feels distinct, energetic, and the series’ killer choreography has never been better. There’s a top-down sequence in the back third that is – and I say this with zero hyperbole – one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. The world-building that went slightly off the rails in Parabellum feels a little reigned in here, yet still vast and lived in too. Donnie Yen and Hiroyuki Sanada are brilliant additions to the roster of Wick’s old friends who can kill other assassins almost as easily as they breathe, along with Bill Skarsgård and Shamier Anderson who portray the movie’s main villain and wildcard respectively. Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, and most of the returning cast members are as awesome as you’d expect from their previous turns in John Wick movies too. Oh, and it’s also one of the most visually striking action flicks I’ve ever seen.
And I don’t care what anyone else says, the staircase gag is one of the funniest movie moments of the year.
Number 3: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
I’ve always believed that the MCU is at its best when it’s willing to get weird, and it’s rarely been weirder or better than Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. It’s a thoroughly entertaining and heartfelt farewell tour for the MCU’s most lovable misfits. James Gunn has beautifully transformed this series about a group of intergalactic outlaws coming together as a team into a one about a family fighting for each other and saving the galaxy in the process over this spectacular trilogy. Each Guardian offers levity and humor in Vol. 3., but also emotional growth and catharsis. Rocket is undoubtedly the film’s biggest strength, as Bradley Cooper delivers a devastatingly powerful vocal performance, especially when we get to see the character’s brutal, traumatic origin story. Drax (Dave Bautista), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Nebula (Karen Gillan) and the others are all terrific too, along with the newcomers. Chukwudi Iwuji deserves a special shout-out among the new blood as the downright monstrous High Evolutionary; he may not be the most complex superhero movie villain of all time, but he’s one of the most instantly despicable. With all said and done, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is a superhero marvel.
Number 2: Godzilla Minus One
I was pretty excited about Godzilla Minus One when it was first announced, but I definitely wasn’t expecting it to be one of my favorite movies of the year, let alone my favorite entry in the decades-spanning franchise. Minus One uses the backdrop of early postwar Japan to set up an already bleak situation for its characters even before the legendary lizard shows up, and the feature is simultaneously an excellent monster movie and affecting war drama. It has a huge heart and is shockingly effective at pulling at your heartstrings, something that is aided by what I think is the best cast in a Godzilla movie by a significant margin. Even though it gets a tad melodramatic and I saw some of the film’s biggest moments coming, everything still works because of how well the acting, score and worldbuilding pull you in. You genuinely like and care about the people here, which is something a lot of the more recent (but fun!) Godzilla movies failed to achieve. Then there’s the eponymous colossus himself, who still inspires awe and terror in equal measure. He’s big, he’s seemingly unstoppable, he’s a walking natural disaster and you really feel the pain of the utter loss and destruction he leaves in his wake. As far as I’m concerned, the Godzilla films have never been as impactful as Minus One, and I honestly don’t know if they ever will be again.
Number 1: The Boy and the Heron
Hayao Miyazaki’s latest work may just be the most visually dazzling product in Studio Ghibli’s entire portfolio. The opening scene alone has what is almost undoubtedly the most powerful sequence of animation from the award-winning studio to date. The Boy and the Heron’s tonal departure from Miyazaki’s previous films is also something I admired; heavily inspired by the highly-respected director’s own childhood and blended with that unmistakable whimsy only he can truly craft, the film has a deeply personal feel to it and is significantly darker than the likes of Totoro, Ponyo or Porco Rosso. It’s certainly not all doom and gloom though, as Miyazaki weaves in plenty of optimism and familiar, always important themes throughout that Ghibli veterans will recognize, yet the movie still has plenty of surprises in store for everyone. The Boy and The Heron is wish fulfillment for Miyazaki, a message to his family, his way of saying “ you know what? I don’t have all the answers either, but that’s okay” to the rest of us, and it’s all laid bare in a beautiful coming of age story. It’s one of my favorite Ghibli films and my favorite movie of 2023, even if it took me a second watch to fully appreciate it.
Also, I highly recommend going with the English dub. The Japanese voice acting is great, but Robert Pattinson’s unrecognizable vocal performance is all the English-language version needs to be crowned as the winner in my book.
And those were my favorite movies of 2023! If you liked what you read follow me on Twitter or Letterboxd to see what I post next. And until next time, remember: the best seats are in the Middle of the Row!
Middle of the Row 
