It usually takes us critics until the end of the year before the studios show us their best wares – the films they think have the best shot at awards consideration. This usually happens in mid-November to early December. After 30 years, I still think to myself, “eh, it was an okay year,” just before the studio dump that makes us all say, “holy crap! Some great films were made this year!” I’m a slow learner.

Here we go – Happy New Year to you and see you at the cinema!

Best Horror Film

Thanksgiving – Director Eli Roth made a fake trailer for a film that didn’t exist back in 2007. This is that movie in full form and it’s a gas. In Plymouth MA, an axe murderer wearing a Pilgrim costume and John Carver mask carves up a lot of teens. Roth plays it like a gory Scooby-Doo episode with the killer’s reveal in the final act. He follows all the same touchstones that 16-year-old me cowered from in the theatres back in 1980 – only this time I laughed; Roth’s kills are so cheerfully over the top that you will admire the practical FX more than you’ll crouch. Bloody good fun. Currently available on streaming platforms.

Best Animated Film

Admittedly, most critics will go for Spider-man Across the Spider-verse, but I was surprised that Disney/Pixar’s Elemental was way, way better than the early reviews indicated. Yes, it’s a lesser film from powerhouse Pixar, but that doesn’t stop it being a sweet, romantic, and funny cartoon. It’s like if someone made a Science-rooted, rom-com into an animated movie.

Best Action Flick

Although there’s no denying the glee of watching Keanu Reeves kick a million asses in Wick Chapter 4, the prize must go to Tom Cruise who built a decent story and had more than just kills in his flick. The stunts were amazing, the editing very good and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One takes the prize.

I Just Didn’t Get It

Here I am on December 30, 2024m predicting that Barbie will get the most, or second most nominations for the Oscars. But it was a long sit for me – both times I watched it. I get that it’s trying to impart a good message to girls, but there are many other films I’d take my four daughters to see before this narrative slog. Yes, the production values are eye-catching, but my 3-year-old makes up better stories while playing with her dolls than this.

The Color Purple: My second favorite film in history is 1985’s The Color Purple. When I saw the musical version in the 2000’s I was blown out of my seat by Fantasia Barrino’s soaring vocals, but the story, to me, doesn’t lend itself to the necessary artifice of a stage musical. Putting it on film didn’t help it, and while a critic should never play comparison games like this, I just couldn’t help it. Go watch the original film and you’ll see. And you’ll cry.

Napoleon is one battle scene after another, mostly in gray misty, foggy, low light and then poorly strung together. Joaquin Phoenix seems low energy. Good costumes. A rare miss for director Ridley Scott.

Overlooked But Worth a Look

Blackberry was unfairly ignored at the box office, in spite of positive reviews. I love stumbling upon something like this. Here’s my review: Blackberry Film Review

TV Series

It borders on camp, but I had fun with The Fall of the House of Usher on Netflix. Only obliquely connected to the Edgar Allen Poe story by the same title, this is a modern day, soapy series with a lot of dead people by the end.

I’m late to the party, but I found The Bear this year and couldn’t tear myself away. The drama of a dysfunctional family and a now sober son trying his best to keep the family restaurant in business features lots of food p*rn and characters you just, I don’t know, you just like them.

My Top Ten Films

10.   Flamin’ Hot feel-good flick about the Mexican-American laborer who invented the hot Cheeto’s

  9.   Air. Not a serious awards contender, just a fun watch about the guys who risked it all to make Air Jordans.

  8.  All of Us Strangers. A man living alone, except for one neighbor down the hall, passes his days writing inside his high-rise apartment. A trip to his childhood home puts him in the company of his mom and dad…who died 30 years ago. Time has kinda stood still. And that’s not even the twist ending.

  7. Maestro. This is maybe the most flawed film on my list. Bradley Cooper directs himself and a stunningly excellent Carey Mulligan in a bio-pic that, frankly, never quite tells us enough about the inner workings of the people portrayed. Instead, it focuses on top shelf production values, art direction is sublime, and the top line performances are surefire nominees, you’ll see.

  6. The Taste of Things. The first 28 minutes of this French film take place in a lower deck kitchen of a country mansion. You will see, in minute detail, but with pacey edits that keep it from being boring, the most sumptuous large meal being prepared that just may be the best filmed in movie history. But it’s the quietly devastating performance by Juliette Binoche that is at the heart of this story where love, passion, and romance are in the same food group as the gourmet dishes.

5.American Fiction. Will this finally be the moment when the great Jeffrey Wright gets his due? Part satire, Wright plays an accomplished author who’s not doing any business. When he is prodded to try writing in a more “black voice” and ghetto up the stories he writes, he reluctantly goes along and, voila, becomes a major success. All around superb casting and writing.

4.Poor Things. I thought the director of this film was just screwing with me, the viewer. Is there a hidden camera watching me watching this? But the reverse Frankenstein-ish telling of an ambitious doctor (Willem Dafoe) creating a young woman from spare parts really draws you in with its black humor and gutsy, brave performance by Emma Stone. Yorgos Lanthimos, you son of a bitch, you’ve made me love one of your weird ass movies once again.

3.Killers of the Flower Moon. Martin Scorsese has made a near perfect film and I loved it both times. But here’s why I think it won’t be remembered as one of his very best. https://www.entertainmentordie.com/2023/10/scorsese/

2. Oppenheimer. This shouldn’t work on paper. It’s long, a little dense at times, but director Christopher Nolan has infused this bio-pic with genuine cliffhangers and a deep bench of supporting actors surrounding the inscrutable title character, so well realized by Cillian Murphy. Best edited film by far this year.

And the Best Film of 2023 Is:

‘The Holdovers’ | 4 Stars | One of the Year’s Best

1. The Holdovers. I have watched it three times and I can only see the good work of director Alexander Payne and the award worthy turn by Paul Giamatti. It’s bittersweet- perfect for a winter watch. Here’s my review of 2023’s Best Film.

Thanks for reading and thanks for a good year on EntertainmenrOrDie.com