The best movies of 2023
The best movies of 2023 – This 2023 has once again been a great year for cinema, an industry that is little by little recovering its rhythm after a few years in which it has suffered several setbacks, from the global pandemic to the most recent strikes of scriptwriters and performers.
By Megan Sauer
Even so, the productions that we have received over the last twelve months hide authentic celluloid gems, feature films belonging to the most varied genres that we have wanted to recover so that you do not miss the best of the best of 2023 that we have already said goodbye to.
From thrillers to comedy, through blockbusters, action, superheroes, horror, science fiction or drama.
Past Lives’
We begin our review of the best of 2023 cinema with the debut feature of filmmaker Celine Song, who writes and directs one of the best romantic dramas of recent times.
Both for the performances – with great Greta Lee, Teo Yoo and John Magaro – as if by an extremely careful photograph. With a story inspired by her own experiences, 24 years ago Nora ‘s family moved from South Korea to Canada, leaving behind her life and her first love.
After so many years, they meet again in New York, where our three protagonists review the decisions that have led them to be together at that precise moment, as well as the concept of destiny itself.
A film that we should not miss under any circumstances, whether or not we feel empathy with its theme.
‘Tell me’
We tackle the best of this year’s horror genre with ‘ Talk to Me ‘, an Australian production by newcomers Danny Philippou and Michael Phili and starring Alexandra Jensen and Sophie Wilde.
Its terrifying plot tells the story of Mia , a lonely teenager who finds her new and peculiar entertainment in the supposed invocation of spirits, all through a disturbing embalmed hand.
However, things begin to go wrong when an evil soul claiming to be her dead mother begins to unleash a plague of supernatural events. Without a doubt, one of the scariest films of the year that will unsettle even the bravest.
‘Anatomy of a fall’
In the field of thriller, we bet everything on Justine Triet ‘s crude feature film, a story of criminal suspense with a marriage in crisis as a backdrop that encourages us to ask ourselves what has really happened behind the mysterious death of a man.
The deceased’s wife becomes the main suspect, although their son seems to have the key to the whole matter… A film made with exquisite taste that uses several not very common but extremely effective resources, all this to enhance a narrative that will captivate us from the first moment.
Not in vain, we are looking at a production that won the Palme d’Or at Cannes.
‘John Wick 4’
The most popular action could not be missing from our selection; and this year there is a clear winner: the fourth chapter of the successful saga of Keanu Reeves, who claims to be the “lone hero” of action par excellence of this last decade.
And the fourth part of ‘ John Wick ‘ elevates everything seen in the three previous installments to maximum power, in a film that does not give a single minute of rest.
Non-stop action, mass shootings, gushing blood, fights filmed with excellent photography and a protagonist who eats up the screen in each and every shot in which he appears.
Furthermore, we finally have a villain to match, played by a magnificent Bill Skarsgard.
A major visual spectacle that elevates the genre to which it belongs to new levels of cinematographic quality.
‘Barbie’
We cannot ignore this year’s great phenomenon, a fresh and insightful comedy based on the most famous doll of all time.
And far from being the umpteenth Hollywood nonsense, the adaptation of the Barbie universe seems like a fun prank with more of a social message than it seems, challenging machismo and other toxic attitudes that we often overlook in our day.
All this with the brilliant performances of Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, wonderful in their roles as Barbie and Ken, along with endless cameos by all kinds of stars.
With a starting point that takes us to the imaginary and sugary universe of Barbie, our protagonist begins to realize certain things that force her to travel to the real world with her loved one in search of the truth.
However, our protagonists will discover that nothing is as it seems …
‘The Creator’
We address the science fiction genre with the latest from Gareth Edwards, director of the phenomenal’ Rogue One: A Star Wars Story ‘ or ‘ Godzilla’ from the current MonsterVerse, his latest feature film being one of the biggest shows this year in theaters and cinema.
In the near future, humanity is at war against machines after an attack by artificial intelligence that has devastated the city of Los Angeles.
After years of skirmishes, it seems that humans have the situation under control, although the reality is very different; machines have created a weapon that can turn the tables.
An elite commando is sent to end the threat, when our protagonist, played by John David Washington , discovers that the weapon is an artificial girl, a fact that will lead him to rethink the conflict and act accordingly.
A thriller that deals with very hackneyed themes but that is executed more than effectively with a staging that is as entertaining as it is vibrant.
‘The Boy and the Heron’
If Hayao Miyazaki releases a new film with the artists of Studio Ghibli, we must put everything aside and sit down to enjoy this authentic animated marvel.
And after a decade since his last work, his director collects the best of his celebrated filmography to capture it in this family drama of personal and emotional discovery through a boy who has lost his mother. in the middle of World War II.
An emotional story, no, the following, full of magic and captivating from beginning to end.
Another masterpiece of narrative made in Miyazaki that is perceived almost as an animated story and that will surely make us excited with each new viewing, both adults and the little ones in the house.
‘Spider-Man: Crossing the Multiverse’
In the superhero genre we cannot help but recommend the latest animated installment of the Spider Verse from Sony Pictures together with Marvel , for many, the best superhero film ever conceived.
And the sequel to ‘ Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse ‘ picks up the baton of its already masterful debut to enhance each and every one of its aspects, both technically – the level of animation achieved in this film is a true madness – as well as narratively, with a total commitment to the multiversal concept and its consequences; but well executed.
The result is an authentic feast of Spider-Men, a continuous tribute to the Spider-Man comics and a story that will completely captivate us, proposing an ending that in some alternative universe still has me glued to the cinema seat.
Metaphorically speaking, of course; or not…
‘The Moon Killers’
Martin Scorsese returns to the fray with a new trademark feature film, starring two of his favorite actors, Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, immense in this modern western set in the 1920s in which they play two real bastards.
Based on a true story, ‘The Moon Killers’ immerses us in the raw slaughter of Native Americans at the hands of cowboys who murder and loot with impunity.
Through romance, the film tells us the reasons that have led the society of that time to lose any vestige of humanity and act like true savages through the annihilation of the Osage nation, in what is now North America.
A new masterpiece by the master Scorsese who at 80 years old is still in better shape than ever.
‘Oppenheimer’
For many, Christopher Nolan ‘s masterpiece , a film that immerses us in a key episode in the modern history of humanity such as the creation of the atomic bomb.
With a truly luxurious cast, this kind of biopic explores the keys and events of the Manhattan Project through the eyes of the physicist who gives its name to the film, Robert Oppenheimer, played masterfully by Cillian Murphy in a state of grace.
The actor manages to transmit emotions in each and every one of its shots and interventions, thus achieving a dramatic climate full of tension that is already part of the celluloid hall of fame.
And the rest of the cast is not far behind with names such as Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Rami Malek, Jason Clarke, Josh Hartnett, Dane DeHaan and Casey Affleck, among others.
A must-see film with the Nolan seal as its flag.
