Movie critic chooses the best from 2023

It seems surreal to me that we’re already at the end of another year. This one just started like five months ago. It went by so fast.

I’ve never looked at this job as being a critic of other people’s art, instead, my only real desire is just to share with people things I think they would like. I waste time on the bad stuff so you don’t have to, but I also approach everything I watch hoping to fall in love with it. Life is too short to approach every piece of entertainment with nose held high and a demand for perfection. Creation is messy because human expression is so rarely perfect.

I saw 128 new releases this year, but there are entirely too many shows I just didn’t have the time to watch.

With that said, here are my Top 15 favorite films of 2023:

1: “Fremont”

Deadpan, dryly funny and achingly humanist, “Fremont” isn’t just a story about an Afghan refugee working in a fortune cookie factory quietly struggling with survivor’s guilt and PTSD, but a story about the collective connection of all people on the planet and how miraculous it is to reach out to one another. A perfect movie that seeks to remind us that the harder we love, the less time we have to be afraid.

2: “Past Lives”

The most quietly devastating movie that also somehow manages to be hopeful, profound and a provocative deconstruction of love from the inside looking out. The scope of this movie is limitless in how it generates empathy for the human condition and then readjusts our expectations of romantic connection.

3: “Asteroid City”

Wes Anderson isn’t for everyone, but I’m still very much on his peculiar wavelength. I think all of human creation was summed up profoundly when Jason Schwartzman’s Augie Steenbeck nervously looked to Adrien Brody’s Schubert Green and said, “I still don’t understand the play,” and Green responded with, “Doesn’t matter. Just keep telling the story.”

4: “Showing Up”

No big drama, just a quiet and understated look at the Portland art scene featuring Andre 3000 on the flute before it was cool. Movies that just share glimpses of normal lives with no explosive moments are so important.

5: “How to Blow Up a Pipeline”

More like “How to Radicalize a Bunch of Film Nerds into Trying to Change the World.” Such a potent reminder of our responsibilities as stewards of the Earth.

6: “Blue Jean”

A primal scream at the UK to not let Margaret Thatcher rest in peace. A deeply gentle look at gay trauma and the double lives our world forces LGBTQ+ people to live every single day.

7: “Saltburn”

Another film I felt like I was in the minority of critics to love, but what a visually stunning and hilarious loogie in the eye of the class divide. You will never look at bath water the same way again — and I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing.

8: “The Holdovers”

Ahhhh, like a warm hug from Paul Giamatti, “The Holdovers” is proof we still can have movies that feel like throwbacks to a simpler time. An Irish coffee of a film.

9: “Barbie”

Completely unsubtle and that’s completely the point. Moving, funny and life-affirming sometimes in the same scene, “Barbie” looks at how America raises women and demands it to do better.

10: “Return to Seoul”

A young woman raised in France returns to South Korea to search for her bio-family in this sneakily gorgeous, yet completely unsentimental character piece.

11: “Anatomy of a Fall”

Dare I say the most riveting courtroom drama since “A Few Good Men?” Justine Triet is an astonishing filmmaker and should quite possibly get the Oscar for Best Director for this one.

12: “Oppenheimer”

I’m still amazed that a three-hour-long movie built around long conversations in quiet rooms was this mesmerizing.

13: “Killers of the Flower Moon”

Surprised myself this wasn’t higher on the list, but even with some wonky script choices, the combined might of Scorsese and Lily Gladstone makes this unmissable.

14: “Napoleon”

I think I was in the minority that adored how weird this biopic was, and loved every single minute we spent with Joaquin Phoenix growling and panting at Vanessa Kirby while she dominated him to within an inch of his life.

15: “Bottoms”

A queer coming of age comedy about a pair of nerdy, angry young women that start a fight club so they can hook up with cheerleaders. Subversive and heartwarming in equal measures.

Genre awards

Best Documentary: This is a tie between “Kokomo City” and “Lakota Nation vs. United States.” To me, these two docs represented massive swaths of people this country leaves behind even as it pretends to make motions toward equality and progress. These should both be taught in schools.

Best Rom Com: “Rye Lane.” A BIPOC and British riff on “Before Sunrise” that features truly innovative filmmaking by Raine Allen-Miller.

Best Comic Book Movie: “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.” Groundbreaking animation and a great story combine for a truly breathtaking ride into alternate dimensions.

Best Horror Movie: “Talk to Me.” Some sequences are so gleefully disturbing in this dark and chilling modern classic that I still haven’t been able to get them out of my head.