Have you caught up on all the 2023 movies you wanted to see? Regardless, it’s time to submit your Top Ten lists! Tell us which films you liked best here and you’ll be entered into a raffle for one of three $25 Laemmle gift cards. If you need inspiration, here’s my highly subjective alphabetical list. (Greg Laemmle will announce his list when we announce the winners of this contest, at which point he should have caught up to May December, Anatomy of a Fall and a couple others.)
Anatomy of a Fall: Sandra Hüller, formidable in court and dominating one of the gnarliest, most riveting marital arguments in cinema history.
Asteroid City: Wes Anderson gives us another melancholy, gorgeous, sui generis movie. “The notion of a perfect movie is absurd, but some movies attain an ideal synthesis of the director’s body of work. Wes Anderson’s latest, Asteroid City, is one such film.” ~ Richard Brody, The New Yorker
Fallen Leaves: Like Asteroid City, it’s a melancholy but funny and silver-lined one-of-a-kind work from a one-of-a-kind filmmaker.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny: A wise man (U.C. Berkeley English Professor Stephen Booth) told his students: never be ashamed of what you like. This movie made me laugh out loud, it was so entertaining. Pass the popcorn!
Oppenheimer: Chilling, masterfully done, and awesome, in the original sense of the word.
Past Lives: Celine Song and Greta Lee! Deeply romantic and moving.
Showing Up: Kelly Reichardt and Michelle Williams! “A serene, pulse-lowering charmer.” ~ Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
You Hurt My Feelings: Nicole Holofcener and Julia Louis-Dreyfus! “Warm-hearted and rueful and hilarious in all the best ways.” ~ Alissa Wilkinson, Vox
The Zone of Interest: The terrifying banality of evil. Sandra Hüller again, this time paired with an equally scary Christian Friedel as Rudolf Höss, as the Macbeth and Lady Macbeth of Auschwitz.
One caveat: I still haven’t seen Barbie, All of Us Strangers, Poor Things or Afire and based one what others have said about them, my list might look different had I seen them. I did see Killers of the Flower Moon with two people who adored it and maybe I caught it on a bad night because, you know what? — I kept checking my watch.
1. Fremont
2. Asteroid City
3. Across the Spider-Verse
4. Oppenheimer
5. Are You There God It’s Me Margret
6. Killers of the Flower Moon
7. The Zone of Interest
8. All of Us Strangers
9. The Iron Claw
10. Trolls: Band Together
Honorable mention: The Menu
10- The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
9- Bottoms
8- My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3
7- Saw 10
6- The Nun 2
5- The Little Mermaid
4- The Equalizer 3
3- Rustin
2- American Fiction
1- The Color Purple
American Fiction was genius as well as Blackberry. Hit all the checkmarks.
1-10) FART THE MOVIE
1) Barbie
2) The Ballad of Songbird and Snakes
3) May December
4) The Boy and the Heron
5) Saltburn
6) The Little Mermaid
7) Waitress
8) Oppenheimer
9) Theatre Camp
10) Bottoms
1-nyad 2-the killer 3–priscilla 4-mutt 5-mission impossible dead reckoning 6-anatomy of a fall 7-john wick 4 8-poor things 9-fallen leaves 10-air