I only had a handful of five-star movies this
year. It was an average movie year. But with some real stand-outs. Like every
year, I created a list of my favorite films. It’s based on Dutch release dates,
so you might see some movies on this list that are originally from 2022, but
came out in 2023 in The Netherlands. And you will miss movies, because they
will be released in 2024 or I just simply haven’t seen it yet. Since I don’t
get to see EVERY film. Here is my list, my 20 favorite films of 2023.
20. Knock at the Cabin
If only you make the right choice, the world can be saved from destruction. That is roughly the message of four equally kind of terrifying unannounced visitors who knock on the door of the remote forest couple, where an eight year-old-girl and her two dads are vacationing. They give them an impossible proposition. Directed by M. Night Shyamalan, finally back with a strong thriller. I was especially impressed with Dave Bautista’s performance in this film. Based on a book by Paul Tremblay. READ MY FULL REVIEWHERE.
19. Babylon
Hollywood, 1926. The stars of silent films are still shining brightly, but a year later, the first talking movie (“The Jazz Singer” by All Jolston) will turn Hollywood relations completely upside down. And end the careers of veteran Jack Conrad and exuberant newcomer Nellie LaRoy. Whirlwind, eighty-million-dollar, more than three-hour spectacle from director Damien Chazelle, who made favorites “La La Land” and “Whiplash”. It’s both a jazzy ode to the magic of cinema and cutting satire on the debauchery of Hollywood. Enchanting and repulsive at the same time. READ MY FULL REVIEW HERE.
18. The Angel Maker
This Danish crime thriller came as a total surprise. We follow Laura, a detective specializing in cyber-crime, who is called back to work after a woman is found dead, holding a memory card. Together with her new partner Jesper, they find a disturbing video of a man killing a naked woman. Scandinavian crime thrillers are known to be dark and raw, and “The Angel Maker” is no exception. It’s very graphic and the ending left me speechless and with my jaw dropping to the floor. Hidden gem. READ MY FULLREVIEW HERE.
17. Mission: Impossible – Dead
Reckoning Part One
After six “Mission: Impossible” films, you would think it’ll be hard to come up with any fresh ideas. As such, the plot of the seventh installment, centered around a runaway AI program, is on the bland side. Fortunately, however, this is offset by the personal mission of leading man Tom Cruise to continually outdo himself. Because yes, there are some matchless stunts and action scenes that will be very memorable. The scene on the train was amazing! Also fine addition of Hayley Atwell as a crafty thief. Not the best in the still ongoing series, but I highly enjoyed it. READ MY FULLREVIEW HERE.
16. Saltburn
An Oxford student struggles to fit in with the rest of the students. Until a charming and aristocratic classmate invites him to spend the summer with him and his eccentric family. This film is edgy, raunchy and daring. The most WTF-movie I’ve seen all year. Some scenes make you feel vicariously embarred and uncomfortable. It’s provocative and anything but subtle. I would want to recommend this film, but I don’t know to whom. Because this is not a film for everyone. You are warned. READ MY FULL REVIEW HERE.
15. A Man Called Otto
Otto is a bitter, grumpy man ever since his wife died. He is done with life, until a new family movies into his street. They see the good in him. Based on the best-selling novel “A Man Called Öve”. Tom Hanks plays the titular Otto and everyone knows how much I love him. Just a very heartwarming movie, a warm hug in movie form. READ MY FULL REVIEW HERE.
14. The Equalizer 3
After quitting his job as an assassin in the service of the government, Robert McCall leaves for Southern Italy. He is trying to live an anonymous, peaceful life, until he sees his new friends being threatened by local crime bosses. He decides to protect his friends by taking on the mafia. Denzel Washington once again manages to bring out two sides of McCall. A likeable, trustworthy man, but also a cold-blooded killing machine. The tone of this third installment is different from the other two, but it fits the film. READ MY FULL REVIEW HERE.
13. A Haunting in Venice
Kenneth Branagh’s third film based on an Agatha Christie book, and with him as Hercule Poirot. The previous “Murder On the Orient Express” was fine, “Death on the Nile” was simply disappointing. “A Haunting in Venice” is based on the book “Halloween Party” and follows the inspector taking some time of in Venice. When he is invited to a séance, he is there to proof that the medium is a fake. When a death occurs, Poirot has to get back to work, someone in this Venetian house is a murderer. This is my favorite of Branagh’s Hercule Poirot films, simply because it has a different take on the murder story by adding a horror-element to it. Very atmospheric, entertaining and a clever mystery. I don’t really understand why the average rating of this film is so low, I loved it. READ MY FULL REVIEW HERE.
12. The Super Mario Bros. Movie
Through a pipe system under Brooklyn, plumber brothers Mario and Luigi are catapulted into another world. In the process, Mario enters the Mushroom Kingdom of Princess Peach. And Luigi into the dark lava world of King Bowser. Defeating him requires the help of Donkey Kong. The storyline is wafer-thin, but I didn’t care. Its nostalgia, it’s fun, it’s enjoyable and a real rollercoaster ride. And they choose the perfect voice actor for one of the characters. Jack Black is killing it as Bowser. Fun for the entire family, but mostly for the ones who grew up playing the videogames. READ MY FULL REVIEWHERE.
11. The Boogeyman
After a strange man invades their home, a psychologist’s daughters are plagued by a shadow monster. The longer their fear of it is denied, the bigger it gets. “The Boogeyman” is loosely based on a short story by Stephen King and it’s one of the best horror movies I have seen in a while. What scares me the most in movies like this is what you don’t see. The makers of “The Boogeyman” understand this perfectly. It’s an inventive supernatural psychological horror film that unfolds slowly but aptly. READ MYFULL REVIEW HERE.
10. John Wick: Chapter 4
John Wick finds himself hunted down by yet another group of hitmen as he dares to take on the new leader of crime sect The Table. Is this movie over the top? Yes. Unbelievable? Definitely. But also incredibly energetic and despite the three-hour runtime, not boring for a second. READ MY FULL REVIEW HERE.
9. Missing
Now that you can stay in touch everywhere and everything is trackable, how can you still lose someone? That’s the premise for the all-digital search of 18-year-old June (freat performance by Storm Reid) for her single mother. Who hasn’t come home from her trip to Colombia with her new boyfriend. It’s sounds like a standard missing person thriller, but because we follow it all through the eyes of all sorts of media formats (computers, phones, cameras, etc.) this film is really unique. In 2018 there was “Searching”, which was also a favorite of the year, “Missing” manages to do the same for me. The film has several nice twists, and manages to be surprising. READ MY FULLREVIEW HERE.
8. Barbie
Barbie lives in Barbieland, lead by women. Seemingly perfect, but one morning something is off. Barbie believes she needs to leave for the real world to search for answers. There, together with Ken, she discovers that in the real world men are in charge. Which will have major consequences for Barbieland. The film’s many messages (inclusivity, feminism, patriarchy) were clearly important to director Greta Gerwig, which make for an interesting viewing. I think most people went into this film with different expectations. I knew what to expect and loved what the movie had to say. And that monologue by America Ferrara will stay with me forever. READ MY FULLREVIEW HERE.
7. Killers of the Flower Moon
In the early 1920s, dozens of members of the Osage tribe were murdered after oil was found on their land. Among the victims were many Osage women, who were remarkably often married to white men. This monumental film adaptation of David Grann’s nonfiction books of the same name is about one such couple: Mollie and Ernest Burkhart. The not too savvy Ernest is a nephew of rancher William hale, who turns out to be the mastermind behind the Osage murders. Director Martin Scorsese descends deep into the soul of capitalist America. And impressively played epic drama. Over 200 minutes long, but they fly by. READ MYFULL REVIEW HERE.
6. Asteroid City
As is often the case in Wes Anderson films, several realities intertwine in this one. But the main one takes place in Asteroid City, a remote desert town in the 1950s. there, an alien suddenly lands, which will forever change the lives of a handful of characters currently residing in Asteroid City. Shot in pastel tones, this ode to the misfits, which Anderson packed with well-known actors for whom he wrote a host of delightfully quirky and dryly comic characters. Wes Anderson is one of my favorite directors, I just love his style, it’s so unique and he is like no other. Most people don’t understand my love for Anderson, but “Asteroid City” is just everything I hoped it would be. READ MY FULL REVIEW HERE.
5. EO
Every year there is this one movie on the list that probably no one has seen. This year it’s “EO”. Circus donkey EO is freed by animal activists and meets the many faces of man during a life of adventure. EO serves as a working donkey, is transported, ends up in a horse clinic and in the paradisical garden of an Italian villa. EO dreams of his friend Magda, has nightmares, wanders around a surreal fairytale forest. Pure film poetry by Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski. A film that portrays us humans as being shitty. Conclusion: most people suck. A very important movie that left a lasting impression on me. READY MY FULL REVIE HERE.
4. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Oscar winner “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ (2018) set the bar for animated films exceptionally high. Can this sequel match it? Yes it can! Miles and Gwen go from one universe to another and meet hundreds of new Spider-characters. As a creative person myself, I applaud movies like this. It’s full of creative finds, many different animation styles, this movie is visually mind-blowing. It’s such a unique animation, a new benchmark within the medium. A-MA-ZING! READ MY FULL REVIEW HERE.
3. Oppenheimer
Impressive biopic about J. Robert Oppenheimer, the ‘father’ of the atomic bomb. From his student days in England in the 1920s, where he learned about Bohr and quantum mechanics, to the secret interrogations in the 1950s, when the celebrated scientist was suspected of communist sympathies. All by pass, but center of gravity is the development, construction and detonation of the atomic bomb in Los Alamos, new Mexico. As always with Christopher Nolan, “Oppenheimer” has become a visual spectacle , but Nolan also grants us a glimpse into the tormented mind of Oppenheimer himself, who knew that after his invention, the world had changed forever. Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr. give memorable and outstanding performances. READ MY FULL REVIEWHERE.
2. The Banshees of Inisherin
We meet Pádraic and Colm, two friends on the fictional island of Inisherin. It is 1923 and a civil wat is raging on the mainland, but that is nothing more than the backdrop to the war that will ensue between Pádraic and Colm when Colm cancels the friendship overnight. Pádraic does not understand and refuse to accept Colm’s decision. Even when the latter threatens to cut off his own fingers if Pádraic continues to harass him. By director Martin McDonagh, starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, it’s just a wryly comic and tragic as the director’s other movies. And just as good. Love everything about it. READ MY FULL REVIEW HERE.
1. Guardians of the Galaxy
Vol. 3
Director James Gunn concludes his trilogy about Marvel’s wackiest superhero team with dignity. The film zooms in on the history of Rocket (my favorite Marvel character), which is a surprisingly grim and emotional story (many tears were shed, and with many tears I mean that I cried like a baby). I knew it as soon as the end credits started rolling: this is my favorite movie of 2023. Not because it’s the best movie.No. Because this series is so dear to my heart and the third installment hit all the right nerves and gave me everything I needed. It’s an important movie for animal rights, showing us how cruel mankind is to them and nature. And that most people are dicks. An emotional rollercoaster: funny, exciting, sad, entertaining as hell. “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” is my favorite movie of 2023. READ MY FULL REVIEW HERE.
Honorable mentions: Nyad, Leave the World Behind, The Whale, Creed III, Reptile, The Last Voyage of the Demeter
If only you make the right choice, the world can be saved from destruction. That is roughly the message of four equally kind of terrifying unannounced visitors who knock on the door of the remote forest couple, where an eight year-old-girl and her two dads are vacationing. They give them an impossible proposition. Directed by M. Night Shyamalan, finally back with a strong thriller. I was especially impressed with Dave Bautista’s performance in this film. Based on a book by Paul Tremblay. READ MY FULL REVIEWHERE.
19. Babylon
Hollywood, 1926. The stars of silent films are still shining brightly, but a year later, the first talking movie (“The Jazz Singer” by All Jolston) will turn Hollywood relations completely upside down. And end the careers of veteran Jack Conrad and exuberant newcomer Nellie LaRoy. Whirlwind, eighty-million-dollar, more than three-hour spectacle from director Damien Chazelle, who made favorites “La La Land” and “Whiplash”. It’s both a jazzy ode to the magic of cinema and cutting satire on the debauchery of Hollywood. Enchanting and repulsive at the same time. READ MY FULL REVIEW HERE.
This Danish crime thriller came as a total surprise. We follow Laura, a detective specializing in cyber-crime, who is called back to work after a woman is found dead, holding a memory card. Together with her new partner Jesper, they find a disturbing video of a man killing a naked woman. Scandinavian crime thrillers are known to be dark and raw, and “The Angel Maker” is no exception. It’s very graphic and the ending left me speechless and with my jaw dropping to the floor. Hidden gem. READ MY FULLREVIEW HERE.
After six “Mission: Impossible” films, you would think it’ll be hard to come up with any fresh ideas. As such, the plot of the seventh installment, centered around a runaway AI program, is on the bland side. Fortunately, however, this is offset by the personal mission of leading man Tom Cruise to continually outdo himself. Because yes, there are some matchless stunts and action scenes that will be very memorable. The scene on the train was amazing! Also fine addition of Hayley Atwell as a crafty thief. Not the best in the still ongoing series, but I highly enjoyed it. READ MY FULLREVIEW HERE.
An Oxford student struggles to fit in with the rest of the students. Until a charming and aristocratic classmate invites him to spend the summer with him and his eccentric family. This film is edgy, raunchy and daring. The most WTF-movie I’ve seen all year. Some scenes make you feel vicariously embarred and uncomfortable. It’s provocative and anything but subtle. I would want to recommend this film, but I don’t know to whom. Because this is not a film for everyone. You are warned. READ MY FULL REVIEW HERE.
Otto is a bitter, grumpy man ever since his wife died. He is done with life, until a new family movies into his street. They see the good in him. Based on the best-selling novel “A Man Called Öve”. Tom Hanks plays the titular Otto and everyone knows how much I love him. Just a very heartwarming movie, a warm hug in movie form. READ MY FULL REVIEW HERE.
After quitting his job as an assassin in the service of the government, Robert McCall leaves for Southern Italy. He is trying to live an anonymous, peaceful life, until he sees his new friends being threatened by local crime bosses. He decides to protect his friends by taking on the mafia. Denzel Washington once again manages to bring out two sides of McCall. A likeable, trustworthy man, but also a cold-blooded killing machine. The tone of this third installment is different from the other two, but it fits the film. READ MY FULL REVIEW HERE.
Kenneth Branagh’s third film based on an Agatha Christie book, and with him as Hercule Poirot. The previous “Murder On the Orient Express” was fine, “Death on the Nile” was simply disappointing. “A Haunting in Venice” is based on the book “Halloween Party” and follows the inspector taking some time of in Venice. When he is invited to a séance, he is there to proof that the medium is a fake. When a death occurs, Poirot has to get back to work, someone in this Venetian house is a murderer. This is my favorite of Branagh’s Hercule Poirot films, simply because it has a different take on the murder story by adding a horror-element to it. Very atmospheric, entertaining and a clever mystery. I don’t really understand why the average rating of this film is so low, I loved it. READ MY FULL REVIEW HERE.
Through a pipe system under Brooklyn, plumber brothers Mario and Luigi are catapulted into another world. In the process, Mario enters the Mushroom Kingdom of Princess Peach. And Luigi into the dark lava world of King Bowser. Defeating him requires the help of Donkey Kong. The storyline is wafer-thin, but I didn’t care. Its nostalgia, it’s fun, it’s enjoyable and a real rollercoaster ride. And they choose the perfect voice actor for one of the characters. Jack Black is killing it as Bowser. Fun for the entire family, but mostly for the ones who grew up playing the videogames. READ MY FULL REVIEWHERE.
After a strange man invades their home, a psychologist’s daughters are plagued by a shadow monster. The longer their fear of it is denied, the bigger it gets. “The Boogeyman” is loosely based on a short story by Stephen King and it’s one of the best horror movies I have seen in a while. What scares me the most in movies like this is what you don’t see. The makers of “The Boogeyman” understand this perfectly. It’s an inventive supernatural psychological horror film that unfolds slowly but aptly. READ MYFULL REVIEW HERE.
John Wick finds himself hunted down by yet another group of hitmen as he dares to take on the new leader of crime sect The Table. Is this movie over the top? Yes. Unbelievable? Definitely. But also incredibly energetic and despite the three-hour runtime, not boring for a second. READ MY FULL REVIEW HERE.
Now that you can stay in touch everywhere and everything is trackable, how can you still lose someone? That’s the premise for the all-digital search of 18-year-old June (freat performance by Storm Reid) for her single mother. Who hasn’t come home from her trip to Colombia with her new boyfriend. It’s sounds like a standard missing person thriller, but because we follow it all through the eyes of all sorts of media formats (computers, phones, cameras, etc.) this film is really unique. In 2018 there was “Searching”, which was also a favorite of the year, “Missing” manages to do the same for me. The film has several nice twists, and manages to be surprising. READ MY FULLREVIEW HERE.
Barbie lives in Barbieland, lead by women. Seemingly perfect, but one morning something is off. Barbie believes she needs to leave for the real world to search for answers. There, together with Ken, she discovers that in the real world men are in charge. Which will have major consequences for Barbieland. The film’s many messages (inclusivity, feminism, patriarchy) were clearly important to director Greta Gerwig, which make for an interesting viewing. I think most people went into this film with different expectations. I knew what to expect and loved what the movie had to say. And that monologue by America Ferrara will stay with me forever. READ MY FULLREVIEW HERE.
In the early 1920s, dozens of members of the Osage tribe were murdered after oil was found on their land. Among the victims were many Osage women, who were remarkably often married to white men. This monumental film adaptation of David Grann’s nonfiction books of the same name is about one such couple: Mollie and Ernest Burkhart. The not too savvy Ernest is a nephew of rancher William hale, who turns out to be the mastermind behind the Osage murders. Director Martin Scorsese descends deep into the soul of capitalist America. And impressively played epic drama. Over 200 minutes long, but they fly by. READ MYFULL REVIEW HERE.
As is often the case in Wes Anderson films, several realities intertwine in this one. But the main one takes place in Asteroid City, a remote desert town in the 1950s. there, an alien suddenly lands, which will forever change the lives of a handful of characters currently residing in Asteroid City. Shot in pastel tones, this ode to the misfits, which Anderson packed with well-known actors for whom he wrote a host of delightfully quirky and dryly comic characters. Wes Anderson is one of my favorite directors, I just love his style, it’s so unique and he is like no other. Most people don’t understand my love for Anderson, but “Asteroid City” is just everything I hoped it would be. READ MY FULL REVIEW HERE.
Every year there is this one movie on the list that probably no one has seen. This year it’s “EO”. Circus donkey EO is freed by animal activists and meets the many faces of man during a life of adventure. EO serves as a working donkey, is transported, ends up in a horse clinic and in the paradisical garden of an Italian villa. EO dreams of his friend Magda, has nightmares, wanders around a surreal fairytale forest. Pure film poetry by Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski. A film that portrays us humans as being shitty. Conclusion: most people suck. A very important movie that left a lasting impression on me. READY MY FULL REVIE HERE.
Oscar winner “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ (2018) set the bar for animated films exceptionally high. Can this sequel match it? Yes it can! Miles and Gwen go from one universe to another and meet hundreds of new Spider-characters. As a creative person myself, I applaud movies like this. It’s full of creative finds, many different animation styles, this movie is visually mind-blowing. It’s such a unique animation, a new benchmark within the medium. A-MA-ZING! READ MY FULL REVIEW HERE.
Impressive biopic about J. Robert Oppenheimer, the ‘father’ of the atomic bomb. From his student days in England in the 1920s, where he learned about Bohr and quantum mechanics, to the secret interrogations in the 1950s, when the celebrated scientist was suspected of communist sympathies. All by pass, but center of gravity is the development, construction and detonation of the atomic bomb in Los Alamos, new Mexico. As always with Christopher Nolan, “Oppenheimer” has become a visual spectacle , but Nolan also grants us a glimpse into the tormented mind of Oppenheimer himself, who knew that after his invention, the world had changed forever. Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr. give memorable and outstanding performances. READ MY FULL REVIEWHERE.
We meet Pádraic and Colm, two friends on the fictional island of Inisherin. It is 1923 and a civil wat is raging on the mainland, but that is nothing more than the backdrop to the war that will ensue between Pádraic and Colm when Colm cancels the friendship overnight. Pádraic does not understand and refuse to accept Colm’s decision. Even when the latter threatens to cut off his own fingers if Pádraic continues to harass him. By director Martin McDonagh, starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, it’s just a wryly comic and tragic as the director’s other movies. And just as good. Love everything about it. READ MY FULL REVIEW HERE.
Director James Gunn concludes his trilogy about Marvel’s wackiest superhero team with dignity. The film zooms in on the history of Rocket (my favorite Marvel character), which is a surprisingly grim and emotional story (many tears were shed, and with many tears I mean that I cried like a baby). I knew it as soon as the end credits started rolling: this is my favorite movie of 2023. Not because it’s the best movie.No. Because this series is so dear to my heart and the third installment hit all the right nerves and gave me everything I needed. It’s an important movie for animal rights, showing us how cruel mankind is to them and nature. And that most people are dicks. An emotional rollercoaster: funny, exciting, sad, entertaining as hell. “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” is my favorite movie of 2023. READ MY FULL REVIEW HERE.
Honorable mentions: Nyad, Leave the World Behind, The Whale, Creed III, Reptile, The Last Voyage of the Demeter
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