It has been another busy film watching year for us, and whilst our top ten again features sequels a plenty, there was many original films that we liked too.
Like everyone else we loved the excitement for cinema caused by Barbenheimer, we saw both and enjoyed Barbie, but I think our expectations had been sky high going in, and whilst we did love it, it didn’t make our top 10.
If this was based on rating then Oppenheimer would have made it, but as part of our top 10 we wanted films we would love to watch again, and it was a haunting experience, but it is not one we would want to watch again, and not just because of that 3 hour run time.
So here we go, our top ten films of 2023.
10. The Fablemans
Loosely based on it’s director, Steven Spielberg’s childhood, this story of a young boy who dreams of becoming a film maker, and how he comes to terms with his parents divorce.
9. No Hard Feelings
This comedy about a girl being hired to bring out an introverted 19 year old out of his shell, was a lot of fun and also had a nice romance storyline as well.
We have seen this appear on a lot of worst film lists, but for us we enjoyed it a lot.
8. A Man Called Otto
We had high hopes going in for this one, as we loved the book it was based on, Tom Hanks was perfect as the grumpy man who softens when new neighbours moves in and it was a real feel good movie.
7. Flora and Son
This exclusive to Apple TV streaming service film, from director John Carney was another hit for us, having liked his other films Once; Sing Street and Begin Again.
This story of a single mom reconnecting with her son via music was really enjoyable and we play the soundtrack quite often so music was catchy too.
6. Slotherhouse
We will probably have the only top ten list with this creature feature,S horror comedy about a girl wanting to be her sorority president, and hre dream looks to come true when she wins over her other students when she adopts a sloth, called Alpha, to be the new mascot.
The sloth though is a killer, it is silly and a lot of fun and never takes it self too seriously.
5. Wonka
We went in to this film on the strength of Paddington’s Paul King writing and directing, as we didn’t think we needed a Charlie and the Chocolate factory origins story, especially when a lot of it had been covered in the Tim Burton film, but this was a real crowd pleaser, much like The Greatest Showman, with catchy songs, which like Flora and Son, we often play.
4. Meg 2: The Trench
We are a sucker for shark films, especially ones with lots of nods to Jaws, if we are honest we didn’t think it was as much fun as the first film, and some of the scenes are as daft as later Jaws sequels but it was a great ride.
It’s real flaw is the same as the first one in that it is just nothing like the book series that they are based on, and as fans of those books it always feels like we are thinking of what it could have been.
3. Godzilla Minus One
We are huge fans of Godzilla, we even like the Roland Emmerich one!
This was our first Japanese Godzilla film on the big screen, we had seen many on VHS but this was spectacular, Godzilla was a force to reckoned with and it had chacters we cared about.
It also had more than enough Godzilla action to keep us happy, we only saw this a few weeks ago, but it flew to the top half of our list.
2. Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3
We thought we had super hero fatigue going into this film, we rewatched the previous two going in, and to be honest we had low expectations going in.
Coming out we realised it was bad super hero film fatigue we had, as this was superb, it had plenty of laughs and action but also some incredibly heartbreaking moments as we learn about Rocket’s back story, it ends perfectly and was just a joy.
1. John Wick: Chapter Four
We are huge fans of the previous three, and this was on a par if not better, the action was relentless, some stunning sequences and a finale that was perfect.
We felt the ending was superb and so are sad to read that a chapter five is being discussed, it doesn’t need it.
So that is our top ten, but plenty more could have made the list, as well as previously mentioned Barbie and Oppenheimer, other films we loved that didn’t quite make our top included:
Saw X – A tenth film in the franchise and ended up being one of the best entries, certainly since some of the earlier films.
Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning – This could have easily made the top 10 but I just feel knowing you are only getting half the story and have to wait for Part Two took shine off it.
Strays – Another film we have seen on worst films of the year but we thought it was daft and funny.
We also want to give a mention to The Marvels, we feel we are done with superhero films, but saw this as we had been loving Brie Larson in TV series Lessons in Chemistry, and really enjoyed it.
The fact that it was nearly an hour shorter than most Marvel films really helped it, but we couldn’t believe the bile we were reading about it online.
That is why we,and you, decide you want to see a film, don’t let any reviews or comments stop you =)
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