Top Movies of 2023 (Part 2)
It’s January here at Do You Know What I Love The Most?, and that means it’s time to sum up the last 12 months with Year End Lists! I’ll be devoting the rest of this month to rounding up and discussing the various media released in 2023 that meant the most to me — just like every other website on the internet! Isn’t that special?
Today we’re going to talk about the best movies of 2023. As always, this is in no way a definitive list, because I cannot and have not watched every film out there to watch. These are simply my favorite movies I saw this year — all released in 2023 (except one, and we’ll get into that), all (again, except one) that I saw in the theater, and all that I loved — in no particular order. Enjoy!
Due to size restrictions for these emails, we discussed the first half of this list on Wednesday in Part 1.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
While the “Mutant,” “Ninja,” and “Turtles” aspects of these characters have been well represented over the years, the “Teenage” part of the title has always felt under-explored to me. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, then, brings something novel and refreshing to this franchise by basing its entire premise on these characters being teenagers. Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, and Jeff Rowe’s story leans heavily on common teenage tropes (the Turtles clash with their overprotective father, long for freedom that’s been withheld from them, and ultimately just want to be accepted by their peers), but those tropes feel fresh and new when the Turtles take them on. The difference between the TMNT of old, who valiantly leapt into battle with an arsenal of quips, and these much more literal teenaged turtles taking on criminals while also dealing with their own insecurities and inexperience is stark; I felt legitimate (and dare I say parental?) fear for them in many of their battles! These tropes also help to underline the themes of the film’s central conflict, which pits the Turtles against a group of mutants created in the same accident as them who have a very different idea of what it means to be accepted and fit in. The most vital and successful aspect of this focus on the “Teenage,” though, is casting actual teenagers to play the four Turtles (Nicholas Cantu as Leo, Micah Abbey as Donnie, Shamon Brown Jr. as Mikey, and Brady Noon as Ralph), allowing them to record their lines together, and giving them the space to riff and improv with each other; they bring a youthful energy to their characters and the film that’s just infectious. Mutant Mayhem also boasts gorgeous, expressive, and off-kilter animation and a top-notch cast (Jackie Chan! Ayo Edebiri! Ice Cube, John Cena, Paul Rudd, Hannibal Buress, Rose Byrne! Wow!); it’s a delightful, action-packed take on a typical TMNT story that also manages to feel entirely new, and that’s well worth seeking out whether you’re a long-time TMNT fan or not.
Oppenheimer
Oppenheimer isn’t a superhero film1, but it certainly benefits from the skills its director, Christopher Nolan, perfected while working on his Batman trilogy; despite clocking in at a whopping 181 minutes, Oppenheimer feels tense, urgent, and relentless for every second of that running time. Like much of Nolan’s work, his historical biopic of J. Robert Oppenheimer is told non-chronologically, split into two separate stories: the rise of Oppenheimer as a scientific celebrity and the events leading up to his creation of the atomic bomb, and Oppenheimer’s feud with politician Lewis Strauss that eventually leads to both their humiliations. The former plot is where much of the film’s meat lies, digging into Oppenheimer as a flawed, mercurial genius and grappling with both his good intentions and his intense guilt over the world-shattering weapon he helped usher into this world. The latter plot brings more of those Nolan-honed superhero elements into play, giving us a fairly obvious antagonist in Strauss, but even then Nolan has quite a bit to say, exploring the notorious Red Scare Communist witch-hunts of the 1950s and using them to comment on the corruption and petty jockeying for power that has come to largely define and destroy politics. It’s a smart film, impeccably acted and directed, certainly deserving of all the awards it’s been nominated for so far; yet, it’s also an experience that often feels like watching a summer blockbuster, and never like a stodgy documentary. Nolan has used his particular flare for the grandiose to bring prestige filmmaking to the masses, and it’s a move that more than paid off.
Nimona
I was there from almost the very beginning, first encountering Nimona as a webcomic posted on Tumblr by then-unknown cartoonist ND Stevenson, picking up the graphic novel once the comic was bought and published by Harpercollins, and now, finally, seeing the story adapted to film. Netflix’s Nimona — like the comic it’s adapting — is the story of an anarchic, amoral shapeshifter named Nimona who declares herself the sidekick of Ballister Boldheart, the most wanted man in the Kingdom — except Ballister isn’t the villain everyone thinks him to be, which not only puts him in conflict with Nimona, but with the corrupt forces running the Kingdom as well. This movie excels at action and comedy and looks absolutely stunning while doing it — again, 2023 has been such an incredible year for animation! — but what I admire most about it is the way it explores what it’s like to be an outcast, and what makes a “monster.” It’s a story that resonates especially strongly with queer viewers; it’s hard not to see parts of myself in Nimona and Ballister, misunderstood, hated and feared by proper society due to circumstances far outside their control. This isn’t just subtext, either, as the film boldly puts Ballister’s sexuality front and center, something even the original comic didn’t do2. The comic’s dark ending is softened for the film — my greatest fear going into it! — but it actually works incredibly well, not only creating a powerful and life affirming conclusion to Nimona, but seemingly matching Stevenson’s evolving views on the themes of this story across the past decade as well (at least it seems that way according to interviews with him). Nimona is the rare adaptation that not only fully understands the story it’s adapting, but even manages to improve upon it. It was so worth the wait.
Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
The trailer for this film charmed me into the theater despite my having never played Dungeons and Dragons and knowing nothing of the franchise, but the trailer also can’t help to undersell what a delightful adventure Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves actually is; it stars Chris Pine as an only-somewhat-charismatic bard and Hugh Grant as a roguish con artist, and that should tell you everything you need to know about the tone this movie is going for. It’s filled with fun and inventive action, but the action sequences are also funny as hell, be it Edgin and Holga staging a prison break that takes advantage of their jailers’ wings (but the wings are also the punchline to a joke that lasts the entire opening scene) or the party’s life-or-death scramble to escape a morbidly obese dragon who is just agile enough to be a threat, but just chonky enough to be impossible to take seriously. Honor Among Thieves’ characters are sharp, with the writing and actors bringing specificity to the characters that helps them to transcend the standard party roles they’re fulfilling (bard, barbarian, paladin, sorcerer, druid, etc) and creates unique relationships and real bonds between the various members of the main party. The movie’s also got real heart; I saw the ending coming a mile away, but I still couldn’t stop myself from tearing up over it. It’s also an ending that helps underline the way the main party has come together to form a real family, and that feels like something this franchise is likely modeling for its players when they put their own party together; it’s a wonderful way for the movie to demonstrate the power of the game, while still telling a story that requires no knowledge of the game. It’s a damn shame Honor Among Thieves underperformed at the box office, because it’s stuck with me more than any other superhero or action movie I saw this year. It deserved the world.
Asteroid City
I should watch more Wes Anderson movies3, because there’s something about his immaculate retro sets, muted pastel colors, and emotionally stunted characters that just speaks to me. Asteroid City is a prime example of all those qualities of Anderson’s that I so admire. The story follows a group of disparate strangers meeting in a desert town in the 1950s for a Junior Stargazers convention who are brought together in unexpected ways when they share an encounter with the unexplainable, and it’s a poignant tale of loneliness and connection that’s only heightened by some stellar, nuanced performances from the likes of Scarlett Johansson and Jason Schwartzman4. However, this story is only a part of Asteroid City; within the world of the movie, Asteroid City is a play, and what we are watching is a filmed presentation of the play that also cuts away to black-and-white, “behind the scenes” segments that reveal more about the lives of the “actors” performing in Asteroid City (the play). It’s a fun narrative trick, and though I don’t know if it adds much to the story of the “play,” it does provide more opportunities for the film to explore those themes of loneliness and connection. There are times when Asteroid City drifts into the incomprehensible (especially its striking, if confounding, closing scene), and to be honest, I’m still not quite sure what Anderson was going for in those moments, but they do make me think of the film’s best sequence: Jones Hall (the actor played by Schwartzman, who is playing the character of Augie Steenbeck in the “play”) has a chance encounter with the actress (a luminous Margot Robbie) who played Steenbeck’s late wife in the play before her scene was cut, and when she recites to Hall her cut monologue, it helps him find a new understanding of the play. What this says to me is that sometimes art is challenging, but giving difficult stories a second chance can help us discover new meaning in them. It’s certainly an approach a movie as rich and dense as Asteroid City deserves.
The Iron Claw
You don’t need to know anything about wrestling to enjoy The Iron Claw. Hell, I didn’t even realize it was a biopic going into it. Though The Iron Claw is set in the world of wrestling, it’s really a film about brotherhood, family, grief, and generational trauma, the way unreasonable parental expectations can quite literally rend families asunder. It’s also a gut-rending tragedy of Shakespearean proportions, a film that often felt like it was stabbing me between the ribs repeatedly. The Iron Claw is the story of the Von Erichs — a wrestling dynasty consisting of father Fritz and his four sons — told primarily through the point of view of eldest brother Kevin (played by Zac Efron) as he watches tragedy after tragedy befall his family5. Efron is a revelation here, an actor with a capital “A” who is barely recognizable as the timid Kevin. There’s an astounding sequence early in the film where Kevin meets his future wife, Pam, who is the first person to ever encourage Kevin to take care of himself rather than devoting his entire being to protecting his brothers — you can quite literally see a weight lifted from Kevin’s shoulders when this happens. Efron is also spectacular in the film’s final scene, a sequence I won’t spoil that involves Kevin speaking to his young sons that reduced me to a sobbing, quivering puddle of a person. The Iron Claw is just such a human film, granting a loving dignity to these characters that was rarely afforded them in real life, be it be as celebrities or as family members. The affection the Von Erich brothers have for each other is so abundant and palpable, and it makes the eventual tragedy hit all the harder. I love me a good tearjerker, and The Iron Claw is one of the best that I’ve seen in a long time. The fact that it wasn’t nominated for any Oscars this year is a travesty. Don’t repeat the Academy’s mistake; you should check out The Iron Claw as soon as you get a chance.
Do You Know What I Love the Most’s “Best Of 2023” series:
2023: A Year In Review
Top Albums of 2023
Top Comics of 2023 (Part 1)
Top Comics of 2023 (Part 2)
Top Television of 2023 (Part 1)
Top Television of 2023 (Part 2)
Top Movies of 2023 (Part 1)
Top Movies of 2023 (Part 2)
2023: A Playlist
To read previous “Best Of” entries for 2020-2022, click this link to browse the directory!
ABOUT
“Do You Know What I Love the Most?” is a newsletter from Spencer Irwin about his relationship with the stories he loves. Spencer is an enthusiast and writer from Newark, Delaware, who likes punk rock, comic books, working out, breakfast, and most of all, stories. His previous work appeared on Retcon Punch, One Week One Band, and Crisis on Infinite Chords, and he can be found on Twitter at @ThatSpenceGuy. If you like this newsletter, please subscribe and share with your friends!
Though it does feature Iron Man!
In the Nimona comic, Ballister and Goldenloin’s relationship is mostly subtext until almost the very end of the story, while their relationship in the movie is unambiguously revealed in the film’s opening scenes and remains a prominent plot point throughout.
Somehow I’ve only seen The Royal Tenenbaums, The Grand Budapest Hotel, and Moonrise Kingdom. Which Wes Anderson film should I check out next?
Asteroid City is the first time I’ve ever found Schwartzman hot, and it’s solely because of the beard; it’s another impressive feat this movie managed to pull off.
Almost unbelievably, The Iron Claw actually tones down the real life tragedy rather than ramping it up — apparently so much horrific shit happened to the Von Erichs that writer Sean Durkin thought that including them all would feel unrealistic to viewers and take them out of the story.