The silver screen roared back to life in 2023, with a dazzling kaleidoscope of films bursting onto the scene. From time-bending odysseys to gritty historical dramas, this year offered a treasure trove of cinematic gems for every viewer’s palate. Dive into the mind-bending depths of alternate realities, where laughter and existential dread mingle like smoke and mirrors. Witness the pulse-pounding echoes of history, where truth confronts myth and legends rise from the ashes of forgotten tales. Brace yourself for heart-wrenching dramas that plumb the depths of human frailty, and exhilarating adventures that soar to the pinnacle of imagination.
Whether you seek escapism or introspection, laughter or tears, 2023’s cinematic tapestry promises to weave a spell that will linger long after the credits roll. So, grab your popcorn, dim the lights, and prepare to be transported – the best movies of the year await your discovery. Not everything was a winner, far from it. But here’s a list of The Reel Godfather’s Top Films of 2023, in no particular order.
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
Ethan Hunt and his IMF team embark on their most dangerous mission yet: To track down a terrifying new weapon that threatens all of humanity before it falls into the wrong hands. With control of the future and the fate of the world at stake, and dark forces from Ethan’s past closing in, a deadly race around the globe begins. Confronted by a mysterious, all-powerful enemy, Ethan is forced to consider that nothing can matter more than his mission – not even the lives of those he cares about most.
Poor Things
Brought back to life by an unorthodox scientist, a young woman runs off with a lawyer on a whirlwind adventure across the continents. Free from the prejudices of her times, she grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation.
The Creator
Amid a future war between the human race and the forces of artificial intelligence, a hardened ex-special forces agent grieving the disappearance of his wife, is recruited to hunt down and kill the Creator, the elusive architect of advanced AI who has developed a mysterious weapon with the power to end the war—and mankind itself.
Barbie
Barbie and Ken are having the time of their lives in the colorful and seemingly perfect world of Barbie Land. However, when they get a chance to go to the real world, they soon discover the joys and perils of living among humans.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
After reuniting with Gwen Stacy, Brooklyn’s full-time, friendly neighborhood Spider-Man is catapulted across the Multiverse, where he encounters the Spider Society, a team of Spider-People charged with protecting the Multiverse’s very existence. But when the heroes clash on how to handle a new threat, Miles finds himself pitted against the other Spiders and must set out on his own to save those he loves most.
Dumb Money
Vlogger Keith Gill sinks his life savings into GameStop stock and posts about it. When social media starts blowing up, so do his life and the lives of everyone following him. As a stock tip becomes a movement, everyone gets rich—until the billionaires fight back, and both sides find their worlds turned upside down.
American Fiction
Thelonious “Monk” Ellison’s writing career has stalled because his work isn’t deemed “Black enough.” Monk, a writer and English professor, writes a satirical novel under a pseudonym, aiming to expose the publishing world’s hypocrisies. The book’s immediate success forces him to get deeper enmeshed in his assumed identity and challenges his closely-held worldviews.
Air
Discover the game-changing partnership between a then undiscovered Michael Jordan and Nike’s fledgling basketball division which revolutionized the world of sports and culture with the Air Jordan brand.
John Wick: Chapter 4
With the price on his head ever increasing, John Wick uncovers a path to defeating The High Table. But before he can earn his freedom, Wick must face off against a new enemy with powerful alliances across the globe and forces that turn old friends into foes.
The Holdovers
A curmudgeonly instructor at a New England prep school is forced to remain on campus during Christmas break to babysit the handful of students with nowhere to go. Eventually, he forms an unlikely bond with one of them — a damaged, brainy troublemaker — and with the school’s head cook, who has just lost a son in Vietnam.
Maestro
A portrait of Leonard Bernstein’s singular charisma and passion for music as he rose to fame as America’s first native born, world-renowned conductor, all along following his ambition to compose both symphonic and popular Broadway works.
Tetris
In 1988, American video game salesman Henk Rogers discovers the video game Tetris. When he sets out to bring the game to the world, he enters a dangerous web of lies and corruption behind the Iron Curtain.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Peter Quill, still reeling from the loss of Gamora, must rally his team around him to defend the universe along with protecting one of their own. A mission that, if not completed successfully, could quite possibly lead to the end of the Guardians as we know them.
Cocaine Bear
An oddball group of cops, criminals, tourists and teens converge in a Georgia forest where a 500-pound black bear goes on a murderous rampage after unintentionally ingesting cocaine.
80 for Brady
A quartet of elderly best friends decide to live life to the fullest by taking a wild trip to the Super Bowl LI to see their hero Tom Brady play.
