In honor of the Oscars, we are ranking our top ten movies of 2023. This is one of our favorite traditions which we’ve done since 2014! Here’re some links to our previous years: 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, and 2014.
Since this is our family blog, this is our combined list based on both of us picking our top 20 movies and 10 worst movies, then averaging the list out to a mutual top 10 and bottom five. This was an odd year for movies. Usually one of the Oscar nominated movies will sneak into our top ten. However, after watching 6.5 of the nominees, we gave up on finishing the list of ten as we didn’t love (and barely liked) any of the ones we saw this year! Also, this was an odd year where one of Beth’s top 5 movies didn’t make it in Brent’s top twenty, and ditto one of Brent’s top 5 was missing from Beth’s top 20. Finally, for the first time, one of Brent’s top 20 movies even made it on Beth’s Bottom 10 (a Spanish horror film called When Evil Lurks which Brent found very creepy and Beth was grossed out by).
Also, we have not yet seen Godzilla Minus One, American Fiction, Zone of Interest, or Anatomy of a Fall. Sorry, it’s tougher with three little kids.
Let’s start with some honorable mentions before going into our super honorable mentions: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, No One Will Save You, Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Amongst Thieves, and Suitable Flesh
Beth’s Super Honorable Mention: – Priscilla
Why Beth loved it: “Although I don’t think this movie was a great as the Elvis movie that recently came out, I still really enjoyed it. I found it pretty interesting to see the Elvis movie and the Priscilla movie so close together because it definitely gives very different perspectives on what happened, which is probably true for most divorced couples. Anyways you guys know we love Elvis, we even named a kid after him.”
Why Brent left it off his top 20: “This movie suffered for me, as I really enjoyed Elvis when it came out last year, and thought Austin Butler nailed it in the lead performance. By comparison, this movie was much more lacking, particularly in the portrayal by Jacob Elordi and with a lack of music. I found it interesting, but not entertaining enough to put in my top 20. My number one Sophia Coppola movie remains Marie Antoinette.”
Brent’s Super Honorable Mention: Talk To Me
Why Brent loved it: “I would have slotted this in at number 5 on my personal list. It’s a very effective scary movie that was also entertaining and thought provoking about a hand that allows people to talk to ghosts. It goes some very crazy and dark places, and was definitely my favorite horror film of the year.”
Why it missed Beth’s top 20: “I will admit I really liked this movie and thought it was a good horror movie. It had some pretty intense scenes and I was not sure how it was going to end up. I liked this movie it just missed my list.”
10. Grand Turismo
Beth’s thoughts – “I’m not going to lie, Cliff really wanted to watch this movie and I was dreading it. He got it from his Uncle Jim for Christmas so we watched it as a family movie. I was pleasantly surprised. I had no idea that this was based on a true story and does not feel like a video game movie at all. It reminded me much more of Ford v. Ferrari from a couple years ago.”
9. No Hard Feelings
Brent’s thoughts – “Our 8th and 9th favorite movies kind of illustrate that it wasn’t a GREAT year for movies. Both of them are kind of formulaic movies, with GT being a sports movie and No Hard Feelings being a raunchy comedy. I think this one had some nice character moments and some memorable laughs and that was enough to get it in our top 10.”
8. Alice Darling
Beth’s thoughts – “This is an interesting movie for us because we really love Anna Kendrick and usually she plays the most likable character in a movie. In this movie she goes on a girls trip and through this trip we find out about her relationship. Anna Kendrick is really great in this movie, but it is a completely different character than we normally see her playing.”
7. John Wick: Chapter 4
Brent’s thoughts – “This series has been solid throughout, and this was a nice ending (if it is an ending) to the story. There was a great action sequence on a staircase, and some really neat explosive shell firearms, and sometimes seeing something you’ve never seen before in an action movie with characters you care about what happens to is enough to make a movie great.”
6. Knock At the Cabin
Beth’s thoughts – “So I had no idea what this movie was about going into it and really that is the best way to watch this movie. This movie is based around one decision a family has to make and honestly, I went back and forth the entire movie on what decision I would make. Really interesting yet thought provoking movie.”
5. Totally Killer
Brent’s thoughts – “This was a fun movie, mixing time travel, slasher horror and comedy. Kiernan Shipka has to go back in time to when her mom was in high school and try to stop a killer from butchering several of her mom’s friends. It reminded me a bit of Happy Death Day, another recent horror film combining sci-fi with horror and comedy.”
4. Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret?
Beth’s thoughts – “This movie was great and really did a good job honoring the Judy Blume book it is based on. I found myself related to the Rachel McAdams’ mom character, while at the same time laughing because I remember being a pre-teen girl. This has one of my favorite scenes where Rachel McAdams commits to helping out at the school making stars.”
3. Flora and Son
Brent’s thoughts – “Our top 4 were all movies I could have seen being number one this year. Flora and Son is from the same filmmaker who made Once and Sing Street, two great movies that incorporate music into their plot. I’m not sure which one I liked the most, because they’re all really awesome. This one you kind of need to let the characters grow on you as the lead is pretty abrasive at first, but once Joseph Gordon-Levitt entered the film I pretty much loved it until the end.”
2. You Hurt My Feelings
Beth’s thoughts – “I really debated going back and forth on putting this movie number 1. This is a movie where the husband says something to try to protect his wife’s feelings and she later finds out he was lying. I found this movie so realistic and all of the characters were really great. This movie did a great job of making you see both the husbands and wife side. “
1. The Iron Claw
Brent’s thoughts – “I had high hopes for this one and it even exceeded them. This is a true story about the Von Erich family, who were all professional wrestlers. Do yourself a favor and don’t read anything about them before watching the movie, then watch the movie, and then read about them on Wikipedia and see all the other crazy stuff that they left out. I’m a sucker for a good period piece (see also Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret) and this one nailed the 70’s vibe and produced two moments that made a dude who’s seen everything cry. How did this movie not get any Academy Award nominations? Oppenheimer and Maestro got nothing on this one.”
Finally, our bottom five worst movies we saw this year were:
5. Sanctuary
4. Killers of the Flower Moon*
3. The List
2. Cocaine Bear
1. One Day as a Lion
*Note, Killers of the Flower Moon is 206 minutes long. We have watched the first 1 hour and forty minutes of it, and neither of us cares enough about what’s going to happen to finish the rest of it. Yeah, we shouldn’t admit that in public and call ourselves movie fans, but we’re going to be honest. At least one of our cinephile friends has also privately agreed with us.
Rock N Jazz 