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I was originally going to focus this piece on Netflix’s insanely popular hit British miniseries Fool Me Once , based on Harlan Coben’s novel of the same name. Netflix has produced adaptations of nine of Coben’s works, which typically explore unresolved or misinterpreted events about past murder investigations, with twisty-turny plotlines that are perfect for creating extremely bingeable series. Fool Me Once  premiered on Netflix on January 1 of this year and quickly became the number one show streamed that week - watched by over 37.1 million Netflix accounts with a total of 238,200,000 hours watched, making it one of Netflix’s largest debuts.  With Netflix eagerly giving me this statistic - the #1 television show streamed that week - I figured I’d go ahead and see what the fuss was all about. Look, I’m going to give you a plot summary, and then I’m not going to mince words. Maya Stern (Michelle Keegan), a disgraced former army captain, is grieving the murder of her husband Joe Burkett (Richard Armitage), a member of a prominent English family who runs one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. One of her friends gives her a nanny cam to keep tabs on her daughter while she’s not home, and one evening as she reviews the camera footage, she sees Joe - who is supposed to be dead - visiting their daughter. This sends her down a rabbit hole of trying to understand how the heck this could be possible which eventually uncovers a mass conspiracy by the Burkett family to cover up various crimes committed both by their company (they have been pushing faulty drugs out into the prescription pipeline, many of which have devastating and irreversible side effects for those who take them; shades of Dopesick here) and by Joe himself (who, it turns out, is a big old murder-y murderer). Alongside Maya’s quest to discover the truth, her niece and nephew seek to find out the truth about their mother Claire (Natalie Anderson) - Maya’s sister, who worked for the pharma company run by Joe’s family - and her also fairly recent murder which has relegated their father Eddie (Marcus Garvey) to complete basket-case status. (I’ll give you three guesses if you can figure out right now who was responsible for Claire’s death.) Simultaneously, we see Deputy Sergeant Sami Kierce (Adeel Akhtar), the detective assigned to solving Joe’s murder, starting to piece together the connections between the two murders while also suffering unknowingly from side effects from one of the medications he takes regularly that is manufactured by Burkett Global Enterprises. There’s also a hacker whistleblower character named Corey the Whistle (Laurie Kynaston) who is instrumental in solving this whole mess and operates his shady hacking dealings out of a cavelike office under a video game arcade because of course, there is and of course, he does. I said I’m not going to mince words, so I won’t: Fool Me Once  is absolute trash. Glorious, shameless, guilty-pleasure, binge-watch-in-one-night trash. Despite decent performances by most of the main cast (with special shout-outs to Akhtar, Garvey, and the legendary Joanna Lumley as Joe’s mother and matriarch of the Burkett family), there is no way to mask the epic soap-opera nonsense logic trashiness of this show. It’s awful. It’s so bad. The plot twists are absurd and stupid, the dialogue is cringeworthy, and the shock ending, which I suspect they intended to be poignant, is actually so corny and saccharine that it made me throw up in my mouth a little bit. And yet, I did binge all eight episodes in one night. Why, I ask you? Why? I think I kept watching because I felt that Joanna Lumley’s participation in this mess gave it an air of respectability and was hoping that the show would rise to her level, but sadly, no.   There’s not much else I can say about Fool Me Once . I don’t even want to encourage (OR discourage) you from watching it. It’s entertaining as all get out. It’s also objectively terrible television. If you need a break from the horrors of the world right now and just want to watch good-looking people behave in incomprehensibly dumb and implausible ways while investigating two literal cold-blooded murders, then hey, I won’t judge. I did it too.   But what happened to me - and my Netflix queue - AFTER Fool Me Once  is where things got interesting. Netflix’s algorithm seemed to figure out that I am the kind of person who: 1) likes miniseries; 2) especially, if they are crime  miniseries; and 3) is undisciplined enough to binge eight hours of television in one night. Netflix also (I assume based on my repeated viewings of Delhi Crime  - a crime anthology series - natch - which I wrote about for Story Screen last year  and also binged each of its two seasons in one night) thought I might be interested in another miniseries set in India. So it directed me to Kohrra , a Punjabi-language crime thriller police procedural released last summer.   Kohrra  is similar to Fool Me Once  in that it’s about a murder investigation with many twists and turns. That is basically all they have in common, though, because Kohrra  is far from trashy.  Dark, haunting, and moody, Kohrra  follows the story of the murder of Tejinder “Paul” Dhillon (Vishal Handa), a young Indian man raised in London who returns to Punjab for an arranged marriage, the disappearance of his best friend Liam Murphy (Ivantiy Novak), who accompanied him on the trip as his best man, and the two detectives who are assigned to the case, Sub-Inspector Balbir Singh (Suvinder Vicky) and Assistant Sub-Inspector Amarpal Garundi (Barun Sobti) - a classic television police partnership dynamic of an older, world-weary, hardened, careful cop and his younger, hot-headed, and not-yet-worn-down-by-cynicism partner who looks to him as a mentor. The relationship between Singh and Garundi is really sweet to watch, as these two men, aside from their shared profession, could not be more different but share a genuine affection for each other and a fierce level of protectiveness towards one another. Set in a depressed village in Punjab where there is a serious heroin addiction epidemic amongst the poor youth and a glaring divide between that population and the middle and upper classes who would just as much pretend not to notice this problem - as exemplified by the wealthy Dhillon family who owns homes both in the UK and in India, the patriarch of whom is in a long-standing property dispute with his just as wealthy but not as worldly younger brother who never left India - Khorra (which  literally  translates to “fog” in Punjabi) is about how these social and class conflicts create an inherent murkiness in the community, making it difficult for Singh and Garundi to figure out exactly how a young, wealthy man could be murdered and left in a barren field near a slum two days before his wedding. Vicky as Balbir Singh in particular is the MVP of this series, portraying a sad, stoic man who has fallen victim to corruption in his profession and regrets becoming part of the problem in this village. Rachel Shelley also gives a lovely, nuanced performance as Clara Murphy, Liam’s mother, who has come to India for the wedding only to have her son go missing and be entangled in a murder investigation. (For you Bollywood enthusiasts out there, Shelley played Elizabeth Russell in the Victorian-era historical epic Lagaan  in 2001, and this series marks her first return to an Indian production in over twenty years.) I’m not going to tell you how Kohrra  ends because y’all should watch this series. I am going to tell you that it’s maddening to me that Netflix wasn’t marketing the hell out of this series last summer when it was released the way they were marketing Fool Me Once . Delhi Crime  won Netflix an International Emmy Award and you’d think they would want to capitalize on that a bit more by promoting their other Indian programs. At any rate. Watch Kohrra . Yes, there are subtitles. Get over it. It’s a damn good show. After I binged Kohrra  in one night (I told you I have no discipline), Netflix figured out that not only do I love me some crime thriller police-procedural miniseries, but it also figured out that I don’t have a problem watching non-English language shows. It also, I assume, based on my repeated viewings of Call My Agent  (actually called Dix Pour Cent  in France - a dramedy about talent agents in Paris), figured that I might dig another French-language show. So it served me up The Forest  (La For ê t), a 2017 joint Belgian-French crime thriller police procedural about a teenager named Jennifer Lenoir (Isis Guillaume) who disappears into a forest near the small village of Montfaucon in the Ardennes, and the police investigation into her disappearance led by new-in-town chief detective Gaspard Decker (Samuel Labarthe) and Virginie Musso (Suzanne Clement), a law-enforcement officer who grew up in Monfaucon. They are assisted by local school teacher Eve Mendel (Alexia Barlier), who is a mentor to many of the girls in the school and also has a mysterious, traumatic past involving the same forest where Jennifer has disappeared. The Forest  and Kohrra are similar in that they are about criminal investigations in small villages that suffer from issues of class disparity, poverty, and addiction. The Forest also reminded me a lot of HBO’s 2021 crime thriller police procedural miniseries Mare of Easttown , starring Kate Winslet as the titular Mare Sheehan, a detective in a small town outside of Philadelphia beset with issues of class disparity, poverty, and addiction. In particular, the parallels between Mare and Virginie Musso - both detectives who are raised locally and so deeply embedded in their communities that they know most of the townspeople who may or may not be suspects, leading them to have blindspots when their superiors want to turn the investigation a certain way - were glaringly evident, to the point where I wonder if the showrunners of Mare of Easttown  had ever looked to  The Forest  as reference material. As The Forest progresses through the obligatory twists and turns that are necessary to this genre of Netflix programming, we learn that Musso’s daughter Maya may be connected to Jennifer’s disappearance, and then Maya goes missing herself, leading one to wonder why Musso is still being allowed to be a primary investigator in the case when there is such a clear conflict of interest.  In all fairness to Captain Decker, he does voice this concern several times, and at one point, when she oversteps tremendously, threatens to pull her off the case - another parallel to Mare of Easttown , where Mare is temporarily suspended from the force for tampering with evidence due to her personal connections to a case. The Forest  had me riveted the way Kohrra  did. Again, I binged all six episodes in one night.  (I’m really not getting adequate sleep these days, clearly.) The performances by Labarth, Clement, and Barlier are top-notch, and Patrick Ridremont also does a beautiful job with his portrayal of alcoholic ex-convict and small-time criminal Theirry Rouget (whose daughter Oceane might also be a person of interest in Jennifer’s disappearance) - a role that could very easily have fallen into a “deadbeat dad” stereotype but instead he layers with a nuanced portrayal of hurt, guilt, and trauma. Again, I’m not going to tell you how The Forest  ends, because y’all should watch this series too. Yes, subtitles. Get over it. You can read. If you couldn’t, you wouldn’t be reading this. What Fool Me Once , Kohrra , and The Forest  share in common, besides them all being crime thrillers about police investigations with many plot twists that keep you from turning the TV off when Netflix goes to autoplay the next episode immediately after the current episode concludes is that they all have fairly surprising endings. That said, I did allude to the fact that Fool Me Once’s  ending was shocking and then subsequently corny AF, and I stand by that. It’s bad.  Kohrra’s  ending, however, is shocking and then deeply, hauntingly sad, and The Forest’s  ending is shocking and strangely cathartic.   I’m not going to sit here and say that Netflix’s original programming from India and France is better than anything that they produce in the UK or the States. Y’all know I stan  The Crown  hard around these parts, and even though it kind of went off the rails as it went on, Orange is the New Black  was a truly groundbreaking television show when it first made itself known ten years ago. I am going to say that it is deeply disappointing to me that a show like Fool Me Once  could make such a huge splash the way it did the first week of this year on Netflix while Kohrra  and The Forest  went largely unnoticed when they were released. All three shows feature largely unknown casts (except Joanna Lumley) to American audiences, so this isn’t a question of who has more potent star power. Harlan Coben’s work is a known quantity for Netflix, so it does make sense that they would lean on the Coben brand when pushing a new show like Fool Me Once .  But it’s a shame that I only learned about the existence of Kohrra  and The Forest after having suffered through the melodramatic hot mess that was Fool Me Once due to a Netflix algorithm that pegged me as a crime-show junkie who also likes Indian and French stuff. (I coincidentally do have family in both India and France, so Netflix has sussed me out pretty well, creepy as that might be #bigbrotheriswatching.) Kohrra was released only a year ago, but The Forest is nearly seven years old and has been languishing in some Netflix black hole all this time, only emerging when someone with my particular viewing profile emerges. I wish it didn’t have to be that way because Fool Me Once  is absolute garbage, and Kohrra  and The Forest  are legitimately brilliant television on par with prestige crime television shows like Mare of Easttown , True Detective  (Season 1!!!), and Fargo . Netflix would benefit strongly from spending more of their marketing dollars getting people to take notice of shows like Kohrra  and The Forest as aggressively as they did with Fool Me Once  instead of letting me find them by algorithmic chance - especially since The Crown , arguably Netflix’s most prestigious, classy show, just aired its series finale late last year. If Netflix wants to retain any semblance of respectability, they should maybe move away from the pulpy Coben adaptations - or at least not shove them down our throats so aggressively - and give these incredible foreign productions a bit more love so larger audiences can find them easily as opposed to by accident. Now that I’ve finished The Forest,  Netflix is suggesting that I watch Secret City  - an Australian political crime thriller show starring Anna Torv (known to US audiences primarily via The Last of Us, Fringe,  and Mindhunter ). Netflix probably put together the fact that I like the intersection of crime and politics from my binging of Delhi Crime , plus the fact that I binged the first four seasons of The West Wing  repeatedly in a nostalgic frenzy several times before Netflix lost the rights to it to Max. There are two seasons of Secret City,  making it more of an anthology series than Khorra  and The Forest . I have a feeling I’m going to like it because so far, the algorithm does seem to have me pegged. Check on me later, though, and make sure I didn’t stay up all night watching both seasons back to back to back to back. I gotta work in the morning. Reeya Banerjee Staff Writer Reeya is a musician and writer based in New York's Capital District. Her debut album, “The Way Up,” was released on January 27, 2022. She can frequently be seen in her car on the NYS Thruway cursing traffic on her way to the Hudson Valley for band rehearsals or to Brooklyn for recording sessions. In her other life, she works as a staff accountant for a management company that oversees veterinary practices nationwide, enjoys watching Law & Order SVU returns while eating gummy bears, and has a film degree from Vassar College that she does not use.

You can find all of Story Screen's favorite 2023 lists right here! PODCAST: STORY SCREEN PRESENTS: Story Screen's Best of 2023 Mike Burdge, Diana DiMuro, Bernadette Gorman-White, and Robby Anderson chat about some of their favorites of 2023, including Oppenheimer, The Boy and the Heron, Past Lives, John Wick: Chapter 4, Barbie,  and more. Listen on... Links: Plagiarism and You(tube) Video ARTICLES: Mike's Top 23 Films of 2023 By Mike Burdge Diana's Best of 2023 Films By Diana DiMuro From the Bottom to the Heart: Bern’s Top 10 Films of 2023 By Bernadette Gorman-White Reeya's Best of 2023 By Reeya Banerjee BaeBae’s Top 10 of 2023 By Robby Anderson Damian's 10 Favorite Films of 2023 By Damian Masterson Scotty's 2023 in Film: 10 Movies to Love By Scott Arnold Jeremy’s Top 10 of 2023 By Jeremy Kolodziejski

It is literally  impossible to be a person who ranks their favorite movies of the year. You watched so  many movies and you are  so  smart, and it kills me that you don’t think you’re good  enough. Like, we have to always be watching new  movies, but somehow we’re always missing the important  ones. You have to be "artsy," but not too "artsy." And you can never say you want to watch "artsy" movies. You have to say you want to be comprehensive , but also you have to be "artsy." You have to have taste , but you can’t explore other tastes because that makes you unoriginal, and you can't say you have broad taste  because that makes you egotistical. You have to be a free-thinking individual, but you can’t just skip seeing the “most popular movies of the year.”  You have to dislike certain  movies, but you can’t squash other people’s liking of those movies. You’re supposed to love watching weird  movies but don’t talk about that new Finnish film all the damn time. You have to be a film critic, but also,  always  be looking out for just having a good time. You have to justify your enjoyment of cheesy, well-made, fun  movies, which is insane, but if you point that out, you’re accused of being a contrarian. You’re supposed to stay witty  for the readers, but not so witty  that you taunt them too much or that you threaten other folk's opinions because you’re supposed to be a part of the cinephile inner circle . But always  stand out and always  be grateful. But never forget that the system is rigged  by studios not releasing certain movies near you, you have no way to see them, no matter how hard you try. So, find a way to acknowledge that, but also always be grateful . You have to never get too sassy , never be pretentious, never use the same adjective to describe two different movies, never be too appreciative of blockbusters, never dismiss that international indie film that played at like three theaters, never say how many movies you watched in one year, never put too many  honorable mentions, never leave out the most culturally important movie of the year, even if you didn't love it all that much. It’s too hard  to only pick ten movies, alright?! It’s too contradictory and nobody gives you a quote tweet or says "Great list! Definitely  going to check some of these out!!" And it turns out, in fact, that not only are you not liking the RIGHT  movies, but also everything wrong with Maestro  is now your fault, even the nose. I’m just so tired of watching myself and every single other movie-lover tie themselves into knots so that people will like their Best of the Year  lists. And if all of that is also true for one guy just representing his taste in the new movies he watched this past year, then I don’t even know. Okay. Let's punch it! 23. Bottoms Fight Club  for cool people. Emma Seligman's follow-up to the outrageously great Shiva Baby  shows that she is on the correct path towards becoming not just one of the most exciting new voices in movies, but one of the most unique. Ayo Edebiri and Rachel Sennott continue to be some of the best to do it, supported here by a cast of actors that completely get the bit. A very special blend of comedy, heart, and raunchy inspirations, Bottoms  was, joke-for-joke, the funniest movie of the year. 22. Talk to Me There's something impressive to me about a low-budget, high-concept horror movie that gets pulled off with such confidence and flair. The "Hand That Makes You Spooky," horror flick of 2023 escaped me for a very long time, but once I finally sat down and caught it, I was hooked, much like many of the characters in the film that take part in the "possession as party drug" concept. With an amazing lead performance by Sophie Wilde, Talk to Me  is always unnerving, thought-provoking, and just straight-out dang scary AF, while holding that key element to all successful horror: a clean thematic metaphor. A horror movie lover's type of new horror movie. 21. Afire Artistic creation is a fickle lil’ beast. Even more fickle when you truly don't have your shit together, something most creatives would immediately attest to. Writer/director Christopher Petzold, who previously made one of my favorite movies of the last twenty years, Transit , lays all the emotions involved in artistic creativity out for autopsy and deserved judgment. Paula Bear is just ripping it apart in this movie in the small ways she does best. Thomas Schubert fully encapsulates the try-hard yet writer-block-ridden artist with the exact amount of wanted empathy and unnecessary desperation the character needs. 20. May December Todd Haynes' latest movie is just as loving and depressing as the director's filmography would have you come to expect. Darkly comedic, and expertly acted and constructed, the film became one of the biggest "Could it?" movies of 2023 when it came to audience reception and awards buzz. Charles Melton is out-of-control good in this. Both Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore deliver on their unique capabilities to bring a certain sharpness to their star power, both of which play out beautifully in the picture. You can never really pinpoint who the main character is in this movie, and that's just a sliver of what makes it so special. 19. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Gimmie gimmie gimmie! The next installment in the multiverse-spanning, better content-creating universe of Spider-Man is nothing short of a miracle. It simultaneously leans on the successes of the original (if it ain't broke, don't fix it), while not only taking aim, but firing on all cylinders at how far its creators can push this form. This chapter builds on the expectations of the world, not only in form but also in how the audience of the world will react. Emotions fluctuate, characters reenter, the universe becomes bigger, and the stakes zone in, leaving us with one of the best cliffhangers in a massive blockbuster since The Empire Strikes Back , not just in scope, but more importantly, in character. 18. Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. One of the biggest surprises of 2023 for me was not in the form of a skinny legend building a bomb or a plastic doll teaching the world about gynecology (we'll get to those films soon enough, I swear), it came in Kelly Fremon Craig's ridiculously well-executed coming-of-age film based on one of the most well-known books of all time. A book that I have not read. While I was somewhat familiar with the content of the story, I was completely wrong, and I had no idea what this movie was actually about, and this led to an amazing viewing experience. Overflowing with stellar performances from both faces new and old, it's the type of feel-good movie we don't get that often, and it truly had me sobbing out of despair and happiness throughout. When we talk about the good stuff in movies these days, this is a perfect example. 17. Priscilla In my opinion, Sofia Coppola has reached the point in her career that few achieve and many dread: she's made so many bonkers good movies that the world at large takes it for granted. If anyone else had made this thing we wouldn't be hearing the end of it. Coppola takes the story of the woman "aside" one of the most famous figures in American pop culture and breathes her sensuality and silent art into every frame. At some moments the film feels like The Virgin Suicides , and at others, like Lost in Translation . But regardless of all this, Priscilla  always feels like it is in conversation with itself, constantly hurtling towards an end that can only be bittersweet. Cailee Spaeny will rule the world soon enough. 16. Maestro Bradley Cooper is a guy who loves movies. He loves to star in them, produce them, make them, talk about them and support them. He's the cinephile's director. His directorial debut, A Star is Born,  was one of the most impressive things to happen in the past decade, mostly because of his turn from how the public had previously perceived him. Leaning even harder into the "you don't know me" of it all, Maestro  sees him set his sights on one of the most prolific and mysterious figures in modern music: Leonard Bernstein. Cooper's performance is electric, try-hard as it may seem. Heck, electricity looks like it's working pretty hard to me. Carey Mulligan's exuberant but still focused performance seems to ground the more lavish elements of Cooper's, which all plays into the director's expertly crafted frames of a man that loved too much and thought he knew all the same. 15. Beau is Afraid Ladies and gentlemen, we did it. We supported Ari Aster through his fantastic dark family comedy . We praised him for his amazing work on a hyper-bright, drug-induced story of love and loss. And now, we get his junior album, where all bets are off: a nightmare of anxiety with the biggest budget A24 has yet to offer. The results were delicious. I caught this one late, so I had already been privy to the divisiveness of the flick, and honestly, I think I was all the better for it. It’s an odyssey (ugh) of extreme realism but also hyper-reality, all held together by what I'm pretty sure is Joaquin Phoenix's most insane performance (I'll have to check on that). And Parker Posey, everybody. Let's take a moment to stan the legend. 14. Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One The worst part about M:I-DRP1  is that it was always going to be a P1, and the movie doesn't do the greatest job in changing those expectations; it’s very much the first part of a whole story. The Mission: Impossible  franchise has always been one that can just go into a new chapter without any need to know what came before. Sure, it enhances the story, but it's never a requirement. That being said, all the good toys are back on the floor for McQuarrie and Cruise to play with, including a lavish budget that keeps pushing the limits of what these movies can get away with. What works so well with this installment, however, is the same that worked best with the previous installment, Fallout , which also had no shortage of amazing effects and stunt work. It's the small moments with the characters, the moments that make us truly like them, therefore root for them when the cash starts to spread across the screen. These small car chases and quiet talks around a table are what makes these movies so universally enthralling, and it's obvious they are ramping up speed for a wild finale. 13. Barbie Who would've thought Greta Gerwig had it in her? I ask that question as someone who has been a huge fan of hers for a very long time, and has seen her career take twists and turns, from actor-turned-writer/director, to making one of the best movies of the year, two times in a row. And now it's three. What Gerwig does here is nothing short of spectacular, seemingly creating an entirely different way to make a movie and communicate a theme. Razor blade commentary disguised in bubble gum flavored soda, this movie is jettisoned into insane heights by the actors involved, most especially, Margot Robbie's jaw-dropping portrayal of a dreamlike person becoming real before our very eyes. Oh, also it's clearly just Oppenheimer  for girlz. 12. The Killer Leave it to David Fincher to turn a hitman-revenge movie into a commentary on modern day consumerism and the self-indulgence of our inner thoughts as 21st-century control freaks. A wickedly stylish (almost too much so) action thrill ride from start to finish, The Killer practically throws the whole cake in the face of other, more standard genre fare from recent times, showing what can be done when you truly give as much of a shit as Fincher does, (which is also almost too much). I can't wait to get to eat a McDonald's breakfast sandwich like that next time I'm there. 11. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves The good praise we were all hearing about this film was one thing, but I didn't expect the best family-fantasy film since checks notes like, Willow ? Ladyhawke ?? Fucking Legend ?!?!?! They certainly don't make ‘em like this anymore, and honestly, I'm not sure they ever did it this well. I could still feel the energy from the audience days after my first watch. This flick is simply one of the most confident and competent movies I’ve seen in a LONG time, like the word "charming" doesn’t even cut it. Michelle Rodriguez continues to be the sleeper action star of a generation. I would kill and die for Jarnathan, who is my friend. 10. Godzilla Minus One ( Gojira Mainasu Wan/Mainasu Karā) Breathtaking stuff, ladies and gentlemen. There's nothing like a good Godzilla movie, especially because we seem to not get them too often. This installment puts everything on display that makes this franchise so damn entertaining and endearing: human beings going through emotional trauma and being devastated by the very spectacle that we, the audience, have come to see. This movie does an amazing job of taking us along for the story of these people, making us truly care about the outcome, even though everybody's favorite big boi is comin' on up to make it as difficult for them as he can. 9. Poor Things My second favorite movie character named Bella has arrived! Yorgos Lanthimos continues to tombstone the hell out of the competition of freaky directors who are getting massive appeal from wide audiences. I'm so proud of my ‘lil creepy cutie-pie, who has made odd movie after odd movie, and now arrives with a megaphone to exclaim just how horny he truly is. The movie is just the right amount of Frankenstein -inspired, which transitions hard into a goof, whimsical coming-of-age story. Mark Ruffalo being confused and cutting off mid-sentence to say, “What the fuck are you talking about??” is like watching Michael Jordan slam dunk from center court. Magical stuff. 8. Fallen Leaves (Kuolleet lehdet) One of the most artfully executed communications of how much work can suck. There's just no stopping Aki Kaurismäki, even though he is obviously taking his time and enjoying every moment he is capturing for the screen. The film's aggressive vulnerability is chemically designed to catch you off guard at certain moments, and there is one scene in particular that had everyone’s jaws on the floor in my theater for a full minute. Sweet and bitter, the way all good movies tend to be. 7. The Boy and the Heron (Kimitachi wa Dō Ikiru ka) This Miyazaki guy is pretty good at these ‘lil cartoon movies, huh? The long-anticipated next (last?) film from the Studio Ghibli genius was well worth the wait. It elegantly strings together some of the artist's most classic traits from past films, as well as his usual flair for deep themes and sensual environments. As Miyazaki gets older, his appreciation for life and beauty seems to only grow more innocent and powerful, a rare evolution for most people, let alone artists. While I'm very excited to eventually catch the original Japanese version, this is yet again another shining example of how English dubs should be done: with fantastically talented and interesting actors making interesting decisions on how to bring the tone of Miyazaki through to audiences of any language and age. 6. Passages Come for the galaxy brain-level sweater game, stay for the emotional scarring of a lifetime! Narcissists, beware! One of my most anticipated movies of the year, starring my darling dirtball fuckboy, Franz Rogowski, continues to bring a seemingly unheard of energy to cinema that can't be found or duplicated anywhere else. And this time he's got the powerhouse backing of  Adèle Exarchopoulos and Ben Whishaw, who both serve up what I think are their best performances to date (give or take a few bear movies). There are so many moments in this movie that made me squirm, but also loads of tender scenes that made my heart fill up until it was about to burst. To be clear: this is in no way a feel good movie, it's just very pretty and I like it. 5. Killers of the Flower Moon Our Short King© has done it again. Even as a massive Scorsese fan (and occasional defender) I found it hard to say, "Let him cook," when learning of the story he was adapting and the runtime it had landed on. But, boy howdy, that there's a movie up on yonder screen! DiCaprio and De Niro hit it out of the park, supported by a murderers' row of character actors and talents that would make John Papsidera blush. But of course, this is the Lily Gladstone show, who imbues her character with such realism and depth that it almost becomes hard to think about her as a real person whose job it was to act in a Martin Scorsese movie. She's equally powerful in Reservation Dogs , and it's no surprise she's annihilating the awards competition. What Scorsese is able to accomplish with this horrendous true story and massive cast of talent is nothing short of a masterpiece, another notch in the belt of one of greatest to ever play the game and easily, one of his best, most well-made movies. 4. Anatomy of a Fall (Anatomie d'une chute) Crazy trials, sexy lawyers, boppin’ tracks and cuddly dogs. What more could you possibly ask for from one of the best thrillers of the 21st century? Justine Triet creates a mystery within a mysterious world, centered around a mysterious woman, with every unknowable aspect feeding into the next, spiraling the audience into further confusion and intrigue. Courtroom thrillers are one of my favorite sub-genres and one we've lost in recent times (or had really terrible entries). However, Triet and cinematographer Simon Beaufils, craft an order to the story using only a few sets, creating a constrictive world where it seems impossible for something like this to be so perplexing. The film constantly introduces new evidence and motives that have you rarely blaming others, but becoming more disoriented at the idea of what the truth could actually become. 3. Oppenheimer An almost unbelievable achievement, not only in Christopher Nolan's career, but in filmmaking as a medium moving forward. Creativity and technique collide on both sides of the camera for three hours of pure, "We indeed know what the fuck we are doing," firing on all cylinders. With an insane supporting cast, anchored by Cillian Murphy in full God-mode, as well as Alden Ehrenreich begging us to forgive him, what should feel like a slog is presented and edited in such a fashion that the episodic nature of the film never becomes tiresome. There's more than enough to talk about here without ever straying too far from the purpose: telling the story of a man who made a terrible decision in hopes we wouldn't do the same, and learning that he was tragically wrong. And that music cue when Emily Blunt refuses to shake Benny Safdie’s hand? The movies, ladies and gentlemen! They're back!!! 2. All of Us Strangers One of the most affecting movies about longing and connectivity, Andrew Haigh's high-concept emotional drama is a mesmerizing example of how a fictional story can be made to feel intimate. The entire cast's decisions and sensitivities operate like a machine made to make the viewer explode with ALL the feelings. But it's Jamie Bell, who plays the young version of Andrew Scott's deceased father, who just obliterates everything around him whenever he says anything with that fantastic little mustache. A movie about contemplation, about attachment, about apprehension, about acceptance, about death, about life, about loss, about love. Also, super cookie eating work by Andrew Scott in the opening moments of this movie. Channeling my desired energy. 1. Past Lives Celine Song's debut is a perfect mirror of my favorite film of 2022, Aftersun . Both are brilliantly captivating and devastatingly charming, propelled by expert-level visual language and performances that knock your socks right off and into the hamper. Greta Lee and Teo Yoo are astonishing in this thing, but you know your white boy over here was just digging on everything my little neurotic John Magaro was doing the whole time. Like all good pieces of storytelling, no one part should work without the other. Past Lives  operates on an efficient assembly line of seemingly real people, dealing with something every single person on the planet has dealt with: “Did I make the right decision, and what does that even mean?” While this is definitely one of the more defining, universal aspects of the film, it's also a deeply personal tale of immigration and identity, handled with the same care as its delicate "love story." There are moments in the movie that will live with me forever, which is always a very defining attribute of what ultimately ends up being my favorite films of all time. Just perfect. This movie is perfect. It’s perfect. HONORABLE MENTIONS: Air, Eileen, Evil Dead Rise, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, The Holdovers, Infinity Pool, The Iron Claw, John Wick: Chapter 4, Knock at the Cabin, Rye Lane, Scrapper, Showing Up, and When Evil Lurks. And a quick shoutout to some TV shows I loved: Barry, The Bear, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Last of Us, Our Flag Means Death, Perry Mason, Poker Face, Reservation Dogs, and Scott Pilgrim Takes Off. Mike Burdge Founder / Editor-in-Chief Mike is the Editor-in-Chief, Founder, and Programmer for Story Screen. When he isn't watching movies, you can find him reading and listening to things about people watching movies. He currently resides in Poughkeepsie, NY with his partner Diana and their three cats: Willow, Hank, and Freddy.

Both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes   over disputes with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers  may have slowed down the release of content in 2023, but it did not diminish the quality of the films and TV shows that were released. If anything, it gave me more time to watch the available movies. So (unintentionally), thank you WGA and SAG-AFTRA? Here’s hoping that these strikes and the investigative journalism of 2023 will lead to better pay and better working conditions, not only for writers and actors but for animators and beyond.  Writing for Story Screen has always been a way for me to excitedly shake the person I am talking to (even virtually) after I watch something truly great and want them to watch it too. That being said, I had a harder time deciding how to rank my favorite films from 2023. Some of my listed films were technically  released in 2022, but not widely or in the United States, others were just plain bangers, but I had a hard time conveying into words anything that I felt was unique from their mass-critical-acclaim. But when it comes down to it, these are the films I majorly enjoyed in 2023 and I hope you will too. (P.S. If you saw a great film or show in 2023 that is not on my list, please, tell me. I mean it. I want to hear all about it.) TV Series Honorable Mentions: There were so many good series to watch in 2023, including Season 2 of The Bear,  and Netflix’s Beef. (Hats off to music supervisor Tiffany Anders for that insane trip down memory lane). Here are two of my favorite shows from 2023: Reservation Dogs - Season 3 (final season) While Season 2 of Rez Dogs  might be one of the best seasons of television ever (shoutout to Lily Gladstone), the final season of creator Sterlin Harjo’s show begins to hint at how our four young Native protagonists will continue to move on with their lives off-screen. They will always be connected -  to their community, their past, and each other. It’s a show that I recommend hands-down to any viewer no matter their usual genre preferences. It has something for everyone and I can’t wait to see what its four main young actors go on to do next.  Our Flag Means Death - Season 2 (final season) While it was recently announced that Max has canceled OFMD , Season 2 had such a satisfying ending that I was okay with it. I loved Season 1, but in its second season, David Jenkins allowed his cast to get really  weird and it only made me love every single character EVEN MORE. On to my Favorite Films of 2023: Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie Directed by Davis Guggenheim, ( It Might Get Loud, An Inconvenient Truth ) this documentary film does an amazing job of combining actual footage of Michael J. Fox with reenactment footage, showing someone who kind of resembles him from behind acts out parts of his life while Fox narrates it. It’s really impressive how well done it is. I think the film is captivating and ultimately very hopeful. It makes a point of making you feel compassion rather than pity for Fox in his current state of health. It also showcases how insane it was that Fox was hiding his Parkinson's symptoms for so long from the public, all while churning out so many roles to achieve his acting dreams. Talk to Me It doesn’t matter if they’re dead or alive, we’re all just reaching out for some connection. That was my main takeaway from Talk to Me.  The movie takes the experience of connecting with the dead and equates it with recreational drug use, slowly making you think it’s OK to keep taking more until it’s too late. Sophie Wilde’s performance is amazing. I would love to see another film in this universe. They already have the sequel name   perfected.  Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning (Formerly Part One) I love the Mission: Impossible  franchise. It’s my comfort food. Mission: Impossible - Fallout  might be my all-time favorite in the Tom Cruise-led series, but 2023’s Dead Reckoning  is still insanely epic in its scale, stunts, and Cruise’s ability to charm, soothe, and even, make us laugh when we least expect it from this genre. Hayley Atwell does a surprisingly good job of making us care about her despite being the newest addition to the group (and the fact that she’s no substitute for my sweet sweet Rebecca Ferguson).  Sanctuary  Christopher Abbott is one of those actors who is so very good at playing terrible people. I had no idea what this film was about before watching or how insanely good Margaret Qualley would be opposite Abbott. This film is a dance, a chess game, a battle of wits, call it whatever you like, but it is a match between its two leads, Hal and Rebecca, and I won’t say any more than that. It totally surprised me and I can’t recommend it enough.  Of An Age This film captures what it’s like to discover yourself and that first brush with love. I think it also conveys the friendships we have when we’re young that don’t necessarily make sense, but we cling to when we most need someone who accepts us. This film is sort of a best-case scenario of “It gets better.” Its two leads are each captivating in their own right. Thom Green’s Adam reminds Elias Anton’s Kol that there is a bigger better world out there than the small-minded small town they’re both from. Rye Lane I wrote about Rye Lane for Story Screen when it was first released and since then it has stayed in the back of my mind throughout 2023. It shares DNA with films like  Before Sunrise  while blending in more humor and showcasing distinct cultural neighborhoods in London. Its flawed characters are fun and funny and ultimately bring out the best in each other.  Priscilla I loved Cailee Spaeny in Devs . She can capture a youthful naivety that sells her performance as Priscilla in Sofia Coppola’s latest film. Jacob Elordi does a fantastic job as Elvis, portraying him as sort of a captivating Peter Pan manchild who teeters on the brink of violent anger at all times. Priscilla  can feel like a horror movie while you wait for the other shoe to drop, but Coppola shoots it a lot like The Virgin Suicides . It looks amazing: its color palette, attention to detail, and its soundtrack. I enjoyed it even more upon second viewing, and I imagine that it will only gain my esteem as time goes by.  Poor Things Poor Things  is bonkers in the best way possible. I love director Yorgos Lanthimos' last film, The Favourite , but it is deeply sad. I was pleased to find that even though Poor Things deals with big existential questions, it is hilarious and ultimately a story with a hopeful ending about falling in love with life itself. The movie also looks amazing - from its color palate to its costumes. In another star supporting role, Mark Ruffalo almost steals the show in one of my favorite performances of his ever, but this movie belongs to Emma Stone. She deserves all of the awards.  Fallen Leaves Even though not a lot happens, Fallen Leaves is such a great film. It is very funny, but its sequences without dialogue are just as engrossing and heartfelt as those with it. The story grapples with its main characters getting older and not wanting to be alone. Its central characters, Ansa and Holappa, played by Alma Pöysti and Jussi Vatanen, are my favorite onscreen couple of 2023.  Blue Jean Blue Jean  takes place in England during the 1980s when being openly gay meant potentially losing your job, but a lot of the fears that plague the film's main character, Jean, could easily apply today. Struggling with being out among your peers is a reality no matter what time. Period. The film shows Jean watching someone younger than her struggle with being queer and trying to decide whether she is obligated to be a good role model for them and how to do that while still dealing with her own issues. Rosy McEwen reminded me of Lily Rabe-meets-Jodie Comer in the best way possible. Chris Roe’s beautiful score compliments director Georgia Oakley’s ability to walk a tightrope between hope and heartbreak. It’s worth the watch.  Joyland This movie was nothing like I expected. While its trailer gives a glimpse of someone hiding themselves from their family, that’s only the tip of the iceberg in this movie. The fact that its main character Haider (played by Ali Junejo) is so unclear about what he wants is what makes the film feel so honest. Its supporting character Mumtaz (played by the incredible Rasti Farooq), slowly steals the film and breaks your heart. I felt frustrated by the film's third act until its coda absolutely destroyed me. Killers of the Flower Moon Scorsese’s latest film is three hours and 26 minutes but I have a hard time deciding what I would try to cut out to make it a shorter watch. Leonardo DiCaprio’s performance is GOOOOOD but he is upstaged by the incredible Lily Gladstone. This is not a fun watch. It is horrible, based on even more horrible real-life events. But I am glad that by creating a film about these awful events more attention is being drawn to the Osage people. Marty may be getting older but he doesn’t seem to be slowing down. Keep on, keeping on, Mr. Scorsese.  TEN: Barbie I forgot how funny Barbie is until I watched it recently for a second time. Greta Gerwig directed something truly amazing. The fact that she was not nominated for “Best Director” by the Academy Awards seems unbelievable. Barbie’s  practical effects, production design, and costume design are all killer. The movie has a phenomenal cast. Margot Robbie’s performance is fantastic without being too over the top and America Ferrari is probably my favorite part of the film. Ryan Gosling almost steals the movie from Robbie, especially during his dreamy Gene Kelly-esque musical escapades. For a film based on Mattel IP, it is immensely poignant, hilarious, and heartwarming. If you haven’t yet, just watch it already. NINE: Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves Chris Pine and Michelle Rodriguez make a great dynamic duo in this movie. Pine is charming and hilarious, making a great foil to Rodriguez’s stoic muscle. It also has one of the best-unexpected cameos I’ve seen in a film in years. This movie is extremely fun to watch and gave me serious 90s summer blockbuster vibes. I’ve already watched it a second time on a lazy Sunday afternoon and I enjoyed it just as much as my first viewing in the theater. In solidarity with my brotha Damian Masterson , I could easily watch another D&D  film every few years. There’s so much potential here. I NEED MORE JARNATHAN!  EIGHT: Emily I was really blown away by Emily.  Written and Directed by Frances O'Connor, the film is more of an artistic interpretation of the life of the Brontë sisters than a factual retelling. The film’s score by Abel Korzeniowski adds to the fantastical elements of the film and it’s beautifully shot by DP Nanu Segal. There are so many scenes that stayed with me long after watching the film. Emma Mackey’s performance builds on the same strengths displayed in Sex Education  and adds so much more. I hope to see her in more leading roles after this movie. I loved watching every scene between her and her onscreen brother (played by Fionn Whitehead), even when I knew they might not be the best influences on each other, you could feel their love and their understanding of one another. And Oliver Jackson-Cohen finally gets to play someone who is not a complete psychopath, so there’s that. By not being a strict historical retelling of the life of the Brontës, O’Conner creates a film about the creative process itself, and how elements or events in your life can impact your imagination. She finds a way to imagine Emily Brontë’s life, showing who encouraged her to cultivate her gifts as a writer to go on to write Wuthering Heights . It’s also a reminder of how insanely young most people were when they died in the 1800s. The Brontë sisters in particular. SEVEN: The Boy and the Heron Hayao Miyazaki delivers. I wasn’t expecting this film to blow me away the way that it did. It’s far more grounded than most of Miyazaki’s usual fair, but once it starts getting weird, IT GETS WEIRD. It has one of the most beautiful film scores I have ever heard. I can’t believe composer Joe Hisaishi was not nominated for more awards. I watched the English-dubbed version and lemme tell you something: Robert Pattinson’s voice performance is insane and I AM HERE FOR IT. LONG LIVE WEIRD PATTINSON.  SIX: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse I loved 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse  and was hyped for its 2023 sequel. While there have been several reports of unsustainable working conditions  for the over a thousand animators working on Across the Spider-Verse,  there’s no denying that their work is an immense achievement. It is: SO. MUCH. SPIDER-MAN. And I mean that in the best way possible. Daniel Pemberton is back with an even more amazing score that should have been nominated for an Academy Award. We meet some awesome new Spider-characters voiced by Daniel Kaluuya, Issa Rae, and Karan Soni, but it’s the existing relationships between Gwen Stacy and her dad, Miles and his parents, Rio and Jeff Morales, (as well as Gwen and Miles’ friendship) that makes the film so well worth the watch. I can’t wait for its final installment (hopefully in a few years, please, take your time).  FIVE: Past Lives What I love most about Celine Song’s film, Past Lives , is that it’s not a straightforward romance where you are rooting for one love interest over another. It’s more about grieving a version of your past self and thinking about what might have been if you had made different choices. Simultaneously, the film is also about accepting your present self based on the choices you have made. Both male protagonists have affected Nora’s life and shaped who she is now, but it is still heartbreaking for Nora to say goodbye to her past.  FOUR: The Holdovers Dang, I do love Sideways and a good ol’ cranky performance by Paul Giamatti, but I think I love The Holdovers   even more. He is perfect for the role of a curmudgeon history teacher, Paul Hunham. Newcomer Dominic Sessa is a lovable pain in the ass, à la Jason Schwartzman in Rushmore , but I think it’s Da'Vine Joy Randolph who truly makes this the holy Trinity of found families around the holidays. I loved Randolph in Hulu’s High Fidelity , but that performance was often over the top (channeling her inner Jack Black). In The Holdovers,  Randolph’s Mary is frequently understated but never minces words. I could easily re-watch this film around the holidays for years to come, but despite it taking place during Christmas, I think it’s a highly enjoyable film to watch at any point in the year.  THREE: Anatomy of a Fall It’s wild how engrossing Anatomy of a Fall  is when so much of it takes place inside a courtroom (not normally my cup of tea). Sandra Hüller’s performance is captivating as her character Sandra’s life is picked apart by a full courtroom. Sandra’s lawyer, played by Swann Arlaud, has become an internet boyfriend sensation for having some of the best floppy hair since 90s Hugh Grant. The true stars of the film, however, are Sandra’s son, Daniel (Milo Machado Graner), and his dog, Snoop (with an amazing performance by Messi the Dog). Also, shout out to that instrumental cover of 50 Cent's "P.I.M.P.”, by Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band . It slaps.  TWO: All of Us Strangers Aftersun  starring Paul Mescal was my number one favorite film of 2022. Andrew Scott’s “Hot Priest” from Season 2 of Fleabag  may be one of my all-time favorite characters on television. Who knew these two actors would have such great chemistry? This is definitely Scott’s movie, and as Adam, he does an amazing job expressing so much with only a look. While I loved watching him opposite Mescal’s Harry, it was his scenes with his onscreen parents (played by Claire Foy and Jamie Bell) that stayed with me long after viewing this film. I felt conflicted about how director Andrew Haigh deals with the central relationship between Adam and Harry, but I loved every second that they got to spend together, as well as with his parents, and all of the healing that those exchanges, whether real or dreaming, produced for him.  ONE: Oppenheimer When I was in the theater for the first time watching Oppenheimer,  there were a few moments during the film when I thought I might be having a panic attack. The film’s sound design works so intensely alongside Ludwig Göransson’s beautiful score (plus the volume at the theater was so incredibly loud) that I often felt extremely uncomfortable. I think that was deliberate. It took a second viewing at home for me to really appreciate how beautifully the score works with Christopher Nolan’s vision and Hoyte Van Hoytema’s cinematography. This film is gorgeous. It is also a ridiculous who’s who of Hollywood actors, showcasing some of the best cameos, character actors, and Nolan-verse regulars around (shout out to Josh Hartnett). If you haven’t seen the film yet - Robert Downey Jr. is in it wayyy more than I expected based on the movie’s trailer. The Downey Jr. hype is well-merited. Nolan's use of practical effects vs. CG is mind-blowing but also, unsurprising when you take into account his other films’ use of practical effects. This may be his best film. Ever. I can’t say this is my favorite role for Cillian Murphy (I will always be a 28 Days Later fan) but I am so happy Murphy is getting the praise he deserves. Emily Blunt plays the best angry drunk I’ve seen in a film in a long time but David Krumholtz might be my favorite performance in the film. Hand me that orange slice, bub.  Diana DiMuro Besides watching TV and movies, Diana likes plants, the great outdoors, drawing and reading comics, and just generally rocking out. She has a BA in English Literature and is an art school dropout. You can follow her on Instagram @dldimuro and Twitter @DianaDiMuro

I haven’t stared aimlessly at a blank page for this long in a while. That blinking cursor fades in and out of reality. Do you think they designed a cursor to blink to make writers feel anxious? Like a passive-aggressive metronome? Also, where does this little fucker go? Does it get high? Travel to more interesting Google Docs? Does it say, “Can you watch this essay while I go smoke?”  Why am I stalling?    If you’re here, reading this on your phone or laptop at your desk or toilet you probably know the deal. I’m Robby Anderson, my friends call me BaeBae, and for the past seven years, I’ve been writing a top ten list of movies for Story Screen. Sorry to all the hardcore BaeBabies, a term I coined just now for my adoring fans if I’m boring you with my recap. We both know BaeBae lore is important and you’ve done the homework.  But for the new BaeBabies or BaeEnemies let me catch you up to speed on where my head is by sharing an excerpt from my Top 10 list of 2022 :    My   intro   last year lamented on feeling burnt out like I was spinning my tires and had accomplished very little with my craft. Throughout 2022, I actually tried to change that. I was proactive: I made a resume. I applied for jobs. I took jobs that fell through and I had my biggest accomplishment in years: I got paid to   write . How about that!  I have 2023 in my sights. It took me a long time to realize that the mud I was spinning my tires in was made up of all the gross feelings I’d let myself sink into. No more! Big things are ahead for me, I can feel it, and if in a year I look back at this little annual journal entry and think, “Damn, I was wrong lol,” at least I’ll know it wasn’t for lack of trying. I don’t usually make my previous year’s list required reading like it’s some bullshit Disney + show setting up four movies no one wants to watch but for those who come here because of an investment in my character development and my personal story then guess what: Damn, I wasn’t  wrong lol.  In the year that was 2023, I started my career as a freelance writer and was published a total of fifteen times . I got a new car (beep beep) (why did I type that?). I quit my job that I was miserable at and got a new part-time gig that I really dig. My fiancé and I moved into a sick apartment. Oh, and I got engaged .  Not too shabby if I do say so myself.  When you have an eventful year filled with milestones and progress: It’s hard to find time to go to the movies! This year I’m breaking my rules a little bit. There are so many 2023 movies I have yet to see, but there was also a lot of media outside the medium of film that really spoke to me. So when you see a YouTube video in my top 5, try not to freak out.      Alright, time to stop stalling. My name is Robby Anderson, and my friends call me BaeBae, I’m a writer, and this isn’t a list of the best  movies of the year, this is a list of my favorite  art of the year.  Let’s get into it.  10. Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse  The long-awaited sequel to 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse  had some mighty big shoes to fill. Into the Spider-Verse  felt like a cornerstone in nerd culture. Its plot is extremely ambitious for its time, making something as geeky, complicated, and vast as the multiverse streamlined and easy for audiences to comprehend. It pioneered an aesthetic that blends 3D CGI models with 2D hand-drawn art that is so beautiful to look at, animated films would use it for years to come. At the film’s core is an intimate story. New webhead Miles Morales has to learn what it means to be a hero; what it means to put on the mask  (the kind of platitude that’s usually summed up well by someone’s dying Uncle).   Fast forward to 2023 and general audiences are basically multiverse scholars. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse  is everything great about the first movie but MORE. MORE Spider-Folks, MORE universes, MORE varied and beautiful art. One might imagine producers and writers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller as that Adam Driver meme  from The Last Jedi during production.  Across the Spider-Verse  feels like a part one. It was announced alongside its trilogy capper, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse , a movie that I don’t think is coming out anytime soon . That being said, its plot is still entertaining and satisfying. Gwen Stacy takes more of a center role in this film. After her identity is revealed to her father, a police sergeant, she flees her dimension and joins Miguel O’Hara’s elite squad of Spider-People. Miles’ story is a bit more grand than his first outing as he is tasked with defying fate and the meta-narrative that befalls all Spider-Heroes. The movie's biggest triumph is its art. Across the Spider-Verse  may be the best-looking animated movie I’ve ever seen. Every Spider-Locale has its own distinct flavor. Gwen Stacy’s world is a watercolor mood ring, where her emotions paint the scene.  Mumbattan, home of Indian Spider-Man Pavitr Prabhakar, is a dense metropolis doused in vibrant greens, yellows, and purples. Nueva York is home to the Spider-Society’s HQ, a gravity-defying MC Escher-esque design that accounts for the sticky feet of all the wall-crawling heroes. All of these extra settings make you appreciate Miles’ world even more, the familiar blend of street and pop art that captures the best aspects of New York City and classic comic books.      Before moving on from this flick, it doesn’t feel right to include this film on my list without mentioning reports of the problematic working   conditions behind the scenes. The film is a herculean effort accomplished through the labor of hundreds of talented artists . Across the Spider-Verse  artists were forced to work grueling 11-hour work days, 7 days a week at various points during production . I hope Beyond the Spider-Verse  is delayed for as long as it needs to be to avoid putting any more crunch   on the artists who worked so hard to make one of the greatest animated films of all time. In a year where good art was mired by studio greed, forcing creators into striking and fighting for their livelihood, it's sad to know that behind the colorful worlds of the Spider-Verse was the same gloomy darkness.        9. Past Lives   I think Past Lives  is the best  movie of the year. So when you see that I enjoyed Shin Kamen Rider  more than the best movie of the year, hopefully, you won’t think less of me. Why do I think it's the best movie of the year? It’s shot beautifully, framing our characters in ways that create distance when they’re in the same room and intimacy when they’re thousands of miles apart. I think the performances are masterful. Greta Lee and Teo Yoo make the feeling of longing tangible. They make something as elusive and slippery as an emotion feel solid, and dense, like longing could be placed in your hands and it would weigh a thousand pounds.     Nora (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo) were elementary school sweethearts in Korea before Nora and her family immigrated to the United States. The two grow up, and no matter how much time passes, or how different their lives are from one another, they remember that pure, innocent romance they had for one another when they were children. When they finally meet in person again, Nora is in a happy marriage and Hae Sung is freshly single.  Sounds spicy right? Luckily, I’m really secure and only asked my fiancé once, “You don’t have a long-lost love from your past, right?”     Right?  I think  Past Lives can easily be seen as a film about an emotional affair. I think it is relatable for anyone who never got closure from a relationship. I think what Past Lives  really nails is when you love the idea  of someone more than the actual person. People, friends, family, or lovers exist in our lives in two forms: the literal, physical self who exists in reality, and the concept, the way that person exists in the narrative of our lives. Our memory creates the story of what they mean to us and how they change us, writing their dialogue whenever we hear their voice echoing against the walls of our mind palace. Past Lives  wrestles with this corporeal dissonance in a way that transcends fiction and simply feels real.      8. Oppenheimer  Obviously, when Christopher Nolan makes a movie, I’m going to show up. While I do enjoy most movies in Nolan’s film catalog, I wouldn’t say I’m a die-hard Nolan bro. I’m not a Nolan Chad, which is a cross between a film nerd and high school jock, aka the biggest piece of shit you’ve ever met. Nolan always makes interesting movies and he’s one of the last big-budget blockbuster auteurs making films that are more than simple cash grabs. His last movie, Tenet, wasn’t my cup of tea, so I was cautiously optimistic about Oppenheimer.   The man delivered. My favorite aspect of the movie is its pacing. Despite its three-hour runtime, the film flies by without a single wasted moment. Perhaps this is because it was produced in an unbelievably short amount of time. Nolan and company shot the film in  less than 60 days , an appropriate speed for a film about creating a super weapon as fast as possible.  I don’t love the term “Oscar bait.” I generally like to be more optimistic about art and think that creators are setting out to make awesome art, not to make something that will get an award. Whether this is award-season catnip or not, I do think it deserves some accolades. I can’t think of a movie that does anything better on any technical level when pitted against Nolan and Oppy. It's visually captivating. Its scenes are broken up by esoteric vignettes of chemical drama within the atomic bomb itself: macro videography of electrical currents snapping and writhing in pain, white searing heat expanding against watery prisons, and fiery infernos tumbling and rising to meet the surface of hell or the base of heaven.  Also, the bomb drop scene in IMAX was so loud I think it permanently damaged my hearing.  Oppenheimer  is one of the best horror movies of the year. The story of how a madman’s scientific intrigue led to the single most impactful discovery of human existence: the very thing that could end it.   7. Shin Kamen Rider   When I first started watching Shin Kamen Rider  I kept thinking, “This feels familiar.” It felt like I was watching a live-action anime, but not with the budget or sheen one might expect a modern superhero movie to have. It reminded me of last year’s RRR, a movie with great visual effects that was never striving for realism , but style . I was enamored with the movie. I loved the costume design, the action, and the goofy exposition dumps. I couldn’t quite figure out why I felt nostalgic while watching it until I remembered what it reminded me of: Power Rangers.  Shin Kamen Rider , aka Shin Masked Rider,  is the third movie directed by Hideaki Anno in his “Shin” series. Shin in Japanese means “new,” and with this series of films, Anno is reimagining classic Japanese characters that belong to the Tokusatsu   genre. This style of filmmaking refers to live-action films or television shows that make heavy use of practical effects. The genre would be associated with Japanese monster films like  Godzilla  before eventually shifting popularity to masked heroes in what is referred to as the “Henshin Boom” , beginning with Kamen Rider  in 1971.  It was watching Shin Kamen Rider that led me down this historical rabbit hole and made me realize a deep, personal truth about myself: I like seeing guys in cool helmets kicking ass. For me, this admiration for helmet-wearing heroes started with several teenagers with attitude who were kicking ass in the 90s, and I didn't know just how nostalgic I was for this style of filmmaking. If you still have images of 90s-era  Power Rangers  episodes in your mind like every well-adjusted adult in their early 30s, then watch a little bit of the first episode of the original Kamen Rider  on YouTube  for this to all start making perfect sense.  Shin Kamen Rider  is more than Power Rangers  nostalgia fuel. It's a dark retelling of the Kamen Rider  story; the story of a man captured and turned into a weapon against his will. He uses his power to take down those who changed him. It’s a story of sacrifice; of protecting those you love, and doing a crazy airborne kick into a bat-man . I don’t know if Shin Kamen Rider  is for everyone, but it sure as hell is for me.   6. Godzilla Minus One Did someone order an allegory for the indomitable human spirit? I’ve never been the biggest Godzilla guy. I always thought he was cool, because who wouldn’t think a giant lizard was cool? I didn’t grow up with him in my life, and the newest Godzilla versus (or team-ups with) King Kong movies are...fine. Watching Godzilla Minus One  had me like Frank Reynolds at the end of that one It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia episode saying, ” Oh my God, I get it . ” Godzilla Minus One is a period drama that takes place in Japan soon after World War II. Its title refers to the fact that post-war Japan was at zero, and when Godzilla appeared they were minus one. If there's anything worse than an atomic bomb, it's the allegory for one rising from the sea to spit a laser beam at you.  Godzilla doesn’t get a ton of screen time but when he does, it's terrifying. When you hear his classic theme  in the film’s score, you shuffle in your seat and think “Oh lawd, he’s coming.” When he appears, there are consequences. People die and cities are leveled. It’s refreshing when compared to some of the recent Godzilla outings where he’s kind of an ambiguous force for good, which is an interesting twist on the character, but I prefer for him to be…a monster doing monster stuff.  This film is more focused on its human characters than its scaly ones. The citizens of Japan have a distrust for their government and must unite to take down this monstrous threat. The film is about the will to live, and the courage it takes to fight not for your own life, but for the lives of the future.  The film's thematic and emotional anchor is Kōichi Shikishima, a former kamikaze pilot whose arc I won’t spoil here but you can imagine it’s pretty satisfying.  Side note: I just watched the trailer for the black and white  release of the film and I got goosebumps.     5. Plagiarism and You(tube) Welcome to the first, “Hey! This isn’t a movie!” on my top 10 list. Plagiarism and You(tube)   is a YouTube video essay by Hbomberguy AKA Harry Brewis. Brewis’ brand of video essays is a bit hard to pin down. He’s been making videos on YouTube for almost ten years and the subjects vary between analytical breakdowns of video games  and television shows , topical political response videos , and deep-dive journalistic assassinations of giant pieces of shit.  Plagiarism and You(tube)  is the latter. It is an almost four-hour-long video essay, filled to the brim with research that makes a case against several prominent Youtubers who have made a career off of plagiarizing people who are better than them. Brewis is a supremely talented writer, researcher, and video creator. In this video essay, he explains step by step how plagiarism is commonly done on the video platform, why plagiarists do it, and how they impact our history.  Brewis is critical of the YouTube business model. The ad-supported revenue stream leads content creators  to fill their scripts with stolen words so they can output content at an unrealistically fast pace for an audience that cherry-picks “information” from background noise. Brewis teaches us about “YouTube Content Mills,” channels whose goal is to make cruddy videos as fast as possible to then monetize those videos. Content mills are just regurgitated work from other people. Reaction videos, A.I. voiceovers reading the synopsis of a movie, and video essayists that can pump a video out every other day are all a part of the content problem on YouTube. This video essay acts as an exposé on specific plagiarists and draws a hard line in the sand separating “content” from “art”.        The word “content” has started to sound more and more gross in my mind; a word that only a few years ago I would use to describe my own creative work. Another one of my favorite YouTubers, Patrick H. Willems recently made a video   that criticizes the word “content,” how it's used in 2023, and how it no longer should apply to art. It’s a word that is now owned by corporations and studios, homogenizing all labor done by creatives into capital. “Content” now more accurately describes media sludge that is shat onto a conveyer belt that is then fed to whatever orifice we’re not currently using to consume plagiarized media.  Yummy.  Brewis’ Plagiarism video culminates in the takedown of James Somerton, a Content Creator (derogatory) who made video essays analyzing media through a queer lens. Somerton had a massively successful channel, Patreon, and eventually leveraged his audience to fund his very own production company where he made original queer cinema. Brewis takes down this guy so badly that I’m surprised he didn’t just evaporate into thin air. Somerton stole almost every word that went into all of his videos, and Brewis spends over an hour proving it. Somerton is not only a plagiarist, but the nature of his content means he’s stealing from other queer writers and artists. By the end of the video, Brewis gives us the heartbreaking thesis of his four-hour-long epic, shining a bright light on the queer erasure that happens through plagiarism.  Is Plagiarism and You(tube)  just a video essay? Is it more of a documentary? Is it journalism at its finest? I’m not sure. But I do know it's important, and I think we all should watch it.   4. John Wick: Chapter 4  Usually,  sequels offer diminishing returns on great original stories. I don’t mean monetarily, in that way it's the opposite. Film studios want to expand the original story into a franchise machine, turning an original idea into a money-making IP (intellectual property), and spinning it out into as many sequels, television series, prequels, and video games as humanly possible. If a story is good, best to bleed it dry and sell that blood as content. The John Wick  franchise is the perfect example of an original story that has become a bankable IP. We got a bad television show , we’re getting a prequel , and they’re making video games .   Despite the John Wick  franchise representing every cynical thought I have on Hollywood productions… I love seeing this guy in a bespoke bulletproof suit fight goons.   Narratively, no future John Wick  installment can top the simplicity of that original movie. What happens when you kill the most dangerous man in the world’s dog? You get a great, original story designed by stunt performers and fight coordinators to house some of the most impressive action sequences ever performed on screen. I don’t watch these movies for the plot. I watch them to see John Wick go sicko mode in beautifully shot environments, set to dance music . John Wick: Chapter 4  is three hours of that, so yeah, I’m thinking it's number four on my list.   John Wick: Chapter 4  is one of the most confident movies I’ve ever seen. It knows it's cool. Its shallow, trope-riddled characters are performed beautifully by a cast of absolute bangers. There are so many incredible set pieces that when you think about your favorite part of the movie, you remember there are like six more even crazier scenes that you forgot about. It’s a murder music video. It's like putting vibes into a syringe and shooting it into your neck.  Its story is as good as it needs to be. It paints in broad strokes. Wick wants out of the organized crime world. He has nothing left to fight for. He wants peace and he’ll literally kill everyone on the planet to get it. What elevates the plot of John Wick: Chapter 4  beyond a few moments of dialogue that strings together action scenes is twofold. One is the thing the John Wick  franchise has always been good at: world-building. It’s fun to learn about the intricate, polite, and bureaucratic world of organized crime in these movies - so much so that they’re going to drown us in spin-offs. The second is Donnie Fucking Yen. Yen plays Caine, the blind hitman who uses an almost drunken boxing   style of fighting. He’s the perfect foil to Wick. Wick has lost everything, Caine’s daughter is alive but is used as collateral to ensure Caine fulfills his task of eliminating Wick. What happens when a man who lost everything fights a man who has everything to lose?  John Wick: Chapter 4  yearns to be the exciting conclusion to a blood-soaked revenge odyssey, but we’ll see if the powers at be let Keanu get some rest . Unless, of course, he gets to wear a cool helmet while he kicks ass in John Wick: Chapter 5 . In that case, make three hundred more of these. I don't care.  3. Poor Things  I guess  Poor Things  is my favorite movie of the year? I just realized that right now in real time. My top two spots on this list are television shows (please don’t freak out), so by default…yeah Poor Things  is my favorite movie of the year.  Congratulations!     Director Yorgos Lanthimos is one of my favorite creatives working right now. The Lobster  is one of my favorite movies ever. I adored Killing of a Sacred Deer  and I really liked The Favourite , just not as much as everyone else. The Favourite  marked Lanthimos’ first team-up with writer Tony McNamara. One of The Favourite’s  greatest qualities is its dialogue - beautifully crafted faux-victorian quips that somehow always feel modern. What The Favourite lacked, for me, was the level of absurdism and surrealism found in Lanthimos’ previous films. It was still plenty weird by normie standards, but I’m a little freak .  Poor Things is a weird horny masterpiece for little freaks. Tony McNamara returns and brings that same style of dialogue to the film but in a far stranger setting. It’s a story that feels a little bit like Frankenstein before it becomes an odyssey through human sensations. Bella Baxter’s (Emma Stone) journey of reanimation is an allegory for life itself. It celebrates the miracle of carnal sensations. It celebrates the endorphins that power our desires. It celebrates the human need to explore and be explored. It is not without darkness, as behind every bright light there is a shadow, but Bella Baxter has an innocence about her and an infectious curiosity that makes you wish your brain could return to a simpler time. The film starts with a character whose mind and body are disconnected, exploring the absurdity of both. Bella Baxter’s quest is to unite the two and create herself.  The design of the world of Poor Things  is delightful. It seems to exist in a strange oil painting of Victorian cities plucked from the imaginations of the past. The sky is cotton candy colored. The costumes look like they were designed by a drunk person trying to recreate “old-timey” from memory. Its cinematography is delightfully fitting for its strange plot and setting, morphing and changing to stay in step with Bella on her journey. Using awkward zooms and black-and-white color grading seen through a fisheye lens, its visual boldness meets its narrative peculiarities head-on.   Poor Things is a Frankenstein’s feminine monster-esque journey of self-discovery. It’s hilarious, stunning, and features some of the best performances of the year. There was also a third-act cameo that had me cheering in my seat. I’m just happy movies like this exist.    2. Blue Eye Samurai  Blue Eye Samurai  is extremely  my shit. It’s a blood-soaked revenge story set in 17th-century Edo-period Japan. It is an homage to some of the greatest action movies of the past twenty years as well as an examination of race, gender, prejudice, and self-hatred. At the nexus of these themes is a samurai named Mizu, a mixed-race woman, disguised as a man on a mission to kill the men responsible for her blue eyes. During this period in Japan, the nation closed its borders to the world. Its citizens saw those with white physical features as ugly and impure. Throughout her life, Mizu internalizes the hatred towards her, fueling her lust for revenge. Mizu learns that at the time of her birth, there were four white men in Japan. One of these men is her father. To hedge her bets, she makes it her life’s mission to kill them all.  The series features some of the greatest fight sequences I’ve ever seen. Obviously, animation can have exciting fight choreography, but Blue Eye Samurai  hits are different. The fights feel  like live-action. The way the “camera” moves through the action is more akin to a fight scene in a movie than, for lack of a better term, the static “camera” work of an animated fight scene. This is because of the show’s Supervising Director Jane Wu and Stunt Choreographer Sunny Sun. In Netflix’s behind-the-scenes short, Blue Eye Samurai: Making a Warrior , we learn about the work that goes into creating realistic martial arts that not only look cool but tell a story. The fights in Blue Eye Samurai  are gory, brutal, and above all, character-driven. As all great fights should be, they are extensions of the narratives of our heroes and villains literally crashing into one another. The series pays homage to many amazing films and fight scenes that came before it. It includes musical cues from Kill Bill  and features an entire episode that’s a love letter to The Raid .  Blue Eye Samurai  is about diversity. It’s about the hate that marginalized people can face and the way they internalize it. It’s about how strength is found in what makes us unique or different. A katana is forged by different metals, and when it is too pure, it breaks. Mizu is a challenging character to root for. She has faced a ton of adversity and hate, but her mission is born from her self-hatred. You’d rather see her accept herself, see herself as special. We know her bloody quest won’t bring her peace. Her quest is mirrored by a cast of amazing characters. Princess Akemi yearns for freedom outside the prison of archaic gender norms. Taigan, a dishonored samurai, battles for respect. Then there’s Ringo; the bleeding heart of the show. Ringo is a ramen chef, born without hands, who wants to be something great, whether that be a samurai or the greatest ramen chef in the world. Ringo is the best. I love Ringo.  I value what  Blue Eye Samurai  adds to the fabric of entertainment. We need more diverse stories. They breed freshness and excitement. I don’t relate to Blue Eye Samurai . I mean duh, right? Even when art isn’t relatable, it should teach you how to relate. It’s an exercise in empathy that can benefit us all. Blue Eye Samurai  is one of the most badass, beautiful, and entertaining stories I’ve seen all year, but it’s also something we need a lot more of. I love Ringo.    1. Pluto Originally, Pluto was a manga that ran from 2003 to 2009. The story was based on Astro Boy, specifically, the The Greatest Robot in the World  story arc. The original Astro Boy manga was geared towards kids. This story arc follows the robot named Pluto , whose desire to be king of all robots is so great that he sets out to destroy the seven other most powerful robots in the world. Pluto, the manga, and later anime, is a dark retelling of this story. Creator Naoki Urasawa aimed  to retell the story he felt was always in that original Astro Boy  manga; a story about “ the emptiness of war. ”   Pluto  is a science fiction noir that is like Blade Runner meets Hannibal.  After a series of gruesome murders of powerful robots and human robot-sympathizers, Europol detective Gesicht is tasked with solving the case. After investigating a human murder, Gesicht realizes a robot is responsible. This is the first case of a robot murder in years. What starts as an engaging mystery quickly becomes a meditation on what it means to be alive, critiquing society’s potential treatment and legislation of artificial life. In the world of Pluto, robots and humans coexist. Robots have jobs and families. Older models look like traditional metal human-shaped robots and newer ones look just like a flesh and blood person. Even if they look human, there are key differences between the two. Robots are programmed to be unable to harm or kill a human. They cannot lie. Of course, like any good story, if rules are established in the first act, that means they’ll be broken by the last.  Robots cannot kill or lie by design, which makes them subservient to humans. It’s the lack of darkness that makes them second-class citizens in this world. When Gesicht meets Atom (aka Astro Boy), we’re shocked to learn how impressed he is with the boy’s artificial intelligence. Before this moment we see Gesicht do crazy high-tech detective stuff, like analyze crime scenes with his mind in seconds or morph his hand into a gun. Atom is known to have the most advanced A.I. in the world because of his capacity to feel. His ability to have emotions and feel excitement, curiosity, and sadness makes him more advanced than a gun-toting detective-bot.  Pluto  dares to ask, “What makes us human?” Is it our ability to hate, to kill, to lie? If a robot can commit atrocities, is it the most human robot? As viewers, we meet seven powerful robots before they’re attacked by Pluto. We learn that it’s their empathy, their kindness, and their capacity to do good that makes them as human as any one of us. They’re told they cannot feel like humans can, but as an audience, we see that they feel plenty.                                Robert Anderson Robby has a degree in Screenwriting and Playwriting and works in multiple genres. He's just your typical man-child who enjoys most things nerd culture. You can follow him on Twitter and Instagram @RoBaeBae

This past year was driven by equilibrium. Throughout the pandemic and lockdown, when we were all at a loss for new entertainment, seemingly everyone got back to nature. I know I did. I got out in the yard, I sat weeding for hours, I actually started listening to podcasts, and I rededicated myself to running, a hobby I had been in and out of since high school. And then life resumed, and we all got back to busy schedules, filling our time with concerts, movies, trivia nights, and good old-fashioned social calls. But sometimes it felt like I had swung back to my pre-pandemic lifestyle too swiftly, too heartily, and a little too greedily. While I consider myself to be a social person, I really enjoyed the stillness of the lockdown (a selfish comfort in the midst of an undeniable tragedy for so many). So, in an attempt to find this equilibrium this past year, I did both more and less; I ran three half-marathons, got pregnant, and started a new job…but I watched far fewer films than in previous years. Out of the films I did see this past year, these 10 are the ones that I had the best time watching. I do think 2023 lacked the excitement of the previous two years overall (I mean, I’m still thinking about After Yang, RRR, and Annette …to name only a few), but I do appreciate 2023 for proving that comedies are back, baby! ( Light Spoilers  for the films ahead…) 10) Bottoms Emma Seligman’s follow-up to 2020’s Shiva Baby  did not disappoint. Starring Ayo Edebiri and Rachel Sennott (who co-wrote the film with Seligman), Bottoms  follows high-school lesbians, Josie and PJ, as they try to lose their virginity before graduation…by starting a female fight club masquerading as an after-school self-defense club. Already a bonkers premise, Bottoms  kicks it up a level by satirizing the high school film genre and leaning into the hierarchy of the very real high school clique system. There were definitely films that I watched this past year that may have been technically more sound than Bottoms  (anticipate some strange, big-budget-shaped gaps in the list ahead, dear reader), but when it comes down to enjoyment level, Bottoms  was an absolute riot. The high school film genre is a strange one that continues to persevere, to varying levels of success, but Bottoms  solidified itself as a staple in my book. Kudos to Seligman and Sennott for finding a fresh take on the absurdity of high school. 9) Barbie Ten, twenty years down the line, Oppenheimer  will just be another great film in Christopher Nolan’s filmography, that also happened to reap the benefits of being attached to Barbenheimer. But Barbie  was a moment. Let’s be real, there’s no Oppenheimer  cosplay without Barbie  cosplay, and I don’t think people would have gone in groups to see a film like Oppenheimer  without the prerequisite of that same group seeing Barbie. That’s not to diminish the success of these films, both together and separately, on the merit of their actual execution as art; they are both stunning in different ways. But no matter how much Fat Man and Little Boy  stuck with me since watching it in high school chemistry class, I was societally predisposed to be delighted by the build-up to, and subsequent admiration for, Barbie . Not only is the film consistently funny, but it also lands the more heartfelt scenes as Barbie a nd her cohort begin to question their one-dimensional purposes in search of meaning. I don’t know what the future holds for our patriarchal society, but a film like Barbie  existing certainly doesn’t hurt in a long series of steps to changing the tide. Thanks, Barbie ! 8) Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse These Sony Pictures Animations Spider-Man  movies just keep on slamming, don’t they? The stakes were high for Across the Spider-Verse  to meet the excitement and fun that 2018’s Into the Spider-Verse  (God, was that really five years ago?) completely nailed, but it managed to bring the heat and then some. Picking up where Into the Spider-Verse  left off, Miles, Gwen, and the rest of the Spideys become entangled in an even more inescapable web as the film leans more heavily into destiny and fighting fate. The Spider-Man franchise has always been neck and neck with the Batman franchise for me, but it’s been a real treat to watch these recent Spider-Man animated films soar in creative new ways while also shining a light on characters from the Spider-Verse that have yet to be featured in the film franchise. After venturing Into  and Across , I can’t wait to go Beyond . 7) Past Lives Sometimes I think the phrase “a special movie” can come across as a little condescending, but it’s exactly how I feel about Celine Song’s debut, Past Lives . What Song (alongside actors Greta Lee, Teo Yoo, and John Magaro) accomplishes in a tight 106 minutes is both beautiful and heartbreaking as Lee’s Nora Moon navigates an emotional minefield of growth, nostalgia, and acceptance. It’s rare that a romantic film comes along that realistically depicts “the one that got away” with any real sense of responsibility, but Song’s story of two childhood sweethearts whose relationship gets cut short by no fault of its own feels exceptionally honest. Sometimes two people are just not meant to walk through life together, despite their best efforts; the world is too big, the path too unpredictable, and the story too demanding. Through Past Lives , Song reassures us to find peace and comfort in this reality, in both the film and in our own lives. 6) May December There’s no way anybody can mentally prepare for just how funny Todd Haynes’ May December  turned out to be. I’m eternally grateful to both Haynes and Samy Burch, the screenwriter, for approaching May December  in this humorous manner because to approach it in any other way would only feel…icky? But perhaps there is no “right” way to approach a “loosely inspired” story about Mary Kay Letourneau and Vili Fualaau. Regardless, I’m glad they did. This news story, which spanned from 1996 all the way to 2020 with Letourneau’s death, was truly THE news story from my childhood. Outside of 9/11 and Princess Diana’s death, these events are the most memorable, and the story kept evolving throughout my childhood into my teens, and later into my adult life. It just never quite went away. And now it came back, yet again, in the form of May December . If the film wasn’t so downright playful, I might have had a difficult time enjoying a film that does, to a certain degree, exploit Vili and his family, but gosh darn it, this movie’s great (with standout turns from Julianne Moore, Natalie Portman, and a riveting Charles Melton). Regardless of your connection to the real-world events, May December  just proves again what a chameleon Haynes is in his interpretation of reality.  5) Dicks: The Musical Watching Dicks: The Musical  might have been my favorite movie-viewing experience of last year. I had feebly attempted to meet up with fellow Story Screener Scotty Arnold to see it in a theater, but when that didn’t work out, I threw it on at home, months later, while my husband, Heath, passively watched while playing Baldur’s Gate 3. Needless to say, he didn’t accomplish much gaming as Dicks: The Musical   demands  your attention. Written by UCB alumni Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp, the two star as business rivals who “discover” they’re identical twins and hatch a Parent Trap  situation to get their divorced parents (Megan Mullally and Nathan Lane) back together. That’s pretty much all you need to know to get your foot in the door because the rest of the film is an absolute treat to walk into blind. Dicks: The Musical  is a tight hour and a half of laughs, gags, and the music ain’t half bad either. If stupid, alternative comedies are your bag, don’t sleep on Dicks . 4) The Boy and the Heron The remainder of this list is a testament to auteurs in 2023. Coming in at number four, Hayao Miyazaki stuns again with The Boy and the Heron , a whimsical tale of loss, maturity, and family. Focusing on young Mahito as he wrestles with the death of his mother, The Boy and the Heron  steps through worlds and time with the greatest of ease, weaving a masterclass in storytelling. In some respects, the film is boldly grounded for a Miyazaki film, but when it takes its turn into different worlds and philosophical concepts, it really leans in. That being said, I also think it might just be the most skilled of his filmography to appeal to both children and adults, but its ability to bridge that gap is nothing new for a Miyazaki story. In a year of great animation, The Boy and the Heron  soars. (In my viewing I had the pleasure of watching the subtitled Japanese version, but I can’t wait to revisit it with Robert Pattinson’s titular heron.)  3) Asteroid City Leave it to me to find a nice comfy home for the latest Wes Anderson film. Asteroid City , Anderson’s 11th installment in his filmography falls in perfect alignment with his other works, exploring a retro-futuristic 1950s Americana desert through the lens of storytelling and nostalgia. Anderson’s come a long way since 1996’s Bottle Rocket , but while his style continues to become more refined, he still manages to capture the vulnerability in the human condition. In Asteroid City , a group of young geniuses converge in the fictional city to be honored in the Junior Stargazer convention, during which the city experiences an alien encounter. The base premise is already peak Anderson, but the crux of the film is that Asteroid City  happens to be a play being told in the greater context of Asteroid City  the film. This metatextual framing, of which Anderson is fond, helps take Asteroid City  to the next level. Anderson’s storytelling is always something I look forward to and I was pleased to find that even though Asteroid City  could have rested on the entertaining premise of an alien touchdown, it chose to dig even further by delving into the extremely touching alien nature of human interaction. 2) Poor Things Speaking of human interaction, Yorgos Lanthimos’ latest cinematic feat also explores what it means to be human in a sea of inhumane depravity. Marrying the stylized cinematography of 2018’s The Favourite  to the heady rule-bending worlds of his earlier work like The Lobster  and The Killing of a Sacred Deer , Poor Things  channels a lifetime’s worth of self-discovery into his heroine, Bella Baxter (exuberantly portrayed by Emma Stone). Bella is a woman who, through an ordeal I won’t describe here, is learning how the world is meant to operate, and her place in it. It postulates how nice it would be to exist in the magic of the world without being burdened by any of the societal pressures or restrictions we all face as we age into adulthood. Bella is a character that has to rapidly come to terms with the world’s understanding of her, but without the proper time to learn self-doubt and insecurity, she rebels against the weight of society’s acceptance. Bella accepts herself, nearly wholeheartedly, which is a beautiful process to watch. And did I mention that Poor Things  also happens to be one of the funniest films of the year? Yes, Poor Things  will certainly be a film I revisit enthusiastically and often.  1) The Venture Bros.: Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart As I have been known to say regarding many of my top picks over the years, there just couldn’t have been another film to take this title. If you know anything about me, you most likely know of my deep love and admiration for The Venture Bros. , the [adultswim] animated series that premiered all the way back in 2003. Over the course of its seven-season run, the Venture family (amidst a cast of other amazing characters) grew and developed into the very best of what you expect in a television comedy; fully realized characters who haven’t lost any of the hilarious flaws that make them human. Now, do I wish Poor Things  could have risen to the top this year in an alternate reality where The Venture Bros.  didn’t have their eighth season canceled and condensed into this finale of a film? Absolutely. But we live in a world where, regrettably, The Venture Bros.: Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart  is going to be the last piece of Venture  media we will be blessed with. But boy, does it deliver on that blessing. So long as you’re of a sane and rational mind, the Venture Bros . film delivers on its promise to answer the most important burning questions, all the while setting up some fun, undercurrent mysteries for those of us who fashion The Venture Bros . to be their Roman Empire. That’s all I can say for this film, as to delve into anything more would be to rob the uninitiated of The Venture Bros.  journey. If you value my opinion at all, give yourself a little treat by digging into The Venture Bros . You won’t regret it and will be welcomed into one of the most loving fandoms on this here planet Earth. “Hench For Life,” “Love Never Blows Up and Gets Killed,” but most importantly, “Go Team Venture!” Bernadette Gorman-White Bernadette graduated from DePauw University in 2011 with a Film Studies degree she’s not currently using. She constantly consumes television, film, and all things pop culture and will never be full. She doesn’t tweet much, but give her a follow @BeaGorman and see if that changes.

Is it just me, or did 2023 feel like a really dry year for entertainment?   It’s probably just me. I live in a corner of upstate New York that’s closer to Bennington, VT, than anywhere else in New York, and the movie theater in Bennington is small and doesn’t always get distribution of all of the big movies of the year - or if they do, they don’t play for long, so my window of opportunity to see movies in a theater is small and I rarely make it.   But then again - this was also the year of the WGA strike, and SAG-AFTRA’s strike in solidarity, which halted production on many films and television shows, delaying many of them. I have been eagerly awaiting the return of Apple TV’s Severance , for example, since its Season 1 finale in April 2022, and that show’s production schedule was dramatically affected by the strike. There was a period of time in which our household was legitimately floundering for things to watch during the thick of the strike. (I chronicled our strange journey in search of entertainment in a recent Story Screen piece), and things got…dire.   That being said, it’s not like there was NOTHING good to watch in 2023 - it’s just that my Best Of lists tend to be TV-heavy due to my not having a good movie theater nearby, and the strike kind of made TV stop for a few months there. With all of those caveats in place, here’s a rundown of what I really enjoyed watching last year: The Last of Us, Season 1 There have been many, many words spilled about HBO Max's masterful adaptation of this post-apocalyptic zombie-adjacent show about people struggling to survive in the aftermath of a massive global pandemic (yeah, a very timely show, too), and I don’t know if I have a whole lot more to add to that conversation. Early last year Pedro Pascal ascended to some sort of combination of Most Famous Man Ever and National Treasure due to his ubiquity playing leading roles in both T he Mandalorean and The Last of Us and I am here for it. His performance as Joel, the reluctant guardian to Bella Ramsey’s potential Savior of the Human Race Ellie was brilliant, as we saw him transform from traumatized grieving father, resentful of having to be in Ellie’s presence (as it only reminded him of the daughter he lost in the early days of the cordyceps pandemic), to full-on ass-kicking semi-super-human-strength protective Papa Bear as his bond with Ellie grows throughout the show. And of course, we can’t forget Episode 3 “Long Long Time” - essentially a bottle episode featuring two side characters, Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray Bartlett) - that turned out to be a gorgeous, aching, multi-decade story about two middle-aged gay men who found each other amidst catastrophe and built a beautiful life and love together and made us all sob collectively. (If you didn’t sob watching that episode, I question your humanity.) It is perhaps the best single episode of television that aired in 2023. The ending of season 1 is polarizing by design (a shot-by-shot remake of the polarizing conclusion to the video game that inspired this show), but I’m just going to leave this article here, because I think the gang at The Mary Sue is absolutely spot-on in their take on Joel’s choices in the end, regardless of how it affected his relationship with Ellie: 'The Last of Us' Finale: Joel Was Right | The Mary Sue .  I’m excited to see how the next two seasons (as they have been planned) will tackle the also-polarizing sequel to the original video game. Shrinking, Season 1 I wrote a review of this lovely new show by Apple TV+, so it might be best to just point yourself in the direction of that essay instead of me rehashing it here; that being said, this is a wonderful show about grief, love, and family (blood and chosen) featuring the always-loveable Jason Segel as Jimmy Laird, a therapist who goes vigilante with his clients and tries to repair his relationship with his daughter as he processes his grief over the untimely death of his wife, and Harrison Ford, in his television debut, having the time of his goddamn life playing Paul, Jimmy’s mentor and father figure dealing with his own complicated issues with his family of origin. With an amazing supporting cast (including MVP Jessica Williams as Gaby, another therapist who works in the same practice with Jimmy and Paul, Christa Miller, and Ted McGinley), there’s a lot to love about this show. Lucky Hank, Season 1 I also wrote a review of this show for Story Screen so hop on over there to get a deeper dive so I don’t have to rehash it all here. Long story short: I was eager to see Bob Odenkirk’s follow-up after playing the notorious Saul Goodman for over a decade, and I was not disappointed; this show where he plays Hank, a small-town college professor grappling with his feelings of mediocrity and depression and his traumatic relationship with his father while navigating campus politics and a growing chasm between himself and his wife, was an absolute delight. Odenkirk, originally a sketch comedy writer and performer, really became a gifted actor during his journey turning Jimmy McGill into Saul Goodman, and it was wonderful to watch him sink his teeth into another, different type of complicated character.  I am heartbroken that Lucky Hank was not picked up for a second season on AMC, but this first season works as a standalone miniseries, unresolved cliffhanger ending notwithstanding. (Is it weird that the three shows I’ve just listed as some of my favorites of 2023 are about people dealing with grief and trauma? Anyone who’s read any of my non-Story Screen writing or listened to my debut record will undoubtedly conclude that I enjoy pounding on this drum because I am projecting my own trauma wildly onto these shows.  And they wouldn’t be wrong, frankly. Self-awareness, folks.) Ted Lasso Season 3 I’ll be honest, I don’t think this final season of Ted Lasso was nearly as strong as Season 2; many of the episodes felt a bit disjointed and meandering, and I would argue that they may have tried to jam in way too many character stories in a short number of episodes at the expense of really telling those stories well; Nate’s arc in particular I think was wrapped up far too easily given his descent into the dark side in Season 2, and the entire situation with Zava’s stint with Richmond was ultimately pointless and baffling. That being said, there were enough little delightful moments in this season that keep me from writing the whole thing off - getting to spend more time with Trent Crimm, for example, as he shadows the Greyhounds all season to write a book, was absolutely wonderful; that man is just the most adorkable journalist ever (with the best hair), and stepping into the role of queer mentor to Colin as he goes about navigating coming out as gay in the not-always-gay-friendly world of Premier League soccer brought some real depth to both characters. The growing friendship between former nemeses Roy Kent and Jamie Tartt was another wonderful thing to behold; I challenge you to watch the sequence where Jamie teaches Roy how to ride a bicycle in Amsterdam and not laugh belly laughs while feeling your heart grow three sizes. Learning more about Beard’s mysterious backstory was a wonderful payoff after three years of just wondering what Beard’s deal is; though it was in service of wrapping up Nate’s arc in a way that felt facile, I was happy to truly understand the nature of his relationship with Ted and see how it complicated our understanding of both men. I don’t think Ted Lasso stuck the landing in its series finale perfectly, but in the end, I’m mostly ok with how they finished things, mostly because of the time we got to spend with Trent, Roy, and Jamie. The Crown, Season 6 Part 1 The Crown finished out its run this year with its final season split into two parts; the first chronicling the last summer of  Diana’s life and the second delving into the next generation of the royals by following William as he goes to college and meets Kate Middleton. I don’t want to get too detailed here as Bernadette Gorman-White and I are planning to do a Cathode Ray Cast episode about this final season but to keep it simple for now: I knew they were going to have to tackle Diana’s death and I was dreading it, but thought it was handled very well, chronicling the whirlwind romance between her and Dodi Al-Fayed and their tragic end; both Elizabeth Debicki as Diana and Khalid Abdalla as Dodi did a tremendous job bringing real humanity and pathos to a story that we all know all too damn well. I also knew that they were going to focus on Will and Kate to close out the show and… well… what can I say? William is probably the most boring member of the Windsor family, and those episodes featuring him suffered; I wish we had gotten more time with Margaret (who might be the most interesting member of the Windsor family), although the episode featuring her illness and death was lovely, and I question the veracity of Dominic West’s portrayal of Charles as a hands-on father in touch with his sons’ emotions as they grew up without their mother. I’ve read Spare.  I have questions. But the Diana-Dodi business was well done so that half of the season makes my list. May December For those of you who listened to my Hot Takes podcast about this film with Mike Burdge, you probably know that I struggled a bit with figuring out whether I actually liked this movie or not. Based on the story of sex offender Mary Kay Letourneau and her relationship and marriage to her former student Villi Fulau, the film featured strong performances by Julianne Moore as Gracie (the Letourneau analog) and Natalie Portman (as the B-List actress hoping to make it big by portraying Gracie in a film and sidling her way into Gracie’s life ostensibly for research for her performance). A lot was going on in this movie, some of it bordering on campy which I found to be a questionable choice, and I absolutely despise the soundtrack.  But in the end, I kept returning to Charles Melton as Joe (the Fulau analog). Melton is an absolute revelation in this role, and the film is worth it just for his performance alone. If this is the film that makes Charles Melton a huge star, I would be thrilled. He is an actor on the rise, and I cannot wait to see what he does next. Oppenheimer I know. I KNOW. Is this too obvious a choice for a Best Of list? I’m guessing this is going to be on the lists of many of the Story Screen fam, and just like with The Last of Us , I don’t know how much more I can add to the existing conversation about this film. So let me just leave it at this: I wanted so badly to see Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer in a theater (especially an IMAX theater), but the timing of when it hit Bennington just didn’t work with my work/life schedule (and there’s no IMAX in Bennington), so I didn’t end up seeing it till much later when it hit Amazon Prime Video. J. Robert Oppenheimer is the role of a lifetime for Cillian Murphy and I was so happy to see him finally get to take center stage after being a long-time supporting actor in the extended Nolan-verse. This film has a hugely sprawling supporting cast, all of whom were fantastic. Still, it was lovely to see Robert Downey Jr. as Lewis Strauss (Oppenheimer’s one-time supporter turned secret antagonist) after having taken a hiatus from acting for a few years - and I’m sure he enjoyed getting to sink his teeth into a really meaty role as a complicated, conniving man after so many years Tony Stark-ing it up. The visual effects in this film are stunning - that is a given. The recreation of the Trinity test was heart-stoppingly good. And the end of the film - what an ending! Haunting, troubling, thought-provoking… it made me sick, but in a weirdly good way? But ultimately what I found compelling about Oppenheimer - aside from the story itself, being about such a hugely world-changingly important man and his dreams, visions, and achievements - was the way it was written. The story is structured with Strauss’ Senate confirmation hearing as a framing device and the Gray Board hearing regarding whether Oppenheimer’s security clearance would be renewed as a sort of sub-framing device, and then the rest of the script sort of bops in and out of both of these frames with a chronological telling of Oppenheimer’s origins and journey towards becoming the Father of the Atomic Bomb. It’s very cleverly done, it’s somehow never confusing, and it has the bonus effect of being a reality-based version of the time-play Nolan does in the screenplays for his more fanciful films like Memento (ground-breaking!), Inception (fun!), Interstellar (depressing!), and Tenet (baffling as fuck!).  It’s so very Nolan-y, but in the best, most accessible way. I got so obsessed with the way this screenplay was structured that I ended up watching the film multiple times in a row after the holidays in an effort to map it out. It’s a wildly ambitious telling of the story of a wildly ambitious and complicated man, and I might just watch it again tonight. The art and costume direction are also absolutely sublime. I want to live in this movie. (But aren’t we all kind of living out the consequences of this movie? I mean… that ending…) Honorable Mention: Welcome to Chippendale’s This was on my best of 2022 list, and that’s because the majority of the episodes of this Hulu miniseries were broadcast in the winter of 2022; however, the final episode aired in January 2023, so while I might be cheating a bit by including it again here, I will justify this decision by saying that the final episode was very, very well done and I think it’s worth it to reiterate, once again, that Kumail Nanjiani did an exceptional job in his first dramatic performance ever as the complex, egotistical, megalomaniacal Somen “Steve” Banerjee, founder of the male stripping franchise Chippendales’ and ABSOLUTELY NO RELATION TO ME I SWEAR. My list is thin this year. I know it. I own it. I wish I’d seen more movies this year, but it just is logistically impossible for me unless the film has a streaming release. And I openly admit that once my partner and I started watching the entire run of Kids in the Hall from start to finish in our quest to find entertainment in the drought wrought by the WGA/SAG-AFTRA strike we got pretty tunnel-visioned about it and probably missed out on other shows and miniseries that deserved attention (like, we haven’t gotten to The Bear yet - WUT?!  It just cleaned it up at the Emmys and we know we gotta watch it but we just… really love those Kids in the Hall ).  We’ll be moving to a more populated area very soon (oh yeah, buried the lead there but more details to come soon!) - a place that definitely has more than one movie theater nearby and at least one multiplex - so I promise that next year, my Best Of 2024 list will be epic.  In the meantime, please give Shrinking some love so it doesn’t meet the fate of Lucky Hank , okay?  Still very salty about Lucky Hank getting canceled. Reeya Banerjee Staff Writer Reeya is a musician and writer based in New York's Capital District. Her debut album, “The Way Up,” was released on January 27, 2022. She can frequently be seen in her car on the NYS Thruway cursing traffic on her way to the Hudson Valley for band rehearsals or to Brooklyn for recording sessions. In her other life, she works as a staff accountant for a management company that oversees veterinary practices nationwide, enjoys watching Law & Order SVU returns while eating gummy bears, and has a film degree from Vassar College that she does not use.

Mike Burdge, Diana DiMuro, Bernadette Gorman-White and Robby Anderson chat about some of their favorites of 2023, including Oppenheimer, The Boy and the Heron, Past Lives, John Wick: Chapter 4, Barbie and more. Listen on.... Plagiarism and You(tube) Video

Another year has passed and it feels like we are all barreling through the 2020s like a freight train. It is hard to believe that I am getting close to 10 years of writing for Story Screen because some days it feels like I am just getting started. 2023 was not the easiest year for me, as the instability of the film and television industry which led to the WGA and SAG strikes (Solidarity to everyone affected and continuing to fight for the rights of all the industry workers) left me and thousands of out of work creatives and crew fighting for validity.   Nevertheless, I always look forward to writing about 10 or so of my favorite films and sharing them with you, the beautiful readers of Story Screen. This was a terrific year for film releases, with a healthy balance of innovative microbudget indies as well as blockbusters using every cent of their huge budgets to deliver true spectacles. The films that spoke to me the most, the ones that showed me images I didn’t think were possible, and the auteurs I have the greatest admiration for somehow getting better, which I did not believe was possible. Before I get into the top 10 films of the year, I’d like to give an honorable mention to a handful of television shows I finished and greatly enjoyed over the past year. In no particular order! The Bear The Fall of the House of Usher Blue Eye Samurai Poker Face The Righteous Gemstones Scott Pilgrim Takes Off Barry Beef I would also like to shout out a handful of video games I loved and got addicted to over the past year.Again, in no particular order. Hi-Fi Rush Turbo Overkill Trepang2 Resident Evil 4 (2023) Dead Space (2023) Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Street Fighter 6 Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name El Paso, Elsewhere One more bulleted list! These are the films I had a lot of fun with and/or had a substantial quality to them, but did not quite qualify for the final 10. Still would highly recommend any and all films listed here. How to Blow Up a Pipeline Asteroid City May December Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem Ferrari Evil Dead Rise Shin Kamen Rider The Holdovers And now, here are my 10 favorite films of 2023. These are mostly unordered. As I’ve gotten older, it’s been more difficult for me to rank pieces of art that have spoken to me as one over another, but these are the 10 that left me with the biggest and most positive impressions. Regrettably, I did not get to see every film I would have liked to see before finalizing this list. It seems as though certain distributors do not find the Hudson Valley to be a particular zone of any interest to release certain films, but I digress. Skinamarink This is a film I can’t easily recommend to everyone (starting off this list great, right?). It has an extremely unconventional method of storytelling. It is vague, obscure, still, and there isn’t really a human face that appears on screen for most of the runtime. It is a film heavily reliant on atmosphere and interpretation, and not everyone wants to do the homework for that, which I understand. I was not fully on board with Skinamarink  directly after leaving the theater, but as its harrowing and upsetting imagery and oppressively bleak atmosphere crept into my brain as I walked through my empty and dark house, I knew the film had a more powerful effect on me than I had originally realized. Director Kyle Edward Ball accomplishes so much with so little, not just creating a piece that’s scary, but also emanates pure malice. Beau is Afraid You have to respect A24 granting Ari Aster their biggest budget (at the time) and letting him craft something so personal and, at the same time, so bizarre and alienating. A true big-budget film for sickos. The first and last acts are definitely stronger than the middle section, which unfortunately drags along a little, but the film is an uncompromising and hilarious vision. It constantly throws me for a loop with its insane twists and turns to an almost exhausting degree, while also featuring one of my favorite Joaquin Phoenix performances. When Evil Lurks When the vice president of a horror streaming service directly tells you he’s particularly excited about a recent acquisition, you know you’re in for something special. A truly mean-spirited gross-out demon possession horror film that fully commits to its apocalyptic atmosphere, as we watch our protagonist's family spiral towards their eventual dooms attempting to prevent an infection from spreading to everyone around them. Turns out, that’s not an easy task, as we’ve all come to learn. Sometimes, people just can’t help themselves from giving in. The rest I will leave unsaid, however. This is a film that benefits from a blind watch. It’s on Shudder, go watch it and feel bad!!   The Iron Claw It is a shame that The Iron Claw  was released so late into the year in such a crowded market. I hope people discover it and receive its flowers over time because it’s truly deserved. An incredibly crafted and affecting melodrama about the most tragic celebrity family ever, next to the Kennedys maybe. A gripping and heartbreaking story of loss, family, masculinity, and the limits of how we push our minds and bodies for our art, anchored by a terrific ensemble. The Killer David Fincher performs a victory lap, fully indulging in the dark, precise, and stylish atmosphere he’s perfected over his 30-year career. On the surface, this appears to be a cold and brooding film about a stone-faced bad MF operating at the highest level of murder that this character archetype has been so solidified as. However, the film blossoms into an exploration of self-doubt, the loneliness and mundanity of freelance work, and the realization that one may be more human and vulnerable than how they present themselves. It’s so simple in its execution, but so satisfying. Godzilla Minus One Combining the Western influences of Jaws and Dunkirk, Takashi Yamazaki’s Godzilla Minus One reinvents and revitalizes the 70-year-old monster into not only an exciting and scary action blockbuster, but a truly life-affirming and moving character study exploring chosen families, collective trauma, and regular people banding together to do something their higher powers failed to do for them. It’s terrific stuff, and I’m so happy for its success. I hope future films get as weird and surreal as certain Showa and Heisei-era Godzilla films do while still retaining the strong emotional core this film has. It’d be tough to pull off but I’d still like to see it! John Wick: Chapter Four The highest level of action filmmakers collaborating with the highest level stunt team currently working today to deliver a modern-day Odyssey that concludes the greatest action series of the 21st century. There are sequences in this that I fear may never be beaten. Our hero has been finally set free, but not before he paints his Sistine Chapel with gunpowder and brain matter. Blackberry Glenn Howerton. He’s from Waterloo, where the vampires hang out. This is probably my most rewatched film of 2023. So effortlessly entertaining as a hilarious and tragic display of the most innovative men of their time and their capacity to fumble the bag so destructively. Matt Johnson deserves the world (or at least a third season of Nirvanna the Band the Show ). Oppenheimer The most elating success story of 2023 is that a 3-hour historical courtroom drama made a billion dollars at the box office. You have all seen it by now. You know exactly how much of a monumental achievement Oppenheimer  is. Christopher Nolan collects his 25 years of masterfully crafted spectacle and distills it down to the human face.  Killers of the Flower Moon I’m eternally grateful we still have Martin Scorsese. 50 years into his career and he is still at the top of his game, this time guiding us by the hand and having us stare into the abyss of American History. His editor, Thelma Schoonmaker, continues to be the best in the business 50 years into her career as well, with a three-and-a-half-hour film that feels like no time has gone by at all. This is a bleak, and heartbreaking film chronicling an entire culture that was almost erased by greed and bloodthirsty men. It’s not an easy watch by any means, but it is in every regard, essential. I’ll see you around in 2024, hopefully seeing more great movies. Jeremy Kolodziejski Jeremy is a long-time supporter of and contributor to the Story Screen Fam, as well as the entire Hudson Valley Film community, as a writer, filmmaker, film worker, and general film fan. You can find him sifting through the most obscure corners of horror, martial arts, comedy, noir, and crime drama cinema, always on the hunt to discover something new, strange, and exciting.

2023 was a strange year for movies: with a couple of notable exceptions, I felt myself appreciating bits and pieces of films, and valuing movies more in hindsight. For me, this past year felt like a long-awaited return to the full business of life. Couple that with a months-long writers’ strike, pushing release dates of countless movies to the end of the year and beyond, and it’s no wonder there are still some important contenders I’ve yet to watch. So I’m pivoting: I don’t feel like I can say these are the best movies released last year, but I found joy in these ten movies – some in specific moments of brilliance, others in the totality of their stories. I hope you do, too. Most of my picks this year are lovely subversions of genre or source material. When the TV movie of the Mary Kay Letourneau story has already been made, what can Todd Haynes find in it? When Shaw and Mary Shelley have already created classics about humans as creators and creations, where is there for Yorgos Lanthimos to go? With a million horrible CGI Barbie movies in existence, what can Greta Gerwig make out of a played-out property? I love this trend of filmmakers not just going for the well-made obvious choice, but building on what’s come before and creating something that only they can. *Note: my criteria for eligibility are films widely released in theaters or available for streaming in 2023. TEN: BEAU IS AFRAID Written and directed by Ari Aster Dream logic is a difficult thing to capture, and Ari Aster has done it. That means expectations of plot and storytelling need to be adjusted to truly enjoy this movie, but if you can get on its dark, funny, twisted wavelength, it will reward you. There’s so much in Beau is Afraid  that it’s almost impossible to hold it all in your head at once, but scene by scene, it captures Beau’s fears in the most visceral ways possible. In hindsight, viewing the film as a character study through nightmares allowed me to digest this bonkers movie in a completely satisfying way, something I didn’t think I could come to fresh from the theater. NINE: SALTBURN Written and directed by Emerald Fennell The story at the center of Saltburn  is good but not great. But what I’m here to celebrate is the style of Saltburn  and the epic swings that the film takes along the way. Performances are great across the board, with great work being eclipsed only by Rosamund Pike in an iconic turn. The cinematography and editing are top-notch. The production design is giddily breathtaking. The five-or-so set pieces of the film are so committed, so over-the-top, and so primal that, for me, it elevated the movie from a fun flick into a piece of art. EIGHT: SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE Screenplay by Dave Callaham, Phil Lord, & Christopher Miller; directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Justin K. Thompson, & Kemp Powers As a kid with a comic book card collection in the early ‘90s, I’ve ridden the wave of the superhero cinematic universe and come out on the other side pretty sick of the whole mess, which makes it all the more impressive when a movie like Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse  wins me over. Continuing where the first amazing entry leaves off, this sequel has a sense of humor and a heart that goes beyond the played-out recycled Whedon quips that have run rampant in the genre, finding something more unique and truer. The human story is grounded and hard, and the super-plots tie back to real hurt, pain, and conflict, reminding us why superhero stories were good in the first place. And the truly stunning animation makes the movie a real joy to watch. SEVEN: MAY DECEMBER Screenplay by Alex Mechanik & Samy Burch, directed by Todd Haynes Thank you, Pedro Almodóvar, for teaching me how to watch May December  - a movie so subtle in its campy melodrama that many have missed its existence entirely. A spiritual successor to To Die For , this movie bathes in unmentionable parts of humanity. No one comes off well, the traditional gender dynamics of victim and perp are flipped on their head, and somehow I was still smiling at these crazy characters by the end of the movie.  SIX: WONKA Screenplay by Paul King & Simon Farnaby, directed by Paul King I always appreciated Willy Wonka  growing up, but I never felt quite cool enough to get on its wavelength. In hindsight, the indisputably amazing performance by Gene Wilder hijacks the movie a little, taking it to places more interesting than it intended to go, but also places it wasn’t fully dramaturgically prepared to explore. I had my doubts about Wonka , but when I found myself in a movie theater with my mom and my nieces, skeptically not expecting much, I found myself laughing, crying, and feeling a little more connected to the world. This shouldn’t be surprising from the director of Paddington , but the revelation for me is that Wonka  takes a beloved but imperfect property and crafts a story that feels like the best of Roald Dahl – one that doesn’t shy away from his signature darkness, but makes sure to balance it with a heaping dose of heart. Also, as a harsh critic of songs in movies, these fit the story perfectly, furthering the plot and deepening characters, and they’re super fun to boot. FIVE: BARBIE Screenplay by Greta Gerwig & Noah Baumbach, directed by Greta Gerwig Barbie  is fun, smart, and original, and has furthered the culture in amazing ways. It’s sticky, in the Tipping Point meaning of the word, and our conversations about gender, feminism, and masculinity have all progressed because of this unexpected movie. There are people in my life who still won’t watch it because “it’s a feature-length Mattel commercial,” and while I think it has a complicated relationship with that truth, I also think it’s a pretty amazing idea to use that as a Trojan horse. That all makes it sound highfalutin’, but in the end (and this is the true coup), it’s a true bop of a movie. FOUR: ALL OF US STRANGERS Written and directed by Andrew Haigh All of Us Strangers  could easily have been a genre film in one direction or another, but it commits instead to being what I can only describe as a filmic poem, and I mean that as a high compliment. Andrew Scott is heartbreaking as a single aging gay man, and the movie has true insight into what it meant to grow up gay in a different generation and the scars that we carry. I knew Andrew Haigh could make a very true movie, but in this, he’s tapped into a deeper truth that’s beautiful and tragic, and human. THREE: CLOSE Screenplay by Angelo Tijssens & Lukas Dhont, directed by Lukas Dhont Close is inspired by a nonfiction book called Deep Secrets: Boys’ Friendships and the Crisis of Connection . Childhood is often hard to remember, but this movie brought it flooding back to me. Anchored by two fantastic performances, Close  explores the love we are capable of before society teaches us to temper ourselves, and the tragedies that occur when that impulse is cut short. TWO:  TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: MUTANT MAYHEM Screenplay by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Jeff Rowe, Dan Hernandez, and Benji Samit; directed by Jeff Rowe It’s always been right there in the title, but TMNT: MM  is the first adaptation to really commit to the mutant turtles being teenagers, and that commitment elevates the movie from another superhero flick to a lovely, touching, funny coming-of-age story that also happens to be a superhero flick. Add to that the coolest visual style I’ve ever seen in an animated movie, and you get a modern masterpiece. I don’t understand why awards season is sleeping on this one, but I for one can’t wait for more of these and won’t stop watching this on repeat ‘til the next one comes out. ONE: POOR THINGS Screenplay by Tony McNamara, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos What a joy to be living while Yorgos Lanthimos is making movies, and what an unexpected delight that they are being acknowledged in the mainstream. Poor Things  takes its inspiration from Mary Shelley and Bernard Shaw, giving Lanthimos’ whimsy fodder both mythic and grounded in reality, and the result is warmer than ever before without losing any bite along the way. Emma Stone gives a hilarious and touching performance at the center of this creation story, with stalwart support in every direction. The visual style and strong choices (take note, Maestro , of how to successfully burst from black-and-white to color) propel this irreverent and moving tale into masterpiece status.  HOTTIE OF THE YEAR: LaKieth Stanfield, Haunted Mansion Scotty Arnold Scotty has always been a storyteller, mostly through musicals, and he’s pleased as punch to have found a tribe with the amazing weirdos at Story Screen. scottyarnold.com

Mike Burdge and Reeya Banerjee chat their way through Todd Haynes' latest, provocative dark-comedy, May December, which is equal parts sickeningly uncomfortable and laugh-out loud funny. Topics include Haynes' previous works with Julianne Moore, the powerhouse performance of Charles Melton, that score, the hot dogs and how the predators in this movie hide in plain sight. Listen on....

Kitty Green and Julia Garner have teamed up again (and this time Jessica Henwick is along for the ride) in Green’s latest film, The Royal Hotel. Traveling abroad with your best friend is a rite of passage. Drinking too much, running out of money, and meeting people from other countries, all seem like a fun adventure until you find yourself trapped in a potentially threatening situation. That’s what happens when Hanna and Liv find themselves working at a bar in a remote part of the Australian Outback where the clientele is almost entirely made up of male miners. Their first night employed at the Royal Hotel bar is simultaneously a going-away party for the previously employed working tourists (two women from the United Kingdom) who decide to go out with a bang: getting wasted, climbing on top of the bar, and subsequently, almost missing their flight home the following morning. That first night is extreme, but not insanely out of the ordinary for a backpacking experience abroad. It’s not until the next day when things have seemingly settled down, that their new job becomes more ominous for the film’s main characters. As in Green’s previous film, The Assistant , red flags start popping up from time to time that continue to mount the entire film. Green does a really excellent job at creating these quiet atmospheres that are poised and ready to explode. Most of the central action takes place inside the bar at the Royal Hotel - a dark and dingy space filled with jarred snakes and beer bottles. After starring in 2020's The Assistant, Julia Garner is back, this time as Hanna, in an equally steely performance. Hanna initially seems fun - open to making out with strangers and dancing - until she runs out of money and is forced to work with Liv at the hotel. Her character walks the line between seeming uptight and seeming entirely validated in trusting her instincts. Green, in collaboration with Garner, does a wonderful job of putting us in that vulnerable first-person headspace. Hanna is trying to make the most of a bad situation while it continues to wear her down. As in The Assistant, there’s a mounting sense of dread throughout the film, which is a slow boil to its climax. Jessica Henwick does her best with a less fleshed-out character as Liv, Hanna's friend who just wants to party and have fun; she almost seems to enjoy letting Hanna do all of the worrying for both of them while she goes about her business. There are hints in their conversations that Liv wanted to get as far away from home as possible but that thread never gets tied up. I would have liked to have seen more backstory or more fun happening between the two friends before they are put through the wringer of their job placement, but c'est la vie. While Liv initially tells Hanna to “lighten up,” there comes a point in the film when she realizes that the threats Hanna fears are indeed real. There is little protection or comfort for the girls to be found in the bar’s owner Billy, played by Hugo Weaving. Billy constantly walks a line between drunken rage and total wasted obliteration. There are only two female characters in the movie, Carol (Ursula Yovich) the bar’s cook and Billy’s sometime romantic partner, and Glenda (Barbara Lowing) an older alcoholic who only seems to egg on the drunken men at the bar around her. Toby Wallace, who I loved in 2019’s Babyteeth , plays Matty, who may be the least outwardly threatening of the bar’s male clientele (looking to date Hanna despite her initial reticence), but he is not totally blameless either. There’s also a fun cameo performance by Herbert Nordrum (of The Worst Person in the World fame) as a friendly traveler hoping to hook up with Hanna again, but he has no idea what he’s getting into. Green’s latest film is another tense watch that had me gritting my teeth and nodding along in sympathetic recognition throughout. It’s worth the watch and I kind of hope Julia Garner continues to work with her in the future as her own personal patron saint of ghastly working conditions. Diana DiMuro Besides watching TV and movies, Diana likes plants, the great outdoors, drawing and reading comics, and just generally rocking out. She has a BA in English Literature and is an art school dropout. You can follow her on Instagram @dldimuro and Twitter @DianaDiMuro