Perfect Days

Review: Click Here! Trailer: Click Here!

Where To Watch: Check your local listings.

I saw so much of myself in Hirayama, played by the incredible Koji Yakusho. For the first half, it was in a “cool, I guess this is what I’ll be like as an old man.” But as it goes along, as more layers are peeled back, it turned into, “oh, is this what I’m gonna be like as an old man?” Wim Wenders has such an eye for capturing the mundane, and turn it into something special. There’s a lot of emotional complexity in here bubbling under the surface, and it’s really stuck with me. Might be a perfect movie.

Polite Society

Review: Click Here! Trailer: Click Here!

Where To Watch: Home Video, Amazon Prime Video, VOD

Nida Manzoor’s directorial debut absolutely rocks. It’s a delightful, emotional, funny, and wildly unhinged piece of pop filmmaking exploring the dynamics of a South Asian family, the special bond between sisters, and the expectations placed on people growing up in immigrant communities. It takes some delightfully wild turns in the final act, but it just make the experience that much more fun. I had such a wonderful time with the film, and I wished I could spend even more with these characters.

Robot Dreams

Review: Click Here! Trailer: Click Here!

Where To Watch: Opens in theaters on May 31st.

In what would make a surprisingly effective double feature with Past Lives, this animated masterwork from Pablo Berger is all about our desire for connection, of that special feeling when you find someone you truly feel connected to, and the heartbreak that comes with knowing they might not ultimately be your future for one reason or another. This movie devastated me, don’t let the cute animation fool you. This is one of the most emotionally impactful watches of 2023, and the fact it does it with no dialogue is massively impressive.

Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahani

Review: Click Here! Trailer: Click Here!

Where To Watch: Amazon Prime Video

Karan Johar’s first feature in seven years is a delightful homage to Bollywood rom-coms of the 90s, while also evolving some of the more problematic family dynamics that he had previously enforced in some of his older films. Ranveer Singh plays the role like he was born to do it, matching the level of excess you typically associate with a Johar production, and his energy infects the film as a whole. Not to mention the terrific chemistry he has with Alia Bhatt. Just a joyful and emotional roller-coaster of a movie.

Rotting In The Sun

Review: Click Here! Trailer: Click Here!

Where To Watch: Mubi, VOD

Sebastián Silva’s unhinged meta-comedy touches on a lot of stuff regarding the nature of being an artist, the way we present ourselves in life versus social media. And while I’m not sure if it adds up to a whole lot, on a pure entertainment level, this film had me sucked in, and it did not let go. The turns this film took kept me on edge, and I was so thrilled by its fearlessness to go to strange places.

Shortcomings

Review: Click Here! Trailer: Click Here!

Where To Watch: Home Video, Netflix, VOD

I was quite impressed by Randall Park’s directorial debut. It isn’t afraid to dig into the inner-workings of a very unlikable guy, and the work he has to put into making himself a better man, even if it kind of rushes all that work at the end of the film. It’s the journey you take alongside these characters that matter. The observations of the film regarding love, relationships, growing up, and the Asian-American experience are often funny, insightful, and deeply felt.

Sick

Review: Click Here! Trailer: Click Here!

Where To Watch: Home Video, Peacock, VOD

Genuinely one of the very few good movies to actually incorporate the COVID pandemic into its plot. Is it the most clever, no, but it helps provide a playground for John Hyams and Kevin Williamson to go wild. The violence is visceral, ruthless, with a real sense of physicality, and the tension keeps you on the edge of the seat from beginning to end. It’s an awesome thriller that made a strong enough impression that it stuck with me through pretty much the entirety of 2023.

Smoking Causes Coughing

Review: Click Here! Trailer: Click Here!

Where To Watch: Hulu, VOD

Quentin Dupieux is one of modern cinema’s greatest trolls, there’s no doubt about it. The plot of this film is so ludicrous and so random and so ridiculous, I was giggling very hard during pretty much the entire movie. It tickled me so. I don’t want to spoil any of the best gags, but I don’t know if that will even get across just how strange the experience is watching it unfold for yourself. Easily one of the most relentlessly funny movies I’ve seen in a while.

Society Of The Snow

Review: Click Here! Trailer: Click Here!

Where To Watch: Netflix

You know what isn’t funny? Cannibalism. Well, maybe you can make it funny. But such is not the case for this new dramatization of the crash and ensuing struggle for survival of the passengers of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 back in 1972. J. A. Bayona has been hit-and-miss, but this is easily his greatest achievement as a filmmaker. A technically precise and brutal affair that still focuses on the humanity of these characters as they endure a worst-case-scenario situation. I was so immersed and so moved by this film.

Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse

Review: Click Here! Trailer: Click Here!

Where To Watch: Home Video, Netflix, VOD

It’s only half a movie, but wow, what a half of a movie. It’s so overwhelming, so fully encompassing of what cinema is capable of, while also pushing the limits of animation even more than the first film. It has an endearing heart that bursts through with every frame, and tackles the very nature of what is means to be – not just Spider-Man – but any hero, what is expected of you, and the push back you get if you don’t conform to everyone’s expectations.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

Review: Click Here! Trailer: Click Here!

Where To Watch: Home Video, MGM+, Paramount+, VOD

Perhaps my favorite animated film of 2023. A very endearing story about growing up, finding your place in the world, and mutant animals beating the hell out of each other to a killer retro hip-hop soundtrack. I loved this rendition of the Turtles, I love their unhinged, childish energy, I love the humor, I love their dynamic with Splinter, and I also love the art direction and the energy of it all. It looks like something you don’t want your kids to see, but that makes it that much more enticing. Little me would have watched this a million times.

Thanksgiving

Review: Click Here! Trailer: Click Here!

Where To Watch: Home Video, VOD

I love me a good old fashioned slasher, and Eli Roth delivers one of his most refined and expertly crafted films to date, with just enough of his cheeky energy to not overwhelm. I genuinely think this is a new classic for the genre, a holiday horror film that utilizes basically every possible element of the holiday in its story, with a simply enough mystery holding it all together with some stellar gore effects. It knows exactly what it’s doing, and the best way to get it’s point across. It is such a blast.

The Artifice Girl

Review: Click Here! Trailer: Click Here!

Where To Watch: Tubi, VOD

I love being able to discover small movies that fall under the radar, and give it the extra push for more people to see it. Nothing exemplifies that this past year more than Franklin Ritch’s three act sci-fi drama. In a total of just three scenes, a small handful of locations, and a few actors, so much is accomplished in this rich tapestry of intelligence, consent, justice, and moral philosophies that are constantly brought into question by the characters in compelling ways. I was glued to the screen, and I can’t wait to see what else Ritch has to offer.

The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial

Review: Click Here! Trailer: Click Here!

Where To Watch: Paramount+, Showtime, VOD

How could I make this list without including the efficient and thoroughly compelling courtroom drama that is also the final film from William Friedkin, one of Hollywood’s greatest, unhinged weirdos. The filmmaking is so confident, and the performances are so precise and finely tuned, it’s like watching a well-oiled machine at work. I don’t feel like I’m watching a movie. And this isn’t one with good guys and bad guys, it’s all formalities and manipulation, where the powers that be only serve to keep the status quo. It’s a deeply cynical film, but a hard hitting one. RIP Lance Reddick and William Friedkin.

The Iron Claw

Review: Click Here! Trailer: Click Here!

Where To Watch: VOD, Home Video (March 26th)

During the drive home after seeing The Iron Claw, I cried. Just thinking about the final moments brings tears to my eyes, and I can’t recall the last time a film had that effect on me. My soul felt crushed seeing these brothers suffer so much while trying to give each other the love they should have received from their parents. Low-key one of the saddest movies I’ve ever seen, and it snuck up on me. The emotions hit me so hard and so suddenly, that despite some minor issues, I won’t forget about this film anytime soon.

The Killer

Review: Click Here! Trailer: Click Here!

Where To Watch: Netflix

David Fincher at his most playful and self-reflective, tackling his ethos as a filmmaker through the lens of a perfectionist contract killer who learns the hard way that making your work your whole personality doesn’t guarantee that you won’t get screwed over by the higher ups if it saves them trouble. Welcome to late-stage capitalism, baby! Surprisingly layered, yet unabashedly pulpy and viscous and funny. This is one of those movies in which my opinion has grown more and more positively in my eyes every since seeing it.

The Wandering Earth 2

Review: Click Here! Trailer: Click Here!

Where To Watch: Home Video, VOD

I loved the first Wandering Earth, and I was totally surprised by how much I enjoyed this prequel. It works on a very different level than the maximalism of the first, but don’t take that as meaning this film doesn’t go big because the scope is staggering. In a world still dealing with the ramifications of COVID, this being a story about addressing a world-wide crisis, and the often insurmountable and unreasonable difficulties people face when trying to do the right thing is very much felt, and it’s earned a place for itself in future discussions about how filmmakers around the world took inspiration from the pandemic. It really moved me, and I am in awe of what Frant Gwo and his team were able to accomplish here. I saw this in late January of 2023, and it was such a strong picture that it has made it across the whole year, and onto my list.

 

And there you have it, another year-end list on the books! I hope you like it, and I really hope that if you see something in here that you haven’t watched, that you give it a chance and check it out for yourself. If you do, feel free to tell me what you thought on any of my socials! When you get down to it, that’s what this is all about, spreading the love of cinema.

Thank you for taking the time to read my list. If you appreciate what I do here on Cinema Sanctum, I’d like to remind you this is a one-man operation, and any tips and donations go a long way in helping me keep the site going. I am very far from being a rich man, so anything helps. And give me a follow on all my socials (here’s my Linktree)!

 

<- Previous Page – – – First Page