By Brett Blake As we get close to the end of each year, I like to look back on all the movies I watched over the last twelve months. I watched nearly 300 movies in 2023, with some being rewatches of favorites, but most being either new releases from 2023 or viewings of movies that are older, but that I’d never gotten around to before. It’s a bit of a tradition for me to single-out that last category for closer examination, so I’ve picked out 10 films that I saw for the first time in 2023 that I thought were quite good. The films span 80 years -- 1938 up to 2018 -- and the list features a pretty idiosyncratic mix of a bunch of genres. In no particular order, here we go! THE LONGEST DAY (1962) Very ambitious for its time, especially from a logistical standpoint. Staging sequences of this scale, with a cast this gigantic, must have been extremely difficult, and it pays-off. This unfolds with a docudrama-esque, almost dispassionate examination of the build-up to the Normandy invasion, from the perspective of both Allied and Nazi forces as the battle draws near. It does get a little vignette-y in the second half, as it seeks to give all its stars interesting beats, so the pacing dips a bit, but for the most part, this is pretty captivating war cinema. Particularly excellent sound design for the era, too. THE HIDDEN (1987) Want a buddy cop film? THE HIDDEN has it. Want a body-snatching alien movie? THE HIDDEN has it. Want some fun action sequences and creature effects? THE HIDDEN has those, too. It's a B-movie genre mash-up that is executed well enough that it rises above schlock (which can be entertaining in its own way) to become something legitimately good. Michael Nouri and Kyle MacLachlan are great as a classic mismatched pair, and also of particular note is the way in which the alien villain of the story is personified through bits of business that actually say quite a bit about it as an actual character; MacLachlan gets some similar touches to play, too, and he really sells them. Jack Sholder's action direction is efficient, the touches of humor almost always land, and there are even some nice gross-out moments, too. NEXT OF KIN (1982) Australia tries its hand at gothic-esque horror, and the result is both highly moody and a fresh take on the subgenre for its time. Right from the very first shot, you can tell that this has an energy all its own. It’s playing around with tropes that were probably already familiar by 1982, but it deploys them in interesting ways, with quirky extra touches, and it presents them via some very solid filmmaking (and particularly terrific camerawork). It’s a relatively slow burn, long on heavy and unsettling tones, but it builds to a properly unnerving, very cinematic third act that really works. JEZEBEL (1938) A pretty effective portrait of a very flawed, complicated, manipulative character, and as a showcase for Bette Davis, it’s an essential entry in her storied filmography. She perhaps never looked lovelier on screen than she does here, which only serves to make her character’s complexity even more striking. It’s a role that requires the performer to be equally contemptible and understandable (if not actually sympathetic), and Davis nails it. Henry Fonda may be the more notable name in the supporting cast, but it’s actually Donald Crisp, George Brent, and Richard Cromwell who leave the biggest impressions surrounding Davis. The finale, evocatively staged, does veer strongly into contrived and melodramatic territory, but in some ways that’s actually kind of fitting for this story. IN THE BEDROOM (2001) If you were to design a prototype for a prestige-y, awards bait-y, adult drama of the late 1990s/early 2000s, this is basically exactly what you'd come up with. That is not, however, to say that it's bad! In fact, it's quite good, and the performances are at a high level of quality. Sissy Spacek is basically never not great, so seeing her delivering an excellent performance is no surprise, but Tom Wilkinson is a subtle powerhouse here as a guy who constantly tries to downplay things and be affable, but who eventually cracks. There is a lengthy argument scene between the two of them that is a powerful, emotional masterclass. Another strong element of the movie is its presentation of a convincing community, populated by interesting faces and personalities. In tandem with the primary characters who feel like very believable human beings, this gives the film a feeling of great authenticity. WHITE HEAT (1949) A striking and powerful James Cagney performance and some pretty sharp writing filled with intrigue and engaging characters. The filmmaking is robust and uncompromising, with an unusually hard edge even for crime and noir films of this period. The supporting cast members are all very good, but particular credit to Edmond O’Brien for not just navigating one of the most complicated roles in the story, but for also selling it in a way that makes us invested in what could have just been a stock “type.” But it’s ultimately Cagney’s show, and this is an essential part of his body work, with this character being perhaps his most impactful member of the storied rogues gallery he created over his legendary career. ROUNDERS (1998) Close to being great, but has to settle for being pretty good. When you've got a cast that includes Matt Damon, Edward Norton, John Malkovich, John Turturro, Martin Landau, Famke Janssen, and more, you'd have to almost intentionally screw that up. The dialogue is strong throughout, with an almost noir-ish cadence at times that is fun to listen to. Probably at its most interesting when it's depicting or observing the little details of this particular subculture; whether true to life or not, the habits, the rites, the slang, and the attitudes bring a layer of authenticity that is engaging. The drama of the picture doesn't fully cohere at the end the way it seems to want to, so that ultimately leaves the film more as an exercise in style and mood... but on that level, it's good stuff. These actors, given this dialogue, make the movie a very enjoyable watch. BLACK SABBATH (1963) Packed with striking imagery, this Mario Bava anthology delivers everything you could want from an anthology with an Italian horror flair. Three good (and quite different) stories, vivid and stylish visual elements, and a couple of moments that are legitimately bone-chilling. Bava's direction is strong, and he again shows himself to be an underrated technician in terms of placing the camera and the performers within a scene for maximum effect. And though it provides some jolts and shocks, it keeps things in the realm of the classy. DARK BLUE (2002) Hits a lot of the beats you’d expect in a “corruption in the L.A. police force” narrative, but the central performance is so good that it makes up for it. This is one of Kurt Russell’s greatest performances, and I think a case could be made that it should have gotten serious Oscar consideration at the time. He takes a pretty conventional character arc and brings so much nuance to it that it actually ends up feeling like something that is dramatically novel; a bit of that is on the page, but most of that is Russell selling a character’s internal life and growing conflict through his eyes and subtle body language. Even if the subject matter doesn’t immediately appeal to you, if you’re at all a fan of Russell, absolutely seek this one out, because you’ll find him at the top of his game. And you’ll even get some nice supporting work from Ving Rhames, Scott Speedman, and Brendan Gleeson as a bonus. BUTTERFLY KISSES (2018) A clever take on the found footage/mockumentary horror subgenre that does some surprisingly interesting things with format and structure. This is a movie that clearly understands both how found footage works (when it works) AND how it is often received and dissected from the outside. That allows for multiple layers of narrative to unfold, with parallel protagonists on their own obsessive journeys, and with a nice amount of ambiguity regarding whether or not the found footage at the heart of this is real or concocted (within the universe of the movie). There's clearly a debt owed to THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT in terms of the subject matter, but the execution ends up feeling quite different; it constructs an interesting mystery for an initial hook, and then proceeds to sketch out a spooky urban legend/creepypasta-type backstory. This invented Peeping Tom is a simple and classic boogeyman sort of figure that is creepy with just a tiny touch of whimsy, and it functions as a nice backbone/anchor for the (even more intriguing, frankly) structural stuff.
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