2023: The Lists

Okay. For lack of keeping this article from coming out any longer, I’m posting it now.

For those who’ve been around for a while, usually I posted this list mid-December, before I’d seen all the performances of the year. It was just a ‘here’s what I’ve liked to this point’ kind of deal, in anticipation for the Top Ten List and the Oscar picks and all of that. Now, the Top Ten List isn’t even out and we’re quickly approaching Oscar nominations. So I’m not waiting.

Couple of changes I made this year — I cut out the ‘overrated, underrated’ lists. I don’t care at this point. I just wanna talk up the stuff I liked. So it’s just the Hidden Gems, Performances, Posters and Scores. And, for the performances, I truly didn’t have a whole lot I loved this year and couldn’t get my usual list of 15-20 each, so I’ve just cut it down to one list of 25 lead performances and 25 supporting performances. So there you have it.

I also still haven’t seen a small number of films, so there’s a chance a couple of performances could end up being ones I really like, but this list is really just a short term fix, so it doesn’t matter. In the end I will make it known which performances I really loved from this year. So, if a performance or two from high profile films doesn’t appear (and that film came out within the past eight weeks), chances are it’s because I haven’t watched it yet. That’s what this next week is for, and if I’m worried about this article I’m not watching stuff.

So here we are. Hopefully some people will either not have seen a bunch of these or know what they are and maybe want to check them out because of this. That’s the only goal here.

(Some) Hidden Gems/Underseen Films from 2023

1. All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt
2. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret
3. The Blackening
4. Boston Strangler
5. Bottoms
6. The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial
7. The Covenant
8. The Creator
9. Dicks: The Musical
10. Dream Scenario
11. Dreamin’ Wild
12. Dumb Money
13. Flora and Son
14. How to Blow Up a Pipeline
15. If You Were the Last
16. Medusa Deluxe
17. Master Gardener
18. No Hard Feelings
19. No One Will Save You
20. Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game
21. Sanctuary
22. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
23. Theater Camp
24. They Cloned Tyrone
25. Totally Killer

My Favorite Lead Performances of 2023

1. Dave Bautista, Knock at the Cabin
2. Nicolas Cage, Butcher’s Crossing
3. Zoe Chao, If You Were the Last
4. Bradley Cooper, Maestro
5. Kaitlyn Dever, No One Will Save You
6. Leonardo DiCaprio, Killers of the Flower Moon
7. Colman Domingo, Rustin
8. Zac Efron, The Iron Claw
9. Mike Faist, Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game
10. Michael Fassbender, The Killer
11. Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers
12. Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon
13. Jennifer Lawrence, No Hard Feelings
14. Greta Lee, Past Lives
15. Paul Mescal, Foe
16. Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer
17. Joaquin Phoenix, Beau Is Afraid
18. Natalie Portman, May December
19. Margot Robbie, Barbie
20. Cailee Spaeny, Priscilla
21. Emma Stone, Poor Things
22. Iman Vellani, The Marvels
23. Sophie Wilde, Talk to Me
24. Jeffrey Wright, American Fiction
25. Teo Yoo, Past Lives

My Favorite Supporting Performances of 2023

1. Christopher Abbott, Poor Things
2. Emily Blunt, Oppenheimer
3. Sterling K. Brown, American Fiction
4. Louis Cancelmi, Killers of the Flower Moon
5. Jason Clarke, Oppenheimer
6. Willem Dafoe, Poor Things
7. Robert De Niro, Killers of the Flower Moon
8. Robert Downey Jr., Oppenheimer
9. Nicholas Galitzine, Bottoms
10. Ryan Gosling, Barbie
11. Glenn Howerton, Blackberry
12. Pom Klementieff, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
13. David Krumholtz, Oppenheimer
14. Charles Melton, May December
15. Julianne Moore, May December
16. Carey Mulligan, Maestro
17. Rosamund Pike, Saltburn
18. Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers
19. Margot Robbie, Asteroid City
20. Mark Ruffalo, Poor Things
21. Benny Safdie, Oppenheimer
22. Jason Schwartzman, Asteroid City
23. Dominic Sessa, The Holdovers
24. Tilda Swinton, The Killer
25. Maura Tierney, The Iron Claw

My Favorite Movie Posters of 2023

Honorable Mention: Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

50. Thanksgiving

49. Finestkind

48. No One Will Save You

47. Alice, Darling

46. Dumb Money

45. Suzume

44. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

43. The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial

42. The Marvels

41. Hypnotic

40. Barbie

 

39. American Fiction

38. A Haunting in Venice

37. Dream Scenario

36. Cat Person

35. Rustin

34. The Boogeyman

33. Red, White & Royal Blue

32. Sharper

31. Asteroid City

30. The Pigeon Tunnel

29. John Wick: Chapter 4

28. Saltburn

27. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

26. Elemental

25. Anatomy of a Fall

24. The Iron Claw

23. Blue Beetle

22. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One

21. Evil Dead Rise

20. The Killer

19. Air

18. Cocaine Bear

17. They Cloned Tyrone

16. Haunted Mansion

15. Killers of the Flower Moon

14. Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game

13. Knock at the Cabin

12. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

11. How to Blow Up a Pipeline

10. The Blackening

9. Napoleon

8. The Zone of Interest

7. The Exorcist: Believer

6. Sanctuary

5. Poor Things

4. Deep Sea

3. Oppenheimer

2. May December

1. Scream VI

My Favorite Film Scores of 2023

(*I listened to 181 scores to prepare for this list*)

30. Elemental, Thomas Newman

29. Cassandro, Marcelo Zavros

28. How to Blow Up a Pipeline, Gavin Brivik

27. They Cloned Tyrone, Desmond Murray

26. Napoleon, Martin Phipps

25. A Thousand and One, Gary Gunn

24. Tetris, Lorne Balfe

23. Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain, Amie Dougherty

22. No Hard Feelings, Mychael Danna & Jessica Rose Weiss

21. Dream Scenario, Owen Pallett

20. Cobweb, Drum & Lace

19. Gran Turismo, Lorne Balfe

18. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, John Williams

17. Poor Things, Jerskin Fendrix

16. A Good Person, Bryce Dessner

15. Rustin, Branford Marsalis

14. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Daniel Pemberton

13. The Holdovers, Mark Orton

12. Barbie, Mark Ronson & Andrew Wyatt

11. The Pigeon Tunnel, Philip Glass

Top Ten Film Scores of 2023

10. Oppenheimer, Ludwig Goransson

9. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross

8. Saltburn, Anthony Willis

7. Crater, Dan Romer & Osei Essed

6. The Boy and the Heron, Joe Hisaishi

5. The Boys in the Boat, Alexandre Desplat

4. The Killer, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross

3. She Came to Me, Bryce Dessner

2. American Fiction, Laura Karpman

1. Killers of the Flower Moon, Robbie Robertson

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