Art by Travis Wilker
It’s that time of the year folks – the end. It’s that time where we all look back, take a hit of recency bias and make our top (insert number here) films of the year. I do mine a little differently than others. I pick a large number in 25 because I see a lot of great films each year, and if I just did a top 10 then I’d have a long “honorable mentions” section which is pointless – just make the list longer. Please note, this is a list of my favorite films of the year, not a list of what I think are the best films of the year – that’s a completely different list and it’s not as much fun to make so I’m not gonna do it. There is simply no joy in making that list. Also please note, if I have written about the film I will embed a link to said writing in the title of the film.
I should also mention that there are multiple films that either do not hit my area until January or are out but I just have not had time to see them that probably would make this list otherwise. I don’t know when the hell my city is getting The Zone of Interest. Origin won’t hit my area until January. I haven’t seen The Boy and the Heron or The Iron Claw yet. I’m sorry. I’m sure they’re all great and I’ll love them, but if I haven’t seen them then I haven’t seen them.
Alright, let’s get to it!
25. Thanksgiving
I never thought I’d see the day when an Eli Roth film makes it onto a list like this for me, but I thoroughly had a great time watching Thanksgiving. This is the kind of film he should have been making all along with his knowledge of genre tropes and history, not the edgelord bullshit he has been doing. I cackled at the opening shot. Very excited for the sequel.
24. Napoleon
Secretly the funniest film of the year. Nobody does big battle sequences like Ridley Scott, he’s a master of them. This is also the strongest his comedic senses have ever been, it’s refreshingly unexpected. I desperately need the 4 hour director’s cut.
23. The Outwaters
For a strong 45 minutes of this film I was not into it at all, but then it goes places I’ve never seen a found footage film go, and I loved it.
22. Asteroid City
I laughed really hard when the schoolteacher busts the kid for smoking with the musicians.
21. 65
It’s very dumb and entertaining AND it is only 90 minutes.
20. The Covenant
Absurdly better than the trailers would make you think. Guy Ritchie like he’s never been, quiet and understated. The final shot is incredible.
19. May December
This is sadly only the third Todd Haynes movie I’ve seen but every single one so far has absolutely astounded me. I also didn’t know Charles Melton had this in him, I’m in on him now.
18. Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
I sat there and just wondered why more studio films can’t be this much fun and well-crafted. Maybe I just miss a time where even shovel work IP films were even made this competently.
Shyamalan discovers transcendental filmmaking.
16. The Killer
Fincher at his meanest and leanest. Absurdly funny. The fight with The Brute is all-time.
15. The Mask
“Dylan, this isn’t a film!” Shut the fuck up. I don’t care. You people decided a whole season of television was a film when season 3 of Twin Peaks aired. This is what you get. Conner O’Malley is a legitimate comedic genius. He has a balance all his own between refined satire and outright mania. This work of his is the greatest work on what it means to live in America right now. It’s just so easy to go absolutely insane these days. No filmmaker can command a selfie stick like O’Malley can.
14. How to Blow Up a Pipeline
It immediately gets tense and then somehow holds that tension for the entire runtime. Director Daniel Goldhaber just seems to know exactly when and where to move the camera to ramp things up, and the entire ensemble is really good. What presents itself as a massively dire film also acts as one of the most hopeful works of the year. There is a way to resist and build a better world.
13. Infinity Pool
Hell yeah.
12. The Creator
Gareth Edwards just knows how to make big, cinematic films. There are many discussions to be had on the way he integrates highly technological, cybernetic human societies with untamed nature in this film. I’m still thinking about the moment when a robot dies before it can detonate an explosive and a nearby monkey comes over and finishes the job. This movie also just looks fantastic, Edwards opting to shoot on location as much as possible and integrate the inherent CGI of the piece afterwards and it just looks so beautiful. You can criticize it for being predictable, but god I just miss when movies like this were as romantic about themselves as The Creator is.
11. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Just as wonderful as the first, if not more. My only problem was that it ended. I could have watched it all day, I wanted the next film immediately as the credits rolled.
10. Godzilla Minus One
This wonderful entry is the closest I’ve come to tearing up during a Godzilla film. As fantastic a quasi-remake of the original film as you could ever imagine. Like Shin Godzilla, all the human stuff is just as great as the monster stuff. Easily one of the greatest Godzilla movies ever. There was a certain tonal whiplash of watching this in theaters and then the next day seeing the trailer for Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, but make no mistake I’m also so pumped for Godzilla x Kong. It speaks to the universality of Godzilla that a good Godzilla film can be one about survivor’s guilt in post-war Japan, and also something silly and stupid like Godzilla x Kong, and both can be great. Godzilla really is one of cinema’s greatest creations.
9. The Pope’s Exorcist
Gloriously stupid in a pure way that I thought didn’t exist anymore. Now every film that’s stupid has to be meta or ironic about it, but this is just purely stupid and is so giddy to be that. It also helps that Russell Crowe is clearly having the most fun he’s ever had making a film. It’s just so much damn fun, I truly love this film.
8. Oppenheimer
Every filmmaking and storytelling technique Christopher Nolan has mastered over his career – crosscutting timelines, practical effects over CGI, IMAX filmmaking – and it all wonderfully coalesces into what might be the best film he’s made yet.
7. John Wick: Chapter 4
Do I really need to elaborate? Some of the greatest action sequences I’ve just ever seen.
6. Poor Things
I’ve always loved Yorgos Lanthimos, but this might be the best film he’s made yet. Duncan Wedderburn is my favorite character of the year. Mark Ruffalo gives the performance of a lifetime.
5. Showing Up
Kelly Reichardt has an ability like no other filmmaker to just envelop you in the settings her characters exist in. It’s this soothing aesthetic all her own. Showing Up is the funniest movie she’s made, her comedic abilities have never been stronger. I’m also becoming more and more of a John Magaro guy whenever I see him.
4. Killers of the Flower Moon
I don’t really have the words to describe what a special film this is, other than to say that Martin Scorsese is simply one of the greatest to ever do it. I also recommend the book by David Grann, anything he writes is excellent.
3. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
A beautiful testament to the human spirit and will, that only Tom Cruise could deliver. Goes right with Top Gun: Maverick as a raging against the dying of the light for Cruise. I love you Tom Cruise.
2. Past Lives
I spent this entire film just in awe of it. I can’t believe this is Celine Song’s first film, you’re not supposed to make a masterpiece your first time out. Song films and portrays romance in a specific manner that I’ve only ever seen Wong Kar-wai and Barry Jenkins achieve. See it, and you’ll know what I mean. It’s the best movie of the year in my book, it completely blew me away.
1. Master Gardener
I never wanna leave this world, without saying I love you
Over his last three films, Paul Schrader has more and more approached the idea of love as salvation for his solitary characters. Here it is fully realized, and it’s an absolutely beautiful work of a film. As you grow older, you either sink further into your hate like Sigourney Weaver’s character, or like Schrader you embrace the all-redemptive power of love. Love is the only answer.
Death Of Film Criticism 