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Kristopowitz’s Top 10 Movies of 2023 (#10 – 6)
Photo Credit: Murray Close/Lionsgate
The Top 10 Movies of 2023 Part 1: #10-6
I haven’t done a proper “best movies of the year” list in several years, so I thought why not do one for 2023? I managed to see more new movies than the previous two years and, in general, I saw a wider variety of new movies than in previous years. 2023 is also the year I started seeing new movies in movie theaters again. So why not make a Top 10 Movies of 2023 list?
Now, I didn’t see every movie that came out. There were plenty that I missed, both major theatrical releases and direct-to-video/direct-to-streaming movies. But I did manage to see 35 new movies, a mix of theatrical releases, direct-to-video/direct-to-streaming releases, and film festival movies, so I will be picking from all of those. My list will be split into two parts, with spots 10 through 6 appearing below and spots 5 through 1 next time. I will be including four honorable mentions, with two appearing below and two appearing next time.
And so, without any further what have you, what made spots 10 through 6 in my Top 10 Movies of 2023 list?
The Top 10 Movies of 2023 Part 1: #10-6
Honorable Mentions:
–I Am Rage: This action horror flick from director David Ryan Keith really hit the spot when it came out this past August. Featuring a top notch badass performance from star Hannaj Bang Bendz and a plot that’s a send up of some of the world’s dumbest goddamn conspiracy theories (adrenochrome!), I Am Rage is full of bloody action scenes and some truly brutal hand-to-hand brawls. It’s exactly the kind of movie that horror movie nerds should embrace and action movie nerds should give a chance to. Hannaj Bang Bendz’s disturbed but highly skilled Erin is a character that you will both remember and hope to see again in some other adventure. There are no doubt more of the same kind of bad guys out there in need of a gory beatdown by someone like Erin.
–The Expendables 4: While I will admit that The Expendables 4 (and that’s what I am going to call it because it’s the fourth movie in the The Expendables franchise and that Expend4les title is just stupid) is the least of the franchise and, to a degree, it deserves quite a bit of the hostility it received from both critics and a good chunk of the people who bothered to go see it in movie theaters (the movie bombed across the globe), I can’t hate on The Expendables 4. To me, it’s a fun action movie, and I appreciate someone making an action movie like The Expendables 4 at the same time movies like the John Wick franchise are changing how modern American action movies are made. Was it a mistake to bring in 50 Cent and Megan Fox and not have Ahnold and Jet-Li? Yes. And the villain isn’t that great, either. And what’s the deal with how the story handled Stallone’s Barney Ross? Still, even with those issues, I kind of liked The Expendables 4. I understand why it’s going to be the last one, but, man, I just wish it wasn’t.
10. John Wick: Chapter 4: The fourth and potentially final movie in the John Wick franchise (I mean, yeah, the ending suggests that Chapter 4 is the end of John Wick but, come on, it’s the movies, they can always come up with something to make another one) John Wick: Chapter 4 is a movie that probably shouldn’t exist. An almost three hour non-stop action movie with multiple massive set pieces and a cast featuring Keanu Reeves, Donnie Yen, Marko Zaror, Clancy “The Kurgan: Brown, Hiroyuki Sanada, Bill Skarsgard as the raging douchebag main villain, newcomer Shamier Anderson, and Scott Adkins in a fat suit, it’s a movie that embraces excess and tries to make something that no one in their right mind should even try. Now, should the story used for Chapter 4 been split up into two movies? I would say yes. There’s just so much going on in terms of the plot, the characters, and the action, that it probably would have been wiser to make two movies instead of one big one. The story and characters and the audience would have had a chance to stop and breathe for a few minutes if the movie had been split into two movies. But at the same time, it’s cool that director Chad Stahelski and his collaborators went for broke and made a movie with so much action, so much fighting, and that absolutely insane “exploding shotgun rounds set piece that we see from above” sequence. And the stairs! That sequence will live on via YouTube and likely be the one scene from Chapter 4 that everyone will remember. I’m always going to be down for another John Wick movie, but if Chapter 4 really is the end, the movie and the franchise went out and down fighting. And fighting. And fighting. Great stuff.
9. 65: The best thing about the sci-fi action adventure flick 65 is that it’s only a little over 90 minutes long, which is something we don’t really see all that much anymore when it comes to genre event movies. Instead of going on and on and running over two hours, 65 makes an effort to tell a tight, action packed story with great looking digital special effects (the dinosaurs all look amazing) and a real sense of danger throughout. Adam Driver also shows that he is a real deal movie star as he’s in just about every scene of the movie and had to carry the movie (and when you consider that the cast of 65 is like five people, Driver’s performance is all that more astonishing. He is the movie). Now, should the writer/director duo Scott Beck and Bryan Woods have spent a little more time at the beginning of the movie establishing the universe the movie takes place in? Yes. Beck and Woods also would have been better off coming up with a better/different title as 65 is a bit too ambiguous. But 65 is a real deal sci-fi romp, an adventure flick that will likely develop a cult audience as the years go by and more people see it (I can see this movie playing on USA or TNT or FX at the same rate as those cable channels play Marvel movies). 65 is also personally special to me as it’s the first movie I saw in a movie theater since January of 2020. 65 looked like something that I should make an effort to see on a big screen. It was well, well worth it.
8. Redneck Mutants: Directed by Brett Piper, Redneck Mutants had its world premiere at the Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival this past August. Redneck Mutants is a wild mix of live action and stop motion animation, with some truly great looking monsters spread throughout the movie’s 67 minute running time. Redneck Mutants is also goofy as hell, with hilarious performances from just about everyone involved (the script is also chock full of great, weird as hell dialogue). It’s also family friendly as there’s nothing particularly “objectionable” in it, which is amazing when you consider the movie’s title (the title gives off “this is going to be sleazy” vibes, at least it does to me. The actual Redneck Mutants isn’t sleazy at all). The movie is fun from start to finish. I just didn’t expect that. And the stop motion animation creatures created by Piper are nothing short of phenomenal. I’m going to assume that Redneck Mutants is still out there, somewhere, on the film festival circuit as I haven’t seen anything about the movie hitting home video or streaming, so be on the lookout for it (the movie doesn’t have an imdb page at the moment or a trailer on YouTube, so search for it on social media). I can’t wait to see it again.
7. No Hard Feelings: I had no idea that No Hard Feelings existed until I saw the red band trailer for it on the internets. For whatever reason the movie was just not on my personal cinema radar. But that first trailer, showcasing the movie’s bawdy sense of humor, I wanted to see it as soon as it came out. I mean, yes, I was a bit skeptical of Jennifer Lawrence starring in it, mostly because she hadn’t done the kind of comedy that’s in No Hard Feelings in any other movie. Lawrence is a great, award winning actress, sure, but would she “fit” into this kind of movie? I shouldn’t have been skeptical at all. Lawrence is fantastic as Maddie, the down on her luck woman who is in dire need of money in order to save her house and is then hired by a rich set of parents to have sex with their virgin 19 year old son “to make him a man” before he starts college. It’s a crazy, somewhat icky set up that is handled with the right amount of both raunch and heart, and the movie is often gut bustlingly funny. Lawrence is totally game for all of the stuff Maddie has to do, including her naked brawl on the beach (I’m surprised that the movie’s advertising didn’t make a bigger deal out of that sequence as it’s the sequence people will likely talk about regarding the movie into the future). It will be interesting to see if the success of this movie will have both Lawrence try to do more comedies in general and more award winning A-list stars like Lawrence take a chance on making a comedy like No Hard Feelings. I can see it happening.
6. Space Wars: Quest for the Deepstar: Space Wars: Quest for the Deepstar, directed by Garo Setian, is a heartfelt, rip roaring sci-fi adventure flick, the kind of movie that doesn’t seem to get made all that much anymore, at least in the low budget B-movie world. Featuring a top notch cast, spectacular looking special effects, and a nifty sci-fi world that everyone involved clearly spent a lot of time on creating, Space Wars: Quest for the Deepstar is a terrific movie watching experience. It’s great fun from start to finish, which is exactly what you want with this kind of sci-fi flick. Michael Pare stars alongside Sarah French as a father-daughter space adventurer/scavenger team that finds itself on the run from multiple bad guys (Olivier Gruner is one, while the great Sadie Katz is another) while trying to help a mysterious woman named Jackie (Anahit Seitan). There are space battles, aliens, general world and universe building, as well as some fun sci-fi space movie dialogue (that really is so hard to pull off, both in movies and in literature). And the movie’s space ships are some of the best I’ve ever seen in any kind of sci-fi movie. Space Wars: Quest for the Deepstar is hopefully the first of many Space Wars adventures where we see Pare’s Kip and French’s Taylor out and about in the universe, helping people and aliens and trying to make a little money to fix their ship. Space Wars: Quest for the Deepstar is available to watch for free on Tubi and is also available on DVD. Go watch it (and buy it) now.
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