I tend to go to the cinema quite a lot so I thought I would rank the movies I have seen in the cinema during 2023. Starting with worst one and ending with the best one. The rules are that it has to be a movie that premiered in 2023 in Sweden and I saw it in the cinema. Keep in mind that these are my personal opinions, it’s totally fine if you liked a movie I hated and vice versa.
11 – Gran Turismo
I didn’t have high hopes for this movie and it still left me disappointed. Mainly I had hoped for some nice shots of cars racing but I thought the racing sequences were just generic and boring. It doesn’t really pick up any points in the acting or story department either. If you want a racing movie watch Ford vs Ferrari instead.
10 – Asteroid City
I know that Wes Andersson movies are a bit different than what I’m used to but I still didn’t get this movie at all. I liked the style of it but other than that I thought it was incredibly boring, don’t really have much more to add.
9 – Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
I rewatched all the Indiana Jones movies before going to see this one, it really showed me how good the first one is. This new one is certainly not the worst, I would even rank it the third best in the series after the first and third movies. But that doesn’t say much when the second and fourth movies are so horribly bad.
The movie has some bright spots but considering the whole thing I feel quite indifferent about it. I will say though that the main three actors does a pretty good job, Harrison Ford, Mads Mikkelsen and Phoebe Waller-Bridge.
Now we are leaving the bad and so so movies and move on to movies which I would call worth watching.
8 – Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
I rarely watch super hero movies because there is just an overload of them, I have three exceptions though, Batman, Deadpool and Guardians of the Galaxy! The first Guardians movie is one of my favorite movies of all time and even if the second one isn’t as good I still liked it very much.
I enjoyed this third installment as well but not as much as the previous two. I was quite confused by the Gamora situation but I’m guessing that has been covered in some other Marvel movie which I didn’t see. Guardians movies are always really funny and this is no exception but I think at times it felt a bit forced. Still a fun movie though with a lot more depth than the previous ones, definitely worth a watch!
7 – BlackBerry
This was one of this years biggest surprises for me. I’m very interested in technology and tech history in general so I’m very familiar with the BlackBerry story, I was therefore very curious to see how they would tell the story.
I was very pleasantly surprised how well they did it and how fun it was. Even if you have never heard about the company BlackBerry you will still enjoy this movie, it’s worth a watch if you just want something fun!
6 – The Creator
A new original sci-fi movie really peaks my interest, it is my favorite genre and it’s been a bit starved of good movies in the past few years. We’ve had some really long movies this year but in this case I think it could have been a bit longer. A bit more time to build the story, characters and the suspense. But the biggest problem I had with the movie wasn’t really the movie, it was the trailer that gave away way too much information about the story. Unfortunately it’s difficult to not see trailers of upcoming movies when going to the cinema. I also think it strayed a bit too much away from sci-fi and into fantasy territory at the end for my taste. Still worth a watch though and I will not link the trailer here to not spoil anything in case you have managed to miss it.
5 – Napoleon
I feel like this movie has two very different faces, the battle scenes and Napoleons personal life. I thought the battle scenes were really good, some of the best I’ve seen in a movie. The personal stuff can get a bit weird sometimes, but maybe that is exactly how it was like being Napoleon. Overall I enjoyed the movie but I thought it didn’t quite live up to the hype.
This is another point in the list where there is a clear jump in quality, we’ve had some movies that were good but now we are getting into the movies that were truly great!
4 – Killers of the Flower Moon
This certainly isn’t a fun movie but it’s a great movie. Well made, well acted and an interesting and important story. It’s long, very long, 3 hours and 20 minutes which is the longest movie I have ever seen. I never felt like I was bored, it kept my interest through the whole movie. But what I would like is a break to stretch my legs in the middle. Could be a perfect watch at home movie so you can pause whenever you like!
3 – Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning – Part One
The Mission Impossible movies have been excellent ever since MI4 and this one is another great entry. Interesting story, good action, well made, there’s not much more to say!
2 – Oppenheimer
I’m a big Christopher Nolan fan so I was really looking forward to this movie and it didn’t disappoint! I love that he uses IMAX cameras and practical effects, you can really tell the difference. I had the opportunity to see this in IMAX (digital), 35mm and 70mm (not IMAX). The unstable image of the 35mm gave it a very appropriate feel but I would have to say 70mm and IMAX are the way to go, 70mm probably gives you the best of both worlds for a movie like this.
The story of Oppenheimer is very interesting and it’s told very well by Nolan and the actors. The only criticism I would have is that it drags on a bit at the end. But it’s still a must watch for everyone!
1 – Babylon
I had a really difficult time picking if this or Oppenheimer would take the top spot, very different movies. But I ended up going with Babylon much because of how out of nowhere this movie came for me. I’ve heard people say that this is a movie you either love or don’t understand at all, I definitely fall into the first category.
I didn’t have a lot of expectations going in to the movie which certainly helped in being surprised and wowed by it. The part that really make it stick out for me is the music which is amazing, but it’s also quite funny and a visual spectacle. I like how different it is from many movies of today, wish we will see more of that in the future!