OUR resident film reviewers Tom Parry and Stefan Bradley reunite to discuss the past year of releases!
Stefan Bradley: Hey Tom, thanks for joining me for this retrospective. 2023 in film will be remembered for some fantastic films, but also as the year of mediocrity and box-office bombs. We saw so many movies this year that were disappointing, even if they weren’t necessarily terrible. At the start of the year we weren’t that jaded, by the end of it I wondered why on Earth was I spending time and money on these. It also didn’t help that from about March until August, the studios just kept pumping out films, it was hard to keep up. On a positive note, a year ago we did our most anticipated movies, and you said Oppenheimer, which you’ve now listed as your favourite film of the year.
Tom Parry: Yes, it is – turns out I was right to be excited for it! 2023 as a whole was actually better than I was expecting. My favourites hasn’t changed since July – my top four, in order, are Oppenheimer, John Wick: Chapter Four, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning.
SB: My top four isn’t in order because I’m finding it very hard to choose my actual favourite. They are John Wick 4, Across the Spider-Verse, Godzilla: Minus One and The Super Mario Bros. Movie. I’ll admit the Mario movie is largely a nostalgic pick, but I love it. If were to pick just one at the moment I would say Godzilla. If you saw it, I’m sure you’d just be as full of praise as I am because that movie does nearly everything right – the story is great, the human drama is so compelling, and the incredible visuals and score enhance the epic Godzilla destruction. It’s close to flawless. Looks like we agree on John Wick and Spider-Man – both represent the very best in action and animation, respectively. Honourable mentions for me include The Banshees of Insherin, Mission: Impossible 7, Babylon, Elemental, Barbie, Oppenheimer, Meg 2: The Trench (yes, really), Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 3, M3GAN, Talk to Me and The Boy and the Heron.
TP: Oppenheimer is the most recent release on my list, which gives an indication as to the quality of the movies which came out after that. Aside from Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn – which played at Sale Cinema late last year – there hasn’t really been any films which have particularly interested or excited me since July. It’s worth bringing up that every film in my top four was at least two hours and twenty minutes in length, including credits.
SB: That’s the other theme of this year – many of these releases were much longer than they needed to be. Why is The Little Mermaid over two hours when the animated original is under 90 minutes? The likes of Spider-Verse, John Wick, Oppenheimer, Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 3 and Mission Impossible were all quite lengthy but also pretty great. I’m definitely not opposed to long movies, but don’t waste my time. I’m looking at you – Indiana Jones and the Dial of Dullness … I mean Dial of Destiny. I don’t think Indy 5 is a bad movie, but of all the releases on my 2023 Shelf of Mediocrity, it’s the most baffling. I can’t believe they threw so much money at something so average and overlong as a send-off for one of the most iconic and influential film franchises of all time. That’s why it’s my pick for worst film of the year, even though I’m sure there’s countless others that are much worse – we didn’t watch those thankfully.
TP: In terms of my ‘Shelf Of Mediocrity’, I would put all four DC movies that came out this year on my list – those being Shazam: Fury of the Gods, The Flash, Blue Beetle and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. All four are my picks for worst movies in general too. They all had low-quality special effects, faltered in the comedy and action department, and retold the same stories that other studios have told much better these past two decades.
SB: Other not-so-interesting movies on the ‘meh list’ are The Little Mermaid, The Marvels, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, plus the DC ones you mentioned, although I actually liked Blue Beetle. And 2023 was the year that we started talking about generative AI, but as far as know, all these scripts were written by people, so I have a feeling the AI is going to make it even worse. The main problem this year was bad writing, because you wouldn’t need to do reshoots and fix things with visual effects if you nailed your screenplay the first time.
TP: On the opposite side of the coin, we have a recent movie called Anyone But You, a romantic-comedy starring Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney. Its script was brilliant, but the direction was atrocious – lines and scenes which should have been hilarious, fell absolutely flat. I saw the gags and I said to myself, “This is funny,” but I wasn’t laughing because it was all directed so badly.
SB: I haven’t seen that one yet, but I know they filmed it in Australia. Speaking of which, I want to give a shout out to Talk to Me, for being a really great Australian horror movie that captured the imagination of fans around the world. Now, let’s talk TV. The two Attack on Titan specials were an amazing way to end one of my favourite shows ever. The Boys’ spinoff, Gen V, also arrived in 2023 and I absolutely loved it. Beef and Loki (season two) were also great. Two other great Aussie shows worth mentioning were The Clearing and Koala Man.
TP: I do want to give a shout out to Bluey and its very popular episode, ‘Cricket’, which is fast becoming a fan-favourite and has touched the hearts of not just thousands of children but many more adults throughout the country and the world. As you know Stefan, I watch a lot more movies during my spare time than I do television shows, but I did watch The Last of Us as per your recommendation, and it is definitely the best television show of the year – it’s been nominated for several Emmys, and I sincerely hope it wins them all.
SB: Yes, The Last of Us is easily my pick for best TV show. Season 3 of The Mandalorian goes on the ‘Shelf of Mediocrity’, but I’m going to nominate Secret Invasion as the worst show of the year, because even though I only watched about two of the six episodes, it bored me so much I think it’s very fair to call it bad. Early on there is a death of a major character who has been in the Marvel films for many years, but when it happened, I felt absolutely nothing, and I always liked this character! A much better creative team would have written a more compelling and emotional end. And to make matters worse, they used AI technology to animate the intro credits, and it’s cool for two seconds before you want to skip it.
TP: That show certainly was a disappointment. But to wrap up, thanks to everyone for reading our reviews in 2023, and be sure to keep going to the Sale Cinema. You can also watch movies at Regent Theatre Yarram, or join a local film society! Look out for more film viewing opportunities in your area!
Across the Spider-Verse was one of the few superhero success stories in 2023.
Image: Sony Pictures
Oppenheimer was widely successful and was part of the ‘Barbenheimer’ craze.
Image: Universal Pictures/Syncopy
Godzilla Minus One is making an impact around the world. Image: Toho
