The Best and Worst Genre Films of 2023

It was a great year for “quality” cinema, but it was an even better year for the genre pulps, starting with the hit horror-comedy ‘M3GAN’ and the much-anticipated and not-disappointing ‘Cocaine Bear.’ But even though those two films got a lot of press, there were movies that were even better than they were, and there were a lot of movies that were way worse. Here are my picks and not-picks for the best and worst year at the movies in a long time.

BEST

John Wick Chapter 4

Sure, it had a ridiculously long runtime for the fourth installment of a headshot fest, but the supposed final chapter of the John Wick series was a film that knew there was no such thing as excess for the world of Mr. Wick. It upped the ante and stayed true to its brand. What more could you want?

Suzume

In a year that saw the release of Studio Ghibli’s The Boy and the Heron, which will surely get all of the awards season attention, it says a lot that Suzume was 2023’s anime standout. The studio that brought us Your Name and Weathering with You really can do no wrong. I rank this one ahead of the latter and behind the former. Charming, hilarious, and action-packed, it will leave you feeling like you have made new friends and gone through a coming-of-age journey yourself.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

How in the bloody hell do you manage to improve upon the visual perfection of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse? Lord and Miller and team did exactly that. The story may not be as tight as the first one, but Across feels more expansive while not losing its heart and sense of humor. Not only is this film a gold standard for the sprawling Marvel apparatus, it could be credited for a new renaissance in American feature film animation.

Talk to Me

Talk to Me has urban-legend energy, and it lets you know from the very first scene that it is not fucking around. It brings the possession subgenre into the TikTok age with a cruelty and finesse that is rare in today’s teen horror flicks. Very excited to see what the directing duo of the Phillipou brothers can do with Street Fighter, the prequel for Talk to Me they’ve already filmed (!), and the upcoming sequel Talk 2 Me.

How to Blow Up a Pipeline

Did you know that eco-activism could be so cool? I don’t think I’ve felt the way this film made me feel since the first time I saw The Bridge on the River Kwai. While it can get a bit preachy about civic duty and environmentalism, it’s certainly offset an exhilaratingly fresh counterculture sensibility.

WORST

Five Nights at Freddy’s

The global box office would say otherwise, but this clumsy fan cam of a film is so boring to sit through and isn’t even the best possessed animatronic kids restaurant horror film available. Even if that weren’t the case, it still feels like hard evidence that we should be concerned about leaving horror cinema in Gen Z’s hands.

Skinamarink

The more I think about this film, the more irritated I get. Adapted from the heralded short film Heck, this intimate, single-setting, lo-fi, low-budget story from the perspective of children has all of the designations, doesn’t it? It presents as high-concept, but does not deliver anything but unearned jump scares and laborious house interior shots that even a Zillow addict wouldn’t care about.

The Exorcist: Believer

I’m going to be particularly harsh about this one because The Exorcist (1973) is my favorite horror film, and this one really was disappointing. It fundamentally misunderstands what made the original great and affecting while missing an opportunity to blaze its own path and embrace the Haitian witchcraft avenue it only hints at. To add insult to injury, they brought Ellen Burstyn back only to misuse her character and debase her. It’s the type of film that makes you reassess a filmmaker’s previous films with a less forgiving eye.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

This was certainly the year where there was a perceptible shift in how the moviegoing public feels about the Marvel Cinematic Universe, whether it’s warranted or not. Quantumania was a distinct signpost in a year that ultimately saw the worst performing MCU film. It contributed to weird shouts from fans to reboot the whole universe or bring back dead characters. Strangely, Ant-Man 3 isn’t awful. It’s just not particularly good, which at this stage in the game is awful.

A Knock at the Cabin

M. Night Shyamalan’s most recent films have become somewhat of a Rorschach test, but aside from an unsurprisingly great performance by Dave Bautista this one feels like a tedious, overwrought Ethics 101 word problem adapted into a feature film. Add an unnecessary anti-gay bigotry subplot, and you’re really cooking with sanctimony.