Welcome to the 2023 SiftPop.com Sifties!
This year, the SiftPop writers came together to nominate five films for Best Movie. There is always a good deal of subjectivity that goes into an award like this, but there were five movies that stood out as clear favorites of the group:
Past Lives is one of those sneaky movies. Many mainstream audiences only heard about it after it got some Golden Globe nominations, but it deserves its praise. It’s a beautiful, indie-like movie with a great screenplay, amazing performances and one gut-punching ending. The main thing about Past Lives is its relatability, as you don’t have to be a foreigner to understand that what-if scenario this movie plays around with. It’s a movie about connections, bonds we form over our lives, and those we never get a chance to form, and how those influence our lives as much as those we have managed to form, possibly even more. And it tells its story well, much better than can ever be described.
2023 was a year where so many different films could understandably be someone’s favorite of the year, yet a film like The Holdovers might end up being the most rewatched as the years go by. Now, it has the advantage of already being a certified holiday classic, but that is not a moniker so easily given out anymore. For a movie to enter the hallowed halls of yearly holiday rewatch, that’s heavy stuff. The Holdovers has that power. Alexander Payne crafted a movie so distinct in its depiction of the holiday season that it immediately felt individual in its existence. A beautiful balance of humor and melancholy, feeling utterly specific in its situation yet completely universal in emotional resonance. It’s truly a testament to the wonder of Payne’s vision from behind the camera. Of course, it helps to have the dynamic talent of the three primary leads. It’s easy to say this is Paul Giamatti at his career-best. Da’Vine Joy Randolph better have your attention. Dominic Sessa continued the popular trend in 2023 in being a young or first-time talent that broke out in a massive way. The Holdovers will likely not be the first movie thought about when we think back on 2023, but it very easily could stand the test of time like few others.
Since the inception of the character, Barbie has solidified herself as a pop culture icon. Over 60 years later, she finally made her way to the big screen as the highest-grossing movie of 2023. Greta Gerwig does something remarkable with Barbie: It’s an outstanding movie that’s funny, charming, moving, and deep. That’s not the easiest combination for any filmmaker, but Gerwig writes and directs a truly one-of-a-kind and unique experience that, saved the summer box office from total disaster (along with its partner in crime, Oppenheimer). Barbie has something to say about what it means to be a woman, the pressures of living up to your expectations, and masculinity, something most box office successes don’t typically do. The performances are all incredible, anchored by Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling. Robbie delivers an inspiring and beautiful performance as a Barbie that is in soul-searching mode and having a crisis of identity. As Ken, Gosling flexes his comedic muscles, while also showcasing a masterclass in toxic masculinity. He was more than Kenough for the audience! The toy industry is also taken to task, with Will Ferrel doing a repeat of his Lord Business character from The Lego Movie. America Ferrera delivers a speech for the ages about what it means to be a woman and how hard it is. Barbie had a talk task, and everyone delivered to make it the biggest hit of 2023.
As a whole, 2023 was a film year where many blockbusters — and comic book movies in particular — underwhelmed. A rare exception was Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. A sequel to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, it does what you want every great sequel to do: take what made the original great and expand upon it. Picking up a little more than a year after the events of the last film, Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) reunites with Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) and must confront his place in the multiverse, what it means to be Spider-Man, and how to write his own story. The animation continues to push boundaries and is absolutely stunning, and the score is one of the best of the year. While the original focuses largely on Miles, Gwen is basically a co-lead here, bookending the film with a cold open and voiceover in the finale — a move that adds more depth and emotion to the storytelling. Beyond the returning favorites, audiences were introduced to a variety of memorable spider-people. It’s truly a cinematic experience that delivers on every front.
It’s almost never a good idea to throw around words like “best,” but we’re giving out awards here. So not only is Oppenheimer the best movie of the year, it’s also Christopher Nolan’s best movie. In his past movies, Nolan includes those kinetic, exciting, and/or intense scenes where characters are just talking, and they’re always well-written and -edited. Oppenheimer is basically three hours of that type of scene, and apart from a bomb going off about two hours into the movie, those conversations are what keep you on the edge of your seat the whole time. It only feels like there are three distinct stopping points between scenes in the whole movie! Talk about brisk pacing (and credit to Jennifer Lame, whose last name is an oxymoron, for the editing)! But of course, most of what makes those scenes so fundamentally compelling is what the characters are talking about. Nolan never lets his characters off the hook, and Oppenheimer is about as harrowing and full of existential terror as movies get.
Make sure to check out the previous 2023 Sifties winners!
You can also listen to the SiftPop writers’ top five movies of the year on the SiftPop Writers’ Room Podcast!