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Popgap Diary: 2023 Movies Ranked!

Popgap Diary: 2023 Movies Ranked!

Written by dorrk
10 March 2024

In 2023 I again hit my benchmark of watching over 130 newly released movies. While only a couple of new movies entered the top 5% of my Flickchart, there was a lot of good, provocative, and unique storytelling on display.

Notable Movie Performances of 2023:

There were a lot of very fine (and a few highly overrated) acting performances in 2023. Here are the ones that particularly thrilled me (in no particular order), with no shade on most of the ones I don't mention.

  • Emma Stone and Willem Dafoe in Poor Things.
  • Cailee Spaeny's remarkable transformation in Priscilla.
  • Bradley Cooper, sorry haters, in Maestro.
  • Paul Giamatti in The Holdovers.
  • Juliette Gariépy in Red Rooms.
  • Andrew Bowser in Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls.
  • Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Michaela Watkins, and Jeannie Berlin in You Hurt My Feelings.
  • Rachel Sennott and Marshawn Lynch in Bottoms.
  • Nicolas Cage in Dream Scenario and Renfield; Michael Cera and Dylan Gelula in Dream Scenario.
  • Greta Lee and John Magaro in Past Lives.
  • Mia Goth reclining on the hood of a car, with a bottle of wine and a bucket of chicken, screaming, "Are you a sucky baby, James?" in Infinity Pool.
  • Thomasin McKenzie, Anne Hathaway, and Shea Whigham in Eileen.
  • Benedetta Porcaroli in Amanda.
  • Teyonah Parris and Jamie Foxx in They Cloned Tyrone.
  • Glenn Howerton and Michael Ironside in BlackBerry.
  • Michelle Williams in Showing Up.
  • Jeffrey Wright in American Fiction.
  • Julia Garner and Hugo Weaving in The Royal Hotel.
  • Mia Wasikowska in Club Zero.
  • Eliška Křenková in We Have Never Been Modern.
  • Margot Robbie in Barbie.
  • Joaquin Phoenix in Beau Is Afraid.
  • Liam Neeson, Kerry Condon, and Jack Gleeson in In the Land of Saints and Sinners.
Popgap Diary: The movies of the year 2023, ranked!

My ranking of 134 movies with general release dates in 2023:

The percentage following the rank reflects where each movie falls on my overall Flickchart, which ranks over 6150 movies.

The Sublime:

  1. 97.12%: Poor Things (2023) / Dir.: Yorgos Lanthimos
  2. 96.44%: Priscilla (2023) / Dir.: Sofia Coppola

The Great:

  1. 93.36%: Maestro (2023) / Dir.: Bradley Cooper
  2. 90.85%: The Holdovers (2023) / Dir.: Alexander Payne
  3. 88.65%: Red Rooms (2023) / Dir.: Pascal Plante
  4. 86.95%: Yannick (2023) / Dir.: Quentin Dupieux
  5. 86.73%: Smoking Causes Coughing (2022) / Dir.: Quentin Dupieux
  6. 86.68%: The Taste of Things (2023) / Dir.: Anh Hung Tran
  7. 86.57%: Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls (2023) / Dir.: Andrew Bowser
  8. 86.34%: You Hurt My Feelings (2023) / Dir.: Nicole Holofcener
  9. 85.95%: Bottoms (2023) / Dir.: Emma Seligman
  10. 85.77%: Asteroid City (2023) / Dir.: Wes Anderson
  11. 84.69%: Dream Scenario (2023) / Dir.: Kristoffer Borgli
  12. 84.18%: Talk to Me (2022) / Dir.: Danny Philippou, Michael Philippou
  13. 83.92%: Saltburn (2023) / Dir.: Emerald Fennell
  14. 83.62%: Past Lives (2023) / Dir.: Celine Song
  15. 83.60%: Infinity Pool (2023) / Dir.: Brandon Cronenberg
  16. 83.58%: Eileen (2023) / Dir.: William Oldroyd
  17. 81.19%: Amanda (2022) / Dir.: Carolina Cavalli

The Very Good:

  1. 79.65%: Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) / Dir.: Martin Scorsese
  2. 78.07%: Chop & Steele (2022) / Dir.: Berndt Mader, Ben Steinbauer
  3. 77.41%: The Five Devils (2022) / Dir.: Léa Mysius
  4. 77.30%: The Killer (2023) / Dir.: David Fincher
  5. 76.32%: They Cloned Tyrone (2023) / Dir.: Juel Taylor
  6. 75.30%: BlackBerry (2023) / Dir.: Matt Johnson
  7. 75.24%: Showing Up (2022) / Dir.: Kelly Reichardt
  8. 75.15%: Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023) / Dir.: Christopher McQuarrie
  9. 75.11%: Cobweb (2023) / Dir.: Samuel Bodin
  10. 75.07%: American Fiction (2023) / Dir.: Cord Jefferson
  11. 75.03%: May December (2023) / Dir.: Todd Haynes
  12. 75.02%: The Royal Hotel (2023) / Dir.: Kitty Green
  13. 74.85%: Club Zero (2023) / Dir.: Jessica Hausner
  14. 74.82%: We Have Never Been Modern (2023) / Dir.: Matej Chlupacek
  15. 74.49%: Barbie (2023) / Dir.: Greta Gerwig
  16. 73.49%: Godzilla Minus One (2023) / Dir.: Takashi Yamazaki
  17. 73.20%: Fremont (2023) / Dir.: Babak Jalali
  18. 73.10%: Tin & Tina (2023) / Dir.: Rubin Stein
  19. 71.92%: Unwelcome (2022) / Dir.: Jon Wright
  20. 71.75%: Dumb Money (2023) / Dir.: Craig Gillespie
  21. 71.52%: Thanksgiving (2023) / Dir.: Eli Roth
  22. 70.39%: Renfield (2023) / Dir.: Chris McKay
  23. 69.86%: Beau Is Afraid (2023) / Dir.: Ari Aster
  24. 69.13%: Petrov's Flu (2021) / Dir.: Kirill Serebrennikov

The Good:

  1. 68.81%: Reptile (2023) / Dir.: Grant Singer
  2. 64.04%: No One Will Save You (2023) / Dir.: Brian Duffield
  3. 63.99%: No Hard Feelings (2023) / Dir.: Gene Stupnitsky
  4. 63.99%: Palm Trees and Power Lines (2022) / Dir.: Jamie Dack
  5. 63.38%: The Starling Girl (2023) / Dir.: Laurel Parmet
  6. 62.80%: The Sacrifice Game (2023) / Dir.: Jenn Wexler
  7. 62.66%: The Artifice Girl (2022) / Dir.: Franklin Ritch
  8. 61.78%: Sisu (2022) / Dir.: Jalmari Helander
  9. 61.71%: Last Looks (2021) / Dir.: Tim Kirkby
  10. 60.20%: In the Land of Saints and Sinners (2023) / Dir.: Robert Lorenz
  11. 59.24%: Sick (2022) / Dir.: John Hyams
  12. 59.16%: Venus (2022) / Dir.: Jaume Balagueró
  13. 58.92%: Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. (2023) / Dir.: Kelly Fremon Craig
  14. 58.39%: Huesera: The Bone Woman (2022) / Dir.: Michelle Garza Cervera
  15. 58.01%: Falcon Lake (2022) / Dir.: Charlotte Le Bon
  16. 58.00%: The Zone of Interest (2023) / Dir.: Jonathan Glazer
  17. 57.91%: Satan Wants You (2023) / Dir.: Steve J. Adams, Sean Horlor
  18. 57.90%: Cat Person (2023) / Dir.: Susanna Fogel
  19. 56.48%: Theater Camp (2023) / Dir.: Molly Gordon, Nick Lieberman
  20. 56.34%: God Is a Bullet (2023) / Dir.: Nick Cassavetes

The OK:

  1. 56.33%: The Teacher's Lounge (2023) / Dir.: Ilker Çatak
  2. 56.32%: The House Among the Cactuses (2022) / Dir.: Carlota González-Adrio
  3. 54.27%: M3GAN (2023) / Dir.: Gerard Johnstone
  4. 53.81%: Air (2023) / Dir.: Ben Affleck
  5. 53.72%: Flora and Son (2023) / Dir.: John Carney
  6. 52.12%: How to Blow Up a Pipeline (2022) / Dir.: Daniel Goldhaber
  7. 52.04%: The Boogeyman (2023) / Dir.: Rob Savage
  8. 51.86%: Napoleon (2023) / Dir.: Ridley Scott
  9. 51.60%: The Iron Claw (2023) / Dir.: Sean Durkin
  10. 51.07%: Candy Land (2022) / Dir.: John Swab
  11. 50.94%: Lady Ballers (2023) / Dir.: Jeremy Boreing
  12. 50.42%: I Like Movies (2022) / Dir.: Chandler Levack
  13. 50.09%: The Covenant (2023) / Dir.: Guy Ritchie
  14. 50.09%: The Natural History of Destruction (2022) / Dir.: Sergey Loznitsa
  15. 50.08%: Cocaine Bear (2023) / Dir.: Elizabeth Banks
  16. 48.79%: Subject (2022) / Dir.: Camilla Hall & Jennifer Tiexiera
  17. 47.03%: Marlowe (2022) / Dir.: Neil Jordan
  18. 46.20%: The Worst Ones (2022) / Dir.: Lise Akoka, Romane Gueret
  19. 44.41%: What Comes Around (2022) / Dir.: Amy Redford
  20. 43.41%: When Evil Lurks (2023) / Dir.: Demián Rugna
  21. 43.33%: The Passenger (2023) / Dir.: Carter Smith
  22. 42.67%: It's a Wonderful Knife (2023) / Dir.: Tyler MacIntyre
  23. 42.12%: To Catch a Killer (2023) / Dir.: Damián Szifron
  24. 41.67%: The Equalizer 3 (2023) / Dir.: Antoine Fuqua
  25. 41.66%: The Price We Pay (2022) / Dir.: Ryûhei Kitamura

The Not Quite OK:

  1. 40.89%: Evil Dead Rise (2023) / Dir.: Lee Cronin
  2. 40.76%: Influencer (2022) / Dir.: Kurtis David Harder
  3. 40.70%: The River Wild (2023) / Dir.: Ben Ketai
  4. 39.86%: Suitable Flesh (2023) / Dir.: Joe Lynch
  5. 39.74%: Joy Ride (2023) / Dir.: Adele Lim
  6. 39.74%: Leave the World Behind (2023) / Dir.: Sam Esmail
  7. 39.24%: Inside (2023) / Dir.: Vasilis Katsoupis
  8. 38.83%: The Blackening (2022) / Dir.: Tim Story
  9. 37.59%: Five Nights at Freddy's (2023) / Dir.: Emma Tammi
  10. 37.10%: Home for Rent (2023) / Dir.: Sophon Sakdaphisit
  11. 36.19%: Ferrari (2023) / Dir.: Michael Mann
  12. 35.51%: Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre (2023) / Dir.: Guy Ritchie

The Disappointments:

  1. 33.68%: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) / Dir.: James Mangold
  2. 32.72%: Sanctuary (2022) / Dir.: Zachary Wigon
  3. 32.48%: Kompromat (2023) / Dir.: Jérôme Salle
  4. 32.45%: Sister Death (2023) / Dir.: Paco Plaza
  5. 32.44%: Pet Sematary: Bloodlines (2023) / Dir.: Lindsey Beer
  6. 31.45%: Dreamin' Wild (2022) / Dir.: Bill Pohlad
  7. 31.32%: The Captain (2023) / Dir.: Matteo Garrone
  8. 31.16%: Extraction 2 (2023) / Dir.: Sam Hargrave
  9. 29.85%: Fast X (2023) / Dir.: Louis Leterrier
  10. 29.73%: The End of Sex (2022) / Dir.: Sean Garrity
  11. 29.73%: Slotherhouse (2023) / Dir.: Matthew Goodhue
  12. 29.34%: Scream VI (2023) / Dir.: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett
  13. 29.27%: Skinamarink (2022) / Dir.: Kyle Edward Ball
  14. 25.62%: Coup de chance (2023) / Dir.: Woody Allen
  15. 25.56%: Oppenheimer (2023) / Dir.: Christopher Nolan

The Bad:

  1. 25.09%: Linoleum (2022) / Dir.: Colin West
  2. 22.54%: Sympathy for the Devil (2023) / Dir.: Yuval Adler
  3. 21.27%: There's Something in the Barn (2023) / Dir.: Magnus Martens
  4. 20.51%: Fair Play (2023) / Dir.: Chloe Domont
  5. 19.06%: Malum (2023) / Dir.: Anthony DiBlasi
  6. 18.40%: The Wrath of Becky (2023) / Dir.: Matt Angel, Suzanne Coote
  7. 18.10%: Silent Night (2023) / Dir.: John Woo
  8. 16.31%: Anatomy of a Fall (2023) / Dir.: Justine Triet
  9. 16.00%: Fingernails (2023) / Dir.: Christos Nikou

The Hateable:

  1. 14.35%: Gatlopp: Hell of a Game (2022) / Dir.: Alberto Belli
  2. 14.26%: We Have a Ghost (2023) / Dir.: Christopher Landon
  3. 13.91%: The Exorcist: Believer (2023) / Dir.: David Gordon Green
  4. 13.58%: The Ritual Killer (2023) / Dir.: George Gallo
  5. 13.12%: Monster (2023) / Dir.: Hirokazu Koreeda
  6. 12.75%: Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023) / Dir.: Rhys Frake-Waterfield
  7. 11.12%: The Color Purple (2023) / Dir.: Blitz Bazawule
  8. 9.65%: Sound of Freedom (2023) / Dir.: Alejandro Monteverde
  9. 9.47%: Candy Cane Lane (2023) / Dir.: Reginald Hudlin
  10. 7.53%: Children of the Corn (2020) / Dir.: Kurt Wimmer

2023 in Review: 134 Movies Ranked!

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