This is a tricky list to do this year. Normally I watch 10-12 movies in the year, new ones to me. This year, I’m not sure that I made it to that number. In fact, my new to movies for 2023 might only have been six. But all of them were 2023 movies, so there is that at least. One of them, is a kids movie. And oddly, most of them I watched in the theater. But out of the six movies I remember watching for sure in 2023, for the first time, let’s see which one I liked best.

Top 5 Movies of 2023

5. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

I know that a lot of people thought it was a very down year for Marvel. I tend to disagree as I really enjoyed Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Is it a perfect film? No, it is definitely not one of those, but it’s a fun film with a lot of fun visuals. And I thought that they handled everything in a way consistent with how Ant-Man and the Wasp films have worked before.

I really enjoyed the quantum realm in this movie, which is good because it’s mainly in there. But they got to explore and have some fun with it and the inhabitants of it. And Kang the Conqueror (or at least the person who called himself that) was terrifying at times and powerful at times. Then, yes, the finale is a bit goofy, but I like a lot of what it does.

I think Quantumania works well if you go into it and think it’s on the lighter end of the Star Wars movies. I know that isn’t for everyone, as well, but it feels like some elements from those films. And not just the prequel pod racing goofiness or the celebration retread feeling of the finale of the Skywalker saga. But like the original trilogy where there are places and locations with just a bit of everything going on in them.

4. Across the Spider-verse

This one might surprise some people with how low it is. I got one main critique of this film in that it’s not a complete story. In fact it’s barely a story, it’s more of a bridge between stories. I’m going to say something that sounds very negative, but this is more about how trilogies are made, it has a bit of the feel of Pirates of the Caribbean 2 & 3. I think it is better than those, but those two movies are one movie split into two. Across the Spider-verse is that as well.

Now with that negative out of the way, it is an amazingly gorgeous film to watch. And the characters are engaging in it. I think especially the older Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy really make the movie work. Miles Morales is solid as well, but Gwen in particular is kind of the lead and focus of the story, at least from how her character comes across and how she grows throughout the movie.

And I am very excited for the finale of this story. I’m not going to say end of the trilogy, they might do more. But the next Spider-verse movie should work together with Across the Spider-verse to make a great two part movie to show one whole story. And that is something that not all movies do, especially in trilogies. Often times I’m interested to finish it, but because the second movie isn’t it’s own whole story, I lose steam on it.

3. The Marvels

The Marvels might be one of the better surprises for me for the year. It’s really close between these bottom three of my Top 5 movies of 2023. But all of them are fun, and I think because I went into The Marvels with lower expectations I appreciate what it does even more.

The Marvels is just a fun movie. The characters are fun and work together and especially Iman Vellani who steals the show with basically every scene that she is in. But the other main characters do well, as well. And I think they leaned into Brie Larson’s wooden acting for Carol Danvers and made that more part of the story. Which I think is a smart move. She’s not the best superhero actor, so build around what is working.

Now, not all of the movie works perfectly. There are some rough patches. The singing planet is fine at best, and they really don’t spend enough time there to make it worth it. They also spend too much time there, so it’s a bit annoying. The planet didn’t fully know what it wanted or needed to be for the movie. But with good character development and a bunch of fun nods and good post credit type of scenes, this is just a fun movie to watch.

2. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3

Now the last Marvel movie on the list, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 is a fun movie but also not a fun movie to watch. It is a heavy movie with digging into Rocket’s backstory, but it is so good. And it is heartfelt too, I think that the High Evolutionary is one of the better bad bad guys. He isn’t trying to redeem anything really, he is just power hungry and wants to play god.

This is a great end to the trilogy of Guardians of the Galaxy films. At least as the Guardians as we know it. They gave a lot of the characters a good amount of time on the screen and left some in areas where they can continue in the MCU. I fully expect to see some of them back.

I think why this one is higher is that this one feels like there weren’t any missteps. The story works and you feel for the characters. And there is more character growth that happens as well for a lot of the characters figuring out what they want to do. It’s where Marvel is the best, when it’s about the characters and their arcs and growth across the movies.

1. Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

Finally, it’s a non-Marvel film. Everything else was Marvel and the other one from 2023 I know I watched, Paw Patrol movie, was still super pups so superheroes as well. But let’s talk about what makes the Dungeons and Dragons movie the top on my list.

This is the type of movie that I like a lot as well in terms of a light action adventure movie. And it is set in a setting that I really like. I enjoy Dungeons and Dragons a ton. I play it a ton. But it’s not just that, it’s also one that has heart to it.

The characters all have fun development of building confidence, trust, balancing out ego, and letting go of the past. The themes are good. When coming out of the movie the best way to describe it is that it’s a fun movie with Dungeons and Dragons stuff in it, but it was a movie and story first, and that was put into Dungeons and Dragons perfectly.

I just watched it again about a week ago and I’ve seen it three times. And it is just as fun every time. It’s like The Marvels in that I would always watch it if I stumbled across it. But I think with Honor Among Thieves I would still want to watch it once a year anyways. And I hope, fingers crossed, that there is a second movie because I think people were hesitant to start. But now that people are seeing it, they like it. It just didn’t do as well as in theaters as it could have been.

Final Thoughts

I really don’t watch too many movies anymore. There are a few reasons, the big one being that with a kid, a lot of my evenings are shorter. But when I do, it’s almost always going to be Marvel. I’ll do a Top 5 anticipated movies for 2024 coming out.

What have you watched from 2023 that you like? Let me know if you think there are some I should checkout.

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