10. Babylon
Starring Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie, this ambitious three-hour ensemble from La La Land director Damien Chazelle, charts the rise and fall of multiple characters during an unbridled era of decadence and depravity in Hollywood. With a magnetic performance from Robbie, Babylon is propelled by a bombastic Justin Hurwitz score and lurches from one captivating set-piece to the next. Much like the era in which it’s set, the film is audacious, extravagant and more than a little indulgent, but is enthralling viewing all the same.
9. Dungeons & Dragons: Honour among Thieves
Based on the popular role playing game, this proved to be the years biggest surprise hit. Co-directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein assemble a star-studded cast, including Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriquez and Hugh Grant, to tell this fantasy tale of misfit adventurers who embark on a quest to retrieve a lost relic. Lovingly celebrating the games dense mythology, D&D has a perfectly judged comedic tone and real emotional heart.
- The Creator
In the year 2070, war rages between Man and artificial intelligence. John David Washington’s special forces operative is recruited to hunt down the AI’s elusive creator and destroy their mysterious new weapon. Displaying his clear love for Sci-fi, British director Gareth Edwards delivers an inventive and soulful man vs machine story which cleverly flips the evil robot narrative on its head.
- The Royal Hotel
Australian director Kitty Green, the woman behind low-key 2019 office drama ‘The Assistant’, reunites with star Julia Garner for this thrillingly tense tale of two cash-strapped backpackers who take a job at a remote Australian outback pub.
The overwhelmingly male clientele, fuelled by a combination of boredom and booze, subject the girls to varying levels of unwelcome attention and force the pair to walk an uneasy tightrope between their job and their own safety.
- They Cloned Tyrone
With a hilarious scene stealing performance from the indomitable Jamie Foxx, writer / director Juel Taylor effortlessly blends genres to create this mystery sci-fi comedy for Netflix. John Boyega stars as drug dealer Fontaine who is forced to team up with Teyonah Paris’s sex worker Yo-Yo and Foxx’s pimp Slick Charles to investigate a series of eerie events in their neighbourhood, pulling them into a nefarious government conspiracy.
- Barbie
One half of July’s #Barbenheimer double bill, Greta Gerwig’s film proved to be a box office sensation. With outstanding performances from Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and Ken, the film is a subversive feminist satire which cleverly manages to both critic the dolls chequered history and embrace it at the same time. With profound existential elements intertwined with laugh out loud moments and song and dance sequences, Barbie is an utterly unique experience.
- Sisu
During the final days of WWII, a solitary gold prospector falls foul of a retreating Nazi platoon as he try’s to cross Finland and return home. After stealing the old man’s gold, the Germans quickly discover they have tangled with the wrong miner, who is actually a legendary former commando. What follows is a glorious feast of extravagant violence from Finnish director Jalmari Helander, as the charismatic Jorma Tommila relentlessly tears into the Nazi’s in a bid to retrieve his bounty.
- Talk to me
When a group of friends discover they can summon the dead by using an embalmed hand, it becomes a thrilling new party craze, but when one of them goes too far, it unleashes a terrifying supernatural force they can’t control.
Australian brothers Danny and Michael Philippou’s debut feature is a nasty and unsettling slice of modern horror for the Tik-Tok generation.
- Godzilla Minus One
Takashi Yamazaki’s terrific Godzilla prequel is set in the aftermath of WWII and focuses on a failed kamikaze pilot struggling to move on after the war.
With astounding effects that bely its tiny 15mil budget, the films strength is in the human stories and emotional core, which allow the characters to develop before big Zill commences his rampage.
- Oppenheimer
A 3-hour masterpiece from British director Christopher Nolan which explores the life of theoretical physicist J.Robert Oppenheimer, creator of the atomic bomb.
Brilliantly acted by an all-star cast including Cillian Murphy in the title role. Oppenheimer is completely absorbing for the entirety of its lengthy runtime. An intense and intelligent blockbuster from an assured director at the top of his craft.
Paul Steward
31/12/23
@grittster