Variety is the key word when it comes to this year’s audience top ten films. 2023 certainly had plenty of it – it was the year where Everything Everywhere All At Once (voted the third best film of 2022) won Best Picture and Barbenheimer happened. The results of this year’s list continues the mixture of big-budget blockbusters and acclaimed indie films from previous years, yet the titles featured provide perhaps the most interesting selection from an audience poll yet. While some might be divisive, each of these films brought something specially for the big screen, clearly with effect to have been given votes to appear on this list. And so, here are the top ten films of 2023 (by UK release date), as voted for by the Just A Little Bit Random (in its various forms) audience.

10. Beau Is Afraid

Undeniably one of the most divisive films of the year, Ari Aster’s Beau Is Afraid is perhaps the most surprising film in this year’s list. Yet, it wasn’t just the first film to receive a vote in this year’s poll, but also had a generally consistent show of support. Whether it be the darkness of Hereditary, the dread of Midsommar or Beau Is Afraid’s feeling of being a pure panic attack, over three features Aster has clearly formed a following with the strong tones which he creates – the latter something of a departure from his first two films with its stronger vein of dark comedy.

For those able to stay with the madness that was unfolding on screen, especially in the final hour, there was a good deal of impact to be found in the tones and styles caught up in the film’s events. As we see Joaquin Phoenix thrown around and trying to find some form of peace while it seems that everyone and everything wants to attack him and stop him from getting to his mother’s (Patti LuPone) funeral. There’s plenty of creativity within the fantastical stylistic sequences which throw Phoenix’s Beau around over the course of three hours. Even for those who may not have liked the film there’s certainly a number of memorable moments and images throughout. And having been released back in May the memory of it, and the feelings of a strange dream (or nightmare) like state that it manages to put upon the audience from start to finish, has clearly pushed it for a number of people, leading it to be voted as the tenth best film of the year.

9. Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3

“Once more with feeling” ran the tagline for the final chapter of the Guardians Of The Galaxy as we know them. The MCU is no stranger to the audience top ten and while 2023 may not have been their strongest year the much-loved Guardians managed to continue their success. Backed by another set of excellent needle drops, handpicked by writer-director James Gunn, the humour and emotion were well-balanced in the team’s final and most personal outing.

The key ingredients are all present; the familiar and likable personalities of the characters we’ve come to know over nine years, the colour of the worlds and visuals we visit and, again, the soundtrack. All creating a more immersive and entertaining sci-fi action-adventure instead of a sentimental best-of, wringing out the feeling of goodbye. Back in 2014 when debuting on the big screen the Guardians Of The Galaxy were Marvel Studios’ biggest gamble yet, less than a decade later they’re one of their most beloved fan-favourite properties. The care and bond of the family unit makes this group and the care and bond between them, and the cast and crew, is on clear display from Radiohead to Florence And The Machine – each bringing something distinct and impactful to the sequences which they compliment. This, for many, was a fond farewell to the universe’s misfit heroes. We are Groot.

8. Babylon

Damien Chazelle’s maximalist-and-then-some Babylon certainly leaves a whirling memory long after it’s finished – even if it is the earworm of composer Justin Hurwitz’s Voodoo Mama. The loud and lavish parties are messy and intoxicating. Creating a dizzying feeling pushing the heady Hollywood cocktail that the characters so want to be caught up in. The excess featured in the technical aspects is all captured with a knowledge of the chaos, knowing how to track it so that it feels messy in just the right way.

Not just an ode to cinema, and the late-20s silents-to-talkies scene this is a film that wants to get caught up in its characters hopes and dreams. Finding plenty of humour within the landscape and Hollywood setting, particularly in its movie-making montages, the fast-moving nature of things means that the laughs can push it along even more. Undeniably another divisive film in this list, the maximalism, seemingly aiming to rival Baz Luhrmann, may have been too much for some people, or others may have wanted more from it narratively, there are a good deal of people who continue to love Chazelle’s work; and even after having watched Babylon at the start of the year continue to feel the dizzying effect of it now.

7. How To Have Sex

2023 was a year that saw a variety of acclaimed indie British titles, and How To Have Sex towards the end of the year was perhaps one of the most impactful. Finely getting across its tonal shifts from uncertainty into pure terror and tension this may very well be one of the most discussed films of recent months, both for its themes and simply how great it is. The critical reception was clearly matched by the audience reception with this small indie flick having gained a good deal of discussion and support, and also ranking in seventh on this year’s audience top ten not long after it’s release.

Comparisons have been made to Aftersun (voted sixth best of 2022) and the effect that that film had on audiences, not just its emotional wipeout. There’s certainly another emotionally, and psychologically, complex set of events playing out throughout How To Have Sex, especially captured by Mia McKenna-Bruce’s brilliant central performance. Another film with strong personal and audience-wide responses, and to some extent interpretations. Heightening the themes which are at play over the course of just over 90-minutes and allowing for an overall more engaging and impactful natural drama.

6. The Whale

The final divisive film on this list before getting into the acclaimed box office hits which take up the rest of it, The Whale was the film that saw both the return of Brendan Fraser and him winning an Oscar for his fantastic performance. Darren Aronofsky’s latest was one that certainly had me in the middle of a film festival stumbling out of a cinema into Leicester Square hesitant to go anywhere, unsure of what to do, as I just wanted to sit with the film that I’d just seen.

The Whale is very much a film that’s likely heightened by the personal points that you bring to it, and it has been criticised for being manipulative, and by some for being a cruel piece of work as well. In fact, after its initial set of festival praise a number of people have spoken out strongly against it. However, much like with Babylon, it seems that those who have praised it have very much loved it, finding a good deal of power within the emotionally intense story of connection, regret and relationships that’s on display. It’s a film that provides plenty to sit and ponder about (and weigh down with) long afterwards, and its ideas may well have proved highly memorable for a number of viewers, leading it to its placement here on this list.

5. Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse

The acclaim and success of Into The Spider-Verse continues with its sequel, which even still stood out in a year filled with both acclaimed and visually diverse animated features. Yet, Across The Spider-Verse demonstrated just why the first film has been so influential so soon. As live-action superhero universes try to delve into multiverse arcs, and in some cases halt and move away from them, with little fanfare from audiences, the Spider-Verse films have shown just how much energy can be caught up in a multiverse story. Especially when thrown head-first into a visually diverse set of universes and locations with the hook of the personal story and development of Miles Morales (Shameik Moore).

It feels like there’s little to be said about the Spider-Verse films that hasn’t been said already. Highly creative in the way they set up their worlds, even more so with this sequel which manages to effectively tell its story without feeling like a repeat. This is far from more of the same, the stakes are raised and that comes through in the action, tension and overall style. Feeling like a step up from Into The Spider-Verse while not going to an extreme or conventional direction. Across The Spider-Verse tells its story and tells it very well, with the technical elements coming together – including Daniel Pemberton’s equally inventive score – to create a true big screen experience with a second part that it seems audiences are equally looking forward to, even if just to return to the Spider-Verse.

4. Puss In Boots: The Last Wish

While Spider-Man received plenty of acclaim, it seems that this year your favourite fearless hero was none other than Puss In Boots. A real step up from the first film in 2011, this sequel brought a new visual style and elevated the world and characters as a whole too. As a whole the sequel came as something of a surprise to many, even after much praise from the States where it had been released a couple of months before finally arriving in the UK. The Last Wish found a good deal of support throughout voting, with the top four as a whole being close for much of the process. While at the time of its release Twitter particularly seemed to be talking about the way in which the film dealt with panic attacks there was amongst this discussion a good deal of praise for the overall story at play, and the characters featured throughout.

The Last Wish even stands out as something different from the rest of the Shrek franchise from which Puss In Boots spins off from. The self-aware fairy tale elements actually feel a part of the story and world rather than points which have just been crowbarred in, allowing for things as a whole to feel more fleshed out in an already energetic world with an animation style and colour scheme to match. It was an early example of the personality and style that was to come from animation in 2023, and for audiences appears to have remained a high point with it being voted as the fourth best film of the year.

3. Wonka

You’ve never had chocolate like this as Wonka, only released a week or two into December, lands itself this high up in the audience top ten (in what was, as mentioned, a very close top four). Paul King (and co-writer Simon Farnaby) bring ideas and sensibilities from their rightfully acclaimed Paddington films and put them into an origin film of sorts for Willy Wonka (Timothée Chalamet) with great success. Add in a soundtrack full of earworms from Neil Hannon, just one of the reasons why the film is so memorable, and there’s a lot of joy to be found during and after this particular film.

Memorable from the moment it finishes, some viewers, myself included, have left singing the songs after and as the credits roll. Wonka’s what many people seem to describe as the film they/ we need right now (echoing sentiments towards the aforementioned Paddington films) with its ideas of joy and kindness, and of course celebrating pursuing dreams in the various forms they come in. Capturing the idea of pure imagination as it does so, and successfully managing to use that song as well. A good effort is put in by all to create the uplift, and the emotion that comes with it – King makes it clear that he’s a master at balancing the two while also allowing them to co-exist in a moment.

The emotional moments of Wonka shouldn’t be understated, they’re just as effective and memorable. It’s the push of them, and the co-existence with the humour which makes the film what it is. A combination which works so well it finds itself as number three on this list.

2. Barbie

The biggest film of the year was more than Kenough for audiences as it both topped the box office and made for one of the most acclaimed films of the year. The impact that Barbie had on cinemas, audiences and the meaning of ‘Ken’ created waves and all with its satirical lens taking it far beyond what many might have expected from a Barbie movie (even one with a 12 rating).

Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach created something completely unique, which some studios appear to have taken the wrong message from, that resonated with audiences and brought many repeat viewings – with word spreading over the weeks keeping the film a box office success for a good couple of months. It perhaps reflects in the fact that months later people were still praising and quoting the film, alongside its original songs (namely the iconic I’m Just Ken – the fact that Gerwig got away with this in a studio film is amazing in itself).

From the opening introduction to Barbie where Helen Mirren’s narrator assures us that thanks to Barbie “all problems of feminism and equal rights have been solved” the film won viewers over and continued to make them laugh throughout. All whilst telling an effective existential story dealing with themes of patriarchy, feminism, body positivity, corporate greed and more. This is one of the boldest and most ambitious blockbusters perhaps ever made, and all $145 million were very well spent as audiences returned that multiple times over with one of the most crowd-pleasing films of the year.

1. Oppenheimer

With Barbie being the biggest film of the year, it created the headline-making Barbenheimer weekend alongside the third biggest film at 2023’s box office (The Super Mario Bros Movie didn’t receive any votes as the only other film to make a billion dollars last year). Oppenheimer’s success, alongside that of Scorsese’s Killers Of The Flower Moon, proved that there’s a demand for adult dramas. Capturing spectacles in both its much-discussed bomb test sequence and simple scenes of people talking science, the weeks in which it was in cinemas you knew exactly who was walking out of that and who was leaving Barbie.

Oppenheimer’s dramatic impact, and elements of suspense, may well have lingered longer – perhaps why some chose to watch it second in the Barbenheimer double bill – with the style of effect that they have. For much of the time voting was open Oppenheimer was close with the rest of the top four, however in the final day or two it took a good lead and showed the lasting effect that it had for many people. Its acclaim, like Barbie’s, continues – albeit with a rather different style of discussion – especially in regards to its performances, particularly Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr’s, both of whom are, at time of writing, leading their respective Oscar races.

There’s much more to the film than the bomb test sequence, with all the suspense and fear that it builds up, and that also shows in the response to the film as a whole. A three hour adult drama has achieved this must acclaim and success. Yes, it has big names actors and Christopher Nolan’s name slapped across it. Yet, it was still something of a difficult sell. The fact that it’s has the response that it has speaks to its strength. Including being voted as the Just A Little Bit Random audience’s best film of 2023.

It’s been another interesting year at the cinema with the tables turning at the box office and another set of coincidental trends and similarities between films. 2023 was the year where superhero films seemed to generally underperform (the main exception being Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3) while lengthy adult dramas such as Oppenheimer and Killers Of The Flower Moon (of course boasting the names Nolan and Scorsese) saw critical and commercial success.

Animated films took a leaf out of the Spider-Verse book – which itself saw a sequel early in the year – and provided us with unique, energetic visuals adding to the personality of their films. Titles such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, Nimona, Suzume and Puss: In Boots The Last Wish (just to name a few) all benefitted from a change from what some have branded the ‘standard’ look of 3D CG animation – and even Pixar and Disney mixed things up a bit with the looks of Elemental and Wish. Equal amounts of energy were packed into big concert film successes, as David Bowie and Talking Heads saw re-releases, Taylor Swift and Beyoncé packed the cinemas with their respective recorded performances, alongside pushing their unique distribution methods.

Yet, perhaps the biggest trend of the year has been that of ‘based-on-a-true-story’ business tales. The stories of the rise and fall of iconic brands and items. Tetris, Air Jordan’s, BlackBerry, Beanie Babies, Flamin’ Hot Cheetos; all receiving the feature-length treatment. However, what this year really seems to have shown is a want for original storytelling. While some may point to The Creator’s $104 million box office (on a budget of $80 million), there was still much discussion around it as an original piece of sci-fi filmmaking. There are plenty of original stories which have dominated conversation throughout the year (Barbie, albeit inspired by existing IP, was the biggest film of the year!), British films of all genres, from Rye Lane to How To Have Sex, in particular have truly had an effect on audiences.

Looking back on my top ten list for this year, and the films that just didn’t make it, 2023 has actually been a good year for a variety of genres. When looking back at the year and what stood out there was actually quite a bit more than I initially thought/ expected. However, I had to whittle it down to some form of ranking of the ten best, one which proves a rarity in that I’m actually generally happy with how it stands. And so, without anymore waffling build-up from me, here are my personal top ten best films of 2023:

10. Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour

Perhaps the most unexpected film in my top ten this year, I may have only recognised about about six songs, all of which were released ten years ago, but I can’t deny that this was one of the best things I watched in a cinema all year. Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour concert film is excellently shot and directed by Sam Wrench. When blended with the editing of the almost three-hour gig the big screen is used to full effect. You’re not so much a part of the crowd, but on the stage itself watching up-close. The Eras Tour makes a point of being a film instead of a recorded concert.

As the songs blasted through the speakers and colour filled the screen, the sets and dance numbers helping to create a further cinematic feel, there’s just something about the pure energy on display that I couldn’t help but be caught up in. And, to state the obvious, Swift’s talent is undeniable as she invites the audience to be as much a part of the celebration as those spread-out on the stage. With how engaged you become even the moments of Swift simply standing at a microphone and singing with a guitar – “I hope you’ve got a spare ten minutes” she says with a smile before going into All Too Well – have a big effect.

There’s so much attention to detail in the technical aspects, both those within the stadium and those that go into the filmmaking process, which means that everything combines to crate something of an extra layer of escapism to some of these songs. The sets, alongside Swift’s introductions and explanations, emphasising the worlds in which each one takes place. Even on the small screen there’s some effect to be found in the details, and again the editing which truly lands an impact and puts you right into the moment. I might not know many of the songs, even now, but I do know that this is one of the best films to have filled the big screen with colour all year.

9. Polite Society

Polite Society overflows with chemistry both in front of and behind the camera. Showcasing an array of great British talent Nida Manzoor’s feature debut provides an entertaining mix of genre influences. A style further captured in the punchy fight sequences which helps to heighten the sharpness brought about by the screenplay.

When you throw in a hilarious gym heist which marks a tonal opposite to the high-tension of The Killer’s and one of the best performances of the year from Nimra Bucha’s suspenseful villain the Polite Society cocktail is a fine blend. Yet, where it best succeeds is in the depictions of friendship and sisterhood at the heart of the film’s themes. Whether it be between sisters Ria (Priya Kansara) or Lena (Ritu Arya), or Ria and her best friends Clara (Seraphina Beh) and Alba (Ella Bruccoleri) – making for an excellent, inviting friendship of three people who aren’t the ‘weird kids’ but are a distance from the other crowds at school. The bonds and relationships throughout are tight and bring plenty of humour to contrast with the threat and darkness presented by Bucha.

There’s plenty of colour and spark to the action sequences which themselves have a flair to work hand-in-hand with the fantasies sometimes emerging from Ria’s mind and contrast with the lightness of other areas of the film. Manzoor’s feature debut has plenty of confidence both in front of an behind the camera, making for an energetic and punchy film with plenty of entertainment value throughout. Bringing a good deal of personality and creativity to familiar British tones and elements, hopefully leading it to become a notable British title in the future.

8. Past Lives

Greta Lee and Teo Yoo bring to life the tender emotion – both differently stunning on big and small screen – within Celine Song’s Past Lives. A film of natural fantasies, reuniting conversations providing the feeling of wanting to dance down the street, leading to disappointment as ghosts from past lives echo years on. “He was this kid in my head, then this image on a laptop, now he’s a physical person” Lee’s Korean-born Nora explains to her American husband, Arthur (John Magaro), both experiencing varying confusions with the re-appearance of Nora’s childhood friend Yae Sung (Yoo).

Delving into feelings of identity Past Lives allows the subtle character details to be relished in each frame. Certain shots may linger to create a greater effect, yet there were so many points where I wished I could pause the film simply to gaze at the imagery for even longer. Drinking in what’s happening both visually and thematically at multiple moments in time as two personal tales of quasi-regrets and reluctance play out simultaneously.

The emotions and behaviours, both visual and hidden, throughout feel consistently natural and believable. Subtle in how they’re given away and displayed to the audience, always with an empathetic understanding from Song who lets her characters’ courses develop without the feeling of narrative interference or convenience. A set of refined depictions and details allow for a truly moving piece of work that brings you in, moves quickly and leaves plenty to stay with long after.

7. BlackBerry

As mentioned, 2023 was a year that brought us a good deal of films about the rise (and occasional fall) of a number of iconic brands. For me, BlackBerry was the best of the lot, partly thanks to its self-awareness in telling a story about “that phone that people had before they had an iPhone”. While the self-awareness helps bring humour to the proceedings there’s also a good deal of tension brought to the drama, particularly in regards to Glenn Howerton’s supporting performance as profit-focused, swirling force of anger Jim Balsille.

Howerton’s turn is an Oscar-worthy performance, stealing the show and propelling those around him, including lead Jay Baruchel and co-writer (alongside Matthew Miller) and director Matt Johnson – who play BlackBerry co-founders Mike Lazaridis and Doug Fregin – to further heights. The screenplay provides plenty for them, and the audience, to sink their teeth into as things develop with a hint of nostalgia for board room meetings that barely anyone was a part of – but, remember the launch of the iPhone?

Johnson helps capture the chaos of the rapid rise, and shaky fall, of the company with documentary-like camerawork, giving the feeling that the audience are getting a true look behind the curtain here. Seeing what the central characters don’t want you to see behind the calm veneer generally seen by their potential customers. All held within tight, well-balanced script everything comes together to create a really engaging drama led by the characters and their decisions. Telling the story through their responses to what’s happening to their business and how, and whether, they can keep up with the pressure.

6. Theater Camp

Not just the funniest film of the year, but the funniest mockumentary since Borat, Theater Camp is full of self-aware flamboyance and it’s all the better for it. A just over 90-minute celebration of theatre kids and how they can “turn cardboard into gold”, and finding a place where you fit in and belong (just four hours from New York). There’s a knowing nature to the loud personalities and campiness which is on display throughout allowing for the mockumentary nature to fit right into the proceedings, and bringing about a number of big laughs due to the clashes in personalities.

Where the film perhaps best succeeds, however, is in not slipping into irony. This comes down to both the screenplay and direction. Good direction is often hard to notice in a comedy, particularly in one of this kind, but it’s clear that the direction of Theater Camp is excellent. Filled with passion from the creatives for the subject matter, and theatre in general. It comes through most of all in a key musical number towards the end of the film – Camp Isn’t Home is a great track – showing the heart of both that specific moment and the film as a whole.

Theater Camp wasn’t in cinemas long here in the UK, and it took a while to get any form of streaming release, but it knows who its audience is and seems to target and capture them rather well. Frequently hilarious with plenty of laugh out loud moments (and one particular unexpected joke which made me laugh more than I have for a long, long time) Theater Camp is just an excellent slice of passionately made joy and welcoming.

5. Till

From the funniest film of the year to one of the most devastating, Danielle Deadwyler deserved all the plaudits for her powerful, heartbreaking central performance in Chinonye Chukwu’s Till. The pain and emotions felt by both Mamie Till in the wake of the murder of her 14-year-old son Emmett (Jalyn Hill), who we’re reminded in the build-up to his off-screen death; a drawn-out sequence of emotional tension, that he is still a child, are used to propel Mamie and those around her in her search for justice. Converting into power and large strides towards the end of the film, still with its emotion and anger to further fuel things.

Till never feels bogged down or stuck in the tragedy which it centrally deals with, instead its a launching pad for the activism which is just as central. Increasing the power on display, and indeed your responses to the punches which are delivered. This is a film that causes chills to run down your spine with its pained speeches and leaves you floored by the time the credits begin to roll.

So much is caught in Deadwyler’s performance, I could just write about that but that would perhaps undermine the rest of the film around her, which is itself excellent. Chukwu manages to keep the feelings and tragedy stirring as they propel the events and actions of the narrative, of the strive for justice and stride through adversity. There’s powerful, striking storytelling here acting as fuel which works hand-in-hand with the cast and the way in which things move along. The film doesn’t need to keep you in place, it uses your empathy and emotional understanding to make you feel as if you’re present in each moment, as things pan out. Feeling a greater impact as a greater connection with the piece and its events make them all the more devastating.

4. Broker

Broker focuses on a group of strangers who for much of the run-time remain strangers to each other, and to some extent the audience as well. Yet, there’s an intriguing nature to their bond and the way they become a knowingly dysfunctional family unit. There’s a fairly light drama playing out made up of personal emotions and attempts to understand against a central uncertain aim of trying to sell a newborn child, with the police on the group’s tail.

The road trip nature throughout allows for the characters to open up just that little bit every now and then, allowing for them to feel more comfortable with each other and therefore lead to something of a knock-on effect. The performances from the central group match the tone, and the believable unit as a whole, and overall make for an engaging and likable set of strangers who form a successful hook into the narrative. A narrative which knows that at some point it needs to bring in some bigger developments and does so just before it draws out the initial connecting of the initial quartet.

Consistently acknowledging along the way in some of these developments and personal details that we don’t entirely know these people – and they don’t entirely know each other. Cinematography Hong Kyung-pyo works with director Hirokazu Kore-eda to bring about a number of shots which get across the personal feelings of individuals compared to the large world which surrounds them. This acts as the real key to Broker, the company the characters find themselves in, how they view it and how such feelings change over time. Bringing a sense of thoughtfulness to the well-handled ensemble drama.

3. Marcel The Shell With Shoes On

The most wholesome film of the year, and perhaps for quite a few years, to quote my notes from first viewing this “I love that shell with shoes on”. “Guess why I smile a lot” says tiny shell Marcel (Jenny Slate), “Why?” asks Dean Fleischer Camp’s AirBnB guest and director behind the camera “Because it’s worth it”. To an extent this perfectly sums up Marcel The Shell With Shoes On. A film which finds comfort and joys within simplicity and curiosity as it follows titular Marcel in a search for his family.

There’s less a plot playing out and more a set of developments, yet they keep you in place thanks to fully buying in to the mockumentary styles which blend live-action with animation seamlessly. The attention to detail, no matter how small, makes for an even more engaging and effective piece of work, Marcel and his grandmother (Isabella Rossellini) may as well be real with how much I’ve bought into them each viewing. Partly due to the small details being relished in not just being those in the film, but those in life in general. There’s a sense of warmth in these moments, an utterly entrancing sense of gentleness which the film glides along for 90 minutes.

Yet, there’s so much else going on. Alongside the attention to detail there’s a calm stirring of emotions throughout as Marcel and Dean talk openly about their lives, pasts and hopes. One of the small characters of the year perhaps displays the biggest heart, sweeping you up to believe he’s real. There’s so much to love about the tone and style of the piece, and indeed the places that it goes and what it achieves with its small budget. This is a testament to creativity and kindness, backed by an equally calming score by Disasterpiece. I love that shell with shoes on.

2. Rye Lane

There’s a strong feeling of the 90s indie scene within Rye Lane. If you took the outline of Before Sunrise and fused it with the natural dialogue of Clerks the result might look something like this. Yet, the spark and energy which runs throughout this spectacular rom-com, flashbacks and moments of fantasy which break their way into the real world to allow the characters to connect that bit more easily – and simply bring a surge of personality to the film as a whole.

This is a stylish feature overflowing with personality and style. Raine Allen-Miller brings things to life with a burst of colour and energy which never stops for one second. Going from one funny situation to another the laughs flow consistently over the short run-time which knows exactly how to contain its story without feeling as if it skims on the details. As central characters Dom (David Jonsson) and Yaz (Vivian Oparah) cheer their names telling a fictional story at karaoke you later find yourself wanting to do the same thing when they find themselves in a somewhat similar situation – a truly great scene.

Rye Lane just bursts from the screen from the moment it begins. Enjoyable loud and bold with those 90s indie influences clear throughout it still manages to be its own product and is all the better for it. I genuinely hope that this will be remembered and will become a future British classic, because it thoroughly deserves to be considered as one, as soon as possible. I’ve seen this a handful of times now since it was released early in the year and each time it’s been even more enjoyable, even more entertaining and simply manages to hook me in with its unashamed way of telling its stories and characters’ feelings. It was very almost my number one of the year, and it’ll likely be one that I revisit the most from 2023.

1. Oppenheimer

I genuinely believe that this is Christopher Nolan’s best film to date. Yes, there’s plenty of spectacle, and tension, in the Trinity test sequence, and the build-up to it. There’s tension throughout, even thought we know how things turn out. But, there’s also spectacle in the simply idea of people in rooms talking, discussing things over. Largely thanks to the dramatic tension which is built-up by Nolan and his cast – all of whom are giving great performances, particularly the much-discussed Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr (both giving two of the best performances of the year).

Oppenheimer is a film concerned with asking ‘how do you cope with having become death, destroyer of worlds?’ With the way that it focuses on Oppenheimer (Murphy) testifying in order to keep his security clearances after his past links to communism are brought back up. Meanwhile, we see US Atomic Energy commissioner Lewis Strauss (Downey Jr) going through a senate hearing dominated by discussion of Oppenheimer in the hopes of becoming Secretary of Commerce. The editing between the two lines is sometimes montage-like, capturing the pacey feel which Nolan and editor Jennifer Lame conjure up.

You feel the worry and regret of the titular scientist all the way through, instantly changing and fitting into whichever time we find ourselves in – again, effectively captured and understood thanks to the editing. Everything blends together to create a well-paced and tracked story tackling big themes with great effect and understanding. Knowing that what’s being tackled within this not-quite-biopic are grand in scale, as much so as the atom bomb project, but with a great screenplay capture them with detail to match the visuals brought about by each of the technical departments – the production design in particular is great and needs more discussion around it. All contributing to this tense, scary and consistently engaging portrait of a man plagued by regrets. A film about fear and consequences, and I’ve certainly felt both of this each time I’ve watched it. It’s masterful filmmaking, and, as I say, Nolan’s best film to date, and my personal best film of 2023.