ANOTHER year of watching the big screen has come to an end and there’s been plenty to get excited about.
Here are my ten favourite flicks of 2023.
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING, PART ONE
(12) 163mins
A TRIUMPHANT action movie that everyone should watch.
Tom Cruise hits the ground running — not to mention jumping, flying, driving and train hopping — in his seventh stint as Ethan Hunt.
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He’s joined by Hayley Atwell plus his usual crew — and without a green screen in sight, the stunts are the most impressive ever seen.
THE WHALE
(15) 117mins
Brendan Fraser’s remarkable performance makes this dark and dingy tale of a super-morbidly obese man with a death wish very watchable indeed.
Set mostly in one room, Charlie is a hermit who has pushed his eating addiction to the extreme and has broken relationships with the few people in his life.
A truly unforgettable film.
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON
(15) 206mins
DIRECTOR Martin Scorsese delivers some of his best work in this adaptation of David Grann’s book about the 1920s slaughter of the Native American Osage people.
With incredible performances from Leo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone and Robert De Niro, it’s impossible to look away.
MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON
(PG) 89mins
IF you’d have told me I could be moved to tears by the musings of a one-inch talking shell, I would be concerned. Yet I did.
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Crafted as a mockumentary, this heart-warming and heartbreaking tale of Marcel (voiced by Jenny Slate) who becomes an internet sensation is an absolute gem.
DREAM SCENARIO
(15) 100mins
WITH Nicolas Cage at his career best, this superbly kooky comedy about an average, middle-aged man who starts appearing in people’s dreams is anything but a nightmare.
Although the concept is bizarre, it somehow works, as it explores the unfairness of cancel culture.
It also includes one of the most excruciating and funny sex scenes in history.
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: NINJA MAYHEM
(PG) 99mins
THE origin story of the four martial art maestros, written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, has it all — incredible animation, a crisp comedy script and a soundtrack so cool that you’ll want to buy it the moment the film ends.
The seventh Mutant Ninja movie is turtle-ly perfect for all the family.
ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT’S ME, MARGARET
(PG) 111mins
A CAREFULLY crafted coming-of-age tale.
Abby Ryder Fortson plays Margaret, an 11-year-old whose life is upended when her family move from New York to New Jersey.
Director Kelly Fremon Craig deals with the battles of becoming a woman without ever being patronising or sickly sweet.
THE LESSON
(15) 103mins
A SPLENDIDLY eerie psychological thriller about the incurable disease of writing.
Richard E Grant is hypnotic as weary literary hero JM Sinclair who hires Liam (Daryl McCormack) to tutor his son.
Unbeknown to him, Liam is a superfan and fellow writer, which starts a frighteningly competitive chase to the end of a novel.
TALK TO ME
(15) 95mins
SET in the classic mould of horny teenagers at a house party deciding to do a séance — using an embalmed hand — this horror film soon develops far beyond ghosts and ghouls.
Featuring a terrifyingly good performance from newcomer Sophie Wilde, it will have you wishing there were more cushions to hide behind.
SISU
(15) 91mins
THIS ultra-violent, adrenaline-packed tale of one man and his dog on a Nazi-killing rampage is brazen, ballsy and brilliant.
Gold miner Aatami (Jorma Tommila) rides hundreds of miles through a bleak Lapland wilderness to get his haul to the nearest bank, fighting off anyone along the way who wants to steal his find.
One to treasure.