Category: Christopher Nolan

The 105 Best Feature Films of 2023

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By Andrew Buckner

*All of the feature films included herein are done so based on the criteria of an official theatrical or premiere streaming release date in the U.S.A. of 2023.*

105. Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls

Director: Andrew Bowser

104. The Boys in the Boat

Director: George Clooney

103. The Inventor

Director: Jim Capobianco

102. Milli Vanilli

Director: Luke Korem

101. American Symphony

Director: Matthew Heineman

100. May December

Director: Todd Haynes

99. Dream Scenario

Director: Kristoffer Borgli

98. Silent Night

Director: John Woo

97. Sly

Director: Thom Zimny

96. Shelter in Solitude

Director: Vibeke Musaya

95. Rub

Director: Christopher Fox

94. Candy Land

Director: John Swab

93. Bloodthirst

Director: Michael Su

92. Resurrected

Director: Egor Baranov

91. Brooklyn 45

Director: Ted Geoghegan

90. Good Boy

Director: Viljar Boe

89. The Devil on Trial 

Director: Chris Holt

88. Unwelcome

Director: Jon Wright

87. Ferrari

Director: Michael Mann

86. Thanksgiving

Director: Eli Roth

85. Unicorn Wars

Director: Alberto Vazquez

84. John Wick: Chapter 4

Director: Chad Stahelski

83. Sharksploitation

Director: Stephen Scarlata

82. Dicks: The Musical

Director: Larry Charles

81. Living

Director: Oliver Hermanus

80. Sakra

Directors: Kai-Wai Kam, Donnie Yen 

79. Slotherhouse

Director: Matthew Goodhue

78. Blackberry

Director: Matt Johnson

77. Godzilla Minus One

Director: Takashi Yamazaki

76. King on Screen

Director: Daphne Baiwir

75. Totally Killer

Director: Nahnatchka Khan

74. Suitable Flesh

Director: Joe Lynch

73. Shin Kamen Rider

Director: Hideaki Anno

72. Huesera: The Bone Woman

Director: Michelle Garza Cervera

71. The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster

Director: Bomani J. Story

70. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

Director: Aitch Alberto

69. V/H/S/85

Directors: David Bruckner, Scott Derrickson, Natasha Kermani, Mike P. Nelson, Gigi Saul Guerrero

68. Air

Director: Ben Affleck

67. A Man Called Otto

Director: Marc Forster

66. Inside

Director: Vasilis Katsoupis

65. Bottoms

Director: Emma Seligman

64. A Haunting in Venice

Director: Kenneth Branagh

63. Beneath Us All

Director: Harley Wallen

62. One Bullet to Bedlam

Director: Eric Hand

61. Pinball: The Man Who Changed the Game

Directors: Austin Bragg, Meredith Bragg

60. Infinity Pool

Director: Brandon Cronenberg

59. The Last Voyage of the Demeter

Director: Andre Ovredal

58. Birth/ Rebirth

Director: Laura Moss

57. No One Will Save You

Director: Brian Duffield

56. When Evil Lurks

Director: Demian Rugna

55. Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Part 1

Director: Christopher McQuarrie

54. Shin Ultraman 

Director: Shinji Higuchi

53. Hell House LLC. Origins: The Carmichael Manor

Director: Stephen Cognetti 

52. Horror in the High Desert 2: Minerva

Director: Dutch Marich

51. Saw X

Director: Kevin Greutert

50. Back to the Drive-in

Director: April Wright

49. Saltburn

Directors: Emerald Fennell

48. Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story

Directors: Christopher Griffiths, Gary Smart

47. Napoleon

Director: Ridley Scott 

46. Barbie

Director: Greta Gerwig

45. The Killer

Director: David Fincher

44. Priscilla

Director: Sofia Coppola

43. Chevalier

Director: Stephen Williams

42. Wham!

Director: Chris Smith

41. Past Lives

Director: Celine Song

40. Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie

Director: Davis Guggenheim

39. Sam Now

Director: Reed Harkness

38. Sanctuary

Director: Zachary Wigon

37. Smoking Causes Coughing

Director: Quentin Dupieux

36. The Blackening 

Director: Tim Story

35. The Raker House

Director: John Covert

34. The Quiet Girl

Director: Colm Bairead

33. Suzume

Director: Makoto Shinkai

32. Evil Dead Rise

Director: Lee Cronin

31. EO

Director: Jerzy Skolimowski

30. Malum

Director: Anthony DiBlasi

29. Lola

Director: Andrew Legge

28. Polite Society

Director: Nida Manzoor

27. Asteroid City

Director: Wes Anderson

26. A Thousand and One

Director: A. V. Rockwell

25. El Conde

Director: Pablo Larrain

24. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.

Director: Kelly Fremon Craig

23. The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial

Director: William Friedkin 

22. The Outwaters

Director: Robbie Banfitch

21. Sisu

Director: Jalmari Helander

20. Enys Men

Director: Mark Jenkin

19. Skinamarink 

Director: Kyle Edward Ball

18. Living With Chucky

Director: Kyra Elise Gardner 

17. Toga

Director: Shaun Rose

16. The Color Purple

Director: Blitz Bazawule

15. Divinity

Director: Eddie Alcazar

14. The Boy and the Heron

Director: Hayao Mayazaki

13. The Wheel of Heaven

Director: Joe Badon

12. The Eternal Memory

Director: Maite Alberdi

11. Anatomy of a Fall

Director: Justine Triet

10. Filmmakers for the Prosecution

Director: Jean-Christophe Klotz

9. Gods of Mexico 

Director: Helmut Dosantos 

8. A House Made of Splinters

Director: Simon Lereng Wilmont 

7. All the Beauty and the Bloodshed

Director: Laura Poitras

6. The Holdovers

Director: Alexander Payne

5. Beau is Afraid 

Director: Ari Aster

4. Killers of the Flower Moon

Director: Martin Scorsese

3. Holy Spider

Director: Ali Abbasi

2. Oppenheimer

Director: Christopher Nolan

1. Poor Things

Director: Yorgos Lanthimos

Runners-up:

Cocaine Bear

Director: Elizabeth Banks

The Conference

Director: Patrik Eklund

The Creator

Director: Gareth Edwards

A Good Person

Director: Zach Braff

Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant

Director: Guy Ritchie

Influencer

Director: Kurtis David Harder

The Iron Claw

Director: Sean Durkin

Knock at the Cabin

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Leave the World Behind

Director: Sam Esmail

Maestro

Director: Bradley Cooper

M3GAN

Director: Gerard Johnstone

Missing 

Directors: Nicholas D. Johnson, Will Merrick

Of an Age

Director: Goran Stolevski

Paint

Director: Brit McAdams

R.L. Stine’s Zombie Town

Director: Peter Lepeniotis

Sister Death

Director: Paco Plaza

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

Directors: Jeff Rowe, Kyler Spears

They Cloned Tyrone

Director: Juel Taylor

Wonka

Director: Paul King

“Dunkirk” – (Movie Review)

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By Andrew Buckner

Rating: ***1/2 out of *****.

Writer-director Christopher Nolan’s World War II film, Dunkirk (2017), was a strangely distant experience; all spectacle and little heart. The photoplay ran one-hundred and six minutes. Throughout that span, I was continuously aware that I was sitting in a darkened theater. My psyche was always cognizant that the harrowing images I was being submitted to were simply vivid projections cast onto a silver screen. Therefore, I was never pulled into the intensity of combat exemplified. Such is unusual given how meticulously and intimately it is recreated in Nolan’s tenth feature.

Notwithstanding, I found myself in awe of Hoyte Van Hoytema’s eye-popping cinematography. Just as often, I appreciated the detailed build-up of the affair. The basis of which concerns the violence which ensued when members of the German army encompassed soldiers from Belgium, the British Empire and France. Such a hostile encounter erupted into a chaotic evacuation from the beaches and harbor of the title town in Northern France. The date this event, which became alternately known as Operation Dynamo, transpired was May 26th – June 4th, 1940. Nolan’s small-scoped, yet determined, filler-free saga is a naturally engaging chronicle. It is one that should’ve amounted to more.

The fictional, one-dimensional individuals Nolan filled this true tale with were provided solid enactments. This is granted the limited material they were given. For example, Mark Rylance as Mr. Dawson and Fionn Whitehead as Tommy were adept. Tom Hardy’s turn as Barrier, a pilot, and Kenneth Branagh’s representation of Commander Bolton was memorable. The effects were a massive achievement. Lee Smith’s editing was just as beneficial. Even though the sound was poor, the make-up and costume design was stellar.

Additionally, Nolan utilized several different perspectives into the narrative. His trademark non-linear approach was also displayed to grand consequence. These elements were a source of unremitting fascination. Nolan’s stylistic approach in Dunkirk was relatively straight-forward. This became especially accurate when compared to the intricate complexity he attempted in movies such as Following (1998), Memento (2001) and Inception (2010). Nevertheless, it was a smart decision. Such fit the tone and attitude of his latest opus exceptionally. Similarly, Nolan’s direction was dazzling. This is even if his scripting only worked on a serviceable level throughout the account. Correspondingly, I embraced the old-fashioned, epic feel that coursed proudly through the exertion. Still, it failed to mask what an empty exercise Nolan’s latest proved to be.

During my sit-through with this Warner Bros. co-distribution release, I also respected how masterfully Nolan paced the piece. This esteem stemmed further when noting how magnificently he constructed the wall-to-wall scenes of peril. The same can be said of the deftness with which Nolan conveyed the confusion and totality of war. This is through the lens of a single skirmish. Other touches, such as the ticking clock sounds heard in Hans Zimmer’s sweeping (and occasionally off-putting) score, created a clever thematic bridge. This is to the connective subject unveiled in much of Nolan’s work: time itself.

But, my attention remained in the present. The illusion that I had been transported back to the historical episode Nolan had spun into cinema didn’t overcome me. This is even after considering the visual triumph Nolan honed. Such a deep-seated impression constantly arose within me regardless of the high-caliber success Dunkirk, which frequently reminded me of Wolfgang Petersen’s masterpiece, Das Boot (1981), generated. This is in its intended purpose to tax me as a viewer. Such is via its endless barrage of taut, death-defying instances. Even so, the lack of depth and sentimentality, combined with the utter disinterest Nolan expresses in fleshing-out those we follow through the configuration, was a problem. This sensation lingered even with the knowledge that Nolan was deliberately engaging in this developmental deficiency. Such was incorporated in an admirable effort for audiences to look at all those we come across in the labor as equals.

The result is a well-meaning and crafty excursion. The picture, which was sturdy throughout, is technically brilliant. Many of its arrangements, such as the quiet sense of isolation which punctuated the opening seconds, haunted me in retrospect. Despite its obvious prowess, it left me underwhelmed. This is because in its anticipation to stun bystanders with its phenomenal sights, it ignored two principal ingredients of storytelling. They are the concepts of caring for your characters and emotional immersion. If anything, Nolan has showcased that you need the former to get the latter. With the ever-extant shortcomings of Dunkirk, he also demonstrated that these are essential in making a rousing undertaking such as this a genuine classic. For without these items a contribution to celluloid, however skillfully made, is merely another uninvolving illustration; a motionless marvel sitting silent and forgotten in the shadows.

(PG-13). Contains violence, adult content and profanity.

Dunkirk was released in theaters on July 21st, 2017.