The Indie Magazine & Podcast staff have come together to list out their favorite movies of 2023 before the Oscars, and before the past year fades away. What have you been watching? What impacted you? Do you agree with our lists? Are we missing a lot of your favorites?
Be sure to let us know what you’ve been watching on our social channels, and we’ll be including comments and thoughts on our upcoming podcast!
Jaxson’s Favorite Movies of 2023
1 – Barbie
Barbie and Ken are having the time of their lives in the colorful and seemingly perfect world of Barbie Land. However, when they get a chance to go to the real world, they soon discover the joys and perils of living among humans.
2 – Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3
Still reeling from the loss of Gamora, Peter Quill rallies his team to defend the universe and one of their own – a mission that could mean the end of the Guardians if not successful.
3 – Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Miles Morales catapults across the multiverse, where he encounters a team of Spider-People charged with protecting its very existence. When the heroes clash on how to handle a new threat, Miles must redefine what it means to be a hero.
4 – Suzume (2022 but western release was 2023)
A modern action adventure road story where a 17-year-old girl named Suzume helps a mysterious young man close doors from the other side that are releasing disasters all over in Japan.
5 – Tetris
The story of how one of the world’s most popular video games found its way to players around the globe. Businessman Henk Rogers and Tetris inventor Alexey Pazhitnov join forces in the USSR, risking it all to bring it to the masses.
Madison’s Favorite Movies of 2023
1 – Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Miles Morales catapults across the multiverse, where he encounters a team of Spider-People charged with protecting its very existence. When the heroes clash on how to handle a new threat, Miles must redefine what it means to be a hero.
2 – Barbie
Barbie and Ken are having the time of their lives in the colorful and seemingly perfect world of Barbie Land. However, when they get a chance to go to the real world, they soon discover the joys and perils of living among humans.
A young boy named Mahito yearning for his mother ventures into a world shared by the living and the dead. There, death comes to an end, and life finds a new beginning.
4 – TIE – Bottoms
Two unpopular queer high-school students start a fight club to have sex before graduation.
4 – TIE – Theater Camp
The eccentric staff of a rundown theater camp in upstate New York must band together with the beloved founder’s bro-y son to keep the camp afloat.
5 – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
The Turtle brothers work to earn the love of New York City while facing down an army of mutants.
Madison’s Honorable Mentions for 2023
Against the backdrop of a war between humans and robots with artificial intelligence, a former soldier finds the secret weapon, a robot in the form of a young child.
Nora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, are wrested apart after Nora’s family emigrates from South Korea. Twenty years later, they are reunited for one fateful week as they confront notions of love and destiny.
Tristan’s Favorite Movies of 2023
1 – Killers of the Flower Moon
When oil is discovered in 1920s Oklahoma under Osage Nation land, the Osage people are murdered one by one – until the FBI steps in to unravel the mystery.
2 – Oppenheimer
The story of American scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer and his role in the development of the atomic bomb.
Post war Japan is at its lowest point when a new crisis emerges in the form of a giant monster, baptized in the horrific power of the atomic bomb.
4 – Barbie
Barbie and Ken are having the time of their lives in the colorful and seemingly perfect world of Barbie Land. However, when they get a chance to go to the real world, they soon discover the joys and perils of living among humans.
5 – The Holdovers
A cranky history teacher at a remote prep school is forced to remain on campus over the holidays with a troubled student who has no place to go and a grieving cook.
Tristan’s Honorable Mentions for 2023
The true story of the inseparable Von Erich brothers, who made history in the intensely competitive world of professional wrestling in the early 1980s.
The flight of a rugby team crashes on a glacier in the Andes. The few passengers who survive the crash find themselves in one of the world’s toughest environments to survive.
Cole’s Favorite Movies of 2023
1 – Oppenheimer
The story of American scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer and his role in the development of the atomic bomb.
2 – Barbie
Barbie and Ken are having the time of their lives in the colorful and seemingly perfect world of Barbie Land. However, when they get a chance to go to the real world, they soon discover the joys and perils of living among humans.
3 – Cobweb
An eight-year-old boy tries to investigate the mysterious knocking sounds that are coming from inside the walls of his house, unveiling a dark secret that his sinister parents have kept hidden from him.
4 – Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
A charming thief and a band of unlikely adventurers embark on an epic quest to retrieve a lost relic, but things go dangerously awry when they run afoul of the wrong people.
5 – Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Miles Morales catapults across the multiverse, where he encounters a team of Spider-People charged with protecting its very existence. When the heroes clash on how to handle a new threat, Miles must redefine what it means to be a hero.
Cole’s Honorable Mentions for 2023
– How to Blow up a Pipeline (2022, wider release 2023)
A crew of environmental activists plot a daring plan to disrupt an oil pipeline.
– Talk to Me (2022, wider release 2023)
When a group of friends discover how to conjure spirits using an embalmed hand, they become hooked on the new thrill, until one of them goes too far and unleashes terrifying supernatural forces.
Before you leave, check out more articles from Jaxson, Madison, Tristan, and Cole!
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