People always tell me I’ve seen every movie ever made and I have to laugh at how incorrect they are. Granted, I’ve usually watched significantly more movies than they have, but it’s estimated there are roughly 500,000 movies in existence. I’ve seen almost 4,000, nearly 1% of every movie ever made. That’s nothing.

I try to see as much new stuff as I can each given year, but I also feel a need to catch up on older movies I missed either because I wasn’t alive or very young when they were initially released, or because they somehow managed to slip through my fingers. This here list is a compilation of the 10 Best Movies I’ve watched in 2023 that were released prior to 2020.

NOTE: There are 4 movies only available on YouTube on this list. I’ve included hyperlinks to them.

10. Exotica (1994)

If there is any Canadian filmmaker who could give King Cronenberg a run for his money, it’s Cairo-born Atom Egoyan. Known for intensely cerebral movies about the complexities of human relationships, he’s perhaps best known for his 1997 Oscar-nominated The Sweet Hereafter, about a small town trying to cope after a tragic bus accident killed most of their children. His highly erotic but sad 1994 film Exotica stands as the only movie to ever win both several mainstream critics’ prizes and an AVN Porn Award. It’s about a bunch of people living in Toronto connected only by the fact that they all participated in the search for a missing child, who eventually turned up dead. Several years later, the grieving father (Bruce Greenwood) becomes obsessed with a young exotic dancer (Mia Kirshner), who is also the object of obsession for the strip club’s bizarre DJ (Elias Koteas). The grieving father is also a tax auditor who foregoes reporting an exotic pet smuggler (Don McKellar) under the condition that he wears a wire into the exotic strip club to spy on the young dancer. Exotica is an uncommonly thought-provoking film with great performances, including career-best work from Bruce Greenwood and a unique narrative structure that keeps you in the dark until the end. (YouTube)

9. Magic Mike XXL (2015)

I remember having zero interest in the first two Magic Mike movies when they were released. Cool, Channing Tatum dances shirtless. Is this Step Up for horny adults? However, I decided to finally cave in with the release of Magic Mike’s Last Dance earlier this year, and several friends recommended I watch the Magic Mike movies. The original Magic Mike was all right, but the sequel, Magic Mike XXL, was fucking great, easily one of the best road trip movies I’ve ever seen. It wisely loses the lead actor opposite Tatum of the first film (that guy sucked) and jumps ahead three years when Mike has quit stripping and started his own furniture business. When he gets the call from his old stripper buddies (Matt Bomer, Kevin Nash, Adam Rodriguez, and a fantastic Joe Manganiello) that they need him as a last-minute replacement for their last stripping adventure at a convention in Myrtle Beach, Mike heeds the call. Magic Mike XXL is relatively light on plot, but I wasn’t prepared for 1) how funny it is and 2) how ultimately moving it is. My god, my heart leaped for this movie! Magic Mike XXL is a beautiful and uplifting tale about male friendship with a gas station dance sequence that will make you scream. Even Jada Pinkett-Smith can’t ruin it.(VOD)

8. Beloved (1998)

The first of three Jonathan Demme movies on this list, Beloved, adapted from a Toni Morrison novel, is an outlier in the director’s filmography. Known chiefly for whimsical comedy adventures, documentaries, and Silence of the Lambs, this post-slavery supernatural epic was out of his wheelhouse. However, for a white dude directing a movie about a black American family being haunted and straight-up terrorized by the unhealable wounds of slavery, it’s really good. I’ve heard people say it’s much better than Spielberg‘s candy-coated slavery epic, The Color Purple, but I never saw that movie, so I can’t confirm. Beloved is about a woman (Oprah Winfrey) living with her daughter (Kimberly Elise) who begins experiencing poltergeist activity in her home. The activity eventually leads to the reincarnated spirit of her dead daughter (Thandiwe Newton) being born/formed from the Earth (insane sequence to watch) and returning like a Lady Frankenstein, who must learn to be human. This is timed with the re-emergence of the mom’s old friend/lover from the plantation she used to work on, played by Danny Glover, who has unclear motives. This is a powerful film that, while narratively a little messy, takes some huge swings. Kimberly Elise and Thandiwe Newton both deserved Oscar nominations, but the Academy sucks.(VOD)

7. Bound (1996)

I had only seen bits and pieces of Bound as a child when it played on the Encore movie channel. I know, I know, where were my parents?! Probably out buying me cheese. This is the first film by Lana and Lilly Wachowski and while it didn’t make quite the cultural impact as their next film, The Matrix, it’s one helluva good thriller about a gangster’s gal (Jennifer Tilly) falling for an ex-con/plumber (Gina Gerhson) and then planning to run away together. Joe Pantoliano co-stars as the gangster husband and a ridiculous Christopher Meloni makes an appearance as a dumb shit mafioso. (Paramount+)

6. Crash (1996)

Another film I only saw bits and pieces of as a child because my parents bought the DVD for me one Christmas. While 11-year-old Michael didn’t understand or care for this off-putting NC-17-rated arthouse film, 33-year-old Michael was blown away by the raw power and effectiveness of this controversial Cronenberg picture. Basically, it juxtaposes the mechanics of human sexuality (wet fleshy bits inserting into each other) with the mechanics of car parts smashing into each other. James Spader and Holly Hunter crash into each other in more ways than one and then get sucked into a weird, cult-like community of car crash/injury fetishists led by Elias Koteas. Anchored by a brilliantly unnerving score by Howard Shore and purposefully rote performances, this has to be one of the strangest motion pictures I’ve ever seen and ultimately enjoyed. (Not Available for Streaming)

5. The Great Escape (1963)

An absolute classic of American Cinema and the favorite movie of my stepmom, Lt. Col. Sandy Margetis. For me, the biggest surprise about this movie is how Steve McQueen isn’t really the lead. This is an ensemble-driven motion picture, and if you want to get technical, the main character is probably Richard Attenborough‘s Royal Air Force officer. This is a surprisingly fun and whimsical prison escape movie that is more concerned with being a crowd-pleaser than educating us about the Holocaust. I don’t know how to feel about that. On one hand, I think the representation of Nazi brutality here is significantly downplayed, especially if we’re considering the S.S. On the other hand, it’s a relief to watch a movie set during WWII that isn’t violently depressing/approaching The Grey Zone levels of crushing cynicism. This is most certainly not the most nuanced and accurate representation of this WWII POW situation, even though several of the events are documented as accurate, yada yada yada. Look, it’s the most upbeat movie you’ll ever see about the great war. I had an enjoyable time. (MGM+ / FreeVee / Tubi)

4. The Wicker Man (1973)

“Midsommar ain’t’ got shit on me!” shouts 1973’s The Wicker Man with a bloody nose and a violent twinkle in its eye. It really doesn’t. This is a fascinating and unique folk tale, straightforward in its themes and beautifully shot in a small fishing town in Scotland. A prude Christian wiener (Edward Woodward) who I guess is technically a police inspector, descends upon the island of Summerisle to locate a missing girl. People in the town are really close-lipped about it and are more interested in preparing for their summer pagan festival, where there may or may not be a human sacrifice to ensure the crops grow. Just ask a positively loony Christopher Lee as the island’s leader; he’s so excited about this dang event he’s putting on his best summer drag! Throughout the movie, Jesus Cop scowls and complains about the frequent nudity on the island and everyone’s generally open attitude towards sexuality. Guess who they end up sacrificing at the end. (FreeVee / Tubi)

3. Melvin and Howard (1980)

Nothing like I imagined; the second Jonathan Demme picture on this list is a really grounded slice-of-life dramedy ignited by a truly whackadoo event. Melvin (Paul LeMat) is a dumb, lazy milkman who dreams of becoming a parody songwriter. One night, he encounters an eccentric old dude (Jason Robards) who claims to be Howard Hughes. Apparently, the supposed Hughes was out in the desert fucking around on his motorcycle and wiped out. Melvin gives “Howard” a ride back to his hotel and never hears from him again until years later when the real Howard Hughes dies, leaving Melvin $156 Million in his last will and testament. Based on a true story where the real Melvin never got the money because they thought it was a scam, the movie doesn’t say one way or the other if this mystery man was actually Howard Hughes. That’s because it’s far more interested in the time period between Melvin dropping Howard off at his hotel and when Howard Hughes died, proving Melvin to be a lovable but mostly useless flake who wanders from one scheme to the next. The standout here is Mary Steenburgen, who plays Lynda, Melvin’s first wife and former exotic dancer. She’s terrific and even won an Oscar for this performance. (YouTube)

2. Stop Making Sense (1984)

The final Jonathan Demme film on this list and second only to Silence of the Lambs in the director’s impressive oeuvre. Stop Making Sense is widely known as the greatest concert ever filmed and I’m not here to dispel that theory. I’ve never seen a filmed live show have so much raw, kinetic energy. I think it’s virtually impossible to watch this sitting still, especially during Burning Down the House which is a complete sensory overload. Demme doesn’t film this event from afar, instead he’s on stage with the band, right up in their faces, capturing how they’re emotionally reacting to their own music. The biggest regret of 2023 is that I didn’t make it out to see this in IMAX. I’m sure people were going ape shit. (Not Available for Streaming)

1. Poetry (2010)

The best film I saw this year by a fairly wide margin is the sensitive, insightful, but deceptively dark Poetry, which follows a woman in her golden years who finally has time for herself. She decides to take a poetry class but also finds herself in an awfully terrible situation with her demon child grandson and some wealthy private school parents. When most American audiences think of South Korean cinema, they either think of Bong Joon-ho (Parasite, Memories of Murder) or Park Chan-wook (Oldboy, Decision to Leave). Still, for my money, the most interesting South Korean filmmaker I’ve come across is Lee Chang-dong, who makes films firmly grounded in reality, unlike many of his contemporaries. American audiences know him best for 2018’s Burning, but he’s made a slew of other films, including Secret Sunshine, about a woman who gets caught up in a church community; Oasis, about a romance between a mentally disabled criminal and a woman with severe cerebral palsy, and Peppermint Candy which predates Memento in telling its story in reverse about the motives that drove a homeless man to jump in front of a moving train. Poetry is Lee Chang-dong‘s best and most affecting film, though, with a brilliant lead performance by Yoon Jeong-hee and some genuinely unpredictable twists. Regarding his deep understanding of the human condition, the director ranks up there with Pedro Almódovar and Mike Leigh. (Kanopy)

5 HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Butcher Baker Nightmare Maker (1981)

One of the few horror films that takes place in Phoenix, Butcher Baker Nightmare Maker, also titled Night Warning, is about an overly protective mother (a wonderfully over-the-top Susan Tyrrell) who murders a television repairman after he rejects her sexual advances. She claims it was in self-defense but her 17-year-old son (Jimmy McNichol), that she has a near incestuous relationship with, and a bigoted police detective (Bo Svenson) begin to suspect foul play. It all goes beautifully off-the-rails from there. Butcher Baker Nightmare Maker is a minor cult classic but it should be a major one. (YouTube)

Captain Phillips (2013)

Can’t believe it took me a decade to finally see this movie. I had digitally rented it back when it came out but had to stop halfway through and then my rental expired. This is a really intense drama that features one of Tom Hanks‘ absolute best performances. Also Barkhad Abdi‘s “I’m the captain now” is still iconic. (Netflix)

Fearless (1993)

One of the most unique and sadly forgotten dramas of the early 90s, Fearless follows the trajetories of two plane crash survivors (Jeff Bridges and an Oscar-nominated Rosie Perez) as they handle their PTSD in wildly different ways. Bridges is a total asshole who now believes he’s “unkillable” while Perez blames herself for her baby’s death. (Tubi)

Hush (2016)

The best Mike Flanagan work that isn’t a miniseries, Hush is a very simple but expertly crafted thriller about a masked psycho stalking a deaf writer (Kate Siegel). An interesting little easter egg is the book the main character is writing in the movie is titled Midnight Mass, which Siegel would go on to star in. (YouTube)

Married to the Mob (1988)

I lied. There’s another Jonathan Demme movie on this list, this one a total farce not grounded in any kind of familiar reality. Married to Mob is a live-action cartoon with delightfully goofy performances by Michelle Pfeiffer, Dean Stockwell and a wonderfully unhinged Mercedes Ruehl as a scorned mob wife. The fact no one in this movie is even remotely Italian only adds to the absurdity. (Tubi)

OTHER CLASSICS TO CHECK OUT

2022’s Top 10

1. High and Low (1963)
2. The Before Trilogy (1995, 2004, 2013)
3. The Wild Bunch (1969)
4. Three Days of the Condor (1975)
5. The Devils (1971)
6. Old Joy (2006)
7. Broadcast News (1987)
8. Das Boot (1981)
9. The Last Days of Disco (1998)
10. Duel (1971)

2021’s Top 10

1. Hoop Dreams (1994)
2. The Apartment (1960)
3. Come and See (1985)
4. Secret Sunshine (2007)
5. Yi Yi (2000)
6. Only Yesterday (1991)
7. Tampopo (1985)
8. Sunset Boulevard (1950)
9. The Third Man (1949)
10. Lone Star (1996)

2020’s Top 10

1. A Face in the Crowd (1957)
2. North by Northwest (1959)
3. Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)
4. Safe (1995)
5. Charade (1963)
6. Top Secret! (1984)
7. Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
8. Paprika (2006)
9. White Heat (1949)
10. Possession (1981)