The Year 2023 in Movies

Continuing with the final part of our year in review, Matt Lynn Digital invites you to look back at the last year in reviews of books, movies, music and television. We look at these with individual categories, one per day through today. Today we share the forty-seven (47) movies from nine (9) decades reviewed by Matt Lynn Digital in 2023.

(The 1972 movie The Godfather).

The top rated movie we watched in 2023 was The Godfather (1972). Earning 4.75-stars on a scale of 1-to-5, the film presented solid exposition of the power dynamics and traditions for the family as established by the family patriarch Vito, along with the command-and-control structure of the working the business.

(The 2023 movie Oppenheimer).

Four movies earned 4.5-stars in 2023, including the movie Oppenheimer (2023). The movie detailed the role American scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer had in the development of the atomic bomb. The further movie Gone Girl (2014) was joined by There Will Be Blood (2007) and the movie Mystic River (2003).

(The 2023 movie Killers of the Flower Moon).

The movie Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) leads a dozen movies that earned 4.25-stars from Matt Lynn Digital. The ongoing murders of members of an affluent Native American tribe for profitable mineral rights, under the guise of marriage and love, made for a somber yet at times poignant movie. Other films to earn 4.25 stars included the movie The Banshees of Inisherin (2022), the biopic King Richard (2021), the biopic The Aviator (2004), the animated movie The Incredibles (2004), the pandemic-fueled horror movie 28 Days Later (2002), the alcoholism-fueled movie Leaving Las Vegas (1995), the coming-of-age movie The Breakfast Club (1985), the supernatural comedy Ghostbusters (1984), the political history movie Reds (1981), the independently released Friday the 13th (1980) and, finally, the movie Apocalypse Now (1979).

(The 2022 movie Death on the Nile).

The mastermind detective movie Death on the Nile (2022) leads a group of nine (9) movies to earn 4.0-stars from Matt Lynn Digital in 2023. Other quality movies in this group include the movie The Hateful Eight (2015), the biopic Walk the Line (2005), the historical drama Gladiator (2000), the movie The Big Lebowski (1998), the psychological horror movie The Silence of the Lambs (1991), the comedy Home Alone (1990), the science fiction movie Planet of the Apes (1968) and, finally, the film noir movie The Maltese Falcon (1941).

(The 2019 movie El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie).

Eighteen (18) movies earned the 3.75-stars rating for 2023, led by El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019). That coda to the Breaking Bad (2008-2013) television series spells out what happened with character Jesse Pinkman. Other movies earning 3.75 stars include the science fiction movie Alien: Covenant (2017), the animated movie The Secret Life of Pets (2016), the animated movie Inside Out (2015), the live-action animated movie Paddington (2014), the movie Chef (2014), the supernatural horror movie Oculus (2013), the biopic The Express (2008), the comedic movie Clerks II (2006), the science fiction blockbuster War of the Worlds (2005), the comedy Freaky Friday (2003), the movie Frequency (2000), the science fiction movie The Fifth Element (1997), the crime drama Absolute Power (1997), the family movie Hocus Pocus (1993), the neo-noir movie Blow Out (1981), the dystopian crime movie A Clockwork Orange (1971) and, finally, the animated movie Cinderella (1950).

(The 2021 movie Cry Macho).

A pair of movies led by the western movie Cry Macho (2021) earned 3.5-stars from Matt Lynn Digital. The other is the fantasy comedy Jack Frost (1998).

(The 2023 movie Nefarious).

Alleged demonic possession was in play for the movie Nefarious (2023), which at 3.25-stars on a scale of 1-to-5 completes our reviewed movies for the year. Having felt manipulated by this film to make a political point, our feeling was that we could have enjoyed this movie more if the presentation had taken a different approach.

Matt Lynn Digital appreciates your continued interest in the content we offer. Should you have albums that you’d like us to review, or similar work to that mentioned above, please be sure to let us know.

Matt – Sunday, December 31, 2023

Michael Keaton, Kelly Preston and Joseph Cross in the Troy Miller movie ‘Jack Frost’

Set in the fictional town of Medford, Colorado, the Troy Miller directed Jack Frost (1998) is stands adjacent to Christmas among fantasy comedy movies. With writers Mark Steven Johnson, Steve Bloom and Jonathan Roberts at the helm, this movie does remarkably well for being a live action story built for children with children in mind.

(From left, Michael Keaton as title charact Jack Frost and Joseph Cross as Charlie Frost in the Troy Miller movie Jack Frost).

The movie Jack Frost opens with an introduction to the title character, Jack Frost, as the lead singer of a band aiming to make their name in Colorado. Jack Frost, as portrayed by Michael Keaton, pursues a contract for the band that would offer financial security. The pursuit involves time away from Frost’s wife and son, Gabby Frost as portrayed by Kelly Preston and Charlie Frost as portrayed by Joseph Cross.

(From left, Joseph Cross as Charlie Frost and Kelly Preston as Gabby Frost in the Troy Miller movie Jack Frost).

Jack sets the stage for the secondary conflict in the movie by spending time establishing for Charlie that he wishes to be present for his son. The pair build a snowman and practice a specific hockey shot together. Jack shares what he claims to be a magical harmonica with Charlie in what turns into a memento of his father. Jack fails to attend an ice hockey game of Charlie’s to record a song with the band. A later conflict that pits Jack’s career against a Christmas trip into the mountains; Jack rethinks his priorities, dying in an attempt to drive through those mountains to get to his family.

(Henry Rollins as Sid Gronic in the Troy Miller movie Jack Frost).

A year has past with the grief flaring as strong as ever for Charlie. Gabby offers what comfort she can, with Charlie playing the magical harmonica after building a new snowman. There’s magic in this pairing as the harmonica somehow conveys Jack’s spirit into the snowman, with a rekindling of the relationship for father and son as snowman and boy. In addition to Mark Addy portraying father figure Mac MacArthur for Charlie, it becomes Jack Frost as a snowman that offers the values a father wishes to share with his son that becomes the heartwarming story.

(From left, Mika Boorem as Natalie and Andrew Lawrence as Tuck Gronic in the Troy Miller movie Jack Frost).

An additional perspective to grief Charlie Frost feels at his father’s loss had been to set aside his passion for playing hockey. Friends and bullies give him varying degrees of difficulty and support through the course of the movie, with the emphasis on the pre-teen point-of-view being the redeeming experience that I felt being the strength within the storytelling. That bully Rory Buck, as portrayed by Taylor Handley, is able to find common ground with Charlie offers uplift that helps the story.

(From left, Eli Marienthal as Spencer, Will Rothhaar as Dennis and Taylor Handley as Rory Buck in the Troy Miller movie Jack Frost).

The comedic family drama that Troy Miller‘s Jack Frost does have an audience wherein the message can and should resonate. Those that wish for an experience that offers messaging for adults that works as well as it does for a group of 12-year-olds might find the experience does not work so well. I grant Jack Frost as directed by Troy Miller 3.5-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Saturday, December 16, 2023