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

Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins and Julie Walters in the Paul King movie ‘Paddington’

Bringing a friendly disposition to family film, we raise the Paul King directed live-action animated movie Paddington (2014). Written by Hamish McColl and Paul King based on the Paddington Bear character created by Michael Bond, we meet the bear from the jungles of Peru who makes his way to London, England, United Kingdom.

(From left, Uncle Pastuzo as voiced by Michael Gambon and Aunt Lucy as voiced by Imelda Staunton in the Paul King movie Paddington).

We first encounter the origin story of Paddington when a geographer from the United Kingdom meets intelligent bears with a fondness for marmalade in South America. The European geographer names these bears with human qualities and the ability to speak the English language Lucy and Pastuzo, inviting them to visit London at any point that is convenient for them. Tens of years pass without further contact between the geographer and the bears.

(Paddington Bear as voiced by Ben Whishaw in the Paul King movie Paddington).

An orphaned bear comes to live with the Peruvian bears, that is until an earthquake destroys the family home, killing the orphaned bear’s Uncle Pastuzo and forcing a decision upon Aunt Lucy and the young bear. Remembering the inviting to visit London from all those years ago, the young bear arrives at Paddington Railway Station in London by cargo ship, introducing a crucial sequence the delivers our movie.

(From left, Samuel Joslin as Jonathan Brown, Hugh Bonneville as Henry Brown, Sally Hawkins as Mary Brown and Madeleine Harris as Judy Brown in the Paul King movie Paddington).

The young bear encounters Henry and Mary Brown along with their kids Jonathan and Judy at the railway station once arriving there. Seemingly not been granted a name by his aunt and uncle, the Brown family agree to take him in for what first is intended to be a night. Addressing the bear as Paddington after the railway station), it would be upon Henry Brown’s insistence that some form of validation of the story Paddington arrive with needed confirming.

(From left, Julie Walters as Mrs. Bird, Jim Broadbent as Samuel Gruber and Tim Downie as Montgomery Clyde in the Paul King movie Paddington).

Mary, Judy and Jonathan, along with the family housekeeper, Mrs. Bird, find the cuteness and personality of the bear hard to resist, thus bonding with the young bear. Further impactful bring in Samuel Gruber, Montgomery Clyde and especially Millicent Clyde. Never has the Natural History Museum in London, nor geological expeditions from multiple decades previous, been so important. The ties that bind one to family in the past and present come strongly to the forefront in this family friendly movie.

(From left, Nicole Kidman as Millicent Clyde (as an adult) and Lottie Steer as Millicent Clyde (as a child) in the Paul King movie Paddington).

The charming essence of Paddington Bear remains true to the storybooks I remember from my childhood. I was entertained with this movie, as was Lynn, the other half of the namesake for Matt Lynn Digital. I grant the movie Paddington as directed by Paul King 3.75-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Wednesday, January 11, 2023