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

Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich and Gary Oldman in the Luc Besson movie ‘The Fifth Element’

Returning to the science fiction genre with touches of comedy mixed in with action and adventure, we look into the Luc Besson directed and written movie The Fifth Element (1997). Co-written by Robert Mark Kamen, the film is set in the 23rd century with the goal of saving the planet Earth from a malevolent force traveling through space.

(From left, Bruce Willis as Korben Dallas and Milla Jovovich as Leeloo in the Luc Besson movie The Fifth Element).

While the movie is primarily set in the year 2263, the story begins in the year 1914 at a temple that has existed since ancient Egypt. Mondoshawan aliens meet a human priest of a secret order. The aliens take a weapon that protects Earth from a weapon that reappears every 5,000 years. The weapon consists of earth, air, water, and fire, as engraved on stones, plus a fifth element contained in a sarcophagus.

(From left, Charlie Creed-Miles as David, Milla Jovovich as Leeloo and Ian Holm as Vito Cornelius in the Luc Besson movie The Fifth Element).

It is 2263 that a giant fireball streaking towards Earth as the great evil brings Vito Cornelius, the current human contact for the Mondoshawans, into action. Cornelius explains the history and the weapon that can stop it to the political structure of our planet. Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg and his crew of alien mercenaries attack and destroy the Mondoshawan spacecraft carrying the weapon, thus introducing the fundamental problem facing Earth. Gary Oldman portrayed Zorg while Ian Holm portrayed Cornelius.

(Gary Oldman as Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg in the Luc Besson movie The Fifth Element).

From the wreckage of the alien ship attacked by Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg, a hand from the sarcophagus is brought back to New York City, New York to recreate a humanoid as the fifth element. Leeloo, as portrayed by Milla Jovovich, is recreated in a manner where she remembers her former life. Alarmed upon waking from her reanimation, Leeloo fashions an escape by crashing into Korban Dallas’ flying taxicab. Dallas, as portrayed by Bruce Willis, held a significant rank in the military force that protects Earth. Dallas delivers Leeloo to Cornelius and his apprentice, David, the pair recognizing Leeloo as the fifth element. Charlie Creed-Miles portrayed David.

(Chris Tucker as Ruby Rhod in the Luc Besson movie The Fifth Element).

The Fifth Element thematically has issues for some critics. For one, the women are portrayed passively, largely as sexualized and with little in terms of spoken dialogue. Things aren’t much better for men besides Korban Dallas in that they are presented effeminately, of clumsy speech pattern, or stupidly as with General Munro; Munro was portrayed by Brion James. The manner of these presentations, in being so straightforward, were stylistically deliberate so as to not take themselves seriously. This aids the movie in landing better as a popular science fiction movie.

(From left, Christopher Fairbank as Mactilburgh, Hon Ping Tang as Munro’s Captain and Brion James as General Munro in the Luc Besson movie The Fifth Element).

My biggest takeaway from the movie is Leeloo’s message regarding the value life. Seek positive value and demand the same from everyone, for act in accordance with love makes life worth experiencing. I give The Fifth Element as directed by Luc Besson 3.75-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Saturday, August 19, 2023