The 2023 'Bamboo Awards': The Panda's Favorite Films of 2023

[The Panda]

 

After having a bit of a hiatus in 2022, I am back to present some favorites you've likely already heard enough about of 2023. I'll be keeping this quick, and hope to have this all wrapped up within the day! I will reveal my top 10 films with a brief writing to sum up my thoughts on the film. Before I do that, I'll also reveal my five runner ups (all films that had potential to crack into my top 10, and maybe would have on a different day) and fiver honorable mentions. I'll also reveal movies that were not in that the top 20 tier, but had some element about them that I thought was worth viewing (ie. they'd be making my BOFFY ballot if I submitted it today). For some perspective, I ended up watching around 60 films from this year as of today.

 

Without further ado, I'll begin with the films that did not make the list but had some element worth noting!

[The Panda]

First, here is the long list of movies that I wouldn't consider among my favorites for the year but you can consider as FYCs for some specific BOFFY Categories.

 

 

Beau is Afraid

For the categories of

Best Actor (Joaquin Phoenix)

Horror Feature

 

 

Bottoms

For the categories of

Best Supporting Actress (Ayo Edebiri)

Comedy Feature

Overlooked Feature

 

 

Cocaine Bear

For the categories of:

Best Villain (The Cocaine Bear)

 

 

The Creator

For the categories of:

Sound Design

Visual Effects (Runner Up)'

Stunt Ensemble

Youth Performance (Madeline Yuna Voyles)

 

 

Creed 3

For the categories of:

Best Stunt Ensemble

 

 

Fast X

For the categories of:

Best Supporting Actor (Jason Momoa)

Best Villain (Dante)

 

 

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

For the categories of:

Best Visual Effects

 

 

Elemental

For the categories of:

Best Animated Feature

Original Score

 

 

Joy Ride

For the categories of:

Best Comedy Feature

Most Overlooked Feature

 

 

M3GAN

For the caegories of:

Best Voice Performance (Jenna Davis)

Horror Feature

Best Youth Performance (Amie Donald)

 

 

Maestro

For the categories of:

Best Cinematography

Best Sound Design

**Best Soundtrack (Runner-Up)**

 

 

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckong Part 1

For the categories:

Best Visual Effects

**Best Stunt Ensemble (Winner)**

 

 

Nimona

For the categories:

Voice Performance (Chloe Grace Moretz)

Best Animated Feature

Best Hero ("Nimona")

 

 

Talk to Me

For the categories of:

**Horror Feature (Runner-Up)**

Youth Performance (Joe Bird)

Edited December 30, 2023 by The Panda

[The Panda]

Here are my five 'Honorable Mentions' (or numbers 16-20 on a ranked list)

 

 

"Anne and her estranged train-wreck of a sister, Jenny, must work together to help cover their mother's gambling debts. When Anne's beloved dog is kidnapped, they set out on a wild cross-country trek to get the cash."

 

For the categories:

Best Actress (Awkwafina)

Comedy Feature

Overlooked Feature

 

 

"World-changing events spectacularly disrupt the itinerary of a Junior Stargazer/Space Cadet convention in an American desert town circa 1955."

 

For the categories of:

Ensemble

Cinematography

Costume Design

Original Song ("(Dear Alien) Who Art in Heaven")

Comedy Feature

 

 

"A charming thief and a band of unlikely adventurers embark on an epic quest to retrieve a long lost relic, but their charming adventure goes dangerously awry when they run afoul of the wrong people."

 

For the categories of:

Best Visual Effects

Best Hero ("Edgin")

 

 

"When teenager Priscilla Beaulieu meets Elvis Presley at a party, the man who's already a meteoric rock 'n' roll superstar becomes someone entirely unexpected in private moments: a thrilling crush, an ally in loneliness, and a gentle best friend."

 

For the categories:

Best Actress (Cailee Spaeny)

Adapted Screenplay

Costume Design

**Best Hair and Makeup Design (Runner Up)**

 

 

"After reuniting with Gwen Stacy, Brooklyn's full-time, friendly neighborhood Spider-Man is catapulted across the Multiverse, where he encounters a team of Spider-People charged with protecting its very existence. However, when the heroes clash on how to handle a new threat, Miles finds himself pitted against the other Spiders. He must soon redefine what it means to be a hero so he can save the people he loves most."

 

For the categories:

Voice Performance (Hailee Steinfeld)

Original Score

Sound Design

Animated Feature

Hero (Gwen Stacey)

 

 

[Brainbug]

We all know Godzilla Minus One must be Number 1 🙂

[The Panda]

The other five 'honorable mentions' or runners up!

 

 

"While working underground to fix a water main, Brooklyn plumbers and brothers Mario and Luigi are transported through a mysterious pipe to a magical new world. But when the siblings are separated, an epic adventure begins."

 

For the categories:

Voice Performance (Jack Black)

Animated Feature

Original Song ("Peaches")

Best Hero (Mario)

Best Villain (Bowser)

 

 

"With the climate crisis at a dangerous point of no return, a group of brave environmental activists come up with a daring plan to make their voices heard and disrupt an oil pipeline."

 

For the categories:

Ensemble

Editing

Breakthrough (Daniel Goldhaber, Directing)

**Overlooked Feature (Runner-Up)**

 

 

"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."

 

For the categories:

Best Supporting Actor (Ryan Gosling)

**Costume Design (WINNER)**

Production Design

Hair and Make-Up Design

**Best Soundtrack (WINNER)**

**Original Song ("I'm Just Ken") (Runner-Up)**

Stunt Ensemble

**Comedy Feature (Runner-Up)**

Best Villain (Ken)

Best Scene ("I'm Just Ken")

 

 

"Unapologetic and free-spirited Inez kidnaps her 6-year-old son, Terry, from the foster care system. They set out to reclaim their sense of home, identity and stability in a rapidly changing New York City."

 

For the categories:

Best Director (A.V. Rockwell)

**Best Actress (Teyana Taylor) (Runner-Up)**

Original Score

**Breakthrough (A.V. Rockwell) (Runner-Up)**

Breakthrough (Gary Gunn, Composer)

Youth Performance (Aaron Kingsley Adetola)

 

 

"Eleven-year-old Margaret moves to a new town and starts to contemplate everything about life, friendship and adolescence. She relies on her mother, Barbara, who offers loving support, and her grandmother, Sylvia, who's coming to terms with finding happiness in the next phase of her life. Questions of identity, one's place in the world, and what brings meaning to life soon brings them closer together than ever before."

 

For the categories:

Adapted Screenplay

Best Soundtrack

Youth Performance (Abby Ryder Fortson)

 

[The Panda]

15 minutes ago, Brainbug said:

We all know Godzilla Minus One must be Number 1 🙂

Sadly, that was one I was never able to catch this one in theaters. You can just shift everything down a spot and pretend it won everything once I inevitably see it sometime next year.

Edited December 30, 2023 by The Panda

[The Panda]

Now onto my top 10, and some actual write-ups!

 

Number 10

 

 

"Furious jumping!"

 

Yorgos Lanthimos is a director who has subtly grown on me with age. There was a point, maybe seven years back, that I felt quite confused about what his appeal was as a director. Nowadays, I would call myself a fan. Poor Things might be Lanthimos' most vividly creative venture to date. Despite a relatively modest budget, the film pops with color and scale in a way that very few of this year's true 'blockbuster' pictures did. The film is prone to a few negative stereotypes in the character portrayals and it is thematically shallow. However, the imaginative imagery and wit of "Poor Things" keeps these downsides from ever dragging the picture down. I gleefully enjoyed watching Bella Baxter's adventure of sexual liberation in a dystopian steam punk-esque setting. 

 

For the categories:

Best Picture

Best Actress (Emma Stone)

Adapted Screenplay

Cinematography

**Costume Design (Runner-Up)**

**Production Design (WINNER)**

**Hair and Make-up Design (WINNER)**

**Comedy Feature (WINNER)**

**Best Hero (Bella Baxter) (Runner-Up)**

 

 

 

 

Edited December 30, 2023 by The Panda

[cannastop]

1 hour ago, The Panda said:

 

Elemental

For the categories of:

Best Animated Feature

Original Score

wow! didn't know you liked this movie

[The Panda]

Number 9

 

 

"I don't think we have enough hot dogs."

 

In May December, Todd Haynes walks a tight-rope of a directing job by approaching about as sticky of a subject matter as you can get, while taking an innovative approach at the topic. Watching Natalie Portman slowly morph herself into the monster of Julianne Moore's character, all while she unearths hidden trauma in the town, is a sight to behold. Haynes takes aim at Hollywood and the media's tendency to take deep and real trauma, and then use it for cheap entertainment. Beyond the headline theme of the film, the most striking element is Charles Melton, whose character is the one who suffers the most from both angles of the film's drama. Utterly heartbreaking to watch Melton completely embody the role of a man who was never given the chance to grow up.

 

For the categories:

Best Picture

Best Actress (Natalie Portman)

**Supporting Actor (Charles Melton) (WINNER)**

Supporting Actress (Julianne Moore)

Original Screenplay

Editing

Cinematography

Breakthrough (Charles Melton)

 

 

 

Edited December 31, 2023 by The Panda

[The Panda]

Number 8

 

 

"And me and my friends are gonna go flying together, into the forever and beautiful sky."

 

James Gunn makes what, seems like will be, his final foray in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The end result left me with a completely unexpected result. That is, I was completely blown away by an MCU movie! The franchise has been in shaky waters lately, and I've been an advocate that the problems that fans have with this recent wave of MCU films has been with the franchise since the beginning. However, there has always been a major exception to the 'episode of the week' nonsense I've felt with the average Marvel film, and that was their Guardians franchise. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 closes out the trilogy on its most glowing note, with perhaps the most fully realized creative vision in the MCU. Wickedly funny banter, an emotional tearjerker, and the best film in the MCU.

 

For the categories:

Best Picture

**Voice Performance (Bradley Cooper) (Runner-Up)**

Ensemble

Adapted Screenplay

Sound Design

Hair and Make-Up Design

Visual Effects

Soundtrack

Stunt Ensemble

**Best Hero (Rocket Raccoon) (WINNER)**

 

 

 

Edited December 31, 2023 by The Panda

[The Panda]

Number 7

 

 

"There's nothing wrong with just being a professor, Paul. You don't need to be a researcher too."

 

As somebody well within the field of academia, this cut rather deep. Nicolas Cage absolutely embodies the role of the well off but dissatisfied Paul Matthews, a Biology professor at an effectively no name institution. Part critique on academic culture and part satire on the nonsense that can at times come with online cancel culture. Dream Scenario is a laugh-a-minute horror comedy which initially dwells on academic's tendency to write observations about the world but never actually take action. It then delves into the scenarios where action is actually taken, sexual harrasment scandals and research which gets taken for bad uses beyond the academic's intent. One of A24's lesser appreciated outings from this year.

 

For the categories:

Best Picture

Best Actor (Nicolas Cage)

Original Screenplay

**Horror Feature (WINNER)**

**Overlooked Feature (WINNER)**

**Best Scene (The Couch Scene) (Runner Up)**

 

 

 

[The Panda]

Number 6

 

 

"You are and always have been penis cancer in human form."

 

Alexander Payne either created a time machine to craft a film so authentically 70s, or maybe he's just old. I turned on the Holdovers hardly expecting to fall for it quite as much as I did. I also had little expectation that I would aspire to live the life of Paul Giamatti's character, as he candidly rips a new one into every one of the entitled students. A wit and laugh filled Christmas drama that plays out like a warm cup of hot tea while bundled inside on a cold winter day. The film feels so nostalgically warming, you could have sworn it's been with you your whole life.

 

For the categories:

Best Picture

**Actor (Paul Giamatti) (Runner-Up)**

**Supporting Actress (Da'Vine Joy Randolph) (WINNER)**

**Original Screenplay (Runner-Up)**

Cinematography

Soundtrtack

 

 

 

 

 

[The Panda]

Number 5

 

 

"I used to be a brother."

 

I was absolutely gutted from this movie. I went in with little knowledge of what to expect, I just knew it was apparently sad and featured an incredibly homoerotic trailer that had me hooked. What I ended up getting was a tragic cautionary tale of the overbearing weight of competitive parents who seek to live through their children. It's a heartbreaking story, crafted by a director who knows exactly what to (and not) to show. The ending left me in more tears than anything else I saw this year, as it delivers a sense of catharsis through Zac Efron's best performance to date. Durkin takes some dramatic liberties with the source material to slightly lessen the heavy load of the true story and offer nodes of hope that the a generational cycle of trauma can be broken (even if in reality it may have just continued).

 

For the categories:

Director

**Ensemble (WINNER)**

Actor (Zac Efron)

Supporting Actor (Holt McCallany)

Supporting Actress (Lily James)

Original Screenplay

Editing

Soundtrack

**Original Song ("Live That Way Forever") (WINNER)**

**Stunt Ensemble (Runner Up)**

Villain (Fritz Von Erich)

Scene (I Used to Be a Brother) 

 

 

 

[The Panda]

Number 4

 

 

"If two people get married they say it's because there's been over eight thousand years of In-Yun."

 

Past Lives comes out on screen as if Richard Linklater and Christopher Nolan had a love-child, and her name was Celine Song. A meditative drama that tells an inventive story in a way that I have not seen put to screen before. The themes of "What Ifs" of course have been explore before, but the movie manages to subvert what you'd expect a movie of its kind to do. There is a whirlwind and sucker punch of emotions delivered by Song, yet the movie never succumbs to becoming melodramatic. Song crafts an immigrant story in which you fully see the two parts of self and identity take the screen. Both parts of Celine's identity are loved, even though some of it must be left as In-Yun in the past in order to create room for new In-Yun in the present. What is left behind is cherished, even when there's always full acceptance that the new life is where they're going to say.

 

For the categories:

Best Director (Celine Song)

Actor (Teo Yoo)

Actress (Greta Lee)

**Original Screenplay (WINNER)**

Editing

Original Song ("Quiet Eyes")

Breakthrough (Celine Song, Directing)

Scene (In-Yun)

 

 

[The Panda]

Number 3

 

 

"Can you find the wolves in this picture?"

 

Martin Scorsese continues his late 2010s and 2020s surge of new classics with "Killers of the Flower Moon". Despite clocking in at around three and a half hours, but the film's pace has you gripped from start to finish. Martin Scorsese wisely approaches the subject of American Genocide by telling a condeming tale through the lens of the criminals who purpotrated it. Scorsese's historied approach to crime films is used to the film's benefit. You watch in horror and disgust at what is done, it becomes Scorsese's "Schindler's List" of sorts, only the hope at the end is sparsely given. A chilling film where Scorsese puts a lens on American complicity, a lens on the viewer, and a lens on himself. Tragic and powerful work of a legendary filmmaker working at a top tier level.

 

For the categories:

Best Picture

Director

Ensemble

**Actress (Lily Gladstone) (WINNER)**

Supporting Actor (Robert De Niro)

**Supporting Actress (Tantoo Cardinal) (Runner-Up)**

**Adapted Screenplay (WINNER)**

**Editing (Runner Up)**

**Cinematography (Runner Up)**

Original Score

Sound Design

Costume Design

Production Design

Hair and Make-Up Design

Original Song (Wahzhazhe (Song for my People))

**Breakthrough Performance (Lily Gladstone) (WINNER)**

**Villain (William Hale) (WINNER)**

Scene (True Crime)

 

 

Edited December 31, 2023 by The Panda

[The Panda]

Number 2

 

 

"This was my world. It was beautiful and messy and tragic and silly. It can not last. Now go make your own."

 

Hayao Miyazaki came out of a ten year long 'retirement' to drop this film. "The Boy and the Heron" is an expansive and even somewhat messy capstone to Miyazaki's work up to this point. Whether or not Miyazaki truly ends with this one, it feels as if nothing could be the proper capstone work for a create like him. Working as one of Miyazaki's most mature works to date, Heron crafts a complicated story about the collapse (or even illusion) of the legacy that one creates. Hisaishi drives the film with the piano centric score that lands among the best work for a master composer. And then beyond the meta nature of Miyazaki looking back on his own career is the core heart of the film; a story of a boy learning to cope with his grief and accept loss.

 

For the categories:

 **Best Picture (Runner-Up)**

**Director (Runner-Up)**

**Voice Performance (Masala Suda) (WINNER)**

Original Screenplay

**Original Score (WINNER)**

**Animated Feature (WINNER)**

 

 

[The Panda]

Number 1

 

 

"Now I am become death. The destroyer of worlds."

 

I saw Oppenheimer, like many of you, in 70mm IMAX. Prior to Oppenheimer, I wouldn't have considered myself the most ardentof Nolanites. Don't get me wrong, I do like almost all of his work, but I wasn't submittting a top 10 all-time list of all Nolan films (like I have received running our top 100 list). Oppenheimer though is an absolute mastercraft from Christopher Nolan. For all of the pre-release interviews Nolan gave talking up Oppenheimer, I left almost feeling like it had even been undersold. An epic drama that left me sitting in the existential dread knowing of humanity's tendency and capability to destroy ourselves. I don't know if my body has had as visceral of reaction to a movie in theaters as I did during Oppenheimer, where I was left (just as Papa Nolan promised) quivering in my seat, and profusely drenched in my own nervous sweat. 2023 has been my favorite year for movies since at least 2019, but perhaps I could go even further back. There are years where any of the films in my top 5 might have topped out a list. But they came out the same year as Oppenheimer, which might just be the film of the decade.

 

For the categories:

**Best Picture (WINNER)**

**Director (Christopher Nolan) (WINNER)**

**Ensemble (Runner-Up)**

**Actor (CIllian Murphy) (WINNER)**

**Supporting Actor (Robert Downey Jr) (Runner-Up)**

Supporting Actress (Florence Pugh)

**Adapted Screenplay (Runner-Up)**

**Editing (WINNER)**

**Cinematography (WINNER)**

**Original Score (Runner-Up)**

**Sound Design (WINNER)**

Costume Design

**Production Design (Runner-Up)**

Hair and Makeup Design

**Visual Effects (WINNER)**

**Scene (Trinity) (WINNER)**

 

 

[abracadabra1998]

Loved the write-ups!! Helps me out as I am frantically catching up ahead of the Oscars (and even most importantly, the BOFFYs  )

[The Panda]

4 hours ago, abracadabra1998 said:

Loved the write-ups!! Helps me out as I am frantically catching up ahead of the Oscars (and even most importantly, the BOFFYs  )

Thanks! All of the recommendations are for BOFFY categories 😉

[The Panda]

This was my final letterboxd ranking

 

https://boxd.it/rgjPy