Meanwhile many of the perceived blockbuster sure things in long-running franchises failed to take off.

The wider industry gives the impression of in a continued state of upheaval and transition.

; and no one is exactly sure what audiences want right now.

The Best Movies of 2023 including Barbie, Oppenheimer and John Wick

But the uncertainty is creating an air of excitement and anticipation.

More impressive still is how Cruise and theMissionfilms continue to defy the laws of Hollywood gravity too.

Despite being nearly 30 years old, these movies generally get better with nearly every installment.

Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One

Hes crying in the unisex bathroom, having been cheated on by his longterm girlfriend.

They share stories and get up to capers (surrounding the reclamation of a record).

Infinity Pool

Brandon Cronenberg came into his own as a filmmaker withthe hallucinatory nightmarethat isInfinity Pool.

Cast of Rye Lane

But whenyou add director Paul King into the mix, all bets are off.

This is the man who madePaddington1and2, the least cynical family films of their time.

Chalamet as young Wonka is winsome.

Mia Goth and Alexander Skarsgard in Infinity Pool

Are You There God?

Its Me, Margaret.

Heres hoping thatMargaret, both the book and the film, manages to find new fans again.

Timothee Chalamet in Wonka Review

Its a simple and winning American immigrant story.

After all, how many other comedies feature an LGBTQ+ after-school fight club?

The films vivacious energy makes the movie dance between raindrops (or at least flecks of blood splatter).

Rachel McAdams in Are You There God?

Give it a watch or three.

A big reason this is made possible is a cast which conjures a wall-to-wall charm offensive.

Its probably the most fun youll have watching this kind of thing.

Pixar’s Elemental

With the BlackBerry itself now long gone, you wont get the sensation of watching a two-hour commercial.

The systematic slaughter of thousands is occurring, and it is impossible to not notice.

However, you only hear him speak about that in passing over the phone.

Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edibiri in Bottoms

Hedwig is also fully aware of what her husband does (how can she not be?

), but his ingenuity pays for the home and garden she always dreamed of raising her children in.

Theirs is an idyllic life.

Bird in The Boy and the Heron

Dream Scenario

Theres something so malevolently cruel aboutKristoffer BorglisDream Scenariothat it circles back around to funny.

Prof Matthews is neither the most loved instructor at his university nor the greatest thinker in his field.

Imagine how it must feel, however, when those dreams he cannot control turn into nightmares?

Chris Pine and cast in Dungeons and Dragons movie

It teases a quasi fatalism wherein someone invited their own destruction.

He even eventually titles itFuck.

It becomes a bestseller.

Jay Baruchel in Matt Johnson’s BlackBerry

Jefferson and Wright nimbly lampoon how well-meaning white guilt still marginalizes Black voices into a monolith and caricature.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.

But amazingly,Guardians Vol.

Nazi Rudolf Hoss in The Zone of Interest Review

Perhaps the most personal of Gunns films yet,Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.

3an undisputed high point of the MCUs uneven Phases 4 and 5.

Only then does the Big G show up.

Nicolas Cage in Dream Scenario

But if you could actually put your hand to it, the thing is so heated it scalds.

Shes a successful author, and the breadwinner, who was in the house when her husbands life ended.

Either way, there are no easy answers in the snow castle Triet carefully constructs atop a frying pan.

Jeffrey Wright in American Fiction

Both elements are refined to tragicomic sweetness inThe Holdovers.

Also in addition to all three central performances being knockouts, David Hemingsons script is laugh-out-loud funny.

John Wick: Chapter 4

John Wick: Chapter 4is a grand symphony of gratuitous movie violence.

Lylla in Guardians of the Galaxy 3

If this really is the end, John earned the rest.

Talk to Me

Young people do stupid things.

Sometimes that involves booze, and sometimes that involves drugs.

Boat chased in Godzilla: Minus One

Heck, Im old enough to remember when crank calls were a thing friends did in the 90s.

By the end ofTalk to Me, you will not be laughing.

In fact, youre probably reeling from the most visceral gut punch weve had at a cinema this year.

Dead body in Anatomy of a Fall

This meant they became targets yet again for bottomless white greed.

Its the best performance De Niro has done in decades.

The film tells a multiverse story that is both epic in scale and intimately character-driven.

Paul Giamatti in The Holdovers

Even its cliffhanger ending feels earned instead of forced.

But behind all the perversity is a layered work that is surprisingly gentle for Lanthimos.

Its a dirty little freak of a movie, and we suspect Mary Shelley would be proud.

Donnie Yen and Keanu Reeves in John Wick Chapter 4

Nope, this is a much smarter film than that.Transformers, it is not.

Or rather, one of many Barbies who live in the candy-colored idyll of Barbieland.

Meanwhile the Barbieland Kens are somewhat superfluous, relying on Barbie for self-esteem.

Sophia Wilde in Talk to Me

Were confident thisll be a fan favorite for the ages.

Song takes her time, contrasting the choices and cultures which shape both characters.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone in in Killers of the Flower Moon

Miles Morales and Spider-Gwen in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo in Poor Things Review

Greta Gerwig, Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling on Barbie Set

Cast of Past Lives

Cillian Murphy in Oppenheimer