Music N' Other Drugs

“Every generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.” – George Orwell

George Orwell didn’t have cinema on the brain when he coined the above phrase, but he may as well have. His sentiment sums up how I feel every time Generations Y and Z try to dictate what should and shouldn’t be acceptable on the big screen. While it’s natural for young people to believe that they’re morally and culturally superior to an extent, much of what we’ve seen throughout the past decade has taken that belief to an unhealthy extreme.

Hollywood has bent over backwards to appease a population whose relationship to the old guard is antagonistic at best and non-existent at worst despite reaching a point where viewers under the age of 35 no longer see the value in films that were made at a time when “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” wasn’t the driving force behind artistic choices.

I’m all for celebrating the differences that went into making this country great, but now it appears as if we’re letting identity politics rule the roost.

Instead of embracing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream of judging people by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin, the American ruling class has doubled down by making one’s race and sexual orientation the only things that matter. All criticism now equals racism, sexism, and any other ism you want to throw out there, which, as someone for whom the death of intellectual disagreement has remained a talking point for years, surely doesn’t make my heart grow three sizes during the Christmas season.

For example, Nia DaCosta’s “The Marvels” is considered the biggest flop in the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe after failing to gross $100 Million domestically yet all anyone wanted to talk about was how “Anti-Woke” backlash was responsible for its box office failings. I’m not the fondest of superhero films overall, but isn’t it possible that, after releasing 33 films in 15 years, the well simply ran dry? Bob Dylan has put out 40 studio albums in 51 years and even his fans recognize steamers such as “Saved” or “Knocked Out Loaded” when they hear them without shifting blame to external forces, so I’d like to think that MCU supporters can do the same.

I turned 15 in 2003 and spent that summer going through the American Film Institute’s list of the 100 greatest movies ever made. I watched “Citizen Kane,” “Sunset Blvd.,” and “The Wild Bunch” for the first time, and re-watched “The Bridge on the River Kwai,” “Vertigo,” and “The French Connection” to see if anything new could be gained upon a repeat screening. I did it, because learning from the past was more important to me than potentially seeing something that didn’t re-enforce my worldview.

How many of the films on the list would be labeled “problematic” by today’s standards?

One of the most glaring issues I have with the current generation is that they would rather dismiss or overcorrect the past than engage in uncomfortable conversations about things they can’t control. By blacklisting artists for having an opinion antithetical to the new groupthink, they’re making Italian philosopher Franco “Bifo” Berardi’s concept of “The Slow Cancellation of the Future” an inevitable reality. Everything looks, sounds, and feels similar to the point that it’s getting harder for innovation to find an audience.

Despite all that, I managed to cut through the weeds and find 10 films that brought something transcendent to the table in 2023. Whether or not people still care remains to be seen, but I’ll never stop doing the work.

“Poor Things” – Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos

I’ve been on the Lanthimos train since “Dogtooth,” but how he twists the “Frankenstein” narrative to suit his own vision is unforgettable and should give Emma Stone a path to her second Best Actress Oscar. As the line in The Tragically Hip’s “Pigeon Camera” goes, she grows up into something that they can no longer contain.

“The Killer” – Directed by David Fincher

Fincher employs a minimalist approach predicated on music, lighting, and stillness to tell the story of a hitman for whom emotion seldom enters the equation.

“Killers of the Flower Moon” – Directed by Martin Scorsese

If we’ve learned anything from Martin Scorsese’s 50 years of filmmaking, it’s that murderers come with smiles. They come as your friends and the people who’ve cared for you all your life. In the case of the Osage Nation, it’s obvious from the first time we see William “King” Hale on screen that he’s responsible for having them killed in plain sight, but that doesn’t ruin the journey one bit. Lily Gladstone’s Mollie Kyle and the scenes in which the Osage mourn their dead are responsible for giving this film the soul it needs to succeed. A lot of breath has been wasted regarding whether or not a white man should have been allowed to tell this story, but sometimes letting one of our greatest living directors do what he does is the right move.

“Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” – Directed by Kelly Fremon Craig

Craig’s film was given a fraction of the marketing budget that “Barbie” had, but its performances and commitment to Judy Blume’s original insights about adolescence feel much more grounded than what Greta Gerwig was selling.

“May December” – Directed by Todd Haynes

Haynes is less interested in the tabloid elements of this Mary Kay Letourneau-inspired story than in the possibility that the motivations of the people involved are more complex than we originally thought. Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, and Charles Melton are uniformly excellent.

“Eileen” – Directed by William Oldroyd

Eileen Dunlop (Thomasin McKenzie) maintains a mundane existence working in a juvenile detention center until Rebecca Saint John (Anne Hathaway) shows up to flip her entire world off its axis.

“Maestro” – Directed by Bradley Cooper

Musicals don’t do much for me, but the dramatic tension between Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Montealegre is executed perfectly throughout Cooper’s finest film yet.

“A Thousand and One” – Directed by A.V. Rockwell

Teyana Taylor gets a chance to carry a film and she never lets up in Rockwell’s directorial debut about a mother fighting to give her son opportunities in the face of an evolving NYC landscape.

“Oppenheimer” – Directed by Christopher Nolan

Neither “Dunkirk” or “Tenet” resonated with me in any meaningful way, so I was pleasantly surprised to see Nolan return with such a vengeance. Cillian Murphy’s best performance since 2006’s “The Wind That Shakes the Barley.”

“The Holdovers” – Directed by Alexander Payne

Payne reunites with Paul Giamatti for a salty tale about three wayward souls forced to spend Christmas together.

Honorable Mentions – “Air,” “Creed III,” “You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah,” “Milli Vanilli,” “Saltburn,” “Sound of Freedom,” and “The Super Mario Bros. Movie”

The Worst – “House Party,” “White Men Can’t Jump,” and “Candy Cane Lane”

2022 – “Tár,” “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” “The Woman King,” “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” “Turning Red,” “Emily the Criminal,” “The Banshees of Inisherin,” “The Fabelmans,” “All Quiet on the Western Front,” and “Nothing Compares”

2021 – “Mass,” “The Power of the Dog,” “The Beatles: Get Back,” “Passing,” “The Harder They Fall,” “King Richard,” “Summer of Soul,” “Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar,” “The Lost Daughter,” and “Cruella”

2020 – “Sound of Metal,” “Da 5 Bloods,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “Small Axe,” “Palm Springs,” “The Forty-Year-Old Version,” “On the Rocks,” “His House,” “Mank,” and “Sylvie’s Love”

2019 – “Parasite,” “Marriage Story,” “Pain and Glory,” “The Irishman,” “Amazing Grace,” Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” “Us,” “Dolemite is My Name,” “Knives Out,” and “Blinded By the Light”

2018 – “If Beale Street Could Talk, “Sorry to Bother You,” “Widows,” “Blackkklansman,” “Private Life,” “The Hate U Give,” “Roma,” “A Star is Born,” “Game Night,” and “Won’t You Be My Neighbor”

2017 – “Get Out,” “mother!,” “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” “Long Time Running,” “Okja,” “The Big Sick,” “Raw,” “Girls Trip,” “Mudbound,” and “The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)”

2016 – “OJ: Made in America,” “Nocturnal Animals,” “Loving,” “Fences,” “Arrival,” “Sing Street,” “Zootopia,” “Don’t Breathe,” “Deadpool,” and “Eye in the Sky”

2015 – “Room,” “Love and Mercy,” “Creed,” “Amy,” “Beasts of No Nation,” “Inside Out,” “The End of the Tour,” “The Martian,” “Straight Outta Compton,” and “The Clouds of Sils Maria”

2014 – “Boyhood,” “Birdman,” “Foxcatcher,” “Nightcrawler,” “Life Itself,” “The Babadook,” “Ida,” “Interstellar,” “Under the Skin,” and “Bad Words”

2013 – “Gravity,” “12 Years a Slave,” “American Hustle,” “The Place Beyond the Pines,” “Blackfish,” “Spring Breakers,” “Prisoners,” “Captain Phillips,” “Side Effects,” and “This is the End”

2012 – “Zero Dark Thirty,” “The Master,” “Lincoln,” “The Dark Knight Rises,” “Flight,” “Life of Pi,” “Argo,” “Django Unchained,” “Take This Waltz,” and “The Grey”

2011 – “The Tree of Life,” “Drive,” “We Need to Talk About Kevin,” “A Separation,” “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” “The Trip,” “13 Assassins,” “Bridesmaids,” “Moneyball,” and “Martha Marcy May Marlene”

2010 – “Black Swan,” “Dogtooth,” “A Prophet,” “Exit Through the Gift Shop,” “Fish Tank,” “The Social Network,” “Toy Story 3,” “The Fighter,” “Catfish,” and “Somewhere”

2009 – “A Serious Man,” “Up in the Air,” “The Hurt Locker,” “Summer Hours,” “Anvil: The Story of Anvil,” “District 9,” “An Education,” “The Messenger,” “Inglourious Basterds,” and “Antichrist”

2008 – “The Dark Knight,” “The Wrestler,” “Revolutionary Road,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “Frost/Nixon,” “In Bruges,” “Rachel Getting Married,” “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” “Man on Wire,” and “Slumdog Millionaire”

2007 – “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead,” “I’m Not There,” “There Will Be Blood,” “No Country For Old Men,” “Into the Wild,” “Zodiac,” “Eastern Promises,” “Knocked Up,” “Grindhouse,” and “The Bourne Ultimatum”

2006 – “The Departed,” “United 93,” “Pan’s Labyrinth,” “Borat,” “Casino Royale,” “Blood Diamond,” “Half Nelson,” “The Descent,” “Hard Candy,” and “Flags of Our Fathers”

2005 – “Munich,” “A History of Violence,” “Capote,” “War of the Worlds,” “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” “Syriana,” “The Aristocrats,” “Grizzly Man,” “Cinderella Man,” and “Match Point”

2004 – “Sideways,” “Million Dollar Baby,” “The Aviator,” “Kinsey,” “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” “The Passion of the Christ,” “Kill Bill Vol. 2,” “Ray,” “Collateral,” and “The Machinist”

2003 – “American Splendor,” “Mystic River,” “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World,” “Kill Bill Vol. 1,” “Lost in Translation,” “The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King,” “The Last Samurai,” “Monster,” “Oldboy,” and “Dogville”

2002 – “Minority Report,” “25th Hour,” “Gangs of New York,” “Road to Perdition,” “City of God,” “Adaptation,” “Signs,” “Unfaithful,” “About Schmidt,” and “One Hour Photo”

2001 – “Mulholland Drive,” “In the Bedroom,” “The Pledge,” “Shrek,” “Shallow Hal,” “The Devil’s Backbone,” “Ali,” “The Others,” “Training Day,” and “Ghost World”

2000 – “Almost Famous,” “High Fidelity,” “Traffic,” “Memento,” “Requiem For a Dream,” “American Psycho,” “Cast Away,” “You Can Count On Me,” “The Cell,” and “Amores Perros”

1999 – “Fight Club,” “The Blair Witch Project,” “Magnolia,” “Being John Malkovich,” “Boys Don’t Cry,” “The Insider,” “Bringing Out the Dead,” “Summer of Sam,” “Eyes Wide Shut,” and “The Sixth Sense”

1998 – “Saving Private Ryan,” “American History X,” “The Thin Red Line,” “The Truman Show,” “The Big Lebowski,” “Out of Sight,” “Pleasantville,” “Pi,” “He Got Game,” and “There’s Something About Mary”

1997 – “Boogie Nights,” “Jackie Brown,” “The Game,” “Titanic,” “The Ice Storm,” “L.A. Confidential,” “Good Will Hunting,” “Lost Highway,” “Cop Land,” and “Eve’s Bayou”