And here we are at another milestone I never expected to reach, ten whole years for the Rhyme and Reason blog! I realize this year might be described as my least prolific or most neglectful year yet, and I think that came down to two reasons. For one, my Ireland/Scotland vacation back in May, my first international trip ever, threw off a lot of my routines, so it was both a big distraction and the highlight of the year. Secondly, I’ve been devoting a lot of my creative energies to my planned musical, which is progressing nicely, but still has a long road ahead of it. I can’t wait for the day when I can actually share it with the world, just not yet.

I’m still glad, though, that I was able to take part in NaPoWriMo back in April and still churn out the occasional review throughout the year, just to remind anyone out there that I’m still around. My Blindspot series has especially suffered, but I hope to wrap that up quickly in the new year, and maybe, hopefully do better with 2024’s Blindspot list. Hope springs eternal, even in the scattered world of time management.

The past year has been full of ups and downs, but good movies remain a consistent up whenever they come along. Hollywood found its stride in 2023 with some unqualified hits, despite Disney’s financial woes and the various strikes that rocked the movie industry. With my more limited theater-going, I wasn’t sure if I would have enough real favorites to compile my annual Top Twelve list, but there were more hits than I recalled. True, this is the first year that I don’t have a full twelve List-Worthy films to add to THE LIST of my Top 365 favorites, but I’ve included a couple high runners-up to round out my top films that I’ve seen in 2023 (not just 2023 releases). Not surprisingly, animation and musicals are well-represented, with a few more serious entries for good measure.

Before the countdown kicks off, as is tradition, I will pay respects to the outstanding runners-up that are worthy of praise but didn’t quite make the cut, including Shadow in the Cloud, Elvis, Matilda the Musical, RRR, Suzume, The Invisible Man, Living, Sound of Freedom, Last Night in Soho, A Million Miles Away, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, The Marvels, Blue Beetle, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, Journey to Bethlehem, and Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire. Plus, just as I have before with Hamilton and Come from Away, I’ll give kudos to the filmed stage performance of the musicals Waitress and Titanic that released this year. I still can’t quite bring myself to classify such recordings as typical movies, but they are well worth watching.

I can’t help but feel that this list has no resemblance to any critic’s end-of-year list, but these are my tastes and my list. What were your favorite films of the past year? I know I have plenty to catch up on (ahem, Barbie), so I’ll gladly take any recommendations! Now, on to the Top Twelve list!

12. Missing (2023)

Missing was an opportunistic watch, since I saw it on my transatlantic flight to Ireland. I had my doubts that the screenlife storytelling that worked so well in Searching could support another mystery about an online missing person investigation, but this spiritual sequel manages to nail the same level of tension and intrigue, even if its gimmick strains realism a bit. Luckily, the gimmick is well-utilized, keeping the audience guessing throughout.

11. Lincoln (2012)

While I still have a few Blindspots to watch, I somehow made time for this Spielberg biopic that has long been on my shortlist of potential Blindspots. The fact that it didn’t quite rise to the level of being List-Worthy is by no means a knock on the film’s quality, since Daniel Day-Lewis’s Oscar-winning portrayal of Lincoln is everything I could have hoped. Dense with talky politics and strong performances, this film played into my love of Civil War history perfectly. Another viewing could raise it to List-Worthy, since Lincoln deserves every one of its accolades.

10. Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)

Viewed as a casualty of the busy summer movie season, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning may not have quite lived up to its predecessors at the box office, but this Tom Cruise series continues to go strong, staying timely with a rogue A.I. as its villain. While I have some qualms about how it trades out its female leads, Hayley Atwell is a welcome addition, and the thrills and set pieces never disappoint.

9. Elemental (2023)

A sleeper hit, Elemental proved that Pixar’s trademark world-building magic still lives on, this time in a universe of living fire, water, earth, and air elements. While romance has been present before in films like Up and WALL-E, this is the first time they’ve tackled the straightforward rom-com formula, and the result is a charming fable of attraction, prejudice, immigration, and family expectations, with wondrous animation to boot.

8. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2023)

While it was hardly a flop, I feel like I’m more positive toward this prequel than most. Focusing on the 10^th Hunger Games, decades before the tale of Katniss and Peeta, this return to Panem is a riveting origin story for Coriolanus Snow, proving how even monsters can begin with good intentions. True, it’s rather long with a divisive lack of resolution, but I thought it recaptured the thrills and themes of the original series quite well.

7. Peninsula (2020)

One of the several horror movies I didn’t get to reviewing this past Halloween, Peninsula once again subverts my general aversion to the zombie genre. Another film in the world of Train to Busan, this story expands the action from mid-apocalypse to post-apocalypse as a guilt-ridden thief-for-hire navigates a zombie-infested cityscape, and while it’s not as affecting as the original, it still delivers a pulse-pounding and ultimately satisfying redemption story.

6. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022)

It’s not often that an animated sequel surpasses its original, but this second Puss in Boots film was a supremely entertaining return to form for a DreamWorks franchise I thought to be dead. Exploring mortality in a surprisingly nuanced way, this fantasy adventure had all the laughs and beautiful animation I could want, easily becoming the biggest surprise of the year.

5. Oppenheimer (2023)

While I didn’t partake in the Barbie half of the Barbenheimer craze, I did go for the serious half, Christopher Nolan’s highly anticipated biopic about the father of the atomic bomb. Considering Nolan’s last film Tenet got caught in its own logic, this was a return to form for Nolan, fashioning a mature puzzle box of a film that is as thought-provoking and well-acted as it is long, even without flashy action scenes. In a genre known for its cookie-cutter style, Nolan’s take on the biographical film is entirely his own.

4. The Color Purple (2023)

The last film I saw in 2023, this musical version of The Color Purple took a film to which I already had a strong emotional connection and gave it a brilliant Broadway treatment. While I think Spielberg’s original still edges it out, this new version hit all the notes it needed to and made me cry twice. And what can I say, if something makes me cry, I love it.

3. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

There isn’t much more I can add to all the accolades heaped upon the sequel to 2018’s Into the Spider-Verse, so I’ll just acknowledge that all of it is deserved. My full appreciation may depend on how well the finale in this trilogy sticks the landing, but as of now, Across the Spider-Verse built out Miles Morales’ world and beyond with expert nerdy craftsmanship, and I can’t wait to see where it goes next.

2. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)

While the Marvel franchise had further struggles this year, James Gunn provided a crowd-pleasing hit to close out his tenure with Marvel and the Guardians. Milking pathos as well as nostalgia, this last hurrah for Star-Lord, Rocket, Drax, and the rest of the crew gave us one of the most hissable villains in recent memory, as well as one of the most feel-good conclusions.

1. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)

Tell me I’m not the only one who absolutely loved this movie! I don’t even play D&D, but I do love the fantasy genre, and Honor Among Thieves combined so many elements into a marvelously entertaining package that I instantly became a fan. Every character, every set piece, every inventive special effect, every joke that landed added to my enjoyment and made me wish it could spawn a franchise that would give me more. I love everything about it, which is a rare feat for any movie these days.

And that’s another blog year in the books. As always, here are my own unofficial awards for the year’s films:

Best opening scene:  Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

Best final scene:  Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Coolest scene:  Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (the shapeshifting chase scene)

Biggest emotional impact:  The Color Purple

Oldest film:  Lincoln (2012)

Most recent film:  The Color Purple (2023)

Longest film:  Oppenheimer (180 minutes)

Shortest film:  Elemental (101 minutes)

Best soundtrack:  Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (hey, it has both Rainbow and Florence)

Best score:  Oppenheimer

Best special effects:  Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Most mind-bending: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Most family-friendly:  Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

Most mature:  Oppenheimer

Funniest:  Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

Scariest: Peninsula

Best male performance:  TIE: Cillian Murphy in Oppenheimer and Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln

Best female performance:  Danielle Brooks in The Color Purple

Personal favorite poem written: Thor: Love and Thunder

Most represented year: 2023, with nine films

So there you have it. Not as much representation from films outside of 2023 as in the past, but the last year has definitely provided some winners. I want to thank everyone who has read, liked, commented, or followed in the past year, despite my waning activity. I still want to continue with this blog as a creative outlet for as long as I can, and I do have some lists in mind for the months ahead to celebrate my 10th year of blogging in earnest. Thank you all, and I wish everybody a Happy New Year and a blessed 2024!