It has been a tradition on the Drink in the Movies Podcast to commemorate the year in film by talking about our favorite films and giving out our own special superlatives. As our site has grown over the past years, we’ve expanded to let our teammates participate in our superlatives. Our team comes from a variety of backgrounds and experiences across the United States, each with invaluable insight and opinions on film.
Wounded Soldiers:
The Wounded Soldier category encompasses our teams favorite movies that had a poor reception from critics or audiences. Each one of these films either performed poorly at the box office relative to their budget and theatrical release and/or got a 60 or under on Metacritic.
Alexander Reams: ‘Beau Is Afraid’ (dir. Ari Aster)
Anna Harrison: ‘Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ (dir. John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein)
Jeff Sparks: ‘Wildflower’ (dir. by Matt Smukler)
With mediocre scores across all sites from the majority of viewers, my experience with “Wildflower” was quite contrary to most. Starring Kiernan Shipka, the film tells the true story of Bea, a high school senior who is struggling to decide between going to college or staying at home to take care of her disabled parents. After finding herself in a coma at the beginning of the film, Bea recounts her life story up until this point to us. “Wildflower” may have a simple story but it’s told in an effective way that is engaging for the entirety of the runtime. Parts of it have stuck with me since I watched it, especially the performance from Shipka who convinces you that the character she’s playing is a real person. Quirky, uncertain, confident, self-conscious, stubborn, and funny, are all traits that Shipka gives Bea in just 105 minutes. Had the film been given a wide theatrical release I’m certain this would have been a star-making performance for her. It may be a basic crowd-pleaser but the wonderful lead performance and well-told story make “Wildflower” solid as hell.
Maria Athayde: ‘At Midnight’ (dir. Jonah Feingold)
Michael Clawson: ‘Nobody’s Hero’ (dir. Alain Guiraudie)
Nick McCann: ‘The Meg 2: The Trench’ (dir. Ben Wheatley)
Patrick Hao: ‘She Came to Me’ (dir. Rebecca Miller)
Taylor Baker: ‘Magic Mike’s Last Dance’ (dir. Steven Soderbergh)
Squandered Talents:
Squandered Talents are the actors or directors that our team believes was wasted or squandered by the films they made or participated in that were released in 2023.
Alexander Reams: Chris Evans as Cole in ‘Ghosted’ and as Pete Brenner in ‘Pain Hustlers’ and David Gordon Green director of ‘The Exorcist Believer’
Anna Harrison: The real Leonard Bernstein, ‘Maestro’
Jeff Sparks: Charlotte Gainsbourg as Patsy in ‘The Pale Blue Eye’ and Jaime King as Sherri Papini in ‘Hoax: The Kidnapping of Sherri Papini,’ and as Annie in ‘The Resurrection of Charles Manson’
Maria Athayde: Adam Driver as Mills in ’65’
Michael Clawson: Barry Keoghan as Oliver Quick in ‘Saltburn’
Compare “The Killing of Sacred Deer” to “Saltburn” to see just how wasted Barry Keoghan is in Emerald Fennell’s vacuous, pretentious knock-off of “The Talented Mr. Ripley.” In Lanthimos’ film, every physical gesture and vocal inflection by Keoghan, every squint and twist of his neck, contains a hint of woundedness and menacing unpredictability. It’s a rare performance of hazardous psychological damage that warrants comparison to Joaquin Phoenix’s most indelible roles. On the other hand, Keoghan’s role in “Saltburn” is a sequence of embarrassing, histrionic stunts. There clearly is nothing Emerald Fennell wants more than to be called a provocateur, and in “Saltburn,” she wields Keoghan like a toy prop in try-hard bids for controversy. The grave-fucking and bathtub-licking isn’t scandalous or shocking – the movie’s stakes are too nonexistent for that. Amazingly, “Saltburn” puts Keoghan front and center like no other film has yet, and yields an entirely forgettable performance.
Nick McCann: Antonio Banderas as Renaldo in ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’
Patrick Hao: Richard Gere as Howard in ‘Maybe I Do’
Taylor Baker: Ana de Armas as Sadie Rhodes in ‘Ghosted’ and Adam Driver as Mills in ’65’
Best Ensemble:
Alexander Reams: ‘The Iron Claw’ (Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White, Harris Dickinson, Holt McCallany, Maura Tierney, Stanley Simons, and Lily James)
Anna Harrison: ‘Theater Camp’ (Molly Gordon, Ben Platt, Noah Galvin, Jimmy Tatro, Caroline Aaron, Ayo Edebiri, Patti Harrison, Nathan Lee Graham, and Amy Sedaris)
Ah, theater kids, the most insufferable children ever to grace this planet—and I should know, seeing as I was (am?) one of them. “Theater Camp” is a love letter to those annoying theater kids and the summer camps that shaped them, aware of their flaws but envious of the joy that these kids can get from something so simple as singing “I Dreamed a Dream.” Directed by childhood friends Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman and co-starring Gordon alongside their other childhood friend Ben Platt, who all clearly drew on their own lived experience, it’s obvious that the whole cast, including Gordon’s “The Bear” co-star Ayo Edebiri, Patti Harrison, Jimmy Tatro, Platt’s fiancé (and fellow Evan Hansen) Noah Galvin, and Broadway veteran Nathan Lee Graham, among others, had an absolute blast while filming. That’s not even mentioning the child actors, including Alan Kim of “Minari” fame and Bailee Bonick as the type of fellow theater girl I just hated; if this clip of their performance at Sundance doesn’t convince you of their greatness, I don’t know what will. It would have been easy for “Theater Camp” to be mean-spirited, but in the hands of this excellent ensemble, you’ll find yourself rooting for these weird children instead—after you’ve had a good chuckle at their expense, of course.
Jeff Sparks: ‘Poor Things’ (Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, Mark Ruffalo, Ramy Youssef, Jerrod Carmichael, Christopher Abbott, and Margaret Qualley)
Maria Athayde: ‘Theater Camp’ (Molly Gordon, Ben Platt, Noah Galvin, Jimmy Tatro, Caroline Aaron, Ayo Edebiri, Patti Harrison, Nathan Lee Graham, and Amy Sedaris)
Michael Clawson: ‘Asteroid City’ (Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Liev Schreiber, Steve Carell, and Maya Hawke)
Nick McCann: ‘Oppenheimer’ (Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr., Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Josh Hartnett, Casey Affleck, Florence Pugh, Rami Malek, Kenneth Branagh, Benny Safdie, Jason Clarke, and Alden Ehrenreich)
Patrick Hao: ’80 for Brady’ (Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Rita Moreno, Sally Field, Tom Brady, Billy Porter, Harry Hamlin, and Bob Balaban)
Taylor Baker: ‘The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial’ (Jake Lacy, Jason Clarke, Kiefer Sutherland, Monica Raymund, Lance Reddick, Jay Duplass, and Tom Riley)
Best Documentary:
Alexander Reams: ‘Kelce’ (dir. Don Argott)
Anna Harrison: ‘Starring Jerry as Himself’ (dir. Law Chen)
Maria Athayde: ‘El Equipo’ (dir. Bernardo Ruiz)
“El Equipo” or “The Team” in English is a fascinating anthropological exploration of the consequences of military authoritarianism in Argentina. Led by American professor Clyde Snow and a team of Argentine students, the documentary meticulously shows how Dr. Clyde and his team exhumed the remains of the deceased as a way to bring closure to the family of countless loved ones that passed. “El Equipo” follows all the traditional modes of documentary filmmaking (use of archival footage, photographs, and interviews), but it does it in a way that is not gratuitous. It is able to integrate the features of the documentary form in an effective and engaging manner that transcends what you see on screen. “El Equipo” tells a small story while creating an opportunity for further discussion. The decisions of what to show and what to hold back lead to a somewhat tense finale where you satisfyingly connect the dots.
Michael Clawson: ‘Menus Plaisirs – Les Troisgros’ (dir. Frederick Wiseman)
Patrick Hao: ‘Apolonia, Apolonia’ (dir. Lea Glob)
Taylor Baker: ‘Anselm’ (dir. Wim Wenders)
Best Original Soundtrack:
For the original soundtrack, Drink in the Movies encompasses both traditional film scores and music choices by the director. So whether a movie is using an original piece of orchestration to dictate the tension of a scene or a pop song by Huey Lewis & the News, this category considers all the ways a movie uses music.
Alexander Reams: Composer Joe Hisaishi for ‘The Boy and the Heron’
While 2023 has been a fairly great year for film, the music that accompanied some of the best of the year are truly great, but it’s the transcendent work from legendary composer Joe Hisaishi with his work in “The Boy and the Heron” that tops all of them. It’s a score that constantly feels like it’s in conversation with the scores from the past Hayao Miyazaki films. Hisaishi has scored all of his films since “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind” back in 1984 and the electric duo haven’t had a misstep in their collaboration, with it all seeming to culminate with Miyazaki’s latest “final film.” It certainly feels that way, Hisaishi has always employed the organ as this otherworldly sound, to emphasize the surrealness of Miyazaki’s images, but the piano used for Mahito (and his mother’s) theme already invokes the idea of exploration, and invites the idea of something new in Mahito’s life. Hisaishi’s latest collaboration with Miyazaki is one of their finest, and gave way to the creation of the best soundtrack of the year.
Anna Harrison: Composer Marcelo Zarvos for ‘May December’
Jeff Sparks: Composer Irène Drésel for ‘Full Time’ and Composer Mica Levi for ‘The Zone of Interest’
Maria Athayde: Composers Leo Birenberg and Charli XCX for ‘Bottoms’ and Director Christian Petzold for ‘Afire’
Michael Clawson: Composer Robbie Robertson for ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’
Nick McCann: Composer Naoki Satō for ‘Godzilla Minus One’
Patrick Hao: Composer Robbie Robertson for ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’
Taylor Baker: Director Christian Petzold for ‘Afire’
Best Actor(Lead):
Alexander Reams: Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer in ‘Oppenheimer’ & Jason Clarke as Lieutenant Barney Greenwald ‘The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial’
Anna Harrison: Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer in ‘Oppenheimer’
Jeff Sparks: Alexander Skarsgård as James Foster in ‘Infinity Pool’
Maria Athayde: Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer in ‘Oppenheimer’
Michael Clawson: Paul Giamatti as Paul Hunham in ‘The Holdovers’
Nick McCann: Paul Giamatti as Paul Hunham in ‘The Holdovers‘
Few actors hold such silently recognized brilliance as Paul Giamatti. The man has rocked his fair share of character roles and principal performances over his distinguished career with an assured trust his end will be covered once you see him. “The Holdovers” not only marks another high point for him but could tip the scale to bigger general audience awareness. As high school teacher Paul Hunham, he holds himself high on esteemed standards to a stubborn degree and never buckles his methods for anybody. That comes especially challenging during the counterculture 1970s era he inhabits. Between the wit-fast dialog and his budding duo with Dominic Sessa’s Angus Tully, Hunham’s stone walls begin to wither away. Compassion takes hold to the point where he’s looking into himself as much as those he’s snowed in with. This archetype, usually the butt of many jokes in classic 70s or 80s school comedies, plays into all that appeal but is elevated with a heartfelt script from David Hemingson. In his typical fashion, Giamatti gives the role so much life. The glass eye, pipe smoking, hunched demeanor, all manner of characteristics that get the brain recalling memories of past quirky teachers. He’s equally as much of an outcast, relatably flawed that requires chipping away at a tough exterior. The reward for witnessing such an arc leaves no doubt the he’s at the top of the heap in lead performances this year.
Patrick Hao: Jason Schwartzman as Augie Steenbeck in ‘Asteroid City’
Taylor Baker: Joaquin Phoenix as Beau Wassermann in ‘Beau is Afraid’
Best Actress(Lead):
Alexander Reams: Madeline Luna Voyles as Alphie in ‘The Creator’
Anna Harrison: Sandra Hüller as Sandra Voyter in ‘Anatomy of a Fall’
Court dramas live or die by the charisma and abilities of their lead actors. “Anatomy of a Fall,” Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winner, is, for all intents and purposes, a standard courtroom drama and rife for boredom and triteness, but never once did my attention waver thanks to the commanding presence of Sandra Hüller as a woman charged with her husband’s murder. It’s a performance that reminds you that acting is not just a talent, it is a skill that can be honed and sharpened, and Hüller’s precision as Sandra (yes, Sandra) Voyter puts most of Hollywood’s A-list actors to shame. She toes the line between guilty and innocent, keeping the audience guessing while never losing sight of Voyter’s core. Without the force of Hüller at its center, “Anatomy of a Fall” would break to pieces. Did she kill her husband? Did he commit suicide? Does it even matter? The point is not the verdict, the point is what you think of the woman at its center, and thanks to Hüller, regardless of whether I loved or hated Voyter, I never stopped thinking about her.
Jeff Sparks: Mia Goth as Gabi Bauer in ‘Infinity Pool’
Maria Athayde: Greta Lee as Nora in ‘Past Lives’
Nick McCann: Kaitlyn Dever as Brynn Adams in ‘No One Will Save You’
Michael Clawson: Natalie Portman as Elizabeth Berry in ‘May December’
Patrick Hao: Jennifer Lawrence as Maddie Barker in ‘No Hard Feelings’
Taylor Baker: Cailee Spaeny as Priscilla Presley in ‘Priscilla’
Best Actor (Supporting):
Alexander Reams: Kiefer Sutherland as Lieutenant Philip Francis Queeg in ‘The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial’
Anna Harrison: Robert Downey Jr. as Lewis Strauss in ‘Oppenheimer’
Jeff Sparks: Robert De Niro as William King Hale in ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’
Maria Athayde: Glenn Howerton as Jim Balsillie in ‘BlackBerry’
Michael Clawson: Robert De Niro as William King Hale in ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’
Nick McCann: Hidetaka Yoshioka as Kenji Noda in ‘Godzilla Minus One’
Patrick Hao: Ben Whishaw as Martin in ‘Passages’
Ben Winshaw is an actor of empathetic pathos. Even as the voice actor of Paddington Bear, he is able to generate much versatility within his emotional register. That is best showcased in this year’s Ira Sachs film, “Passages.” As Martin, he is the core of this love triangle, despite being the one pushed off to the side, within this relationship between the mercurial Tomas, Martin’s husband, and Agathe, Martin’s lover. Martin is the antithesis of Franz Rogowski’s Tomas, a firebrand of energy. Martin is outwardly meek but internally filled with strength and anguish at the predicament. Martin is sparse on dialogue but filled with subtext. And Winshaw does that by giving a full-body performance without moving much at all.
Taylor Baker: Kiefer Sutherland as Lieutenant Philip Francis Queeg in ‘The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial’
Best Actress (Supporting):
Alexander Reams: Scarlett Johansson as Midge Campbell in ‘Asteroid City’
Anna Harrison: Danielle Brooks as Sofia in ‘The Color Purple’
Jeff Sparks: Galatéa Bellugi as Rebecca in ‘Amanda’
Maria Athayde: Da’Vine Joy Randolph as Mary Lamb in ‘The Holdovers’
Michael Clawson: Rachel McAdams as Barbara Simon in ‘Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret.’
The casting of Rachel McAdams in Kelly Fremon Craig’s sophomore feature makes wonderful sense. Between “The Edge of Seventeen” and “Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret.,” Craig is among the finest of new directors in recent years who’ve opted to work within the conventions of mainstream Hollywood. McAdams has likewise blazed a career path through movies designed for commercial popularity, only occasionally stepping away from romances, comedies, and literary adaptations for films by more idiosyncratic “auteurs.” In Craig’s adaptation of Judy Blume’s classic novel, Craig’s and McAdams’ sensibilities are perfectly aligned. In the role of eleven-year-old Margaret’s mother, McAdams is funny, charming, vulnerable, and above all, convincingly loving towards her daughter. The performance is one of genuine, disarming warmth, and it fulfills the dimensionality granted to the character by Blume’s text. While Margaret goes through her own awkward phase of adjustment and self-development, so too does McAdams’ Barbara as an artist stepping into the role of suburban housewife. There were flashier supporting performances by actresses this year, but few that created characters this relatable and human.
Nick McCann: Lily Gladstone as Mollie Burkhart in ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’
Patrick Hao: Rachel McAdams as Barbara Simon in ‘Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret.’
Taylor Baker: Paula Beer as Nadja in ‘Afire’
Best Villain:
Alexander Reams: Julianne Moore as Gracie Atherton-Yoo in ‘May December’
The maliciousness that lies underneath every scene with Julianne Moore as Gracie Atherton-Yoo is one of the most uncomfortable experiences of 2023 in film. She never hides what she did she revels in it. She shows off her marriage, house, and relationship every chance she gets, and it’s clear that the entrance of Natalie Portman’s Elizabeth Berry is her latest attempt to flaunt the fact that she did one of the worst things imaginable, and to a child no less. However Portman doesn’t stay on Atherton the entire time, she meets with former husbands, children, neighbors, and critics. All of this takes the control away from Gracie, who has so precariously built up this facade of control in her marriage, and her interactions with others, and the sad fact is- she knows how weak her “marriage” truly is. At every step, she is making a desperate grasp for control, and slowly but surely Todd Haynes reveals that more and more. Her presence is poisonous, and Julianne Moore has always had a way with slimy and villainous characters, she turns in a performance that is firmly cemented as the villain of the year.
Anna Harrison: Antoine Reinartz as Avocat général in ‘Anatomy of a Fall’
Jeff Sparks: Mia Goth as Gabi Bauer in ‘Infinity Pool’
Maria Athayde: Patti Harrison as Caroline Krauss in ‘Theater Camp’ & Jason Momoa as Dante Reyes in ‘Fast X’
Michael Clawson: Ice Cube as Superfly in ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem’
Nick McCann: Robert de Niro as William King Hale in ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’
Patrick Hao: Aging and mortality in ‘Leo’
Taylor Baker: Kelly Reilly as Rowena Drake in ‘A Haunting in Venice’
Best Directorial Feature Debut:
Alexander Reams: ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem’ (dir. Jeff Rowe)
Anna Harrison: ‘Fair Play’ (dir. Chloe Domont)
Jeff Sparks: ‘Waiting for The Light to Change’ (dir. Linh Tran)
Maria Athayde: ‘Rye Lane’ (dir. Raine Allen-Miller)
Michael Clawson: ‘Earth Mama’ (dir. Savanah Leaf)
Nick McCann: ‘Talk To Me’ (dir. Michael and Danny Phillippou)
Patrick Hao: ‘A Thousand and One’ (dir. A.V. Rockwell)
“A Thousand and One” could have easily been a formulaic message movie. One that luxuriates on the tragi-porn nature of the circumstances of a single mother who abducts her child from foster care because there was no legal means for her to get the child back. But, rather than being a neoliberal weepy, A.V. Rockwell creates a film centered on people – flawed, admirable, but most importantly human. Rockwell is interested in this found family of a mother, a child, and a stepfather, all taking place within this one apartment starting in the mid-1990s. Sense of place is the key to “A Thousand and One” adding rich texture to the joy, love, and messiness within this family. And woven within this texture is a broader piece on gentrification and the oppressive natures of certain institutional forces. But, Rockwell is not beating a person over the head with these themes because she understands the intersectionality of this story she is telling by focusing narrowly on what she wants to focus on. That exhibits maturity way beyond that of someone making her directorial debut.
Taylor Baker: ‘A Thousand and One’ (dir. A.V. Rockwell)
