Check out our favourite films of 2022 below:

Honourable Mention: Dracula: Voyage of the Demeter

The horror genre had another great year in 2023, and one film that was uniquely frightening was the gothic horror of André Øvredal’s Dracula: Voyage of the Demeter. Øvredal explored the fresh territory of the vampire genre with this picture, and it delivered on the sheer shock and terror of its horror moments. This Dracula was a beast of the abyss, and the blood and dread that followed made for a terrifying experience. Audiences were sure to feel a ghoulish shiver run up their spines with this horrorfest, and Dracula: Voyage of the Demeter delivered on its promise to leave you with plenty of sleepless nights.

10. Napoleon

Sir Ridley Scott brought his immense talent for world creation to life on the big screen once again with his colossal epic Napoleon, and it was an awe-inspiring watch. With two fearless performances from Academy Award winner Joaquin Phoenix as ambitious general Napoleon Bonaparte and Vanessa Kirby as Josephine, the woman he would conquer the world for, Napoleon was a rousing and ambitious project that chronicled the age of the Napoleonic Wars and the man who re-shape the destiny of Europe. With its gigantic battle scenes, beautiful costumes and set pieces and intense emotional drama at the heart of its story, Napoleon made for an incredible sight on the big screen.

9. Killers of the Flower Moon

Martin Scorsese is a living legend of cinema, and he brought an incredibly profound and deeply heart-wrenching tale of love and betrayal to life in Killers of the Flower Moon. With its scale and majesty, Killers of the Flower Moon could be considered to be the great director’s magnum opus, and in every frame, you felt the director’s pull to his characters and this American story that was so deeply personal to him to tell. Leonardo DiCaprio shocked audiences with a completely left-facing turn as the slow-witted and malignant Ernest Burkhart, while Lily Gladstone brought a dynamic bravery to the role of Burkhart’s wife Mollie, who served as the voice of the Osage people and the terrible troubles that this picture documented. Everything of Scorsese as a filmmaker was present in Killers of the Flower Moon, and it’s an utterly triumphant work.

8. Air

A true underdog story awaited audiences in Air, and this true-life story of ‘hustle and grind’ and the decisions that would help turn a floundering Oregon-based shoe company called Nike in the late 1980s into a gigantic powerhouse brand was on show for everyone to see in all its glory. Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Chris Tucker, and Triple Crown-winning actress Viola Davis only added to the star power of this picture, and Air was a fun, enjoyable and ultimately uplifting story of why sometimes you’ve got to ‘just do it’.

7. Barbie

Barbie went blockbuster in 2023, and this prancing, dancing and neon-pink whirlwind of cinema was an utter pop culture phenomenon that saw audiences lining up in their ‘think pink’ wardrobe, and this was fun for everyone to enjoy. Margot Robbie shines in this ‘fish out of water’ story, as Barbie finds her way into the real world, and things get real. Then there was Ken. Oh, Ken, and Ryan Gosling was completely addicting to watch in his performance, and man-o-man, could he hold a tune. Barbie was a pure party of delight, filled with every shade of pink imaginable, and it was the perfect film to groove out to with your girlfriends…and maybe a Ken or two.

6. What’s Love Got to Do with It?

My feeling is that 2023 is bringing back the rom-com, and one of the year’s best was the fabulous, fun and poignant watch of What’s Love Got to Do with It? Directed by celebrated British filmmaker Shekhar Kapur and written by socialite turned screenwriter Jemima Khan, this was a poignant and layered film that explored the very construct of love and how it grows between two people, and the result made for a film that was both sassy and serious. Lily James again shows that she’s a serious talent to keep an eye on, and the end result was a charming picture packed full of joy that audiences were sure to fall in love with.

5. John Wick: Chapter 4

Keanu Reeves and director Chad Stahelski have forever changed the landscape of action cinema with their work on the John Wick franchise, and it got gnarly in the fourth chapter as the legendary assassin John Wick (Reeves), the ‘Baba Yaga’ himself, declared war on the High Table itself, and the result was utterly explosive. Big action met big drama in John Wick: Chapter 4, and the result was an utter rush that had your adrenal gland working overtime in one of the year’s best action pictures.

4. The Equalizer 3

As the culminating chapter to one of the decade’s greatest action franchises, much expectation was levelled on Antoine Fuqua’s The Equalizer 3 and the return of Denzel Washington as Robert McCall. And the two-time Academy Award winner didn’t disappoint in this dramatic, edgy and visceral action film. Operatic in its construction and delivery, Fuqua and Washington delivered this final chapter for this modern-day ronin who had to deliver justice at all costs. Violent and instinctive, The Equalizer 3 made for an intense and bold watch, and it was undoubtedly one of this year’s best cinematic events.

3. Saltburn

Emerald Fennel shocked audiences with her debut feature, Promising Young Women, and its follow-up, the fantastical gothic thriller Saltburn, which was a film of shocking INSANITY! Fennell invited audiences into a lavish experience of debauchery and excess with this psychodrama, and its twisting, edgy and shocking narrative made for one of the most intense cinematic experiences of the year. Barry Keoghan and Jacob Elordi cemented their position as two stars worthy of the A-list, and the Saltburn made for an experience of pure, unadulterated hedonism with the volume turned all the way up. Saltburn was a cinematic experience that set your senses on fire, with its narrative left to spin around your mind for days.

2. Living

Bill Nighy is an absolute treasure of an actor, and he gave the performance of a lifetime as Mr Rodney Williams in the tranquil and deeply moving Living. An emotional rollercoaster exploring the very necessity of life and what makes it meaningful, Living was an emotionally rousing, beautifully filmed piece of cinema, and by its end frame, you were sure to be wiping away the tears. Powerful in its construction and delivery, Living was an incredibly special watch, and its story was sure to find its way into the hearts of all audiences who basked in its beauty.

1. Oppenheimer

Christopher Nolan is a giant of the cinematic craft, and he turned his attention to one of the most significant moments of the 20th century in the discovery of the Atomic Age and its long-lasting consequences in Oppenheimer. Large and operatic in its spectacle, Oppenheimer was a film of cause and effect, action and consequence, and how innovation can lead to both discovery and destruction in the same moment. Nolan’s narrative was a masterwork of story, and his assembled cast, including Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Florence Pugh, Robert Downey Jr and Kenneth Branagh, led an incredible group of players and built an atmosphere of total immersion. Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer was an utter cinematic masterpiece and is likely to be one of the most important narrative events of the 21st century.

The post SpicyPulp’s Top 10 Films of 2023 appeared first on SpicyPulp.

In the 1920s, members of the Osage Native American tribe of Osage County, Oklahoma, are murdered after oil is found on their land, and the FBI decides to investigate.

As one of the greatest masters of the cinematic art form, Martin Scorsese is a filmmaker who continues to uphold the high art pedigree of the cinema format, and each of his projects has considerable narrative weight that comes to affect his audience deeply. His films are incredibly important to the landscape of American history and culture, and he has come to capture the American experience like no other. Now aged 80 and entering his sixth decade as a filmmaker, he brings to the screen what could be said to be the most powerful film of his career in Killers of the Flower Moon. For Scorsese, this is an immensely personal story of love, greed, fear, death and, ultimately the American landscape. The grand filmmaker has invested over six years of his life into bringing this dramatic and ultimately tragic tale of the human experience to the big screen. And you will not experience a more emotionally stirring narrative experience than this picture this year.

Scorsese serves as co-writer, producer and director of this grand opus and adapts David Grann’s award-winning book, which charts the forgotten history of a brutal collection of killings that target Native American members of the Osage tribe for their oil lease head rights and which formulated the birth of modern law enforcement through the presence of the Bureau Of Investigation, the precursor to the modern FBI. But where Grann’s book is a cut-and-dry investigation narrative, Scorsese instead takes this narrative and tells its story, but instead from an entirely different angle. And this has surprising dramatic results for audiences. Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower is, on the one hand, a giant epic that chronicles the last dying days of the American West and the corruption that modern capitalistic greed can inflict on native people. But on the other side, it is an incredibly taut, desperate and tension-laden family-psycho drama that will fill audiences with dread as we watch a family torn apart from the inside by those closest to it and all for the lust for oil and money.

For Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon is the culmative effort of his nearly six-decade career as a filmmaker, and it is an utter masterwork. Imagery, sound and performance all flow together for a seamless narrative presentation, and even with the pictures near three and a half-hour presentation, your attention never wanders. Instead, you find yourself drama into this monumental tragedy of a creeping existential horror that brings to life the dawn of the American century. Killers of the Flower Moon is a picture that should be experienced on the biggest canvas possible, and this is a picture made for the cinema experience. The lens of celebrated cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto captures both the grand expanse of the Osage Nation and the intimate interpersonal relationships of the film’s core characters. Prieto’s balance of scale and humanity in his imagery makes for a profoundly personable image, and his lens gives the film an almost sepia tone as if stained by the blood and oil that exists at the centre of the narrative.

Central to the film’s story is Academy Award winner and Scorsese’s long-time collaborator Leonardo DiCaprio. And you’ve never seen him give a performance like this before. DiCaprio takes the central role of Ernest Burkhart, a WWI veteran with limited prospects; Ernest returns to Oklahoma and the open arms of his scheming uncle and benefactor William ‘King’ Hale. Gifted with good looks but few smarts, DiCaprio’s Ernest is a glum, slack-jawed two-bit Oakie criminal who worms his way into the presence of local Osage Tribeswomen Mollie Kyle, a native woman who has a considerable claim to Osage oil head rights. While he plays the part of a devoted suitor, Ernest is a schemer and a delinquent who is not nearly as smart as he thinks; his instant impulse leads him to plenty of poor decision-making. Described by Molly as a ‘coyote’, DiCaprio truly becomes a feral, hungry-looking beast, and the audience watches with pure horror as he skirts off to the side, just waiting to bite.

DiCaprio has a long and storied career, and he has never played a character quite like Ernest. Ernest Burkhart is far and away the most complex character he’s ever brought to life, with DiCaprio fully transforming himself into a guileless, festering character. DiCaprio plays stupid well with Ernest, and his limited empathy and unquestioning loyalty to his uncle make him an entirely seedy character. As the story progresses, Ernest goes further to possess his wife’s land and money, and even though he deeply loves Molly, he can’t help but fall into his base, sinister nature. A true coyote in human skin, Ernest is an utterly despicable human being, and credit must be given to DiCaprio’s incredible transformation of a baying and deliberate evil on screen.

Where DiCaprio’s Ernest Burkhart might be the hand of evil, the direction behind his despicable actions stems from his uncle William’ King’ Hale, who is brought to life with calculating malice by the great Robert DeNiro. A successful rancher and the literal ‘King of the Osage’, DeNiro’s Hale is a man of great wealth, power and influence and whose black soul hungers for more. For Hale, there is no length to which he will not go to possess the Osage wealth, and it is through his direction that the brutal killings of the Osage occur. DeNiro gives an incredible two-faced performance. On one face, he is a devoted benefactor and friend; the other, a seething, bitter and twisted devil who will go to any manipulation to get what he wants. He’s the serpent in the grass who is manipulating events from the shadows, and you feel Hale’s dark hand at every turn, and his performance is frightening.

But bringing Killers of the Flower Moon together through her dynamic and brave performance is Lily Gladstone as Mollie Burkhart. A native Osage woman with considerable ownership of Osage oil head rights. Mollie soon becomes infatuated by DiCaprio’s Ernest, her ‘coyote’ as she names him, and the two fall in love and then marry. Their marriage is one of love and devotion, but Hale’s hand is never far, and soon, Mollie begins to suffer from it, and it’s here that the seething, slow death of the Osage begins to come to light. While the film’s events are seen through Ernest’s narrative, Mollie serves as a secondary narrator and is through her insistence that justice is finally served. Gladstone gives an incredibly brave and honest performance, and she is a natural fit in the picture between DiCaprio and DeNiro. Her role in the story is one of conviction and bravery, and audiences will feel the full extent of her emotions on screen.

Killers of the Flower Moon is by no way an easy watch. This is a film of high emotions, and its incredibly layered and contextual themes of the loss of native identity, the corruption of unchecked capitalism, and the severity of evil will have audiences in a state of contemplation days after they watch it. This is an incredibly complex and heavy watch, and of all the films of his storied career, Killers of the Flower Moon is Martin Scorsese’s most thought-provoking work to date. Killers of the Flower Moon is a film packed with emotion, and you’ll feel spent having left the cinema, but while its narrative and the turmoil at the centre of its story are hard to watch, it’s an important narrative, and ultimately is Martin Scorsese’s gift to the Osage people.

Killers of the Flower Moon is one of this year’s most important cinema releases. It is an utter triumphant masterwork, the culminating triumph of Scorsese’s career. Everything of him as a storyteller is present in this picture, and it is without a doubt the most emotional experience you’ll have inside a cinema all year.

Image: Paramount Pictures

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Watch the first teaser trailer below:

Here’s the official synopsis:

Based on David Grann’s broadly lauded best-selling book, Killers of the Flower Moon is set in 1920s Oklahoma and depicts the serial murder of members of the oil-wealthy Osage Nation, a string of brutal crimes that came to be known as the Reign of Terror.

With grand themes of love, tragedy, greed and murder, Killers of the Flower Moon is Academy Award winner Martin Scorsese’s epic feature of the American West and how change and corruption ate away at its soul. Centred on returned WWI veteran Ernest Burkhart (DiCaprio) who returns from the war with little prospects soon finds himself in service to his ruthless uncle and cattle baron William Hale (DeNiro) whose own interests extend to Ernest’s wife, Mollie Burkhart (Lily Gladstone), a member of the local Osage Nation, whose own position in society soon places her in extreme danger.

With a production budget of $200 million and a running time of 206 minutes, Killers of the Flower Moon is an epic in the grand sense of the world and this is a truly cinematic work of art. This first footage and narrative mood that we are treated to in this opening teaser trailer sets the stage for a picture of immense scope and gigantic scale. This footage and its evocative narrative are a tribute to Scorsese’s immense talent as a filmmaker and we see all of his passion and focus in the resulting picture.

What audiences get with this picture is a narrative that delves into the malice and corruption that can eb brought to the American frontier and the very spirit of the American Dream at times. It appears to be a haunting picture of immense power and drama and audiences will feel their emotions move this grand cinematic experience.

Killers of the Flower Moon is set to have its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival and there is much speculation and anticipation for its debut ahead of its global release in cinemas on October 17.

Image: Paramount Pictures

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Check them out below:

10. Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre

We’ve been waiting a long time for Guy Ritchie’s cinematic return and we’re finally on the eve of the release of his long-awaited spy-action-comedy Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre. Re-teaming again with long time collaborator after their masterful work on the intense and driven revenge thriller Wrath of Man, Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre will allow the two of them some space to play around with the spy genre and it looks like it’s going to be a lot of fun. With a packed-out supporting cast including Aubrey Plaza, Josh Hartnett and Hugh Grant, Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre is a film you won’t want to miss out on.

Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre will arrive in cinemas on January 12, 2023.

9. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Marvel Studios fans will be in for a very big treat this year with some absolutely stellar releases coming our way and one of my most anticipated Marvel releases is Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Marvel Studio’s Ant-Man films have long been some of my favourite entries in the MCU and I’m excited to see how director Peyton Reed pushes the envelope with this new entry. My MCU tastes lean more towards the spectacular and the cosmic so I’m incredibly excited to see how we get to explore the Quantum Realm and how the new big bad Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors) is about to change the MCU forever!

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will arrive in cinemas on February 17, 2023.

8. Babylon

When it comes to rising auteur cinema voices, one man leading the charge is writer-director Damien Chazelle and he’s about to make the silent movie era loud in Babylon. With a cast including Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie, Babylon is shaping up to be one of my must-watch movie events of the year and this film looks sexy, glamourous, seductive, and utterly wild.

Babylon will arrive in cinemas on January 19, 2023.

7. Killers of the Flower Moon

When it comes to cinema legends they don’t come with more talent or respect for the craft of cinema than the legendary Martin Scorsese. And this cinematic visionary is ready to bring an incredible sense of drama with his high-profile historical-dramatic-crime-epic Killers of the Flower Moon. Based on the horrendous true-life murders that occurred in Oklahoma in the early 1920s, Scorsese along with his cast that includes Leonardo DiCaprio, Jesse Plemons and Robert DeNiro will no doubt bring about an intense and suspenseful watch, and Killers of the Flower Moon could very well end up being one of 2023’s best releases.

Killers of the Flower Moon will be released on Apple TV+ in 2023.

6. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One

When it comes to Hollywood movie stars they don’t get much bigger than Tom Cruise, and now the king of blockbuster cinema is returning as super spy Ethan Hunt for one hell of a thrill ride with 2023’s must-watch action picture Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. This first chapter in what will be a two-part epic will be the culmination of the Mission: Impossible franchise and Cruise is going all out with this action epic and is pushing the limit when it comes to stunts and action. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is shaping up to be pure cinematic action fun and audiences will be in for a rush when it releases later this year.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One will arrive in cinemas on July 13, 2023.

5. John Wick: Chapter 4

Keanu Reeves is back as super-assassin John Wick and he’s ready to bring the wrath to the members of the High Table and bullets and blood will be spent. This fourth entry in what is one of Hollywood’s best new modern franchises continues to turn up the dial on the excitement and intensity of the cinema craft and both Reeves and director Chad Stahelski are ready to bring it with this one.

John Wick: Chapter 4 will arrive in cinemas on March 23, 2023.

4. Barbie

When it comes to 2023 releases one of my standout must-watch films of 2023 is undoubtedly Greta Gerwig’s Barbie. With Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling in the lead, this is an absolute must-watch 2023 and the recent teaser trailer certainly got my excitement up for this pastel-coloured extravaganza, which will deliver audiences a serious twist with its narrative. Bight, colourful and packed full of fun, Barbie will get its audience grooving.

Barbie will arrive in cinemas on July 24, 2023.

3. Dune: Part Two

In 2021 visionary filmmaker Denis Villeneuve brought the grandest of science fiction epics to the big screen with Dune. Realising the mighty deserts of the world of Arrakis, Villeneuve is ready once more to transport audiences back to this far-off galaxy as he continues to the story of Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) and his journey to becoming the mighty Muad’Dib. With his incredible returning cast including Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem and Stellan Skarsgard, alongside new actors including Florence Pugh, Austin Butler and the legendary Christopher Walken, Dune: Part Two is an epic that will be a must-see big screen event.

Dune: Part Two will arrive in cinemas on November 3, 2023.

2. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3

The penultimate chapter of Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy is set to arrive this year, and I couldn’t be more excited to hang out with my all-time favourite MCU characters. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3 is shaping up to be an epically fun watch, and James Gunn is once again ready to work his magic on the galaxy’s greatest-ever group of outlaws. From the first teaser, it’s clear that the emotions are going to run high with this one and I can’t wait to hear the playlist and catch the action on this must-watch MCU film.

Guardians of the Guardians Vol.3 will arrive in cinemas on May 5, 2023.

1. Oppenheimer

But when it comes down to it there’s one film that tops my list of must-watch feature films for 2022 and that’s Christopher Nolan’s WWII historical blockbuster epic, Oppenheimer. Bringing to life the genius and terror of J. Robert Oppenheimer’s creation of the atomic bomb and the dawn of the nuclear age, Oppenheimer is Nolan firing on all cylinders and this is shaping up to be a monumental achievement in cinema. Shot exclusively with IMAX cameras, Oppenheimer is a film that audiences will want to see on the biggest screen possible and its epic scale, scope, cast and narrative make this my most anticipated film of 2023.

Oppenheimer will arrive in cinemas on July 21, 2023.

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