Honourable Mentions: Godzilla Minus One, Dream Scenario, Flash, Cocaine Bear, Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe, Asteroid City, Air, M3GAN, Next Goal Wins, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Evil Dead Rise, Sisu

10. The Creator

Director Gareth Edwards (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) creates a compelling narrative about humanity versus AI, and how the blending of humanity and technology makes it impossible to tell the difference between the two. In the future, AI are being persecuted by humans until one former soldier, Joshua (John David Washington) finds an AI child (Madeleine Yuna Voyles) that could change the entire world. The visuals are spectacular, like the point of view on the ground of giant war machines in the sky sending destruction at people helpless to fight back. There are fast-paced action scenes featuring nifty looking human and robot hybrid battles, and a finale that is remarkably heartfelt.

9. Tetris

Inspired by the true story, Tetris follows the game from the 1980s Soviet Union that became a worldwide sensation. Software engineer Henk (Taron Edgerton) discovers the simple beauty of the game Tetris that was made by a Soviet computer programmer, Alexey (Nikita Yefremov). But with the Soviet Union on the brink of collapse, every corrupt Soviet officer wants a piece of the USSR owned game. It is an espionage thriller about an iconic video game trying to escape Soviet bureaucracy, double-dealing software owners and spies disguised as translators. There’s craziness like the Tetris game visuals blurring with reality, Henk sneaking through the iron curtain, and how bundling Tetris with the Nintendo Game Boy saved a Soviet citizen who was able to dream bigger.

8. The Holdovers

Christmas can be a difficult time, especially when a kid in the 1970s, Angus (Dominic Sessa) is stuck at a boarding school for weeks with the nastiest teacher in the entire school, Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti). Mean old Paul is not well liked, especially when he gives the students an assignment right before they leave because Angus got mouthy. But even with Angus hating Paul, they begrudgingly find a mutual respect, leading to a trip to Boston with unexpected consequences for both. Featuring great quips and layered performances by the two leads and Da’Vine Joy Randolph as a mother dealing with profound loss, this shows even two bitter folks can grow together in a very unlikely way.

7. The Boy and the Heron

An anime masterpiece from director Hayao Miyazaki, this is a visually lush and emotionally profound adventure. Mahito is a kid in World War II era Japan dealing with the loss of his mother and his father moves them to the countryside with a new mother. There Mahito finds a chatty heron bird that claims Mahito must follow him into a magical and dangerous world to find his mother. There are amazing visuals like talking fire, floating spirits, parakeets with swords, a person hiding inside a bird suit and lots more. The English voiceover cast is stacked with actors like Dave Bautista as the Parakeet King, Mark Hamill as an old sage and Robert Pattison as the trickster heron. Even with trippy visuals, the core story is about Mahito dealing with the loss of his mother and how meeting a special girl gives his saddened soul peace.

6. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Writer and director James Gunn’s space superhero story about the gaggle of misfits known as the Guardians of the Galaxy has laughs, pathos, and epic action. When Rocket (Bradley Cooper) is injured, the only way to save their raccoon friend is to find Rocket’s creator, the megalomaniacal High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji). Meanwhile, Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) must reckon with an alternate version of his former love, Gamora (Zoe Saldana). Rocket’s origin story is harrowing, giving the surly anthropomorphic racoon a depth that makes the team’s fight for him emotionally resonant, and every Guardian gets a standout moment. And it ends in a perfect celebration of a team that realizes the dog days are over now.

5. Killers of the Flower Moon

An epic film about a dark moment of oppression of Native Americans. In the early 20^th Century, the Osage Nation struck oil, making them all very rich but attracting attention from the white citizens of Oklahoma. They conspire to marry their way into the Osage families or just kill them and bodies start to pile up. Ernest (Leonardo DiCaprio) is persuaded by his Uncle Hale (Robert De Niro) to marry an Osage woman, Mollie (Lily Gladstone). Though Ernest seems to genuinely love Mollie, he commits horrible things against her and her family. There are moments of quiet broken up by unexpected bursts of harrowing violence, showing a years-long massacre of a people by horrible men motivated by greed and entitlement.

4. Poor Things

A crazy spin on the Frankenstein story from director Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite). Scientist Godwin (Willem Dafoe) reanimates a corpse, naming her Bella (Emma Stone). She starts off simple and discovers the delights of life, promising to marry the scientist Max (Ramy Youssef) but then runs off with the hedonistic Duncan (Mark Ruffalo). But soon Bella realizes Duncan is an oppressive lunatic. Her journey takes her to a job at a Parisian brothel until she eventually meets someone from her past life. Stone’s performance as Bella runs a gamut of emotions, and crazy dance numbers, as Bella grows as a person and realizes there is more to life than just simple pleasures.

3. Barbie

In this fun spin on the popular doll, Margot Robbie plays Barbie, a doll unexpectedly falling into an existential crisis. Barbie must travel to the Real World and accompanying her is steadfast Ken (Ryan Gosling), who is exposed to the power of patriarchy. When Ken returns to Barbieland, he brings patriarchy with him and causes chaos for all the Barbies. The performances by Robbie and Gossling are comically fantastic with some good twists, as Barbie becomes more human as Ken becomes a more frantic dude-bro. With an amazing Ken war and the instant banger “I’m Just Ken”, there’s a ton of splendid moments as the pink plastic Barbieland production design brings the Barbie style to life.

2. Oppenheimer

Robert J Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) races to create an A-Bomb before the Nazis do. The film bounces across the years as Oppenheimer realizes he created a weapon that could eventually inflame the entire world. Director Christopher Nolan gives each era of Oppenheimer’s life a distinct look. The film skips to his pre-atomic bomb life, creating the bomb, and the fallout afterwards where he was stripped of his security clearance on a vendetta from the bitter Straus (Robert Downey Jr.). The sprawling cast has great performances from actors like Matt Damon as a US Army General, and Tom Conti as Albert Einstein, the famous scientist who knows how terribly destructive Oppenheimer’s device can be.

(Aside: Barbenheimer it isn’t just a meme gone mad, there are some legit thematic connections between the two films. One scene from both that can be directly paralleled is the Barbie party at the start, and Oppenheimer making his celebratory speech about the successful A-Bomb test. The party with Barbie grinding to a halt with “You ever think about dying?” and Oppy making his speech of the success of the test while everyone is cheering, and he starts seeing visions of people being blown apart and charred bodies. Both scenes have the same vibe and end the same way of both characters having an existential crisis mid-celebration.)

1. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

The latest journey into the Spider-Verse is truly unique. Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) is living as Spider-Man until the return of Spider-Woman, Gwen Stacy (Hailee Stienfeld), brining Miles into the multiverse hopping Spider-Society, led by Spider-Man 2099 Miguel O’Hara (Oscar Isaac), where Miles learns about his destiny as Spider-Man. There’s an incredible diversity of animation and stylistic styles from across the history of Spider-Man comics, movies and animation and an jaw-dropping scene that pulls together moments from all Spider-Man canon and shows Miles what he is up against. Every character has a distinctive look and arc, like the evolution from villain of the week to God Mode nemesis for The Spot (Jason Schwartzman). The potential of the animated medium shines and ends on a perfectly orchestrated cliffhanger (just like the comics!) that leaves the audience wanting more.