My Favorite 5 Nerd Movies Of 2023
This year mostly sucked for fans of nerd movies. The MCU went from downright garbage (Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania) to fun but weak (The Marvels). Then Warner Bros./DC said, “Hold my beer” and released The Flash. So, the list isn’t longer than five, because there are barely five movies I think deserve to be in here (that I’ve seen). This list might have been longer, but the writers and actors strikes pushed some movies into next year, such as the questionable Kraven the Hunter and the almost certainly great Dune 2. To be clear, I’m all for the strikes and glad that both striking teams got what seems to be excellent deals from the producers and studios. But it made for a weak 2023 for nerd movie fans.
Below, in no particular order, are my fave five films of 2023.
Nimona
Animation won 2023 when it comes to quality nerd movies, and the Netflix rescue of the adaptation of the graphic novel Nimona was one of the best. When owner Disney shut down the animation studio Blue Sky Studios, which was making the adaptation of ND Stephenson’s fantasy tale focused strongly on gender identity and LGBTQ+ issues, rumors spread quickly that it was because Disney was uncomfortable with that subject matter. Annapurna Pictures came to the rescue with Netflix as the streaming partner, and a year after originally planned, Nimona was released in a very small number of theaters first, then on the streaming platform. Like one of the other big animated movies on this list, Nimona‘s animation style is distinctive and gorgeous. Nimona is a wonderful character, and voice actress Chloë Grace Moretz makes her a fun, fascinating and deeply affecting chaos gremlin.
Godzilla Minus One
Full disclosure, I’m not much of a fan of Godzilla movies. The original movie was fun, but even to my pre-teen mind on first viewing, it was pretty ludicrous. After that, they became just more outlandish. The American remakes that began with 2014’s Godzilla started as weak and boring and have since moved fully into just way too dumb to be worth the watch time (seriously, in the trailer for the upcoming Godzilla x Kong the big atomic guy is shown in a full-on Tom Cruise sprint across the landscape). And while I haven’t seen Hideaki Anno’s Shin Godzilla, which might change my mind, my favorite version until recently was the 1998 American version made by Roland Emmerich. So, when I say that Godzilla Minus One is one of the best, most interesting, most exciting and most terrifying giant monster movies I’ve ever seen, you’ll know it’s not coming from a fanboy. By focusing on deep character development of the human characters while still showing us plenty of full daylight extended destruction scenes of the big guy ruining a Tokyo just starting to rebuild after WWII, Godzilla Minus One ramps up the tension and excitement like no other version of this tale. All in just a smidge over two hours.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie
Let’s get this out of the way right off the bat — Chris Pratt is excellent as Mario in The Super Mario Bros. Movie. In fact, while the animation and the story are both solid and enjoyable, the performances are the best thing about this movie. In addition to Pratt, Charlie Day as Luigi, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Jack Black as Bowser and even Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong are all very strong. Rogen was, for me, unrecognizable until a good five minutes after his introduction in the movie. As someone who has only rarely played any games in the long-running Mario franchise, I wasn’t as sucked in by the many, many Easter Eggs sprinkled (OK, flooded) throughout the movie as most people were, but I didn’t feel I missed out at all, because the movie was just straight-up a fun, entertaining and well-made film. Well, aside from Jack Black’s song “Peaches” — I just don’t get the appeal.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
In a year full of stinkers, Marvel Studios had to turn to the man it treated like dirt to give them a winner. And boy did he. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, James Gunn’s final installment of the space opera superhero story about found family, is arguably the best of the trilogy. It is definitely the most emotionally affecting, with a career-best performance by Chris Pratt. And one of the most villainous bad guys to ever appear in a Marvel movie, the High Evolutionary, portrayed with real menace by Chukwudi Iwuji. In fact, because of the High Evolutionary’s disturbing experiments on animals, I can’t recommend the movie to the more sensitive animal lovers. That abuse isn’t gratuitous, however. It is vital to the story, and Gunn mostly implies it than shows it in any graphic sense. But even that level of abuse portrayal is uncomfortable for most and unwatchable for some. It’s a shame that Disney/Marvel’s treatment of Gunn pushed him — probably for good — away from the MCU and ultimately to leading the DC non-comic work for Warner Bros. Discovery.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
The first movie in this new franchise, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was so innovative and such an amazing movie that it seemed inevitable that the follow-up would be, maybe nearly as good, but likely slightly disappointing. Then Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse came out and it actually somehow improved on its predecessor. The art style evolved while still retaining the innovative edge from the previous movie. The voice acting cast all returned (for those characters that were still around) and just got better in the intervening years. And new actors, like Oscar Isaac as Miguel O’Hara, brought their best work. Stealing the movie even in his relatively short appearances, however, was Daniel Kaluuya as Hobie Brown, AKA Spider-Punk. Give him his own solo movie ASAP please. I can’t wait for the next movie in the series, and not just because of the (spoiler alert?) excellent cliff-hanger ending.
If you like our work and want to show your appreciation, feel free to tip us at Ko-fi or become a patron on Patreon.
