According to: Cat
[Note: These are the best new
movies of the year that we’ve reviewed on Trust the Dice. If it wasn't reviewed
on the site, it's not eligible.]
10 – Brooklyn 45
Reviewed on: Monday June 12, 2023
Genre: Drama, History, Horror
Rated: Unrated (Our recommended rating was
R)
Length: 1h 32min
Selina’s Rating: 5
Cat’s Rating: 4.5
IMDb Blurb: Five military veterans, best
friends since childhood, gather together to support their troubled host, and
the metaphoric ghosts of their past become all-too-literal.
Brooklyn 45 is one of the very few movies we weren’t
mad at for a misleading trailer. It set us up to expect a generic séance movie,
and yet Brooklyn 45 was so much more than that.
As I mentioned in our review, the
narrative delves so far deeper than a group of friends gathered to help one of
their own deal with the tragic and senseless loss of his wife. It was steeped
in the emotional aftermath of war (WWII) and the risks when prejudice meets
zealous ideals. There were so many nuances layered into this tale.
The psychological aspect laced with paranoia woven into the expected
paranormal took this film to a place we just didn’t see coming, and that says a
lot. We watch so many movies that it’s pretty easy to tell how things will play
out more often than not. We really enjoy when productions throw our
expectations to the wind (in a way that makes sense).
In the time since our review, it seems that critics have
warmed up to Brooklyn 45 more and audiences have been a little less
impressed. We can only implore that if this genre is your cup of tea, and you
have a Shudder subscription, that you give this one a chance.
9 – Hunger
Reviewed on: Friday, April 14, 2023
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Rated: TV-MA
Length: 2h 26min
Selina’s Rating: 4.5
Cat’s Rating: 3.5
IMDb Blurb: A woman running her family's
noodle restaurant receives an invitation to join the fine-dining industry under
the tutelage of an infamous chef.
Selina and I both agreed that Hunger was a really solid
dramatic feature. When we had watched the trailer initially, we had felt that
there might be a little more of a thriller aspect involved. That wasn’t the
case but it didn’t do any disservice to the film.
Of course, there were some serious comparisons made between Hunger
and The Menu (2022). While the latter does also lean in to the fanatical
executive chef, some class aspects, and the moral compass of the characters;
these two movies couldn’t be more different in tone.
If you’re not familiar with the culinary industry and the
drive required to succeed on a high level, Hunger provides an eye-opening
glimpse into that world and the sacrifices quite a few professional chefs make
for success.
We didn’t have any negatives to offer for Hunger, and
if you enjoy dramas and are interested in the culinary world – this is definitely
going to be right up your alley. It was released as a Netflix original and should
still be available on that platform.
8 – Cocaine Bear
Reviewed on: Monday, May 8, 2023
Genre: Comedy, Thriller
Rated: R
Length: 1h 35min
Selina’s Rating: 3.5.
Cat’s Rating: 4.5
IMDb Blurb: An oddball group of cops,
criminals, tourists and teens converge on a Georgia forest where a huge black
bear goes on a murderous rampage after unintentionally ingesting cocaine.
Where do I even start?
Cocaine Bear was the crazy creature feature that no
one saw coming this past year. Even crazier that it was actually GOOD. (Not to
mention based very loosely on some true events. RIP Pablo Escobear.)
This insane drug-fueled woodsy roller-coaster ride checked
all of our horror-comedy boxes and also offered some touching aspects on the
side. It was as out-there as one would expect, and yet also very grounded. The
general black bear nature facts employed were even legit (how fast they can climb,
how you react to one vs. a brown bear, etc) …you know, except for the whole
cocaine thing. The graphics were also actually pretty outstanding, all things
considered.
We were impressed by the story, direction, and cast – and this
was also one of the final performances of Ray Liotta (Field of Dreams,
Shades of Blue, The Many Saints of Newark) before his passing.
Cocaine Bear has become one of my new go-to movies if
I need a horror-comedy fix and I’m not looking for anything heavy or serious.
At the time of this article, Cocaine Bear is
available with a Prime subscription as well as rentable on many digital
platforms.
7 – True Spirit
Reviewed on: Monday, February 20, 2023
Genre: Adventure, Biography, Drama
Rated: TV-PG
Length: 1h 49min
Selina’s Rating: 4
Cat’s Rating: 4
IMDb Blurb: The story of Australian teenager,
Jessica Watson, the youngest person ever to sail solo, non-stop around the
world.
Neither Selina nor I expected to enjoy a movie about a girl
in a boat quite this much. We don’t always have the attention span for dramatic
biopics. Nevertheless, we were pleasantly surprised by how much the story of
the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe solo by sailboat not only held
our attention but left a lasting impression.
The themes regarding perseverance and mental health
awareness are just the sort of messages that the world needs right now. It’s OK
to not be OK. We have to put one foot in front of the other and push through as
we tackle one problem at a time. It also goes a long way towards shining a light
on the way that teens tend to be discounted when pursuing their dreams, and we
need to take a harder look at that, as a society.
True Spirit had a lot of heart and impact.
This movie released as a Netflix original and at the time of
this article is still available on that platform.
6 – Unlocked
Reviewed on: Friday, February 17, 2023
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Rated: TV-MA
Length: 1h 57min
Selina’s Rating: 4
Cat’s Rating: 4
IMDb Blurb: A woman's life is
turned upside-down when a dangerous man gets a hold of her lost cell phone and
uses it to track her every move.
I’m going to be honest. I hadn’t watched Unlocked yet
prior to working on this Top 10 list with Selina. I could only go by her experience
with this movie and how good it was … until today. (It had released in February
and that is always a crazy month for me with Mardi Gras & my birthday so
she had reviewed this one alone at the time.)
Holy crap that was terrifying.
I see now why she commented on how it lingered with her and
how she’s become almost paranoid about forgetting her phone anywhere. I know I
would be pretty lost without mine, but Unlocked was pretty eye-opening
about just how dangerous these devices can be in the wrong hands.
Unlocked was unnerving, unsettling, and you can bet
that the next time I can’t find my phone I might just have a panic attack.
I was on the edge of my seat and didn’t even care that I
couldn’t read any of the script on the screen that wasn’t translated by subtitles.
(The movie is available dubbed in English.)
Unlocked was released as a Netflix original and at the
time of this article is still available on that platform.
Reviewed on: Friday, November 17, 2023
Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Rated: PG-13
Length: 1h 49min
Selina’s Rating: 3.5
Cat’s Rating: 4.5
IMDb Blurb: A troubled security guard begins
working at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. During his first night on the job, he
realizes that the night shift won't be so easy to get through. Pretty soon he
will unveil what actually happened at Freddy's.
This is the movie that fans of the Five Nights at Freddy’s
game franchise have been waiting for.
I just had a giggle that it ended up at the #5 spot on this
list, and while this is where it just landed when Selina and I were discussing
the movies we liked the best from 2023, it fits in some coincidental trippy
way. I digress…
We both agree that there were some aspects that the film
could have leaned into a bit more, and the rating restrictions left some good
horror bits on the proverbial cutting room floor. Even so, this Five Nights
at Freddy’s introduction into cinema off of the game screen was a really
good start. It left us wanting more that can be delivered in future
installments. There are multiple games, after all.
(As a side note, Selina also mentioned that there are videos
out there of some of the scenes that were cut to meet the PG-13 rating requirements.
If you want to see those bloody out-takes, they should be out there somewhere…
or probably on the DVD/Blu-ray as extras.)
Five Nights at Freddy’s was a love letter to the fans
of the gaming experience from the players to those that offer content on
streaming platforms, and it was a pretty solid movie at the same time.
We loved the cast and we had a great time. This is a great
movie to watch with friends, as well. We can’t wait for the next one. (Please
let there be a next one!)
Five Nights at Freddy’s is currently available with a
Peacock subscription and also on many rental platforms.
4 – We Have a Ghost
Reviewed on: Friday, February 24, 2023
Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Family
Rated: PG-13
Length: 2h 6min
Selina’s Rating: 4.5
Cat’s Rating: 4.5
IMDb Blurb: Finding a ghost named Ernest
haunting their new home turns Kevin's family into overnight social media
sensations. But when Kevin and Ernest investigate the mystery of Ernest's past,
they become a target of the CIA.
The closer we get to the “top” of this list, we’re really
just splitting hairs on why one movie “out-ranks” another one here.
Both Selina and I just absolutely adored We Have a Ghost.
We both scored this one as a 4.5/5, though, in retrospect I wish I’d give it a
full-on 5 at review time.
Selina put it well the other day when we streamed our
sorting process by saying that she thought it would just be silly and cute and
it was that – but had some serious feels too. That pretty much sums it up. When
I think about We Have a Ghost I just get warm fuzzies.
The whole cast for the most part did a great job here – though
David Harbour (Stranger Things, Violent Night, Gran Turismo) was just
absolutely amazing. He’s quickly becoming one of my favorite actors of all
time.
We Have a Ghost released as a Netflix original and is
still available on that platform at the time of this article.
3 – Cram
Reviewed on: Wednesday, March 15, 2023
Genre: Fantasy, Horror
Rated: Unrated (Our Recommended Rating was
R)
Length: 44min
Selina’s Rating: 4
Cat’s Rating: 4
IMDb Blurb: We all do what we gotta do to
pass - except Marc. Desperate to somehow finish his final final paper, he
struggles to cram all night in the library. But the library has other plans for
him.
Cram was a bit of a phenomenon for us this year. We
were surprised when we were approached to screen this film and we were even
more surprised when it blew us away. It’s even 4 minutes shy of not even being eligible
for us to review based on movie length... yet, here it is defying the odds.
Selina and I resonated with Cram on a profound level.
We both reacted in a fairly visceral way to this tale and the storytelling.
This is a great example about what it’s like to live with ADHD and the executive
dysfunction that more often than not goes with it. I can’t tell you how many
times in school I was cramming and pulling long nights at the last minute
because my brain just wouldn’t let me get it done any other way. I didn’t even
know back then why. While the film’s creator didn’t originally intend to provide
that message with this fantasy horror project, they appreciated that we took
away something that was a lasting impression.
Selina mentioned that she has thought of this movie
literally every day since she watched it.
If you have ADHD or you have a loved one that has it, this should
generally be required viewing. Just saying.
At the time of this article, Cram is available on
Tubi (with ads) and some digital rental platforms.
2 – Extraction 2
Reviewed on: Friday, June 16, 2023
Genre: Action, Thriller
Rated: R
Length: 2h 2min
Selina’s Rating: 5
Cat’s Rating: 4.5
IMDb Blurb: After barely surviving his
grievous wounds from his mission in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Tyler Rake is back, and
his team is ready to take on their next mission.
Selina and I both agree that when you put a stunt
coordinator in the director’s seat and they have the drive and storytelling
ability, you have the perfect recipe for excellent action movies.
We just can’t get enough of the Extraction films. The
visuals were on point, the action was fast-paced, and the fight choreography
was top notch. The amazing moments shown in the trailer such as the riot shield
on fire during the fight were not even the best action scenes in the movie.
We didn’t even mind that, as Selina put it, they “yadda
yadda’d” around the ending from the first movie to allow Extraction 2 to
happen. We’ll gladly watch as many as they want to put out there, to be honest.
If you like good action, amazing stunt work, and good story
you can’t go wrong with Extraction 2.
This movie was released as a Netflix original and is still
available on that platform at the time of this article.
Reviewed on: Wednesday, March 22, 2023
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Rated: PG-13
Length: 2h 14min
Selina’s Rating: 5
Cat’s Rating: 5
IMDb Blurb: A charming thief and a band of
unlikely adventurers embark on an epic quest to retrieve a lost relic, but
things go dangerously awry when they run afoul of the wrong people.
While I’m tempted to write “duh” as my reasoning for listing
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves as our #1 for 2023, I don’t
mind expanding on that. Selina and I were unanimous in our desire to list this
at the very “top.”
These days, D&D is more common-place. Everyone has at
least heard of it, and it’s not something we have to hide in the basements
anymore. Finally, society has generally come to the conclusion that playing the
game isn’t trying to summon real devils, after all.
My geeky heart is happy that this story-driven game has
reached mainstream. It teaches long-form storytelling, leadership, teamwork,
strategy, resource management… and so much more. I’ll step down from my soapbox
to focus more on the movie, though…
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves was
everything we hoped it would be – and then some. It was great as an
introduction to lore for those unfamiliar with the tabletop role-playing game,
and it was steeped with references and Easter eggs for those who have enjoyed
the game and its sundry offshoots for years.
It had a little bit of everything
in it.The cast was phenomenal, the visuals were stunning, and the
story was zany and perfect as if it was a campaign come to life on the screen. This
is one of those movies that I wouldn’t mind watching over and over again. Each
time I have, I’ve found a new little nugget to appreciate.
At the time of this article, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor
Among Thieves is currently available on Prime Video, Paramount+, and MGM+ with
subscriptions as well as several rental platforms.
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