We had high hopes for a lot of movies going into 2023 and while some exceeded our expectations, a few we thought we’d cherish left us feeling empty instead. These are not necessarily bad movies (some are), but none of them lived up to what we wanted to get out of them.
Here are the movies that disappointed us the most this year.
Maestro
We wanted Maestro to be this year’s Tár and instead we got a disjointed mess of a story that never got across who Leonard Bernstein really was or why he was so important to get a movie made about him. Somehow Bradley Cooper’s performance of Bernstein was even worse than his writing and directing on the film, and it’s truly mindboggling that he’s now considered the frontrunner during the upcoming awards season. You can watch Maestro on Netflix Canada.
May December
As fans of Todd Haynes’ previous films Velvet Goldmine, Far From Heaven and Carol, we went into May December assuming greatness. But from the obnoxious score to Natalie Portman’s weird acting and Julianne Moore’s completely unlikeable character, there was something very off-putting about the movie that left a bad taste in our mouths. May December is available to watch on Netflix Canada.
Hypnotic
We were excited for a new movie from Robert Rodriguez that wasn’t about kids who are spies. And with Ben Affleck in the lead Hypnotic looked like it could be a solid thriller. What it was instead was a complete dud that not only bored us to tears, but also made us question whether Rodriguez will ever make another worthwhile movie again. Hypnotic is available to watch on Prime Video Canada.
Vacation Friends 2
We didn’t expect Vacation Friends 2 to be a good movie, but we wanted it to be a fun surprise like the first one was. Sadly, it was just bad. Terrible even! And it somehow made us dislike Steve Buscemi, which we thought was impossible. You can watch Vacation Friends 2 on Disney+ Canada.
John Wick: Chapter 4
John Wick: Chapter 4 is proof you can have too much of a good thing. Its needlessly long and repetitive fight scenes are exhausting to sit through, and even Keanu Reeves looks bored with it all. As fans of the first three movies, this is where we bow out from caring as we can see it’s heading in the direction of the Fast and Furious franchise and soon John Wick will be floating around in space killing bad guys. You can watch John Wick: Chapter 4 on Crave.
M3GAN
Out of all the movies that came out in 2023 the 93% critics score and 73% audience score for M3GAN on Rotten Tomatoes is the biggest mystery to us. We wanted a high-tech Chucky meets Annabelle and instead got a complete joke of a movie that wasn’t scary, interesting or even fun to watch. M3GAN is available to stream on Prime Video Canada.
The Beanie Bubble
This could have been a great film along the lines of Air, Blackberry or Tetris, but instead The Beanie Bubble was a bland and mediocre movie that failed to get across the excitement of the Beanie Baby craze in the ’90s. You can watch The Beanie Bubble on Apple TV+.
Skinamarink
The hype surrounding Skinamarink made us think we were going to get some next level horror experience the way The Blair Witch Project or Paranormal Activity changed the game upon arrival. What it ended up being was a barely watchable venture into boredom and it was by far the biggest disappointment of the year for us (also those scenes of the windows and doors disappearing were ridiculously lame). You can watch Skinamarink on Shudder/AMC+.
What movies disappointed you this year? Do you agree or disagree with any of our picks? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
