New Year Movies – Best of 2023

In a few more days 2023 becomes a leaf from the past. With a lot of beautiful and forgettable, exciting, and gloomy layers, the year takes a place in our memory book. The year 2023 produced a good number of blockbuster movies. Several were listed here on travelogueofkuntala.com in the previous weeks and months. The list of New Year movies will feature one movie from a different genre. New year movies 2023 are culled from diverse linguistic backgrounds. For those of you looking forward to spending a quiet holiday season, a list of New Year movies in 2023 can be a wonderful gift.

Oppenheimer

Year: 2023
Duration: 3h
Language: English
Director: Christopher Nolan
Cast: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Florence Pugh and others
Imdb rating: 8.4
Genre: Biography, History

It is a marathon movie with a running time of 180 minutes yet one of the best New Year movies you can watch. In the 1950s, post WW I, Dr. Oppenheimer is seated in front of members of the security board and is facing a trial. His opening statement is that he cannot be fairly understood except in his life and work context. Thus, the ‘Fission and Fusion’ of testification, hearing and the life and work of Dr. Oppenheimer unwrap in the present and past. From being a young J. Robert Oppenheimer, a theoretical physics student to being recruited by the US Army general Leslie Groves as the director of a project to develop the Atom bomb. During the course of the story his personal life, political inclination, work ethic, and other details are narrated.

Sapta Sagaradaache Ello Side A

Year: 2023
Duration: 2h 20m
Language: Kannada
Director: Hemanth Rao
Cast: Rakshit Shetty, Rukmini Vasanth, Chaithra, Avinash and others
Imdb rating: 8.3
Genre: Romance, drama

Priya is a student who has just one wish. She wants to have a beachside house where she can live with her husband, Manu. Manu and Priya live their average lives with hopes of a dream house. Manu is a car driver with Shankar Gowda, a huge industrialist. Shankar Gowda’s son, Preetam gets entangled in a hit-and-run case. Their driver Manu is offered a hefty amount to be Preetam’s alibi in the car. Thus, Manu lands in jail and during the course of trial days, Shankar Gowda passes away jeopardizing the life of Manu in jail. Priya is clueless as to what to do next. Equally dramatic Sapta Sagaradaache Ello Side B has been released as well.

The Wandering Earth II

Year: 2023
Duration: 2h 53m
Language: Mandarin
Director: Frant Gwo
Cast: Andy Lau, Jing Wu, Hao Feng, Zina and others
Imdb rating: 6.9
Genre: Sci-Fi, fantasy, action

The ignition of the Moving Mountain project has been a success against all odds. And a direction for the future is found. Subsequently, the project is renamed as the Wandering Earth Project. However, even in the year 2048, after decades, the pilot program is still ongoing. The core purpose of the mission is to propel the Earth out of the solar system to save the Earth from being engulfed by the Sun.

Leo

Year: 2023
Duration: 2h 20m
Language: English
Director: Robert Marianetti, Robert Smigel and David Wachtenheim
Imdb rating: 7.00
Genre: Animation, Comedy

The interesting and animated plot revolves around Leo. Leo is a pet tuatara kept in a classroom in an elementary school along with Squirtle, a turtle. Upon overhearing a tuatara can live up to only 75 years old, the already 74-year-old Leo realizes he hasn’t much time left. Always shut in the classroom, Leo never got to accomplish his dream. When students come to know Leo can talk, he gets to visit the homes of different students. Leo is able to advise and help the students. Their jealous substitute teacher abandons Leo only to be retrieved by the students. It is one of the most exciting animated new year movies to watch.

Concrete Utopia

Year: 2023
Duration: 2h 10m
Language: Korean
Director: Tae-hwa Eom
Cast:  Park Seo-Joon, Lee Byung-hun, Park Bo-young and others
Imdb rating: 6.7
Genre: Catastrophe, survival

A fatal earthquake overhauls Seoul. Everything except Imperial Palace Apartments is destroyed. When the residents encounter the reality, they realize they need to stand together to survive. Together they appoint Yeong-tak as their leader. Different teams are made to keep away outsiders, search for food, handle medicine, and so on. With hardly any resources for food and water, and other survivors outside their apartment posing threats, chances of their survival are grim.

When Evil Lurks

Year: 2023
Duration: 1h 39m
Language: Spanish
Directors: Demián Rugna
Cast: Ezequiel Rodríguez, Demián Salomón, Silvina Sabater and others      
Imdb rating: 7.00
Genre: Horror, scary

Brothers Pedro and Jaime are out in the woods searching for the whereabouts of gunshots Pedro heard. Soon they end up in Elena’s house where they find Uriel, swollen, rotten, and possessed. Since the local police don’t handle the issue, the landlord Ruiz takes up the task of disposing of Uriel. In the process, he has let out something inexplicable. First, they make the animals crazy. Then they make the deceased crazy. When Pedro and Jaime realize their village is going to be destroyed, they decide to abandon the village. But, how far can they go?

Budak Flat

Year: 2023
Duration: 1h 44m
Language: Malay
Director: Eugene Lim
Cast: Zahiril Adzim, Pablo Amirul, Nabila Huda and others
Imdb rating: 6.7

Genre: Crime, thriller Bikers, junkies and robbers are Aman’s friends. He lives in Flat Colombia, KL, and with his friends sells smuggled items. He does evil things but doesn’t ruin people’s lives.  Then, there is Ruz, Aman’s brother who is the leader of another gang. The brothers are not in good terms with each other. It is drug money that is running their flat. Aman wants to stop the business but Ruz is ambitious. when the flat chief who has a secret formula for a drug is murdered another spat breaks out between the brothers. It is going from bad to worse.