It’s been a strong year for entertainment.
From the remarkable one-two punch of Barbie dolls and theoretical physicists on the big screen to high-pressure restaurant management and road rage antics on the small screen, 2023 has had no shortage of quality movies and TV shows. (Video games also performed particularly strongly — read our dedicated gaming top 10 here.)
Given that, we wanted to round up some of the top movies and shows and list where you can stream them in Canada. Of course, there were so many new pieces of entertainment this year — many of which were high quality, no less — that it’d be impossible to represent them all here. But for now, we’ve tried to pick a good mix of acclaimed titles from different genres.
Read on for the full list.
Movies
Barbie
Image credit: Warner Bros. Pictures
Genre: Comedy-drama
Runtime: 1 hour, 54 minutes
Writer-director Greta Gerwig (Little Women) took the world by storm with this incredibly inventive take on the iconic Mattel doll. Besides a striking colour palette and an absolutely stacked cast led by the exceptional Margot Robbie and Canada’s Ryan Gosling, Gerwig and co-writer Noah Baumbach used the whole idea of Barbie herself to explore surprisingly potent themes of feminism, capitalism and existentialism. This movie is more than Kenough — it’s simply fantastic.
Stream Barbie on Crave.
BlackBerry
Image credit: Elevation
Genre: Comedy-drama
Runtime: 2 hours
Between the likes of The Social Network, Steve Jobs and The Dropout, Hollywood has plenty of celebrated American tech biopics. Leave it to Toronto writer-director-actor Matt Johnson (Nirvana the Band the Show), then, to finally give Canada one of its own. Alongside co-writer Matthew Miller, Johnson’s latest film, BlackBerry, explores the rise and fall of the iconic titular Canadian phone brand. With an engaging mockumentary filmmaking style and stellar lead performances from Montreal’s Jay Baruchel (This is the End) and Glenn Howerton (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) as Research in Motion’s co-CEOs, this little Canadian production is one of the most entertaining films of the year, period.
BlackBerry is available for rent or purchase on PVOD platforms like iTunes, Google Play, Prime Video and the Cineplex Store.
Note: CBC also has an extended three-part serialized version of BlackBerry that you can stream on CBC Gem. More information on that can be found in our interview with Miller.
Past Lives
Image credit: A24
Genre: Romantic drama
Runtime: 1 hour, 46 minutes
Many immigrant stories focus on the protagonist’s struggles to assimilate, but Past Lives introduces us to Nora, a South Korean woman who’s already settled with an American man. Instead, the drama comes from her reuniting more than two decades later with a childhood friend who remained in her homeland, and the two of them reflect on the life they could have had together. Drawing inspiration from her own life, South Korean-Canadian writer-director Celine Song offers an achingly raw rumination on the roads not taken and the difficulty in reconciling with where you ultimately ended up. What could have been a cheap love triangle comedy ends up being one of the most deeply nuanced and profound movies of the year.
Past Lives isn’t available on any subscription video on demand (SVOD) services yet, but you can rent or buy it on premium video on demand (PVOD) platforms like iTunes, Google Play, Prime Video and the Cineplex Store.
Oppenheimer
Image credit: Universal Pictures
Genre: Biographical thriller
Runtime: 3 hours
Barbie‘s de facto other half is exactly the tense, introspective and thunderous character study you’d expect from Christopher Nolan. By looking at theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer’s role in the creation of the atomic bomb, as well as the institutions that pulled the strings, Nolan draws haunting parallels to where we’ve all ended up many decades later. Peaky Blinders star Cillian Murphy is sensational as Oppenheimer, but it’s arguably Robert Downey, Jr. as the seedy government official Lewis Strauss that steals the whole show. A tour-de-force film across the board.
Oppenheimer isn’t yet on any SVOD services yet, but you can rent or buy it on PVOD platforms like iTunes, Google Play, Prime Video and the Cineplex Store.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Image credit: Sony
Genre: Animated superhero
Runtime: 2 hours, 20 minutes
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was so fresh and creative from both an animation and superhero perspective, so there was no guarantee a sequel could recapture that magic. Thankfully, directors Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson and writers Phil Lord, Chris Miller and Dave Callaham were more than up to the task. Here’s a sequel that introduces so many interesting and visually distinct characters (including Daniel Kaluuya’s scene-stealing Spider-Punk, who’s such a rebel he changes animation styles between shots) but still hones in on deeply personal and emotional journeys of Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) and Gwen Stacey (Hailee Steinfeld). It remains to be seen when we’ll actually get the third movie in this trilogy, but for now, we can continue to appreciate this genuine masterpiece.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is now streaming on Crave.
TV
The Bear (Season 2)
Image credit: Hulu
Genre: Comedy-drama
Runtime: 10 episodes (30 minutes each)
One of the hottest new shows of last year is back for a second helping and it tastes even better this time around. While season one of the Christopher Storer-created series was primarily about Carmy (Jeremy Allen White), this sophomore outing offers welcome episodes focused on the strong supporting cast, including Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), Marcus (Lionel Boyce) and Syd (Ayo Edebiri). At the same time, the show doesn’t lose sight of that gripping tension that makes the show so eminently watchable in the first place. Yes chef, indeed.
Stream The Bear on Disney+.
Beef
Image credit: A24
Genre: Comedy-drama
Runtime: 9 episodes (31 to 39 minutes each)
Initially, Lee Sung Jin’s Beef seems to be a dark comedy. After a road rage incident, a wealthy woman and a working-class man seek vengeance against one another. And to be sure, Beef initially proves to be quite funny in how the feud escalates, especially when the man urinates in the woman’s house and flees to the tune of Hoobastank’s “The Reason.” But over time, the show reveals itself to be a thoughtful exploration of what might unify people from two seemingly different walks of life. However, none of this would work without two absolutely fantastic lead performances from Steven Yeun and Ali Wong, who both expertly balance the humour and drama as required by the story. Beef is as sumptuous of a series as its name suggests.
Stream Beef on Netflix.
Jury Duty
Image credit: Prime Video
Genre: Reality hoax sitcom
Runtime: Eight episodes (26 to 30 minutes each)
On pure premise alone, this Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky sitcom might just be the best show here. Spiritually similar to The Truman Show, Jury Duty follows an everyday man, Ronald Gladden, who’s selected for jury duty and believes he’s taking part in a documentary about the whole process. What he doesn’t know, however, is that everyone — including a hilarious James Marsden (X-Men franchise) playing a fictionalized braggadocious version of himself — is acting. It’s a riotous and enrapturing social experiment that also leads to some genuinely heartwarming scenes in which the ever-affable Gladden, even when dealing with some truly bizarre and frustrating staged events, still maintains his endearing kindness. All of this ensures that the final episode, in which the truth is finally revealed to Gladden, is immensely satisfying in its payoff.
Stream Jury Duty on Prime Video.
The Last of Us
Image credit: HBO
Genre: Drama
Runtime: Nine episodes (43 to 1 hour, 15 minutes each)
HBO’s The Last of Us isn’t just the rare good live-action adaptation of a beloved video game — it’s a genuinely incredible drama in its own right. Adapted by original The Last of Us co-creator Neil Druckmann and Chernobyl‘s Craig Mazin, HBO’s The Last of Us retells the moving story of Joel, a world-weary man, and Ellie, the wide-eyed teenager he must transport across a post-apocalyptic, zombie-infested America. On top of pitch-perfect casting in the form of Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, the series wasn’t afraid to make meaningful deviations from the source material, particularly in a third-episode love story that significantly expands upon two characters who were barely touched upon in the game. Meanwhile, the series’ gorgeous cinematography, which captured beautiful vistas across Alberta, hooked everyone — not just Canadians — week after week. The wait for the second season — which is intended to be the first of at least two seasons adapting The Last of Us Part II video game — is going to be brutal.
Stream The Last of Us on Crave.
Succession (Season 4)
Image credit: HBO
Genre: Drama
Runtime: Nine episodes (43 to 1 hour, 15 minutes each)
While HBO got a new smash hit series in The Last of Us in 2023, one of its pre-existing tentpoles, Jesse Armstrong’s Succession, also came to an end this year. And boy, what an ending it was. The power struggle within the Roy family came to a thrilling and emotional head thanks to wildly unexpected twists involving the likes of Logan (Brian Cox), Shiv (Sarah Snook) and Kendall (Jeremy Strong). It was a tragicomedy unlike any other. The Roys might not have been serious people, but they gave us some seriously damn good television.
Stream Succession on Crave.
What were your favourite movies and shows of 2023? Let us know in the comments.
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