If You Liked This 2023 Movie, Watch This Criterion Collection Movie

You’ll also like this movie, I promise.

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Another great movie year is coming to a close. Barbenheimer mania came and went and seems to be back again in time for the holidays. Prestige film season is in full swing. And movies that came out in March feel like they came out four years ago.

As you begin compiling your Best of 2023 lists and determining your favorites from this year, consider checking out these picks from the Criterion Collection (a premier, if not the premier, home video label) that you'll like if you like those.

This is not a list of double features, just recommendations, as a lot of these movies might not work back-to-back because of how similar they are.

If you liked Barbie (2023), you’ll like A Matter of Life and Death (1946)

Barbie and A Matter of Life and Death are both largely about what it means to live your life. Living it to the fullest and putting in the work to appreciate it every day. But while Barbie is a "coming of age" film with a twist, A Matter of Life and Death is a "coming of death" film. Both films deal with opposing worlds that physically represent the movies' themes (in Greta Gerwig's film, it's Barbieland and the real world - in Powell and Pressburger's film, it's a black-and-white afterlife and a bright Technicolor Earth) and those worlds are just fun to look at - the Criterion restoration for A Matter of Life and Death looks amazing, (according to Criterion on the special features, that process was a total mess, but with a final product like this, every second was worth it.)

Oh, and Gerwig included it as one of her inspirations for Barbie, so it's an essential watch. 

If you liked Oppenheimer (2023), you’ll like Fail Safe (1964)

You want me to pick Dr. Strangelove here, but not only is this film better (I said it!), you'll get some Kubrick later in this list. 

In the book that inspired the film, American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, biographer Kai Bird wrote, “Oppenheimer’s warnings were ignored—and ultimately, he was silenced. Like that rebellious Greek god Prometheus—who stole fire from Zeus and bestowed it upon humankind, Oppenheimer gave us atomic fire. But then, when he tried to control it, when he sought to make us aware of its terrible dangers, the powers-that-be, like Zeus, rose up in anger to punish him.”

Meanwhile, in Fail Safe, the better (I said it again!) 1964 movie about nuclear warfare, we see exactly what Oppenheimer was trying to warn us of. Just one mistake causes an international nuclear holocaust and the politicians behind it have to deal with the consequences. It's about as scary as it could be - and you won't believe how it ends. 

If you liked Napoleon (2023), you’ll like Barry Lyndon (1975)

It's pretty common (film nerd) knowledge that Stanley Kubrick wanted to make a movie about Napoleon, but, for many reasons, was never able to get it off the ground. Barry Lyndon is the closest he ever got, still getting to make a big period piece with similar themes of power, greed, love, and corruption.

Ridley Scott's new Napoleon is very different from what Kubrick's would have been, in large part because Scott clearly thinks books are for nerds. But the most clear similarity is in their dark humor. Both Barry Lyndon and Napoleon Bonaparte are great fodder for discussion of class and influence, mainly because they're both great targets. 

If you liked Beau Is Afraid (2023), you’ll like Being John Malkovich (1999)

Yes, two Joaquin Phoenix movies!

When I first saw Being John Malkovich, I wrote the following review on Letterboxd:

This movie is like one of those crazy dreams you have and then the next day you have to tell it to someone because it was riveting and about halfway through your story you go I’m sorry I know this doesn’t make any sense but can I just finish please I’m sure it means something

And doesn’t Beau Is Afraid feeling like Ari Aster doing that same exact thing?

Two weird, weird movies.

If you liked Saltburn (2023), you’ll like Freaks (1932)

I considered pairing Saltburn with Barry Lyndon because they are two very different examinations of the British class system and stories about people trying to work their way up and up in that system. However, I'm not sure if the people who liked Saltburn because of the MGMT needle drops will be down for a three-hour period piece. But Barry Lyndon is awesome and pairs well with anything and the idea still stands. 

Instead, Freaks runs just over 60 minutes, so it could be a little more palatable for that crowd. Yes, it's a 1932 black-and-white horror movie, but the Criterion 4K disc is one of the releases of the year and the movie looks and sounds better than ever. 

Both films are cautionary tales of not treating other people like human beings and how karma can really be a bitch. In Saltburn, it's the upper crust feeling pity for those less fortunate than them. In Freaks, it's about treating sideshow "freaks" as freaks. If you liked the way Saltburn ended, you'll like the way Freaks ends.