"Barbie" (Greta Gerwig, 2023)
The undisputed film of 2023 is a wildly, unapologetically feminine fantasy, imagining a world that’s far more fantastic and unbelievable than Middle-Earth: A world where women have the power, and zero obstacles in the way of their success. Sure BarbieLand isn’t perfect (at the risk of sounding like the MRA types Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach’s script gleefully make fun of, won’t someone think of the Kens!) but it’s the most vibrant and gorgeous fantasy world seen in recent film memory. Gerwig, with an assist from production designer Sarah Greenwood and costume designer Jacqueline Durran, constructs an elaborate world of dollhouses and pastel-colored streets that’s vibrant, beautiful, and just plain fun. If the film loses something when Margot Robbie ventures out into our universe, that’s just a testament to how fantastic Barbie’s plastic fantasy really is. —Wilson Chapman