Here are Cinephile Corner’s 10 recommendations for movies like The Phoenician Scheme:
Adaptation
I’ve never fully connected with Charlie Kaufman’s work, so it’s no surprise that Adaptation leaves me feeling indifferent. It’s arguably the most Kaufman-centric film ever made, literally placing him at the center of his own story, with Nicolas Cage delivering a fantastic dual performance as both Kaufman and his fictional twin brother, Donald. The supporting cast—including Meryl Streep and Chris Cooper—is strong, but if you’re not particularly invested in Kaufman’s neurotic, self-reflective storytelling, Adaptation can feel more like an intellectual exercise than a satisfying narrative.
Read our full review of Adaptation
Wonka
In a surprising turn of events, Wonka emerges as one of the standout success stories of 2023, defying initial skepticism surrounding its release. Helmed by director Paul King and starring Timothée Chalamet, this imaginative take on the world of Willy Wonka offers a refreshing and delightful experience that captivates audiences from the opening title sequence to the end.
The Favourite
The Favourite sees director Yorgos Lanthimos recontextualizing 18th-century British royalty. A searing dark comedy featuring many of 2018s’s best performances, including Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, and Rachel Weisz.
Read our full review of The Favourite
The French Dispatch
Wes Anderson’s films have always existed in their own meticulously crafted worlds, filled with idiosyncratic characters, symmetrical framing, and a deep reverence for storytelling. With The French Dispatch, Wes Anderson takes that reverence to the extreme, creating an anthology film structured like a literary magazine—an ode to journalism, complete with winding prose, dense narration, and rapid-fire dialogue. It’s visually dazzling and conceptually ambitious, but in its relentless pursuit of style and structure, it lacks the emotional resonance that makes Anderson’s best work so enduring.
Read our full review of The French Dispatch
Barbie
Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie deliver one of 2023’s most colorful and sincere trips to the movies. Barbie is a movie that transcends style and set design, offering a visual feast with enough laughs along the way.
Read our full review of Barbie
About Schmidt
About Schmidt is a good film, one that sits comfortably in Alexander Payne’s filmography but doesn’t quite reach the heights of his later classics. For fans of Payne’s more nuanced works, it’s an important piece, but it doesn’t carry the same emotional punch or cultural impact as his more well-known projects.
Read our full review of About Schmidt
The Actor
There’s some clever filmmaking in The Actor, and Duke Johnson shows clear talent for building tone and texture. But the movie ultimately plays like a well-shot mood piece that doesn’t quite know what it wants to say. André Holland stars as an amnesiac trying to piece together who he is and how he ended up in a small town he’s never heard of.
Asteroid City
Asteroid City works like a charm, each detail feeling firmly in place despite the layers and layers of artifice Wes Anderson plants around every corner. His detractors may despise it, but if you’ve ever been even a smidge interested in his work up to this point, it’s certainly worth seeing – because you won’t believe its contents otherwise.
Read our full review of Asteroid City
Black Bag
Black Bag is good—clean, confident, and technically sound—but it doesn’t quite rise to the level of Steven Soderbergh’s best recent work. What plays out in the film is less Mission: Impossible and more an anxious domestic drama cloaked in the sharp suits and icy exteriors of the spy genre. Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett star as a couple with their relationship put to the ultimate stress test.
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Amsterdam
There were quite a few misfires from major studios in 2022, but Amsterdam stands with some of the worst ones. To have a film as overstuffed and annoyingly uninteresting as Amsterdam with a cast like Amsterdam is impressive.