This is the big one! The best of the best of the year. I saw over 100 movies released in 2023, and here are the ones that impressed me the most.
Of course, the list comes with caveats. There are always movies you don’t get to before finalizing one of these things provided you aren’t a critic given these films in advance. The following is a list of notable movies I haven’t gotten to yet. I will say that there are only a few of these that I think have a chance to shake up the top of the rankings, but still.
Possibly good movies I haven’t gotten to yet
- American Fiction
- Blue Jean
- Eileen
- Showing Up
- How to Blow Up a Pipeline
- The Zone of Interest (this hasn’t been widely available yet, so I will be counting it as 2024)
- They Cloned Tyrone
- Mutt
- The Color Purple
If you’ve ever made a list of top movies of the year, you know there comes a time—usually around December 26th—where you just have to say “so be it” and cap things where you are. BUT, if any of these—especially American Fiction—shake up the rankings, I’ll let you know after the fact.
Now for a list of notable movies not appearing anywhere near my top 16. In parentheses you can find where I rank it on my master list of 1 to 108. If you want to see the whole list, you can do so here.
- Poor Things (#99). My hope is that time reveals just how problematic this movie is. Since I wrote my piece, I’ve seen more people share my sentiment that there should be more outrage about this, but public opinion remains rock solid.
- Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3 (#89). One of my least favorite Marvel movies ever, and my least favorite of this year by some margin.
- Saltburn (#69). I didn’t hate this movie, but it was a let down from the highs of Promising Young Woman. I’m still in for whatever Emerald Fennell wants to do.
- The Killers of the Flower Moon (#58). Very long, very slow, and very dismissive of the Native characters. Read the book instead.
- Oppenheimer (#57). My thoughts about Oppenheimer haven’t changed. I’m still very much not a fan, though the middle was pretty good.
- I haven’t seen Napoleon yet. Odds are I have the same problems with it.
- Barbie (#39). This spent much of the year in the top 5, but my thoughts on it have changed.
Honorable mentions will come later down the list. For now, let’s get to the list!
16. Passages (Ira Sachs, Mubi)
When you think “Mubi Original” this is the image of a movie you likely have. It’s very artsy, not particularly deep, but it’s elevated by strong performances. It might not be all that much more complicated than “human relationships are a mess.” It reminded me a lot of The Worst Person in the World, and it’s a definite hidden gem of the year.
15. Lynch/Oz (Alexandre O. Philippe, Criterion Channel)
This was my favorite documentary this year by some margin. The film consists of notable directors, like David Lowery, talking about connections between the work of David Lynch and The Wizard of Oz (1939). It’s tightly edited and incredibly well-written. It made me want to rewatch a lot of Lynch movies in the near future (which I’ll get to next year hopefully).
14. Women Talking (Sarah Polley, Prime Video)
This is a “2022” movie that didn’t release wide till January, so I’m counting it for this year. I really need to rewatch it (January was a long time ago), but it hit me hard back then (if not quite as hard at the end as the book). The performances are subtle and stirring, and the narrative will knock you out cold.
13. You Hurt My Feelings (Nicole Holofcener, rental)
This is a resonant indie comedy about how parental good intentions can often disturb what’s actually best for their child. It’s about the gentle clash of Gen Z parents and Millennial kids now grown and facing a rocky world. The performances from Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Tobias Menzies further elevate things. It’s a delightful film about good intentions and unintended harm.
12. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (Jeff Rowe, Paramount+)
It was a great year for animation, with Elemental (#30) and Across the Spider-Verse (#18) also in contention for the top ranks, but I have to give it to Mutant Mayhem. This film is EXACTLY what a TMNT movie should be, colorful, fast-paced, vibrant. The vocal work and soundtrack are top notch. It’s the third most fun I had at the theaters all year.
11. BlackBerry (Matt Johnson, AMC+)
With Air (#23) and Tetris (I never saw that one), it was the year of biopics about products. I really liked Air, but it was BlackBerry that really stood out. It has a snarky dark humor and edge that you often don’t get with movies like this. But what really got me with it is how it addresses failure in a tech sphere that so often only talks about winners. Most that find success—the few that do-find it for a short time before something bigger and better takes over, and this is what BlackBerry articulates so well.
10. Fair Play (Chloe Domont, Netflix)
I’m probably over-rating this movie, but I really really loved it. Phoebe Dynevor and Alden Ehrenreich are note perfect as power-struggle/power-hungry couple in this movie that basically is an erotic thriller of the late 80s/early 90s updated for today’s sexual politics. It’s not perfect, but I loved it.
9. Priscilla (Sofia Coppola, rental)
I had hoped to promptly rewatch this, but I didn’t get the chance. As such my opinion on it is still a bit fluid, and I could see it going up or down a little bit. But on first watch, I loved it. The production design is incredible, and Cailee Spaeny gives maybe the performance of the year (Jacob Elordi is also excellent). It’s pretty easily Coppola’s best film in over a decade (since Somewhere in 2010). It’s a skillful dissection of the music biopic from the other side, even if it could do more to let Priscilla be her own person (though it should be noted that the book is called Elvis and Me, and from what I gather, Priscilla never fully had a “post-Elvis” life as she still is heavily involved with Graceland).
8. The Holdovers (Alexander Payne, rental)
A strong return to form for Payne (Downsizing was interesting but messy), The Holdovers returns to the dynamics that made Election and Sideways the classics that they are. Paul Giamatti gives a career best performance as a teacher needing to change with the times (a little) in a school setting that needs to not change quite so much. It’s an excellent heartwarming film about all the stuff in private and professional spaces that make life worth living. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it also doesn’t need to.
The final 7 are in a slightly higher tier than the last bunch, with the top 3 being confidently my top 3 of the year. But before that, here are some honorable mentions that didn’t quite make at the end, though many of them spent a decent portion of the year in the top 10.
- Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning, Part 1 (#19). Very possibly my favorite MI.
- The Iron Claw (#22). The feel-bad sports movie all time. Go see it! It’s great.
- The Blackening (#24). A subversive horror comedy that delivered everything I wanted and more.
- Suzume (#25). An anime gem that I liked a great deal more than The Boy and the Heron.
- The Persian Version and Joy Ride (#28-29). Two cross cultural (mostly) comedies that deserved to have a LOT more attention than they got.
- Talk to Me (#37). Horror had a tough year. Here’s hoping we can change that in 2024.
7. Theater Camp (Molly Gordon, Nick Lieberman, Hulu)
This movie won’t be for everyone, but it was extremely for me. With winning performances from everyone involved–and actual jokes—Theater Camp managed to capture what’s so special about theater people while also showing them with all their proclivities. It’s unabashedly queer, knowingly jumbled, and the second most fun I had with a movie this year.
6. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret (Kelly Fremon Craig, Amazon Prime)
As expected and feared, this movie is getting ignored as awards season comes around, and I’m not happy about it. Heck, it’s the highest ranked movie on my list from January-May. This movie is incredible, tapping into what makes American girlhood such a particular thing. Rachel McAdams and Benny Safdie play as good a set of parents as I’ve seen since Lady Bird, and Abby Ryder Fortson breaks out in a big way through the titular role. It’s a fascinating and fun movie about intersectional identity, specifically race/religion (Jewish) and gender (girl approaching womanhood). An easy inclusion on this list.
5. Anatomy of a Fall (Justine Triet, rental)
This could take over the number 1 spot once I get a chance to see it again. It’s stayed with me more than anything else I’ve seen this year. It’s a fascinating yarn of relationship dynamics and the unstable nature of truth. The use of music is powerful, as are the performances. Long after the credits roll, it will just keep gnawing at you.
4. Godzilla Minus One (Takashi Yamazaki, still in theaters)
The year’s best blockbuster by some margin, GMO puts similar-ish American made films to absolute shame. It has an abundance of heart and reason to care about the characters while still bringing the monster mashing spectacle you come for. At least on first watch, it really blew me away. I can’t find many faults with it. Big, complex, and fully aware of the need to actually address how the enemy in wartime can also include your own country. Take notes, Top Gun: Maverick.
3. Past Lives (Celine Song, rental)
A friend of mine makes some good points about how some of the characters found here are weak. It’s a valid critique that moves it down a little in my rankings, but there’s still too much of this movie that I love to move it down far. It has still my favorite poetic cinematography of the year with incredible performances (especially from New Girl’s Greta Lee [okay, she’s in like 4 episodes, but that’s still where I know her from]). The shot of them sitting in front of the carousel still lives in my head daily. I’m a sucker for movies about how relationships ebb and flow across time, and this was the best such movie I’ve seen in a long while.
2. Bottoms (Emma Seligman, rental)
Bottoms was, quite easily, my favorite movie of the year. I saw it twice, once in a full theater and once alone, and loved it both times. It fills the “but what about addressing feminism?” void that was left by Barbie. Ayo Edebiri gives one of the greatest comedic performances I’ve ever seen. This movie is everything that made Shiva Baby so excellent, and then some. A hodgepodge of tones and ideas, it all just works together to be the most uproarious queer movie of the year.
1. May December (Todd Haynes, Netflix)
I’ve been mixed about Todd Haynes in the past, which is to say I’d seen Carol, didn’t love it, and that was about it. My opinion of him is rapidly growing as I explore his older work (like Safe) and his influences (like Douglas Sirk, but more on that next year). May December is very dark satire about our cultural fascination with lurid true crime stories. It’s both an example of a Lifetime-y true crime drama movie and a critique of the genre, especially our often perverse fascination with it. Christopher Melton gives probably the year’s best performance as the incredibly earnest person at the center of this mess, leaving Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore to provide anarchic fun at the periphery. It’s a very entertain sort of campy movie that also has very weighty things to say about grooming and recent cultural efforts to interrogate the 90s. And, in my opinion, at least as of December 29th, it’s the best film of 2023.
