Top 10 Movies of 2023
“Don’t try to understand it. Just keep telling the story.”
If you’ve ever wanted to distill what gets me excited about cinema and gets me itching to be in a movie theater, the 2023 landscape of film might be the way to do it. Long-form storytelling in blockbusters, beautiful music played loudly and displayed beautifully, thrilling and inventive action setpieces, auteur-driven narratives that reflect and shape the ways our world can make us feel, and storytelling at its most riotous and earnestly felt. All of these aspects of movies seem to be present every year, but they seemed especially so in 2023. So much so, in fact, that I found this list impossible to curate. I was almost tempted to go back to my old ways of just making a list for as many entries as I could justify, rather than insisting to myself that I adhere to the Top 10 moniker. I stuck to it, though, because it feels more meaningful that way.
Yes, I eventually whittled my longlist down to fourteen films, but I watched as my girlfriend prepared for bedtime and fell asleep in the time that it took me to stare at all fourteen movies and then eventually close my laptop without cutting any of them because I had no idea how to go from fourteen to ten. (In addition to the ten that I eventually decided upon, the other four consisted of Air, Anyone But You, The Holdovers, and Past Lives.) Aside from probably my eventual top four, none of them were immediately entered into my all-time personal pantheon, but I loved them all — seemingly in equal measure. Air delighted me in different ways than The Holdovers, for example, but the delight seemed commensurate between both. How was I to choose!
Eventually, it took rewatching the trailers (I did not have time to journey back through fourteen movies before January 31) and revisiting the notes and thoughts I shared with others about the films. It took forcing myself to consider which ones were the films I was most excited to see again, but also which ones actually changed the way I thought about my emotions and experiences in life. You have to find merits and personal metrics like that to sort through the films when they’re all so evenly matched with one another. Nuggets and notions must be derived in that sense or else it’s just going off vibes. You can’t go off vibes when they’re all so equally excellent. The smattering of the 4.5 star film was the toughest part to navigate here. I haven’t had this much trouble culling in forever and it still makes me shake my fist at 2020 because that list could’ve fit some of my honorable mentions in easily. Ah, well, such is the way of the Mayans; we are beholden to them.
Regardless, my sentiments about 2023 in film are simple and straightforward. Constantly, there are so many people prognosticating and catastrophizing about the future of cinema. And while 2024 may be a bit colder at the box office and on the trophy shelf because of the delays from strikes, I am not worried. (Knock on wood, of course; I love my local Regal.) We’re not seeing the sorts of box office numbers that led Home Alone to being one of the top-grossing movies ever at the time of its release, but I think we’re seeing health. The lungs are pink. Anyone But You is doing well for its rom-com audience; Elemental held well in the summer; comedies did not totally tank in the margins; Barbie and Oppenheimer obviously come to mind. Yes, we might be seeing a massive shift in the landscape — à la the 1960s into the 1970s — as $250 million+ budgets flounder and franchises enter into their double digit tallies while churning steam with audiences (The Little Mermaid made a fraction of other Disney remakes, which were billion dollar guarantees; Fast X led to a paradigm shift for how Universal funds those films). That being said, I struggle to see how this is something to be afraid of when studios believe in theaters more than ever (Amazon pushed Air well! Apple gave Killers of the Flower Moon so much runway!), the Golden Globes rose in the ratings, the past three years’ highest grossing movies were not from mega franchises, and twenty out of the thirty movies I’m about to mention are based on a book — at most. And the ten that are sequels, prequels, or remakes? They’re all impeccable. We’re in good shape. Just keep the momentum going.
Honorable Mentions: Air, Anyone But You, BlackBerry, Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Haunted Mansion, The Holdovers, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, The Iron Claw, John Wick: Chapter 4, Joy Ride, The Killer, Maestro, Missing, No Hard Feelings, Past Lives, Poor Things, Priscilla, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, You Hurt My Feelings
10. Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3
Lately, I’ve been going through a new pang of nostalgia that I’ve not felt before. I’m a person who feels nostalgic a lot, but for the first time, I’ve been experiencing nostalgia for an entire decade in the way that a lot of people seem to reminisce and look back fondly on the 1980s, 1990s, and such. The 2010s just seem like they’re going to be that for me. As any pop culture fan would tell you, of course, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is going to be a huge aspect of how we look back on the ways in which movies, music, television, and more thrived during that time. There is no denying that the heyday of the MCU era is behind us now, but in 2023 we had one last little capper in the wake of the Avengers: Endgame send-off. The third and final installment in the James Gunn iteration of the Guardians of the Galaxy series delivered on every level I could have hoped for. It was funny and moving. Awe-inspiring and sensitive. The soundtrack hit well and the characters arrived at endings that were wholly satisfying and occasionally profound. I loved it as a final grace note for what has always been one of the MCU’s crowning achievements and for the nostalgia it provided as I remembered what it was like when these characters were everything to me. I was so sad to realize that the time has passed, but so happy to realize that they will still always be there to revisit. Without the third Guardians, it would always have felt a little incomplete. But I think there are elements of this movie (“the dog days are done”) that teach us it’s okay to move on, too. Into the forever and beautiful sky.
9. Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour
Some people (read: no one) may ask why Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour can make my top ten in 2023, but Hamilton from Disney Plooos could not make it back in 2020. To this, I say that concert films have always qualified for my arbitrary lists, but stage recordings have not. Is there really a discernible difference? Not especially! But Stop Making Sense feels different from A West Wing Special to Benefit When We All Vote, you know? Regardless, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour is here. If this was a Top 10 Concerts list, it’d be right there in the pole position. However, I do have to consider the cinematic elements of the films listed here. And though there may not necessarily be a narrative at play here (besides a journey through all of her eras), I found the filmmaking to be so breathtaking and compelling. Would I have liked to have songs like “The Archer,” “Cardigan,” and “‘Tis the Damn Season” included? Of course! But having what amounts to a front row seat to the most sensational tour ever created is merit enough in the cinematic landscape. That is why the movie theater experience will always be paramount for our shared cultural lives. Seeing this on a screen like that was just so unforgettable. There is truly no performer like her and everything she is capable of translates so well in movie fashion. To have her power come across in an adaptation like this is no easy feat. However, Taylor is no easy artist.
8. Dumb Money
“There’s some whores in this house” is the lyric we hear as Paul Dano’s character in Dumb Money, Keith Gill, is introduced into the film. A meme cat t-shirt and a red headband mark his entry into the film that would see a marked contrast between his Reddit stock-sharing persona and his middle-class family man identity. All the while, it’s “WAP” that is playing. I did not hear “WAP” for the first time until 2023. So, while I was late to the jam session with it, I can think of no better initial exposure to it than four women singing it a capella in Joy Ride and then a frumpified Paul Dano cruising through the frame while a highly juxtaposed Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B song fills the theater room. For me, what enchanted me about the scene, was not that it was a music choice that laid in direct contrast from what we saw on screen. Rather, it was that — even though I was not familiar with how the song sounded — I knew that it was evoking a specific time period. Considering Dumb Money is the true story of how a couple YouTube prognosticators figured out how to game Wall Street for a little bit by buying up GameStop shares and ending a shorting effort, it was a true story of a time I remembered. Just two years ago! But what it achieved in this “period” piece aesthetic was remarkable. Somehow it managed to treat our collective time during the height of the pandemic when people still cared about wearing masks, leading Reddit brigades, and Pete Davidson (who is really well-cast here) with aplomb and reverence. It felt like the beginning of 2021 again! Whether this was a good thing or not is beside the point; I was just enthralled by how they managed to craft Dumb Money’s setting with enough authenticity for me to feel as if I had time traveled. Throw in a large swath of a Massachusetts setting and it almost felt like I could have lived this movie if I was brave enough to download Robin Hood. And, of course, Dumb Money also succeeds on its own merits. Namely, I found it effective that it basically became a Garry Marshall movie in its disparate, thematically coherent storylines. We have Dano’s Reddit character and family life with Shailene Woodley, the morally duplicitous big wigs played by Seth Rogen, Nick Offerman, Vincent D’Onofrio, and Sebastian Stan, and the common people who serve as stand-ins, like America Ferrera, Myha’la Herrold, and Anthony Ramos. While Dumb Money may not be the call-to-arms a moral world would have demanded, one can still not help but respect the filmmaking, passion, and earnestness behind it. It’s the only way a movie about something this recent could still be this quality.
7. Oppenheimer
There’s something brilliant to the casting of Oppenheimer. On one hand, that lead quintet is as remarkable a group as you’ll ever find. Cillian Murphy, Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, and Robert Downey, Jr. are an unimpeachable top five on the call sheet because they have always been great when they pop up in movies. On the other hand, Christopher Nolan’s troupe here is reminiscent of an old Hollywood method of crafting historical epics that round out the screen with prominent performers galore. This would entail the sorts of performers who are also more than capable of leading their own films, like Rami Malek, Gary Oldman, Alden Ehrenreich, Casey Affleck, Kenneth Branagh, and Josh Hartnett. Yet, Oppenheimer goes even further by also filling out the remaining roles with recognizable character actors who can be recognized and understood due to their past roles and allow plenty of texture to differentiate between a smattering of white scientists who are similar in age. Here, we get to see ripper turns from old reliables like David Krumholtz, Josh Peck, Benny Safdie, Matthew Modine, Alex Wolff, Jack Quaid, and even more. This is the sort of towering Hollywood tome that we don’t always see these days, so it’s all the more appreciated and valued when we do. In addition to the acting turns we see on screen, we also delight at Nolan operating in a lane that works exceedingly well for him: the weighty and philosophical treatise on an evergreen human grief towards the entire world. And because he is Nolan, it is buoyed throughout by landmark achievements in technical filmmaking. What a wonderful phenomenon it was.
6. Wonka
Speaking of “wonderful,” Wonka fits the criteria just about as well as any other movie in this top ten. I admit that I was also skeptical about, you know, the everything about this. I’m already not a big fan of prequels and I especially felt that a prequel for a Roald Dahl story we all know well enough and have never collectively felt a need to probe deeper into was a misstep waiting to happen. However, because Paul King (from the Paddington films) was directing, I kept an open mind throughout the trailer and promotional materials (some even accused the costume design of ripping off Gonzo’s fit in The Muppet Christmas Carol!). I am glad I did! I don’t know if it was the margarita I had beforehand, but I walked out of the theater and immediately texted my girlfriend, “Wonka. Masterpiece? Chalamet. Kind of great in it?” I was surprised, but perhaps I shouldn’t have been. Maybe it’s the lack of cultural lore that made the Willy Wonka story one that was perfect for evaluating from a prequel perspective. Maybe it’s just the living storybook style of Paul King that could charm any story into a top ten list. Or maybe we were just overdue for a good musical and Timothee Chalamet’s commitment to a worthy performance of the genre elevated us at exactly the right moment in the holidays. A holiday filled with noodles and apple strudel, this time around.
5. Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning
I love the Marvel movies for their interconnected, cause-and-effect, history-driven storytelling. I love the Fast movies because they are kind of dumb and bombastic and silly to watch. I love the Mission: Impossible movies because they turn the action scenes into something balletic, orchestrated, and story-driven. Action is okay when it is secondary and it is okay when it is a little stupid. But I don’t come to the Mission: Impossible films for either of those elements. I come to have my mind blown by the technical prowess, the creative stunt coordination, and the incredible factor that it is Tom Cruise doing these incredible acts. The latest entry in the saga, Dead Reckoning, proved that — even seven films in — they still have the juice. What delighted me the most about Dead Reckoning is that each sequence is highly inventive, but also distinctly different from one another. The airport scene is incredibly clever and well-written to be an action sequence of wit. And then you have the subsequent tiny car chase scene throughout narrow European streets which is almost Chaplinesque in its humor. Yet, the whole film builds towards a massive motorcycle jump and a death-defying runaway train sequence that is as explosive as anything the series has ever done, but truly enthralling and adrenaline-rushing all the way. Few times at the theater were as thrilling as this was in 2023.
4. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.
Speaking of time at the theater, it is probably no coincidence that each of the ten movies featured on this list were all seen at my local Regal (support your cinemas!). Movies like Maestro and Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget were pretty good, but maybe I would have loved them even more if I had ever been given the chance to see them in theaters. There is just something about the theatrical experience that is art-affirming. Not only are these ten movies some of the best I saw in 2023, but they are also representative of some of the best moviegoing experiences I had. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. is a pristine example. Maybe in 2019 or 2020, this would have been a streaming release, but in 2023, we recognized the power of the collective experience again. Through this, even smaller, more heartfelt movies like this had power in the big lights. I’m always going to be a sucker for thoughtful and sensitive stories about slice-of-life events and coming-of-age characters, especially when those are empathetically guided by some of my favorite women (in this case, Kelly Fremon Craig is the one to bring Judy Blume’s vision to life). Are You There God? is among the best of them, no doubt. Part of that is Abby Ryder Fortson’s breakthrough turn as the title character, but how can we ignore the shades and depth brought to Margaret’s mother by Rachel McAdams, who has now fully graduated from being the teen character herself to the mentor character. This is a very special film.
3. Killers of the Flower Moon
With movies, directors need more than one work of greatness to become a favorite of mine. I loved Lady Bird, but I was not all in on Greta Gerwig until Little Women proved that she was a force and not a great debut artist who peters out. Yet, books seem to operate a little differently. It took only one read of Killers of the Flower Moon for me to feel that David Grann will be the preeminent nonfiction writer I anticipate new releases from. That is how towering the book about the 1920s Osage murders was. Learning it was being adapted by Martin Scorsese and Eric Roth felt like a perfect outcome for the film rights to the devastating true story. What resulted was what I think is the best Scorsese movie since The Departed and one of the most incredible works he has ever accomplished. And the man is in his eighties! Obviously, to depict history that is so impactful for Indigenous communities is no easy balancing act. However, I felt that Scorsese brought the right amount of empathy while also furthering the dignity ascribed to the victims of these murders (those final moments are harrowing in the name of it). Plus, the major takeaway from Flower Moon has absolutely been Lily Gladstone’s performance as Mollie Burkhart. When a movie star with as much gravitas and selectiveness as Leonardo DiCaprio decides to lead a film, it takes an astronomically gifted performer to guide the audience’s gaze away from him and onto them instead. In every scene, she accomplished that in what is a strong contender for my favorite performance of 2023.
2. Asteroid City
Speaking of directors who saw 2023 serve as the setting for their best movie in years, Wes Anderson fully delivered with Asteroid City. In one of his biggest ensembles ever (ol’ faves like Jeff Goldblum and Adrien Brody with newcomers like Tom Hanks and Steve Carell), Anderson continued his nesting doll story structure by couching a sci-fi tale within a play within a broadcast. While it is occasionally obfuscated from a construction perspective, Asteroid City is always abundantly clear in its emotional sense. While some elements of Asteroid City seem like easy parallels towards our collective isolation and loss during the pandemic, I found the most richness to come from Jason Schwartzman’s layered performance. Any scene when his Augie character dialogued with Scarlett Johansson’s Midge revealed profound insights into an inability to reconcile the enormity of one’s grief when contrasted against the enormity of the universe. Even beyond that, in the meta context, Schwartzman’s Jones character seeks to find ways to process his heartache via projections through the Augie archetype. And it all finally crescendos when Jones exits the play-within-a-play altogether and steps out of the Andersonian artifice to share thoughts on the meaning of life with a philosophical Margot Robbie standing on a balcony across an alleyway. Even in a year when he also released four quaint Roald Dahl short films on Netflix, nothing has ever seemed to more thoroughly capture the Wes Anderson ethos.
1. Barbie
I suppose Barbie was my most anticipated movie of the year for a reason. It absolutely delivered. Greta Gerwig’s junior feature film allowed her themes and feelings of fascination to persist through her filmography. The longing ache of wondering what you’re meant for in Lady Bird. The breathless desperation of belonging in an ever-changing world in Little Women. Both sentiments are of a piece with Barbie, as well. Yes, it is the first major foray into cinema for Mattel, but this is not an IP movie. This is a Greta Gerwig movie and Greta Gerwig movies are thoughtful, intelligent, fun, and deeply moving. Barbie nails each of these tones throughout. Buoyed by a pair of performances that are as great and nuanced as any in the comedy genre have ever been, Barbie is elevated in every facet. Some of the greatest production design the medium has ever seen, a rip-roaring soundtrack and score, costume design that is simultaneously filled with originality and homage. From a production and technical element, Barbie feels fused with the best of Elf, the best of Jacques Demy, and the best of my favorite director, Gerwig herself. I went back to the theater twice after seeing Barbie initially and I found myself enthralled all the same each time. Barbie’s momentum carried my spirit throughout each viewing and throughout the entire summer. Watching Margot Robbie feel the world around her grow bathed in the experiences of womanhood and watching Ryan Gosling channel an energy hitherto unimaginable is the most alive I felt at the movies all year. Barbie is destined to become an all-timer and one that will remain forever in my movie pantheon.
What did you watch that left you awed this year?
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