Top 50 Movies of 2023
I watched 106 2023 releases last year. I wasn’t sure how I should approach writing about the best movies of 2023. With as many new releases I watch it is hard to stick to 10 films to talk about. So I looked at my Letterboxd list ranking the 2023 releases I watched and decided to cut it off at 50 films.
This forced me to still think about the films near the cutoff and have plenty of films I would recommend. I am just going to list the first 30 and for the final 20, I’ll write a couple of sentences about them.
50. Sanctuary – Zachry Wigon
49. Master Gardener – Paul Schrader
48. Afire – Christian Petzold
47. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem – Jeff Rowe
46. Thanksgiving – Eli Roth
45. The Burial – Margaret Betts
44. Godland – Hlynur Palmason
43. Napoleon – Ridley Scott
42. The Royal Hotel – Kitty Green
41. Dreamin’ Wild – Bill Pohlad
40. A Thousand and One – A. V. Rockwell
39. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves – John Francis Daley & Jonathan Goldstein
38. Knock at the Cabin – M. Night Shyamalan
37. Infinity Pool – Brandon Cronenberg
36. The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial – William Friedkin
35. When Evil Lurks – Demian Rugna
34. Saw X – Kevin Greutert
33. Maestro – Bradley Cooper
32. Godzilla Minus One – Takashi Yamazaki
31. Poor Things – Yorgos Lanthimos
30. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse – Joaquim Dos Santos, Justin K. Thompson, Kemp Powers
29. Society of the Snow – J. A. Bayona
28. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret – Kelly Fremon Craig
27. Influencer – Kurtis David Harder
26. Theater Camp – Molly Gordon, Nick Lieberman
25. Monica – Andrea Pallaoro
24. Talk to Me – Michael Philippou
23. Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning – Christopher McQuarrie
22. Barbie – Greta Gerwig
21. Air – Ben Affleck
20. Bottoms – Emma Sgligman
Absurdist on every level, yet filled with spot-on commentary on the high school experience of a girl. Football players are Gods among children. Every joke hits because Emma knows the tone she wants. It’s a modern-day Superbad.
19. The Taste of Things – Tran Anh Hung
The Most Merchant/Ivory film that wasn’t a Merchant/Ivory film. It’s beautiful and seductive, some of the best cooking scenes put to screen. There is also a single edit that rivals the famous Lawrence of Arabia edit.
18. All of Us Strangers – Andrew Haigh
The type of film that if you try to put it together logically falls apart. The film is all about emotion. Andrew Scott is devastatingly good. It’s a shame this was ignored completely by the Academy.
17. Anatomy of a Fall – Justine Triet
I know nothing about the French court system, but it seems wild how many different people can talk whenever. Brilliant script anchored by a stellar Sandra Huller performance. A 152-minute film that flies by.
16. Fallen Leaves – Aki Kaurismaki
I imagine this is what Serendipity would look like if Jim Jarmusch had made it. Quietly charming, then a rescue dog is added halfway through the film overloading the charm. Just a breezy 81 minutes.
15. Priscilla – Sofia Coppola
Sofia Coppola’s take on the Elvis/Priscilla relationship. Watching a poor tiny woman imprisoned at Graceland for 110 minutes. Sofia is back to her brilliant ways, this is her best film since Marie Antoinette. Cailee Spaeny is a discovery.
14. May December – Todd Haynes
A masterclass in tonal juggling by Todd Haynes. A cerebral look at how one gets to the truth and the process actors go through to find it. A film that will take multiple viewings to fully digest.
13. How to Blow Up a Pipeline – Daniel Goldhaber
Despite the incendiary name, this is not a how-to manual. Andreas Malm’s novel of the same name is a call to action, it will take substantial efforts to cause change in the oil industry. The film is a pulsing tense thriller as we watch a team attempt to “blow up a pipeline.”
12. Asteroid City – Wes Anderson
Another film like May December will take multiple viewings to understand fully. Is Wes Anderson laughing at all of his critics? Aren’t we all just trying to grab our fifteen minutes of fame? A Top Tier Anderson.
11. The Killer – David Fincher
Simultaneously David Fincher is making a joke about himself while laughing at his main character. Being told the titular killer operates in perfect execution while watching him fumble at every turn. This is my Joker.
10. Showing Up – Kelly Reichardt
I will always show up for Kelly, she is one of my favorite filmmakers. She made a film about the struggles of making a film, really any art, but Michelle Williams’ clay people are stand-ins for Kelly’s films. It’s also one of her funniest films.
09. Ferrari – Michael Mann
Not sure if Mann has made a film this good since Collateral. The prison that masculinity is, is a theme he has touched on many times and it always feels fresh. Penelope Cruz was robbed of an Oscar nomination. The crash scenes are the most harrowing things on screen in 2023.
08. The Iron Claw – Sean Durkin
Should’ve cleaned up in Oscar nominations. A great original song that is actually used to effect the film. Zac Efron gave one of the best performances in 2023. Sean Durkin knows when to deploy emotionality so it strikes the right chord and never goes overboard. A Stunning film.
07. The Holdovers – Alexander Payne
Payne is the closest thing we have to Hal Ashby now. The melancholy comedies are a genre that few can pull off. Paul Giamatti gives a stellar lead performance and was finally recognized like he should’ve been 20 years ago for Sideways. Dominic Sessa is a revelation.
06. Blackberry – Matt Johnson
Matt Johnson is a filmmaker to watch. This comes the closest to any film in this milieu to The Social Network. Darkly comedic thanks to an unhinged bald Glenn Howerton. This was easily my favorite film of last year. I’ve already seen it three times.
05. The Boy and the Heron – Hayao Miyazaki
The final 20 minutes of this film are unrivaled in 2023 cinema. It’s difficult to talk about without spoiling the film. I will say stick with it until the end. At first, this feels like Miyazaki lost his threads, but then it all comes together. Joe Hisaishi’s score is sublime.
04. Killers of the Flower Moon – Martin Scorsese
Scorsese in his later years is clearly grappling with his place in cinema history and what to do with his influence. Shining light on a black spot in America’s history, knowingly so by his final scene. It’s a necessary film told by a master. Lily Gladstone gives THE best performance of 2023.
03. Oppenheimer – Christopher Nolan
Nolan has made an impressive colossal film about possibly one of the most important moments in the history of our world. It’s an undeniable giant, almost overwhelming. It’ll be a worthy Best Picture winner and Christopher Nolan will finally deservedly win his Oscar for Best Director.
02. Past Lives – Celine Song
I still cannot believe this was Celine Song’s first feature film. When you know exactly how to tell the story you want to tell everything else falls into place. Having seen this twice now I picked up new things with a subsequent viewing. It’s the film that affected me emotionally the most in 2023.
01. The Zone of Interest – Jonathan Glazer
What one person can accomplish when they turn a blind eye to atrocities and proceed to profit off of them. Easily the scariest film from last year, because you can see how easy it is to allow a genocide like this to happen.
By showing none of the violence Jonathan Glazer brings you frighteningly close to understanding the horrors of the Holocaust. While so many Holocaust films before this one show the atrocities it puts you at an arm’s length. A necessary film to see if there ever was one.
