30 Best Movies Of 2023

2023 was a surprising year for cinema. It was the year that presumably "safe" franchise installments began to sour with audiences, as brands like Marvel, DC, and "Fast & Furious" disappointed at the box office, while "Oppenheimer" — a three-hour IMAX epic about scientists and politicians arguing in conference rooms — became a colossal hit. Greta Gerwig's "Barbie" was not only a billion-dollar blockbuster but a critical darling, and Taylor Swift's self-released concert film outgrossed "Indiana Jones." It's too early to say whether 2023 will be a year that critics and historians remember as a turning point for American film culture, but it certainly felt different.

Of course, it's not only the content of cinema that's shifting, but also how it's made. The business of making movies was shaken to its core in 2023 by two overlapping labor actions, as both the Writer's Guild of America and the actor's guild SAG-AFTRA fought for their fair share of streaming profits, bringing film and television production to a halt for months. Meanwhile, studios scrambled to make the short-sighted streaming business model sustainable, going so far as to lock away entire finished or near-finished films in order to claim tax write-offs.

Viewers at large have never been more conscious of what a precarious mess the entertainment business is in. Amidst the chaos, however, much of the world's cinematic output has been exquisite. Here are 30 films from 2023 that we think will be worth revisiting for years to come.

Updated on December 28, 2023: From indie dramas to to big blockbusters, these are the 30 best movies of 2023.

2015's "Creed" remains the finest example of Hollywood's current "requel" trend, continuing the legacy of boxer Rocky Balboa with a new protagonist who is essentially his opposite. The latest chapter in the saga of Adonis Creed is the first to exclude Rocky completely, and it proves that the new champ is totally capable of standing in his own.

Following in the tradition of his predecessor, leading man Michael B. Jordan has taken the directing reins and put his own visual stamp on the boxing movie, in this case incorporating influences from anime such as "Naruto" and "Dragon Ball." Though co-star Jonathan Majors' tremendous performance as the film's antagonist may be tarnished somewhat by his arrest for alleged domestic violence, "Creed III" is an exciting and emotional blockbuster that holds up alongside the best installments of this storied franchise.

• Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Tessa Thompson, Jonathan Majors
• Director: Michael B. Jordan
• Runtime: 116 minutes
• Rating: PG-13
  
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 89%

Over 20 years after the disastrous first attempt at a "Dungeons & Dragons" film franchise, writer-directors Jonathan M. Goldstein and John Francis Daley have struck gold with an uproarious fantasy adventure that's pleasing critics and tabletop gaming enthusiasts alike. Immersed in the mythology of the decades-old RPG setting while remaining totally accessible to the uninitiated, "Honor Among Thieves" centers around a charming group of characters brought to life by stars who are obviously having a total blast. Their quest captures the feeling of a great "D&D" campaign with your friends. Characters with tragic backstories band together and heal each others' emotional wounds. Complex challenges are solved by bizarre, imaginative, or downright unpredictable means. Plans go awry, monsters are unleashed, and a grand time is had by all.

• Starring: Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Regé-Jean Page
• Director: Jonathan M. Goldstein, John Francis Daley
• Runtime: 134 minutes
• Rating: PG-13
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%

In 2022, longtime creative collaborators Ben Affleck and Matt Damon launched their new production company, Artists Equity, "a creator-focused studio" that aims to give everyone involved in making their films a piece of the profits. So, it's appropriate that the first release from Artists Equity should be about the intersection between business, art, and celebrity. "Air" stars Damon as Sonny Vaccaro, head of the struggling basketball division at Nike in 1984, who bets his career on a rookie he believes will change the game: Michael Jordan.

The (mostly) true story of the bidding war over Jordan's endorsement makes for surprisingly fun, light drama, but it also speaks to the studio's mission to reconsider the relationship between the people who invest in talent and the talent who gives that investment value. That may sound like dry stuff, but crucially, "Air" never becomes more about business than it is about people, which is exactly how it should always be.

• Starring: Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Viola Davis
• Director: Ben Affleck
• Runtime: 112 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%

After delivering two acclaimed horror films for A24 ("Hereditary" and "Midsommar"), writer/director Ari Aster has chosen to leverage that credibility to create "Beau Is Afraid," a sprawling work that is personal, bizarre, and borderline unmarketable. Put as simply as possible, "Beau Is Afraid" is the story of a clinically anxious man struggling to find his way from his decrepit urban home to that of his overbearing mother. This, of course, barely covers it. The film is a three-hour surrealist comedy about childhood trauma and sexual repression, set in the hyperbolically doomed version of America that exists only in the imaginations of paranoid cable news viewers.

Self-indulgent? Absolutely. Unsettling? You bet. But if you've got the patience and the stomach for it, "Beau Is Afraid" is one heck of a trip.

• Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Nathan Lane, Amy Ryan
• Director: Ari Aster
• Runtime: 179 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 67%

After six years and no shortage of controversy, writer/director James Gunn returns to the Marvel Cinematic Universe one last time to complete his Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy in spectacular fashion. "Guardians Vol. 3" is like a shockingly violent Pixar movie, tugging on heartstrings and spilling the blood of a surprising number of talking animals while drawing the saga of Star-Lord, Gamora, Rocket, and the gang to a satisfying conclusion. While not as punchy and concise as the first installment or as emotionally complicated as the second, "Vol. 3" has no shortage of the wit and imaginative action that made this series one of the most beloved in the Marvel franchise.

• Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista
• Director: James Gunn
• Runtime: 150 minutes
• Rating: PG-13
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 82%

2018's "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" shocked the cinematic world. Instead of simply being Sony's latest attempt to squeeze as much money out of the Spider-Man movie license as possible, "Spider-Verse" proved to be a legitimate masterpiece — one of the most dazzling animated features of the century and arguably the greatest superhero film of all time. Creating a sequel to "Into the Spider-Verse" was a challenge akin to creating a sequel to "The Matrix," and we all remember how that was received at the time. How does one follow up a film that shook an entire medium without being a disappointment?

Ironically, the triumphant sequel "Across the Spider-Verse" bears some strong structural similarities to "The Matrix Reloaded." It advances the characters in unexpected ways, deliberately subverts or undermines expectations set up by the first film, shakes the foundation of its universe multiverse, and leaves the audience on a cliffhanger. The fact that it makes the revolutionary "Into the Spider-Verse" look like a tech demo for the sequel is just the icing on the cake.

• Starring: Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Oscar Isaac
• Director: Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson
• Runtime: 140 minutes
• Rating: PG
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%

2023's most stirring romance is "Past Lives," a tender story of two childhood sweethearts after decades on separate continents. Greta Lee plays Nora, a playwright who immigrated from South Korea to Canada as a child, leaving behind smitten classmate Hae Sung. Years later, they reconnect via social media and attempt to rekindle their romance, but they only finally reunite after Nora has moved to New York and married an American writer. Now in the bizarre position of spending a weekend together, Nora and Hae Sung unpack their feelings and converse about the courses their lives have taken and how different things might have been had they never been pulled apart.

"Past Lives" is a delicate, sensitive film about the ways in our lives are guided by circumstance. Is there such a thing as fate? Does fulfillment in one version of our lives invalidate the potential joys along the road not taken? What does it mean to be the love of someone's life, and is anyone entitled to more than one? Once the credits have rolled and you've flicked the tears from corners of your eyes, expect to spend the rest of your day debating these questions with whoever was sitting next to you.

• Starring: Greta Lee, Teo Yoo, John Magaro
• Director: Celine Song
• Runtime: 116 minutes
• Rating: PG-13
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%

Ever since the Dark Knight trilogy made Christopher Nolan one of Hollywood's most popular directors, he's used that caché to make ambitious, high-concept blockbusters no one else could get a studio to pay for. After parting ways with Warner Bros., Nolan leveraged his status as Hollywood's hottest free agent to charm Universal into spending millions on a biopic about theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer. Not only did this gamble pay off with Nolan's biggest opening weekend for a non-Batman film, it also resulted in what might be his greatest work.

More than simply a historical biopic, "Oppenheimer" combines all of Nolan's signatures as a filmmaker. It's a thriller that moves at a breakneck pace, employing a non-linear narrative to play with objectivity vs. subjectivity and create a sense of inevitability around its visual centerpiece, the testing of the first atomic bomb. "Oppenheimer" is a devastating story about one of the most terrible and consequential moments in history that both humanizes and condemns the people behind it, all in awe-inspiring 70 mm IMAX.

• Starring: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon
• Director: Christopher Nolan
• Runtime: 180 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94%

It's probably reductive to refer to "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem" as Nickelodeon's answer to "Spider-Verse," but also, dang, if that was what they were going for, they actually pulled it off. A stylish computer-animated feature that relishes the quirks and expressionistic imperfections of comics and hand-drawn animation, "Mutant Mayhem" fits perfectly into the new era ushered in by Miles Morales. 

This fast-paced, joke-dense action-comedy has a youthful energy that no previous "Turtles" feature has captured, casting real teens to voice the leads and distinguishing each of them as individuals while also emphasizing the adorable fraternal bond between them. It's a treat for zoomers and nostalgic millennials alike while also being a fresh take on the classic source material that's totally accessible to viewers of any age, even without prior interest in the sweet sewer-dwelling heroes.

• Starring: Micah Abbey, Shamon Brown Jr., Nicolas Cantu
• Director: Jeff Rowe
• Runtime: 99 minutes
• Rating: PG
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%

Stop us if you've heard this one before. A pair of high school seniors are desperate to lose their virginities before graduation, but they're complete social disasters who few people notice and almost nobody likes, so they try to reinvent themselves to get the attention of their crushes. It works, but now they're stuck living a lie, and if the school finds out the truth, they'll be even worse off than they were before. 

It's a tried-and-true teen comedy format, and in the year 2023, the idea of applying it to the story of a pair of "ugly, untalented gays" isn't too far out there. Fortunately, "Bottoms" isn't just "lesbian 'Superbad'" — it's much, much crazier than that. To begin with, the horny teens' plan to pick up cheerleaders is to get a bunch of girls to punch them — and each other — in the face. The result is a wild, bloody instant classic. 

"Bottoms" reunites writer-director Emma Seligman with "Shiva Baby" star Rachel Sennott (who also co-writes), who's a scream as the amoral and hyperverbal PJ. The entire cast shines, even the surprisingly funny Super Bowl champion Marshawn Lynch as the club's faculty advisor, but we want to take this moment to single out Ayo Edebiri, who's having an unbelievable 2023. In addition the hit FX series "The Bear," Edebiri appears in four of the films on this list ("Bottoms," "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse," "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem," and "Theater Camp"). Her performance in "Bottoms" demonstrates her skill at balancing relatable pathos and truly weird sketch-style comedy, and it's no wonder why she's everywhere right now.

• Starring: Rachel Sennott, Ayo Edebiri, Havana Rose Liu
• Director: Emma Seligman
• Runtime: 88 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%

David Fincher is a director known for his meticulous exactitude and what you might call an impersonal approach to filmmaking, demanding dozens of takes from his actors until he achieves exactly the performance he imagines in his head. So, what better subject could there be for a David Fincher movie than a cold, methodical assassin who plans everything to the slightest detail? "The Killer" stars Michael Fassbender as an elite hitman who's made every effort to keep his work impersonal and machinelike ... until one missed shot puts his entire life on tilt.

"The Killer" is Fincher's coolest and most approachable work in a decade, but true to form, there's more going on than what's on the surface. The protagonist's globe-trotting killing spree is also a study of the increasingly mechanized gig economy, which keeps labor constantly hustling and yet totally invisible and disposable to the ruling class. Is there an inverse relationship between prosperity and humanity? How can any transaction be considered impersonal, so long as there are people involved? But if that all sounds too heady for you, this guy's also really good at killing people, and that's fun to watch.

• Starring: Michael Fassbender, Charles Parnell, Tilda Swinton
• Director: David Fincher
• Runtime: 118 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%

The winner of the prestigious Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival is "Anatomy of a Fall," a gripping drama that will keep you guessing even after the credits roll. When an author and professor falls to his death outside his home in the French Alps, his wife, celebrated author Sandra Voyter, is charged with his murder. With the material evidence inconclusive and the only witness her blind son, Daniel, Sandra finds that her marriage and personal life are what's really on trial.

Sandra Hüller is mesmerizing as the flawed and complicated murder suspect, but it's Justine Triet's rich script and tight direction that make "Anatomy of a Fall" so irresistible. Here, we have a courtroom drama that is more concerned with process and perception than with the truth, which reminds us that real-life public trials function essentially the same way. The audience is invited to hear the testimony, to understand how both prosecution and defense finesse the narrative in their own favor, and to try to make a judgement — even though we might never know what really happened.

• Starring: Sandra Hüller, Swann Arlaud, Milo Machado-Graner
• Director: Justine Triet
• Runtime: 150 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%

Jeffrey Wright stars as Thelonious "Monk" Ellison, an author of sophisticated, unpopular literature, who is flabbergasted when a novel he writes as a joke — a ridiculous satire of stereotypical Black fiction for white readers — becomes a massive success. "American Fiction" is not only a biting rebuke of the cringey, polite racism of wealthy white liberals, but also a warm, heartfelt character study of an introverted Black intellectual, his tangled family life, and his complicated relationship with his own identity. Joining Wright is the year's best ensemble cast, featuring the incredibly endearing Tracee Ellis Ross and Sterling K. Brown.

• Starring: Jeffrey Wright, Tracee Ellis Ross, John Ortiz
• Director: Cord Jefferson
• Runtime: 117 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%

The true crime genre's success has raised some questions about the ethics of turning real-life tragedies into popular entertainment. Todd Haynes' "May December" is a work of fiction that challenges the viewer to consider their relationship with stories about actual misdeeds. Natalie Portman portrays an actor paying a visit to convicted sex offender Gracie (Julianne Moore), whom she'll be playing in her next film. "May December" is a showcase for both actresses, as they embody complicated, unsettling characters, but it's also a stunning turn from Charles Melton as Gracie's much younger husband, who became involved with her when he was only 13. None of these characters are exactly who they appear to be, but can we ever really know them? And are we doing more damage just by looking?

• Starring: Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, Cory Michael Smith
• Director: Todd Haynes
• Runtime: 113 minutes
• Rating: R
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%

"Wonka," a musical prequel to 1971's "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory," could have easily been a tacky, nostalgia-stuffed trifle of a film. Instead, it's a sugary-sweet delight that, like so many of the eccentric chocolatier's edible inventions, feels like a full meal. The film finds the bright-eyed inventor arriving in the big city, where he joins a team of impoverished outcasts to take on the sinister "chocolate cartel" and make their most delicious dreams a reality. Packed with toe-tapping original songs, wonderfully whimsical visuals, and a silly yet sincere performance from star Timothée Chalamet, "Wonka" is the real deal: A rare prequel that could very well stand as a classic in its own right.

• Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Hugh Grant, Calah Lane
• Director: Paul King
• Runtime: 116 minutes
• Rating: PG
• Rotten Tomatoes Score: 83%