Top Ten Movies of 2023

My favorite movies from this year

We are here! My top 10 movies of 2023! I missed a few weeks on Letterboxd somewhere in the middle of the year and then never caught up, so I’m not sure how many 2023 movies I’ve seen, but I’d estimate somewhere around 125 or so. I still haven’t seen The Color Purple, Anatomy of a Fall, or Poor Things, all of which feel like they could be on this list. But at some point, you resign yourself to the fact that you can’t watch all of the movies made in a year, and you are a content creator who must publish that end-of-year list even if you haven’t seen everything good. I’m just going to pretend that they’re all like Maestro - movies that have had fantastic early reactions that I just didn’t care for. 

Also, there has been some discourse about “favorite” vs. “best” lists. I understand both views (regardless of what metric you use, it’s all subjective), but I am way more comfortable using the language of favorites rather than best, so that’s what you’re getting, but I’m not mad if you’re team best. Finally, this is a list of 10, but it’s not really in order, other than my number one spot. Anyway, let’s go!

10. The Iron Claw (dir. Sean Durkin) - Maybe some recency bias is going on here, but when I leave a movie sobbing, you’ve probably done something right. And I left this movie sobbing. Despite the fact that I know almost nothing about professional wrestling, this movie made me care about it in a way I never would have expected. Every performance in it is perfection, and it is one of the gentlest refutations of toxic masculinity I have ever seen. You can read some more thoughts here. (Currently playing in theaters.)

9. They Cloned Tyrone (dir. Juel Taylor) - This is a movie that I feel has been widely overlooked this year. It is one of the most unique premises of any movie I’ve seen this year and has three pretty fantastic performances from its leads. Even though the title tells you something about what happens in this movie, it still goes places you might not expect. As I said in my original review, this movie does an excellent job of being both an intelligent satire and an enjoyable time. (Currently streaming on Netflix.)

8. Talk To Me (dir. Danny and Michael Philippou) - Of all the horror movies I saw this year, this was the one that had me stressed the entire time. I love the idea of kids turning possession into a TikTok trend. But beyond that, the brief moments of violence and the anticipation of when it would happen again were enough to have me on the edge of my seat for the whole movie. Check out my review here. (Available to rent or purchase.)

7. Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie (dir. David Guggenheim) - The best documentaries can surprise us with some new information about a person or a situation. Michael J. Fox has been in the spotlight for decades, so it would seem unlikely that we wouldn’t know everything there is to know about him, but this movie puts his career and personal life in the center in beautiful and memorable ways. If you, like me, have been a fan of his work, this is a must-watch. Here’s my full review. (Currently streaming on Apple TV+.)

6. Fingernails (dir. Christos Nikou) - I’m a story-first guy, so this seems like an odd one to make my top ten, given that it doesn’t have much in the way of a story. Still, the themes in this film resonated with me about as strongly as anything I’ve seen this year. Jessie Buckley is a stunning actor, and I love what she brings to this film, but truly, the three characters at the heart of this movie all make it work. It would be easy to cast someone as a villain, but none are, and I love the film for that. I wrote about this for Movies We Texted About, and honestly, it’s also one of my favorite bits of writing this year. (Currently streaming on Apple TV+.)

5. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse (dir. Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson) - Middle movies in trilogies are tough to get right. You have to build on what was done in the first film while also setting up the third. And somehow, try to tell a cohesive story in the midst of all of that. I think Across the Spider-verse does all of that, all while looking stylish as heck. I love Spot's evolution as the villain, and I love the way that Miles grows as a character. I am so excited to see where things go in the third film. Here is my original review. (Currently streaming on Netflix.)

4. Barbie (dir. Greta Gerwig) - This was easily my most anticipated movie of the year. I think Gerwig is making some of the most interesting films, and I could not wait to see her take on Barbie. And I was not disappointed. I do think there are some flaws in this film (truly, all of the Mattel stuff could have been dropped in favor of more character development between Gloria and Sasha), but it exceeded my sky-high expectations in so many other areas that it had to make my top ten. The bench scene alone sealed the deal for me. I wrote about Barbie a couple of times this year. (Currently streaming on Max.)

3. Godzilla Minus One (dir. Takashi Yamazaki) - I would never, ever have pegged this movie to make my top ten, yet here we are. This movie had some of the best effects work I saw all year, with a significantly smaller budget, but it didn’t stop with that. It also gave us a beautiful human story that actually made the action have meaning rather than just serving as eye candy. I went in with no expectations for this movie and found myself glued to the story. I wrote about it here. (Currently playing in theaters.)

2. Killers of the Flower Moon (dir. Martain Scorsese) - Before I went to see this movie, I asked where one could leave for a bathroom break without missing anything. Unfortunately, there really aren’t any good places to leave, but on the positive side, the movie is wholly engrossing, and if you make good fluid intake decisions ahead of time, you won’t find yourself wanting to leave. Lily Gladstone gives the performance of a lifetime, and this could be one of the best things that Robert DeNiro has done in a while. I also think it could be one of the best epilogues ever, both for how it frames the entire story and for simply being a unique way to wrap up the story. This is my full review. (Currently available to rent on Apple TV+.)

1. Past Lives (dir. Celine Song) - My favorite movie of the year is one of the few I never wrote a review for because, honestly, I didn’t feel like I could do it justice. This movie is deeply romantic, not because it shows a perfect relationship but because it shows how fluid romantic feelings can be and how relationships require attention and commitment and courage and joy. It takes intention to build 8000 layers of in-yeon. This movie is sheer poetry and I am so glad that we live in a world where a film like this can be made and recognized for the beauty that it is. (Currently available for purchase wherever you buy movies.)

That’s it for me. What are some of your favorite movies from this year? What are you looking forward to in 2024? Let me know in the comments!