The Best Movies of 2023

It’s official.  I’m actually releasing my top ten list in the same calendar year. I have finally broken the mental strife associated with the Academy Award schedule.  No longer will I bend to the standards of millionaire maniacs who release award films in the final days of the year.  Guess what - you will not see All of Us Strangers, American Fiction, The Taste of Things, & The Zone of Interest on this list.  Why?  They haven’t come to Iowa yet, therefore they are 2024 movies in my book.  It feels good to write that.  My OCD brain is finally at peace…for now.  

Hyperbole is the catch of the day for a reviewer.  We are prone to grandiose statements, over-the-top pronouncements that looking back a year later, we regret.  With that in mind, this was my favorite year in film.  Of the fifty-five releases I watched, only seven fell into the waste bin of regretful decisions.  I have a list of twenty-five movies that competed for the top ten spots.  That’s never happened before. If we look back at the last four years, there were never more than twelve films a year in competition for the coveted final ten.  What sets this year apart?  It was the inventiveness, the ingenuity, and the depth of work from all aspects of the industry.  Some of the best acting, directing, and writing was on display.  It was a year cemented in beauty.  From the production designs of Barbie, Poor Things, and Oppenheimer to the makeup and costumes of Maestro, Priscilla, and Ferrari.  This year had everything: the laughter of Barbie & Theatre Camp, the tears of Killers of the Flower Moon & Past Lives, and the warmth of Are You There God?  It’s me, Margaret.  In a year defined by the writer and actor’s strikes, audiences had the chance to see the majesties of their art. As for me, when I needed the comforts of the theater, the artistic landscape accepted my pleas.  Movies are back! 

Shoutout of the Year 

While it didn’t reach my top ten, I want to shout out Holding Back the Tide.  I have a biased connection to this film.  Trey Tetreault, a friend and husband to one of my close friends, Denver Crawford, is a producer on this film.  That being said, I found the film absolutely mesmerizing.  It’s much more than a film about oysters and NYC.  It’s about creation, artistic and ethereal.  If you’re interested, this article does a far better job describing the film:  Film Review 
Congratulations to the entire team behind an extraordinary piece of living art.  

Honorable Mentions:  Holding Back the Tide, The Holdovers, David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived, Theatre Camp, Anatomy of a Fall, & Nimona 

Honorable Mention

11.  Are You There God?  It’s Me, Margaret.  

I never read Judy Blume as a kid, but I’m glad it found its way into my heart as an adult.  One of the most heartwarming films of the past five years.  Impeccably well-acted from the always wonderful Kathy Bates, to Rachel McAdams giving an Oscar-worthy turn, to Margaret herself, Abby Ryder Fortson.  A truthful adaptation of the original text; this is a must-see for the whole family.  

The Top Ten Movies of 2023 

10.  Barbie 

An imperfect movie that suffers under the yoke of being the best it can be under the circumstances.  Will Ferrell’s Mattel role is incredibly flimsy and poorly-written, the ghost of Ruth Handler doesn’t fit, and the now famous monologue, while wonderful and necessary, sticks out like a sore thumb from the rest of the film.  That being said Greta Gerwig is a perfect three for three as a director and under the pressure and constraints of the industry, she pulled off nothing short of a miracle.  Ryan Gosling is hilarious as Ken, but the true star of the film is Margot Robbie.  Robbie as Barbie is required to be funny, genuine, and distraught.  She accomplishes all of it while keeping her classy Barbie charm.  We laugh with Ken, but the movie succeeds on the strength of Barbie.  

9.  Talk to Me 

I believe this is only the third horror movie to ever make my top ten list (Get Out, Cabin in the Woods).  I’m so glad I braved my indifference toward the Horror genre and saw this in theaters.  What starts as a series of classic horror tropes quickly becomes a conversation on grief and addiction.  Despite the contemplative nature which deals with connection and truth, the movie sings when it dives deep into the horror.  Sophie Wilde is mesmerizing in the lead performance.  

8. Spiderman Across the Spiderverse 

Another genre I struggle with is animation, but this year both Nimona and Spiderverse made my top fifteen. In an animated lens, we talk about the opening of Up, but give me the opening of Spiderverse any day.  Gwen’s story is powerful and poignant.  The screen lights up like the inverse of a Rothko painting.  What transpires after is a film as much about Spiderman as it's about loss.  The two are intrinsically matched.  I laughed and I cried, but while there’s plenty of great action set pieces, the scene between Miles and his parents is why this series is one hundred times better than anything else Marvel has to offer.  

7.  Godzilla Minus One 

Uh, no notes? A monster movie masterpiece.  Made for a budget of under $15 million, Godzilla Minus One proves that all dumb American blockbusters really need to employ better writers.  Amazing storytelling that is equal parts uplifting and sorrowful.  The influences of Jaws and Miyazaki films are apparent without detracting.  If you stayed away because you don’t like monster movies, this isn’t that “type” of film.  

The Top Six 

*Writer’s Note:  I spent two days thinking about the rankings of these six films, in the end, this ranking is a momentary decision.  These six films are all stone-cold masterpieces and all six should be considered in a tie for the number one position.  

6.  Oppenheimer 

Getting to see Barbenheimer for my birthday is a memory I will cherish for the rest of my life.  Subsequently, I sought out and watched Oppenheimer solo in IMAX.  Nolan sees the entire screen and creates the impossible in every frame.  The first two hours are dazzling, but the third hour makes this Shakespearean.  We see the idea, we see the creation, and then we watch the fallout, but rather than show the fallout of the bomb, we have to watch the fallout of the idea.  How government bureaucracies destroy the world (as we are watching today).  Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr. give the best male acting performances of the year.  The fifteen minutes leading up to the Trinity test is one of the best cinematic scenes ever caught on film.  The only thing that brings this film down from perfection is Nolan’s inability to write female characters.  I hope he finally gets caught up in the fallout of those criticisms and hires a female writer's room to help with future projects.  

5.  The Wonderful Life of Henry Sugar, The Swan, Poison, and The Ratcatcher 

In a world where Wes Anderson makes Asteroid City that should be enough, but of course, he one-ups himself by creating four direct-to-Netflix Roald Dahl shorts. I believe as a collection, these shorts are his best work since The Royal Tenenbaums.  These films interweave elements of theatre, animation, stage design, and physical art that have never been seen together on camera.  Henry Sugar was my favorite, but what happens in The Ratcatcher is my favorite moment of artistic expression in 2023.  In a five-minute stretch, he switches from animation to mime to pantomime to acting classroom to mime (again) to standup routine and film; an utterly astounding creation.  On top of that, his troupe of actors for these films are some of the best casted Anderson actors: Ralph Fiennes, Rupert Friend, Ben Kingsley, Benedict Cumberbatch, and my favorite reliable actor, Dev Patel.  

4.  Poor Things 

Yorgos Lanthimos is my favorite working director, in Poor Things, he matches willing actors with an outlandish Frankenstein rebirth fable (which tells the story of the original as much as the true story of Mary Shelley).  Mark Ruffalo is off-his-rocker funny and Emma Stone has catapulted herself into the stratosphere.  She shows no fear, no inhibition in connecting an impossible character to reality.  The production design looks like a cross between a fresco painting and a Tim Burton apocalypse.  Some may be turned off by the rampant sex in the film, but I see this as a story of rebirth and ownership.  As Bella goes through her new stages of development, she learns of self-control, self-satisfaction, and ultimately self-ownership without the chauvinistic opinions of men.  

3.  Killers of the Flower Moon 

Martin Scorsese is the GOAT.  At 81 years-old, he delivers one of the best films of his career.  A cinematic and storytelling masterpiece, that even Scorsese admits inside the film, isn’t his story to tell.  A masterwork in the how to create a full picture both on screen & on the page.  Heartbreaking and engaging, a captivating three and a half hours.  Brilliant casting work with De Niro giving his best performance in two decades, Leo completely in the bag, and Lily Gladstone taking the whole movie by storm.  Hands down the performance of the year.  She holds the audience’s grip in her eyes filled with weight, anger, and despair.  This is a movie that will be taught long after Scorsese has left this earth.  A genuine miracle.  

2. How to Blow Up a Pipeline 

The depressing Ocean’s Eleven for our generation.  One of the most political films to ever reach theaters, this movie doesn’t mince words and it’s entirely about the title.  A fascinating piece of writing about what we have done to our Earth and the lengths people are willing to go to do something about it.  Forrest Goodluck gives the breakout performance of the 2023, but the true star of the film is composer Gavin Brivik.  My favorite film score of the year; when you’re listening you’re shocked this isn’t Ludwig Göransson or Hans Zimmer.  It brings accusation to the characters and weight to a devilishly difficult film.  

1. Past Lives  

A movie about the transference of love and how characters hearts can speak two different languages, while simultaneously understanding a third entirely known only to themselves. Even in a year with The Trinity test, the final six minutes of the film is the scene of the year.  So much tension and desire packed into a sidewalk.  Greta Lee, Teo You, and John Magaro are magnificent and Celine Song is the best new director since Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird).  Past Lives holds the emotional heartstrings of the year and uses those strings to play music that is necessary without being overly-dramatic or superfluous.  Nostalgia is equally a weaponized emotion and a yearning love - Past Lives uses it pointedly and hits home the message square in the heart.  This film aches to be viewed.