Top 20 Films of 2023

Ken Jones, OnScreen Blog Chief Film Critic

As is customary at the end of year, it’s time to look back at the year that was 2023 in movies a craft a year-end list. I am very stingy when it comes to handing out five-star reviews, and I did not have any this year, so nothing in 2023 rose to the level of Everything, Everywhere, All At Once did for me in 2022. But 2023 has been an enjoyable year of movies for me.

For the second year in a row, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I got to see nearly everything I wanted to see to complete this list. There will often be prestige movies with a limited release in December that do not get a wider release when I can see them until January. But with only a few exceptions (mostly foreign films like Zone of Interest), I feel comfortable with the films I managed to see.

My complete list of movie rankings for the year can be found on Letterboxd.

So without further ado, here are the Top 20 Films of 2023!

20. The Blackening (dir. Tim Story)
Hilarious horror comedy that serves as biting social satire. Quite a bit of meta-humor and willing to make the audience uncomfortable. Bodies Bodies Bodies meets Sorry To Bother You.

19. Sanctuary (dir. Zachary Wigon)
This sexy film continually shifts the balance of power and control between a hotel empire heir and a dominatrix and keeps the viewer guessing right to the end. Confined mostly to a single room, it feels like a play. Margaret Qualley and Christopher Abbott are two quickly rising stars who work well off one another.

18. Infinity Pool (dir. Brandon Cronenberg)
Brandon Cronenberg has officially picked up his father's mantle and is running with it full speed ahead. One of the weirdest films of 2023. Mia Goth transfixes. I was not expecting how weirdly, darkly comedic this was.

17. The Teachers’ Lounge (dir. İlker Çatak)
This film is about a teacher taking matters into her own hands to solve a series of thefts that have been taking place in her school. There is one scene where she loses control of the classroom and another involving a parent-teacher conference that must be pure nightmare fuel for educators who see it.

16. May December (dir. Todd Haynes)
Once you get past the bizarre score that sounds like it belongs in a melodrama, Haynes’ film is knotty, challenging, and uncomfortable. Portman and Moore are the stars, but Melton’s is the best performance in the film, a perfect example of how the physicality of a performance can have a huge impact.

15. The Killer (dir. David Fincher)
David Fincher made a name for himself by making some of the greatest thrillers of the 90s and 00s. Since then, he’s diversified his filmography, so this assassin thriller felt like a genre master returning to his roots. This also reteams with Se7en writer Andrew Kevin Walker. This is also a return to form for Fassbender after a few rough years taking on some questionable roles.

14. The Iron Claw (dir. Sean Durkin)
The wrestling may be a draw for some and a turn-off for others (count me in the former camp), but this is really a family drama about a tragic, real-life story. The Von Erichs are viewed by many as one of the royal families of professional wrestling, but these brothers struggle to live up to their family name and the undue stress placed on them by their domineering father. Perfectly captures the business of professional wrestling. Zach Efron’s best performance to date.

13. Past Lives (dir. Celine Song)
Celine Song’s Past Lives is one of the films of 2023 that might stick with me the longest. An impressive debut film from writer/director Celine Song. It is assured in itself and mature about handling delicate and romantic feelings. It grapples with questions about what could have been, making peace with what is, and making the case that love can change and morph over time without diminishing what was. It is a perspective that everyone could benefit from.

12. When Evil Lurks (dir. Demián Rugna)
This is another film that will stick with you, but not for the same reasons as Past Lives. Unrelenting and unflinching violence that evokes The Evil Dead. It is a horror movie that feels unsafe and is a malevolent entity like the evil that the two brothers in this film are trying to outrun. Not for the faint of heart, but richly rewarding for horror genre fans.

11. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (dir. Christopher McQuarrie)
Still thinking about how this movie and Fast X used the Spanish Steps in Italy and what that says about both franchises in 2023. Cruise and company take on the looming threat of AI in the most ambitious story they have tried to tell in this franchise. They managed to make a movie that is self-contained enough to work on its own and still leave you eager for Part Two.

10. Fallen Leaves (dir. Aki Kaurismäki)
Almost ashamed to say it, but this was my first Kaurismäki. Happy to say that I loved it and want to see more of his work. Holappa and Ansa are two people struggling to make ends meet who keep crossing paths while navigating their lives. The characters are not deeply emotional, but this movie is deeply romantic, even if The Dead Don’t Die is not the best first date movie. Janne Hyytiäinen as Holappa’s best friend Huotari might be my supporting performance this year.

9. Godzilla Minus One (dir. Takashi Yamazaki)
A Godzilla movie that is about more than just destruction and big action set pieces. An actually compelling human story woven into the story of the giant kaiju that threatens post-WWII Japan. I still cannot believe I was choking back tears in the theater while watching a Godzilla movie. That really happened.

8. Killers of the Flower Moon (dir. Martin Scorsese)
It is easy to see why this true crime story appealed to Scorsese, as it fits in comfortably alongside other stories he has told about the criminal predilections throughout American history caused by greed and violence. And like so many of these tales, he refuses to sanitize it for his audience, portraying it unflinching and starkly to confront us with our want to shove the unseemly parts of our history under a rug rather than grapple with it.

7. Anatomy of a Fall (dir. Justine Triet)
Director Justine Triet and her co-writer Arthur Harari have crafted a well-balanced and intricate story that is hyper-focused on the details, as the film title suggests. While it is interested in getting to where the truth lies, it does not tip its hand as to whether the fall was an accident or whether it was a murder. There is compelling evidence in both directions; while it is a mystery, the film is a family and courtroom drama more than a whodunit thriller.

6. The Holdovers (dir. Alexander Payne)
A curmudgeon, a troubled but talented student, and a grieving mother create their own make-shift family unit when stranded together over Christmas vacation at a New England private school in the winter of 1970. They all become better human beings due to their time together and the things they face. Funny, poignant, and uplifting.

5. Barbie (dir. Greta Gerwig)
One half of the blockbuster movie event of the year (and the more profitable half at that), Barbie by the lighter fare of the two, but it was just as stunning a film. It boasts vibrant visuals (more pink than you can possibly imagine), a self-aware and funny script, some social commentary, and a terrific cast. Greta Gerwig, Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, and everyone involved in making this movie have brought Barbie to general audiences in a way that is more than just fan service. Barbie is for everyone.

4. Poor Things (dir. Yorgos Lanthimos)
A personal friend told me that she found the novel this film is adapted from “artistically grotesque, sympathetic, and vile.” In other words, it is the perfect source material for Yorgos Lanthimos. Emma Stone gives the boldest performance of her career, and Mark Ruffalo is a hilarious scoundrel in a supporting role. This film is a fitting addition to the theater of the absurd that is the filmography of Lanthimos. Also, it might make a fascinating double feature with Barbie.

3. John Wick: Chapter 4 (dir. Chad Stahelski)
I did not have more fun in the movie theater than when I saw this movie. The action is completely over the top, the runtime is 169 minutes, and Keanu might have fewer lines of dialogue than any of the previous films in the franchise. Is any of this a demerit for the film? Absolutely not. I cackled to myself repeatedly through this movie because of how absurd and enjoyable it all was. And Donnie Yen was such a great addition to the cast; if this is the last chapter for Mr. Wick, what a way to go out.

2. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (dir. Joaquin Dos Santos, Justin K. Thompson, Kemp Powers)
The best sequels are the ones that build on the previous entry, expand the story, up the ante, bring more of what made the original great, etc. Across the Spider-Verse does all of that. The animation style is still inventive and breathtaking. There is still nothing that any other studio does that looks quite like what Sony Animation is doing here. The story is more profound and resonates in a way that few superhero movies do anymore. It continues to be wildly entertaining and funny, slinging jokes and quips like webs. As someone skeptical of Miles Morales as Spider-Man, I have been completely won over and cannot wait for Beyond the Spider-Verse.

1. Oppenheimer (dir. Christopher Nolan)
To be honest, I went back and forth on the order of the Top 3 but ultimately settled on the other half of Barbenheimer, Nolan’s riveting and grandiose biopic about the father of the atomic bomb and the atomic age. Nolan is one of the best directors in the business at utilizing scale, and this is a towering film. The buildup to the testing of the atomic bomb, the Trinity test, is an incredible spectacle. It’s not just a spectacle film, though, in fact, far from it. It is surprising how much of the film is about small, intimate moments between characters or closeups of their faces, particularly Cillian Murphy’s. Murphy is perfectly cast. In case anyone forgot, Robert Downey Jr. reminds people that he is more than just Iron Man.

Oppenheimer is a film from an expert in his field about an expert in his field, giving context and shape to the life of the man who shaped the post-WWI world, a man who had become death, destroyer of worlds.