It was a race to the finish line to get my top ten films of 2023 done, a mere two weeks after the year ended. It was, on balance, a great year for movies, with the Barbenheimer phenomenon last summer driving people back to theaters, and audiences finally making the tough but necessary decision to stop seeing every single comic book movie, no matter how mediocre.

There were also some absolutely incredible performances this year, many of which I’ll be talking about in my capsule reviews. My favorite performances of the year in films that didn’t make my list include Rosamund Pike in Saltburn, Lily Gladstone in Killers of the Flower Moon, Carey Mulligan in Maestro, Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling in Barbie, Sandra Hüller and her young co-star Milo Machado Graner in Anatomy of a Fall, and Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, and especially Mark Ruffalo in Poor Things.

Films that just missed the cut or got bumped off my list as I saw films I thought were better include the aforementioned Barbie, Poor Things, and Anatomy of a Fall, along with David Fincher’s The Killer, Ari Aster’s Beau is Afraid, and the uproariously funny comedies Joy Ride and Dicks: The Musical.

I no longer do a worst movies of the year list as I just outright avoid movies I know I’m going to dislike, but some movies I really didn’t like this year included Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Skinamarink, and Hypnotic.

Without further ado, here are my 10 Best Films of 2023. I hope to do full reviews of the ones I have not yet done full reviews of, so stay tuned. And if you have any comments, please drop them in down below…

10. Ferrari

As someone with a deep abiding love for film, it’s been kind of a bummer these last eight years living in a world where Michael Mann no longer directed films. Thankfully he hasn’t missed a beat in that near-decade long hiatus and his latest film Ferrari finds him in top form. While the film is anchored by a terrific performance from Adam Driver in the title role, it’s Penélope Cruz who gives the film its beating heart with what is inarguably the best female character in any Mann film. The film’s thrilling third act race, the now defunct Mille Miglia across Italy, finds Mann doing what he does best, bringing all of the film’s themes and conflicts together in breathtaking fashion. Much like the cars the film shares a name with, Ferrari is a sleek, gorgeous, impeccably designed machine.

9. Priscilla

After last year brought us Baz Luhrmann’s frantic and showy Elvis, Sofia Coppola gives us the polar opposite film about his wife with Priscilla. Coppola’s film counters the excess of last year’s biopic with a stately and staid film that brings a legend back down to earth by reminding us that he was human. More than that, however, this film gives its title character—played beautifully by Cailee Spaeny—a grace, dignity, and quiet power that is absent in every other telling of Elvis’ story. Jacob Elordi’s Elvis is substantially more complex and human than most portrayals of the king of rock and roll, exhibiting equal parts charm, menace, and naiveté. Not having access to Elvis’ music also allows Coppola to flex her soundtrack muscles, giving us everything from The Ramones’ cover of “Baby, I Love You” to Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You,” with the latter being a sly dig at the king himself (look it up if you don’t know). Elvis devotees are sure to pick their nits with this film, but it isn’t reckless with Elvis’ legacy, it’s just unafraid to push him to the periphery to shine a spotlight on the most important woman in his life.

8. Lynch/Oz

If you were to construct a Venn diagram with the red circle being The Wizard of Oz and the blue circle being David Lynch films, you would find me in that perfect purple area. A film discussing one of my favorite filmmakers in relation to my all-time favorite film is basically daring me not to enjoy it, but the video essay cum documentary Lynch/Oz likely has something for anyone outside that aforementioned Venn diagram. Since Lynch is a filmmaker who avoids ascribing his thoughts or intentions to anything in any of his films, it leaves his work open to all manner of wild interpretation. What Swiss filmmaker Alexandre O. Philippe‘s Lynch/Oz brilliantly does is break the film into six segments and invites filmmakers John Waters, Rodney Ascher, Karyn Kusama, David Lowery, and Justin Benson & Aaron Moorehead, as well as film critic Amy Nicholson, to interpolate the influence of 1939’s The Wizard of Oz on Lynch and how imagery, names, and themes from that film recur throughout his filmography. In the age of the YouTube video essay, this is masterfully done and can certainly help fans and non-fans alike to cling to new lifelines within the work of a master filmmaker.

7. May December

No film in 2023 had more control over its tone than Todd Haynes’ May December. For a subject with no inherent comedic value—it loosely cribs from the infamous Mary Kay Letourneau case—Haynes manages to bring an almost absurdist lens to the proceedings. Natalie Portman is outstanding as an actress cast to play Julianne Moore’s Gracie in a film about her seduction of and ultimate marriage to a teenage boy, played as an adult by a surprisingly excellent Charles Melton. Attacking this salacious material with the gusto of a ripped from the tabloids basic cable film while also giving it the unmistakable prestige of casting two of our finest female actors is a task Haynes seems almost insane to attempt. However, thanks to three great performances—with Moore turning in one of her best performances ever—and a sharp-witted script from first time screenwriter Samy Burch, the film never upsets its perfectly tuned ecology. May December is an acute reminder that not all serious stories need to take themselves quite so seriously.

6. Dream Scenario

Now well into his fifth decade as a leading man, Nicolas Cage seems to have wrested himself from the shackles of self parody and embarked on a five year run of expertly subverting his image with films like Mandy, Color Out of Space, and especially Pig. However, his turn as hapless goofy professor Paul Matthews in writer/director Kristoffer Borgli’s film Dream Scenario might just be the best example of what Cage is so gifted at doing as an actor. As an ordinary man thrust into extraordinary circumstances—he begins appearing in the dreams of dozens of people, many of whom he doesn’t even know—Cage effortlessly plays an average doofus despite being one of the most famous actors alive. The supporting cast is equally game, with Julianne Nicholson, Dylan Baker, and Michael Cera all dropping by to lend expert support. Borgli, meanwhile, has a grand old time deliriously painting himself into a narrative corner from which there is seemingly no escape. As a commentary on the whole notion of cancel culture, Dream Scenario takes a pretty interesting stance and one worth exploring, even if you can’t bring yourself to agree with it.

5. The Zone of Interest

British director Jonathan Glazer has only directed four films in 23 years—Sexy Beast, Birth, and Under the Skin—but each one of them was worth the wait, including and especially his fourth film, The Zone of Interest. Set during the waning years of WWII, the film follows the family of Rudolf Höss (Christian Fredel) living in a lavish countryside estate that happens to be literal feet from the Auschwitz Concentration Camp, over which Höss presides. Much like the characters in the film, the horrors of the Holocaust remain out of sight for the viewer, but the film’s immaculate sound design reminds us that these characters are living in willful ignorance of what is happening mere feet from their idyllic lives. No film in the eighty years since these atrocities occurred has managed to so eloquently and chillingly portray British historian Ian Kershaw’s infamous quote that "the road to Auschwitz was built by hate, but paved with indifference." The Zone of Interest is an astonishing and devastating film that, for my money, secures Glazer’s place in film history as the heir apparent to Stanley Kubrick.

4. American Fiction

The ultimate irony of any white male film critic naming American Fiction one of the best films of 2023 isn’t lost on me, but it is impossible to discount a film that manages to cut so deeply while never losing sight of the fact that it’s a satire, first and foremost. Jeffrey Wright is in top form here, portraying bottled rage in a way few other actors could do so effortlessly as Monk, a professor and novelist at a personal and professional crossroads. While setting out to mock the white liberal establishment with a book designed to offend, he ends up becoming an overnight sensation when the irony is lost on them, thus beginning a delicate balancing act where Monk must continue the ruse if he’s going to reap the financial rewards. Featuring my absolute favorite performance of the year from Sterling K. Brown as Monk’s ne’er-do-well brother, American Fiction is both hilarious and poignant without ever forcing either of those things. First time feature film screenwriter and director Cord Jefferson walks a tightrope with this film, and while the ending won’t land with some audience members, I thought it was as expertly executed as the rest of the film.

3. The Holdovers

Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers is the new gold standard for filmmakers seeking to create what I can only describe as a time capsule film, one designed to look like a film made in the bygone era in which it’s set. Homage is one thing, but this film feels unmistakably like it could’ve been made by Hal Ashby in 1972 and tucked away for people to discover in fifty years. Paul Giamatti stars as Paul Hunnam, an irascible and unlikable Ancient Civilizations teacher at the fictional Barton Academy, who is tasked with watching over the students who aren’t leaving campus for the holiday break, including a troubled student named Angus (brilliant newcomer Dominic Sessa). Together with the school’s head cook Mary (the immaculate Da’Vine Joy Randolph), they’ll form an unlikely bond that’s more prickly than the standard for this sort of film, but also substantially more rewarding thanks to a terrific script from writer David Hemingson. The three lead performances in the film are spectacular, with Giamatti and Randolph turning in career best work, and Sessa proving himself a young actor to watch. The Holdovers is the kind of film that creeps up on you in the best way possible, showing more depth, heart, and humor than a dozen other films combined could manage.

2. Past Lives

Much like another A24 film from last year, the beautifully melancholy Aftersun, Past Lives is a deeply personal film for its writer/director Celine Song that also manages to get to universal truths about our shared experiences as human beings. There is nothing to connect me personally to the plight of the three main characters in this film, but a great storyteller can forge those connections in unexpected ways, and that’s exactly what Song does here. Nora (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo) grew up together as best friends and childhood sweethearts in Korea before Nora left with her family as a pre-teen to live in North Amercia. When Hae Sung finally comes to America to see Nora some twenty five years later, she is happily married to an author (John Magaro), and the unrequited childhood love hangs over every moment these two old friends spend together. While so much of the film’s power is what isn’t spoken between them over the course of their day together, Song’s spare dialogue is beautifully observed and every last word seems to pack a punch. From Great Expectations to The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, unrequited love has been a powerful storytelling device for centuries, but never has it felt more immediate and personal than it does in Past Lives.

1 Oppenheimer

As someone who likes most, but definitely not all of Christopher Nolan’s films, I approach every new film of his with equal parts anticipation and trepidation. The fact that I didn't get to experience his latest film Oppenheimer until weeks after its release meant that I weathered to storm of hype, backlash, and backlash to the backlash before ever laying eyes on it myself. However, nothing could have prepared me for the utter masterpiece that unfolded over three of the fastest hours I’ve ever spent in a cinema. In many ways, Oppenheimer feels like the film Nolan’s entire career has been moving toward, the ultimate tale of an obsessive man who is, at his core, a decent person thrust into indecent circumstances. As masterfully played by a never better Cillian Murphy, J. Robert Oppenheimer is a man haunted—in a Scrooge-esque manner—by ghosts of his past, present, and future, frozen in time by every decision he’s ever made, all of which are being weaponized against him. Nolan’s film moves with alacrity through five decades of American history with an incredible supporting cast filled with ringer after ringer—notable standouts include Emily Blunt as his wife Kitty, Florence Pugh as his mistress Jean, and Robert Downey, Jr. as the villainous Senator Lewis Strauss. It is as close to a thesis statement on his own belief system as a filmmaker as Nolan has ever gotten and it is a towering achievement in every sense, not just great entertainment, but also a brutal reminder that humanity is doomed to repeat its mistakes ad nauseam because it refuses to learn anything from them. Chilling, exhilarating, and masterfully crafted, Oppenheimer is nothing short of the best film of 2023.

All images via IMDb