The 30 Best Movies of 2023

Past Lives

Writer-director Celine Song’s Past Lives opened to much acclaim (and more than a few tears) at this year’s Sundance festival, and has had audiences and critics talking ever since. (It opened in theaters across the country in June and is now available via video on demand.) You can chalk up its enduring appeal to Song’s ability to tap into a universal experience of love, longing, and wondering what could have been—all nestled in an intimate story about a Korean-American woman (Greta Lee) who rekindles a connection with her childhood crush (Teo Yoo) back in Korea.

Barbie

C’mon, Barbie, let’s go party—but Greta Gerwig style. With Gerwig behind the lens and a cast consisting of Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and Ken, alongside Will Ferrell, Emma Mackey, Hari Nef, Issa Rae, and America Ferrera, among many others, Barbie turned out to be the defining film of 2023. It’s a feminist take on girlhood, dreams, and gender roles that will surely be a sleepover classic for years to come.

Maestro

This Leonard Bernstein biopic has been a long time in the making, with Bradley Cooper attached as early as 2018, when Martin Scorsese was still set to direct. Instead, Cooper took the directorial reins, as well as the starring role as Bernstein. It will focus almost exclusively on the legendary composer’s relationship with wife, Felicia Montealegre, played by Carey Mulligan.

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May December

Todd Haynes’s latest flick will surely cause quite the splash when it lands on Netflix on December 1, after a limited theatrical run at the end of November. Natalie Portman stars opposite Julianne Moore, whose character is based on Mary Kay Letourneau, the high school teacher who caused a nationwide scandal for her exploitative sexual relationship with a sixth-grade student in the ’90s. The film is 20 years later, when the loosely inspired couple find themselves at odds over Portman’s character, an actor set to play the former teacher in an upcoming biopic about their lives.

Renaissance: A Film by Beyonce

The Renaissance World Tour changed my life—and about a million other lives—this year. As Taylor Swift’s own concert documentary did in October, Renaissance will land in theaters for a limited run this December. Featuring footage of the history-making world tour, and behind-the-scenes footage, this is the certifiable can’t-miss movie event of the year.

Ferrari

Just a few years after the Academy Award–nominated Ford v Ferrari comes Ferrari, based on the 1991 biography of car titan Enzo Ferrari and the story of a fateful race along Italy’s Mille Miglia. Beyond the incredibly cool cars, though, is an equally cool cast including Adam Driver, Patrick Dempsey, Penélope Cruz, and Shailene Woodley.

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Anyone But You

Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell made headlines earlier this year for reasons separate from their new rom-com, Anyone but You. Still, the tabloid firestorm worked as legitimate marketing for the film, which tells the story of a failed first date and an unexpected reunion at a destination wedding in … Australia?

Foe

We’ll do just about anything to see both Paul Mescal and Saoirse Ronan onscreen together, and Foe is no exception. This haunting sci-fi drama sees a young couple in an alternate America torn apart when they meet a stranger who offers them a life-changing opportunity, which calls into question the very nature of humanity itself.

Priscilla

Sofia Coppola’s autobiographical film based on Priscilla Presley’s 1985 memoir Elvis and Me is an interesting foil to Baz Lurhmann’s own 2022 biopic Elvis, which famously featured that Austin Butler accent. Whereas Elvis was an almost mythological retelling of the King of Rock and Roll’s life story, Priscilla sticks much closer to the actual source material, and is sure to leave viewers questioning everything they knew about one of America’s most divisive rock stars.

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Wonka

Timothée Chalameet as a young Willy Wonka? Sign me up. The film chronicles how Wonka met the Oompa-Loompas ahead of his time at the chocolate factory and should be quite the nostalgic ride when it’s officially released on December 15.

Dicks: The Musical

Did you know Megan Thee Stallion was in a musical movie this year? A24’s first movie musical, Dicks, is a bizarre take on the classic Parent Trap story, in which two businessmen discover they’re long-lost twins and set out to reunite their parents. Megan Mullally, Nathan Lane, Bowen Yang, Nick Offerman, D’Arcy Carden—Dicks stars everyone!

Passages

Passages has lingered with me since I saw it. A startling work by director Ira Sachs, it is an odd tale of a gay couple whose marriage is torn apart by an affair with a woman. Adèle Exarchopoulos shines as Agathe, whose onscreen chemistry with Ben Whishaw and Franz Rogowski is the stuff of legend.

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Saltburn

Saltburn is Jacob Elordi’s second appearance on this list, and for good reason. Critics have already issued rave reviews about this Alice in Wonderland–style romp through the world of a secretive, mysterious English family, which also stars Rosamund Pike, Carey Mulligan, and Barry Keoghan.

You Hurt My Feelings

Nicole Holofcener made one of my favorite rom-coms of the last 10 years, Enough Said, so it’s no surprise she and muse Julia Louis-Dreyfus hit it out of the park again with You Hurt My Feelings. When Louis-Dreyfus’s Beth, a novelist, overhears her husband’s critical opinion of her latest book by accident, the two begin to question all the little lies couples tell themselves, and others.

Close

The French coming-of-age film that follows two 13-year-old best friends has been described as heartbreaking and tremendous. Its intimate portrayal of young male friendship is simply moving to witness.

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Knock at the Cabin

M. Night Shyamalan, the filmmaker known for his twist endings, is back with a thriller about an existential threat that falls on a happy family of three when four strangers appear at their remote cabin. Based on author Paul Tremblay’s 2018 novel The Cabin at the End of the World, the nature of the threat and the decision the family—Jonathan Groff, Ben Aldridge, and Kristen Cui—have to make remains a mystery as the strangers, played by Dave Bautista, Rupert Grint, Nikki Amuka-Bird, and Abby Quinn, upheave their vacation.

Killers of the Flower Moon

Based on the best-selling nonfiction book of the same name, this American western crime drama is directed by Martin Scorsese and stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Jesse Plemons, and Brendan Fraser. The plot revolves around a series of murders that took place in 1920s Oklahoma after oil was discovered on Indian land.

Oppenheimer

Christopher Nolan’s first biopic is based on the life of the father of the atomic bomb, physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy). Even if you know very little about the history of nuclear science, the cast is enough to want to tune in, with Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon, Rami Malek, Josh Peck, and Alex Wolff.

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Cat Person

Based on the viral New Yorker short story by Kristen Roupenian, Cat Person premiered at Sundance ahead of its wide release in October. Starring Emilia Jones from CODA as Margot, the young college student who embarks on a relationship with Robert (Nicholas Braun), a 34-year-old who frequents the movie theater she works at, the story caused such a response based on its subtle accounting of power imbalances in relationships ahead of #MeToo.

Magic Mike’s Last Dance

The third and final Channing Tatum stripper movie arrived just in time for Valentine’s Day. Grab your people and watch the self-proclaimed “Super Bowl of Stripping” unfold.

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