Best Movies 2023

After an explosive run  in theaters, including generating over $900 million worldwide and a revitalizing IMAX engagement, Universal’s creative gamble pays off as critics crown director Christopher Nolan and star Cillian Murphy for Oppenheimer.

#1

Oppenheimer (2023)
93%

#1
Adjusted Score: 121053%
Critics Consensus: Oppenheimer marks another engrossing achievement from Christopher Nolan that benefits from Murphy's tour-de-force performance and stunning visuals.
Synopsis: During World War II, Lt. Gen. Leslie Groves Jr. appoints physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer to work on the top-secret Manhattan... [More]
Directed By: Christopher Nolan

#2
Adjusted Score: 119854%
Critics Consensus: With world-threatening stakes and epic set pieces to match that massive title, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One proves this is still a franchise you should choose to accept.
Synopsis: In Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his IMF team embark on their most... [More]
Directed By: Christopher McQuarrie

#3
Adjusted Score: 118752%
Critics Consensus: Enormous in runtime, theme, and achievement, Killers of the Flower Moon is a sobering appraisal of America's relationship with Indigenous peoples and yet another artistic zenith for Martin Scorsese and his collaborators.
Synopsis: Based on David Grann's broadly lauded best-selling book, "Killers of the Flower Moon" is set in 1920s Oklahoma and depicts... [More]
Directed By: Martin Scorsese

#4
Adjusted Score: 116207%
Critics Consensus: Just as visually dazzling and action-packed as its predecessor, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse thrills from start to cliffhanger conclusion.
Synopsis: Miles Morales returns for the next chapter of the Oscar®-winning Spider-Verse saga, an epic adventure that will transport Brooklyn's full-time,... [More]

#5

Barbie (2023)
88%

#5
Adjusted Score: 115593%
Critics Consensus: Barbie is a visually dazzling comedy whose meta humor is smartly complemented by subversive storytelling.
Synopsis: To live in Barbie Land is to be a perfect being in a perfect place. Unless you have a full-on... [More]
Directed By: Greta Gerwig

#6
#6
Adjusted Score: 114517%
Critics Consensus: John Wick: Chapter 4 piles on more of everything -- and suggests that when it comes to a well-dressed Keanu Reeves dispatching his enemies in lethally balletic style, there can never be too much.
Synopsis: John Wick (Keanu Reeves) uncovers a path to defeating The High Table. But before he can earn his freedom, Wick... [More]
Directed By: Chad Stahelski

#7

Air (2023)
93%

#7
Adjusted Score: 111388%
Critics Consensus: A fact-based drama that no one will dunk on, Air aims to dramatize events that changed the sports world forever -- and hits almost nothing but net.
Synopsis: From award-winning director Ben Affleck, AIR reveals the unbelievable game-changing partnership between a then-rookie Michael Jordan and Nike's fledgling basketball... [More]
Directed By: Ben Affleck

#8

Past Lives (2023)
95%

#8
Adjusted Score: 111547%
Critics Consensus: A remarkable debut for writer-director Celine Song, Past Lives uses the bonds between its sensitively sketched central characters to support trenchant observations on the human condition.
Synopsis: Nora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, are wrest apart after Nora's family emigrates from South Korea. Two... [More]
Directed By: Celine Song

#9
Adjusted Score: 111002%
Critics Consensus: Effervescent and refreshingly frank about the travails of puberty, this long-awaited adaptation does full justice to Judy Blume's seminal novel.
Synopsis: For over fifty years, Judy Blume's classic and groundbreaking novel Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. has impacted generations... [More]
Directed By: Kelly Fremon Craig

#10

The Holdovers (2023)
97%

#10
Adjusted Score: 116481%
Critics Consensus: Beautifully bittersweet, The Holdovers marks a satisfying return to form for director Alexander Payne.
Synopsis: From acclaimed director Alexander Payne, THE HOLDOVERS follows a curmudgeonly instructor (Paul Giamatti) at a New England prep school who... [More]
Directed By: Alexander Payne

#11
Adjusted Score: 108440%
Critics Consensus: With its unique visual style and a story that captures the essence of the franchise's appeal, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is an animated treat for the whole family.
Synopsis: After years of being sheltered from the human world, the Turtle brothers set out to win the hearts of New... [More]
Directed By: Jeff Rowe

#12

M3GAN (2022)
93%

#12
Adjusted Score: 110088%
Critics Consensus: Unapologetically silly and all the more entertaining for it, M3GAN is the rare horror-comedy that delivers chuckles as effortlessly as chills.
Synopsis: M3GAN is a marvel of artificial intelligence, a life-like doll programmed to be a child's greatest companion and a parent's... [More]
Directed By: Gerard Johnstone

#13

BlackBerry (2023)
98%

#13
Adjusted Score: 108967%
Critics Consensus: With intelligence as sharp as its humor, BlackBerry takes a terrifically entertaining look at the rise and fall of a generation-defining gadget.
Synopsis: 'BlackBerry' tells the story of Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, the two men that charted the course of the spectacular... [More]
Directed By: Matt Johnson

#14
Adjusted Score: 108007%
Critics Consensus: An infectiously good-spirited comedy with a solid emotional core, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves offers fun fantasy and adventure even if you don't know your HP from your OP.
Synopsis: A charming thief and a band of unlikely adventurers undertake an epic heist to retrieve a lost relic, but things... [More]

#15

Talk to Me (2023)
95%

#15
Adjusted Score: 110837%
Critics Consensus: With a gripping story and impressive practical effects, Talk to Me spins a terrifically creepy 21st-century horror yarn built on classic foundations.
Synopsis: When a group of friends discover how to conjure spirits using an embalmed hand, they become hooked on the new... [More]

#16
#16
Adjusted Score: 110686%
Critics Consensus: Soulfully exploring thought-provoking themes through a beautifully animated lens, The Boy and the Heron is another Miyazaki masterpiece.
Synopsis: From the legendary Studio Ghibli and Academy Award®-winning director Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away) comes a new critically-acclaimed fantasy adventure. After... [More]
Directed By: Hayao Miyazaki

#17

Poor Things (2023)
92%

#17
Adjusted Score: 112344%
Critics Consensus: Wildly imaginative and exhilaratingly over the top, Poor Things is a bizarre, brilliant tour de force for director Yorgos Lanthimos and star Emma Stone.
Synopsis: From filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos and producer Emma Stone comes the incredible tale and fantastical evolution of Bella Baxter (Stone), a... [More]
Directed By: Yorgos Lanthimos

#18
#18
Adjusted Score: 110994%
Critics Consensus: A smart, solidly crafted procedural that's anchored in family drama, Anatomy of a Fall finds star Sandra Hüller and director/co-writer Justine Triet operating at peak power.
Synopsis: For the past year, Sandra, her husband Samuel, and their eleven-year-old son Daniel have lived a secluded life in a... [More]
Directed By: Justine Triet

#19

Creed III (2023)
88%

#19
Adjusted Score: 106503%
Critics Consensus: Stepping out from Rocky Balboa's iconic shadow at last, the Creed franchise reasserts its champion status thanks to star Michael B. Jordan's punchy direction and a nuanced heel turn by Jonathan Majors.
Synopsis: After dominating the boxing world, Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) has been thriving in both his career and family life.... [More]
Directed By: Michael B. Jordan

#20
Adjusted Score: 106802%
Critics Consensus: Poignant and profound, Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie offers a captivating inside look at the life and career of a beloved entertainer.
Synopsis: The film, which will incorporate documentary, archival and scripted elements, will recount Fox's extraordinary story in his own words --... [More]
Directed By: Davis Guggenheim

#21
#21
Adjusted Score: 107356%
Critics Consensus: With engaging human stories anchoring the action, Godzilla Minus One is one kaiju movie that remains truly compelling between the scenes of mass destruction.
Synopsis: Japan is already devastated by the war when a new crisis emerges in the form of a giant monster.... [More]
Directed By: Takashi Yamazaki

#22

May December (2023)
91%

#22
Adjusted Score: 108237%
Critics Consensus: Swaddling its difficult fact-based story in a blanket of campy humor, May December is a seductively discomfiting watch.
Synopsis: Twenty years after their notorious tabloid romance gripped the nation, Gracie Atherton-Yu and her husband Joe (twenty-three years her junior)... [More]
Directed By: Todd Haynes

#23
#23
Adjusted Score: 105542%
Critics Consensus: Smart, funny, and above all entertaining, You Hurt My Feelings finds writer-director Nicole Holofcener as sharply perceptive as ever.
Synopsis: From acclaimed filmmaker Nicole Holofcener comes a sharply observed comedy about a novelist whose long standing marriage is suddenly upended... [More]
Directed By: Nicole Holofcener

#24
Adjusted Score: 104185%
Critics Consensus: A galactic group hug that might squeeze a little too tight on the heartstrings, the final Guardians of the Galaxy is a loving last hurrah for the MCU's most ragtag family.
Synopsis: In Marvel Studios "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" our beloved band of misfits are looking a bit different these... [More]
Directed By: James Gunn

#25

Fallen Leaves (2023)
98%

#25
Adjusted Score: 106320%
Critics Consensus: A quirky tale of star-crossed lovers, Fallen Leaves is a life-affirming gem from Finnish filmmaker Kaurismäki.
Synopsis: In modern-day Helsinki, two lonely souls in search of love meet by chance in a local karaoke bar. However, the... [More]
Directed By: Aki Kaurismäki

#26
#26
Adjusted Score: 110843%
Critics Consensus: All of Us Strangers examines profound grief and love through a fantastical lens that is always grounded on human emotion.
Synopsis: One night in his near-empty tower block in contemporary London, Adam (Andrew Scott) has a chance encounter with a mysterious... [More]
Directed By: Andrew Haigh

#27

When Evil Lurks (2023)
97%

#27
Adjusted Score: 102789%
Critics Consensus: A hard-hitting horror film whose surface-level frights are just as engaging as its thematic concerns, When Evil Lurks marks a viscerally unsettling addition to the possession horror canon.
Synopsis: When brothers Pedro (Ezequiel Rodríguez) and Jimmy (Demián Salomón) discover that a demonic infection has been festering in a nearby... [More]
Directed By: Demián Rugna

#28

Passages (2023)
95%

#28
Adjusted Score: 104471%
Critics Consensus: Elevated by a remarkable Franz Rogowski performance, Passages adds another smart, deeply humanistic film to director/co-writer Ira Sachs' estimable filmography.
Synopsis: Celebrated filmmaker Ira Sachs (Love is Strange) makes a breathtaking return with PASSAGES, a fresh, honest and brutally funny take... [More]
Directed By: Ira Sachs

#29
Adjusted Score: 103293%
Critics Consensus: TAYLOR SWIFT: THE ERAS TOUR delivers exactly what it promises: A smoothly directed, impeccably performed documentary capturing the concert event of the year.
Synopsis: The cultural phenomenon continues on the big screen! Immerse yourself in this once-in-a-lifetime concert film experience with a breathtaking, cinematic... [More]
Starring: Taylor Swift
Directed By: Sam Wrench

#30
#30
Adjusted Score: 103191%
Critics Consensus: A tribute to parental devotion and a testament to Teyana Taylor's talent, A Thousand and One presents a heart-wrenching portrait of perseverance in the face of systemic inequity.
Synopsis: A THOUSAND AND ONE follows unapologetic and free-spirited Inez (Teyana Taylor), who kidnaps six-year-old Terry from the foster care system.... [More]
Directed By: A.V. Rockwell