The 15 Best Movies Of 2023 Ranked

Don't let anyone tell you differently: 2023 was one helluva year for the movies. 

Even as the industry struggles to recover in the wake of pandemic that nearly torpedoed everything, and even as reliable franchises started to sputter a bit, the past 12 months proved that movies have, if you'll allow us to break out the old cliche, never been better. Two of the biggest studio releases of the year were as thrilling as anything we've ever seen in a multiplex. More than a few animated movies pushed their mediums forward in dramatic ways. Comedies got weirder and more personal. Horror got more raw and experimental. And some of the most reliable names in Hollywood history once again produced masterpieces. 

The /Film team gathered together to pick the 15 best movies of 2023 and the results showcase what an incredible year this truly was for anyone who cares about film. The diversity of genre, tone, and scale on this list speaks to that. Here are our 15 best movies of 2023, as selected by this website's writers and editorial team. 

When "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" arrived to widespread acclaim and financial success in 2018, it felt like a new era of animated theatrical superhero films could be on the horizon. But a nagging question lingered: Would the next wave be similarly inventive? Or would they feel like cheap imitators trying to get while the gettin' is good? While some cheap imitators may yet emerge, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem" proved that this new wave of animated superhero films can be just what the doctor ordered. Bold though it may be to say, we're probably looking at the single best feature-length adaptation of Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird's beloved characters ever made – all due respect to the 1990 live-action film.

Directors Jeff Rowe and Kyler Spears bring a refreshing sense of fun to the Turtles that was largely absent from the more recent Michael Bay-produced films. Even when the movie is at its most serious, there is a fun-loving quality to it all, exemplified best by the "No Diggity" fight montage, which ranks as one of the most smile-worthy moments of 2023. This is to say nothing of the animation work, which is truly something. Animation suits the heroes in a half-shell, and man does the animation look stellar. It's a top-to-bottom inventive visual treat.

From casting, character development, visual style, soundtrack, and everything in between, the filmmakers hit this one out of the park. Most important of all, we're talking about a "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" movie that actually allows Donnie, Mikey, Raph, and Leo to be teenagers. What a concept! It may be tough to argue that this is the overall greatest movie of 2023, but if any movie provided a more fun theatrical experience this year, I'd be surprised. (Ryan Scott)

There are many competing theories as to what cinema is "for": should the medium be exclusively for entertainment? Should it always speak to the human condition? Is there room for auteurist filmmakers to indulge themselves, to work out their disparate neuroses, kinks, anxieties and emotions on cinema's wide-reaching canvas?

My personal answer is "all of the above and more," and based on "Beau is Afraid," I'd be willing to guess that writer/director Ari Aster would agree with me. "Beau" is a movie for both everyone and no one, a 179-minute-long dive into the troubled mind of Beau Wassermann (Joaquin Phoenix, in a blissfully brave performance) that is horrific one minute, hilarious the next, introspective for a stretch and then, ultimately, bitterly apocalyptic. It's a lot of movie, one in which the lines between the objective and subjective, the surreal and the upsettingly real, are blurred to significantly uncomfortable levels.

To say "Beau is Afraid" is divisive and challenging is to undersell it, however. It's Aster's masterpiece, a perfect encapsulation of what makes his artistic voice so unique and vital. It contains scenes, moments, dialogue and visuals that are absolutely indelible, making every other "weird" movie of this year and recent years look tame by comparison. Ultimately, it proves many times over just how much cinema can do, that this 100-plus-year-old medium can still thrill, shock, disturb and delight while delivering material that's utterly relatable to so many people. If you've ever had thorny issues with your family, your crush, your friends, strangers, or the world at large — there's a bit of you in "Beau." Unlike him, don't be afraid to admit and confront it. (Bill Bria)

In Justine Triet's brilliant French courtroom drama "Anatomy of a Fall," Sandra (Sandra Hüller) is accused of murdering her husband, whose body is found near the couple's family home in the French Alps. Sandra denies the accusation, of course — her perpetually reserved demeanor, which never allows us a glimpse into the intricacies of her psyche, further complicates the question of her apparent guilt. Triet dissects the core of this marital relationship under a microscope, where the muted strains and fissures are presented as evidence of Sandra's guilt in a courtroom, adding more dimensions to a bond between two people who failed to innately understand one another.

The axis of "Anatomy of a Fall" is not about the truth behind the death, but the kaleidoscope of personal failures and social perceptions that lead up to it. Sandra is criticized for her unapologetic zest for taking up the space she deserves while not adhering to traditional gender roles within a marital space, and this silent strength is used against her as a cross she has to bear. Triet's film is about transgressions that are anything but, and simmering resentments that widen the gap between being tragically misunderstood and being seen.

While Sandra might seem like she's capable of cold-blooded murder, should she be persecuted for not accommodating a world insistent on having women constantly smile and feel guilty for simply existing? "Anatomy of a Fall" puts such norms under tense scrutiny, creating an intoxicating murder mystery with open-ended answers. (Debopriyaa Dutta)

In a world where "Barbenheimer" deliver an epic box office showdown in theaters, it only makes sense that "Barbie" and troubling science meet again elsewhere in a much darker narrative that unfolds in a vibrant, steampunk-tinged fever dream of a world from the mind of Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos.

In this "Frankenstein"-esque tale, Emma Stone plays Bella Baxter, a grown woman with the mind of a child. She's not developmentally disabled, but rather, scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe) discovered the body of a dead pregnant woman and took the surviving infant's brain and put it into the adult woman's body. Thus, Bella is an adult woman discovering the world around her as if she were just a kid. What begins as a fascination with the outside world turns to an obsession with sweets and sex, as Bella desperately wants to experience all the things that bring her pure pleasure. But with that comes the dangers of a patriarchal society that wants only to conform Bella's freedom to their own whims and desires, especially when it comes to the scheming scalawag Duncan Wedderburn, played perfectly by Mark Ruffalo.

What makes "Poor Things" more than just a quirky, horny romp — though it is undoubtedly that throughout — is how it meshes "Barbie" and "Frankenstein" into a brilliant story about how a woman's agency and independence are threatened at every turn, whether she wants to travel the world or experience as many orgasms as possible. Society demands that a girl behave like a young woman, but when that girl actually becomes a young woman with her own desires — be they intellectual, carnal, etc. — they suddenly must have their hand held tightly, only evolving as their fathers, brothers, or lovers see fit.

"Poor Things" is about the women who are so unjustly oppressed by men, and the men who believe they are so strong that they just have to run the world, but they simply cannot survive without the touch of a woman. (Ethan Anderton)

Hayao Miyazaki never disappoints, but it's still hard to believe just how much emotion he fits into this two-hour film. "The Boy and the Heron" (which in Japan has the much more fitting title of "How Do You Live?") tells the story of a boy, quietly wracked with guilt and grief over his mother's death, who feels alienated from the world around him to the point of engaging in an unsettling act of self-harm. But through a mysterious, chaotic journey through a magical world just next door, he's presented with a way forward.

Like many of Miyazaki's previous works, "The Boy and the Heron" remembers perfectly well what it's like to be a kid, but this movie also knows what it's like to grow old. In addition to being about a kid finding his purpose and moving on from his trauma, the movie's also about the inevitability of death, be it from unexpected tragedy or simple old age. It's a movie that's painfully aware of how little time we all have, how everything crumbles in the end, and how we need to embrace life despite it all. Although this might not be Miyazaki's final film as originally intended, it still functions perfectly as the director's farewell. The fact that it's one of the year's most visually stunning movies (with an amazing soundtrack too) certainly doesn't hurt. (Michael Boyle)

Throughout his filmography, Todd Haynes has proven himself a master of exploring transgressive characters existing on the margins, sometimes due to the cruel hierarchies of society but often as a result of their own actions. Inspired by the abusive crimes (and later marriage) of 34-year-old Mary Kay Letourneau with her 12-year-old student, Vili Fualaau, "May December" is a delicious, melodramatic exploration of individuals who reside within fabrications they've convinced themselves are irrefutable truths, and how quickly the threads unravel with the smallest tugs by the realities of their lives.

Natalie Portman's Elizabeth Berry serves as the eyes of the audience, an actress hoping portraying convicted statutory rapist Gracie Atherton (Julianne Moore) — in a dramatization of her crimes against her husband Joe Yoo (Charles Melton) when he was a 12-year-old boy — will take her career to the next level. The more Elizabeth immerses herself in their lives, the brighter the spotlight on the problems simmering beneath the surface of the Atherton-Yoo's marriage becomes, and the more we realize Elizabeth is not the well-intended starlet she appears to be on the surface. This is a film where the subtext often speaks louder than the text, a truly impressive feat against dramatic piano riffs, a weaponized lisp, and conspicuous comments of distraction.

With brilliant performance, especially that of Charles Melton, "May December" refuses to deliver a didactic moral lesson, instead challenging the viewer to sit in unmeasurable discomfort as they unpack their views on victimhood, abuse, manipulation, and their place in a society that treats stories like the Atherton-Yoo's as exploitative entertainment and tabloid fodder. (BJ Colangelo)

Based on David Grann's non-fiction book, Martin Scorsese's "Killers of the Flower Moon" evolved over time. At first, the film was going to be a true crime story with the FBI swooping in to save the day. And then Scorsese and co-writer Eric Roth let the story evolve, spurned on by star Leonardo DiCaprio. DiCaprio was initially set to play lawman Tom White (a role eventually played by Jesse Plemons), but the actor decided he'd rather play the more complicated, morally bankrupt character Ernest Burkhart. And so "Flower Moon" changed from a crime story into a story about the insidiousness of white supremacy. "Well, we are complicit," Scorsese said in an interview. "But we are. We simply are. So... It's really about everyone. We're all the killers. The European white comes in, Western civilization comes in. We are the killers, and we have to understand that. We have to confront it in ourselves."

Set in the Osage Nation in the 1920s, "Killers of the Flower Moon" focuses on Ernest Burkhart, who returns home from the war and is almost immediately goaded by his uncle William Hale (Robert De Niro, in a smilingly insidious performance) into marrying an Osage woman. It's all part of Hale's plan to steal wealth from the Osage people, who have struck it rich thanks to oil. Ernest marries Mollie Kyle (Lily Gladstone), whom he professes to love. But does he? Maybe. But he loves money more, and he sets out with his uncle on a series of brutal, senseless murders of the Osage people, all in the name of greed. DiCaprio is chilling as the frowning, painfully stupid Ernest, but the film belongs to Gladstone, who gives one of the best performances in a Scorsese movie — ever. She's the heart and soul of the film, carrying a true presence in all of her scenes, speaking volumes sometimes without actually uttering a word. 

Disturbing, unflinching, and evenly darkly comedic at times, "Killers of the Flower Moon" is a challenging, sprawling epic; a remarkable work of American cinema that proves that even in his twilight years, Scorsese is still untouchable. (Chris Evangelista)

This ranking was decided by assembling /Film's writers and editors who are experts on the subject. They discussed their selections in private conversation before submitting a ranked ballot with their choices for the list. Each list was then compiled, with higher ranked titles carrying more weight than lower ranked titles. Ties were broken by calls made by the editorial team, with discussion from the larger group. The final list reflects a general consensus, and therefore, the larger recommendations and opinions of the /Film team.