The 75 Best Movies Of 2023 So Far

Every year is a great year for movies if you just look hard enough, and 2023 hasn't required much hard looking at all. Great movies have been cropping up with regularity, from a number of sources. It's easy to forget about the disappointing summer blockbusters when the good ones have been so spectacular. It's easy to stop moaning about the stale state of modern cinema when you look into the margins and find indie films that prove the medium is thriving outside of the multiplex spotlight. And if you think Hollywood is officially out of ideas, we have good news: It's easy to look to films from across the world to find stories that are as original, moving, and special as anything else. 

Welcome to our regularly updated list of the best movies of 2023, which will be a living document throughout the rest of the year. We stand by every title on this list, and if you want a good time at the movies (whether that means a trip to the theater or an evening on the couch), consult this article. We've got you. 

An unlikely, fact-based underdog story, if only because the scrappy up-and-comer in this case is now the most valuable sports business on the planet. Amazingly, the charmed screenwriting duo of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon imbue this three-cheers-for-Nike tale with humor, suspense and, no really, a soul. Matt Damon is enormously appealing as Sonny Vaccaro, the basketball talent scout who saw Michael Jordan as a transformative talent and, most importantly to the struggling shoe company, an unbeatable brand. It's the star's most ingratiating performance since "The Martian," and perhaps even more impressive in that he gets us rooting for a man whose goal is ultimately about selling more product than the other guy.

Vaccaro's quixotic quest acquires essential, beyond-the-boardroom depth via Viola Davis' steely turn as Deloris Jordan, the player's mother and possibly the only other person in the world who sees what Vaccaro sees. She plays hardball more tenaciously than the suits, and intends to land her son a deal that earns him a percentage of every shoe sold on his name. Watching Damon spiritually deflate as he explains to Davis that the world doesn't work this way hits especially hard in this era of talent exploitation.

Of course, everything works out and everyone gets rich, which Affleck, who's crafted the best Aaron Sorkin film since the underrated "Steve Jobs," allows us to take as a bittersweet triumph. You leave "Air" not fist-pumping, but lamenting that you need superstar leverage at a billion-dollar level to get paid what you deserve. (Jeremy Smith)

Director: Ben Affleck

Cast: Matt Damon, Viola Davis, Ben Affleck, Jason Bateman, Chris Tucker, Chris Messina, Marlon Wayans

Runtime: 112 minutes

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%

France's Justine Triet is simply one of the most exciting filmmakers working today. Over the course of three features, Triet and editor Laurent Sénéchal have pioneered a cinematic pace and tone defined by a frenetic, often nonsensical style of cutting all their own. From "In Bed With Victoria" to "Sibyl" and now to "Anatomy of a Fall," the film that won her the most prestigious film prize in the world (the Palme d'Or), Triet has curiously been reining in the formal pyrotechnics that made her style so singular. But in pulling back, Triet opened up space for the exploration of so much more.

"Anatomy of a Fall" follows Sandra Voyter, a willful and magnetic writer of autofiction (Sandra Hüller) whose husband (Samuel Theis) falls to his death from their third-story balcony. Did he jump, the central question at the marquee trial holds, or was he pushed? Or did he simply fall? It's not bloviating critical overstatement to say that Voyter could only have been played in all her ferocious, irresistible unknowability by Hüller, one of the finest actresses of her generation. The mystery here is unrelentingly complex, demanding close examination and repeat viewings. (Ryan Coleman)

Director: Justine Triet

Cast: Sandra Hüller, Swann Arlaud, Milo Machado Graner, Antoine Reinartz, Samuel Theis, Jehnny Beth

Runtime: 150 minutes

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%

The thing that makes "The Artifice Girl" the perfect AI film for 2023 is that it's completely uninvested in speaking to the moment. AI, as we currently know it, is just a tool that companies use to further exploit their employees and is not a true mirror for humanity. But what happens when that changes and AI gains actual sentience? Speculative sci-fi has historically sought to examine where the line between artificial and organic consciousness exists. "The Artifice Girl" takes the next logical step. In its spin on the "Pinocchio" story, its Geppetto stand-in is forced to confront the foibles he passed onto his creation, as well as the traumas he's subjected them to (and what this says about him).

Writer/director Franklin Ritch stars as Gareth, the inventor of an AI program — one which takes the form of a nine-year-old white girl named Cherry (Tatum Matthews) — that he uses to entrap online sexual predators and pedophiles. Forgoing needlessly convoluted tech jargon as much as possible, Ritch's film dives deeply into the ethical and moral dilemmas posed by Cherry in a way that's not just accessible but also visually compelling.

Precise blocking and framing subtly reveal characters' internal turmoil, as well as the changing power dynamics among Gareth, Cherry, and two federal agents, Amos and Deena (David Girard and Sinda Nichols), who convince Gareth to team up with them and keep his operation by-the-book. That their conversations and confrontations largely unfold in the same suffocating, dimly-lit room only adds to the growing tensions, à la "12 Angry Men." As riveting as the entire cast is, though, it's Matthews' incredibly layered acting that really muddies the water around Cherry and her elusive, ever-evolving nature. (Sandy Schaefer)

Director: Franklin Ritch

Cast: Franklin Ritch, Tatum Matthews, David Girard, Sinda Nichols, Lance Henriksen

Runtime: 93 minutes

Rating: Not rated

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%

The highest-grossing film of the year and a certifiable phenomenon in its own right, Greta Gerwig's playfully pink "Barbie" is the film I called an "uproarious, existential adventure and one of the best of the year" in my review. "Barbie" is nothing short of a miracle; a successful adaptation of one of the most popular and longstanding intellectual properties in American history, a film centered on one of the most polarizing pop culture institutions in history, and an intelligent musing on gender roles in society all rolled into one. Margot Robbie dazzles as Stereotypical Barbie, a doll in Barbieland suddenly plagued with "irrepressible thoughts of death" who travels to the real world (with Ryan Gosling's Ken in tow) to figure out what's wrong with whatever girl is playing with her.

She's then thrust on a coming-of-age crash course into the cruel realities of a patriarchal society, while Ken's discovery that the real world is controlled by men makes him feel validated in his identity for the very first time. Audiences were shocked and what relatable, relevant messaging about what it means to be human could be found in a film about a plastic doll, but with Gerwig at the helm, there should have been no doubt. This is a film we'll be talking about for decades to come. (BJ Colangelo)

Director: Greta Gerwig

Cast: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon

Runtime: 114 minutes

Rating: PG-13

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88%

Hundreds of movies are released every year that look just like "Birth/Rebirth" from the outside. Odd, anti-social, dangerously thin protagonist (a type perfected by Angela Bettis to which Rebecca Hall is trying, with mixed results, to become the sole successor), simple plot revolving around obsession, perfection, and self-destruction, a visual preoccupation with some grotesque element like blood or vomit — throw it in a blender with some Mica Levi-lite score and you've got enough to win over enough critics.

Laura Moss's profound debut feature "Birth/Rebirth" is the real thing. It's deeply human, brimming with fascinating ideas, and unflinching in the face of nauseating viscera. The film follows the unlikely alliance between a flinty, ascetic morgue tech (Marin Ireland) and the compassionate, grief-ridden nurse (Judy Reyes) whose child (A.J. Lister) they've brought back from the dead. The cost of defying natural law, it seems, is a ceaseless demand for human sacrifice, which they exact as ethically as they can — until they can't. "Birth/Rebirth" is an original and exhilarating autopsy of modern motherhood that, on top of everything, is also quite funny. (Ryan Coleman)

Director: Laura Moss

Cast: Marin Ireland, Judy Reyes, A.J. Lister, Breeda Wool, LaChanze, Monique Gabriela Curnen

Runtime: 101 minutes

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%

With movies like Jimmy Fallon and Queen Latifah's "Taxi," Marvel's 2004 attempt at adapting "Fantastic Four," and the recent live-action/CGI hybrid "Tom & Jerry" in his filmography, director Tim Story isn't exactly known for delivering the most satisfying movies. But this year, he knocked it out of the park with "The Blackening," a slasher comedy with an entertaining blend of racial satire and suspense that's brought to life by a fantastic ensemble cast. 

Grace Byers, Jermaine Fowler, Melvin Gregg, X Mayo, Dewayne Perkins, Antoinette Robertson, and Sinqua Walls (with assists by Jay Pharoah and Yvonne Orji) play a group of friends gathering at a cabin for a little Juneteenth party. But their gathering turns deadly when they're forced to play a game called The Blackening, overseen by a leather-masked maniac with a minstrel face painted on. Having already murdered one friend and taken another hostage, the killer tells the friends that unless they figure out who is the most Black person in the group is, he will kill everyone. 

What follows is a raucously hilarious slasher comedy with even more big laughs than gruesome murders. No, that doesn't mean everyone survives, but watching this group of friends bicker with each other and argue about what makes them more Black or more white than each other is comedy gold. Plus, "The Blackening" takes some cues from "Scream" in its self-aware approach to the slasher genre. It's sharp, funny, and offers up a shining gem in a summer that is sorely lacking big comedies. (Ethan Anderton)

Director: Tim Story

Cast: Grace Byers, Jermaine Fowler, Melvin Gregg, X Mayo, Dewayne Perkins, Antoinette Robertson, Sinqua Walls, Jay Pharoah, Yvonne Orji, and Diedrich Bader

Runtime: 96 minutes

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 86%

Japanese animation legend Hayao Miyazaki hadn't released a film in 10 years, but 2023 finally saw the debut of his long-in-the-works "The Boy and the Heron" — and it was worth the wait. The story follows Mahito, a young boy whose mother dies in a firebombing during World War II in the film's go-for-broke opening scene. A year later, Mahito's father has married his late wife's sister, and he and Mahito move out to the countryside to live with her. Mahito is naturally not thrilled at the idea of having a replacement mother figure in his life, and when a seemingly magical (and extremely antagonistic) grey heron appears to tell him his mother is still alive, it kicks off an quest to another world to discover the truth.

A wildly ambitious assortment of breathtaking imagery and huge ideas, the film is an odyssey about grief, growing up, dreams, the brutalities of the world, our places in it, and the notions of legacy and how we pass things on to the next generation. A case could be made that the film bites off a little more than it can chew, but even if that's true, who better to watch than Miyazaki as he tries to make a meal out of these concepts? This may not be Miyazaki's final film (fingers crossed!), but it's a culmination of everything the master storyteller has done so far. (Ben Pearson)

Director: Hayao Miyazaki

Cast: Soma Santoki, Masaki Suda, Kô Shibasaki, Yoshino Kimura

Runtime: 124 minutes

Rating: PG-13

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%

Fantasia. Fantasia. Fantasia!!

Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1982 novel "The Color Purple" was given the film adaptation treatment in 1985 by director Steven Spielberg, with a star-studded cast including Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover, Margaret Avery, Oprah Winfrey, and Askosua Busia. It's a well-loved film that went on to nab 11 Academy Award nominations, even if Spielberg's view of telling a Black story didn't always hit the mark. In 2005, "The Color Purple" was adapted to Broadway, with a Tony Award-winning revival in 2015. That musical is the basis for the newest film adaptation of "The Color Purple," undoubtedly the best musical of 2023 and one of the best films of the year.

Every performance is breathtaking, the music will bring you to your knees, and this cast ... THIS CAST ... there truly are no words. This is not just a movie, it is an experience and one that requires the audience to give themselves over to the story and let the song and story take them away. Fantasia Barrino and Danielle Brooks are both deserving of nominations come Oscar time, and this film should certainly take over as the rightful retelling of Walker's book on screen. (BJ Colangelo)

Director: Blitz Bazawule

Cast: Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, Colman Domingo

Runtime: 140 minutes

Rating: PG-13

Rotten Tomatoes Score: N/A

Nicolas Cage is the man of your dreams in Kristoffer Borgli's weird, disturbing "Dream Scenario." Cage, really leaning into patheticness, plays Paul Matthews, a dweeby college professor who suddenly starts appearing in everyone's dreams. No one can explain why this is happening, and indeed, the film is better when it keeps things mysterious.

At first, this turns Paul into a celebrity — he's the guy everyone is dreaming about! And the dreams are fun and harmless! Then, without warning, things turn dark. The dream Paul becomes a malevolent figure like Freddy Krueger, torturing and murdering people in nightmares. This causes the real Paul to become a pariah — people now hate him, and don't want to even be around him. The film could be seen as a take on cancel culture, but really, there's something far more tragic and ultimately melancholy at work. What starts off as a quirky, fun comedy morphs into something heartbreaking as Cage's character is run through the wringer, a tragic fool helpless to fate. The end result is one of the most unique films of the year. (Chris Evangelista)

Director: Kristoffer Borgli

Cast: Nicolas Cage, Julianne Nicholson, Michael Cera, Tim Meadows, Dylan Gelula, Dylan Baker

Runtime: 100 minutes

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%

How do you navigate the push and pull between the life you were born into and the person you want to become? What do you do when the lines become so blurred between your upbringing and your ambitions? Do you go it alone ... or try to find solace in someone else undergoing a very similar journey of their own?

Part Terrence Malick epic and part "Call Me By Your Name," "The Eight Mountains" invites easy comparisons to past greats you've seen before while simultaneously defying any and all labels one can throw at it. After spending a blissful summer together in a remote Italian village among the Alps as kids, life takes two childhood friends (platonic, for better or worse) their separate ways until the once-inseparable pair reunite decades later at very different stages of life. Disillusioned Pietro (Luca Marinelli) couldn't wait to leave the mountains behind and make his own way, spurning his disappointed father and his suffocating hometown for greener pastures in the city. Bruno (Alessandro Borghi) stayed put, embracing his identity as a "mountain man" and essentially filling the void left by Pietro. When Pietro's late father leaves behind a final request that the two rebuild a cabin in the mountains, what follows is a charming, deeply moving slow-burner that deftly tackles the idea of friendship, upbringing, and the melancholy regrets of the past. Of all the movies I've seen so far this year, none have an ending that packed a bigger punch than this one. (Jeremy Mathai)

Director: Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch

Cast: Luca Marinelli, Alessandro Borghi, Filippo Timi, Elena Lietti, Elisabetta Mazzullo

Runtime: 147 minutes

Rating: N/A

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%

Pixar's "Elemental" may have gotten off to a slower start at the box office, but it eventually became a hit for the animation studio, and that's because word of mouth got around that this charming romance was one of the best movies of the year. The film follows a blossoming romance between two unlikely lovers: Ember, a second generation immigrant of fire people who is just trying to keep her cool while running her father's convenience store, and Wade, a young city inspector made of water who inadvertently puts the store under the threat of being shut own. All of this unfolds in Element City, a bustling metropolis where the residents are comprised of the primary elements: water, land, air, and fire, and the latter has a difficult time acclimating to a world not built to accommodate them.

Many thought the film's trailer looked and sounded too much like "Zootopia," and while the idea of having characters made of elements certainly creates a similar narrative opportunity to explore various societal concepts about culture and class, the story resonates in a whole new way, both because of how relatable our two lead characters are, but also because of its universal appeal. "Elemental" is for anyone who has ever struggled to live up to expectations, whether it's pressure from their own family about their future or who they're allowed to date, or just what we want for ourselves every single day. It's also for anyone who has ever felt like an outcast or mistreated by the systems that define our society and dictate how people are treated because of their differences. On top of that, it's also just a wonderful love story with some of the most stunning (and technically challenging) animation you've ever seen. (Ethan Anderton)

Director: Peter Sohn

Cast: Leah Lewis, Mamoudou Athie, Ronnie Del Carmen, Shila Ommi, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Catherine O'Hara, Joe Pera, Mason Wertheimer

Runtime: 101 minutes

Rating: PG

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 74%

Look, we all know the "Fast and Furious" films have not been the same without Paul Walker. But for my money, "Fast X," the eleventh movie in this outrageous franchise, succeeds at capturing what makes these movies special in the post-Walker era. A globe-trotting adventure with totally insane action setpieces (driving down the face of a dam!), "Fast X" continues to expand the scope of these movies, inviting more and more cast members to play in its giant, explosion-filled sandbox. At the center of it all, as usual, is Vin Diesel, fully committed to playing things as seriously as humanly possible despite the inherent ridiculousness of what's happening to Dominic Toretto and his extended family.

That's all well and good, but the thing that really elevates this movie beyond just another fun, goofy "Fast" flick is Jason Momoa, who is totally let off the leash here and turns in one of the most bonkers performances of any mainstream action film in the past 20 years. As the flamboyant and over-the-top Dante, Momoa brings a completely new and unhinged energy to the "Fast" saga, licking blood off knives, painting the toenails of men he's killed, and literally dancing his way through the frame on his way to blow things up or kill more people. This dude is having an absolute blast, and the character actually has a personal stake in the story, as well: He's hunting down Dom for the death of his father, which happened way back in "Fast Five." Bring on "Fast X: Part II." (Ben Pearson)

Director: Louis Letterier

Cast: Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Jason Momoa, Tyrese Gibson, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Nathalie Emmanuel, John Cena, and dozens more

Runtime: 2 hours 21 minutes

Rating: PG-13

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 56%

In the aftermath of World War II, the people of Japan are combing through the rubble of their bombed-out cities, trying to rebuild their communities and regain a sense of normalcy. Unfortunately, what they're about to experience is anything but normal: Godzilla arrives and starts absolutely wrecking sh*t, making an already bad situation much, much worse.

But where the American Godzilla and Kong movies in Legendary's MonsterVerse wring pleasure from seeing kaiju smash through cities and punch each other in the face, "Godzilla Minus One" makes it clear that there's nothing fun about this: Godzilla is terrifying here, animalistic and feral and leaving devastating consequences in his wake. But the most important way this film is better than the MonsterVerse movies is this one has human characters who the audience actually cares about and invests in. This is more of a human story that happens to have Godzilla in it, not the other way around. Ironically, even though the movie's ragtag characters aren't having fun, it turns out to be a joy to watch as they develop relationships, are left hanging by international governments, and take a rescue plan into their own hands. (Ben Pearson)

Director: Takashi Yamazaki

Cast: Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Sakura Ando

Runtime: 125 minutes

Rating: PG-13

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%

Alexander Payne's "The Holdovers" opens with studio logos and production company cards styled to look like they did in the 1970s. The film is unquestionably a throwback to movies from that era, but thankfully, Payne doesn't let his desire to recapture that vibe overtake the entire endeavor. This is not an empty style exercise, it's a real movie. Remember when they made those for adults? When we decry the idea that "Hollywood doesn't make 'em like they used to," we need to carve out an exception for this.

Paul Giamatti shines as a curmudgeonly teacher charged with staying at his New England boarding school over Christmas break to chaperone a few students who can't return home, and Dominic Sessa (an actual student at that school, delivering his first ever screen performance here) strikes the exact right balance of arrogance and vulnerability as a lovable but troublesome student. Da'Vine Joy Randolph, playing the school's head cafeteria worker, is phenomenal, and the trio forms an unlikely bond as they all learn a little something from each other. It may sound a little insufferable on paper, but Payne manages to imbue it all with genuine pathos and humanity. It's a new Christmas staple. (Ben Pearson)

Director: Alexander Payne

Cast: Paul Giamatti, Dominic Sessa, Da'Vine Joy Randolph

Runtime: 133 minutes

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%

Based on the non-fiction book by Andreas Malm, "How to Blow Up a Pipeline" is so intense that it might make you physically uncomfortable. And that's a good thing — we should want some of the movies we watch to move us in such ways. This feels like both a call to action and a great "getting the team together" style film as we follow several characters, all from different backgrounds, as they join together. Their mission: blow up an oil pipeline. Everyone has a different reason for wanting to blow the pipeline sky-high, but the impending doom of climate change hangs over everything, coupled with the sense that it might already be too late. Director Daniel Goldhaber — who describes the film as an "eco-activism 'Ocean's 11'" — and editor Daniel Garber cut all this together like a ticking clock heist flick, cutting back and forth in time to give us the full, jaw-dropping picture as things grow increasingly tense. The film's unapologetic call to arms was so controversial that law enforcement got involved, and if that isn't enough to pique your interest, I don't know what is. (Chris Evangelista)

Director: Daniel Goldhaber

Cast: Ariela Barrer, Kristine Froseth, Lukas Gage, Forrest Goodluck, Sasha Lane, Jayme Lawson, Marcus Scribner, Jake Weary, Irene Bedard

Runtime: 104 minutes

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94%

The story of the Von Erich Family Dynasty is the closest thing to a real-life Shakespearean tragedy to ever occur, and with decades of rumored "curses" and exploitative headlines already swirling around the family's story, it would have been very easy for director Sean Durkin to follow down a similar path. Instead, "The Iron Claw" looks at the tragic story of the Von Erichs not as a means of telling an authentic biopic or documentary-level retelling of the facts (there's "Dark Side of the Ring" for that), but as the ultimate love letter to the fantastical world of professional wrestling, and a cathartic gift to the real-life Kevin Von Erich.

In what is arguably the best ensemble cast performance of the year, "The Iron Claw" is a story of brotherhood, bumps (that's the wrestling term for falling on the mat), and broken hearts. Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White, Harris Dickinson, and Stanley Simons play Kevin, Kerry, David, and Mike Von Erich — four brothers who would eventually become the stuff of wrestling legends as they grow up and reach the big-time under the strict thumb of their wrestler father, Fritz Von Erich (Holt McCallany). If you don't already know the story of the Von Erich family, go in knowing as little as possible but know that everything that happens ... happened (and it was even worse). If you do know the story, then you certainly know what to expect. Bring tissues, you're going to need them. (BJ Colangelo)

Director: Sean Durkin

Cast: Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White, Lily James, Holt McCallany

Runtime: 132 minutes

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes Score: N/A

When we talk about all of the most impressive feature filmmaking debuts, all the attention tends to focus squarely on American talent — for sadly obvious reasons. But there's an entire world of vital cinema and storytellers out there, just waiting to be discovered and given the flowers they so richly deserve. Through no fault of his own, director Saim Sadiq's "Joyland" unfortunately made headlines for all the wrong reasons when the film came under fire in its home country of Pakistan and was subsequently banned for its subject matter (and later released, though with a heavily censored cut). Nevertheless, the film festival hit stands tall as an incredibly poignant and frequently hard-hitting portrait of the intersection between South Asian repression, continued stigmatization of trans people, and the cultural pressures of conforming to traditional gender roles.

The movie follows Ali Junejo's Haider, a bit of a wet blanket cracking under the weight of his disapproving patriarchal father Rana (Salman Peerzada) and Haider's own wife Mumtaz (Rasti Farooq), increasingly discontent with her station in life after marrying into Haider's family. Desperate to find a well-paying job, Haider finds himself applying for a dance troupe under the fiercely determined star, Alina Khan's Biba. It takes little time at all before Haider finds himself falling more and more into her orbit, unlocking long-repressed desires that extend to his wife as well, left alone at home without even a job to keep her occupied. Messy, insightful, and nuanced in equal measure, "Joyland" is a must-watch. (Jeremy Mathai)

Director: Saim Sadiq

Cast: Ali Junejo, Alina Khan, Rasti Farooq, Sarwat Gilani, Sohail Sameer, Salmaan Peerzada, Sania Saeed

Runtime: 127 minutes

Rating: N/A

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 98%

Martin Scorsese has made another masterpiece with "Killers of the Flower Moon." Based on David Grann's non-fiction book, the sprawling anti-Western is a portrait of white supremacist greed and banal evil. In 1920s Oklahoma, the Osage people have become wealthy thanks to oil. But white men, who see these indigenous people as lesser beings, want that wealth for themselves. And so the stage is set for tragedy and corruption. Local rancher William Hale (a smiling, malevolent Robert De Niro) encourages his greedy, stupid nephew Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) to woo Osage woman Mollie Kyle (Lily Gladstone) in order to get ahold of her wealth.

Meanwhile, Hale and Burkhart also plot the brutal murders of other Osage people, all in the name of pure greed. Scorsese follows all of this over the course of several years, and we're helpless to watch as these horrible men commit terrible deeds all in the name of enriching themselves. DiCaprio gives a strong performance here as a spineless, easily manipulated fool, but the film ultimately belongs to Lily Gladstone, who gives one of the best performances ever in a Scorsese movie. Gladstone's quiet grace and commanding presence are near-hypnotic; we can't take our eyes off her, and nearly every choice she makes in her performance is stunning. (Chris Evangelista)

Director: Martin Scorsese

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone, Jesse Plemons, Tantoo Cardinal, John Lithgow, Brendan Fraser

Runtime: 206 minutes

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%

Jim Gaffigan may best be known for his comedic exploits as a stand-up comedian and character actor, but the funnyman delivers a breakthrough performance by taking the lead in writer/director Colin West's mind-bending feature film "Linoleum." 

The film follows Gaffigan as Cameron, an astronomer who once hoped to become an astronaut but ended up creating and hosting "Above and Beyond," an educational program reminiscent of "Bill Nye The Science Guy" that teaches kids about space and science. Unfortunately, Cameron is about to experience a midlife crisis, because his wife (Rhea Seehorn of "Better Call Saul") wants a divorce, his father is in a nursing home dealing with dementia, and that aforementioned kids program is about to be taken away from him after PBS picks it up and replaces him with astronaut Kent Armstrong (also played by Gaffigan), who also happens to be his new neighbor. 

"Linoleum" has shades of Michel Gondry and Charlie Kaufman, with seemingly inexplicable oddities lingering throughout the movie, complete with dreamy cinematography and the charming DIY-style of "Above and Beyond." This is one of those movies where you might question where everything is headed, but the conclusion delivers an emotional gut punch that makes the rest of movie, including the pieces that seemingly don't fit, come together in a truly beautiful way. For more, read our full review from SXSW. (Ethan Anderton)

Director: Colin West

Cast: Jim Gaffigan, Rhea Seehorn, Katelyn Nacon, Gabriel Rush, Tony Shalhoub, Michael Ian Black, Roger Hendricks Simon, Elisabeth Henry

Runtime: 101 minutes

Rating: The movie is not rated by the MPA, but it would likely have a PG-13 rating. 

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 80%

Paul Schrader's "Man in a Room Trilogy" which began with the superb "First Reformed" and continued with the quite good "The Card Counter" draws to a shocking close with "Master Gardener." How "shocking" is best experienced cold, so those who've thus far missed the film should check out now.

Unlike the previous two entries in this cycle, "Master Gardener" probably requires a degree of familiarity with the filmmaker's previous work dating back to the 1970s. Joel Edgerton stars as the meticulous groundskeeper of a wealthy woman's estate in an unnamed city. When tasked with mentoring the wayward young niece (Quintessa Swindell) of the widow (Sigourney Weaver), the horticulturist's violent past as a white supremacist enforcer comes to the surface. Schrader plays a canny emotional shell game by earning the audience's sympathies for his protagonist before revealing that he murdered a Black preacher in front of his wife and daughter. The moment should knock the film out of whack, but Edgerton's controlled portrayal of a penitent monster proves a miraculously steadying influence.

There's a notable age gap between 48-year-old Edgerton and 26-year-old Swindell, which vaguely recalls Robert De Niro's disturbing fixation on Jodie Foster's pre-teen sex worker in "Taxi Driver" — and, as in that classic, Schrader keeps the sword of Damocles perilously fixed over his antihero's neck. But this is where the filmmaker unexpectedly zags towards a bonkers denouement that bestows a romantic grace upon both messed-up characters. Introducing Schrader, the sentimentalist. (Jeremy Smith)

Director: Paul Schrader

Cast: Joel Edgerton, Sigourney Weaver, Quintessa Swindell, Esai Morales

Runtime: 110 minutes

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 70%

There's not much that can be said about "Missing" before first comparing it to "Searching." The 2018 desktop thriller took cues from voyeuristic, in-your-screen horrors like "Unfriended" to craft a fraught, unwieldy mystery — and created a new cinematic language in the process. "Searching" set the entirety of its story within the confines of a computer screen, but it's "Missing," its standalone sequel, that pushes that premise to a much more inventive new level.

Where "Searching" follows a hapless dad (John Cho) on the hunt for his missing daughter, "Missing" is all about a tech-savvy teen daughter (Storm Reid) doing the same to locate her mom (Nia Long), who's missing in action after a vacation in Colombia. This new perspective allows "Missing" to zip along at a pace akin to a Zoomer's stream of consciousness. Little is impossible for a teen who honed her sleuthing skills by binging true crime TikToks, and that means that the search at the heart of "Missing" is packed with coded Internet humor.

That said, Will Merrick and Nicholas D. Johnson — the editors of "Searching," stepping up for their directorial debut — never once leave the audience behind. In peeling back the layers of its central mother-daughter relationship, Merrick and Johnson give this thriller all the time it needs to breathe, and Reid and Long are more than up to the task (even if they're sharing a screen more often than an actual scene). (Lyvie Scott)

Director: Will Merrick, Nicholas D. Johnson

Cast: Storm Reid, Nia Long, Ken Leung, Joaquim de Almeida, Daniel Henney

Runtime: 111 minutes

Rating: PG-13

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 87%

The last few years have provided a wealth of films about unpacking generational trauma, but this year's "Monica" puts the spotlight on a story studios have been too cowardly to tell. Trace Lysette dazzles in the titular role, a trans woman who journeys back home to see her dying mother, Eugenia (Patricia Clarkson) after years of estrangement after she kicked Monica out for refusing to accept her identity. When Monica finally does make it home, her mother's brain tumors and Monica's transitioned appearance mean that Eugenia doesn't recognize her. She has no idea who she is, and Monica elects to let her mother believe that she's just another person there to help.

As Eugenia gets sicker, she and Monica develop a sincere relationship that likely wouldn't have existed if she knew the truth. Writer/director Andrea Pallaoro walks a touching, impressive emotional tightrope, wisely keeping the piece quiet and subtle rather than reveling in bombastic melodrama. This isn't a sensationalist tragedy, but an extremely human depiction of healing for the sake of your own sanity. If there were any justice in the world, Lysette would be at the front of every awards contention conversation. She's at the center of just about every scene and navigates layered, complicated, heart-wrenching scenarios with painful authenticity. "Monica" is one of the year's smaller releases, but it's undoubtedly one of the best. (BJ Colangelo)

Director: Andrea Pallaoro

Cast: Trace Lysette, Patricia Clarkson, Adriana Barraza, Emily Browning

Runtime: 114 minutes

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 84%

Jennifer Lawrence faced the fickle scorn of general audiences getting sick of a big Hollywood star who gets too popular too quickly and suddenly becomes overexposed and unwanted. So she took a break from acting for a couple years, had a baby, and came back with a vengeance. Following the climate change satire "Don't Look Up" and the Oscar contender "Causeway," Lawrence chose to lean into dying realm of big studios comedies. Even more surprising was that it was an R-rated comedy, which has become exceedingly rare in today's less booming box office environment. But Lawrence's risk, both as a star and producer of the fantastically raunchy and delightful "No Hard Feelings" is our gain.

"No Hard Feelings" finds Lawrence playing a rough-around-the-edges slacker who's desperately trying to hold onto the childhood home left behind by her late mother. When her car is towed, taking away her primary source of income, she jumps on a questionable classified ad from a rich couple to date their socially inexperienced teenage son (Andrew Barth Feldman) before he heads off to college. The result is a hilarious comedy that packs a lot of heart, complete with irresistible chemistry between Lawrence and Feldman and some shocking and hilarious gags, including a highly publicized nude scene that is played for maximum hilarity. It's not easy to find R-rated comedies that make you laugh this hard and something emotionally, but "No Hard Feelings" will hopefully encourage studios to take some risks by digging back into the comedy realm. (Ethan Anderton)

Director: Gene Stupnitsky

Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Andrew Barth Feldman, Matthew Broderick, Lauren Benanti, Natalie Morales, Scott MacArthur, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Kyle Mooney, Hasan Minhaj

Runtime: 103 minutes

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 71%

Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer" is a bleak, detailed, and thoroughly mesmerizing historical thriller, a biopic crafted with such care and precision that it nearly breaks the genre. Nothing boilerplate or familiar will do. This is now the new standard.

The story of J. Robert Oppenheimer — the creator the atomic bomb — and his complex, messy, devastating legacy is one that defies categorization. A character so firmly wedged between shades of grey that the film shoots half of his story in black and white, Oppy is at once protagonist and antagonist, a man so driven and interesting that we want to see him succeed, only for the film to force us (and the world) to reckon with those achievements. Cillian Murphy's performance is a perfect balancing act, shifting between our affection and disdain. It's a monumental piece of acting, one powerful enough to hold dozens of incredible character actors in its orbit.

Films this dark shouldn't be this exciting. Films this heavy shouldn't demand so many repeat viewings. Films this complicated shouldn't be so damn popular. But Nolan, a true cinematic visionary wearing the cloak of an entertainer, is a master smuggler. Movies don't get better than this. (Jacob Hall)

Director: Christopher Nolan

Cast: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr.

Runtime: 181 minutes

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%

"Love is painful" may be a trite sentiment, but that doesn't mean it isn't true. In her assured directorial debut "Past Lives," playwright Celine Song looks to tackle love through a prism very rarely seen on screen before. Nora and Hae Sung grew up as childhood friends in South Korea with a strong bond that possibly could have grown to something more as they grew older. However, Nora's family emigrates to Canada, and the two completely lose contact with one another. 12 years later, Nora has moved to New York, and Hae Sung still lives in Korea with his parents. The two reconnect through Facebook and quickly reestablish their connection, until Nora realizes that their distance could wreck the career she wants. 12 years after that, Nora is happily married to an American novelist but receives word that Hae Sung, whom she hasn't spoken to, will be in New York for a couple days, and he's still pining after her. Or, at least, his idea of her.

What transpires between these three characters — beautifully played by Greta Lee, Teo Yoo, and John Magaro — never goes the way you expect it to, even directly addressing the storytelling conventions you fear it might fall into. It deals with powerful ideas like the fates of souls and how those souls interact throughout time, before and after we are gone. "Past Lives" is an aching love story, but whether that means its romantic is up for interpretation. (Mike Shutt)

Director: Celine Song

Cast: Greta Lee, Teo Yoo, John Magaro

Runtime: 106 minutes

Rating: PG-13

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%

Yorgos Lanthimos really gave all of us Sickos™ some good eats this year, huh? Based on the 1992 novel of the same name by Alasdair Gray, "Poor Things" centers on Bella (Emma Stone), a young Victorian woman who dies by suicide only to have her body resurrected at the hands of a scientist named Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). With a newfound lease on life and the growing brain of an infant, Bella slowly becomes more aware of the world around her and begins to long for a life outside of her chamber doors. After meeting a man named Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), Bella finds her way out and dives awkward-dancing foot first into a world of liberation. As Mike Shutt wrote in his review of the film for /Film, "Bella has lived a life free of shame, and she's all the happier for it. By centering on a character completely naïve to the world rather than someone too aware, Lanthimos can so quickly show you how farcical all of these norms are up front." Eat what you want. Screw who you want. Dance how you want. Do what you want. You don't need to be Frankenstein'd to find your freedom. You just have to take it. (BJ Colangelo)

Director: Yorgos Lanthimos

Cast: Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley

Runtime: 141 minutes

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%

When nine-year-old Irish girl Cáit (Catherine Clinch) is sent to stay with her family's distantly-related cousins in "The Quiet Girl," Eibhlín (Carrie Crowley) and Seán Kinsella (Andrew Bennett), they're immediately bonded by their collective unspoken grief. For Cáit, her grief stems from a life of poverty and being neglected by her parents; her silence and restrained manner are a means of survival. Much like her, the Kinsellas dare not utter the reason for their sorrow aloud, although it's made clear to us as viewers long before Cáit learns the truth.

The story that filmmaker Colm Bairéad — adapting Claire Keegan's novella "Foster" — is telling here is deceptively simple. On the surface. it's a sensitively told drama about a child who comes to flourish for the first time in her life under the care of a middle-aged couple, in turn filling the emotional hole in their lives. But it's also a reflection on the lingering effects of grief and how it manifests in people's lives long after they're expected to have moved on. That it unfolds mainly in the Irish language through tranquil, dialogue-sparse scenes and lyrical imagery of Ireland's countryside also lends it a cultural specificity, so much so it becomes impossible to separate its setting from its themes.

"The Quiet Girl" was rightly nominated for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards, prior to beginning its limited release in the U.S. this year. It's difficult to imagine any other film in 2023 managing to sneak up on you the way this one does as you watch it, only to deliver a true knockout blow straight to the heart in its closing moments. (Sandy Schaefer)

Director: Colm Bairéad

Cast: Catherine Clinch, Carrie Crowley, Andrew Bennett, Michael Patric, Kate Nic Chonaonaigh

Runtime: 94 minutes

Rating: PG-13

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%

Director Cristian Mungiu is a force to be reckoned with in the Romanian New Wave movement, and his "R.M.N." paints a viscerally bleak picture about power dynamics that dictate one's place within a social stratum. By focusing on a local rural microcosm, Mungiu deftly exposes the multilayered racism and xenophobia that grips the townsfolk, leading to bursts of violence that are both explicit and subtle. These thematic strands, combined with Mungiu's natural inclination towards stark, grounded realism, makes "R.M.N." a deeply uncomfortable, yet essential cinematic experience.

The complexity of the human condition is on display here — the same townspeople who emerge as mostly likable or somewhat-flawed gradually evolve into an irredeemable mob with no sense of morality. Bigotry rears its ugly head, and Mungiu captures it without doling out didactic lessons or dramatic excesses. His vision for "R.M.N." is to dissect human impulses, and hone in on mental landscapes without lingering for too long. While every scene is imbued with symbolic meaning, there's ample room for subjective interpretation that bleeds into our understanding of this tense, volatile world, coupled with unforgettable aesthetics that are seared into the imagination even after the credits roll.

"R.M.N." ends on a rather "Rashomon"-esque note, but this ambiguity is meant to underline the thread of reigned-in despair that permeates through Mungiu's work. The ending is a hapless cry to lament the state of the world, where cycles of injustice and inequity unfurl unhindered, like an ouroboros. (Debopriyaa Dutta)

Director: Cristian Mungiu

Cast: Marin Grigore, Judith State, Macrina Bârlădeanu

Runtime: 125 minutes

Rating: 14A

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%

It's a cliché to praise a movie's setting for being a character in its own right ... so I won't do that. What I will say, however, is that Raine Allen-Miller's endlessly charming rom-com "Rye Lane" is more than just an adoring love letter to the South London districts in which it takes place. It also recognizes that the spots in which we find romance — especially the unexpected variety — are forever linked to our experiences afterward, no matter how they (and we) may change over time.

"Rye Lane" embraces the single-day whirlwind romance format of films like Richard Linklater's "Before" Trilogy, following the sensitive Dom (David Jonsson) and the enthusiastic Yas (Vivian Oparah) as they help support one another in the wake of their recent breakups. All the rom-com tropes you know and adore are there but refashioned with a modern Gen Z sensibility, starting with a meet-cute in a gender-neutral bathroom. By grounding these conventions in relatably awkward but never cringe humor (with two charismatic up-and-coming actors at the center of it all), Allen-Miller succeeded in crafting a film that's as much an ode to life's possibilities as it is a celebration of Black life, love, and joy.

That energy also translates from a technical perspective. "Rye Lane" has more visual zest in its pinkie than many other films have in their entire bodies, using a fisheye lens to drink in the details of its vivacious setting while affectionately capturing every insecurity and quirk etched into its leads' faces. If Allen-Miller's irrepressible adoration for both her characters and South London doesn't wear off on you by the end of the film, it's probably best that you double-check your pulse. (Sandy Schaefer)

Director: Raine Allen-Miller

Cast: David Jonsson, Vivian Oparah, Karene Peter, Malcolm Atobrah

Runtime: 82 minutes

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 98%

The trailers for "Saltburn," the second feature film from writer/director Emerald Fennell, deliberately kept the details of the plot and even the genre a mystery. Was it a steamy summer romance? A nostalgic mid-2000s coming-of-age story? A satire of the wealthy steeped in class commentary? A secret sequel to Marvel's "Eternals" in which Druig returns to Earth on a mission to become a fancy boy?

There were plenty of guesses, but few of those guesses included "a movie where Barry Keoghan does something unspeakable to a bathtub." Honestly, if you still haven't seen "Saltburn" then the best bet is still to go in completely blind. But if you need some selling points: it was shot in a grand English country house that has never previously been used for a film or TV show, and the cast also includes Rosamund Pike and Richard E. Grant as painfully posh and out-of-touch aristocrats. That was enough to make it a must-watch for me. (Hannah Shaw-Williams)

Director: Emerald Fennell

Cast: Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Alison Oliver, Archie Madekwe, Rosamund Pike, Richard E. Grant

Runtime: 127 minutes

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 71%

In a world where profitable movie franchises are inevitable, "Scream VI" serves as a continuation of a new era of final girls who are forced to transform their trauma into literal armor. Directors Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin take the self-aware meta route with their latest entry into the "Scream" franchise, where the legacy of Ghostface looms larger than ever and spills beyond Woodsboro and creeps into a bustling metropolis. The results are deliciously scary, as the paranoia of being gutted and stabbed in a city teeming with thousands is ever present here, and no swanky high-rise is immune to the wicked machinations of Ghostface.

The slasher elements in "Scream VI" maintain the consistent thrill of previous entries — there's an apt amount of gore, with navels being gutted and bodies being thrown from window ledges. The film speeds through its kills with bold audacity, much like the Ghostface(s) revealed at the end, and manages to evade franchise fatigue, thanks to self-referential humor and subverted expectations. It is still fun to see a slasher delve into the role trauma plays into triggering cyclical violence, either in the form of maniacal revenge schemes or desperate self-defense. There's also a more brutal edge to the killings, as this is a Ghostface that is willing to cross all lines while leaving suffering in their wake.

With the aid of adequate tonal balance, great kills, and the meaningful return of familiar faces, "Scream VI" amounts to a blast from start to finish. (Debopriyaa Dutta)

Director: Tyler Gillett, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin

Cast: Jenna Ortega, Melissa Barrera, Hayden Panettiere, Courteney Cox

Runtime: 126 minutes

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 76%

At the risk of this sounding too much like a college term paper, I feel compelled to begin any conversation about Jalmari Hellander's "Sisu" with a quote from an esteemed archaeology professor from the 1930s. 

It goes something like this: "Nazis... I hate these guys."

Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr. may have been speaking in a personal, not a professional capacity he said it, but he was speaking a powerful truth. Nazis suck, and movies and video games and comic books in which Nazis get punched are not typically works of art that we take moral issue with. If you're looking for villains your hero can take down, en masse, look no further.

So it goes that "Sisu" — an incredibly efficient, deeply satisfying action thriller — gets away with the simplest plot in the books. It's the end of World War II, and Nazis pick a fight with someone who can not only fight back, but can and will do anything necessary to survive and destroy them. Trap him in a field of landmines, he'll start tossing landmines at you. Hunting dogs have his scent, he will literally set himself on fire to get out of that pickle.

Masterfully crafted, inventive, angry and in your face, "Sisu" is a spetacular bloodbath of a movie. (William Bibbiani)

Director: Jalmari Helander

Cast: Jorma Tommila, Aksel Hennie, Jack Doolan, Mimosa Willamo, Onni Tommila

Runtime: 91 minutes

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%

The mind of filmmaker Quentin Dupieux seems to have grown in a primorial puddle of bongwater, spilled lazily in the corner of the research section of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Equal parts deadpan and absurd, Dupieux's films are often fascinating, if not somewhat infuriating in their aggressive pointlessness. In his film "Rubber," a horror-adjacent film about a living, killer car tire, the narrator declares the movie to be a triumph of "no reason." 

Dupieux's new film, "Smoking Causes Coughing" may be his silliest, and yet his more coherent, yet. The central characters are tokusatsu escapees called the Tobacco Force, each of them named after a toxic chemical in cigarettes; Nicotine, Methanol, Mercury, Ammonia, and Benzine use the power of cigarette smoke to best their enemies. They then declare in a half-assed sort of way that their message is that kids shouldn't smoke. The 80-minute film then sojourns to a lake for a Tobacco Force team-building exercise (their Nick Fury is a revolting rat puppet that women find sexually irresistible). While there, they tell stories. The film then becomes an anthology piece with each story stranger than the last. It ends with an alien invasion. 

This is Dupieux's laconic weirdness at its height. The film feints in the direction of meaning, only to deliberately pivot away. It doesn't wrap up the viewer, so much as prank them. And, golly, there is certainly a certain kind of twisted integrity in devoting an entire superhero comedy to how insubstantial superhero comedies are. "Smoking Causes Coughing" feels like a filmmaker trolling the audience. What's not to love? (Witney Seibold)

Director: Quentin Dupieux

Cast: Gilles Lellouche, Vincent Lacoste, and Anaïs Demoustier

Runtime: 80 minutes

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%

In "The Starling Girl," the chemistry between Eliza Scanlen and Lewis Pullman is hotter than it has any right to be. In any other movie, this wouldn't cause such a moral dilemma — especially not now, when chemistry and charisma feel like qualities at equal risk of extinction in Hollywood. But Laurel Parmet's debut feature is all about the affair between a sheltered 17-year-old girl and a hot youth pastor over a decade her senior, which means that their searing dynamic is but a vessel for loaded themes of abuse and religious trauma.

"The Starling Girl" is probably one of the most conflicting watches of the year, if only because Parmet is so committed to capturing her heroine's perspective above all else. As Scanlen's title character, Jem Starling, grapples with her own coming of age — and grates against all she's been taught as a God-fearing, self-denying fundamentalist — we feel everything with an aching sense of clarity. Desire and shame are a part of Jem's daily life long before Pullman's slightly-skeevy Pastor Owen comes into the picture. He is but the catalyst for a reckoning that forces Jem to reconsider what she wants out of life, and while the power imbalance at play here is more than enough to raise an alarm, Parmet still manages to capture the bad and the good with as little judgment as possible. (Lyvie Scott)

Director: Laurel Parmet

Cast: Eliza Scanlen, Lewis Pullman, Austin Abrams, Jimmi Simpson, Wrenn Schmidt

Runtime: 111 minutes

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%

Every few years, a new horror movie shows up and announces the arrival of talent that demands your time and attention. And with "Talk to Me," it's hard to imagine a future where horror fans don't spend every waking moment wondering what Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou are going to do next. Not since "Hereditary" has a new horror movie managed to blend sheer terror with accessibility, telling a story so disturbing with such craft. If the blasphemous blend of blockbuster excitement and sheer wrongness that powered "The Exorcist" is the watermark many genre filmmakers chase, consider "Talk to Me" as a film worthy of joining the conversation.

Like the greatest teen horror movies, the Philippous don't treat their leads as flesh for the grinder, but characters we quickly learn to love before we're asked to watch them suffer. Sophie Wilde gives a breakout performance as a grieving young woman who participates in an occult party game that allows her to communicate with the dead. But it's a dangerous process, and one she quickly abuses alongside her irresponsible friends. There's thematic meat on the bone here ("Talk to Me" could easily be read as a film about how loss can lead one down the darkest roads), but that's for the post-movie coffee conversation. Because in the moment, the film is as scary as anything released in theaters in the past few years. Even seasoned horror fans will need to check their nerves. (Jacob Hall)

Director: Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou

Cast: Sophie Wilde, Alexandra Jensen, Joe Bird, Otis Dhanji, Miranda Otto, Zoe Terakes, Chris Alosio, Marcus Johnson, Alexandria Steffensen

Runtime: 95 minutes

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%

Of all the arts, theatre is the most uniquely insular. That fact doubles when you're talking about theatre school, and triples when you're talking about theatre camp. It's the perfect environment for events that are simultaneously of incredibly high and low stakes; what happens at theatre camp will undoubtedly stay at theatre camp, but in the moment, it'll be the only thing that matters.

Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman's "Theater Camp" captures that special blend of deluded self-importance and heartfelt emotion beautifully. Expanding on their 18-minute short film version made in 2020, this feature-length movie allows Gordon and Lieberman (along with co-writer/co-star Noah Galvin) to explore a lovable cast of characters that much more, as the film winningly mashes together the best of camp movies ("Meatballs," "Wet Hot American Summer") and "let's put on a show" movies ("The Band Wagon," "The Producers," even a dash of "Fame") wrapped in a mockumentary package that recalls TV like "The Office" and the cinematic works of director Christopher Guest.

While "Theater Camp" is first and foremost a warm-hearted comedy, it never loses sight of its characters nor seeks to make easy parodic targets out of them. In other words, it's a very "inside baseball" satire, made by and for those who love theater without excluding those who enjoy mocking it. Inspired by films and TV shows already beloved by theatre kids, Gordon and Lieberman have made a brand new movie destined to be just as beloved by theatre kids of this generation and beyond. (Bill Bria)

Director: Molly Gordon, Nick Lieberman

Cast: Noah Galvin, Molly Gordon, Jimmy Tatro, Ben Platt

Runtime: 94 minutes

Rating: PG-13

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 82%

When I saw "Enough Said" back in theaters in 2013, I was absolutely blown away and could not wait for the next film from writer/director Nicole Holofcener and actor Julia Louis-Dreyfus, someone I adore who had rarely been given the opportunity to lead a film. It took a decade to get their next collaboration, but it was thankfully worth the wait. In "You Hurt My Feelings," Louis-Dreyfus plays a memoirist trying to write her first novel. She is married to a therapist, played by Tobias Menzies, who is struggling to connect with and help his patients. She turns to her husband for advice on everything she writes, which he always encourages, but one day, she accidentally overhears him telling a friend that her novel isn't very good.

Like "Enough Said," "You Hurt My Feelings" is a hilariously truthful examination of honesty and trust in a relationship. With their previous film, it was the start of relationship, but here, it's about how those things can lapse and throw something once thought as secure for many, many years into a complete tailspin. Julia Louis-Dreyfus continues to be the perfect vessel for Holofcener's brand of neurosis, and Tobias Menzies ends up being the perfect scene partner for her, matching her comedically and dramatically at every turn. I felt Nicole Holofcener went a little off-course with her last film, "The Land of Steady Habits," but I'm pleased to see her working at the peak of her powers again. (Mike Shutt)

Director: Nicole Holofcener

Cast: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Tobias Menzies, Michaela Watkins, Arian Moayed, Owen Teague, Jeannie Berlin

Runtime: 93 minutes

Rating: R

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%

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.