Best 2023 Movies That You Must Know
Here are some of the best 2023 movies that you have probably not watched. Some of them are still trending in 2024.
In 2023, the movie industry dazzled audiences worldwide with a diverse array of cinematic gems spanning across genres and themes.
Blockbusters are captivated with their high-octane action sequences and cutting-edge visual effects, transporting audiences to fantastical realms and thrilling adventures.
From the heart-pounding suspense of a psychological thriller to the heartwarming stories of family dramas, each film brought its own unique flavor to the cinematic landscape.
Iconic franchises continued to enthrall viewers with new installments, while fresh voices emerged with innovative storytelling and compelling performances.
Whether it was the spectacle of a big-budget spectacle or the intimacy of an indie darling, 2023 showcased the endless creativity and talent of filmmakers around the globe.
Amidst the excitement of tentpole releases, 2023 also shone a spotlight on thought-provoking indie films and daring experimental projects.
These smaller-scale productions dared to push boundaries, exploring complex themes and challenging conventions with bold narratives and unconventional storytelling techniques.
From intimate character studies to ambitious social commentaries, indie filmmakers offered audiences a diverse array of perspectives and storytelling styles.
Watchers were treated to a cinematic journey that not only entertained but also inspired, leaving a lasting impact long after the end credits rolled.
In a year marked by uncertainty and change, the power of storytelling remained a constant source of comfort and connection, uniting audiences from all walks of life in a shared love for the magic of the silver screen.
Best 2023 Movies
Here are the best 2023 movies:
1. Barbie (Max)
After grossing $1.4 billion to remain the highest-grossing movie of 2023 and the biggest earner in Warner Bros.’ history, Greta Gerwig’s comedy blockbuster “Barbie” is now streaming on Max.
The movie is heading to a likely huge Oscar nomination haul after picking up 9 Golden Globe nominations and a record-breaking 18 Critics Choice Award nominations.
From a review: “You know who else sets unrealistic beauty standards? Movie stars. Like Barbie, they serve as role models, which is what makes Gerwig’s take on the ultra-famous toy line so darn smart.
Margot Robbie might be a dead-ringer for Barbie, but her moxie powers the performance. Gerwig has made the type of family film she surely wishes had been available to her when she was a girl, sneaking a message (several of them, really) inside Barbie’s hollow hourglass figure.”
2. The Holdovers (Peacock)
Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers” is now streaming on Peacock after emerging as a box office hit this fall with nearly $20 million at the domestic box office.
The movie is eyeing several Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, and Da’Vine Joy Randolph is considered by many to be the frontrunner at this time for Best Supporting Actress.
Paul Giamatti leads the period drama as an ornery school teacher who is forced to chaperon students staying over at his prep school during the holiday break.
According to the review: “Peer beyond the perfectly satisfying Christmas movie surface, and ‘The Holdovers’ is a movie about class and race, grief and resentment, opportunity and entitlement.
It’s that rare exception to the oft-heard complaint that ‘they don’t make ’em like they used to.’”
3. May December (Netflix)
“May December” is the eighth-best movie of 2023. At a moment when audiences can’t seem to get enough of true-crime movies on Netflix (where this meta-melodrama is now streaming), Todd Haynes takes a sly look at the imperfect prism through which such narratives are presented to the public.
Natalie Portman plays a professional actor who swoops into the life of an ex-con (Julianne Moore, channeling tabloid subject Mary Kay Letourneau) years after she went to prison for initiating a sexual connection with her underage baby daddy (Charles Melton).
Determined to absorb all she can from the ‘real’ woman, Portman’s vampire-like star winds up crossing the lines by highly inappropriate means. Zoom out, and it’s all performance — since Moore’s acting, too — in a mirror room where empathy and exploitation tend to blur.”
4. Maestro (Netflix)
Bradley Cooper’s “Maestro” premiered to critical acclaim at the Venice Film Festival and is fully accepted to be a major player at the upcoming Academy Awards. Cooper’s directorial follow-up to “A Star Is Born,” “Maestro” is a biographical drama about famed composer Leonard Bernstein that mainly focuses on his marriage to Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan).
In his second movie as a director, Cooper places himself on a high wire, working with a pointillistic intimacy that invests every moment with fascination and surprise…it’s a stunning portrait of the artist as a charismatic narcissist in thrall to a marriage he believes in yet can’t completely live up to.”
5. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Netflix)
“Across the Spider-Verse” got critical acclaim and $690 million at the worldwide box office.
It was also labeled one of the best films of 2023 by Variety during the first half of the year: Given the pop-art bedazzlement — and the thrilling retro comic-book classicism — of 2018’s ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,’ what could the makers of the sequel do for an encore?
How about going bigger, going trippier, going, even more, Jack-Kirby-meets-punk-meets-Warhol-coloring-outside-the-lines crazy, all in the service of the rare narrative that makes good on the promise of the multiverse: that it’s a space as ominous as it is brain-bending.
The adventure of Miles Morales deepens, multiplies, and gets newly urgent stakes. And seriously, when was the last time you could say a comic-book movie achieved that?