After some last minute cramming with blind spots everywhere (as is always the case), here are my favorite films of 2023. Usual suspects Christopher Nolan (his 2000 film Memento is #5 in my Top 100 Films of the 2000s), Alexander Payne (Nebraska is #6 in Top 100 Films of the 2010s), Martin Scorsese, and David Fincher (#6 Zodiac in the 2000s list) have 2023 entries. All four directors plus Todd Haynes (honorable mention May December) and his brilliant Safe (#10 of the decade) pepper the Top 100 Films of the 1990s.
I’ve yet to watch possible 2023 contender Past Lives, yet A24 continues to produce and distribute so many outstanding films, four of which are included below, including honorable mention The Zone of Interest. Not a post about tv series, but The Curse, Nathan Fielder and Benny Safdie’s series for Showtime, is the best TV since the first year of Twin Peaks.
Horror films always populate these lists (35 Top Horror Films). One outright genre film is this year’s #10, Infinity Pool (Cronenberg) yet Oppenheimer (Nolan), Killers of the Flower Moon (Scorsese), Dream Scenario (Borgli), The Killer (Fincher) and Beau is Afraid (Aster) all have footings in horror.
Such a pleasant surprise Showing Up (Reichardt) is, arguably a 2022 entry but with 2023 distribution. It is among the best films I’ve seen about the art life and Michelle Williams’s performance (Top 5 Most Beautiful (and talented and youngish) Female Actor People Working Today) is heart-breaking, funny and just outstanding.
This is another entry into Martin Scorsese’s stunning indictment of men canon (including but not limited to Cape Fear, Raging Bull, Casino, and The Departed). What Ernest Burkhart (DiCaprio) does to his wife Mollie (the incredible Lily Gladstone – Lily Gladstone on the emotional process of embodying her character), whilst running around killing her friends and family, is hard to watch and a reminder of Scorsese’s roots in exploitation. This is a document of pain. A beautiful film throughout and an enormously moving ending as Scorsese acts to read the obituary of Mollie Kyle.
Christopher Nolan
Christopher Nolan did it for me this year. One of my only 2023 in-theater experiences came with my viewing of a proper IMAX presentation of Oppenheimer. I was in tears early on during Nolan’s sequence of the spinning atoms in Cillian Murphy’s head accompanied by Ludwig Göransson’s sweeping theme Can You Hear The Music. It’s a powerful moment in film. On first viewing, the 3rd act suffered but not so upon a subsequent viewing. He’s consistently criticized for this but in this film his characterizations, both convincing and moving, match the stellar performances.
Brief comments below, by film.
#1 Oppenheimer (Nolan)
Christopher Nolan’s volatile biopic is a towering achievement with an immaculate score.
#2 The Holdovers (Payne)
Alexander Payne and Paul Giamatti reunite to forge a new entry into to the best holiday films ever made. This for the honesty, generosity, love and compassion embedded in this moving film.
#3 Showing Up (Reichardt)
A rare glimpse of an artist at (very hard) work.
#4 Killers of the Flower Moon (Scorsese)
Scorsese’s remarkable document of pain about the bloody birth of modern America. Includes the landmark performance of Lily Gladstone.
#5 Dream Scenario (Borgli)
Nicolas Cage is at his very best in savagely funny comedy.
#6 The Killer (Fincher)
Terrific David Fincher thriller about a philosophizing hitman that loves The Smiths. Can’t go wrong here – every “The Smiths” song from The Killer.
#7 Beau is Afraid (Aster)
Ari Aster’s patience-testing shaggy dog story, at least the first half of the film.
#8 Maestro (Cooper)
Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan make sweet music in dynamic Bernstein double act.
#9 Reality (Satter)
Word-for-word replay of FBI interrogation is uncannily brilliant.
#10 Infinity Pool (Cronenberg)
Mia Goth electrifies in a nightmarish thriller.
Honorable Mentions
nat's media wrap 
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