There is no official ranking of 2023’s best films. This editorial list brings together titles that recur in critics’ polls and awards, while making room for animation, international cinema, studio releases, and formally adventurous work. Killers of the Flower Moon topped both the Sight & Sound and IndieWire critics’ polls considered here; the polls’ differing next choices show why the order below is an editorial judgment, not a consensus score.
How this list is selected
The selection draws first on overlap between Sight & Sound’s poll of more than 100 contributors and IndieWire’s poll of 158 critics from around the world. Awards recognition and the range of styles, genres, and perspectives help shape the remaining choices. Poll positions, awards, and critic-score aggregates are different kinds of evidence; none alone defines the best film.
![Universal Classic Monsters 6-Movie Collection (Dracula / Frankenstein / The Bride of Frankenstein / The Wolf Man / The Invisible Man / The Mummy) [DVD]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51uo3RNHn-L._SL160_.jpg)
Sight & Sound published its 2023 poll on December 8, and IndieWire published its poll on December 22. The Online Film & Television Association named Oppenheimer its Best Picture of 2023. These results document the preferences of particular groups and organizations, not audience popularity or a universal verdict. Sight & Sound’s 2023 poll, IndieWire’s 2023 critics’ poll, and the OFTA 2023 film awards provide the underlying comparisons.
The 30 best movies of 2023
-
Killers of the Flower Moon
Martin Scorsese’s historical crime drama follows the murders of members of the Osage Nation in 1920s Oklahoma and the exploitation surrounding the discovery of oil on their land. It led both critics’ polls examined here, making it the clearest point of agreement in this list.
The Tool Desk
Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy. -
Past Lives
Celine Song’s debut feature traces the connection between two childhood friends across decades, distance, and the lives they build apart. Its quiet, precise treatment of love, memory, and choices makes it an intimate counterpoint to the year’s large-scale dramas.
-
The Zone of Interest
Jonathan Glazer’s formally austere film observes a family’s domestic life beside Auschwitz. Its unsettling perspective makes the surrounding reality—not conventional dramatic action—the force that shapes the experience.
-
Oppenheimer
Christopher Nolan’s biographical drama turns the development of the atomic bomb and its aftermath into an expansive account of scientific ambition, political power, and moral consequence. OFTA selected it as 2023’s Best Picture, while the two critics’ polls placed it differently.
-
Poor Things
Yorgos Lanthimos’s fantastical story follows Bella Baxter as she discovers the world on her own terms. Its distinctive visual design and unruly tone set it apart from more naturalistic films on the list.
What’s actually slowing this PC down?
Pick the symptom - the matching free tool is one click away.
Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy. -
Anatomy of a Fall
Justine Triet’s courtroom drama begins with a death and turns a marriage into a puzzle of testimony, interpretation, and doubt. It resists an easy answer, keeping the question of what can be known at the center.
-
May December
Todd Haynes’s drama follows an actress preparing to portray a woman whose relationship with her husband began when he was a teenager. Its layered performances and uneasy shifts in tone make it a sharp study of spectacle and self-invention.
Rank #2
Sale
Lifewit DVD Storage Bags, Clear PVC DVD Case Holder with Handles, Front Window Zipper Design, Stackable Media Organizer for Blu-ray Disc, Movie Cases, VHS Box, Holds 210 Discs (35 Each), 6 Pack- Sturdy Zipper Window Design: Convenient front window with zipper on the DVD storage bag enables easy access while maintaining stackability
- Protect Your Collectibles: Made from 20-gauge thickened transparent PVC, these DVD storage bags shield DVDs from scratches while showcasing collections
- Large Capacity: 6-piece DVD storage box set, with each box measuring 20.5" (52 cm) x 6.3" (16 cm) x 7.9" (20 cm). Each bag can hold up to 35 DVDs, allowing for a total capacity approximately 210 DVDs—perfect for organizing extensive collections
- Portable Carry Handles: Reinforced double-stitched side handles on both side of this DVD case ensure secure and comfortable transport, preventing drops during moves
- Versatile Use: Multi-functional DVD storage box stores books, photos, DVDs and more, ideal for any space in your home
-
Barbie
Greta Gerwig’s brightly colored studio comedy takes its title character from an idealized world into a messy, recognizable one. Its pop spectacle carries questions about gender, identity, and the stories people tell about themselves.
-
The Holdovers
Alexander Payne’s winter-set comedy-drama brings together a strict teacher, a student, and a school cook who remain at a boarding school over the holidays. Its appeal lies in the gradually changing bonds among people who did not choose one another.
Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy. -
Asteroid City
Wes Anderson’s stylized ensemble film layers a desert-town story with a theatrical framing device. Its carefully composed images and deliberate construction make it a rewarding pick for viewers who enjoy seeing a film draw attention to its own artifice.
-
Fallen Leaves
Aki Kaurismäki’s spare, deadpan romance follows two lonely people trying to find connection in Helsinki. Its small gestures and dry humor give the film a warmth that never becomes sentimental.
-
All of Us Strangers
Andrew Haigh’s intimate drama follows a screenwriter whose encounters with a neighbor and with visions of his deceased parents unsettle the boundaries between memory and present life. It is a tender, dreamlike film about grief and the need to be understood.
-
The Boy and the Heron
Hayao Miyazaki’s animated fantasy follows a boy who enters a strange world after a family loss. Its shifting landscapes and creatures invite viewers into a story driven more by discovery and feeling than by simple explanation.
Crashes, No Sound, or Screen Glitches?
Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minutePC Slower Than It Used to Be?
A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.Rank #3
5 Film Collection Dirty Harry (DVD)- Shrink-wrapped
-
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
This animated sequel sends Miles Morales across a multiverse of Spider-people and clashing ideas about responsibility. Its varied visual styles make the expanding universe part of the film’s storytelling, not just its backdrop.
-
Passages
Ira Sachs’s relationship drama follows a filmmaker whose choices reshape the lives of his husband and a new partner. Its intimate scale and frank attention to desire make it an incisive portrait of people who cannot neatly control the consequences of their decisions.
-
American Fiction
Cord Jefferson’s satire follows a novelist who writes a deliberately provocative book as a rebuke to publishing expectations, only to see it succeed. The comedy takes aim at the market’s appetite for simplified ideas about identity and experience.
-
Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
Radu Jude’s formally restless film follows a production assistant driving around Bucharest to make a workplace safety video. Its sharp shifts in form and confrontational humor turn an ordinary assignment into a portrait of labor, media, and contemporary life.
Quick wins for a faster PC:
Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy. -
Showing Up
Kelly Reichardt’s understated drama follows an artist preparing for an exhibition while managing the practical irritations of daily life. It finds its stakes in the fragile balance between making art and simply getting through the day.
-
Close Your Eyes
Víctor Erice’s contemplative film revolves around the disappearance of an actor and the unfinished story left behind. Its patient approach makes memory, cinema, and the passage of time inseparable subjects.
Rank #4
Sale![Twilight Saga 5 Movie Collection [DVD]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/419OFYRowWL._SL160_.jpg)
Twilight Saga 5 Movie Collection [DVD]- The Twilight Saga Complete Movies Series 5 movie collection Boxed DVD Set
-
Saint Omer
Alice Diop’s courtroom drama follows a novelist observing the trial of a woman accused of killing her infant daughter. Rather than reduce the case to a mystery, the film attends to the distance between judgment, testimony, and comprehension.
-
How to Have Sex
Molly Manning Walker’s coming-of-age drama follows three British teenagers on a holiday in Greece. It explores friendship, sexual expectations, and consent through the uncertainty of a formative trip.
Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy. -
Return to Seoul
Davy Chou’s drama follows Freddie, a young woman adopted from Korea and raised in France, as she returns to Seoul and navigates questions of identity and family. Its central character’s unpredictability keeps the story from becoming a tidy account of homecoming.
-
La chimera
Alice Rohrwacher’s imaginative drama follows an English archaeologist drawn into a group of tomb raiders in rural Italy. It blends the material pursuit of buried objects with a more elusive longing for what has been lost.
-
Godzilla Minus One
Takashi Yamazaki’s Japanese monster film sets Godzilla’s devastation against a country already struggling to recover from war. Its human-scale story gives the spectacle a strong emotional and historical frame.
-
Beau Is Afraid
Ari Aster’s darkly comic odyssey follows a deeply anxious man on a journey to visit his mother. Surreal, sprawling, and often abrasive, it is an adventurous choice for viewers willing to follow a story that refuses conventional proportions.
Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.Best Value
Scream 6-Movie Collection- Scream 6 Movie Collection
- Product type: PHYSICAL MOVIE
-
The Delinquents
Rodrigo Moreno’s Argentine film begins with a bank employee’s plan to steal enough money to escape routine, then follows the strange consequences. Its relaxed pace and shifting focus let a crime premise become a meditation on freedom and time.
-
Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell
Phạm Thiên Ân’s contemplative Vietnamese drama follows a man returning to his rural hometown after a family death. Its patient images and spiritual questions offer a striking alternative to more plot-driven films.
-
Rotting in the Sun
Sebastián Silva’s dark comedy combines a self-aware version of its director with an uneasy disappearance story. Its abrasive humor and collision of fiction with a recognizable public persona make it one of the year’s more unconventional choices.
-
Tótem
Lila Avilés’s Mexican family drama unfolds around a young girl as relatives gather for her father’s birthday. The intimate, observant approach finds tenderness and tension in the bustle of a household.
Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsSpecial offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy. -
The Fabelmans
Steven Spielberg’s autobiographical drama follows a young aspiring filmmaker as he discovers both the power of cinema and the complications within his family. It is an affectionate account of how personal experience can become a way of seeing.
What the poll overlap does—and does not—show
Killers of the Flower Moon is the only title established here as topping both critics’ lists. The films immediately below it do not fall into one agreed order: Sight & Sound’s top five were Killers of the Flower Moon, The Zone of Interest, Past Lives, Poor Things, and Oppenheimer; IndieWire’s top five were Killers of the Flower Moon, Oppenheimer, Poor Things, Past Lives, and May December. That difference is why this list uses its own ordering rather than presenting either poll as definitive.
OFTA’s awards provide another perspective, not a substitute ranking. Its 2023 tally gave Oppenheimer 12 wins and Barbie four; Anatomy of a Fall, Poor Things, and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse received two each. Those results reflect that organization’s awards process.
How to use critic scores
Scores are snapshots, not stable properties of a film. On the Rotten Tomatoes guide snapshot reviewed for this article, critic scores were 95% for Past Lives, 92% for Poor Things, 96% for Anatomy of a Fall, 99% for Godzilla Minus One, and 91% for May December. These are mutable aggregator figures, not audience ratings or awards, and should be checked against the current guide before relying on them: Rotten Tomatoes’ movie guide.
Rotten Tomatoes’ Critics Consensus describes Past Lives this way: “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.” This is the site’s editorial consensus statement, not a quote attributed to a named critic.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
