The 8 Best Movies of 2023, Ranked

Every movie here scored 9.1 or higher. Nothing is bad. The order is where the arguments start, and the numbers made the call, not me.

#1 has no explosions, no courtroom, no monster. And it still won.

1. 8
   The Taste of Things (2023)9.1

   The slowest movie here, and the most delicious one.

   Binoche and Magimel cook like it's a contact sport. 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, only $10.5 million worldwide. Most people skipped a masterpiece and ate cereal instead.
2. 7
   Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)9.1

   Tom Cruise jumped off a mountain and only got seventh.

   A CinemaScore and a 9.1 score, sure. But a reported $291M budget against $571 million worldwide, and it's half a story. Part One is doing a lot of work.
3. 6
   Sing Sing (2023)9.3

   The best acting of 2023 came from a $2M budget.

   Colman Domingo leads a prison theater troupe and Clarence Maclin steals scenes. 97% on Rotten Tomatoes and just $3.1 million domestic. You owe it a rental.
4. 5
   All of Us Strangers (2023)9.3

   The saddest movie on this list, and it isn't close.

   Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal, a 90 on Metacritic, $4.1 million domestic. Bring tissues. Then bring the backup box you thought you wouldn't need.
5. 4
   Godzilla Minus One (2023)9.3

   A monster movie with better human drama than most Oscar bait.

   99% on Rotten Tomatoes, the highest on this list, and $57 million domestic with subtitles. Hollywood's giant lizard movies should be taking notes in the back row.
6. 3
   Anatomy of a Fall (2023)9.3

   The best courtroom movie in years, made for pocket change.

   Sandra Hüller makes you flip your verdict every scene. A reported $6.7M budget, $36 million worldwide, and 239,635 IMDb voters still arguing about it.
7. 2
   Oppenheimer (2023)9.3

   The biggest movie here, and it still only got silver.

   $975.8 million worldwide, 8.2 on IMDb from over 1.1 million votes. Nolan turned physicists in meetings into a global event. Somehow, that wasn't enough.
8. 1
   Perfect Days (2023)9.4

   A man cleaning toilets beat Oppenheimer. Fight me.

   Kōji Yakusho cleans Tokyo public toilets and plays cassettes. That's the plot. A 9.4 movie.guru score, best of 2023, on $28 million worldwide. Quiet won.

$1,341 says somebody types 'Oppenheimer got robbed' in the comments within the hour.

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Current mood: ready to fight about it