The best movies of 2023 so far

It’s only February, but it’s already been a great year at the movies.

We’ve had surprise box-office hits, strong genre fare, early awards contenders, and everything else in between. If the first two months of 2023 are any indication, it’s looking to be a fantastic year for cinema.

We’re launching our list of the best movies of 2023 in February, but we will continue to update it as the year goes along, adding our favorite movies as we catch up with them. This will become our final list at the end of 2019, with staff voting for the top movies.

For now, consider this a sampling platter — a rolling list that encapsulates the many different kinds of good movies that have been released this year, and the different tastes in movies we have on our staff. There’s plenty in here for any kind of movie watcher to enjoy.

Because this list is not ranked (yet), we’ll be listing the entries in reverse chronological order. The most recent release will appear first. Next, the next-most recent. Finally, we’ll list the entries in reverse chronological order. New additions will also be added to the list earlier. Because we’re thinking of you, dear reader.

Here are the top 20 movies from 2023, as well as where you can watch them. Enjoy!

Talk to me

Image: A24

Genre:Horror
Run time: 1h 34m
Directors: Danny Philippou, Michael Philippou
Cast: Sophie Wilde, Joe Bird, Miranda Otto, Alexandra Jensen

Talk to meThis is a comedy sketch that’s horror-movie meets comedy. It’s got a perfect premise, a brilliant turn you saw coming from the start but that hits even better than you expected, and it ends before it wears out its welcome. It helps that it’s also one of the most stylish and shocking horror movies of the last few years.

This film adds a new twist to traditional demonic possession stories. A handful of kids are given the ability to summon spirits from the dead. Like all good teens the children immediately start using possession as a party drug. As it turns out, if you don’t let the spirit overstay its welcome, you can ride the temporary high without losing control forever — all you have to do is drop the hand and you’re good. As you might imagine, someone eventually isn’t quite as precise with their timing as they should be.

Once the movie’s turn hits and a demon overstays its welcome, the film shows off a flash of brilliant violence, and filmmaking, and queasy makeup work at its absolute, stomach-churning best.

There are many things that can be done to alleviate the tension in your family, such as violent flashes, possession-party montages and ever-present violence. Talk to me’s brisk (just under 90 minutes before the credits roll) run time is up, it feels like you were one of the lucky kids who let go of the demon hand at exactly the right moment for the maximum high. —Austen Goslin

Talk to me Sundance premiered it and South by Southwest will show it. This movie is scheduled to be in theatres by the end of this summer.

Theater Camp

Image: Sundance Institute

Genre:Comedic Comedy
Run time: 1h 34m
Directors:Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman
Cast: Jimmy Tatro and Ben Platt; Molly Gordon; Noah Galvin

Great camp movies all about family and theater kids is one of the best. Theater Camp, the new movie from Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman, is well aware of this and plays its excellent (and specific) jokes to the cheap seats for an audience it knows has felt its characters’ pains and joys themselves.

Theater CampA mockumentary about the founder of a performance-art camp who falls ill. She then gives her camp to Troy (played by). American Vandal’s Jimmy Tatro. Troy, along with the crew of documentary makers who are following the camp introduce us to an adorable group of friends that find themselves in a strange place. Of course, the camp is losing money thanks to how much Troy’s mom was racking up debt to make everyone happy, and it’s up to Troy and the kids to save the camp with one big show.

Perhaps Theater Camp’s biggest strength is how expertly it walks the line of poking fun at its characters without ever laughing at them or letting us lose sympathy. It’s a movie full of theater people who all love what they do enough to realize the parts of it that deserve a little bit of playful mocking. Most importantly, by playing so far inside its own lane, with in-jokes aplenty, it still manages to hit broad enough comedy to pull laughs from someone who’s never set foot on a stage — thanks in large part to the ridiculous commitment of Jimmy Tatro.

What Theatre Camp understands best about its subjects, and what Tatro’s YouTuber character fits perfectly into, is that being a theater kid means never really leaving a stage. It’s all performance, whether it’s for an audience, your best friend, your campmates, or alone to yourself. And it doesn’t really matter if you’re laughing or crying, as long as you enjoyed the show. —AG

Theater CampSundance premiered it, while South by Southwest will feature it.

Polite Society

Focus Features Image

Genre:Action comedy
Run time: 1h 43m
Director: Nida Manzoor
Cast: Priya Kansara, Ritu Arya, Nimra Bucha

Imagine your sister has dropped out of art school — sure, OK, who hasn’t taken a break from their studies? Now imagine she’s also engaged to some jabroni she’s only known for a month. It’s a little more concerning, considering she used to be your partner in crime, there to encourage and film every new stunt move. Ria (Priyakansara) dreams of becoming a professional stuntwoman. She also loves her sister very much. Of course, the combination of those two things means she does what any of us would: plan a wedding heist to rescue her sister from what’s surely a fate worse than death.

Nida Makoor wrote and directed this film. Polite Society excels because it never feels like Ria’s mindset is wrong per se — in fact, it revels in it, overflowing with style and confidence. The movie jumps between genres and tones and makes it all look easy, melding the wedding prep comedy of Lena’s (The Umbrella Academy’s Ritu Arya) nuptials with Ria’s action thrill ride. A beauty regimen becomes a literal torture, while sister fights turn into knockdowns.

What Polite SocietyIt has heart. It doesn’t stick to one rhythm, but dances her way to the end of every thread in an unpredictably beautiful fashion. Ria’s story may be singular, but all of us can relate to the enthusiasm and care she brings to her life. (Even though the rest of us still struggle to do our flying reverse spinning kick. —Zosha Millman

Polite Society Premiered at Sundance, and will be available in theatres on April 28.

The Outwaters

Image: Cinedigm

Genre:Horror of found-footage
Run time: 1h 40m
Director: Robbie Banfitch
Cast: Robbie Banfitch, Angela Basolis, Scott Schamell, Michelle May

Found-footage movies don’t often feel like something new, which is exactly what makes The Outwaters so remarkable. Making trend-bucking films like Lake MungoOr the original Parametric Activity, The OutwatersThe genre is shaken enough to propel it to the dark cosmic center of terror.

The OutwatersA group of friends travels to the Mojave desert to shoot a music video. As the crew ventures farther and farther into the heat and sand, they eventually find something they shouldn’t have and realize it’s far too late for all of them. Until that point, however, they were successful. The OutwatersThe movie feels like a typical, slow-paced, found-footage horror film. The movie is a fast-paced, action-packed horror film that kicks off at the Mojave. It doesn’t stop breathing once it starts, which breaks the monotony of most genre films.

It is amazing how they did it! The OutwatersThe camera is used. The camera can be almost the center of attention in certain moments. For example, when the camera pans sideways and a character moves through the desert, they are holding the camera with their hands. Other times, the pretense of the camera feels like it melts away completely and we instead get eerie point-of-view shots, like the camera has momentarily melded with the eyes of the movie’s characters.

These scenes, which are often only lit by an inanimate flashlight, give the film a creepy cosmic dread. They combine found-footage classics with the sensation of being observed from the sidelines by someone you cannot see. This is complemented by the fact that you can never see what’s happening behind your back. The Outwaters’ outstanding effects and sound design, including slithering desert creatures and ominous creatures that feel like they’re emanating at once from outer space and the center of planet Earth. And that’s not to mention the movie’s copious and disgusting, but oh-so-effective, gore.

This may all sound like chaos, but it is part of the package. The Outwaters’ appeal too. Good found-footage horror transports you to the scene of something terrible, envelops you in the dread of the characters, and makes you feel like you’re part of their world. The best part about The Outwaters special is that it makes you feel like you aren’t part of any world at all. —AG

The Outwaters Digital rental and purchase available Amazon, Apple TVPlease see the following: Vudu.

Get in touch with the Cabin

Universal Pictures

Genre:Family drama (Shyamalan version)
Run time: 1h 40m
Director:M. Night Shyamalan
Cast:Dave Bautista. Jonathan Groff. Ben Aldridge. Rupert Grint

If you haven’t checked in with M. Night Shyamalan’s brand of earnest filmmaking in a minute, you might’ve missed that the guy’s been on a bit of a hot streak. For all the jokes that might be made about his twist endings, or his post-production struggles.Sixth sense years, An Old Version It was a joke, but it had wit. GlassThis trilogy, which has been in progress for years, was simply too ambitious to be finished.

Get in touch with the Cabin continues this run, and it’s some of his best direction in years — maybe primarily because it’s the first story in a while that’s felt like it can bear the weight of his skill. The family, which includes Kristen Cui, Ben Aldridge and Jonathan Groff suddenly finds themselves being held hostage in a secluded location by four men who insist that they can stop the Apocalypse only if their loved ones are willing to give up one member of the family. Shyamalan persists in his philosophical prodding. Get in touch with the CabinHe is grounded and controlled. In the cabin, he discovers angles that tell the entire story. He lingers on the emotions of the sadness to show the real horror. Each scene is rich and feels like a collection of visual stories that are woven into something very human.

The fact that I can yell at movies is what matters most to me (a person who enjoys yelling about movies) KnockIt is dense enough for scrutiny. The story is almost irrelevant if you find the ponderous and even unambiguous aspects of it appealing to your ears. Get in touch with the Cabin earns its place on this list because it is a rich showcase from a director totally in control of what he’s trying to say. —ZM

Get in touch with the Cabin The film is available in cinemas now. On February 21, it will be digitally available.

Infinity Pool

Image by Neon

Genre:Horror
Run time: 1h 57m
Director: Brandon Cronenberg
Cast: Alexander Skarsgård, Mia Goth, Cleopatra Coleman

Death doesn’t have to be real in the world of Infinity Pool, at least not if you’re rich enough to turn it into a fun night out. Brandon Cronenberg, the director of 2020’s stellar Possessor, sets his second movie in a world that’s seemingly just like ours, with the one exception of a little island nation called La Tolqa that survives off of tourism and a very strange legal code: If someone commits a crime on the island, they will either be killed by a person they have wronged, or they can pay for a clone of themselves, one with all their exact memories and emotions, to be created and killed in their place.

The film follows Alexander Skarsgård as a writer named James Foster who’s vacationing on this island with his wife, Em (Cleopatra Coleman), who’s also paying for everything. When James and Em meet a strange couple played by Mia Goth and Jalil Lespert, they quickly fall into a night of drinking, drunk driving, and sneaking out of the heavily guarded walls of the island’s vacation resort. When James accidentally kills a pedestrian, he gets thrown into the island’s legal system, where he has to watch himself die. But that’s just Cronenberg ramping up.

James eventually falls into a social circle so wealthy that they’ve started committing crimes just to watch themselves die, obscuring their own identities and the very concept of death so completely as to rob them of any meaning at all. Rather than let the movie sit with the unfathomable existential horror of watching a carbon copy of yourself die, and being forced to wonder if you’re still really you or whether or not you’d be able to tell the difference, Cronenberg uses this moment as a jumping-off point to dive headlong into the themes of identity and corporeal ownership that seem to obsess him — at least based on his first two movies.

Infinity PoolThe film is both a strange, even bizarre, glimpse into identity and the existentially terrifying movie of 2023. —AG

Infinity Pool Available for purchase digitally and in cinemas now Amazon, Apple TVGoogle Play Vudu.

JUNG_E

Image by Well Go USA

Genre: Action/sci-fi
Run time: 1h 38m
Director: Yeon Sang -ho
Cast: Kang Soo-yeon, Kim Hyun-joo, Ryu Kyung-soo

Yeon Sangho, a sci-fi director who is constantly in demand, touches on many branches of the genre such as apocalyptic literature ().Busan: Train, Hellbound) and superhero fiction (Psychokinesis). His most recent movie is JUNG_E, harkens back to even more classic science fiction touchstones: artificial intelligence, cloning, robots, and the commodification of people and bodies (with a side of the more modern “humans as data products”).

JUNG_EAfter the destruction of climate change, many humans are being sent to escape to space. These space colonies have seen two factions emerge, which have been fighting for many decades. Yeon chooses not to make a huge war film, but instead focuses on a smaller story. JUNG_E’s Benefit: A lonely scientist is given the task of creating the perfect soldier by cloning her mother’s brain. It’s a stirring performance from the late Kang Soo-yeon, who died before the release of the movie, one that requires her to interview versions of her mother before shutting them down for good.

Although his projects are not always as exciting as those of the past, they do provide some entertainment. JUNG_E This science-fiction action movie is very good. This movie is all about its design. The film features great mechanical creatures that are enhanced by amazing sound effects such as shifting gears or whirring machinery. Yeon’s animation background goes a long way to making this work, clearly aiding his ability to frame and integrate CG characters into the rest of JUNG_E’s environments. The film is also accompanied by banger fight scenes. This is always a bonus. —Pete Volk

JUNG_E You can watch it on Netflix.

You are missing

Image: Sony Pictures

Genre: Mystery
Run time: 1h 51m
Directors:Nicholas D. Johnson and Will Merrick
Cast: Storm Reid, Nia Long, Ken Leung

If Knives out has proven anything, it’s that people are hungry for mysteries on the big screen. You are missing — the spiritual sequel to 2018’s Looking for something? — is what people don’t know they’ve been looking for. It’s a web of clues, a mess of mystery, all played within the computer screen of June (Storm Reid), who’s left to figure out what happened when her mom (Nia Long) doesn’t return from a vacation with her boyfriend.

Where Looking for something?The mystery of the father’s struggle with modern technology was revealed in this film. You are missing flips the script, using June’s more natural understanding of the internet to complicate her investigation. It’s smart — suddenly June and the audience are getting pulled down a rabbit hole with knowing suggestion. And because she’s more fluent in the ways of the computer, the mystery gets to be more complex.

Sure, You are missing can strain the credulity of the whole exercise, but here’s the thing: I don’t care. I don’t care! June should be allowed to employ a foreign person to help her scout for security footage. Or, she can leave FaceTime open in the background to see it. When you accept the needs of the story, you will see how it works. You are missing works from start to finish: It’s twisty and fun, smarter than it needs to be as it remixes the desktop-based tropes of Looking for something?It is possible to create an engagingly-paced mystery using both the mystery genre in general and part of it. Movies that feel big and fleshy are what the mystery genre needs. And whether it’s splashed across the big screen or just a computer one, You are missingThe team manages its highest level of performance. —ZM

You are missing Available in Theaters Now The film will also be digitally available by March 7.

Broker

Image: CJ E&M

Genre: Crime dramedy
Run time: 2h 9m
Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda
Cast:Song Kangho, Gang Dongwon. Bae Doona. Lee Jieun

Shoplifters is one of my favorite movies of the 2010s, so it makes sense that I would be similarly susceptible to Hirokazu Kore-eda’s newest found-family movie, Broker.

Kore-eda’s second production outside of Japan (following 2019’s French production The Truth), Broker Another story is about people who, without any ill intention, commit crimes in order to survive. This time, it’s two men (Song Kang-ho and Gang Dong-won) who sell babies dropped off at a church’s baby box on the adoption black market. Lee Ji-eun, known also as the singer IU, changes her mind about her plans and goes back to pick up her baby. However, she discovers their plot and is entangled.

The result is a sometimes messy depiction of a series of weighty concepts: The impossible expectations of motherhood in a society that doesn’t adequately provide support, the way children are treated as objects instead of people with autonomy, and of the many different forms family units can take. But it’s not the narrative that draws me to Broker. Instead, it’s Kore-eda’s camera, aided by master cinematographer Hong Kyung-pyo (Parasite, The art of burning). Broker is a breathtaking movie, contrasting gorgeous seaside images with cramped car interiors, and often shooting Lee’s character Moon So-young wide with empty space around her or close with her face obscured, highlighting her isolation from the world around her. Kore-eda’s cinematic blocking is among the best we have, and is displayed in stunning fashion. Broker.

Also, the performances of the cast are outstanding and stand out. Broker special. Song Kang-ho and Bae Doona reunite for the fourth time (and the first since 2018’s The drug king), delivering electrifying performances — Song as another shifty, funny schemer who is in way over his head, and Bae as a hard-headed cop pursuing them on the road. But it’s Lee Ji-eun who steals the show as So-young, with a fierce intelligence and hardened worldview concealed by a veneer of youthful innocence. One very cute baby. This is a great idea. —PV

Broker Available for purchase or digital rental Feb. 21,

Sick

Image by Miramax/Outerbanks Entertainment

Genre:Horror
Run time: 1h 23m
Director:John Hyams
Cast: Gideon Adlon, Bethlehem Million, Dylan Sprayberry

This April 2020 period piece is slick (remember wiping cereal boxes down?) From one of our most under-recognized directors. Sick Another solid entry in this genre was the COVID Slasher.

SickAt the outbreak of COVID-19, two close friends set out to visit a cabin hidden in the forest. The one who is going to quarantine will be able to protect her at-risk father from contracting the disease. One just wants to be free from school. The two start receiving creepy text messages and a visitor comes to change the character of their escape.

John Hyams, director of Direct-to-Video is an expert at creating tension. This can be seen in the acclaimed direct-to video masterpiece. Day of Reckoning: Universal SoldierNot only that, but in many other lesser-known works such as the Netflix Zombie Show. Black Summer And the thrilling Alles by itself. That energy is his. Sick, and it’s much to the movie’s benefit — eschewing music in favor of natural eerie sounds like buzzing electricity to heighten the anxiety in the movie.

Hyams’ background in action also helps — there are some gnarly kills in this movie, with a standout fight scene in a dorm room in the beginning. We see some of his one-take shots in the film. SickAs well.

I find the COVID stuff to be a bit elusive. Sick — some of it works, some of it doesn’t — but what’s undeniable is the craft on display. Hyams’ action sequences and penchant for building tension move the story along at a brisk pace, and it’s a nice movie to look at — even the night scenes are lit well, which is a lesson some other recent horror movies could take some notes from. Another thing some other movies could take notes on: It’s 83 minutes long. —PV

SickYou can watch it online Peacock.

Thunivu

Image by Zee Studios

Genre:Crime thriller
Run time: 2h 26m
Director:H. Vinoth
Cast: Ajith Kumar, Manju Warrier, Samuthirakani

Do you get tired of action heroes who are snarky or lack relatability? Looking for something closer to the larger-than-life action heroes of the Hollywood days of yore, who seemed to define “cool”? Take a look at ThunivuA delightful Tamil-language movie about heists featuring one of the most ruthless bank robbers that you’ll ever see.

ThunivuA group criminals plan an intricate bank job with the help of miniatures. They’ve thought of everything: the timing, the location, having an inside man, and the escape. But they couldn’t plan for Dark Devil, a master operative who is already there, also planning to rob the bank.

Thunivu takes on this big-time bank robbery from all angles: the robbers (and there are many), the police, the corporate executives, the government, the public, the media — you name it, it plays a significant role.

There are many of Thunivu It takes place within the bank with many exciting action sequences. It sets the stage for the movie with its opening plan sequence. The film uses miniatures to give the audience an understanding of the location and flies the camera through each room. This makes it easy to keep track when it gets chaotic.

The action is strong, too — there are impressive stunts and lots of explosions, and Thunivu To enhance the stylized action, you can use wirework, slow-motion effects and lively camera movements. Like any good heist tale, Thunivu Slowly, narrative complications are unravelled to reveal schemes after schemes that keep the audience guessing.

The movie’s star Ajith Kumar is the true heartbeat. He brings a level of charm and swagger to the dark-haired Dark Devil. (He comes by it honestly, too — he previously took a sabbatical from acting to try his hand at being a professional race car driver, and even competed in Formula 2). Always smiling, always confident, always in control, we’re introduced to him in an explosive manner that quickly sells us on both his charm and his hyper-competence with violence. It’s a true movie star performance, and one that Thunivu It successfully attaches its wagon to. —PV

Thunivu You can watch it on Netflix.

M3GAN

Universal Pictures

Genre:Horror
Run time: 1h 42m
Director: Gerard Johnstone
Cast:Allison Williams, Violet McGraw and Amie Donald

The anxiety about AI art, AI writing, and AI just overall ingesting everything humans create and then spitting it all back out again in new forms has hit a fresh high in 2023, which makes it a good year for a fresh take on the tired old “new technology is inevitably scary and evil” horror trope. As the evil AI from Chucky films goes. M3GANThis is quite entertaining and refreshingly humorous. It’s also fairly scary. Allison Williams stars as the tech whiz who’s so unnerved by being granted guardianship over her dead sister’s kid that she builds that kid a robot companion to handle all the difficult aspects of parenting. But then, the robot goes protective. Akela Cooper scripted it with the same shamelessly chaotic, exuberant verve that she brought to. Malignant, M3GAN isn’t deathless, uplifting cinema. But it’s an unabashed good time for horror fans, who will catch the referential humor and wink-wink acknowledgements to the silliness of this whole endeavor, and then get some solid thrills out of the action to boot. —Tasha Robinson

M3GAN Digital rental and purchase available Amazon, Apple TVGoogle Play Vudu.