The 90 Must-See Movies of 2023 [Updated]

A lot is riding on 2023 being a marquee year, most everyone wants to see cinema bounce back from the current post-pandemic funk it’s been in these last three years.

One thing is for certain, there won’t be a shortage of big named directors vying to “save” le septieme art next year. They’ll be seen as the sctual superheroes, called upon to resuscitate an industry, and an art, that some believe is “dying.” I never believed that hyperbole.

Compared to the theater, music, painting (among many) mediums, the “movies” have only existed for 100 years, a fairly youthful art form and, if it’s shown anything all those years, it’s its resilience to continuously reinvigorate and surprise.

Next year will bring out all the stops with new films by Scorsese, Nolan, Glazer, Fincher, Scott, Miyazaki, Coppola, Mann, Allen, Coen, Polanski, Haynes, Aster, Payne, Nichols, Ramsay, Eggers and, from beyond the grave, Godard. Not to mention the possibility of having Yorgos Lanthimos and Wes Anderson release two films the same year.

Maybe Terrence Malick might have his “The Way of the Wind” ready by fall. We know it won’t be ready until then. Cannes is out of the picture, but maybe a big Venice splash?

We’ve included Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis” on this list, it’s still set to continue shooting until February/March, but maybe a December release could happen? I know, wishful thinking. I bet Coppola would want to wait it out until Cannes 2024.

Suffice to say, there’s a lot to look forward to. I had already found 80+ titles with potential and have decided not to narrow them down. The cream of the crop. Let us know if there are any titles missing deserving of the top 80. Maybe we can turn this into a top 100.

1) Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon”
2) Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer”
3) Wes Anderson’s “Asteroid City”
4) Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest”
5) David Fincher’s “The Killer”
6) Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things”
7) Ridley Scott’s “Napoleon”
8) Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis”
9) Steve McQueen’s “Blitz”
10) Hayao Miyazaki’s “How Do You Live?”

11) Ari Aster’s “Disappointment Blvd”
12) Michael Mann’s “Ferrari”
13) Todd Haynes’ “May/December”
14) Woody Allen’s “WASP22”
15) Jeff Nichols’ “The Bikeriders”
16) Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers”
17) Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie”
18) Lynne Ramsay’s “Stone and Mattress”
19) Robert Eggers’ “Nosferatu”
20) Ethan Coen’s Untitled Road Movie

21) Roman Polanski’s “The Palace”
22) Jean-Luc Godard’s “Scenario”
23) Alice Rohrwacher’s “La Chimera”
24) Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s “Kuru Otlar Üstüne”
25) Wes Anderson’s “Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar”
26) Yorgos Lanthimos’ “AND”
27) Bradley Cooper’s “Maestro”
28) Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla”
29) Christian Petzold’s “The Red Sky”
30) Richard Linklater’s “Hitman”

31) Terrence Malick’s “The Way of the Wind”
32) Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Two”
33) Paolo Sorrentino’s “Sue”
34) Duke Johnson’s “The Actor”
35) Sean Durkin’s “The Iron Claw”
36) Jeremy Saulnier’s “Rebel Ridge”
37) Pixar’s “Elemental”
38) Aki Kaurismaki’s “Fallen Leaves”
39) Joshua Oppenheimer’s “The End”
40) Brandon Cronenberg’s “Infinity Pool”

41) Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers”
42) Ben Affleck’s “Air Jordan”
43) Pablo Larrain’s “El Conde”
44) Ti West’s “MaXXXine”
45) Bertrand Bonello’s “The Beast”
46) Kitty Green’s “The Royal Hotel”
47) Catherine Breillat’s “Last Summer”
48) Abdherrane Sissako’s “The Perfumed Hill”
49) Christopher McQuarrie’s “Mission: Impossible 7”
50) Hirokazu Kore-eda’s “Monster”

51) Rose Glass’ “Love Lies Bleeding”
52) Alex Garland’s “Civil War”
53) Steven Soderbergh’s “Magic Mike’s Last Dance”
54) Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist”
55) James Mangold’s “Indiana Jones 5”
56) Andrew Haigh’s “Strangers”
57) Robin Campillo’s “École de l'air”
58) Bruno Dumont’s “The Empire”
59) Michel Franco’s “Memory”
60) William Oldroyd’s “Eileen”

61) Radu Jude’s “Do Not Expect too Much of the End of the World”
62) Taika Waittti’s “Next Goal Wins”
63) David Michod’s “Wizards”
64) Marielle Heller’s “NightBitch”
65) Cory Finley’s “Landscape With Invisible Hands”
66) Mike Mills’ “Untitled”
67) Lisandro Alonso’s “Eureka”
68) Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall”
69) Jessica Hausner’s “Club Zero”
70) Emerald Fennell’s “Saltburn”

71) M. Night Shyamalan’s “Knock at the Cabin”
72) Matteo Garrone’s “The Captain”
73) Ken Loach’s “The Old Oak”
74) John Carney’s “Flora and Son”
75) Maiwenn’s “La Favorite”
76) Nanni Moretti’s “Il sol dell'avvenire”
77) Marco Bellocchio’s “La Conversione”
78) Kirill Serebrennikov’s “Limonov”
79) Karim Ainouz “Firebrand
80) Gareth Evans’ “Havoc”

81) Ira Sachs’ “Passages”
82) Jane Schoenbrun’s “I Saw the TV Glow”
83) Victor Erice’s “In Ceres Los Ojos”
84) Liliana Cavani’s “L’ordine Del Temps”
85) Joachim Lafosse’s “Un Silence”
86) Kantemir Balagov’s “Butterfly Jam”
87) Joe Talbot’s “The Governess”
88) John Woo’s “Silent Night”
89) Angelina Jolie’s “Without Blood
90) Todd Solondz’ “Love Child”