The Best Movies of 2023: Editors’ Top 10s

If you’ve been paying close attention to Paste Magazine for the past month—or to the film-covering media at large as 2023 comes to a close—you’ll be sick to death of lists. Beneath that sickness, though, there might still be a lingering curiosity. “Sure, these might be the best movies of the year, but who picked ‘em, and do their tastes resonate with mine?” That’s a perfect place to be as a reader and moviegoer, because nothing makes criticism go down smoother than finding a critic you’re in sync with. Lists in a vacuum have their uses, but personal best-of ballots can serve as markers of camaraderie: The first signs of a productive, lasting, engaging creative relationship.

So, one final list for 2023, where I, your humble Movies Editor Jacob Oller, and my Associate Editor Jesse Hassenger, list out the 10 movies that moved us most over the year. We only crossed over on four films, which is a lot more in common than we usually have but still provides for decently diverse lists.

I hope you find something to rage against, to nod along vigorously with, or to desperately Google because you think “Hey, the rest of these were good, so I might as well trust these folks after all.” But if you end up blowing up a pipeline after watching one of my picks, I cannot be held legally liable for your actions (even if I do approve of them).