The 10 best movies of 2023: ‘Oppenheimer,’ ‘Saltburn’ and more

What a weird year at the movies.

A trademarked doll (“Barbie”) went head-to-head with a theoretical physicist (“Oppenheimer”).

During the simultaneous Screen Actors Guild and Writers Guild of America strikes, the sagging box office was boosted, like NFL ratings and the economy of East Rutherford, New Jersey, by Taylor Swift.

Marvel Studios, which used to be the surest thing in Hollywood, began to underperform (“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania”) and then downright flop (“The Marvels”).

And DC was revealed to actually stand for Dud Central, with all of the studio’s comic-book films of 2023 (“Shazam! Fury of the Gods,” “The Flash” and “Blue Beetle”) turning out to be financial failures.

In a win for Gen Z, studio execs determined Zendaya’s star wattage is so huge now that two of her movies — “Dune: Part 2” and “Challengers” — were delayed a year due to the strikes, so she can promote them to her hoards of fans. 

And baby boomers were dinged by the big-time tanking of the nostalgic “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” starring a now 81-year-old Harrison Ford who schlepped around New York and Europe.

Despite all the madness — and a sea of schlock — some excellent films hit theaters this year. 

‘Oppenheimer‘

The best of all was Christopher Nolan’s gargantuan “Oppenheimer,” a box office hit whose $950 million take was made all the more remarkable by its morally complex subject matter — the creation of the atomic bomb. 

Nolan has proved time and again (even with Batman) that he can combine smarts and entertainment into a riveting whole. But he’s outdone himself this time, miraculously getting moviegoers to scramble to secure an Imax ticket to a prestige picture about a scientist. I still can’t believe it.

While the director is certainly the star attraction here, Cillian Murphy, as the title character, and Robert Downey Jr., as a conniving politician, do some of the finest work of their careers.

‘Killers of the Flower Moon‘

At 81 years old, director Martin Scorsese can’t stop making phenomenal movies. And with age has come even greater pathos. 

“Flower Moon,” which concerns the 1920s murders of Native Americans of the Osage Nation to rob them of their oil-rich land, has a lot of Marty staples we’ve come to expect — epic length, gruesome violence, shades of organized crime, Leonardo DiCaprio. 

More surprising, though, is the stewing agony of wronged Mollie, shatteringly played by Lily Gladstone, and the intriguing question of, “Why does she stay with this guy?” “Flower Moon” is, at once, absorbing and devastating, subtle and gigantic.  

‘Past Lives‘

Here’s one to watch on a rainy Sunday with a pint of Ben & Jerry’s. 

This wise-beyond-its-years romantic dramedy, written and directed by Celine Song, was the first critical hit of 2023 after it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January. But, like the early childhood crush the story depicts, the deep-feeling movie has forcefully stuck in the minds and hearts of anyone who has seen it. 

The sublime film is about two young South Korean sweethearts who are split up when one moves from Seoul to Canada (and eventually New York). As adults (the perfect Greta Lee and Teo Yoo), they reunite decades later in Manhattan and . . . I’m not crying, you’re crying!

‘Air‘

It was the year of product movies. “Flamin’ Hot” told the story of our favorite spicy Cheetos, and the very good “BlackBerry,” with Canadian “I’m sorry” charm, depicted the rise and fall of the first smartphone. 

My favorite, though, was “Air” in which a Nike exec (Matt Damon) concocts the risky idea to create a shoe for a rising basketball star named Michael Jordan. 

Yes, director Ben Affleck’s film is an underdog story about footwear. But it also addictively connects so many facets of American culture — sport, fashion, celebrity, race, business — and finds the soul in soles.

‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse‘

The best Marvel movies these days are animated — and not made by Disney. 

Sony’s second “Spider-Verse” flick, following the multiverse adventures of Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore), proved as rip-roaring and ingeniously designed as the first and blended many different styles (comic book, Claymation, CGI) in eye-popping ways.

In the same 12 months that Disney had clunkers in “Wish” and Pixar’s “Elemental,” “Across the Spider-Verse” pushed the boundaries of what cartoons can look like and narratively achieve. 

‘Saltburn‘

Emerald Fennell’s fabulous follow-up to “Promising Young Woman” has somehow become more controversial and polarizing than her 2020 #MeToo revenge saga. 

Why? Maybe because it satirizes the rich but falls short of denouncing them. Nobody here, wealthy or working class, is a saint. That’s what thankfully keeps it from being an essay on social status.

Or perhaps some tut-tutters are appalled by a few of the shocking moments that occur inside and outside this stately home in England. If you’ve seen it, you know what I’m talking about.

But the film, starring a fantastic Barry Keoghan as a university student who moves in with his upper-crust pal (Jacob Elordi), pries open your eyelids with exciting, lush style. And its delicious wrap-up is far more fun and clever than most mysteries are these days. 

‘The Holdovers’

In the best possible way, Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers” is the sort of endearing, retro comedy that would’ve been a huge hit in the 1990s — with flawed, disenchanted adults bonding with a teen outcast. You leave the theater (or your couch) with a feeling of “they don’t make ’em like this anymore” because, for better or worse, they really don’t.

Set in a New England boarding school during the 1970s, Paul Giamatti plays a miserly professor with broken dreams who forms an unlikely friendship with a rebellious student (Dominic Sessa, wonderful) over Christmas break.

Da’Vine Joy Randolph, as the campus cook who suffered a tragedy, keeps getting better and better.

‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One’

Tom Cruise’s latest was no “Top Gun: Maverick” at the box office. 

But the “Mission: Impossible” series remains the best action franchise out there, thanks to genuinely terrifying stunts, a great sense of humor and a stable of memorable supporting actors, such as Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg and Vanessa Kirby. “Dead Reckoning Part One” (the worst thing about it is its kooky name) is as adrenaline-fueled as ever.

In a smart move, Part Two is reportedly going to be simply called “Mission: Impossible 8.”

‘The Color Purple‘

This affirming movie-musical, based on the Broadway show, boasts two assets that Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story” remake in 2021 lacked: heart and a brilliant star. 

She’s Fantasia Barrino, the “American Idol” winner who takes on the role of Celie that Whoopi Goldberg so memorably played in Spielberg’s non-singing version in 1985. Barrino is way more than a splendid belter — she sings with the same vulnerability with which she acts.

The actress is joined by the equally excellent Danielle Brooks as Sofia, who sings the defiant “Hell No!” Their perfect-for-the-holidays movie gets a full-throated “Hell Yes!”

‘Radical’

If you liked “Ted Lasso” — the early seasons anyway — the moving indie “Radical” is for you.

The Spanish-language film is a real-life story about a struggling school in Mexico whose fortunes improve when an unconventional, highly lovable teacher (played by Eugenio Derbez) arrives and uses strange, tests-be-damned methods to enliven his struggling students.

There have been many inspirational professor stories over the years. However, this one’s basis in reality and the difficult circumstances faced by its impossibly young kid characters make “Radical” stand out.