A Glean movie guide
The Best of 2023
2023's Definitive Watchlist
From Oscar winners to indie darlings, these are the year's most acclaimed achievements.
Handpicked for this guide
The movie list
- 01
Past Lives
A quiet, beautiful exploration of love and destiny that earned near-perfect critical scores.
After decades apart, childhood friends Nora and Hae Sung are reunited in New York for one fateful weekend as they confront notions of destiny, love, and the choices that make a life.
- 02
Oppenheimer
A masterful biographical thriller that dominated the cultural conversation and the Oscars.
The story of J. Robert Oppenheimer's role in the development of the atomic bomb during World War II.
- 03
Anatomy of a Fall
A gripping courtroom drama that keeps you guessing until the very last frame.
A woman is suspected of her husband's murder, and their blind son faces a moral dilemma as the sole witness.
- 04
The Zone of Interest
A chillingly detached look at the banality of evil, featuring groundbreaking sound design.
The commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Höss, and his wife Hedwig, strive to build a dream life for their family in a house and garden next to the camp.
- 05
Killers of the Flower Moon
Martin Scorsese delivers a haunting, epic crime drama about a dark chapter in American history.
When oil is discovered in 1920s Oklahoma under Osage Nation land, the Osage people are murdered one by one—until the FBI steps in to unravel the mystery.
- 06
Poor Things
A visually stunning and wildly original odyssey powered by a career-best performance.
Brought back to life by an unorthodox scientist, a young woman runs off with a lawyer on a whirlwind adventure across the continents. Free from the prejudices of her times, she grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation.
- 07
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
A breathtaking achievement in animation that pushes the boundaries of visual storytelling.
After reuniting with Gwen Stacy, Brooklyn’s full-time, friendly neighborhood Spider-Man is catapulted across the Multiverse, where he encounters the Spider Society, a team of Spider-People charged with protecting the Multiverse's very existence. But when the heroes clash on how to handle a new threat, Miles finds himself pitted against the other Spiders and must set out on his own to save those he loves most.
- 08
The Holdovers
A warm, witty, and perfectly acted throwback to the character-driven dramedies of the 1970s.
A curmudgeonly instructor at a New England prep school is forced to remain on campus during Christmas break to babysit the handful of students with nowhere to go. Eventually, he forms an unlikely bond with one of them — a damaged, brainy troublemaker — and with the school’s head cook, who has just lost a son in Vietnam.
- 09
The Boy and the Heron
Hayao Miyazaki’s hand-drawn masterpiece is a surreal and deeply personal meditation on grief.
While the Second World War rages, the teenage Mahito, haunted by his mother's tragic death, is relocated from Tokyo to the serene rural home of his new stepmother Natsuko, a woman who bears a striking resemblance to the boy's mother. As he tries to adjust, this strange new world grows even stranger following the appearance of a persistent gray heron, who perplexes and bedevils Mahito, dubbing him the "long-awaited one."
- 10
Godzilla Minus One
A rare monster movie that balances spectacular destruction with a powerful human story.
In postwar Japan, Godzilla brings new devastation to an already scorched landscape. With no military intervention or government help in sight, the survivors must join together in the face of despair and fight back against an unrelenting horror.
- 11
American Fiction
A sharp, hilarious satire of the publishing industry and racial stereotypes in modern media.
A novelist fed up with the establishment profiting from "Black" entertainment uses a pen name to write a book that propels him into the heart of hypocrisy and the madness he claims to disdain.
- 12
Barbie
Greta Gerwig transforms a toy icon into a vibrant, thoughtful, and record-breaking phenomenon.
Barbie and Ken are having the time of their lives in the colorful and seemingly perfect world of Barbie Land. However, when they get a chance to go to the real world, they soon discover the joys and perils of living among humans.