What a peculiar year 2023 has been for movies. Two of the three Marvel Cinematic Universe movies that were released underperformed financially, and what was left of the DC Extended Universe seemingly sputtered out with the release of Aquaman 2. Meanwhile, three massive franchises (Mission Impossible, Fast & Furious, and Spider-verse) all got new movies that were largely just setup for sequels to come. That's before we mention the WGA and SAG-AFTRA labor actions that essentially closed the movie industry for months on end, leading to a large number of delays.

And yet, it was a great year for movies. What's more, it was a different year for movies. We got good video game adaptations, the supposed end of a major franchise, new films from Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, and Ridley Scott, the Ninja Turtles came back--oh, and Barbie happened.

With all that in mind, practically everywhere you look was a great movie to keep us company throughout 2023. In fact, there were so many great films, it was rather difficult for us to narrow down our Top 10 of the year. We did it, though. Take a look below at the 10 best movies of 2023, according to the staff at GameSpot, and check back tomorrow, December 21, to find out our pick for movie of the year.

Barbie

If 2023 was the year of anything, it was clearly Barbie. While a movie based on a fashion doll could have been a catastrophe (Hasbro is also behind the Transformers movies, which are, at their very best, not good). Instead, this delightful story of a woman getting the opportunity to decide who she wants to be when faced with a world that doesn't really care about her was the sort of cathartic experience we rarely see in movies.

People went to theaters dressed in costumes, saw it repeatedly, and were outright joyous at seeing Margot Robbie take on the role of the iconic doll role. It led to Barbie being the biggest movie of 2023, and it did it without having to tease sequels, spin-offs, or any kind of cinematic universe.

Barbie is a perfect storm of an excellent filmmaker (Greta Gerwig) and a wonderful cast (Robbie, Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, and so many more) coming together to turn what would otherwise be a crass cash grab into a story that matters and resonates with those that watch. What's not to love? -- Chris E. Hayner

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

Dungeons & Dragons fans had a very good 2023, the OGL fiasco and Wizard of the Coast layoffs notwithstanding. Not only did they get Baldur's Gate 3--GameSpot's Game of the Year--they also got the superb Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. Directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, the film has clear reverence and appreciation for the property, which makes sense when you remember Daley's Freaks and Geeks character loved playing D&D all those years ago.

What makes Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves so wonderful is that it works for both longtime D&D players and complete newcomers. It has lots of Easter eggs and jokes for players to appreciate, like a thinly veiled reference to a "short rest" when the adventuring party has a moment to gather at a campfire. But it also works as a crowd-pleasing adventure story that is free of complex nomenclature or lore that could confuse a greener viewer. By contrast, it makes the material so approachable that it may encourage viewers to try out D&D for themselves.

There are no ultra-dramatic and dark plotlines here, as--just like in most real D&D campaigns--everything is at least a little bit goofy all the time. Chris Pine's smart-talking and often-bumbling bard character serves as the perfect leader, taking point in a party composed of a whole bunch of more-powerful allies purely because he's charming. There is nothing more D&D than that. -- Gabe Gurwin

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

There have been a number of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies over the years, but none of them have resonated with audiences quite like the 1990 original film. That is, until 2023 saw a new take on the franchise from the likes of Seth Rogen and his band of filmmaking misfits.

Mutant Mayhem is the movie the Ninja Turtles franchise has desperately needed for years. It rechristens the characters for a new generation of fans. More importantly, though, is the type of fan it's directly reaching out to. For the first time, the turtles are portrayed as teenagers and voiced by them, as well. It's really the only time in the nearly 40-year history of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles that the word teenager feels genuine.

That's paired with an incredible animation style clearly influenced by the Spider-verse films and Mitchells vs. the Machines, an excellent voice cast, and a weird and exciting group of villains that largely had never featured in one of the movies. Here's hoping this is just the beginning of an expansive new franchise. -- Chris E. Hayner

Godzilla Minus One

Godzilla has been a lot of things over its 69 years of existence: It started as a metaphor for the bombs that destroyed Nagasaki and Hiroshima; it's transitioned into a superhero that's protected the planet; it's been used as satire to demonstrate the incompetence of Japan's government during the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami; and, of course, it's been a brawling brute to entertain audiences around the planet.

Godzilla Minus One falls into the metaphor category of Godzilla movies. However, to say Minus One is a film about Godzilla at all, feels almost reductive. Godzilla Minus One, more than any Godzilla film before it, is about humanity and the desire to keep living despite catastrophic odds, especially after your government has abandoned you.

Don't be mistaken, Minus One is a spectacle of special effects and Jaws-level monster cinema, but it's bookended with the harrowing ability to capture terror and devastation. The helplessness of watching a mushroom cloud form, as you wait for the shockwave to come knowing there's nowhere to run--this is a scene in Minus One that has been burned into my brain. It's horrific to watch.

But in its horror, Minus One paints a will to continue living and fighting, and does so by using themes of PTSD. Protagonist Koichi Shikishima is a WWII kamikaze pilot who did not fulfill his duty to take his own life in the name of his country in a war he was forced to fight. As a result, he is shackled with guilt and shame, even damned by people around him for not fulfilling his sworn duty. Godzilla isn't so much a representation of the bombs that ended the war, but rather the war that many of its soldiers continue to fight silently in their minds. For them, the war never ended. And in this case, Godzilla gives them the will to fight for closure.

Godzilla Minus One handles these themes with so much heart and elegance, finely balancing its action with its horror, all of which is built on the foundation of the need to keep living. It's a masterpiece in filmmaking and storytelling. It doesn't just stand as possibly the greatest Godzilla film ever made, but as one of the most important films this year. Minus One reminds us that the 69-year-old giant monster is still versatile and relevant, and that humanscanbe the foundation of its story, rather than a spectacle of destruction and special effects.-- Kurt Indovina

Oppenheimer

Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer feels like John Wayne watched a Ken Burns documentary and ran wild. That is not a bad thing. In principle, I appreciate the possibility of more non-pop summer movies in the theater in the future. Granted, I believe a huge piece of the film’s box office success has to do with a little Greta Gerwig indie project you may have heard of featuring a famous American doll.

Nolan's film is largely based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning 2005 biography American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin. The film focuses on the drama surrounding the birth of the atomic bomb leading up to the Trinity Test. As well as following the book's arc, which includes Oppenheimer's subsequent fall from grace (portrayed by Cillian Murphy). This is, of course, a darker part of Oppenheimer's life and provides the lens through which his earlier successes play out in Nolan's film. The music and sound are spectacular (and sometimes overwhelming), and nearly everything, including the performances, is expertly crafted. The film features a treasure trove of actors, including Robert Downey Jr, Kenneth Branagh, Jack Quaid, Florence Pugh, and Emily Blunt.

After watching this film, I couldn’t help but think of the 2022 Ana De Armas film: Blonde. Both have an incredible similarity in tone, structure (black/white transitions), and leaning heavily into horror and many David Lynch motifs. For a movie of this subject matter, I can’t help but come to the conclusion this is Nolan’s best work. Clocking in at three hours' running time, with many scenes featuring a bunch of guys sitting around talking about physics and defense strategy, Oppenheimer is the antithesis of what is usually deemed summer blockbusters. Yet, Nolan's skill in telling the story is such that it never seems to drag. -- Greg Martinez-Thomas

Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning - Part 1

Following up on what is arguably the best action movie since Mad Max: Fury Road is no easy task, and the ponderously titled Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One doesn't quite live up to that bar. However, failing to surpass such a great film is no real slight on Dead Reckoning. Despite the title, it does tell a largely satisfying story within the context of this movie, even if its baddie won't be dealt with until the next entry.

That story is a surprisingly timely one, dealing with the threat AI poses, albeit in the overly dramatic manner that sets up Tom Cruise to be super cool, just as you'd expect from the series. There's the usual shenanigans with masks, high-stakes missions with support provided by the always-delightful Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg, and some wild stunts. Cruise and company's commitment to incredible, practical stunts remains highly welcome and elevates the movie around them.

Further elevating Dead Reckoning is the terrific cast. In addition to the many returning faces, we get excellent newcomers, like Hayley Atwell and Esai Morales, the latter of whom wonderfully portrays the very clinical Gabriel. Mission: Impossible often fails to have memorable villains who can match the overall threat of the crisis at hand (MI3's Philip Seymour Hoffman notwithstanding), but Morales more than justifies his apparent two-movie arc here.

Cruise and director/writer Christopher McQuarrie have long since settled in on a formula that works, and at least for one more film, they've shown that it still works exceedingly well. -- Chris Pereira

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was, perhaps, the greatest start to a comic book movie franchise of all time. In fact, it might be the best superhero movie of all time. How does a sequel live up to that? For the follow-up, Across the Spider-Verse, the answer was to go bigger with everything.

Instead of the multiverse coming to Miles Morales, our young Spider-Friend goes to the multiverse, instead. We meet dozens of different Spider-People, reunite with some old friends, and even have a pair of really interesting villains in The Spot and Spider-Man 2099. The only thing hampering this movie is its open-ended conclusion--now we have to wait for the end of this incredible trilogy to see what happens. -- Chris E. Hayner

We knew wrapping up James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy was going to be emotional. After all, he doesn't even work for Marvel now. He's in charge of their rival DC Studios, which saw him move down the street (seriously, Warner Bros. and Walt Disney Studios are less than a mile apart). What we might not have expected, though, was how emotional it would be.

Vol. 3 is the best Guardians of the Galaxy film by a wide margin. Ostensibly telling the tragic tale of Rocket Raccoon's origin, it's a story of friendship, love, death, and moving forward with uncertainty. It's the perfect way to say goodbye to this ragtag team of misfits. The jokes and special character moments are all there, but they're wrapped into an epic story fitting of a concluding chapter for this excellent franchise. -- Chris E. Hayner

Talk To Me

A24 has made a name for itself not just as a film company that's able to infuse the mainstream movie scene with some arthouse vibes, but in particular, a standout name in horror movies. After the likes of Hereditary and Midsommar, Talk To Me became the latest scary story that A24 turned into an unsettling and poignant addition to the genre.

Talk To Me repurposes the oft-seen possession storyline for a young-at-heart and ultimately devastating ghost story that smartly depicts the foolishness of adolescence and, somehow, immense grief at the same time. As young party-goers toy with a possessed object they couldn't possibly understand, the creepy results serve as awesome viral videos for the likes of TikTok or Instagram, but as is so often the case in a ghost story, by the time it's understood exactly how dangerous such practices can be, it's too late.

Talk To Me is riveting throughout but lands its ending incredibly well. Whereas many so-called arthouse films like to end on an ambiguous ending, leaving people with its themes to wrestle more often than any sort of narrative closure, Talk To Me instead leans into a definitive--and definitively haunting--ending. It's a final moment that seems so obvious in retrospect, and yet it masterfully evades tipping its hand until the time is right, which makes its impact severe and unforgettable. -- Mark Delaney

John Wick: Chapter 4

Chad Stahelski and Keanu Reeves have been working together on the John Wick series for a decade at this point, and the confidence that long partnership has given them is on full display in John Wick 4. Long--and often exhausting--by design, as John rushes to do some High Table fine-print shenanigans to remove the price on his head, the movie occasionally feels like it's trying to do too much, but all is forgiven when it delivers action scenes this creative.

What other movie sees the action shift to a top-down shoot-'em-up perspective while characters blast at each other with incendiary rounds? What other movie sees--or hears, as it were--a blind assassin use motion-activated doorbells to locate his targets before sending them to Hell? All of this is, per the series' very high standards, done with as few camera cuts as possible. Minus the actors not, you know, actually dying, there aren't many movie-magic tricks here. It would genuinely be terrifying to fight Keanu Reeves.

John Wick 4 also continues, to glorious effect, the movies' excellent comedy-through-absurd approach to violence. John Wick fights up a staircase for what feels like an eternity, reaching the very top before tumbling back down like Andy Samberg falling through the forest in Hot Rod. A dog kills a guy and then pees on his body. John Wick gets hit by a car like 17 times. If you don't think that sounds like a great time, I don't know what to tell you. -- Gabe Gurwin