It’s almost time for us to bid adieu to summer 2023 and head into the fall months, but it’s not too late for us to rank some of the best things we’ve seen in the summer months.
Ranging from May to August, these films stood head and shoulders above the competition and really made this summer at the movies such a rewarding experience.
From bold historical epics to incredibly fun stories with familiar faces, moviegoers had plenty to choose from at the multiplex. “Barbenheimer” alone made this one of the most singular summers we’ve had in a while.
Let’s count down the best things we saw this summer and why you should absolutely seek these films out if you’ve not already seen them.
10. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
While the latest Spider-Verse movie might’ve lacked the original’s freshness and sense of completion, it more than made up for that with some of the most stunning animation of the millennium and a grounded story that looks to push this series into some fascinating directions in the future.
T-9. Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part 1
One of the more purely thrilling films of the year so far, the latest Mission: Impossible pushed past some wonky plot devices to mount some of the series’ most impressive action set pieces we’ve gotten yet. The Italy car chase, the Abu Dhabi airport scene and the big trainbound finale are just impossibly fun and mind-blowingly rendered. It’s always great to have Ethan Hunt.
T-9. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Indiana Jones’ latest adventure withstood the departure of filmmaker Steven Spielberg from the director’s chair and delivered a thrilling, contemplative adventure that sends off everyone’s favorite globetrotter with style and heart.
8. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
In one of the biggest surprises of the year so far, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles usurp a shaky theatrical history to deliver what’s assuredly the strongest film that’s ever been made about these martial arts-ready, pizza-munching teenage turtle mutants. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s additions to the script really help center the plot on some surprisingly resonant, sticky themes, while director Jeff Rowe brings his Lord/Miller influence to the table with the expressive animation style. This is a movie to say cowabunga for.
7. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
James Gunn didn’t leave any stones unturned in his Guardians of the Galaxy finale, which is easily the strongest Marvel film since Avengers: Endgame. The film goes into some incredibly dark territories to explore the fragile-yet-powerful bonds of families and gave these wisecracking superheroes the kind of ending they deserved, at least in the assembly we’ve been used to seeing.
6. They Cloned Tyrone
A delightfully smart, outrageously inventive social satire that evokes films like They Live and Get Out, They Cloned Tyrone is a headrush of powerful ideas, astute characterization and incredibly witty homage to the Blaxploitation movement of the 1970s. Juel Taylor establishes himself as a filmmaker to watch, and he gets fantastic performances from John Boyega, Jamie Foxx, Teyonah Parris, David Alan Grier and Kiefer Sutherland.
5. Asteroid City
Wes Anderson’s brilliant dramedy about stories, loss and the unknown, Asteroid City is one of the auteur’s finest films and utilizes its deep ensemble to perfection. You can’t wake up if you don’t go to sleep, the film argues. It plunges the viewer into a cathartic vision of how we move on from tragedy and how we learn to accept the mystery while still continuing to tell the story.
4. Barbie
Greta Gerwig’s sensational imagining of the Barbie toy has turned into one of the biggest summer movies of all time, and for good reason. It’s an outrageously fun comedy with a lot on its mind, built on Gerwig’s sharp direction, a whip-smart script and two magnetizing turns from Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling. The “I’m Just Ken” musical number might be the single most enjoyable scene in a movie this year so far.
3. Past Lives
One of the most emotionally devastating “almost romances” we’ve gotten in ages, Celine Song’s Past Lives is a tour-de-force, anchored by three astounding performances from Greta Lee, Teo Yoo and John Magaro and some spellbinding cinematography from Shabier Kirchner. Song established herself as a force to be reckoned with in the filmmaking world with this one.
2. BlackBerry
BlackBerry has been called the Canadian Social Network, and it’s hard to argue with that assessment. Filmmaker Matt Johnson’s rise-and-fall epic of the BlackBerry phone absolutely nails the zeitgeist of its time, and it also tells a timeless parable of unchecked ego and ethical avoidance in the name of corporate success. Glenn Howerton delivers perhaps the supporting performance of the year so far as Jim Balsillie, a hockey-obsessed corporate vulture who reaffirms the unavoidable truth that Waterloo is absolutely where the vampires hang out. This films is darn special.
1. Oppenheimer
Christopher Nolan’s best film since The Dark Knight, Oppenheimer is one of the great American epics and an absolute jolt of filmmaking and storytelling. A true tragedy in every sense of the word, Nolan hinges his latest masterpiece on Cillian Murphy’s gutting turn as J. Robert Oppenheimer and the descent his soul takes into the creation of humankind’s greatest folly. Heightened by some of the most eye-opening craft of the decade, a perfect script and the deepest supporting cast in years, Oppenheimer is a generational achievement that Nolan has been building to for his entire career.
