The movie theater experience returned in 2023 – well at least for a little while.

The cultural phenomenon of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” (known as “Barbieheimer”) created a huge box office boom in mid-summer, but that momentum was quickly halted by the writers’ and actors’ strike, which caused studios to shuffle the release schedule moving some of the most anticipated films of 2023 into 2024.

Still, with the fall of uncertainty came a wealth of quality that, along with some early 2023 gems, added up to a rather strong year for cinema that both entertained the challenged audiences.

The year was so strong that films like “Barbie,” “Blackberry,” “The Color Purple,” “May December” and “American Fiction” made an impact, but didn’t quite crack my top 25. 

Here are my picks for the best films of 2023.

1. The Holdovers

Director Alexander Payne and actor Paul Giamatti reunite for an old school character study that is pretty special. A tale of loneliness and isolation that features three strong performances from Giamatti, Da’Vine Randolph and newcomer Dominic Cessa.

It’s that rare film where Payne allows the audience to get immersed in this story and really get to know the lead characters.

2. Poor Things

The latest from director Yorgos Lanthimos is a darkly comedic spin on the “Frankenstein” tale that is anchored by career best work from Emma Stone.

It’s wildly original, very funny and full of surprises at every turn – including Mark Ruffalo’s wonderful turn that is a complete 180 from anything he has done previously in his career.

3. Bottoms

The laugh out loud funniest movie of 2023 is a generational teen comedy – the kind of film that will be talked about and appreciated for years to come.

Writer/director Emma Seligman follows up her stellar debut “Shiva Baby” with a tale of two high school seniors (Rachel Sennott, who co-wrote the film, and Ayo Edebiri) who start a fight club to impress the school’s cheerleaders.

It’s all as absurd as it sounds, with sharp, dark humor and the funniest performance of 2023 from retired NFL running back Marshawn Lynch.

4. Past Lives

A confident piece of storytelling from first time writer/director Celine Song that leaves a lasting impression long after the lights have come up.

This is a beautiful story about love and fate that features wonderful work from Greta Lee as a woman who immigrated from South Korea as a little girl who is reunited with her first crush Hae Sung (Teo Yoo). It’s poignant and insightful about relationships, just a beautiful film.

5. Killers of the Flower Moon

Martin Scorcese’s compelling historical drama that sheds light on a dark moment in U.S. history – the murder of many in the Osage Nation in the 1920s after oil was discovered on their Oklahoma land.

Lily Gladstone may be on the way to a well-deserved Oscar as Lillie, a member of the Osage nation who marries Ernest (Leonardo DiCaprio) – a man who may have other motives for the relationship.

6. Anatomy of a Fall/The Zone of Interest

I put these two films together because they both signaled the breakout year for actress Sandra Huller.

In “Anatomy” she plays a woman accused of killing her husband. It’s a film that is part study of a broken relationship and part top notch courtroom drama.

“The Zone of Interest” is one of the more unsettling films of 2023 with Huller playing the wife of a German officer who lives a mundane life with their family against the backdrop of Auschwitz concentration camp just over the wall of the family’s home. Director Jonathan Glazer stages this masterfully with the unspeakable horror left unseen, but still a major presence throughout the film.

7. Oppenheimer

The aforementioned Christopher Nolan film about the creator of the atomic bomb. It’s a fascinating character study with a stellar cast anchored by a career-best performance from Cillian Murphy that only adds to Nolan’s increasingly spectacular resume.

8. Air

In a year that also featured strong docu-dramas about the blackberry and the tetris video game, this was the best of the lot – director Ben Affleck’s seemingly effortlessly entertaining story about Nike’s quest to sign Michael Jordan to a shoe deal.

It was smart, funny and an absolute blast with a stacked cast that really dug into the meaty material.

9. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Part 1

The follow-up to the 2018 smash “Into the Spider-Verse” might be the best Spider-Man film to date. It’s a wonderful sequel that builds off the incredibly high bar set by the first film and manages to at least match that bar – perhaps exceed it.

10. You Hurt My Feelings

Writer/director Nicole Holofcenter reunites with Julia Louis-Dreyfus in a very funny story of an author whose marriage is put to the test when she overhears her husband give an honest assessment of her latest novel.

It’s the kind of adult comedy that has seen a bit of a decline with the recent surge in direct to streaming releases. Here’s hoping that we get more films like “Feelings” in 2024 and beyond.

And while that is the best of the best, I can’t go without some praise for a handful of films that just missed the cut. My honorable mention (in alphabetical order).

All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt, Asteroid City, Beyond Utopia, Dumb Money, Godzilla Minus One, The Iron Claw, John Wick 4, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One, Nyad, Polite Society, The Teachers’ Lounge, Theater Camp, A Thousand and One.