My list of the 10 best movies of 2023 — and the 10 worst

Why do critics write top 10 lists at the end of the year?

For me, it’s an organizing system – a way to summarize the year we’ve just experienced, and think back on the truly great films.

So why write a list of the bottom 10 movies?

Sure, making a movie is a difficult endeavor — if it were easy, everybody would do it — and everyone goes in with the best of intentions. No filmmaker goes into the process planning to make a bad movie.

But for me, as a critic, listing the worst movies of the year is cathartic and therapeutic. It’s a cleansing, because I can write about the bad movies one last time — and then I never have to think about them again.

Here, from sltrib.com, are my top — and bottom – 10 movies of 2023. The best of the best, as the photo tells you, is director Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things,” capped by the best performance of Emma Stone’s career.