2023 has been an odd year for movies. While it has beena runaway critical success for games(less for the people who make them), in cinemaland, 2023 has been up and down. It has seen more flops than we’ve known in a decade, but also several breakout hits with fresh ideas that indicate a changing trend, and an audience eager to be challenged. Among that audience were the editors at TheGamer, who challenged themselves to pick the best movies of the year - check back tomorrow for our official top ten, but here are all the nominees our team put forward.

Stacey Henley, Editor-in-Chief

  1. May December, 9. Oppenheimer, 8. Asteroid City, 7. Wonka, 6. Saltburn, 5. The Holdovers, 4. No Hard Feelings, 3. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, 2. Barbie

1. Bottoms

Jennifer’s Body for a less ironic Gen-Z, Bottoms is as imaginative as it is murderous. I love Barbie (it’s my number two pick for a reason) but this is the modern skewering of patriarchal norms and feminist ideals that everyone said Barbie was. Fierce, fresh, and fiendishly funny, Bottoms tops my 2023 list.

Andrew King, Features Editor

  1. Oppenheimer, 9. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, 8. How to Blow Up A Pipeline, 7. Magic Mike’s Last Dance, 6. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret., 5. Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, 4. Asteroid City, 3. Godzilla Minus One, 2. Killers of the Flower Moon

1. May December

Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman are solid as oak trees in Todd Haynes' exceptional melodrama about a woman who seduced a pubescent boy, and the actress coming to study their apparent domestic bliss decades later. Moore plays naivety, with a lisping, childlike voice, masking the predator she was and remains. Portman plays compassion and respectful curiosity, cloaking voyeurism and ambition.Charles Melton is the hammock held up between them, the one-time boy who now has to play the role of husband and father. Though his character is soft and hesitating, most of the film’s considerable emotional weight rests on him.

Eric Switzer, Senior Editor and Producer

  1. Evil Dead Rise 9. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 8. Godzilla Minus One 7. When Evil Lurks 6. Beau is Afraid 5. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves 4. John Wick: Chapter 4 3. Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning - Part 1 2. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

1. Talk To Me

In a year full of exceptional horror (if the rest of my list is any indication) Talk to Me stands out for what it brings to the age-old possession genre. The psychological torment shown here is a depiction of true evil that dwarfs the typical haunting story, and left me feeling suspicious of moving shadows for weeks after. The Philippou brothers’ have brought an edge and a fresh perspective that horror has been missing.

James Troughton, Cross Department Editor

  1. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, 9. Past Lives, 8. Missing, 7. The Killer, 6. May December, 5. Dream Scenario, 4. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, 3. Bottoms, 2. Oppenheimer

  2. Killers of the Flower Moon

Editor’s Pick for Movie of the Year, Bottoms

Martin Scorsese is 81 years old and still masterfully telling stories of the lengths people will go to in the pursuit of greed. The slow, carefully paced march only brings to life the anxiety and despair that the Osage must have felt, and Lily Gladstone delivers a career-defining performance, saying so much while saying so little. Killers of the Flower Moon is a chapter of American history that needed to be told, and through Scorsese, it’s as though we were being pulled into that world for just a moment.

Axel Nicolás Bosso, Evergreen Editor And Guides Trainer

  1. Infinity Pool, 9. Evil Dead Rise, 8. Beau is Afraid, 7. John Wick: Chapter 4, 6. Killers of the Flower Moon, 5. Talk to Me, 4. Barbie, 3. Skinamarink, 2. Oppenheimer

1. Los Delincuentes

Rodrigo Moreno’s latest film is a movie with many movies inside of it. As its name suggests, it’s about crime, but it also could be about an unlikely love story, an homage to westerns and prison tales. With its three hour plus runtime, it gets ambitious like few films I have seen this year, trying to answer one big question from the very beginning to the end: what it’s freedom in the 21st century? It’s hilarious, sad, gorgeous with fantastic environments and settings, and most importantly, it tries to give you more compelling questions than the aforementioned one.

James Kennedy, Specialist Writer

  1. Barbie, 9. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, 8. Susume, 7. Kill Boksoon, 6. The Wonderful Story Of Henry Sugar, 5. The Killer, 4. Godzilla Minus One 3. Evil Dead Rise, 2. Bottoms

1. Asteroid City

Asteroid City is another densely packed ensemble piece directed by Wes Anderson. It balances his trademark sense of absurd comedy with a story that is rooted in tragedy. While Anderson’s singular visual style has always lent an element of artifice to his work, Asteroid City is Anderson’s first film to fully embrace the metatextual. It forcibly intrudes upon itself, and weaves in between the different layers of fiction playfully, while simultaneously leveraging that interplay for hefty, poignant payoffs. While 2023 was a strong year for films, for my money, Asteroid City was the one that left the biggest impact.

Editor’s Pick for Movie of the Year, May December

Editor’s Pick for Movie of the Year, Talk to Me

Editor’s Pick for Movie of the Year, Killers of the Flower Moon

Editor’s Pick for Movie of the Year, Los Delicuentes

Editor’s Pick for Movie of the Year, Asteroid City